The Big Chill [Deluxe Edition]

Performer: Original Soundtrack/Various Artists
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Producers include: Norman Whitfield, Smokey Robinson, The (Young) Rascals, Richard A. Podolor, Jerry Wexler. Compilation producer: Meg Kasdan. Includes liner notes by Lawrence and Meg Kasdan. Digitally remastered using 24-bit technology by Kevin Reeves (Polygram Studios). Includes liner notes by Kevin Filipski. Liner Note Author: Kevin Filipski. Arrangers: Chris Stainton; Jerry Ragovoy; Leon Russell; Arif Mardin; Stuart Scharf; The Grease Band; Tom Dowd; Bob Dorough. This digitally remastered reissue gives another generation a chance to experience one of the first major examples of baby boomer nostalgia. When THE BIG CHILL was first released, ex-hippies were just old enough to get nostalgic about their youth. It's soundtrack features both Motown R&B classics and pop-rock hits by the likes of the Rascals and Three Dog Night, all of which made the transition from counterculture touchstones to oldies radio staples right around the time this album first came out. With electronically enhanced sound and a more postmodern perspective, THE BIG CHILL soundtrack seems even more charming upon reissue than it did in the Reagan Era. By combining the ten songs from the original Big Chill soundtrack album with all but one song from The Big Chill: More Songs From the Original Soundtrack; three instrumental songs from the film; and 15 classic '60s rock and soul tracks that didn't appear on either of those soundtracks (or the film itself), Hip-O managed to fashion a two-CD, 38-song deluxe edition of the Big Chill soundtrack. It's big enough that some of the content is rather speciously related to the original film or soundtrack concept; as a phrase on the cover says, it's more "music from and inspired by The Big Chill" than it is an expanded version of the actual soundtrack. Regardless of how strongly particular tracks tie in to the movie that inspired all this packaging, it's amply stuffed with classic '60s music. Motown does form a bigger piece of the pie than anything else, with 14 of the tracks coming from the company's vaults. But it doesn't actually dominate: there's plenty of other stuff, including great hits by the Rascals, Aretha Franklin, Procol Harum, Percy Sledge, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Beach Boys, the Spencer Davis Group, Lesley Gore, the Mamas & the Papas, Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders, James Brown, and the Zombies. True, there's not much that doesn't get played to death on oldies radio anyway, with Howard Tate's "Get It While You Can" and the Supremes B-side "Ask Any Girl" about the only exceptions. Because of that, there's little reason for collectors to pick it up, other than to get something for their significant other that they can stand listening to together. For a general public divorced from the snobbish record-collecting community, however, it's an excellent and varied scoop of classics from the era, to be filed right next to the two-CD edition of the Forrest Gump soundtrack no doubt. Note, however, that one of the songs from The Big Chill: More Songs From the Original Soundtrack -- the Steve Miller Band's "Quicksilver Girl" -- has been omitted from this deluxe edition, for reasons unexplained. ~ Richie Unterberger

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