Bingo [Original Soundtrack US]

Personnel: Richard Gibbs (piano, organ, synthesizer); Joey Scarbari (vocals); Doug Lacy (whistling, accordion); George Doering (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, dobro); John Coux, John Goux (electric guitar); David McKelvy (harmonica); James Cox, Jim Cox (piano); Ken Wild (acoustic bass, electric bass); Michael Jochum (drums).
Liner Note Author: Nick Redman .
Recording information: Rumbo Recorders.
Illustrator: Karen Stone.
Photographer: Jack Roward.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Joey Scarbari; Richard Kraft.
This is a genial and entertaining film score in a mostly zydeco-country-rock style, intended to energize a silly comedy about a boy and his dog. It is remarkably entertaining and listenable. The film's inspiration is musical, a popular children's campfire song with the words "There was a farmer had a dog/And Bingo was his name, oh/B-I-N-G-O/B-I-N-G-O/B-I-N-G-O/And Bingo was his name." The trick of the song is that it is sung five times, and each time a letter of the name is dropped, beginning with the initial "B." One can imagine whoever dreamed up the movie thinking, "Millions of kids know Bingo the dog, so they'll be sure to buy tickets to see Bingo the dog movie." Richard Gibbs is a composer who has specialized in light movies of this sort, especially kid-oriented films. He is an Ohio native who was raised in Daytona Beach, FL, and became a member of the surfing and racing scene there. A composition graduate from the Berklee School of Music in Boston, he spent four years as a keyboard player with the band Oingo Boingo and in 1988 followed the band's singer Danny Elfman into film scoring. This was one of his earliest film scores. The pop instrumentation of the score is piano, three guitars (acoustic and electric), synthesizers, drums, accordion, harmonicas, and electric and acoustic basses. The score nicely keeps track of the progress of the film and mirrors its elevation into whimsical absurdity. About half of its musical material is based on the "Bingo" folk tune, which Gibbs takes through a variety of dance and pop genres. However, the main theme is -- as far as is readily apparent -- not based on the tune, and is used mostly for action music. The film's plot is a boy gets dog, boy loses dog, dog finds boy story. Bingo is a trained circus dog who is unappreciated there. For that reason, Bingo runs away and is adopted by young Chuckie, who keeps his existence a secret because he believes his parents will disapprove. A genial and spirited yellow Labrador/collie mix, Bingo is abruptly thrown on his own resources when Chuckie's father, a place kicker for the Denver Broncos, is abruptly traded to the Green Bay Packers. Bingo's resources are up to the task, and then some; the charm of the film is that the typical Lassie-style "smart dog" antics are genially exaggerated until they get wildly improbable, as in a scene where Bingo operates a pay telephone. Gibbs' score's straightforward and amused commentary on the dog's abilities was essential in making the concept work on the screen. ~ Joe Stevenson