University of Virginia Library

'Wagon', 'Dolly' Tired, Worn Out

By Paul J. Chaplin

Original soundtrack albums are a
rather peculiar thing. They are
designed with two purposes in
mind. First, they are made to serve
as souvenir pieces to be companions
to the ticket stubs and programs of
roadshow musicals. Secondly, the
albums are released a month prior
to the film's release to entice the
public to hear the record, then
enjoy the ten- or twenty-million
dollar film.

It was therefore no surprise for
me to discover the soundtracks of
"Hello, Dolly!" and "Paint Your
Wagon" in several record stores.
What is surprising about these two
albums is the fact that neither one
lives up to the reputations which
preceded them.

"Hello, Dolly!" is reportedly the
"most eagerly awaited roadshow of
them all." After hearing the album,
I can wait a little longer than I
thought. In the first place, the
album cover lacks essential information
for the record. It's nice to
know that Barbra Streisand, Walter
Matthau, and Michael Crawford star
in the film, but these three are not
responsible for all the songs on the
album. Just who plays which part,
and sings which song, should have
been mentioned.

Secondly, the sound quality is
very poor. Blame for this goes to
Mauray Spivak, the sound engineer.
The entire album sounds as if it's
being played through a layer of
cardboard. The stereo effect is also
bad, having a tendency to sound
muddled. When I switched to a set
of headphones, I found the voices
to be much stronger, but little
change in the rest of the sound.

The songs in "Dolly" are
likeable, and there are a couple of
new songs written by Jerry Herman,
the original composer. It is
unfortunate that most of them have
been ruined in their screen adaptation.
Walter Matthau's voice lies
between that of George Burns and
W.C. Fields. He only sings one song,
"It Takes a Woman," and he is
never on key or in time with the
music. Michael Crawford, playing
the romantic lead, simply cannot
sing. His voice squeaks throughout
all his songs reminding one of a
fourteen year old attempting to
play the lead in a high school
production of "New Moon."

I wish a knew who sings
"Ribbons Down My Back," the
ballad sung by the romantic female
lead. I shall never know unless I see
the movie, for this woman's name
was one of those not included as
being a member of the cast. This
may have been done on purpose, as
the song is the squeaky counterpart
to those of Crawford.

Finally there is Streisand. She
cannot match the quality of her
"Funny Girl" album, and this is not
entirely her fault. The songs in
"Dolly" are not flexible enough for
her to put her special vocal talents
to good use. She now has the bad
habit of falling back on using a
Jewish accent whenever she is to
speak during a song. She does try a
Mae West style groan in "So Long
Dearest" and it somehow sounds
perfect after hearing Matthau.

Title Song

Before leaving "Dolly," I must
comment on the title song, for to
avoid doing so would surely break
some unwritten law. It is the
highest point of action in the show,
but I couldn't tell that from the
treatment on the album. All its
exuberance is missing, and this
must be the fault of Lennie Hayton
and Lionel Newman, who arranged
and conducted the score. Louis
Armstrong has a cameo role in this
song, and the novelty of he and
Streisand singing the song is
stretched a bit too far.

The title song indicates the
general quality of the "Hello,
Dolly!" album. All the songs sound
tired and worn out. There are
places, of course, where someone
tries to pick up things, but not
enough to spark any life into the
rest of the album.

Paramount's "Paint Your
Wagon" has already been panned
by most critics, but the soundtrack
is the complete opposite of "Hello,
Dolly!" The sound quality is
excellent and the stereo separation
is spectacular, sounding as wide as
the hills of California and Oregon,
where the story takes place.

Untrained Voices

"Wagon," like "Dolly," has
several untrained voices, except all
three of them are in the principal
roles. The novelty working for
Paramount is seeing Lee Marvin,
Jean Seberg, and Clint Eastwood
attempt to sing. It is surprising to
discover that they are not as bad as
the singers in "Dolly!" Eastwood,
cast as an idealistic young man,
does a creditable job singing "I Still
See Elisa," and does an even better
job with "I Talk to the Trees."

Lee Marvin's first song, "The
First Thing You Know," is more
spoken than sung, and is too
pretentious to be funny. It was
obviously written for him, which
brings up a point concerning the
score. The songs in the original
Broadway show of the 1950's were
written by the team of Lerner and
Low. Since then, they have gone
their separate ways, and the new
songs in thee movie have been
written by Lerner and Andre
Previn. The new songs are the
weakest ones in the score, which
has been arranged and conducted
by the skillful hand of Nelson
Riddle.

One of the Lerner-Previn songs,
"A Million Miles Away Behind the
Door," is sung by Jean Seberg.
Fortunately, it is the only song she
sings. Rumors say Miss Seberg's
voice was dubbed, but I cannot
believe it. If any major studio
would spend so much money on a
film, and then dub the soundtrack
with a voice this bad, the film
wouldn't have been released. The
best voice on the album belongs to
Harve Presnell. He sings the best
known song from the musical,
"They Call the Wind Maria," and
does an excellent Job, despite the
over orchestration on this particular
song.

Presnell also serves as the lead
vocalist in an all male chorus. This
is the strongest asset of the album.
The powerful chorus and the clear
orchestrations are effectively used
to improve the weak singing of the
principals. This is what Twentieth
Century Fox should have done with
"Dolly!" Be it actual singing, or
humming, the chorus greatly adds
to the excellence of the album.

Better Artwork

Judging the two albums by
themselves, without the benefit of
seeing the films (and trying to
forget I'd ever heard the Pearl
Bailey version of "Dolly!") presented
a problem. The music was
designed to be heard with its visual
companion, and it is very possible
that what sounds terrible on record,
may "sound" good on film. If I
never see either film, I would
recommend the "Paint Your
Wagon" soundtrack as the superior
of the two. Besides, the artwork on
the cover is better.