Lakeshore Records release Clyde Lawrence's score for The Rewrite. Once upon a time, Keith Michaels was an Award-winning Hollywood screenwriter, but divorce and a string of unsuccessful films have left him with nothing but bad debts and blank pages. So when his agent arranges a job as guest screenwriting professor at a remote university in upstate New York, a desperate Keith can't say no. Initially hoping to give minimal effort to actual teaching so he can focus on his next script, Keith unexpectedly finds himself becoming invested in his students lives...

The Rewrite is a soundtrack that is made up partly by the original score, as well as a few songs from the film. Of this album's 29 tracks (57 min, 11 sec) 26 tracks (46 min, 32 sec) are composed by Clyde Lawrence, with some co-written by Cody Fitzgerald, while the other 3 tracks (10 min, 39 sec) are performed by various artists. Lawrence also wrote the song 'One More Time', which is included here.

The way I normally review soundtracks is I play them through once, without checking who the composer is or what artists are on the album. This way my first impressions don't come with any preconceived expectations. Then I read through the press info and check the track listing as I listen to the album again another couple of times. I then put it aside for a couple of days, before playing the tracks through again - sometimes just the once, but more often than not several more times. This way, I feel, that I can accurately reflect my opinion by being as subject as possible.

With The Rewrite, on the first listen through one of my notes was that the score, in places, had a ring of Vince Guaraldi about it - particularly his music for the Peanuts animated TV series. It was odd to discover that one of Guaraldi's songs, 'Since I Fell For You' was included on this album. I'm not sure whether the director wanted Lawrence to deliver a Guaraldi-esque score or whether it was just coincidence, but the end result works rather nicely.

This is a mellow, easy listening album that works as a wonderful musical souvenir for fans of the movie.

7

Darren Rea