Of course for me it would be THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD, a score that has haunted me from the first time I heard it on TV in 1979-80, and for me is one of the films that Goldsmith's music transformed a film completely from being nothing, to having a tangible soul.
But my second choice, if I had $75K to re-record would be, "A GIRL NAMED SOONER", which was previously released from FSM in mono. I think this score, perhaps paired with another TV Goldsmith film like CRAWLSPACE would come to life and would be rediscovered.......if I had $75K
I'll take Brian May's "The Road Warrior ". My choice of conductor & orchestra of course. And 'booth rights', meaning I get to produce, analyze every bar to be correct and shout like Benny Herrmann at the slightest intonation that is off. ;-) Seriously, dream record, that. ...
I have to add, a score that strangely I hum everyday I leave work recently....so totally weird....it just shows up in my head, with alarming regularity. LIONHEART. And oddly enough, it's a score that could use a brand new performance....not sure I would spend $75 K though...and that IS the point of this thread. So never mind...
....all of this is of course is, if parts exist and/or reconstruction of the score is possible...never want to get people's hopes up...this is purely hypothetical...but money does talk.
Without hesitation, MOONRAKER and MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. And KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE, MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, HOW THE WEST WAS WON, GONE WITH THE WIND, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO... And LIONHEART, yes.
There is no doubt in my mind, and I certainly wouldn't want to "waste" the money on something that already HAS a soundtrack release. No, it would be this all the way:
STORIA DI UNA DONNA/THE STORY OF A WOMAN (John Williams)
Let me dream... A complete (or a long suite from a) Max Steiner score: NOW, VOYAGER, DODGE CITY, KEY LARGO, IN THIS OUR LIFE, MILDRED PIERCE or JEZEBEL. Hugo Friedhofer's VERA CRUZ. Victor Young's SHANE and some suites from his westerns. Korngold's THE CONSTANT NYMPH or CAPTAIN BLOOD.
Leaving aside almost anything by Rozsa, if I had the spare cash (to lose!) I would undoubtedly want to finance George Antheil's score for THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION. Seeing it in 1957, it was one of the first films where I began to really notice music in a film. It's a great score with far more music than the original soundtrack album, which was only in mono. I love the film as well, although sadly I'm in the minority there.
I think I would take the money and approach EON to re-issue the pre-1995 Bond soundtracks - or try to get out some titles from Warner/MGM...
Recording-wise: the known lost bits and pieces from the James Bond movies, some of the unrecoverable 1940s/1950s Warner scores by Steiner/Waxman/Tiomkin/Hollander, underscore from "Some Like It Hot" - too many options...
There is no doubt in my mind, and I certainly wouldn't want to "waste" the money on something that already HAS a soundtrack release. No, it would be this all the way:
STORIA DI UNA DONNA/THE STORY OF A WOMAN (John Williams)
So almost everybody wants to record unreleased music which won't sell enough to get a profit... Frankly, I'd prefer to record a potential best seller to earn enough money to record another one AND a more obscure score. Besides the fact that if I'd have 75000$, I seriously doubt I'd spend the money in recording a film score but more in co-producîng a movie.
