After The Fox: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack [Enhanced CD]
It's no surprise that legendary songwriter Burt Bacharach turned up in a cameo midway throughAustin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Mike Meyers' recent sleeper-hit spoof of all things '60s (be they good, bad or downright embarrassing). After all, Bacharach was responsible for a good portion of the era's more sophisticated musical underpinnings, not to mention the dizzy soundtracks toWhat's New, Pussycat?and this goofy, multinational, cinematic cocktail. Writer Neil Simon,Bicycle Thiefdirector Vittorio de Sica and  star Peter Sellers couldn't turnAfter the Foxinto a hit in 1966, but  Bacharach's spry, baroque score--and a dash of Meyers' enthusiastic,  barely tongue-in-cheek admiration--easily qualify this as a '90s retro  gem. The title-song teaming of the Hollies and Peter Sellers at his  mock-Roman best is sweetly eccentric and flows nicely into Bacharach's  swinging bossanovas. And yes, cocktail-lovers, harpsichords abound here.--Jerry McCulley