I watched the sex farce BLAME IT ON RIO again for the first time in 20 years last week. The film’s score was by Ken Wannberg, but most of the music consists of songs. Wannberg wrote seven songs for the film (with lyrics by Dennis Spiegel), but the title tune (and one other) was penned by Cy Coleman, with lyrics by Sheldon Harnick (“Fiddler On the Roof”). The film’s score also includes five songs by Brazilian legend Oscar Castro-Neves.
Varese Sarabande issued an LP back in 1984, but it has never been released on CD. The LP has all of the Wannberg and Coleman songs, but none of the Oscar Castro-Neves tunes. In addition, there are 3 instrumental tracks by Wannberg. It appears as if the Varese LP may have been issued with two different covers. This one is the most common:
But then I’ve also seen this:
Here’s a sampler of the soundtrack, with the Coleman-Harnick title song, the instrumental “Night Madness,” and the Wannberg-Spiegel song “Alone With Me.”
