Alan Menken Redeemed

I loved Alan Menken's work in The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. In subsequent movies where he worked with Tim Rice, it became more obvious to me that I liked Howard Ashman more than I actually liked Alan Menken.

This was confirmed to me when I saw the theatrical version of Beauty and the Beast in which Alan made a few musical changes. Since I know the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack so well, the changes were painfully obvious to me. The first act I actually liked better than the movie and at the intermission, I even made a few comments to people that I think that Menken has possibly redeemed himself. The second act however confirmed to me that I really don't like Menken's musical style.

Tonight I went to Enchanted. This soundtrack has totally redeemed Alan Menken in my mind. It was so good that I did not even consider that he could have been involved until his name showed up in the end credits.

The best song on the soundtrack, That's How You Know, almost ranked him up there with with Hans Zimmer - well almost. Unfortunately, Alan has Home Alone 2 smeared across his resume - and that's going to take a lot of really good writing to cover up.

Some of you may appreciate this....

I was sent to watch this in August and I'm still laughing at it, so I guess that I need to post it.



I realize that it makes very little sense to the non-classical-musically minded among us, but to somebody who once played Pachelbel's canon on tuba (the tuba part for the band is the same as the cello part for orchestra), I can very much appreciate this.

I love going to weddings and hearing the brides who are so excited about how they chose Pachelbel's Canon in D instead of something more traditional. I think I've heard Pachelbel at every wedding I've been to but my own.... (At least at the reception...)

This morning in worship, we sang Brad Kilman's "We are Hungry". I started laughing so hard, I almost had to leave the room.

So, that must be what I'm doing wrong...

"There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself."- J. S. Bach

THAT'S my GIRL!

The other day we were in the car listening to CD of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. My two year old daughter actually complained, "Not Vivaldi, daddy! Beethoven!" :)

On tuning a piano...

"It's just like tuning a guitar with just a few more strings."