Customer Reviews

Ragtime (1981 Film Soundtrack)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

How many times did Newman get nominated for an Academy Award? Five, six hundred? One year he even had three nominations for three different pictures ("A Bug's Life" for Best Original Musical, "Pleasantville" for Original Dramatic Score, and Best Song for "That'll Do" from "Babe: Pig in the City"), and went zero for three. AUGH! He actually and finally won one in 2002 (for "If I Didn't Have You" from "Monsters, Inc."). Upon hearing the "Ragtime" soundtrack from 1981 many may ask impolitely "WHAT!?! HE DIDN'T WIN ONE FOR 'RAGTIME'!??!?! I'M HEADING DOWN TO THE ACADEMY WITH SOME MANURE AND A CATAPULT!!!!!" An understandable reaction, because Newman's score for "Ragtime" is brilliant and extremely listenable even without all those thousands of moving pictures. It sounds like Newman. His style seeps from nearly every note. The piano sounds like Newman (it is Newman, isn't it? No credits inside the jewel case to testify). He composed and conducted every song except for the not-so-well known classic "I Could Love a Million Girls". There's even a song featuring Randy (Yeah! Just like on one of his non-film albums): "Change Your Way". It might have opened the movie, but a lot of people changed their minds, and Newman decided to keep it on the album anyway. "One More Hour" is a stunningly beautiful song based on the Main Title theme (and sung amazingly well by Jennifer Warnes - her name is buried somewhere in the CD booklet text). Most of the rest of the album contains incredible instrumental music. Lush strings, delicate piano. Sort of an early twentieth century feel (which makes sense since the movie was set in 1906). Good stuff.

Newman's first film score job was the 1971 movie "Cold Turkey" (the one with Dick Van Dyke trying to get everyone in town to stop smoking). "Ragtime" was, amazingly, only his second. Perhaps his rookie status kept the Academy from recognizing this one? Who knows? Maybe they were offended by one of his songs? That would make a great story (though sadly unlikely). Either way, "Ragtime" stands up today as a great film score or as great music to listen to all by itself (many say that the score is better than the movie).

As if the music weren't enough, Rhino (one of the best labels around) packaged everything with a thick CD booklet. This tells the story of the movie, the actors, the directors (Robert Altman almost directed), and lots of commentary by Newman (the blurb in the front cover is hilarious). Also included are pictures of Newman conducting and lyrics for two of the vocal numbers. And one bonus track, the demo for "Ragtime" (very similar to the one on "The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1"). Newman fans will likely love every note (and rest).

I, too, have been waiting for this soundtrack to be released on CD for ages and ages - but life being what it is, I seldom remembered to pursue the quest. I had not listened to the score for many years (my only copy was on cassette and I haven't owned a cassette player for ages). As soon as the CD arrived, I tore into the box and slapped the disc into the player -- and was transported into a heaven I'd forgotten existed. Randy Newman's music is so absolutely wonderful and the remastering is excellent. I listen to "Train Ride" over and over again; a more perfect piece of popular music has seldom been written. And I say that as a rabid fan of classic Scott Joplin ragtime. It is all I can do at this point not to play this CD 24/7.......! Bless you, Rhino!

One only has to imagine the potential. Producer Dino de Laurentiis originally hired Robert Altman to direct the movie adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's Altmanesque novel "Ragtime". Following not too long after the triumph of his masterpiece "Nashville," Altman's dense sonic and visual style was perfectly suited to bring this multilayered, historical novel to the screen. Unfortunately, de Laurentiis re-edited Altman's "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson," against Altman's wishes, and the resulting feud ended up putting Ragtime in the hands of the talented but horribly inappropriate hands of Milos Foreman. The movie was (and is) a major disappointment, a pale and unidimensional rendition of the novel. As fate would have it, however, this disappointing movie yielded one of the greatest movie scores of all time. Randy Newman's work for Ragtime was as stunning as Foreman's work was stultifying. Haunting, melodic, allusive and memorable, this is Newman's best movie work, and the best evidence ever that musical genius is genetic: Newman is the nephew of two of the greatest movie composers of the previous generation: Lionel and Alfred Newman. A giant accomplishment, Ragime's availability at long last on CD is nothing short of a major event.

When even the composer himself (in the liner notes) calls this "the last album ever to be released on CD," one can't help but feel like there are at least a few other crazies out there who have been WAITING FOR THE BETTER PART OF TWENTY YEARS for this soundtrack to be released on CD. Worth the wait? Are you kidding? The lush orchestrations and Randy Newman's pure genius shine through on every delicious, melodic track. A soundtrack is truly a soundtrack when it enables the listener to "see" the film all over again, and this one certainly does. Check out "Train Ride" and "Atlantic City," but who am I kidding here; every cut is a bonafide gem. Newman's soundtrack career really took off with this one. Tasty jazz licks, period-piece instrumentation, and of course, the incredible piano compositions and Newman's ivory tickling all add up to one helluva soundtrack. (I wore two cassette copies out...can you tell I love this album?) Here's an idea: buy two copies in case Rhino decides to pull it from the market!!! NOTE TO RHINO RECORDS: Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Reviewer: Scott Ross from Raleigh, NC United States
In the liner notes Randy Newman jokingly refers to this as "the only record yet to be released" on CD, but those who love this score almost feel that little jest is the ennis. E.L. Doctorow's astonishing novel should probably never have been translated to the screen at all; the prose is too exquisitely, exhileratingly literary to "land," as they say, in a different medium. The approach of Milos Forman et al. was to distill a complex emotional and historical tapestry down to a Hollywood-y essence. (The recent musical play at least captured Doctorow's bracing intelligence, and some of the book's flavor.) Aside from the actors' performances and the sheer pleasure of watching James Cagney on a big screen again - and, sadly, for the last time - the only real lasting element of "Ragtime" has been Newman's beautifully conceived score. Distinctly Newman's own, the score reflects Doctorow's intentions better than any other single aspect of a sadly mis-judged movie. It's less an evocation of Scott Joplin than a prefectly realized impression of the era itself, with Newman's sad, achingly effective little waltz ("One More Hour") somehow encapsulating both the promise and bitter set-backs facing a young country on the eve of what would later be called its century.

Like many others, I have been waiting for this amazing soundtrack to be released on CD since I got a player. I appreciated the movie itself more than some seem to have,and thought the performances were excellent, especially the late Howard Rollins as Coalhouse Walker. The main thing though, has always been the music, easily some of Randy Newman's greatest work. Listening to this album is a rich, multilayered experience, and the bonus tracks included here are a welcome addition.
So why only 3 stars?
The audio quality is almost incredibly bad. There is an entire layer missing in the higher audio range, and it's most noticeable on the piano pieces, which are the main feature of the soundtrack. My album is still in reasonably good condition, so I compared the two, to make sure I wasn't losing my hearing. I also played them for a second listener. She insisted that there were two different pianos being used. By comparison, the CD sounds as though it was played with the damper pedal on; flat, with absolutely no resonance or reverberance. If this is digital remastering, lose it.
I love the music, but was really disappointed with the results here.

The excelent Milos Forman timepiece on the 20's based on the Doctorow novel has a marvelous musical translation in this soundtrack close to perfection. It gets the time and mood of the movie, and reflects its main dramatic moments. I would dare to say that this soundtrack is one of the finest coming out from a movie of the 80's. Besides, it sounds great in this digitally remastered version. Do not hesitate to get it. It's a real beauty.

...finally.

This was one of those movies that moved me in ways I didn't fully understand. Now I think that this was one of the first movies I saw with a truly compelling and utterly significant soundtrack.

I had no I idea who Randy Newman was at the time, at didn't much care...but listening to this music again, I am impressed.

I have been waiting for this disc since first owning a CD player, and after all this time, I am not disappointed.

While none of the music here can be described as ragtime, the overwhelingly pervasive piano, and the careful sense of turn-of-the-century melody give this soundtrack real relavance.

Like the era portrayed in the movie, the music seems reluctant to embrace the quicker tempo the seems inevitable in both cases.

The music is overwhelmingly sad and deliberate, but also quite beautiful.

For creepy fun, the soundtrack includes the deeply offensive and utter amusing "I Could Love a Million Girls," as song by Donald O'Conner no less.

i have been turning a grooved vynyl disc into a flat plastic surface for the past 20 years playing this over and over. since his first album randy has always stung my heart a little....but with the warm notes on this soundtrack, i am always stopped....over and over.....and now it's on cd!!!!....i have recently been going thru chemo-therapy and this tape is what i listen to during treatments. it's a friend, it's a soundtrack to life......perfect in every way. too bad this man had to wait so long for his rewards. he should've been getting them all along. "one More Hour" makes the entire cd worth it all.......randy, thank you

Simply a beautiful score. Randy Newman is the bridesmaid of film scoring. While John Williams, Danny Elfman and others reap rewards and awards, Newman plugs away, consistently elevating the movie experience with timely and luscious music and songs (His solo albums are recommended experiences as well). They finally threw him a bone at the oscars this year, some twenty odd years after he should have won for Ragtime, is my opinion. I played my record to it's spiraling death and I plan the same fate for my CD as well. Also, it's worth buying just to read Newman's hysterically sarcastic liner notes about the CD release of this title.