Summer Love

Summer Love is one of the earlier and more obscure Henry Mancini scores on record. By 1958, when Summer Love came out, he had already scored dozens of films, but it wasn't until that year that he began achieving renown for his work - on Touch of Evil, and especially for his wildly popular Peter Gunn theme.

Summer Love is a sequel to a 1956 film called Rock Pretty Baby. Both were early examples of the rock and roll film, although neither actually featured any rock and roll musicians. Both movies revolved around a faux band called Jimmy Daley and the Ding-A-Lings, a curiously improbable name, certainly not designed to impress. "Hey, why don't you come out and hear my band?" "Yeah, which band is that?" "Jimmy Daley and The Ding-A-Lings." It's embarrassing.

Jimmy Daley himself is played by John Saxon, and the closest the film comes to using an actual rock and roll musician is to dub Saxon's vocal on the title tune with Kip Tyler, an obscure rockabilly singer. Also in the Ding-A-Lings is Rod McKuen, cast as Ox (speaking of improbable names). In the film, Rod sings a calypso song that he wrote, and it isn't bad! This was when Rod was putting out records of ballads and folk songs for Decca and making movies like this. It was several years before his maudlin poetry became popular.

Also making an appearance is wide-eyed country singer Molly Bee, who was on American television at the time. I have to admit that I was impressed by her - she has a very good set of pipes. Molly duets with Rod on To Know You Is to Love You. This isn't the Phil Spector tune; it was written by Mancini with lyricist Bill Carey (You've Changed). Molly also does a song called the Magic Penny (here called Love Is Something), one of the best-known works by folksinger Malvina Reynolds (Little Boxes) and one of its earliest recordings.

Malvina Reynolds, Rod McKuen, Molly Bee . . . certainly no rock and roll there. A Mancini studio group does provide some ersatz rock on several other numbers. Jazz musicians attempting to rock is like dogs trying to walk on their hind legs.

Mancini's rock simulations generally sound like big band charts reconfigured for guitars and sax. One even is reminiscent of Intermission Riff. The studio group is most convincing when an anonymous honkin' sax puts out some 50s-style r&b.

Mancini also throws in a stroll, and a few Shearing-esque numbers. He gets closest to the familiar Mancini sound on such numbers as Theme for a Crazy Chick and Kool Breeze, which would not be out of place on his more popular LPs of the next few years.

As a rock LP, this is a complete washout, but it does have its high points otherwise and the material is surprisingly varied.