I think I've recounted this before around here, but hey, we all love repetition
I remember Banos telling us (in Ubeda, at their Film Music Festival) how John Williams and Film Music saved him and put him on the right path. He said he was 'a bit of a tearaway' in his teens, running with a gang and getting into trouble and definitely on the wrong path, when he saw (and heard) the film E.T. and was blown away by the film and it's music. This set him on the path he is now ploughing to our delight. I re-listened to the TORRENTE track again from the Recopilatorio book/CD set and decided he could write one helluva James Bond score.
I remember Banos telling us (in Ubeda, at their Film Music Festival) how John Williams and Film Music saved him and put him on the right path. He said he was 'a bit of a tearaway' in his teens, running with a gang and getting into trouble and definitely on the wrong path, when he saw (and heard) the film E.T. and was blown away by the film and it's music.
Wow, that's a great story! Thank you for sharing Ken. I wonder how many UN-realized composers there are out there who didn't have a similar experience at such an important juncture in their lives?
No Somos Nadie is still my favorite Baños score. The final track is heartbreakingly beautiful.
One of my favorites too... Too bad he is wasting his talent now... Hopefully that new Ron Howard movie will finally give him a chance to do something truly memorable again.
I know his EVIL DEAD score is very well liked around here, but I barely played it twice. Don't get me wrong, it's a well written and orchestrated horror score (from the Christopher Young and co wheelhouse), but in comparison to most of his previous scores I've heard, it's practically a non-starter.
Revisited this score today. Man, that opening cue is still one for the books. Such towering grandeur! I do hope this side of Banos' writing is not gone forever. Even if it is, at least we have an intriguing back-catalogue of great work.
Maybe, like Frédéric Talgorn, he will tire of Hollywood and return to Europe, where he can still write film music without that horrible Remote Control chain around his neck.
Let's just hope he'll works more frequently than Talgorn does these days (and another criminally-underutilized member of the "Did the Hollywood thing for five minutes and got right the hell out" club, Michael J. Lewis)
That reminds me that I still need to pick up those TORRENTES scores which, amazingly, I somehow still don't own yet. I believe he wrote a trilogy of them, no? Main theme sounds very Silvestri-like.
If you like that, Nigel, definitely pick up his score to HEART OF THE WARRIOR (El Corazon del Guerrero) if you haven't yet. Big fantasy scores with some clear nods to a certain Basil Poledouris masterwork and some atonal flourishes that wouldn't be out of place in his later horror scores.
Here's a suite from a live performance of it, albeit in pretty daft sound quality. Takes a little bit to get going but once it does, it really cooks. Fun stuff. The last two minutes especially strongly recall CONAN to my ears.
