This News Friday 10/3/97
by Lukas Kendall
For those of you looking for the new Clash of the Titans CD (Laurence
Rosenthal), it isn't out yet. George at Pendulum says it's being manufactured
now, so it will be out in three weeks or so.
Starship Troopers will be out on CD from Varese Sarabande on
November 4th, the Tuesday before the movie is out. As expected, it will
be around 35 minutes long due to the high cost of musicians union re-use
fees. Creature Features, the movie memorabilia and model store in Burbank,
is planning a CD-signing for composer Basil Poledouris on either the day
of the CD release, or the night before. If you're in Los Angeles, you should
visit the store at 1802 West Olive Ave, sort of near Buena Vista and Olive,
by Disney (they have some soundtracks and all the old Film Score Monthlys).
Keep watching this site for news on the signing, or call the store at 818-842-9382.
Black Talent News is having
a film music conference tomorrow, October 4, at Seavers Hall on the Loyola
Marymount University campus. Terence Blanchard will be among the guests.
Call 310-226-8497 for registration information.
Good Movies
To my delight there have been some darn fine movies out the past couple
of weeks. Traditionally I have complained like crazy about contemporary
Hollywood product but it really seems like we've turned a corner. It started
with Cop Land in August which, while not a masterpiece, was probing
and a solid chunk of drama, with a typically fine Howard Shore score. Recently
I saw L.A. Confidential, and that truly is an high-quality piece
of work, with a maze of a plot that still manages to make sense, and unique,
honest characterizations. It's like Chinatown only in that it takes
place in the Los Angeles of the past, but whereas the entire plot of Chinatown
was tied into the warts-and-all birth of L.A., that's only a backdrop
and hence an undercurrent in L.A. Confidential for a mob/crime/cop
story that could take place anywhere. Jerry Goldsmith's score lets the
well-chosen period songs evoke the nostalgia and instead plays to the drama
with economy and a Near the Waterfront main theme. It's much more of an
industrial Chinatown, without the sad, wistful, strange but beautiful
feeling of the earlier work.
A surprise was The Edge, which I liked for its stunning setting
and gritty survival story. My buddies and I have been saying for years
that movies would be so much better if the situations and events on screen
seemed to have some relationship to real life, and The Edge proves
the point, with the exception of oddly excluding the number one problem
you'd have in the mountains in winter, i.e. hypothermia. Goldsmith's theme
is more along the lines of his present Big Theme approach, but it's a good
melody and does not wear out its welcome; also, it strongly ties into the
Anthony Hopkins character, being acoustic and traditional, representing
both his background and success and also the "beyond" he feels
is lacking in his life. Even the bizarre end-credits music, where the big
orchestral theme segues into a cocktail jazz version, makes not-too-difficult
sense as the Hopkins character rejoins society and his jetsetting life.
It's a '70s movie, really, and Goldsmith's sensibility belongs to that
decade. The bear motive for trombones was cool, and Jeff Bond and I even
noticed a return of the "Alien Planet" motive for some of the
hiking scenes--replace LV-426 or whatever with the mountains.
Also terrific was U-Turn, which I saw in a special engagement
last Tuesday; it's Oliver Stone doing a Quentin Tarantino movie (hyper
cutting and weirdness over a gangster/noir story) set in the Southwest,
but the cast is phenomenal and so is Ennio Morricone's score. I've definitely
been bitten by the Morricone bug and it's a joy to hear the genuine article
in action once again--this is his first American movie since Disclosure,
I think. Although some of the reviews mentioned that Morricone revisted
his spaghetti western style (if only!), that's not true--rather, it's a
typically weird but indelible modern Morricone effort with harmonica and
boing-ing sounds added for good measure. There are several memorable themes:
for the town, for the Jennifer Lopez character, for odd situations, and
so forth. Morricone can definitely be annoying if matched to the wrong
movie, but here his typical "acts"--they're almost indescrible,
sorry, but one includes music that sounds like grinding chalkboards--are
perfect casting. The movie has a very loose sense of cutting via its interpolated
images and shaky cameras (misleading, because this style requires some
of the most specific editing), which plays right into Morricone's style
of not "mickey mousing." Morricone will tend to use certain sounds
and licks that are definitely cliche--such as that boinging jew's harp--but
in the context of the movie, it adds to the wry sense of humor and makes
the whole thing jel. As with L.A. Confidential, the use of songs
is masterful.
Finally, I saw a test-screening of The Truman Show, starring
Jim Carrey and directed by Peter Weir. It's ironic that they try to exclude
people in the entertainment industry from these things, since I instantly
saw a half-dozen people I recognized in line. Well, test-screening is evil,
therefore our lying is justified. The movie was terrific and I think it
will be a surprise hit. It's unlike any Jim Carrey movie that's come before
in that it's not really a comedy, although it certainly will be marketed
as such, and has many funny moments (as does U-Turn). The premise
is that there's this guy whose whole life has been a television show, but
it's not like Stay Tuned or something, where this guy doesn't notice
a TV stage, or switches dimensions. Jim Carrey lives in this entire fabricated
town where everybody is an actor except him; Ed Harris is the director/producer
overseeing the project. Throughout the movie we watch Truman Burbank (Carrey)
through the thousands of hidden cameras in the town, so it's a hilarious
and powerful critique of modern media, as we are always conscious of our
role as viewers, intruding on this guy's life. You really care for this
guy and want him to break out, and although the ending is thoroughly satisfying,
you leave feeling that much more aware of the presence of the camera and
watching in any movie. Well, I loved it. The print I saw seemed pretty
much done, but had a temp-score of Shine and various Philip Glass
music--Glass is doing the actual score, to which I say, great! Philip Glass
doing a Jim Carrey movie beats, well, John Debney (Liar Liar).
What's great about this recent batch of films is that I've long hoped
people would either do genre movies really well, or go nuts and do something
totally different. I mean, I love genre movies, I just hate what they've
become. I love cop movies, westerns, film noirs‹even sexual thrillers.
Give me Klute, great! Make a genre movie--take the conventions and
do them well. That's what L.A. Confidential, U-Turn and even The
Edge do. Or go nuts, like The Truman Show. Truman is
definitely sold by Jim Carrey--he's excellent and I don't know if any other
actor could make it a mainstream hit the way I predict this movie will
become. But there's already been a loud Carrey movie this year, so go crazy.
Be different. I love it. I cannot wait for people to see Starship Troopers--I've
seen bits and pieces at the scoring sessions--because it provides action
on a scale never seen before, and is totally left-field and wild in its
point of view. See, successful movies don't have to suck. If they're good,
they'll be even more successful!
And about the music, it is so much fun to hear A-1 composers on real
projects. Jerry Goldsmith on a story of bears in the mountains--great!
Ennio Morricone on a mainstream contemporary movie--I love it. Basil Poledouris
on a new Paul Verhoeven movie, Philip Glass tackling America's number-one
comedian--I can't wait. Good film composers are a treasure. I love it when
I can watch a movie and not only have the score be good, but be a personality:
this is Lalo Schifrin, or this is John Williams. Sometimes young composers
ask me for advice and I tell them, do something interesting. You got to
be somebody, baby.
Questions
From Albert Semer Jr., alseme19@idt.net
I was wondering if you knew of a place that would sell Peter Dasent's
film scores ? In case you don't know Peter has written the music for Peter
Jackson's films except the Frighteners- I think he is phenomenally talented.
Mr. Dasent's work is available on some Austrailian label from what one
of my friends tells me called Mana Music Publishing; his publisher is called
Chris Gough. I have had trouble trying to get through to them on the phone.
Have you heard Dasent's work on Meet the Feebles, Bad Taste etc..? it is
phenomenal ! It's like Danny Elfman gone mad! Unfortunately it's next to
impossible to obtain.
The only Dasent score with which I am familiar is his excellent work
for Heavenly Creatures, available on a Milan CD only in Europe.
I've never heard of Mana Music Publishing or any other Dasent release.
Jeff Commings, Jeffswim@aol.com writes:
I recently found in an out-of-the-way used CD store a copy of the
score from one of my favorite comedies: A Fish Called Wanda. Not only was
I happy to find this largely overlooked score, but I was surprised to see
the credit "Guitar Solo: John Williams." I was curious at first
to wonder why the great John Williams would do a guitar solo on one of
the best sleepers of the 1980s, then realized that maybe he wouldn't. So
is this Mr. Williams the same great Oscar-winning composer, or is this
an imposter?
This is another John Williams, who is a famous classical guitarist.
There's also the John Williams who is the editor of Music from the Movies,
an English magazine. Yes, how odd that more than one person would have
such an exotic name.
Pat H. Mooney, phmooney@flash.net
Saw The Peacemaker and liked Zimmer's score, but the CD only has
five tracks and no timings. I want to know how long it is before I buy.
Finally, the new Alex North collection is wonderful, though I already
have most of it. The single track from Viva, Zapata! brings up the question
of whether there is more of this soundtrack available--I suspect another
track or two on another collection, if memory serves--or, best of all,
are there any plans for a complete score CD?
About Peacemaker, I don't know, but it's probably in the 40-50
range; it was recorded in London, where re-use fees do exist, but are not
paid by the minute as with U.S. scores. I still think disc length is the
most overrated thing. I'd rather have a great half-hour of Goldfinger,
for example, than a shitty 70 minutes of something else.
There are no immediately plans for a Viva Zapata CD, but when
Varese do their next recording of an Alex North score conducted by Jerry
Goldsmith, Viva Zapata is what it will be. And then hopefully Spartacus
after that!
George Traynor, radialtire@idsonline.com
I remember reading a reference to a book that you all might publish
concerning reviews of film scores and soundtracks that are (or were) available.
Can you tell when you all plan on releasing the book? Do you have a publisher?
Also, as far as subscriptions are concerned, does everything that
appears online also appear in your publication? I know that's not the case
vice-versa. Thanks for answering all my questions. You have been most helpful.
The review book in question is edited by Didier Deutsch and will be
published by Visible Ink Press on October 16. If you can't find it in stores
at the time, call 1-800-776-6265 to order. FSM's writers, including myself,
have contributed many reviews, but FSM is by no means the publisher.
A very important question: not everything here online appears in the
magazine in this form, although virtually all of the information and content
will be included in the hardcopy in some form. By that, I mean that most
of the news will be in the magazine, and reviews will be reworked for it
too, more than likely.
More importantly, there is tons of material in the magazine that is
not on the site, due its size and the little point that I kinda want people
to get the magazine, too! If you are not already a subscriber, or familiar
with the mag, go here for a sample
copy online (every page of the June issue scanned in).
Kenneth English, English5@airmail.net
I remember reading an interview with Jerry Goldsmith in Starlog
magazine (hey, I was in junior high, okay?) back in 1989 or 90 in which
he said that he was scoring the movie Alien Nation. Well, it ended up that
some guy named Curt Sobel got the scoring credit (it's probably a good
think, too, since the movie really sucked) but what ever became of Goldsmith's
music? Was it rejected or did he simply get dropped from the film before
he had a chance to compose anything?
Goldsmith did write a complete score for the movie, a fairly flat thing
for electronics and percussion. The movie was re-cut and he was not available
to rework his music, so they got another composer. Interestingly, he did
re-use his end titles from Alien Nation as, ta-da, the theme from The
Russia House. And, even before this was the main theme from Alien Nation,
it was going to be the main theme for Wall Street, which Goldsmith
was going to do until he and Oliver Stone couldn't see eye-to-eye on the
approach to the movie.
Scott McCulloch, cnbr115@lismore.cc.strath.ac.uk
I picked up the Spielberg/Williams Collaboration CD (Sony Classical
45997), and was pleasantly surprised to discover that track 13 (Close Encounters
of the Third Kind: excerpts) featured around 2 minutes of material from
the CE3K special edition. As far as I am aware this is the only available
recording of the music that was used during the sequence inside the Mothership.
Was this music specially composed for the 1980 version or did they track
portions of unused score from the 1977 original?
I got Spielberg and Williams expert Andy "Android" Dursin
to respond to this one:
The caller is correct. The music underscoring Dreyfuss inside the
mothership (which quotes "When You Wish Upon a Star") is indeed
incorporated into this Pops concert suite.
As for when this music was written, I'm not sure about that exactly.
My best guess is that it was in fact written fpr the Special Edition, since
its timings exactly underscore the actions on-screen (i.e. when that light
spray hits Dreyfuss as this "new cue" ends).
I recall reading that Williams did write and record this cue (in Boston,
actually) specifically for the Special Edition.
Finally, I received a question asking if there were going to be any
more Carl Stalling CDs of Warner Bros. cartoon music. I don't know of any
plans, unfortunately. Those things are great.
Housekeeping
I have been in Los Angeles exactly one year today. Wow.
Jeff Commings, could you write me? I lost your address and have messages
for you about your swell
concert review on the site yesterday.
Look for more updates on this site next week. Specifically, we have
what a lot of you have been waiting for: an update to the upcoming movies
list! Also, give us a few days to get the September articles archived for
your enjoyment.
See TNT's Rough Cut site
(www.roughcut.com/index.html) this week for a ton of soundtrack coverage:
lists of the top 30 song-soundtracks and top-10 scores of all time, plus
interviews with Eric Serra, Carter Burwell, Michael Nyman and more. Dope.
Howard Shore Preview
Here's any great interview intro sample to whet readers' appetites.
This will be in FSM Vol. 2, No. 8--remember, No. 7 is the one with the
Zimmer interview that ships really soon:
Doug Adams: Many of your recent scores don't seem like they're dramatically
conceived by way of illustrating the plot. They seem to be more of a representation
of less-tangible elements within the film. For example, in Seven you're
not doing "Victim #1," "Victim #2," and just following
the story along. It's more of the sound of the attitude of living around
all this decay. How do you decide which kinds of gestures are going to
be appropriate for this kind of approach?
Howard Shore: [Thoughtful pause] A lot of these decisions have to do
with the type of film.
Shana tova! Tons more stuff next week.
Lukas@filmscoremonthly.com
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