Love Happens

by Christopher Young

Overview

Composer Christopher Young's score for the romantic film Love Happens was not immortalized on a soundtrack album at the time of the theatrical release, but finally appeared three weeks after the movie became a DVD. The lag may be some indication of its mediocrity. Young has a gift for coming up with music better than the movies he scores, but that gift has generally been applied to horror films (e.g., Drag Me to Hell), not to love stories, and he is a very busy composer. For Love Happens, he has come up with a cute little theme first heard in the opening track that sounds like it's about to turn into Tony Hatch's "Downtown," the Petula Clark hit from 1965, but never quite does so. Elsewhere, as the acoustic guitars are strummed and the pianos caressed, he sometimes seems to be going for the kind of minor-key contemplative music favored by Thomas Newman, but without the quirkiness Newman likes to throw in. None of the music is particularly compelling, at least for the first 16 tracks. Then, there are seven more "bonus tracks", pushing the album to a length of 67 minutes. It's not clear what is meant by "bonus tracks," but this is not music consistent with what has gone before and, presumably, not actually heard in the film. It sounds like these might have been alternate ideas Young worked on for the score, and if so, maybe they should have been used instead. "A Dissonant Discourse" is an interesting percussive track, while "Why the Hell Am I in Heaven?" is mildly funky, and "Fast Toward the Eye (Of Lorelei)" is a much more developed and satisfying theme than the one that dominates the main score. It's too bad the composer only gets to show his talent in the addendum, but the album certainly is better for the additions. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	02/23/2010
Label:	La-La Land Records
UPC:	0826924112427
Rank:	162564

Tracks

1. Love Happens~Love Happens
2. Love Happens~Kaleidoscope Christmas
3. Love Happens~A World in the Three Colors
4. Love Happens~It's Mmm... Good
5. Love Happens~Crystal Flowers
6. Love Happens~Walk the Talk
7. Love Happens~Around or Through?
8. Love Happens~Past Isn't
9. Love Happens~Joy Within Each Thought
10. Love Happens~Groove E
11. Love Happens~Each Decorated Ditch
12. Love Happens~Vodka Logic
13. Love Happens~Mind Noise
14. Love Happens~Cinammon Life
15. Love Happens~We're A-OK
16. Love Happens~Love Happened
17. Love Happens~Baggage Blister Hoedown
18. Love Happens~A Consonant Cry
19. Love Happens~A Dissonant Discourse
20. Love Happens~Why the Hell Am I in Heaven?
21. Love Happens~Not Really Postlude
22. Love Happens~Freud Who?
23. Love Happens~Fast Toward the Eye (of Lorelei)

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Christopher Young   Primary Artist,Primary Artist
Ian Walker   Bass
Margaret Wooten   Violin
Christina Soule   Cello
Irina Voloshina   Violin
Eun Mee Ahn   Violin
Dane Little   Cello
Endre Granat   Violin
Dimitrie Leivici   Violin
Amy Hershberger   Violin
Chris Ermacoff   Cello
Marlow Fisher   Viola
Lynn Grants   Viola
Shoshana Claman   Violin
Laura McLean   Violin
Sharon Jackson   Violin
Donald Ferrone   Bass
Kenneth Yerke   Violin
Karl Vincent-Wickliff   Bass
Joohyun Park   Piano,Vocals
Andrew Spence   Piano
Ingrid Schnell   Vocals
Tiffany Gyomberg   Vocals
M.B. Gordy   Percussion
Pamela Goldsmith   Viola
Janet Lakatos   Viola
Natalie Leggett   Violin
Paul Henning   Violin
Katie Kirkpatrick   Harp
Armen Garabedian   Violin
Bruce Dukov   Violin
Bruce Morgenthaler   Bass
John Walz   Cello
Ana Landauer   Violin
Victoria Lanier   Violin
Peter Jandula-Hudson   Viola
Gary Nesteruk   Piano
Michele Nardone   Violin
Denise Briese   Bass
Eve Butler   Violin
Eric J. Hosler   Violin
David Johnson   Marimba
Carrie Holzman-Little   Viola
Robert Brosseau   Violin
David Russell   Percussion
Tamara Hatwan   Violin
Marc Sazer   Violin
Jonathan Timpe   Percussion
Norman Ludwin   Bass
Armen Anassian   Violin
Victor Lawrence   Cello
Robert Brophy   Viola
Pete Anthony   Conductor
Jennie Hansen   Viola
Clayton Haslop   Violin
Darrin McCann   Viola
Sebastian Toettcher   Cello
Miran Kojian   Violin
Liane Mautner   Violin
Denyse Buffum   Viola
Stephen Erdody   Cello
John Wittenberg   Violin
Maurice Grants   Cello
Darius Campo   Violin
Paula Hochhalter   Cello
Robin Olson   Violin
Nancy Roth   Viola

Technical Credits

Ford A. Thaxton   Album Supervision
Tiffany Jones   Score Supervisor
Harry Garfield   Executive in Charge of Music
Philip Cohen   Music Business Affairs
Joohyun Park   Score Coordinator
Scott Stuber   Executive Producer
Andrew Spence   Synthesizer Programming
Brandon Camp   Executive Producer
Christopher Young   Composer,Producer,Orchestration
Max Blomgren   Mixing,Producer
Matt Verboys   Executive Producer
Samantha Barker   Film Music Coordinator
James Nelson   Mastering,Digital Editing
David Buntz   Album Supervision
Brandon Verrett   Orchestration
David Russell   Synthesizer Programming
Jonathan Timpe   Synthesizer Programming
Mark Buys   Score Coordinator
Konstantinos Christides   Orchestration
Curt Sobel   Music Editor
Chris Fogel   Mixing
Robert Fernandez   Engineer
Mark Banning   Art Direction
Kathy Nelson   Music Supervisor