Search - Dave Grusin :: Dinner With Friends

Instead of a Sopranos-style album loaded with evocative songs, this HBO-movie soundtrack offers Dave Grusin's workmanlike score. What might be appropriate in the context of Norman Jewison's domestic drama is a listening experience with limited appeal. That is, fans of Grusin's work as a smooth-jazzer will probably enjoy--or at least find unobtrusive--the likes of "I Did an Experiment" and the guitar-and-vibes-heavy "I'm Happy for You." Not that the composer has no flair for reflecting the drama of a moment; "Tom Goes to the Den" is a masterful limning of that early turning point. Other snippets, including the title track, could fit into any tasteful suburban-based film. As for the disc's two vocal tracks, star Dennis Quaid's "I'm in the Mood for Love" is the musical equivalent of an actor's wandering accent, while Crowded House's 1986 "Don't Dream It's Over" brings the truest emotion to be found here. --Rickey Wright