A League of Their Own

A silly, brash album that is loads of fun at points, and kind of jarring and frustrating at others.

If I had to describe the vibe of “A League of Their Own,” I would have to fall back on common motifs like roaring jazz. Never mind that the era of this movie happens during WWII, which is several years after the end of the Roaring 20s. But I went into this soundtrack knowing nothing, and I was pleasantly surprised (at times). Other times I was wondering what on earth the sound was supposed to represent.

The highlights of the albums are the ones where wild jazz is the focus. The sound is like the music you hear in The Simpsons when Springfield repealed the 18th amendment. The music is energetic and frenzied, and when it’s hot, it’s hitting with all of its might. The issue is that there’s a lot of fluff that’s underwhelming in the soundtrack.

At the same time, you’ll recognize pieces of the soundtrack for influences not just from the era that it represents but also from the sway it has on the eras that come after. What I mean by that is that Zimmer’s signature sound of a bygone era has become the sound that we expect to hear when we do positive retrospectives. We expect to hear that boomy jazz, the trombones and the trumpets blaring with drums in the background doing more than just keeping pace.

My favorite piece, by and far, was “Win the Crowd.” I couldn’t give it a perfect score because there were times when it felt like it was dragging on. But that’s because the music was designed for the movie, and it had to fit a theme.