Laurel and Hardy - Alloy Orchestra, Laurel & Hardy
Old Time Religion - Alloy Orchestra, Chaplin, Charlie
Angelic Brimstone - Alloy Orchestra, Chaplin, Charlie
Angelic Brimstone II - Alloy Orchestra, Chaplin, Charlie
Easy St. - Alloy Orchestra, Chaplin, Charlie
The Bad Guy - Alloy Orchestra, Chaplin, Charlie
The Gassing - Alloy Orchestra, Chaplin, Charlie
Phone Call Cops - Alloy Orchestra, Chaplin, Charlie
Charity/Orphanage - Alloy Orchestra, Chaplin, Charlie
Zany Dish Pants - Alloy Orchestra, Chaplin, Charlie
Snidely Whiplash - Alloy Orchestra, Chaplin, Charlie
Junkie/Charlie Kicks Their Asses - Alloy Orchestra, Chaplin, Charlie
Angelic Brimstone Finale - Alloy Orchestra, Chaplin, Charlie
The Alloy Orchestra has become something of a staple at cinema festivals worldwide, accompanying silent films with scores performed on synthesizers, accordions, musical saws, and a junk pile of pans and sheet metal. Master... more »s of Slapstick is the band's first CD foray into old-fashioned comedic violence, scoring the movies One Week by Buster Keaton, Big Business by Laurel and Hardy, and Easy Street by Charlie Chaplin. And like the outlandish visual cues and farcical action of these films, the Alloy's music is all setup and punch line, a ride of Keystone Cops proportion. The pleasant formality of a waltz or a wedding march suddenly careens and ditches into a percussive pileup ("Drive Away") or a vaudeville piano gets a heavy dose of adrenaline and lurches into a stampede of ivory keys and foot stomping ("Zany Dish Pants"). Poignant and direct, drunken and burlesque, the Alloy Orchestra's take on pratfalls and painful stunts is completely loaded with seductive charm. --Michael Woodring« less
The Alloy Orchestra has become something of a staple at cinema festivals worldwide, accompanying silent films with scores performed on synthesizers, accordions, musical saws, and a junk pile of pans and sheet metal. Masters of Slapstick is the band's first CD foray into old-fashioned comedic violence, scoring the movies One Week by Buster Keaton, Big Business by Laurel and Hardy, and Easy Street by Charlie Chaplin. And like the outlandish visual cues and farcical action of these films, the Alloy's music is all setup and punch line, a ride of Keystone Cops proportion. The pleasant formality of a waltz or a wedding march suddenly careens and ditches into a percussive pileup ("Drive Away") or a vaudeville piano gets a heavy dose of adrenaline and lurches into a stampede of ivory keys and foot stomping ("Zany Dish Pants"). Poignant and direct, drunken and burlesque, the Alloy Orchestra's take on pratfalls and painful stunts is completely loaded with seductive charm. --Michael Woodring
CD Reviews
Masters of Slapstick
Arthur Booth | Los Angeles, CA | 10/24/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I'm a film collector of silent vintage comedy films. So, when you're looking for music to accompany them, it's nice to find tracks that were specially written for specific films. Alloy Orchestra has an uncanny knack for finding the amusing twists and turns of old comedy films, such as Laurel & Hardy's Big Business. I have found it a perfect match for the action on the screen."