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Released by Special Arrangement With Turner Classic Movies Music.
FSM releases its first film musical in a spectacular and unprecedented 3CD edition: Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), featuring songs and music by Leslie Bricusse, conducted and supervised by John Williams.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips was Arthur P. Jacobs's musical remake of M-G-M's acclaimed 1939 drama, based on a novel by James Hilton about a stuffy British schoolmaster and the woman who brings love to his life. Peter O'Toole starred as Mr. Chips, alongside formidible musical talent Petula Clark as Mrs. Chips. The film was unconventional in that the characters do not "break out into song," but perform as a kind of psychological counterpoint to the story.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips was the first of John Williams's three large-scale musical adaptations (the others being Fiddler on the Roof and Tom Sawyer), a massive creative undertaking in which he was solely responsible for the film's underscore, conducting, orchestrations and source music. For Williams, this was an all-encompassing effort which helped forge his legendary "blockbuster" sound familiar on such later films as Superman and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.
Although the Goodbye, Mr. Chips production came in under-budget, it had a long and colorful history of "development hell" in which multiple composers, directors, and stars were attached—and a wealth of music generated. This comprehensive 3CD set focuses on Bricusse's and Williams's involvement with a definitive chronicle of their recordings:
Disc one features the complete score as it was intended for the finished film (including several unused Williams score cues).
Disc two features an "alternate narrative" of the story through different versions of the songs (many of which were included on a "demo" LP of the soundtrack), source cues, score alternates, and promotional interviews given by the film's stars.
Disc three features the original 1969 soundtrack album, followed by yet more demo and alternate versions of songs, including "Tomorrow With Me," sung by Petula Clark and orchestrated by Williams and one of Bricusse's favorite unused songs.
The 48-page booklet features a definitive account of the movie and soundtrack's creation, written by album producer Michael Matessino (of the Star Wars Trilogy Special Editions and other Williams CD restorations).
The album is almost entirely in stereo, with interview tracks and a few source and demo cues in mono.
If you do not have any movie musicals in your collection, Goodbye, Mr. Chips is an ideal first purchase: the soundtrack was a major project for John Williams, and foreshadows his famous "epic" sound. For fans of the film, this 3CD set is a definitive presentation of the many songs and alternate versions that have been in circulation since 1969.
