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Some music is timeless. And some... isn't. This album was recorded
in 1960, a fact that will be obvious to anyone who's ever been exposed
to the beatnik era. Movies that used this kind of music seem to me as
laughably dated as all those psychedelic drug fantasies of just a few
years later. (Watching The President's Analyst in DVD a few
weeks ago, I was reminded of that fact most forcefully.)
But perhaps I'm being unfair to Combo!. After all, most of
Mancini's work feels dated today. And immediately recognizable as
his, in ways that more versatile composers manage to avoid. Like
hearing the influence of
The Pink Panther in
Moanin'.
Or
The Odd Couple in
Playboy's
Theme. There's something a little bland and derivative about
Mancini, something that makes these tracks sound more like recreations
of an era by somebody who wasn't there. Funny, since he was
there. And I most certainly wasn't.
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