Customer Reviews

The Graduate (1967 Film)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you're looking for a good collection of Simon & Garfunkel tunes, you probably want to pass this by. Although there are a few S&G favorites here like The Sound of Silence, April Come She Will and Scarborough Fair, most of the other S&G songs are special film versions that don't always work on their own. They were marvelous in the context of the film however, and if you enjoyed the movie, you will enjoy them on this disc. The other half of the soundtrack employs a delightful lounge-type orchestral score by jazz musician and composer Dave Grusin. These instrumental tracks, consisting of fox trots, cha cha's and the like, when used in the film, represent the world of the adults while the S&G tunes represent the fears, frustrations and concerns of the younger generation. However, the Grusin tracks do work well on their own. They are bouncy, infectious and a lot of fun. The sequencing of the tracks on the album works really well and makes for a truly memorable listening experience. The sound quality is suprisingly good for a disc that hasn't been remastered in over a decade.

We all know and love the Simon & Garfunkel music for 'The Graduate', but there's much more on this album. Dave Grusin (who was totally uncredited on the original LP release of this material) contributed music, as well. The S & G tracks speak volumes for Benjamin Braddock, but Grusin speaks for Mrs. Robinson's generation, and he does it with a sly wit seldom heard in movie music. The best Grusin track on this CD is 'Sunporch Cha-Cha-Cha', a delicious spoof of all the Henry Mancini/ Frank DeVol movie music so popular with adults in the early 60's. If you're familiar with that genre, you'll laugh out loud at Grusin's ever-so-slightly overblown cha-cha, with its organ notes and woodwinds. It starts out brightly attractive, and when it's over, you realise you've been had: it's totally empty, meaningless music- perfect listening for Mrs. Robinson. This track is expertly performed; the orchestra obviously had a grand time stressing the deliberate vacuousness of Grusin's composition. One note for Simon & Garfunkel addicts: the versions of 'Mrs. Robinson' heard here are not anything like the version you're familiar with. The film used only an instrumental version; film director Mike Nichols commissioned the version with lyrics from Paul Simon after the movie's completion in hopes it would become a successful tie-up for the movie. He guessed right. This one is a must for your S & G collection, but there are other delights in store for you. Trust me.

Whimsical soundtrack to the 1967 Mike Nichol's film blends the foxtrot generation with the soft-core hippie music of '60s Simon and Garfunkel. Hence, you get the folkish and electric versions of "Sounds of Silence" alongside '40s cocktail lounge big band that sounds like your local TV station holding a telethon, and a hot striptease blues number, (in the film it's when Dustin Hoffman takes Katharine Ross to a strip joint), with blazing sax and rolling drum solo. The centerpiece here is Simon's traditional English folk, "Scarborough Fair", with it's precise musicbox harpsichord sounding impossibly perfect. And, where have you gone, "Mrs. Robinson"? Only the first altered stanza is found here, as it was in the movie.

The Graduate soundtrack is a mix of some lounge-music orchestral highlights, which certainly fit 1967, and several versions of S&G songs, including Mrs. Robinson and The Sounds of Silence. It is fun to listen to the differences in these songs, since they feel like alternate versions, and not repetitious. This is a soundtrack album which features both the pop and instrumental music of its time, although this is probably not for the casual Simon & Garfunkel fan.

Before you buy this, listen to the samples first. In an echo of previous reviews, I agree that this is not a comprehensive Simon and Garfunkel album, nor is it meant to be. This is a collection of contrasts, an example of the Generation Gap as represented through the eyes of Benjamin Braddock. In the musical juxstaposition of youth and middle age, modernism and antiquity, we experience the '60's just before the "Age of Aquarius" and psychedelia. This is a wonderfully novel album, good for cocktail parties and conversation; a blast from the past, if you will. If lounge music is your bag, invest in this classic. It is pretty groovy in that makes unhipness hip, in a very retro sort of way. It inspires me to put on my mini skirt and get out the martini shaker. It is great to put in a shuffle mix with some Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and a S&G disc like "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, & Thyme". Talk about a taste of two worlds...Enjoy.

Look

(1) You cannot beat that album cover, which Bruce even ripped off for his "Darkness at the Edge of Town" LP in 1979.

(2) There is nothing around any better for feeling great than David Grusin's "Sunporch Cha cha Cha". I think I've played this a gazillion times since I was a child in '67. Priceless. Always reminds me of naughty Mrs. Robinson in her leopard print mini skirt ever-so-anxious to seduce Benjamin.

(3) That 8 minute version of "Scarborough Fair"... almost trance, neo-ambient!

(4) Priceless that so many 'consumeroids' were duped into buying this strange soundtrack to hear "Mrs. Robinson", and all they got were some temp tracks when the song was barely a sketch for the "Bookends" LP to follow.

(5) "The Folks" is great Goodbye-to-the-age-of-Martini music. So, bring back the MARTINi!

April Come She Will.

I bought this purely for the Simon and Garfunkel. They're songs were spectacular. The other songs were okay but the sound quality of this CD is fuzzy and sounds old. I recommend going to a local music store and getting the original record for the old time sound and the quality to boot. The CD quality of this CD wasn't remastered well at all in my opinion.

An excellent album for one of the best movies ever made. Simon and Garfunkel sing some of their most enjoyable songs (okay, maybe not "The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine", but other than that). Although, I warn you, if you are strictly a S&G fan and you don't want David Grusin's background music on the CD, avoid buying this. Also, another warning: There are two versions of "Mrs. Robinson", but neither are the long version that we know and love. They both clock in at about 1:15. But, if you're a diehard fan of the movie, like I am, go ahead and buy it, you won't be sorry!

I saw the movie about 6 months ago, and it has to be one of my all tome favorites. I'm only 15 but I too prefer this kind of music over most of todays.

The music almost made the movie.

When I first watched "The Graduate", I loved the music so much that I decided to buy the soundtrack. I was not disappointed. Simon and Garfunkel really deliver on this soundtrack. I LOVE IT.