Since this is the era of previously-unimagined Holy Grails have had miraculous resurrection, there’s one supreme effort that has been grieviously overlooked, and that’s Gerald Fried’s monumental music for what still remains one of the most collectively influential mini-series ever aired.
In fact, on the scale of Olympian musical achievements, it stands proudly beside (and, in definitive Deed) preceded its later Herculean cousin, Basil Poledouris’ equally epic “Lonesome Dove”.
[ As to that, the classic, soul-shattering Pieta scene between Louis Gossett Jr. and LeVar Burton – heartbreakingly scored with superlative subtle compassion that’s quite the profoundly moving apex of Mr. Frieds already admirable effort – evokes the kind of human empathy we’ve rarely heard since except for rare exceptions ala ‘The Breaking of the Fellowship’ cue from Howard Shore].
The year (1978)after the series exploded upon the American scene, there was an ABC special called “How Roots Captivated An Entire Nation” (which can be watched on YouTube that had the benefit of Mr. Fried’s additional authorship while he continued his impressive association with the series through its sequel aired two years later in 1979.
Plus a later reunion between Messrs. Gossett and Burton in
There has never been a truly representative release of his music, although tantalizing snippets were available previously
Someone needs to do whatever’s necessary for a worthy Total tribute from all these enterprises as a lasting memorial to what’s one of the most unheralded
Always thought since this was a David Wolper production (known for not keeping their musical material) rather than Warner or ABC, AND the messy contract with Quincy Jones relating to his part of that score, this was an uphill battle to get done.
Nice neo. I loved the theme so much i got the Orig LP with dialogue but it did have some music extracts on it. The fact the full works is not yet available is a crime!!
Yes, Roots would be good. And talking of TV, we also need a proper release of North's superb "Rich Man Poor Man" that has only been represented by that pathetically inadequate Varese album of decades ago.
I have a very nice two disc set of Fried's "Roots," which I got from this gentleman (e-mail in this thread) who is authorized directly by Fried to sell his music on his behalf. Thanks for reminding me. I owe him another order...
And they still say on many websites that it was Quincy Jones, NOT Fried, who scored the entire miniseries. Some people can be so ignorant, because Jones only scored Pt. 1 and the majority of the miniseries was scored by Fried. I think it may have been bad feelings between the two that prevented all of the music from the miniseries to be put out on C.D. (that 2 L.P. set had only a small portion of the score plus dialogue), plus Jones isn't in favour of having expanded releases of his scores that he composed (or cocomposed) on C.D., coupled that most of the master tapes from the Wolper archives owned by Warner Bros. are gone (of course, there's Fried's score for "The Mystic Warrior" which was put on Screen Archives Enetertainment). "Roots", along with "Rich Man Poor Man" are two of A.B.C.'s "big three" miniseries that has never gotten a definitive C.D. release (the first one "Q.B.VII" was remedied with Prometheus' magnificent rerecording of Goldsmith's Emmy award winning score). Still, there is hope.
Yes, Roots would be good. And talking of TV, we also need a proper release of North's superb "Rich Man Poor Man" that has only been represented by that pathetically inadequate Varese album of decades ago.
Also avoid that A&E D.V.D. set of "Rich Man Poor Man" because they were taken off those heavily edited syndication prints, and are missing a couple of scenes. Let's a hope a Blu ray release corrects that problem. See my post above.
Since this is the era of previously-unimagined Holy Grails have had miraculous resurrection, there’s one supreme effort that has been grieviously overlooked, and that’s Gerald Fried’s monumental music for what still remains one of the most collectively influential mini-series ever aired.
In fact, on the scale of Olympian musical achievements, it stands proudly beside (and, in definitive Deed) preceded its later Herculean cousin, Basil Poledouris’ equally epic “Lonesome Dove”.
[ As to that, the classic, soul-shattering Pieta scene between Louis Gossett Jr. and LeVar Burton – heartbreakingly scored with superlative subtle compassion that’s quite the profoundly moving apex of Mr. Frieds already admirable effort – evokes the kind of human empathy we’ve rarely heard since except for rare exceptions ala ‘The Breaking of the Fellowship’ cue from Howard Shore].
The year (1978)after the series exploded upon the American scene, there was an ABC special called “How Roots Captivated An Entire Nation” (which can be watched on YouTube that had the benefit of Mr. Fried’s additional authorship while he continued his impressive association with the series through its sequel aired two years later in 1979.
Plus a later reunion between Messrs. Gossett and Burton in
There has never been a truly representative release of his music, although tantalizing snippets were available previously
Someone needs to do whatever’s necessary for a worthy Total tribute from all these enterprises as a lasting memorial to what’s one of the most unheralded
MASTERPIECES in all cinematic history.
Sadly, the music is the least discussed aspect of the miniseries when it was issued on D.V.D.. It's a shame, because it contains one of Fried's best scores.
It's a rights things. The rights to the recordings are split between Wolper and Warner Bros and possibly yet another party - even Wolper wasn't sure. They just said it's a mess that would take a lot of time and money to sort out.
It's a rights things. The rights to the recordings are split between Wolper and Warner Bros and possibly yet another party - even Wolper wasn't sure. They just said it's a mess that would take a lot of time and money to sort out.
The other factor is QUINCY JONES.... That's a whole other story....
In this case it might be far better so just invest in producing a new recording of the best bits from the score.
I don't think it would need a huge orchestra to do, maybe under 50 players
I seem to recall that Gerry put together a 40 Minute suite or something along those lines that might be the best way to go.
The Only other thing is for WATER TOWER to put it out, but that might also involve a of legal clearances that they might not wish to invest the time and resources into doing at this point.
Sigerson Holmes: I just sent an email to your (very old) hotmail address, because I think I own the same edition you do, and I would like to compare notes.
Sigerson Holmes: I sent an email to your hotmail address, because I think I own the same edition as you, and I would like to compare notes. Did you get it?
