Customer Reviews

Goodbye, Columbus (1969 Film - Includes Bonus Track)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As I would think that most people who are interested in this CD are Association fans, I'm going to tackle it from that perspective.

Unfortunately, this CD is something of a ripoff. The title track is easily availible on the Japanese From the Original Master Tapes compilation, and once that's removed, we're left with the 7", the instrumental title track, It's Gotta Be Real, and Brenda's Theme.

Four tracks for (the money), in other words.

It's very frustrating as well, because It's Gotta Be Real is an excellent song (better than the version that shows up on Stop Your Motor, IMO). Hopefully, all of this material will show up on Rhino's eventual Association compilation. But these five tracks are NOT worth the asking prince.

Yes, this is a pricey Japanese import, but if you're an Association fan---and you have the bucks to burn---then this album, the 1969 movie soundtrack to "Goodbye Columbus," is worth picking up. It's not really an Association album, per se, but the band do contribute four tracks to it, including the hit title song, an instrumental version of the title song, a fine earlier recording of the catchy "It's Gotta Be Real" (though it WAS bettered when the band re-recorded it for "Stop Your Motor," in my opinion), and the very lovely "So Kind To Me." The rest of the album's score was composed & arranged by Charles Fox, who also did the *grrrroooovy* music to the Jane Fonda cult classic "Barbarella," and his music for "Goodbye Columbus," while not as psychedelic, is certainly just as cool, with a great late-60's vibe to it, perfectly matching the Association's contributions.The album clocks in at a mere 27 minutes and, once again, it IS a pricey import CD, but ask yourself this: do you *love* the music of the Association? And, do you want to get your hands on a very rare soundtrack album that the band contributed songs to? If the answer to both questions is yes---AND you can afford it---then buy it. If you're an Association completist (like I am), I know you'll be more than happy to add the "Goodbye Columbus" movie soundtrack to your Association collection.

......that's one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite films from the late 60's.........the album compliments the film quite nicely and, although much too short
(they should have also included the opening music accompanying the pool scene and the wedding music also!!!) I have to give it a 5 star rating as for what's on the CD is basically the essential score & songs from the film and I've longed for this album for many years......The Association songs are fantastic, especially the haunting "So Kind To Me", bringing the beautiful Ali MacGraw instantly to my mind.....

Luigi ~ nyc

Many years ago, I caught Goodbye Columbus on TV and immediately took to it. It is a great commentary on 1950s-era Jewish social sensiblities in Greater New York. The soundtrack, which is largely the work of The Association, captures the essence of the movie and its proverbial July-September romance.

It is strange that The Association's "Goodbye Columbus" is not played on oldies radio like "Windy,' or "Never My Love." This band was never meant to compete with acid rock, but the title track for this 1969 shows how punchy and, yes, rocky this band could be when they put their vocal chords to more spare arrangements.

This applies even more to "It's Got To Be Real," which uses an approach a lot of vocal bands started to use around 1969, as rock got harder and sunshine harmonies seemed implausible: have one singer do lead and scale back the harmonizing to a more conventional rock scale. "It's Got To Be Real." is rare for the Association: based on a guitar hook that could have been Hendrix strumming lightly backstage.

Unfortunately the fresh ideas stop there: "You Were So Kind To Me" is not bad, not even overly mushy, but seems like a typical ballad a band like this would tack on to an end of a film like this--totally generic, and wrong: in the film the girl was not kind to her lover at all.

The rest of this soundtrack is music by a guy named Charles Fox: again not bad, the type of program music I hunt down on such compilations.

But I keep wondering what the Goodbye Columbus Soundtrack would have been like if Curt Boucher or Van Dyke Parks, or even Brian Wilson had worked with the Association here. As it stands it is good program music and good pop, but it would have been amazing to fuse these ideas together more.

I haven't seen the film but being a fan of the work of Charles Fox (and The Association), I had to add this album to my collection. And while the Association's songs are good and they get top billing for the album, the real star of the soundtrack is the score by Charles Fox, which is outstanding. All of the tracks by Fox are a precursor to his Emmy-winning score for another Paramount project: a comedy anthology series for TV titled LOVE AMERICAN STYLE. I highly recommend this soundtrack to fans of the movie, The Association, and the work of Charles Fox.

Songs Include :

Goodbye Columbus - Vocal Version
How Will I Know You
Dartmouth Dartmouth
Goodbye Columbus - Instrumental
Rob's Reverie - Across The Field / Carmen Ohio
It's Gotta Be Real
A Moment To Share
Love Has A Way
A Time For Love
So Kind To Me - Brenda's Theme