31 Days 31 Scores
October 25th
“I’m just like any modern woman trying to have it all. Loving husband, a family. It’s just, I wish I had more time to seek out the dark forces and join their hellish crusade.”
Welcome Back to “31 Days 31 Scores”. I have always that Halloween is as much about the fun as it is about the scares. Today I present the 1993 score to the film “Addams Family Values” by Marc Shaiman. The first Addams Family score was a relentless score and elevated the film. The same can be said here as the score comes right out of the gates with “It’s An Addams”. Although it does start with a flute, string and chimes beginning then the throws us a very frenetic pace and contrasts that with a rendition of “Rock A Bye Baby”. It goes from one extreme to another and ends with the familiar Addams family theme originally written by Vic Mizzy. The vibe here is infectious with Shaiman’s use of harpsichord and rapid strings. The score has the feeling of a cartoon with it’s over the top rushes to subtle moments to extremely over the top moments again. I love Shaiman’s use of strings here. The Addams Family theme also gets used quite a bit here and Shaiman uses this simple theme in so many fun and interesting ways. There is also an underlying tango vibe in some of the cues. I’ve also never heard the harpsichord get so much of a workout, it’s so refreshing. The cue “The Tango” is such a fun cue that I couldn’t stop smiling as it throws so many different styles of music at you from tango, blues, big band and so many other it was hard to keep up and the different renditions of Mizzy’s theme were so much fun. “Debbie’s Big Scene” is so wonderfully over the top with its exaggerated pathos and villain moments. Shaiman sounds like he’s having so much fun during this score. The score is fast paced and accents the emotions in a perfectly “Addams” way. What can I say? This score is so much fun and very worth the listen. The score was released on the Varese Sarabande label and is more than over due for a re-release.
Join me tomorrow for more 31 Days 31 scores where “Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now, he’s writing to stay alive.”