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Liner Notes
THE MUSIC OF AUSTIN POWERS
In 1997 the world was reintroduced to Austin Powers after the world famous International Man of Mystery was unfrozen by the British Secret Service in order to face down his greatest (and also recently thawed) enemy: the nefarious Dr. Evil. Despite his thirty-year absence from the international scene, Austin had remained as much a part of our cultural heritage as Nehru jackets, sitars and the Whammo Air Blaster - in other words, we'd completely forgotten about him. But such was Austin's personal dynamism that soon the world was marching to his distinctive beat again, spouting aphorisms like "Yeah, baby, yeah!" and "Shagadelic!" Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery was a huge hit and a sequel soon followed: Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
The world was mesmerized by this compelling tale of a man unstuck in time, a pop phenomenon plunged into the politically correct world of the '90s while still tied to the sex-crazed, fashion-warped sensibilities of the Swinging Sixties. Austin brought the carefree attitude of the '60s with him to the present, and he also brought the sounds of the '60s - the sounds of Burt Bacharach, John Barry, Quincy Jones, Henry Mancini and Jerry Goldsmith, all wrapped up in a delirious fusion by composer George S. Clinton.
Scoring comedy is always a challenge due to the temptation to simply underscore onscreen pratfalls with "funny," cartoonish music. But the Austin Powers movies allow George S. Clinton to do much more than simply provide musical punchlines. Clinton not only gets to score a buoyant, likable onscreen personality - he also gets to resurrect a lost era. The '60s was one of the last periods in which film music could seamlessly weave the rhythms and techniques of contemporary, popular music into its own very special forms and needs. Pop rock stylings could propel action as easily as the frenetic exclamations of a full orchestra, and jazz could add the indispensable aura of "coolness" that so many movie characters of the time aspired to. Motion picture orchestras added a new palette of bongos, electric guitars, rhythm sections and jazz saxophones to their repertoire, and the results were the wildly popular James Bond scores by John Barry, Burt Bacharach's Casino Royale, Henry Mancini's jazzy Pink Panther scores and Jerry Goldsmith's Our Man Flint.
George S. Clinton's Austin Powers scores embrace all these diverse and instantly recognizable styles while creating a mood that is uniquely Austin "devil-may-care, gutsy, and sexy, baby! You can hear the hint of agent 007 in "Cartage / Following / Virtucon" before Clinton launches into the blasting, imposing sound of danger that is the Dr. Evil theme - pure spy movie malice on an epic scale that plummets downward to a single, slippery flute motif. From there Clinton accompanies the momentous unfreezing of Austin ("Evacuation") with a brisk and bustling scherzo. Austin is now in the present day and ready for action, but for Austin Powers "action" can mean sex just as easily as it can mean violence. As we meet shagadelic agent Vanessa Kensington (and in Austin Powers 2, Felicity Shagwell), Clinton scores the romantic side of Austin with light, casual yet lyrical music for piano, electric guitar and strings.
However, in Austin's universe evil is never very far away - Dr. Evil, that is. Like Austin, Dr. Evil is a man out of his own time, and a man who's yet to learn that blackmailing world governments for the paltry sum of one million dollars has long since gone out of fashion. In "Evil Plot" Clinton displays an unerring sense for building mood and suspense underneath Evil's fiendish plotting, allowing his score to slither underneath Evil's pathological need to inform others of his secret plans until both the music and Evil himself can build to a stupendous anti-climax. Of course, even in Austin Powers "action" sometimes DOES mean violence, so in "Steamroller" and "Mutant Sea Bass" Clinton launches some pounding action music complete with a frenzied piccolo flourish - music that could proudly accompany any secret agent's patented judo moves. And lest anyone forget that Austin works for the British Secret Service, "Danger March" essays a militaristic procession for piccolo and small brass and percussion ensemble that would keep any upper lip appropriately stiff.
Austin Powers 1 reaches a climax with "Probe" as Dr. Evil readies his escape and Clinton accompanies the attack of some bouffant-sporting Fembots with sizzling, overheated sex music before a screaming brass finale sends Austin's nemesis into "Evil Orbit."
Both Austin Powers movies open with a setting of Quincy Jones' wild, raucous and deeply eccentric "Soul Bossa Nova," perfectly setting up the persona of Austin Powers. For Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Clinton created a close approximation of the original '60s arrangement of the tune but allowed it to open up Hollywood style for a climactic shot in which Austin emerges from a swimming pool like a somewhat hairier Esther Williams. The Spy Who Shagged Me brings back Dr. Evil, whose plans for an outer space laser attack on Earth are accompanied by a gleaming, 007-flavored space march. Evil is up to his usual tricks, which calls for a building swell of suspense music as he unveils his latest invention - the hideous miniature version of himself, "Mini-Me." Clinton's music for the diminutive henchman is a delicate wash of harps and chimes a la Bernard Herrmann. Evil's second partner in crime, the gargantuan Fat Bastard, receives an appropriately crushing mix of Gaelic instrumentation. There's even a burst of lush, romantic tropical music as Austin and his new partner, Felicity Shagwell, emerge from the surf in homage to Dr. No's Ursula Andress.
George S. Clinton's Austin Powers music is as vital to the movies as Mike Meyers' characterization of Austin himself. It's more than just a good soundtrack - it swings, baby!
Score album coming on RCA Victor this November
Go to Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Go to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
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