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THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB
Pleasant little score for romantic drama
 A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Music composed by
AARON ZIGMAN

Rating
* * *



Performed by
UNNAMED ORCHESTRA
conducted by
AARON ZIGMAN

Engineer
MICHAEL STERN
Music Editor
JOHNNY CARUSO
Produced by
AARON ZIGMAN

Album running time
32:54

Released by
VARESE SARABANDE
Catalog number
VSD-6856

Album cover copyright (c) 2007 Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc.; review copyright (c) 2007 James Southall

Based on Karen Joy Fowler's book, The Jane Austen Book Club is a chick flick about a group of women who get together once a month to talk about Jane Austen books - and whose own romantic lives bear remarkable parallels to the plots under discussion.  I guess the plots in films like this don't really matter, and the list of performers is decent.  With female writers, a female director, all the lead characters being female, it's a bit of a shame that a female composer couldn't be found to provide the music, but Aaron Zigman delivers a decent enough score anyway.

The influence of two Newmans looms large here - inevitably, Thomas is one, with the sometimes-kooky music for the dramatic sequences featuring the kind of small ensemble writing he favours when occasionally scoring films like this; and Randy is the other, with the music for the comedy sequences here bearing more than a passing resemblance to that composer's broad approach for such films.

This is unambitious film music, but what it does, it does well.  There's a nice theme underpinning everything, a charming atmosphere, it remains pleasant and melodic throughout - in short, there's little here to dislike.  It was alarming at first to see that this barely 30-minute album features no fewer than 29 tracks, but this proves slightly less irritating than it usually does, since Zigman keeps things flowing and offers the pieces as individual little vignettes rather than inconsequential time-fillers.  There are no surprises here, but for fans of this sort of thing there's no reason to steer clear.

Tracks

  1. Prudie Sees Trey (:41)
  2. The Buffy Conference (2:18)
  3. The Airport (1:24)
  4. Trey Comes On to Prudie (3:24)
  5. Jocelyn and Greg (2:09)
  6. February Reading (1:13)
  7. Daniel Breaks Up (1:33)
  8. March Book Club (:29)
  9. Changing Clothes (:33)
  10. Jocelyn Gets Vulnerable (1:13)
  11. Ten Days with Mother (:36)
  12. Bernadette and Purdie (2:08)
  13. June Book Club (:29)
  14. Sylvia and Jocelyn (1:09)
  15. A Little Romance (:43)
  16. At the Bar (:42)
  17. Porch Intrigue (:31)
  18. Grigg Emails (1:20)
  19. Sky Has to Leave (1:26)
  20. Daniel Crossing (:54)
  21. The Trafifc Light (:30)
  22. April Book Club (:29)
  23. The Funeral (:33)
  24. May Book Club (:45)
  25. The Jane Austen Book Club Ending (2:57)
  26. Allegra Ticked Off (:45)
  27. Trash in Car (:18)
  28. Head on Daniel (1:12)
  29. Excuse Us (:44)
    30.