|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|||||||
Film Music Editor: Ian Lace |
||
November 1999 Film Music CD
Reviews |
|
|
Return to the November Index with thumbnails Part 1
New Digital recordings by The City of Prague Philharmonic conducted by Nic Raine.
Save around 22% with
Amazon
Monty NORMAN – The James Bond Theme
Dr No
John BARRY – From Russia With Love
Goldfinger
Thunderball
You Only Live Twice
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Diamonds Are ForeverThe credentials of this 'Limited Edition' album are impeccable. Nic Raine (the conductor) often collaborates with Barry as orchestrator, Vic Flick IS the original guitar on the Bond theme and the truly splendid notes are by Graham Rye with an addition by James Fitzpatrick. This makes a nice complement to Silva's Essential James Bond CD (FILMCD 007) the review for which tags along here as a reminder. The present release is marked out also by a red-plastic jewel-case.
The Bond theme (Monty Norman) is suitably charcoal-squat in its insidiously murderous and metallic way. Most of the rest of the album is John Barry's handiwork and all pretty familiar. Well, I say familiar, but in fact these are not the tracks you will have heard in standard compilation albums. This album picks up all those little incidental details and much of it is atmosphere music with little in the way of thematic interest.
Dr No weaves the Bond theme into the repetitive atmospherics for various killings: of the Tarantula, of a guard and of Dr No. The score for From Russia with Love has that dizzying Bond magic and the main title is a laurel to which we owe thanks to Barry, Norman and Lionel Bart. The strings are lithely rich. The beat-generation and Caribbean local colour meets Lionel Hampton in The Golden Horn track. 007 Takes the Lektor with its slip-sliding strings and repeating brass car horn motif launches a driving confident string theme that here misses the sheeny perfection of the original. Gold Finger is represented by two tracks of which the second The Fort Knox Raid with its potent whirling premonitions and threats is by far the most memorable. Thunderball opens with a staggering virtual quote from Holst's trombone rush from The Perfect Fool but this is easily trounced by the sinuous seaweed slithering of the clarinet in the music for the underwater fight. Atmosphere music - yes - but such atmosphere.
You Only Live Twice (for me the Bond film par excellence) is represented by a 10 minute suite taking in the romantic Mountains and Sunsets and the mock Japanese Wedding Music. The music for the volcanic Valhalla that opens and closes the film is the very essence of Bond/Barry romanticism. The On Her Majesty's Secret Service score also has its moments including the seductive saxophone and harp and vibra solos for Bond Meets The Girls. After some pretty unremarkable music the final Diamonds are Forever name-track is soaringly romantic - a real high note on which to end. Barry certainly knows where to quarry good tunes. Try also the love them from his 1970s King Kong score if you get a chance.
The sound quality is superb, open and richly dressed - such a change from the claustrophobics of the OST albums. A number (11) of these tracks or part tracks are here recorded for the first time making this all the more of a must buy. For Bond's-men and Bond's-women this is another must-buy.
The more general listener may not find this a totally compelling purchase but there is much to enjoy here and the recapture is made all the more pleasurable experience by the loving performances and recordings.
Reviewer
Rob Barnett
And Ian Lace adds:
I am now making a snack of the words I uttered on this site two or three months ago when I asserted my distaste for the music of John Barry for I will admit to a sneaking liking for a lot of his music for the James Bond films.
This is an album to treasure for it includes some previously unreleased material. Like ‘The Zagreb Express’ cue from From Russia With Love that is a vivid evocation of a speeding train you can really visualise those wheels screeching along the track. Understandably, we cannot have the songs, a pity one shudders with pleasure at the thought of Shirley Bassey singing Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever and wasn’t Louis Armstrong’s vocal We Have All the Time in the World absolute magic – a glorious song.
Inevitably one is drawn to comparisons with the established discs and I listened to the old United Artists 10th anniversary double LP of most of these tracks. Today’s sound is much better of course and all the splendid instrumental colour of ‘Capsule in Space’, from You Only Live Twice is fully revealed. It sounds great here with its percussion in wide perspectives and those lovely fluttering harp figures. From the same score, Mountains and Sunsets is another fine romantic evocation of a twilit Chinese landscape.
I was disappointed in this latest version of the scintillating and exuberant ‘Golden Horn’ music from From Russia With Love, the old LP had far more zest, you felt the players were enjoying themselves much more. Of the other new additions I was thrilled by the headlong excitement of ‘Escape from Piz Gloria and the Ski Chase’ from the George Lazenby Bond outing. The slinky, sexy number ‘Into Miami’ and the warmer more romantic yet shadowy ‘Alpine Drive’ cues from Goldfinger, although not new, impressed me too.
With its distinctive red packaging and its Special Limited Edition promise, all Bond and Barry fans should not hesitate about snapping this one up.
Reviewer
Ian Lace
This is a survey of the orchestral music written for the James Bond films. The recordings are newly made in arrangements which strive (generally with success) to recreate the soundworld of the original scores. All the Bond films (except the loony Casino Royale) are represented. Some are accorded two tracks. Three of the tracks are suites.
The music and of course the songs reclaim many memories for this reviewer. This is aided by the attention to authentic detail to emphasise and intensify the original 'broad band' sound with all orchestrations (except For Your Eyes Only which is the work of Bill Conti) by the conductor, Nic Raine, who should 'know his onions.' He has, after all, worked as orchestrator and assistant with John Barry on The Living Daylights and View to a Kill.
Dr No - The James Bond Theme (Monty Norman, 1962). The film which launched the series was an absolute cracker. It was stunningly violent in the new and blackest manner of The Killers. The ruthlessness mixes with glitzy sophistication. Electricity and muscularity are the hallmarks and both qualities are very well conveyed in the performance and recording.
This atmosphere carries over into From Russia With Love (Barry, Bart, Norman, 1963), the music for which adds another characteristic: a very romantic sweep. The similarities with Lara's theme from Dr Zhivago should be noted. The third track is also devoted to the film and the music has the driven energy of a thundering train. Chubby horns howl triumphantly and the strings shriek.
4 Goldfinger (Barry, Bricusse, Newley 1964). That rearing theme does not have the bruising abrasion of the original; far too languorous. However the unwinding romance of the strings is well done.5 Thunderball (Barry, Black 1965) has that rearing theme but also a deep Axminster violin magic carpet and a clean trumpet solo cleanly played here in pristine purity. As music it is not so impressive overall. 6 You Only Live Twice (Barry, Bricusse, 1967) has an oriental sweeping theme criss-crossing with the big theme in a score with the sea in its blood. 7 OHMSS (Barry) and A View to a Kill (Barry/Duran Duran) offer black-hearted brass, a ruthless theme (and mark you OHMSS is one of the best). This relaxes in this suite into the almost elegiac View to a Kill and that serene sadness is played to the hilt. We Have All The Time In The World (8) is a symphonic strings version of the song: a step onwards from You Only Live Twice. 9 Diamonds Are Forever has a mysterious iciness and a powerful swing with brass tones heavy with foreboding. 10 Live and Let Die is all New Orleans jazz mixing in with the shrillest hints of Obeah black magic. 11 The Man with the Golden Gun is pretty unimpressive as music. 12 Nobody Does It Better from The Spy Who Loved Me is played as if by a soupy salon Palm Court ensemble eventually joined by an equally somnolent full orchestra. 13 Moonraker comprises more gauzy soft-focus candle-lit romance but is contrasted with For Your Eyes Only (14) with its Copland-inflected chanting and piano thuds. In the following track All Time High (Octopussy) the unfolding of the big theme is done with a glycerine smoothness that falls over the edge into gloopy Mantovani-territory.
Coming almost up to date The Living Daylights is vigorous with a big bold slightly restless brassy sound and Licence to Kill has affectionate hints of Goldfinger, a shady sax solo and a Spanish classical guitar sketching in the theme. Goldeneye (soon to be televised in the UK - of course the new Bond film is soon to be released!) has electric guitar and modernistic sound. It is rather flimsy with some of the accustomed Bond hoops duly leapt through but little conviction.
Everything is rounded off with the James Bond theme in the original version by Monty Norman with the squat and burred sound of the brass section, metallic-silk strings and an electric guitar making that scratching threateningly.
The notes by Graham Rye of the James Bond Fan Club are good providing an introduction to the birth of the Bond theme and scores. There is a brief profile for each of the films. There is also a useful profile of Nic Raine.
The design of the disc is around the bullet hole, blood-drenched iris typical of the Bond films. The CD cover (back and front) carry the bullet-hole and so does the booklet. The notes are printed around the hole. The print is photo-reduced white on black or graphite grey and can be difficult to read.
Reviewer
Rob Barnett
Save around 22% with
Yalplay
Bon Voyage Dreams of Surf Opening Conquest of Paradise Monastery of La Rabida Come to Me Light and Shadow Fields of Coral El Greco: Mvts 5 & 6 Across the Ocean Sea Theme from Bitter Moon Rachel's Song El Greco: Mvt 4 Theme from: 'The Plague' Dawn Prelude
Vangelis' music is quite popular and has featured in several films, countless TV commercials, signature tunes and suchlike. This laudable compilation brings back some of the more famous melodies as a retrospective cutback of the outgoing 90's and it's quite overdue. Four albums are featured here whilst a few unpublished tracks were also fished out by the Greek master to make life slightly more easier. The more famous tracks from 1492 are obviously much better known especially the moving wordless chorus that begins 'Conquest of Paradise', slowly rising to fever pitch. 'Monastery of La Rabida' is also rather fresh; the sounds of Spanish Renaissance are there to be absorbed. My personal favorite has got to be 'Oceanic', a delightful combination of aquatic sounds, choruses and beautiful motionless sound pictures, all embracing the deep blue sea. Of the hour long album, we have the opening 'Bon Voyage/Dreams of Surf', very evocative stuff and the moving
'Fields of Coral' with its majestic painting of a coral turf. The 'El Greco' movements aren't so moving, they reminded me of Alan Parson's 'Gaudi' but still the music is thrilling enough. Vangelis' cocktail of authentic Spanish sounds, synthesizers, orchestra and other batteries of effects recreate the work of this great Spanish giant with enough accuracy. The items fished out from other unfinished projects did not impress me much although the 'Theme from the Plague' is commercial enough. A vivid selection then, obviously you won't buy if you have all the albums but worth getting for the extra titbits that are making their first commercial appearance.
Reviewer
Gerald Fenech
Performance:
Sound:
Save around 22% with
CDNow
Earl Wild is a major American musician. As pianist, he has played with distinction under the batons of many famous conductors including Toscanini and Klemperer. Rachmaninov was his friend and important idol in his life – indeed, Wild’s recordings of Rachmaninov have always been admired. This American recording was made last year and the booklet remarked that Earl was then 82 years old but still planning new recordings. Besides being a virtuoso pianist Earl Wild, has also been busy as composer, transcriber, conductor, editor, and teacher.
Earl Wild also made a number of recordings of film music for the Readers Digest Association. Some were released by RCA as part of the Charles Gerhardt Classic Film Scores series. All the recordings on this album were made in London, all engineered by Kenneth Wilkinson. They have been remastered in high-resolution digital sound and, for the most part, they sound fabulous.
Richard Rogers - Slaughter on 10th Avenue. Richard Rodgers is remembered chiefly for hit shows (with Oscar Hammerstein II) like Oklahoma! (1943); Carousel (1945); South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951); and The Sound of Music (1959) all of which have been filmed, of course. ‘Slaughter on 10th Avenue’ originated as a ballet, choreographed by the great George Balanchine for the 1936 musical On Your Toes. The ballet, in a rather comical mode, was included in the 1939 film version of the musical (starring Eddie Albert, Vera Zorina and Donald O’Connor). The ballet assumed a darker, steamier air for the 1957 film entitled Slaughter on 10th Avenue (with Richard Egan, Jan Sterling, Dan Duryea, Julie Adams and Walter Matthau). Then, in 1965, Earl Wild rewrote the ballet music adding a jazz-tinged piano score. He also re-orchestrated parts of it so that it became this fast-paced, exciting piano concertino. I must tell you that although you might hear many performances of ‘Slaughter on 10th Avenue’ in a lifetime, none, but none of them could compare to this sassy, thrilling reading.
Max Steiner – Symphonique Moderne. Steiner composed this mini-concerto for the 1939 film, Four Wives (the sequel to the successful 1938 film Four Daughters) starring Claude Rains, the Lane sisters (Priscilla, Rosemary and Lola) and John Garfield as a struggling young musician. ‘Symphonie Moderne’ was expanded by Charles Gerhardt who played it for Max Steiner shortly before his death. It is written in the grand late Romantic tradition but with the injection of modern American ‘urban’ influences.
Franz Lizst – Un Sospiro (Étude No. 3 in D flat). Lizst’s music has been used in many films especially in the many screen biographies of the composer. This is a very attractive little piece played with panache by Wild and Douglas Gamley and his orchestra.
Miklós Rózsa – Spellbound Concerto. This popular concerto with its magnificent sweeping romantic melody, was composed from Ròzsa’s music for one of Alfred Hitchcock’s early psychosis-based thrillers. Gregory Peck, in the film, Spellbound, is the amnesia/paranoia patient whose illness and disturbed dream world (photographed against Salvatore Dali’s surreal designs) is vividly portayed by Ròzsa brilliantly using the theremin, an early electronic musical instrument.
Chopin – Grande Polonaise Brillante Op. 22. Like Lizst, Chopin’s brilliant virtuosity and colourful life was ripe for screen biography treatment. Both composers’ music was also in great demand when passion and romance was on the screen.
Mozart – Piano Concerto in C Major, K 467 ("Elvira Madigan"). This is the major work on the programme and is performed in its 28-minute entirety. It is a sparkling work and the Andante was used to great effect in the Swedish film Elvira Madigan. Wild gives a beautifully controlled and sensitive performance.
The 12-page booklet which accompanies this album, carries full notes about the music and the films, together with some remarkable photographs including one of a line-up of eleven composers attending a Hollywood Bowl dinner in July 1948 including: George Antheil, Miklós Rózsa, William Grant Still, Igor Stravinsky and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
A collectable anthology
Reviewer
Ian Lace
Compared to their American counterparts, European films and their composers have always been relegated to the back seat. The North American public often misses marvelous scores that deserves attention. Because of financial and marketing ploys (or lack of them), these compositions are available only to the European market and to a small number of film score aficionados. This is the case with the rich and wonderful score that Jean-Claude Petit composed for Cyrano de Bergerac.
Winner of the César and the British Award in 1991 for best score, Petit’s Cyrano de Bergerac did get attention, but of a kind that the composer would probably have done well without. Petit was sued by composer Danny Elfman for plagiarism. At the express request of director Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Petit quite freely used the main theme from Batman. Petit finally won the suit, proving meanwhile that Elfman’s music contained some similarities to Petit’s music too! But litigation aside, the score is a little gem.
Originally a play written by Edmond Rostand in 1897, Cyrano De Bergerac has been adapted numerous times for movies and the theatre. It is the story of Cyrano, who thinks that he cannot win the heart of Roxane because of his prominent nose. Cyrano, blessed with a gift for words and poetry, then helps his friend Christian by ghost. writing letters and reciting speeches on Christian’s behalf for his beloved Roxane. She pledges her affection to Christian, and this leads to a truth-telling resolution with a tragic final note.
The disc begins with Cyrano’s theme, a soliloquy for trumpet, solemn in tone, expressing Cyrano’s tragic fate. This theme recurs most beautifully in " La Déclaration De Cyrano" in an arrangement for cello, but then evolves into the love theme, which makes this declaration a tender and poignant moment--a passionate moment between the lovers. The love theme heard in this piece shares the same spirit as "Scène D’Amour" from Herrmann’s Vertigo. The complex relationship between Roxane and Christian. Cyrano is also comparable to the one between Scott and Judy-Madeleine in Vertigo.
The second part of the opening number introduces the vivacious theme that Petit borrowed from Elfman’s pen--or computer for that matter! This theme comes back in the sword fight and action pieces entitled "Le Duel," "La Porte De Nesle," and "L’Arrivée de Roxane," which are played with great intensity by a sizeable orchestra. No matter how we feel about this "borrowing," it works tremendously well, both in the movie and on the disc. Petit gives a seventeenth century tone to his modern arrangements by incorporating some traditional instruments like harpsichord, lute, and fife. "La Lanterne Magique" is a delicate piece played on organ. Two short pieces feature voices: a Gregorian style choir in "La Messe Des Espagnols" and soprano voices in "Les Nonnes." Each piece carries its own weight.
Watching the film, one can only be impressed by Petit’s integration of the music not only with the images, but also with the words and sounds of the poetic prose recited by Cyrano. The music complements the words without burying them. As it ranges from heroic to tender, the score communicates a familiarity and continuity that makes this music a wonderful trip back to the classical and baroque periods. Petit’s score is a valuable listening experience.
Reviewer
Martin Provost
We are grateful to Helen San (www.cinemusic.net) for giving us permission to include this review which is currently appearing on her Film Music site.
Save around 22% with
Amazon
Batman Beyond is an apparently successful animated series transposing a teenage Dark Knight in a futuristic Gotham City. According to the sleeve notes producer Bruce Timm wanted music "that would sound more authentic than anything currently heard on broadcast TV". Quite what this is supposed to mean is unclear, but the recipe is as follows.
Take the jittery-edged sampled percussion of Brad Fidel's Terminator 2: Judgement Day soundtrack, then get a razor-sharp thrash metal combo (with sampled drums) to beat it to a bloody pulp. Add a handful of assorted vocal and 'strange effects' samples. Repeat 20 times. Actually track 5 'Farewells' by Lolita Ritmanis makes some attempt at atmosphere, while track 19 'Move to the Groove', also by Ritmanis, has an Arabic flavour. It is only the remaining 18 tracks which are indistinguishable.
Given that Mark Snow can single-handedly score for an entire 25 episode run of The X Files, why it took a team of four composers headed by Shirley Walker to provide these sub-musical offerings is a mystery. Be unfortunate enough to put this disc in the CD player without knowing what it is and you might assume it was any thrash metal album ever made, but with the screaming removed. Just in case I haven't put you off, Bruce Timm adds, "I'm constantly amazed that these clean cut, well mannered, all round nice people can so consistently deliver such vicious music. And they're getting meaner. Perfectionists all, they keep trying to top themselves, pushing the sonic envelope to its breaking point. As good as these selections from their early scores are, their most recent efforts are even more relentless, even more intense. Hopefully, this album will sell well enough to encourage the good folks at Rhino to issue further volumes in the series."
Given that Rhino are to release a complete soundtrack of John Williams brilliant Superman score, we must forgive the good folks for this aberration. Never has a DC superhero so badly needed earplugs.
Reviewer
Gary S. Dalkin
************************************************************** EDITOR’S RECOMMENDATION – November 1999
**************************************************************
Anne Dudley, best known for her work with The Art of Noise and to filmusic fans for her [some might say scandalous] Oscar win with "The Full Monty," enters the classical arena with this effectual debut album of reinterpreted carols, chorales, and hymns. In doing so, it sounds as if Dudley brought forward every Thespian force she has at her disposal.
The track selection alone is incredible. It can be a joy to hear new things, but it can be equally joyous to hear old things in new ways! With excerpts of J.S. Bach, Thomas Tallis, and several traditional English melodies, there is no shortage of variety and technical, emotional, or theological depth to the compilation's listing. Dudley's orchestrations are nearly as impressive: She turned the unforgettable Sussex Carol into a canzonetta for string quintet that left me wanting more. She transformed the already mysterious 'Tallis' Canon' into a symphonic work with sincere, bold, dramatic concentration. She took Bach's Prelude in B-flat minor and arranged it as an extremely listenable essay for double reed quintet. And more. The album succeeds in both sacred and secular senses as 'a great noise.'
Some uncomfortable moments remain, but these mostly center on repetitive, soporific, generally synthesized musical undercurrents. Fans of minimalism may enjoy the inventiveness, but those who feel minimalism is a bit, well, minimal will discover tracks that are most certainly hard going. (The Steve Reich motivated adaptation of 'The Holly and the Ivy' may leave some listeners wanting to drench the ivy in Roundup and chop down the holly once and for all... I had to fight that urge myself.)
The sound is frequently resonant, the performances from orchestra, choir, percussionists, et al are commanding, and the sleeve notes (song texts and a short Anne Dudley biography) help add to one's perspective of what went into this disc. The album production is uniformly tiptop.
Victorian author Thomas Carlyle once wrote, "Music is well said to be the speech of angels." Taking Carlyle's words at face value, I venture to add that Dudley's angelic muse must speak very eloquently.
Reviewer
Jeffrey Wheeler
************************************************************** EDITOR’S RECOMMENDATION – November 1999
**************************************************************
I have to confess that I have some sympathy with Nik Redman’s rather gloomy view of current cinema as he sees it in his introductory notes to this smashing album. He deplores the position of today’s filmgoing as "bottom-of-the-cultural-barrel." Looking through the new scores we have had to review on this site this year, and the standard of films coming into our theatres, I feel there is some justification for this viewpoint. Once again, it is the top few composers: John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and Elmer Bernstein that impress with all the others generally lagging some way behind. (Yes, I know there have been a few exceptions like: Simon Boswell’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hans Zimmer’s Thin Red Line and Randy Newman’s Pleasantville, but there were few others as worthy as these.)
The Comancheros, one of the last films to be directed by the legendary Michael Cutiz, was not a brilliant western but it was admirably crafted with good performances from a cast led by the Duke, John Wayne, brilliantly photographed by William H. Clothier and superbly scored by Elmer Bernstein.
The album comprises 20 selections from the original soundtrack gloriously restored in stunning sound, plus the usual absorbing bonus tracks that we have come to expect from the enterprising Film Score Monthly team. There is the unused title song "The Commancheros" sung by Claude King. It is a folksy ballad that commentates on the plot of the film and includes some politically incorrect "Indian" war calls. Then there is another ballad "You walked away" which was never released, but used for the lovelorn gambler Paul Regret (Stuart Whitman) as he pines for Pilar Graile, daughter of the renegade Comancheros leader. A final bonus is an absolutely riveting mono mix of the film’s main title with Jake’s theme thrillingly prominent.
It is this main theme for Wayne’s character, Jake Cutter, which lingers in the memory. This is surely the most appealing western theme Bernstein ever penned, even more memorable, for my money, than that for The Magnificent Seven. This superb theme is typical of Bernstein’s virile muscular score and it is developed and used throughout the film. There are many impressive cues. ‘Riverboat Capture’ is a complex cue weaving in character and narrative musical comment, with the odd touch of rye humour. A nice feature of this cue, that is also carried over into the next track, is the stealthy tambourine figures that might suggest jingling spurs. In ‘The Wide Open’ (and later in ‘Nostalgia’), Bernstein introduces slower, string-based romantic material as Jake reminisces about his late wife and the ranch he once tended. ‘Eulogy carries some impressive muted Indian music as the heroes sight a burnt-out ranch and its murdered occupants; and a tender section for solo strings over woodwinds underscore Jake’s discovery of the body of an elderly woman and evidence of a murdered child. In ‘McBain’, Bernstein gives us a jaunty piece of Coplandesque Americana as Jake takes on McBain’s identity (and his wagon of guns) to pursue the Comancheros. ‘Attack’ has strong pulsating rhythms for the Comanches attack. ‘Commancheros’, one of the strongest tracks on the album, reprises Jake’s theme strongly, declaims the romantic theme passionately and stages realistically fierce Indian war figures. The "Indian" music is particularly imaginatively scored and orchestrated, avoiding the usual clichés. Finally, I would just mention the catchy Latin music for ‘Campfire Dance.’
Maintaining Film Score’s high standards, the booklet is excellent with plenty of stills from the film, Nik Redman’s informed background notes about the production of the film, and informed, intelligent track-by-track analyses by Jeff Bond.
Another triumph for Film Score Monthly and enthusiastically recommended.
Reviewer
Ian Lace
"For further information visit Film Score Monthly - www.filmscoremonthly.com and see the magazine Film Score Monthly for exciting news on upcoming releases."
[We are ahead of the game here. No Internet store seems to stock this title yet]
Save around 22% with
Crotchet
If you were a teenager in the 70's, discovering film music through the great Jerry Goldsmith scores of the decade, such as Chinatown, Papillon, Logan's Run, Capricorn One and Alien, and now after 20 years found this CD on your doormat, you just might think Christmas had come early. Contract on Cherry Street was a 1977 TV movie, the last such that Jerry Goldsmith has scored to date, and the last of the six scores he wrote in 1977. Chronologically it comes immediately after Goldsmith's own favourite of all his scores, Islands in the Stream, and just prior to an astonishing 1978, in which he would create exceptional scores for Magic, The Boys From Brazil, The Swarm, Coma, Capricorn One and Damien: Omen II. This, previously unreleased score comes, therefore, from the very heart of Goldsmith's most inspired period as a film composer, when he delivered such a continuously prolific river of great scores that many of us then probably took his genius for granted. Here, in this music for a virtually forgotten TV movie, is yet one more opportunity to appreciate the distinctive qualities of Jerry Goldsmith's music, circa 1977.
Contract on Cherry Street was exceptional for a TV production, in that it stared Frank Sinatra in his first TV role, and had production values more usually associated with a feature film than the small screen. The booklet informs us that the film falls into the 70's vigilante/cop movie cycle popularised by Dirty Harry, The French Connection and Death Wish, telling the story of a New York cop, Frank Covanis, who takes on the Mafia when his partner is murdered by the Mob. Jerry Goldsmith appears to have approached the drama just as he would had it been intended for the big screen, with a powerful, driving and biting score, which 1970's TV speakers could not possibly have done justice to. While it would be good to see the film now and hear how the music sounded, the original master-tapes were clearly superbly recorded, for this album release sounds absolutely marvellous. The stereo sound is clear, full and detailed, and has an immense vibrancy and sense of presence. It puts many other soundtrack recordings from the same period to shame.
But what of the music itself? This is Goldsmith pared-down, lean and gritty and hard-bitten, taking a line between the intensity of the suspense music from Papillon and prefiguring the pulsating rhythmic drive of Capricorn One. This is music that, from the 'Main Title', introduces us into an unsettled, restless world of constantly shifting menace. The devices are familiar; the atonal piano, the staccato brass, precise percussion and incessant strings, giving way to a love theme not dissimilar to elements of Chinatown and Logan's Run. Here is the architecture of a nightmare world, for this is music with a real sense of space, of structure and design. Music which is deliberate, as intricately woven as a spider's web, as crafted to a similarly deadly a purpose. Respite comes after the opening suspense sequences, as 'Equal Partners' offers a melancholy reflection, presumably on Covanis' dead colleague, but with music which could be an eloquent love theme in the more conventional sense.
Many of the cues are quite short, but nevertheless work well as self-contained piece of music, while apart from the 'Main Title', 'False Arrest', 'Eulogizing', 'One Way Ride' and 'Breach of Contract' each allow for considerably fuller development. 'False Arrest' is a textbook example of building suspense over an extended scene, while 'Eulogizing' is a string lament with undercurrents of especial darkness, giving way to a jazz treatment which pre-dates 'Twin Peaks' by over a decade, ending as a fine variation on the love theme. 'One Way Ride' is initially understated, the following savagery all the more powerful for the previous restraint. 'Breach of Contract' provides a more emotional resolution to the drama than might be expected, with a forceful conjoining of suspense and more heartfelt music, leading to the jazzy resignation of the 'Finale', a touch immediately familiar from Chinatown, and more recently, LA Confidential.
It would be easy to praise this disc just a little too highly, simply because is so good, and because, after over 20 years, it finally makes this powerful score available. Certainly for serious Goldsmith fans this release is an essential purchase, and an invaluable addition to any collection of the composer's scores, but what it is not is a document of a previously lost masterpiece. This is certainly excellent Goldsmith, but it is not one of the composer's absolutely great scores. More casual listeners may find that having music from other scores by the composer from this period means that while the album is very desirable, their money would be better spent on acquiring one of Goldsmith's real classics. Nevertheless, this is a truly exceptional release, and comes thoroughly recommended.
Reviewer
Gary S. Dalkin
The race goes on Judah.......it goes on.....it goes on
Words fail to describe the impact this unique film makes on me every time I watch it. Scores of times, it has held me glued to the screen, crying, laughing, shouting, all types of human emotions are traversed when watching such an incredible film. It has everything, palpitating drama, spectacular action scenes, tender love episodes and sheer passion, and through all this lies an undercurrent of some of the most effective music ever written for the screen. Rozsa’s mammoth score is finally available in all its completeness, an enterprise that has eluded me until only recently after almost 20 years of my love affair with this blockbuster.
Rhino’s packaging is superb, a worthy effort in enshrining this magnificent score for posterity. Brief popular excerpts have been available sporadically, I own a superb sounding Phase 4 Decca LP of a forty minute suite that has been my main reference point in the past years but this surely takes the cake for completeness. First of all, the sound is eminently acceptable, not the dull recessed sound that mars Capitol'’s official soundtrack with Carlo Savina and the Rome Symphony Orchestra. This lavishly packaged two disc set includes over eighty tracks, complete with outtakes and discarded bits and pieces and follows the logical pattern of the film.
So, after an enthralling Overture with harps and trombones in full cry you are treated to a sit-in on Rozsa'’s thoughts in the most intimate manner. The horn call that leads to the Prelude is another case for rejoicing, the sense of exhilaration that that change causes makes Micelangelo come immediately to mind. The extensive love themes are given the full treatment whilst the heart-stirring music from the Burning desert includes that magical transition when Christ gives Ben Hur water, followed without a break by the Galleys music another piece faithful to the actual reel. I don’t need to go into much detail about Rozsa’s unique score, it is humanity personified. The most memorable bits such as the Chariot race, the Valley of the Lepers, Return to Judea, Love Theme, Friendship and the exulting Miracle and Finale are all here and some little joins and tantalizing excerpts make this issue a coveted prize for the Ben Hur enthusiast.
My sheer enjoyment in discovering these long lost excerpts was unbound although the music does occasionally stop in its tracks, lasting less than a minute. The whole enterprise oozes class throughout with lavish notes and rare on-site photographs in a beautiful book-like case, this is the way film scores should be produced! After such a long wait, this is cause for celebration. ‘A Tale of the Christ’ has finally come home.
Reviewer
Gerald Fenech
Performance:
Sound:
The Lighter Side, vol. 1 CD 4001 [ 45:36]
Sounds Exciting, vol. 2 CD 4002 [ 50:03]
Musical Drama, vol. 3 CD 4003 [72:42]
Double Feature, vol. 4 CD 4004/5 [ 98:31]
Save around 22% with
Crotchet[not yet in any web-store]
These four albums (five, if one considers that Double Feature is a 2-CD set) survey some of the scores by Bruce Broughton, a composer of recent vintage, who often comes across as one of the most eclectic and inventive purveyors of film music of his generation.
For those who may not be too familiar with him, Broughton, born in 1945, began in television in the 1980s (he notably won an Emmy for his music for Dallas, in 1983), before moving to feature films where he particularly distinguished himself with such scores as Young Sherlock Holmes, Silverado, Harry and The Hendersons, and more recently Lost In Space.
Unlike many other relative newcomers to the field of film music, Broughton knows the values of a good melody, and his scores frequently display florid examples of a style that is at once evocative of the screen action and catchy when removed from it. Don't expect the standard contingent of synthesized sounds that meander helplessly (and one would say, hopelessly) in search of a hook so prevalent in most of today's efforts; instead, Broughton serves up solidly crafted tunes that are pleasantly listeneable, and make his scores usually much sought after by connoisseurs.
The four volumes released by Intrada provide a compelling overview of his career up till now. Generally speaking, this is a very interesting series which includes themes from the major films with which the composer has been associated, many others that are available for the first time, and some unexpected discoveries
Be aware, however, that on close examination some flaws are readily apparent that could have been dealt with and corrected in order to maximize the impact and importance of these releases. For instance, one could quibble with the thematic concept which, while somewhat loose, denies a greater sense of continuity throughout the various volumes, and sometimes within a single volume: the apparently random compilation of selections from films as diverse in format and importance as Silverado, So I Married An Axe Murderer, Narrow Margin and Night Ride Home somewhat diminishes the effectiveness of a CD like Double Feature, and leaves one wondering what prompted producers Broughton and Douglass Fake to assemble these the way they have. The arbitrary subtitles given each CD don't help much either, as one is bound to remark that they seem to ill-suit the selections under their generic umbrella. Equally baffling in some CDs is the abundance of some tracks from a single film at the expense of a better balance: for instance, Sounds Exciting features five selections out of 13 from Narrow Margin, a score that probably didn't deserve so much coverage, when a greater diversity might have served the bill just as well.
Much more satisfying, in that respect, is Musical Drama which is split into two distinct sections, Drama and Adventure and Fantasy, both of which consist of themes that belong in these respective categories. But why, when you have a two-CD set like Double Feature, not fill it a bit more to accommodate the longer playing time? As it is, the first CD in that set clocks in at 62:45, but the second only contains 11 tracks with a total playing time of 35:46. Would have it meant a great deal more to add a couple of selections and make this second CD a little bit more rewarding?
As its title indicates it, the first CD, The Lighter Side, deals more specifically with the comedies for which Broughton has written some of his most engaging scores – Honey, I Blew Up The Kid (1 track), House Arrest (2 tracks), Krippendorf's Tribe (2 tracks), Big Shots (1 track), Baby's Day Out (1 track), and So I Married An Axe Murderer (1 track). However, the big surprise here, at least to these ears, are the five selections from the Tiny Toon Adventures: taken singly or collectively, they would make Carl Stalling (or even Raymond Scott) proud. More than any others, these reveal Broughton's versatility and innate sense of fun, and probably stand out as the highlights in the entire collection.
Under the umbrella subhead Sounds Exciting, the second CD regroups selections from a wide range of films, including five from Narrow Margin, two from The Presidio, and one each from Glory And Honor, Shadow Conspiracy, Silverado, Young Sherlock Holmes (a score that should have called for a greater amount of excerpts), Tombstone, and the television action drama, J*A*G*. Of those, surprisingly perhaps, "Train Fight" and "Choppers and Rails," both from Narrow Margin, come off best and most suggestive of the kind of action cues Broughton can create. But "Trek On The Ice," from Glory And Honor, sounds like a throwaway in the context rather than an inspired choice.
As mentioned above, Musical Drama is divided into two distinct categories, Drama, with eight selections, and Adventure And Fantasy, with 12. Of the two, the latter is much more inviting, with varied choices from Harry And The Hendersons, Lost In Space, Young Sherlock Holmes (all with one track), A Simple Wish (three tracks), Kippendorf's Tribe, The Monster Squad and Glory And Honor (each with two tracks), making the best impression. Drama, on the other hand, while attractive in its own way, presents so-so selections from films like The Presidio, Night Ride Home, One Tough Cop, Infinity, and Big Shots, whose overall impact seems a little bit more limited.
The 2-CD Double Feature draws from essentially the same films, with Rescuers Down Under, Last Rites, Homeward Bound, Jacknife, Betsy's Wedding, For Love Of Money, True Women, Miracle On 34th Street, and O Pioneers! among the films represented here with tracks not found in the other three CDs. But again, while one can only welcome the abundance of selections assembled here, the nagging thought is that these were put together in a random manner that paid little attention to program continuity.
Taken together, however, they show Broughton's richness of invention and natural proclivity, and ultimately prove musically engaging and enjoyable.
Another criticism: in view of the pain and obvious effort that went into putting these four CDs together, it seems regrettable that Intrada didn't see fit to provide appropriate booklets, with some text to illustrate the work done by Broughton, some biographical data, and, why not?, a plug for the label's own full recordings of Broughton scores: all that's available is a single tray card, the obverse of which contains only a blurb that means strictly nothing for the connoisseur, and even less for the occasional buyer possibly intrigued by some of the selections included therein. This casual oversight demeans what would have been otherwise an absolute delight!
Reviewer
Didier C. Deutsch
Oh boy ! Just how will the planet react if we ever actually were over-taken by alien forces. It'd be nice to think there'd be the underground resistance that saves the day. And it'd be nice to think there'd be a patriotic anthem for their bravura. Just for a change though, wouldn't it be nice of the victory was less assured ? And for the anthem to be held in check in favour of something a little more unpredictable on the ear ?
If you've been Independence Day'd out, this might be more to your liking. Especially if you go for the stylistic approach to TV sci-fi music of Christopher Franke's Babylon 5. Davis has more recently scored Universal Soldier: The Return, and on that a similarity in style and samples could be heard to both Franke's original and the TV space opera. On this album, you'll find the similarities overwhelming. There's even the baddie Shadow motif to be found...
"Main Titles" is a doom-laden piece that real in 3 and a half minutes you have an idea of what to expect for the next 70. The line between electronics and any live instrumentation is hard to divine. The wordless voices that breathe in and out are a nice colour, as is and intriguing piano phrase midway. Something that looks ahead to his breathtaking The Matrix score. The drum loops and metallic scraping have already become familiar before "The Invasion Begins", but as the album progresses there are effective uses of solo child voice and pizzicato strings (think spidery !) added to the palette.
A little contrast can be found in the sadness of "Alien Fumes" with a lovely harp part, but after the "Main Titles" the album's true gem is the 11 minute long "The Mother of All Motherships" - a title that indicates just how seriously to take Davis' music ! Featuring some interesting 'alien' chanting, this is the most melodically interesting cue.
Reviewer
Paul Tonks
This score has all the virtues of the fantasy adventure genre score – save one, a really good memorable theme. Granted one such theme tries to emerge from several tracks but what is missing is the sort of Korngold, Waxman, Steiner or John Williams tune that would really thrill your tingle zone.
Davis gives us a polished, well-crafted score. It is heroic, atmospheric, magical, and romantic. It is delivered in style by a large orchestra (the Denver S.O. and chorus). Glorious brazen fanfares, heroic daring-do, darker figures for the evil machinations, misty landscapes, mystical and tender romantic moments, they’re all here. Davis musical characterisation is vivid too, the clumsy lumbering gait of Komodo Dragontrot is nicely conveyed. The influences are many and varied. One can see something of Horner, of Goldsmith. There are touches of the Gallic and Gaelic; Dukas, in his chivalric Symphony mode, is discernible. ‘The Lifespring Rhapsody’ has some captivating romantic interludes and ‘The Wonder of Tao’, a magical cue, almost delivers that memorable theme I craved.
Nevertheless, this is thrilling stuff appealing directly to the eternal ‘little boy’ in most of us.
Reviewer
Ian Lace
Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic tale has enjoyed several adaptations for screen. This particular TV version hails from 1979, and a time when budgets allowed a composer to employ the likes of The London Studio Symphony Orchestra to realise their creation. The orchestra section that got the most exercise 2 decades ago was clearly winds. There are a huge number of pipes, recorders, and flutes utilised to blow a sympathetic undercurrent beneath the tale (including bagpipes in "The Marketplace")The letter of the title is an 'A' - burned across the skies by a passing "Comet" (wonderful use of multiple harps). When you learn that the bell which peals a tragic toll through the music is in the chord of A, Morris' music encourages repeat listens to pick up the subtle nuances reflecting the action chronicled in the booklet notes.
A very late album - but first class. In fact, I give it an A (groan).
Reviewer
Paul Tonks
We were recently sent a number of PROMOTIONAL soundtrack music CDs to review:-
Promotional Albums offer lesser celebrated film composers the opportunity to bring their work (often of good quality but unsung [if you will forgive the pun]) to the attention of prospective producers who might be interested in contracting them for film scoring assignments. Another market opportunity is for short films, trailers, commercials, and other theatre and TV projects where producers with limited budgets might be interested in buying material "off the shelf." Lastly, film music buffs who have admired the scores but hitherto have never had an opportunity of acquiring the music now have an opportunity of buying scores they have admired. For instance anybody who liked Hummie Mann's music for Mel Brook's farce, Dracula, Dead and Loving It (with Leslie Nielsen) can now buy it from specialist sellers such as
SCREEN ARCHIVES ENTERTAINMENT
P.O. Box 500
Linden, VA 22642-0500
PH: (540) 635-2575
FAX: (540) 635-8554SEND EMAIL TO:
craig@screenarchives.com
or
charles@screenarchives.com
website: www.screenarchives.com
Specializes in soundtracks, and carries some of those scores you just won't find anywhere else.Or
SUPER COLLECTOR
12072 Brookhurst Street
Fountain Valley, CA 92840-2815
Voice: (714) 636-8700
Toll free: (800) 997-2434
Fax: (714) 636-8585
E-Mail: supercollector@supercollector.com
website: www.supercollector.com____________________________________________________________________
This promotional disc features Edmund Choi's debut studio score to the 1998 family film "Wide Awake," about a Catholic schoolboy in search of life's meaning. The music matches the finest relations to the genre by the likes of Alan Silvestri, Bruce Broughton, and Lee Holdridge.
I say that as one who firmly believes that comedies are difficult to score. Music is not intrinsically funny, so bringing humor up front by way of a full symphony orchestra 'playing it straight' is a fair accomplishment. Dramatic comedies are a greater worry, creating the need for a juggling act between laughs and tears; bad timing can ruin the whole shebang. And children's dramatic comedies are possibly the ultimate composing challenge, for little ears are receptive to anything that rings falsely, and the music must never condescend. Thus Choi achieves what some top film composers never have: filmusic that is light, fun, youthful, yet complex enough to hold the interest of weary adults.
The thematic elements possess a freedom from artificiality, containing broad melodic contours, and buoyant passages. The disc features some solid choral music for The American Boychoir (singing ably, though the enunciation gargles from time to time!), and the soundtrack's themes are extremely sweet. So, one of my peers at another site says the music is obvious. While that may be true, accessibility is always an unwanted creative habit. If 'The Bucket Chase' (the album's clumsiest track) and its explicit nod to "Mission: Impossible" can work, the rest of the score surely does.
I will agree that Mr. Choi could better exploit his dramatic knack. Although well written and entertaining, the music lacks the maturity and intricacies of those for other contemporary family films scored by John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Patrick Doyle, Danny Elfman, etc. The large sections of musical naiveté are undoubtedly intentional, but the orchestrations barely avoid making them sound prosaic.
I imagine that many years from now a tough filmusic buff may look at his soundtrack collection and see this disc alongside dozens of other scores by Edmund Choi, the music possibly ripening in technique as time goes by. Everything good about "Wide Awake" sets the right groundwork for it to happen, and if (or when) that happens, what an achievement it will be.
Reviewer
Jeffrey Wheeler
Ian Lace is more enthusiastic:
This is a thoroughly entertaining score and quite an accomplishment. Yes it is derivative. Yes one can detect Bond, Flint and the Mission Impossible material in ‘The Bucket Chase’ and John Williams’s Stanley and Iris and Empire of the Sun in much of this score. So what, there are so many good things here. The boy choir might not be perfect but they sing with spirit and Choy’s settings of the Gloria and Hosanna are appealing enough. Choy’s score for Wide Awake is so tuneful, so brightly and imaginatively orchestrated and heart-warming in its soaring melodies that criticism is disarmed.
Reviewer
Ian Lace
Following a strong debut like "Wide Awake," "The Castle" is a trifle disappointing. A comparison between very diversified scores is unfair, that is true, but the over-simplicity, the predictability, of Choi's first score remains with him regardless.
However, a more serious, additional problem emanates here that cheapens the album. Despite individual tracks being conventional, the score as a whole goes to the opposite. The use of pre-existing music as a guide is obvious. It suffers from filmmusical schizophrenia! The liner notes by Film Score Monthly scribe Mark Leneker state that Edmund Choi had to reinvent the spotting cues, and Choi confirms that he tried to make the music his own. Unluckily, only the last seven or so tracks (not counting the 'synthesizer demo' curiosities tacked onto the end) do a confident job demonstrating the skill behind the task. I had a troublesome time getting 'into' the soundtrack because of this.
Okay, it does have some phenomenal qualities. The track 'Losing,' with its earnest piano solo and thoughtful chords, is where the magic begins, where the album ventures above the typical program of cinema music. Another reward is the main theme -- beautiful, with what sounds to be Edmund Choi's trademark of a broad melody line (which receives several consummate variations). The composer also clearly enjoys composing for motion pictures, and that feeling is something one should always hear in a film score.
Reviewer
Jeffrey Wheeler
Ian Lace adds:-
This is another of those soundtracks that sounds as if it is a compilation of many others - there is a sameness here too much of a feeling of we have heard it all before. [Too many times this year have I been disappointed with new scores that seemed to have been ‘written by numbers.’] To be fair to Mr Choi, The Castle score is nicely crafted and splendidly played. I would echo Jeffrey Wheeler’s sentiments in his review of Wide Awake this month - Mr Choi shows definite promise and, if he will excuse my patronising tone, he is still young, still learning his craft; but when he finds his mature individual voice, we might hear some exceptional work.
In his notes, Mark Leneker suggests this score is reminiscent of Vaughan Williams’s music. I have to confess I could hear no such similarity. I think Mr Leneker might have been thinking of the homely, cosy county-dance type music which opens the album but personally, I would associate this with the other side of the Atlantic. The score is quite eclectic and includes diverse Pop, rock and country styles as well as more weighty authoritarian material for ‘High Court.’ With its snare drummings it suggests scant justice! One of the highlights is ‘Losing’ and ‘Packing Up.’ Starting with attractive solo piano and guitar meanderings the textures thicken to include strings and the music broadens out into a nice romantic melody.
Lets hope that this and Wide Awake are stepping stones to bigger things
Reviewer
Ian Lace
First Kid belongs to the endless string of Kids/Comedy movies created by Walt Disney studios and destined to sink into oblivion. This one is about the strengthening of the relationship between the First Kid (son of the President of the USA) and his bodyguard, through a variety of comic, and not only so, situations. Sounds familiar?
For this particular movie Disney hired Richard Gibbs, a composer of about 30 scores for movies and TV shows, relatively unknown to a majority of film score enthusiasts.
The score fires off with a light-hearted and enjoyable march in the Main Title, played by initially by a flute over snare drums, until the full orchestra takes over for a full thematic development. A sparse use of a whistle is made to emphasise the comic nature of the movie. Actually this light/comic mood characterises the music almost throughout the score. The Snake Chat fires off with a soft theme played by a flute, with an occasional appearance of gentle bells, and a small underlying ensemble of strings.
Sammy the Snake and The First Fight are the first true action tracks in the CD and they are really good, although too short! Sammy the Snake is actually a cartoonish rendition main title march, while The First Fight uses a more traditional action music approach with an addition of synths, and layers of beat and brass.
Friendship and Puppy love provide a sentimental quality to the score, efficiently using flute, piano, bells and synths accompanied by the orchestra, to build a romantic mood, never becoming too emotional though, always maintaining the light nature of the score. Explosive donuts just repeats the short action cue heard in First Fight.
From track 9 onwards, the score receives a boost. In the Mall/Woods Goes Berserk is the longest cue on the disk and contains several enjoyable moments, especially the second half. Taking the Bullet is the highlight cue of the score, a great action track that, by utilizing the well-known Goldsmithian action style and orchestration, elaborately builds a sense of suspense, anticipation. The CD concludes to the march introduced in the Main Title.
In overall, this score left me with mixed feelings. Essentially, it is a comic militaristic score. In parts, it becomes exciting but in others it touches dangerously the category of filler music. The soft themes are good but unoriginal as well as the action themes that seem greatly influenced by the music of Jerry Goldsmith (which is in a way a blessing in disguise). The good use of the orchestra, spiced up with synths, and the adequate orchestration manage for the most of the part to compensate for the poor originality.
Considering the hand at task though, Gibbs seems to have performed quite well.
The CD quality is good, but nothing exceptional. The booklet contains text from
the director David Evans and Richard Gibbs, explaining how anxious and eager
they were to make that movie. Oh, well... Whether you will enjoy this score depends on your mood at that moment.
Reviewer
Kostas Anagnostou
Hummie Mann has for many years been one of Hollywood’s top orchestrators. His TV credits include Fame, The Simpsons, and Moonlighting and his films: The Addams Family; A Few Good Men, The Prince of Tides and City Slickers.
As a composer, he has scored: Year of the Comet, Benefit of the Doubt, Box Office Bunny (the first Bugs Bunny cartoon to be released to theatres in 26 years), and for the Rebel Highway and Picture Windows series. He also scored Mel Brooks’ film, Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
It was natural therefore, that Mel Brooks should go to Mann for the score of Dracula, Dead and Loving It (1996). Wisely, Mann created a "serious" gothic score against the inanities of the satirical plot. He confessed that he saw many Dracula films and researched the musical approaches of other composers. "I listened to all the other Dracula scores: John Williams’, the Hammer score, Wojciech Kilar’s one for Coppola… I tried to come up with my own twist…" Mann’s large gothic-sounding score is written for a substantial orchestra of 87 musicians and a choir of 16 singers, multi-tracked. "I played toward the power of Dracula, his ability to control people through hypnosis or move objects with a wave of his hand – to reinforce the idea that he was a force to be reckoned with."
His main theme is full of grandeur and is darkly sinister yet vaguely heroic. This theme has a little five-figure tailpiece that is at the same time not only slightly comic and satirical but also suggestive of fluttering bats. This is a neat and clever touch. Mann’s music captures the sinister elements of the story but it also suggests the essential loneliness of Dracula and his yearning for love. The score is often very sensual and voluptuous. For the ball scene Mann creates comically manic arrangements of Villoldo’s famous El Choclo tango and Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 5 and contributes a very convincing Bohemian-like folk dance of his own. Earlier the score had also included some Bohemian gypsy music for the villagers.
An entertaining score
Reviewer
Ian Lace
I must say that I am perplexed to see a Newman needing a promotional album especially if it’s the David Newman, the eldest son of the great Alfred Newman. This Newman began with an early passion for conducting. (He admired Toscanini particularly.) He was inspired into following in his father’s footsteps to compose for films. His credits include: The War of the Roses, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, The Flintstones, The Nutty Professor and Matilda.
"Brokedown Place" refers to a hideous Thai prison where two teenagers (Clair Danes and Kate Beckinsale) are incarcerated after the authorities have caught them with drugs in their possession trying to leave the country for Hong Kong. (They were framed and used as unwitting couriers by a sly boyfriend.) The dank and horrible atmosphere of Brokedown Place is only too vividy evoked by David Newman; you can hear/feel the screechings and the crawlings of innumerable, unmentionable little horrors.
The score is inventively scored using a combination of western and ethnic instrumentation with exotic pipes and percussion prominent and piano. Newman wrings sympathetically for the girls’ plight with music that shows their fright, frailty, bewilderment and desperation. It is an often thrilling but harrowing score the few moments of high spirits such as the girls’ elation as they arrive in Thailand are welcome relief.
A good solid score
Reviewer
Ian Lace
Last month for Film Music on the Web I reviewed a new recording of the pilot movie score for Battlestar Galactica, with the composer himself, Stu Phillips conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and released on Varese Sarabande. Now here is a beautifully presented 4 CD anthology offering well over 4 hours of music from the soundtrack recordings of the pilot, the series which followed and the sequel series, Galactica 1980. It is a promotional set, the first release on composer Stu Phillips own label, and given that Battlestar Galactica was originally produced to capitalise on the success of Star Wars, this release appears post The Phantom Menace as part of a wave of renewed interest in the Galactica saga. Indeed, star Richard Hatch has long been an advocate of a revival of the series, and contributes a note promoting the possibilities of further adventures of Battlestar Galactica.
Frankly, this release astonishes me, in so far as I find it very difficult to believe there are people who would want four CDs worth of music from a mediocre 20-year-old TV show. I would have thought that the new recording would be more than satisfactory, given the strong performances and spectacular sound of that disc. However, here we have more music from the pilot score. The new Varese Sarabande release is essentially a remake the original soundtrack album issued in the late 70's, and contains 17 tracks spread over 48:33 minutes. Here Disc One is entitled "Saga of a Star World" and features 60:09 minutes from the pilot, divided into 29 tracks. Given that over five minutes consists of two source cues of rather hamfisted 70's jazz rock, there is really only about another 6 minutes of score. Even so, given the rather restricted mono sound - surely the master-tapes would have been in stereo - and even some rather unpleasant distortion in places, it seems to go on forever. The new recording showcases this music at its best, but on the originals, with sound one might easily mistake as coming from the mid-50's, it becomes more a matter of imagining how it could be, while all to often simply playing spot the influence. One moment it is Bernard Herrmann and Jason and the Argonauts, the next Miklos Rozsa and Lust for Life. Elsewhere there are reminders of Jerry Goldsmith's abrasive 70's action writing and Leonard Rosenman's atmospherics. Reflective, bleak moments such as 'Adama's Theme' come off best, a brooding and stark tonal world with shadows of William Alwyn's concert works.
Disc Two contains 62:29 minutes of music, consisting of the 'Main' and 'End Titles' from the TV show proper, plus suites from the two part stories "War of the Gods" and "Gun on Ice Planet Zero". Essentially this is more of the same, but with extra tape hiss. There are some dramatically inventive moments, such as 'The Lightship Appears', and the choral glitter of 'The Light Beings', but too much is simply yet more polished action and suspense writing with little in the way of memorable themes to sustain interest. It is accomplished television music, but away from the screen holds little to command attention.
Disc Three offers 66:52 minutes from the spin-off series, Galactica 1980. We are given the Main Title, suites from the two-part stories "The Living Legend" and "Lost Planet of the Gods", plus some sound effects and source cues from "War of the Gods", and source cues from "The Magnificent Warriors". The sound is rather better than on the second disc, but the mixture is as before, sombre string passages, suspense, action and adventure, with further variations if not on a theme, then on a very distinct style. The source cues suffer the fate of all attempts to write futuristic music, which is to say they sound very dated and of their period. This is the future as envisioned with state-of-the-art electronics circa 1980. That said, 'Starbuck's Luck' is quite appealing, but is the only one of these cues which is.
Disc Four has 66:45 minutes, again from Galactica 1980. An 'Alternative Main Title/Prologue' is rather more crisp and punchy than previous takes on the theme, and leads to suites from "The Lost Warrior", "The Young Lords", "The Magnificent Warriors", "The Long Patrol" and "The Hand of God". An extraordinarily dark love theme for Apollo and Bella is a highlight of sorts, while 'The Good the Bad and the Cylon' contains an element of Morricone homage within the soundworld established for the series. From then on the disc very much follows the pattern of the first three, with yet more brooding suspense, percussive action and stark, melancholy strings.
Long before the end this 4CD set becomes extremely wearisome, such that getting through it once is something of an endurance test. With functional sound and essentially generic, functional music for well over 4 hours, this really can only be of interest to real die hard fans of Battlestar Galactica. It is very nicely packaged, but how many people love both TV music and the show enough to want to seek this set out is another question entirely. All but the most fanatical are advised to consider the Varese Sarabande album instead.
Complete listing: [Return to head of review]
Disc One: [60:09] "Saga of a Star World" Disc Two: [62:29] 'Main Title', Suites from Battlestar Galactica TV series stories "War of the Gods" and "Gun on Ice Planet Zero", 'End Title'. Disc Three: [66:52] 'Main Title', suites from Galactica 1980 TV series "The Living Legend" and "Lost Planet of the Gods" plus sound effects, source cues, 'End Title'. [66:45]. Disc Four: [66:45] "Alternate Main Title/Prologue" Suites from Galactica 1980 TV series episodes "The Lost Warrior", "The Young Lords", "The Magnificent Warriors", "The Long Patrol", "The Hand of God". Total Time: [256:15]
Reviewer
Gary S. Dalkin
With nary a Dies Irae quote in sight, Pike is not to be envied in scoring another of Stephen King's mammoth TV adaptations. Especially since this already has the Kubrick stamp of authoritative interpretation, and a fine musical legacy to boot.
Far more faithful to the book, and with a lot more airtime to develop musical ideas, the mini-series was often surprisingly successful at conjuring the chills for an empty room ("Room 217") or moving hedge sculpture ("Topiary Tango"). What the music really did was paint the walls red with an eerie atmosphere of unease - even when the family unit seem hunky-dory - with children's chorus, piano, gongs and electronic rumblings. Then when Jack turns fruitloop with an axe, the shrieks and wails are often an unexpected shock.
Sadly, all this relates to the viewing experience. It's an atmospheric score that suits the claustrophobic surroundings of the Overlook Hotel, but can't help but be little more than background fright music in your own home. The disc therefore intrigues on an initial listen, but without the creeping camerawork to validate it, you may soon tire.
Reviewer
Paul Tonks
For all the feel-good intentions of this superhero hybrid project (Robocop / Iron Man etc.), it fared poorly. Something that unfairly makes this disc available only as a promo. Something with as much energy and good humour as this deserves to have greater exposure.The gist of the format is that a metallurgist's experimental device is perverted by higher powers for criminal use. So to clean the streets of LA, John Irons becomes Steel - a metal-clad warrior for good. Got that ? Since Irons is black actor Shaquille O'Neal, director Kenneth Johnson went to Quincy Jones for recommendations to put urban street rhythms into the do-gooder's strides. Linked with Warren, the result is something like Superman meets Shaft. "Main Title" has a vaguely cheesy hero theme backed by both contemporary and seemingly seventies rhythms and licks. A bass guitar slides on through many of the cues but a sensible balance is kept between the brassy machismo and street-wise beats. "Gang Fight / Magnetic Personality" is a terrific showcase for the theme and dramatic action writing.
The only thing that lets the disc down is the gospel influenced "Stand Up (Steel Yourself)" song it ends with. It's entirely at odds with everything that's gone before.
Reviewer
Paul Tonks
Note: a track numbering error credits 23 when there are 24.
TV Scores and Curio Corner
Seven Days is an American TV science fiction drama series based on the familiar premise of someone travelling into the past in order to prevent something terrible which has already happened, happening. It is a stock SF idea offering endless possibilities, and here is given a similar limitation to the BBC's failed Crime Traveller: the heroes can only travel back in time the titular Seven Days. Each week the would-be new Mulder and Scully, CIA operative Parker and Russian scientist Olga Vukavitch, played by Jonathan LaPaglia and Justina Vail, must rewind the clock on some catastrophe, using time travel technology recovered from an alien spacecraft secretly recovered decades earlier by the American government. Whether this melting pot of recycled ideas is actually of any interested I can not say, nor have I any idea how successfully the music contained on this CD might work with the programme. What I can say is that it has no life away from the drama.
Scott Gilman, the booklet informs us, has worked as a touring and session musician playing saxophone, guitar and keyboards with The Tommy Dorsey Big Band, Terence Trent D'Arby, Chaka Khan, Howard Jones, Foreigner and other acts. He has his own band, and has scored episodes of Melrose Place, Beverley Hills 90210, Brimstone, Promised Land as well as several unnamed TV movies. He appears to be the regular series composer for Seven Days, and this album contains his opening and closing title music, together with suites from three episodes, Vows, Come Again and EBE's. Apart from the voiceovers on the 'Main Title' which explain the premise of the show, this is essentially one man and his soundcard, with the emphasis on relentless mechanical percussion as perfected by Brad Fidel for Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
The music here is clinically perfect, metronomic, and almost entirely lacking in human warmth. Tracks such as 'Back Step' feature sequenced military snare, before exploding into pounding machine fury and frozen samples of female voices. Elsewhere resonant synth patches growl, metallic sounds swoosh, atonal piano riffs cycle in upon themselves, and a wide variety of electronic percussion bangs, thuds and crashes with remorseless efficiency. Those who like to listen to recordings of pile drivers at very high volume on their car stereos will probably like the noisy bits, but might be put off by the occasional quite atmospheric interlude.
As functional suspense and action music this may well serve its intended purpose on screen, but with no real themes and no development, this is as much organised sound as anything approaching real music. So much so that the title is an appropriate summation of how long these 66 minutes seem to last. If this is the new sound of action adventure then perhaps a journey into the past to prevent the invention of the sequencer might be catastrophe worthy of our heroes. As such it really is a shame their time machine can't go back far enough.
Reviewer
Gary S. Dalkin
Save around 22% with
Crotchet
This most generous anthology pushes CD right to the limits of the format's running time, offering at over 79 minutes, more music than many a double LP. There are 26 TV themes, with the 27th track graduating to the silver screen with the theme from a new version of An Ideal Husband. Unfortunately, not the acclaimed Oliver Parker production staring Rupert Everett and Julianne Moore and Jeremy Northam, with music by Charlie Mole, but a rival 1998 production led by James Wilby, Sadie Frost and Jonathan Firth, which after receiving some poor advance press, appears to have been shelved. The theme is attractive, but not especially distinctive.
The booklet features some amusing notes by Nigel Hess, sending-up a typical party conversation in which he fails to explain to a disbelieving guest that he really does write music for television: "Dramas on TV don't have any music, except maybe those short catchy tunes at the beginning and end - and nobody actually writes those… they get them off records." A situation I'm sure will be familiar to anyone reading this who has ever tried to explain their musical tastes to a stranger. Then, before detailing each track, the booklet explains how the music here - not the originals, but expanded new versions recorded by pick-up London Film Orchestra and the vocal group Chameleon, with which Hess has a long standing involvement - is culled from 15 years of work for television. We also learn that Nigel Hess has composed 20 scores for the Royal Shakespeare Company, won awards for music on Broadway, and had his work "The Way of Light" performed with actors, choir and orchestra in St. Paul's Cathedral in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and HRH the Prince of Wales. So why, I was wondering, apart from having failed to see all but one of the 26 programmes, had I not heard of Nigel Hess? The answer is I am afraid, that on the evidence here at least, that his music has little appeal to film music fans.
Now inevitably, the music from 27 different productions, from comedies, to period dramas, detective shows and documentaries is going to vary considerably in style, containing everything from atmospheric pieces - Every Woman Knows a Secret, with beautiful wordless vocals by Mary Carewe - to pastiche 1920's dance music for Just William - but if there is a unifying element it is a rather MOR sensibility. Further, placing so many deliberately and instantly catchy themes all together can make for somewhat wearying listening - longer suites from a lesser number of programmes might have made for a more cohesive, but doubtless less commercial release. Nevertheless, I think this album will find its real home with enthusiasts for British Light Music, with which Chandos, (and other labels such as Marco Polo) have done so much in recent years. That is, if they can stomach tracks like Summer Lease, which is the sort of embarrassing bombast that results when progressive rock musicians from the 70's are allowed access to choir and orchestra. Indeed, an air of sentimental bombast is unfortunately rarely more than the next track away, with cliched up-lifting drums all to often employed to underpin the next anthemic tune, and to which the lyrical song from Chimera, sung by Olive Simpson offers too rare compensation.
Perhaps delicacy and subtlety are not the order of the day with TV themes, but too much here is cloying and overly sweet, possibly explaining why, despite Nigel Hess' undoubted talent and numerous awards he remains working in television (apart from the one, reputedly poor, film) rather than crossing over to join Patrick Doyle, Rachel Portman and Debbie Wiseman at the movies.
For the record, the complete track list is: Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, Badger, The One Game, Wycliffe, A Woman of Substance, Summer's Lease, Dangerfield, Just William, Every Woman Knows A Secret, Perfect Scoundrels, Anna of the Five Towns, Campion, Maigret, Vidal in Venice, Classic Adventure, All Passion Spent, Chimera, Testament, Vanity Fair, An Affair in Mind, The London Embassy, Atlantis, A Hundred Acres, Growing Pains, Us Girls, Titmuss Regained, An Ideal Husband.
Reviewer
Gary S. Dalkin
Bennett is best known as an orchestrator for shows and perhaps best of all for his Symphonic Portrait of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. His success with shows secured his commercial future. However he was also busy in the field of ‘serious’ composition.
Lincoln inspired many American works. The most exposed remains Copland’s Lincoln Portrait for orator ad chorus but the roster of Lincolniana is long and distinguished and the present symphony forms part of the orchestral list:-
A Lincoln Legend MORTON GOULD
Lincoln - Requiem Aeternam HERBERT ELWELL
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address works by JOHN BECKER and FERDY GROFÉ
Lincoln The Great Commoner CHARLES IVES
Symphony No. 10 Lincoln ROY HARRIS
Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight - works by EARL GEORGE, ROY HARRIS, ELIE SIEGMEISTER
Abraham Lincoln Song WALTER DAMROSCH
Lincoln Address VINCENT PERSICHETTI
Lincoln (unfinished) JOHN KNOWLES PAINE
(I would like to hear of other works on the theme of Lincoln)Bennett wrote four numbered symphonies:-
No. 1 written in Europe (1926)
No. 2 Lincoln - A Likeness in Symphony Form (1929) premiered by Stokowski
No. 3 (1941) inspired by Baseball - The Dodgers
No. 4 (1963)
There is also an un-numbered Stephen Foster Symphony (1954) for chorus and orchestra.The symphony on this disc was written for the 1929 RCA Victor competition judged by Stokowski, Olga Samaroff, Koussevitsky, Frederick Stock and Rudolph Ganz. The munificent prize ($25,000) was split equally five ways: between Copland’s Dance Symphony, Bloch’s Helvetia, Louis Gruenberg’s Symphony and the two works on this disc. Bennett had entered one serious work and the other a much lighter work. Both won alongside the Bloch, Copland and Gruenberg.
The Symphony is a work of serious and poetic spirit with much of the pugnacious Northern poetry of Hanson’s first two symphonies. Indeed Hanson seems to have been something of an influence and certainly he supported Bennett's works in concert performances throughout his life. This symphony is well worthy of that devotion. The hoarsely throaty horns captured in forward splendour in this recording are one of the coronet and laurels of this most rewarding recording. The initial moderato ruffles musingly lyrical waters with fragments of the belligerent Johnny Comes Marching Home. Apart from Hansonian coups there are also some typical Roy Harris eruptions from the brass. The second movement has a restive oboe song and some silky string playing as well as a jaunty cavalry patrol at 2.00. The Allegro Animato (III) has a flouncey dynamically glancing texture - a virtuosic helter-skelter of slides, runs and wilderness hunting calls. The finale is characterised by those grand stabbing and abrasive horns in full flight and hunting call clamour. This is a most rewarding work well attuned to those who love their Hanson, Roy Harris and Malcolm Arnold (anticipating his waspish exuberance and tense lyricism by at least a decade) but with a twist and skew all its own.
The Sights and Sound suite - entitled an ‘orchestral entertainment’ is the lighter of the two pieces. It is not however light in the Ferdy Grofé sense. It is more a dashing concerto for orchestra - a work alive with the chaotic collage spirit of a child’s colouring book. The work bursts with impressions: poetic, popular, banal and catchy. It seems a natural counterpart to the John Alden Carpenter works like Krazy Kat, Skyscraper and Adventures in a Perambulator. A slightly jazzy atmosphere crosses its pages but not suffocatingly so. The voices of people like Stravinsky (Rite of Spring), Constant Lambert (Piano Concerto), gamelan and Bartók are not far off and if some of these voices seem advanced for the time the coating given to these influences is candy-coated without being saccharin. Nothing is tough to take on. As a series of contemporary sketches it is more successful than George Lloyd’s similarly themed 1960s collage Charade. Another voice in there is that of Vaughan Williams and he also glances out through the pages of the symphony. The fruity-chirpy of the sax at track 9 0.35 in the Fox-Trot is a winner. This piece is much better than the notes and the movement titles (Union Station, Highbrows, Lowbrows, Electric Signs, Night Club, Skyscraper, Speed) hint. This is no Grofe or Coates style (and I like both composers by the way) novelty box of tricks.
Great notes by Bennett biographer George J Ferencz.
A valuable collection with plenty to enjoy in fact, all in all, quite a revelatory disc - a jewel in the Naxos crown. A CD that makes me want to hear more Bennett. How about the other symphonies?
Reviewer
Rob Barnett
This is a combination of modernist classical music with dubious jazz influences, not my favourite cocktail but intriguing nonetheless. Marsalis places huge demands on the players in his seven movement String Quartet that pools influences from Schoenberg, Shostakovitch but sounds curiously like Goodman gone mad! There are seven movements in all, each contain some sort of descriptive title but the occasional downright banality of the music definitely takes us nowhere in particular. I cannot but complement the Orion String Quartet for its passionate commitment to such weirdly unstimulating notes.
Not to say that Marsalis' experiments don't have some wisdom, but to this listener at least were distinctly cold mostly! The 'Fiddler's Tale' is slightly better although the echoes of the famous film music bearing the same name are never far away. 'Anatevkha' and all those famous tunes are re-worked in jazz like fashion, not always to the improvement of the music (or so I thought). There are some virtuoso contributions from Marsalis himself, and I'm not doubting his sensational technique in ay way, indeed it is consistently nothing short of amazing all the time.
'Swinging into the 21st' continues to provoke and create wide gaffes of opinions and although I didn't exactly warm to fiddlers or balls, the music is something new and original, that's saying something.
Reviewer
Gerald Fenech
Performance:
Sound:
Two further ballets from the Marsalis stable, and is the works reviewed before, nothing is fundamentally different from what we've come to expect from this source lately. These include some freer expositions of the jazz themes that are so popular with Marsalis and there is certainly much to enjoy for that type of music enthusiast. 'Sweet Release' contains much gimmickry and hulaballoo, mostly due to the definite Creole origins of the piece, a classic example of Negro musicianship, that is, purely inimitable. I'm still astounded by the virtuosity of the whole group with some wonderful playing from Marsalis himself.
'Ghost Story' is more sinister, more daredevil, here we have a smaller ensemble with piano, saxophone, Bass and drums accompanying the composer. This is pure jazz 'jamming' with the sensual sinister notes of the saxophone mingling with the skeletal and rasping sounds of the snare drums and piano, a highly obnoxious cocktail. I don't think that there is anything classical in all this but the crossover from rigid style to the free unhurried unbuttoned jazz is certainly refreshing. I'm sure that many will snap up this release just to listen to Marsalis' resounding virtuosity and his partners are also big names. Ultimately a matter of taste then but worth a listen.
Reviewer
Gerald Fenech
Book Review:
Halliwells Film & Video Guide 2000
Edited by John Walker
Harper Collins Entertainment. 948 pages £19:99; $22:50 Purchase from Amazon
For an editor like myself, life would be hard without this treasure of a reference book.
I am always relieved when a new version of Halliwell's Film and Video Guide arrives because the one that it supersedes is invariably tattered and falling apart from constant use. I guess I must refer to it, at least, to the equivalent of once per day.
It is amazing to think that this is the 15th edition of the Guide - and how it has grown! The bulk of the present edition makes it a large, hefty tone (although not overweight and it has a strong paperback cover) but I guess some future edition might have to be split into two volumes.
Clearly, a great deal of thought has gone into the format of this edition to make it as user-friendly as possible. The entries carry very helpful annotations in the form of small graphic icons that indicate:
Film suitable for family viewing
VHS video-cassette for the British PAL system
VHS video-cassette for the British OPAL system in wide screen-format
Video-cassette in a computer-coloured version
American NTSC video-cassette (not compatible with the British PAL system)
Laser Disc in either American NTSC format or British PAL format
Video CD
Soundtrack released on compact disc
Digital Video Disc
Cast in approximate order of importance
Points of interest
Notable songs
Academy Award
Academy Award Nomination
BAFTA
Moreover, and intelligently, all these symbols are shown in the context of a typical page, printed on the inside cover of the volume for quick, easy, fail-safe reference.
Lists of four-star and three-star films by title and year, and a list of all the Academy Award winners for best picture and director, best actor and actress, best supporting actor and actress, and best original and adapted screenplays. These lists cover the period 1903 (three-star films) and 1915 (four-star films) to 1998. It is salutary to note that there are very few four-star film entries for the years 1993 to 1998 and not one for 1998. The number of three-star films through this period was more impressive. From the 1998 three-star list I noted: Elizabeth, Life is Beautiful, Saving Private Ryan, Shakespeare in Love, A Simple Plan, The Thin Red Line, and The Truman Show. All these films had scores that were generally well received by we critics. Looking at the entries for these films in the body of the book, I noticed that Halliwell does not always accord with our views for not every composer's name is italicised (indicating "a particularly high standard"). Hirschfelder (Elizabeth); John Williams (Saving Private Ryan); Hans Zimmer (The Thin Red Line); and Burkhard Dallwitz (The Truman Show) - all do not earn the italicised accolade.
The 1000s of entries of established films indicate whether there is a recording available of the score - a very useful feature. For instance, the other day, a site visitor asked me whether there is a recording of Frederick Hollander's delightful music for the 1954 version of Sabrina. Halliwell confirmed that there was not (although the Main Title waltz is included in Casablanca - Classic Film Scores for the films of Humphrey Bogart - RCA GD80422) [HINT TO FILM MUSIC CD PRODUCERS: Isn't it about time the film music and this score in particular of Frederick Hollander was committed to disc??]
For every film and film music fan this book is essential.
Reviewer
Ian Lace
Editor Film Music on the Web (UK)
Return to Part 1
Return to November index
Search the Crotchet database from here
| Discs
on these pages are offered for sale. There is also a page of search
engines from a selection of on-line retailers
here.
Please support this web-site by buying your discs here. Disclaimer: Every effort is made to make sales links to the correct disc but, in the end, you must take responsibility for checking that what you are purchasing is what you want. Some of these discs were not actually available for sale at the time of posting but a link has been made in anticipation of their forthcoming availablility. |
Return To Film Music on the Web
e-mail: info@musicweb.uk.net
