Newsies [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
1992
Featuring 12 original songs by Alan Menkin and a score by J.A.C. Redford, this live-action film musical based on the 1899 New York newsboy strike appeared in the Disney canon between the animated smashes Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. With Howard Ashman too ill at the time to assist, it features lyrics by Jack Feldman and a cast led by a teenaged Christian Bale. Ann-Margret also gets her own song ("My Lovey-Dovey Baby"). Though the film flopped in 1992, Menken and Redford won a Tony for Best Original Score 20 years later thanks to a hit Broadway adaptation.
1999
The death of Stereo Total's Françoise Cactus in February 2021 marked the end of one of indie pop's most enduring -- and endearing -- outfits. The duo's international pop postmodernism rarely sounded finer than it did on 1999's My Melody: Alongside clever covers of heroes such as Serge Gainsbourg and Pizzicato Five, Stereo Total's original songs pay homage to French pop, Neue Deutsche Welt, and other cult-favorite sounds with boundless charm and enthusiasm.
