Search - Henry Mancini :: Breakfast at Tiffany's

The Story Behind Mr. Mancini's 'Soundtracks'

Vincenzo Stonitelli | Martinsville, VA USA | 02/28/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Contrary to what the the Amazon editor and several reviewers thought. This is NOT a soundtrack. Most his movie music was released as "Music from the motion picture ..." and not as a "Soundtrack." Mr Mancini did this on purpose; it was not forced on him by the record company (RCA). Mr. Mancini usually retained the rights to the music, contrary to common practice. Allowing him to rerecord and in most cases rearrange the music allowed him to prepare a commercially viable record (which by the way he would receive all of the profits, not the studio) which could sell in larger volumns than most soundtracks would. He could arrange to maximize the effect of the music, without constraining it to fit the action in the movie. Remember,in 1961 the soundtrack album was much rarer than today. In his autobiography Mancini regrets not having Hepburn on the album..."

Crossing Moon River in Style....

C. Michael Massey | St. Louis, Missouri | 02/07/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As several other reviewers have stated, this is a must-have for lounge fans and any fan of the music of Henry Mancini. I'm not entirely sure why I fall into the latter category, as so much of his music sounds the same to me, but nevertheless, I love it.Perhaps my favorite two tracks on the album are two and nine--the fun "Something for Cat" and the beautifully romantic "Holly," respectively. I also think they are paricularly representative of the album--being about as different as they can be from one another despite sharing a composer. The album, like these two songs, inspires a range of emotional responses not typically found on the soundtrack albums of today.As someone else pointed out, the album is lacking some of the beautiful film versions of "Moon River" (including that sung by Audrey Hepburn), but the two that are present are nice enough. I don't really like the Lawrence Welk-ish vocals in the version on track one, but it still shines. The version on the last track is great fun for fans of Mancini's more latin-esque material which can also be found in "Loose Caboose," "Latin Golightly," and the aforementioned "Something for Cat."More fun tracks include "Hub Caps and Tail Lights"(the theme from the strip clubs), the great jazzy song "The Big Heist," and the pop-sixties-asian-influenced "Mr. Yunioshi."Fans of slower, more jazzy sounds will enjoy "Holly," "Sally's Tomato," and the title track "Breakfast at Tiffany's."There are, in fact, not really any songs on the album that I *don't* like! I may have to be in particualr moods for certain of them (and "Moon River" invariably makes me cry), but this is definitely a classic soundtrack album filled with wonderful songs for lovers of sixties films and the music of Henry Mancini."

Absolutely Fabulous!

C. Michael Massey | 04/04/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I would recommend the Breakfast at Tiffany's soundtrack to any one who enjoys jazz music!"