Lolita

The score to Stanley Kubrick's enduring adaptation of the controversial Vladimir Nabokov novel featured effective incidental orchestrations by Nelson Riddle, by turns sentimental and ominous, that don't contain much interest without the accompanying images. As usual, though, Rhino has done a sterling job with the reissue, adding a bit (not much) of unreleased music and detailed liner notes about both the soundtrack and the production of the film itself. Actually, the highlight is the most frivolous track, "Lolita Ya Ya" (reprised in a slightly longer version as "Charlotte Is Dead"), a maddeningly vapid and catchy instrumental with nonsense vocals that comes across as a simultaneously vicious and good-humored parody of the kitschiest elements of early-'60s rock & roll. For those of you keeping score, Riddle released a different, peppier version of "Lolita Ya Ya" under his name on a 1962 Capitol single that's not included on this CD, but has been reissued on the Cocktail Capers compilation in Capitol's Ultra-Lounge series. ~ Richie Unterberger|