Film Score Friday 1/29/99

by Lukas Kendall

In Person: Jerry Goldsmith is a seminar scheduled for next Tuesday, February 2, at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills (465 North Beverly Drive). Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the Museum lobby or by calling 310-786-1091, Wednesday through Saturday 12-5PM.

Tonight and tomorrow night in Boston, the 30-member Boston Secession will perform a "new, original soundscape" live to film of Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire. This is a first in that this is NOT a silent film but a contemporary production, and here it's getting music added to the experience of watching it. It's being performed at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street. Tickets are on sale now at $12 for general admission and $25 for both the performance and a post-concert "Meet the Conductor" reception. Call 617-931-2787.

Intrada will release Bruce Broughton's score to the 1990 computer game, Hearts of Darkness.

Hammer News

Here's what's coming up from the vaults of this classic British genre studio:

Due April: Hammer Comedy Film Music Collection: Music from On the Buses, Holiday on the Buses, Mutiny on the Buses, Man About the House, George and Mildred, Nearest and Dearest, Love Thy Neighbor, Rising Damp, That's Your Funeral, I Only Arsked, Further Up the Creek.

Due September: Hammer Film Music Collection Volume 2: Music from Dracula A.D. 1972, The Lost Continent, Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell, Slave Girls, To the Devil a Daughter, Crescendo, Fear in the Night, Satanic Rites of Dracula, Demons of the Mind, Rasputin the Mad Monk, Plague of the Zombies, One Million Years B.C., Dracula Has Risen From the Grave, The Abominable Snowman, Curse of the Werewolf, Frankenstein Created Woman, Straight on till Morning, The Old Dark House, The Mummy's Shroud, The Witches, Vengeance of She, Quatermass II, Pirates of Blood River, Journey to the Unknown.

Both of these CDs will be available from Scarlet Street magazine, who are now selling the first volume. And yes, there will be complete-score CDs, not just compilations, coming in the future.

Battlestar Galactica

From: "Randy A. Salas" <rasalas@bitstream.net>

The news of Stu Phillips's new re-recording of Battlestar Galactica absolutely floored me--and not in a good way. I'm sure I'll buy it, and I can understand Varese's bsuiness reason for doing it (widely available version in the best sound). But, come on! The original album is already available on a German Edel CD, and real fans can get four CDs' worth of Galactica (admittedly, in mono) in the promo compilation that came out several years ago. In addition, how many sci-fi compilations include Galactica music? (Kunzel's on Telarc remains the best.)

Now, don't get me wrong; I'm a huge fan of Phillips' work, which is why I'm complaining. How about reissuing/recording some of his other stuff? The main one would be Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, but there's also The Six Million Dollar Man, Knight Rider, Fall Guy, Spider-Man and others. The ultimate irony is that Varese's parent company, MCA/Universal (UNI), issued the original Battlestar and Buck Rogers LPs. Varese could slap them both one one cd as a two-fer, and I'm sure sci-fi fans would buy them up readily.

Actually, MCA have raised their rates considerably for licensing their albums, and are not licensing entire albums to anyone right now -- not even companies they distribute and partially own, like Varese.

Thomas Newman

From: Matt Hulkkonen, GRIZZBEAR1@aol.com

Have fast become a fan of Thomas Newman and have listened to "Meet Joe Black" as well as "The Shawshank Redemption" which i find awesome. How is "The Horse Whisperer"? Also, can you recomend anything else by Thomas Newman to me?

P.S.: How is he related to Alfred Newman?

Tom is Alfred's son. So is David Newman, making Tom and David brothers. Tom is younger.

If you like The Shawshank Redemption, you'll absolutely like The Horse Whisperer. You should also pick up Oscar and Lucinda, to a little-seen film from late 1997. Hopefully someone will start a thread on Tom Newman scores to get on our message board.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

From: kattaked@interactive.net (Edmund Kattak)

A few years ago, FSM published an insightful article regarding the scores of Star Trek. From what I remember, there was an article one month that focused on ST:TMP. Although I don't have the issue in front of me at this time, I seem to remember some discussion regarding alternate and unused cues. There are some references to how the main theme evolved. To put it bluntly, it was a good article.

My question seems a little nit picky, but I'm curious. The liner notes of the new Anniversary edition state that the film version of the Main Title and the album version are the same, just mixed differently. However, I find it hard to accept that these are the same performance. If you compare both versions, you not only hear the percussive differences (as the liner notes state), but differences that seem to be anything but subtle.

For example, when you compare the beginning of both versions, the film version seems to have an elevated brass line consisting or trumpets, while the album version appears to have an elevated brass line of french horns (my ears cannot detect any trumpets). Throughout the rest of the theme, there seems to be some other differences (check 'em out, carefully compare the film to the album).

This really seems trivial and unimportant, but I think it bears some relevance and importance to understanding the film's history. Considering that there were no separate album sessions, could this actually be the same take. Even with the good engineering on the original recording and the Anniversary edition, I still have trouble with the statement that the two versions are the same (I actually prefer the album version).

Are the actual cue sheets still around and accessible?

I have not compared the film version and album version of the main title; they could be different takes, or just different mixes, as the liner notes state. Yes, the cue sheets to the film are still around, and for information on some of the cues not on the new album, check out Jeff Bond's article from a couple months ago. Jeff also wrote that age-old piece in FSM you're thinking of.

Coming in only a few weeks from Lone Eagle Publishing is The Music of Star Trek: Profiles in Style, by the aforementioned Jeff Bond. This features interviews with almost all of the Trek composers from all 33 years of the franchise and all kinds of great production information (and some cue sheets). It's really terrific. We'll be carrying it here at the site.

Guilty Pleasures

From: Letterbox9@aol.com

Anyone out there have any "Guilty Pleasure" scores for 1998? You know, scores that were just really fun to listen to even though they won't get recognized for any awards or make a "Best Of" list?

My picks:

Small Soldiers (Goldsmith)

A Perfect Murder (J.N. Howard)

Mighty Joe Young (Horner)

Stepmom (Williams)

Sphere (Goldenthal) --*I just found it kind of creepy.

Anyone else?

Last year, what pleasure wasn't guilty? Send your picks for our mail bag, or post to the message board.

The Right Stuff

From: Karl Dworak <karl.dworak@twcable.com>

I recently heard Alexander Glazunov's THE SEASONS on the radio, and it sounded remarkably (to my ears) like Bill Conti's theme for THE RIGHT STUFF. I know nothing of Glazunov, but I'm wondering if this is another case of plagarism, a la, well, you know who. Can you or others share some insight on Glazunov & THE SEASONS & Bill Conti?

If there's a similarity between these pieces, keep in mind, the classical one came first... I am not intimately familiar with The Right Stuff, but I do know that Conti was asked to emulate the (mostly classical) temp track for many sequences. This is probably one of them.

The People vs. Roman Deppe

From: James Southall <ma6jes@bath.ac.uk>

I was intrigued by Roman Deppe's listing in his favourite scores of the year.

I first became suspicious of his mental stability by the revelation that he doesn't like Randy Newman (such a person exists?), and these suspicions were more than confirmed by his assertion that every John Barry score sounds "absolutely the same". Y'know, just the other day I was listening to Lion in Winter, and it struck me how much it sounds like Out of Africa, The Knack, Ruby Cairo, You Only Live Twice and Deadfall.

But then, he says his favourite score of the year is The Avengers - so obviously styled around Barry's Bond scores anyway.

His second favourite score is Mulan (something which I love, don't get me wrong) - which may as well be an extension of First Knight and Ghost and the Darkness.

Hmm.

(My own personal top five would be, in no particular order, Pleasantville, Ever After, Dangerous Beauty, Mulan and Saving Private Ryan...)

From: Steve Latshaw, STLATSHAW@aol.com

In response to "RomanDeppe", writing in your column about his top ten picks.

To quote him:

"John Barry? I can't understand how you can criticize Horner for constantly repeating himself and praise Barry... his scores always sound the same, absolutely the same. You got one, you got them all."

1. Many of Barry's scores are radically different from each other. I can't think of a more diverse series of scores than KING RAT, THE KNACK, THE IPCRESS FILE, OUT OF AFRICA, KING KONG, GOLDFINGER, UNTIL SEPTEMBER and THE BLACK HOLE.

2. While it is true Barry has developed a tendency to repeat himself stylistically in recent years... this is as much a function of the wishes of filmmakers and demands of the studios for the same thing over and over again as it is his own desires. These days, studios prefer the same type of scores for every movie - obvious movie music cliches repeated over and over... "chase" themes... "sad" themes... inspirational themes... "wacky" themes... "heroic themes..." The type of scoring now prevailing at the studio level is what Orson Welles used to refer to as "cartoon" music and what B western and serial scorer William Lava called composing "music by the yard."

Indeed, it is this demand for the same thing every picture that enables composers like Horner to get hired over and over, while more unique talents like Morricone, Barry and Randy Newman to get dumped from projects... or have their scores rejected.

3. I think the point with Horner as that he tends to repeat (or rewrite) other people's work, as opposed to his own. That would be one of the many major differences between Horner and Barry.

You Are Not a Moron

From: Patrick Rogers <p5rogers@airmail.net>

Am I moron for not understanding what the name "Dreams to Dream...s" (the James Horner fanzine mentioned in Wednesday's column) means? It seems pointless and pretentious, but I fear I may feel really stupid once I know the answer. If there is one.

It's either an exact song title from one of Horner's compositions to an animated film (perhaps American Tail 2, I forget), or a play thereupon.

On that note, have a great weekend!

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