Amazon.com
The second volume of the master Warner Bros. cartoon composer's work downplays the head-spinning montage of the first in favor of just-as-head-spinning complete scores. They aren't from the studio's best-known cartoons but from some of Stalling's most impressive tempo-warping, all-systems-go pieces, augmented by a few mini-pieces that illustrate the way he could transform barely familiar show tunes and classical themes into wild, rubbery jokes. Even without images, Stalling could make an orchestra suggest a "Flea-Ridden Sheep Dog" in 24 seconds flat and run enough changes on Stephen Foster's "Camptown Races" to match every mood in a Foghorn Leghorn cartoon. The head-snapping reversals of his scores anticipate much later avant-garde music.
--Douglas Wolk