An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (soundtrack)
| An American Tail: Fievel Goes West | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | November 12, 1991 | |||
| Genre | Original soundtrack Film score | |||
| Length | 56:38 | |||
| Label | MCA | |||
| Producer | James Horner | |||
| James Horner chronology | ||||
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An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack and score album to the 1991 film An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. The animated Western comedy film, which was the first to be produced by Amblimation, an animation studio and subsidiary of Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, is the sequel to An American Tail (1986). James Horner who composed music for the first film, returned to score for Fievel Goes West, and also wrote four original songs with Will Jennings. The album featured four songs, with Linda Ronstadt and Cathy Cavadini performing the tracks. The original song "Dreams to Dream" received a nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song,[1] and was shortlisted for the nomination of Academy Award for Best Original Song,[2] but the track was not nominated.
Background[edit]
The album featured four songs: two versions of "Dreams to Dream", "Way Out West" performed by a chorus, and "The Girl You Left Behind" performed by Cathy Cavadini. The film also features the cover of "Rawhide" from the Blues Brothers 1980 film.[3][4] Songs and themes from the first film: "Somewhere Out There", "Mouses Even Cry", "If Cheese Grew on Trees", "Anything Can Happen in America" and "Fievel's Point of View" were also played in the film, though not included in the soundtrack.[5]
"Dreams to Dream" is based on the short instrumental piece from the first film. In July 1991, Anita Baker was originally attached to sing "Dreams to Dream",[6] but this did not happen. Although Linda Ronstadt originally sang the song, she rejected allowing her voice on it after recording finished; Celine Dion was replaced, and she recorded her vocals while working on her second English-language album. However, Ronstadt then asked for her vocals to be on the track, and the executives thought Dion did not have enough star power. While this resulted in the re-insertion of Ronstadt's voice, Horner's experience with recording the song with Dion led her to singing on a later Horner-composed song, "My Heart Will Go On".[7][8] Cavadini also sang Tanya's version of "Dreams to Dream".[3]
The score was recorded at the London Symphony Orchestra and several instruments were used in the score, including xylophones, fiddles, banjos, harmonicas, and array of wood and metal percussion.[9]
Release history[edit]
MCA Records released An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack) on November 12, 1991, in cassettes, CDs and LP record. The album was released in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Austria, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan under the catalog number 10416.[10] In 2013, Geffen Records re-released the soundtrack for digital streaming services.[11]
Reception[edit]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [12] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A−[5] |
| Film Tracks | [9] |
An Entertainment Weekly review compared the score to the soundtracks of Gunsmoke and Oklahoma! (1955) as well as the works of Aaron Copland.[5] Filmtracks said that the songs "play a lesser role in the success of this overall package than in the first one", but called Horner's score as "no less than fantastic". It further added that "the highlights of the full ensemble performances are the several cues in which Horner blatantly pulls Copland's rodeo music, ambitious string and light percussion rhythms with brass motifs that frankly could have resulted in a lawsuit".[9] AllMusic called the soundtrack as "surely be a favorite among young audiences".[12] RogerEbert.com called the score as "one of the underrated works of James Horner".[13]
Commercial performance[edit]
In the United States, Ronstadt's version of "Dreams to Dream" reached number 13 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart[14] and number eight on Cashbox's Looking Ahead chart.[15] It also reached 69 on RPM's Canadian singles chart[16] and 18 on the magazine's Adult Contemporary chart.[17]
Track listing[edit]
| No. | Title | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dreams to Dream" (Finale Version) | Linda Ronstadt | 04:42 |
| 2. | "American Tail Overture" (Main Title) | James Horner | 07:09 |
| 3. | "Cat Rumble" | James Horner | 07:28 |
| 4. | "Headin' Out West" | James Horner | 02:35 |
| 5. | "Way Out West" | Chorus | 01:47 |
| 6. | "Green River / Trek Through The Desert" | James Horner | 05:43 |
| 7. | "Dreams to Dream" (Tanya's Version) | Cathy Cavadini | 02:34 |
| 8. | "Building A New Town" | James Horner | 02:43 |
| 9. | "Sacred Mountain" | James Horner | 02:22 |
| 10. | "Reminiscing" | James Horner | 02:12 |
| 11. | "The Girl You Left Behind" | Cathy Cavadini & Chorus | 01:42 |
| 12. | "In Training" | James Horner | 01:49 |
| 13. | "The Shoot-Out" | James Horner | 05:29 |
| 14. | "A New Land – The Future" | James Horner | 08:16 |
| Total length: | 56:38 | ||
References[edit]
- ^ "American Tail, An: Fievel Goes West". Golden Globe Awards. Archived from the original on July 26, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
- ^ Sharkey, Betsy (February 16, 1992). "For the Oscars It's a Familiar Tune". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 2, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
- ^ a b King, Dennis (November 24, 1991). "American Tail 2: Fievel Goes West". Tulsa World. Archived from the original on July 14, 2020. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
- ^ Kleid, Brenna (December 20, 1991). "Of Mice and Men: Spielberg, Fievel Tell Another Fine Tale". Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on July 26, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
- ^ a b c Steward, Susan (January 24, 1992). "Three appealing new soundtracks". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on July 26, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
- ^ Beck, Marilyn; Jenel Smith, Stacy (July 19, 1991). "Lennon's Ex to Sell Her Memorabilia of Singer". Los Angeles Daily News (Valley ed.). p. L4.
- ^ Rapkin, Mickey (May 18, 2017). "The Oral History of Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On': Controversies, Doubts & 'Belly Pains' In the Studio". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 3, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
- ^ "Profiles of Celine Dion, Enrique Iglesias, Moby". CNN. May 18, 2002. Archived from the original on July 26, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
- ^ a b c "An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (James Horner)". Film Tracks. July 13, 1998. Archived from the original on August 15, 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
- ^ James Horner - An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, archived from the original on 2022-04-07, retrieved 2022-07-26
- ^ An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, 1991-01-01, archived from the original on 2019-01-21, retrieved 2022-07-26
- ^ a b "American Tail 2: Fievel Goes West – James Horner". AllMusic. Archived from the original on July 26, 2022. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
- ^ Ritchey, Jessica. "James Horner's Underrated Scores". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on 2021-07-31. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
- ^ "Linda Ronstadt Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 17, 2021. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
- ^ "CASH BOX Singles – Looking Ahead 1/18/92". Cashbox. Archived from the original on December 3, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
- ^ "Top Singles". RPM. Vol. 55, no. 5. January 25, 1992. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
- ^ "40AC (Adult Contemporary)". RPM. Vol. 55, no. 8. Archived from the original on July 27, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
