Kritzerland is proud to present a classic soundtrack release:
ADVISE AND CONSENT
Composed and Conducted by Jerry Fielding
Adapted from the 1959 novel by Allen Drury, Otto Preminger’s 1962 film of Advise and Consent was a hard-hitting political drama with an all-star cast. Preminger was one of the few directors of that time, along with John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, and a few others, whose name as director was publicized as much as the stars of his films. Advise and Consent was not without controversy due to a subplot of a character being blackmailed over a wartime homosexual affair – at the time, not many A pictures had shown a gay bar on screen. The cast was a starry one: Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton (whose final film it was), Don Murray, Walter Pidgeon, Peter Lawford, Gene Tierney, Franchot Tone, Lew Ayres, Burgess Meredith, Paul Ford, George Grizzard, Inga Swenson, Edward Andrews, and in a small role, Betty White.
Preminger had always been a director with a keen ear for music and keen eye for up-and-coming or underrated and underused composers and so it was for Advise and Consent, when Preminger had the good musical taste to hire Jerry Fielding (who’d been a victim of the blacklist) to write his first film score, thus beginning his long film scoring career that gave the world some incredible scores like The Wild Bunch, Lawman, Straw Dogs, The Nightcomers, Chato’s Land, Junior Bonner, The Mechanic, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Johnny Got His Gun, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Enforcer, Demon Seed, and many others.
In Advise and Consent, Fielding’s great sense of melody is apparent from the first notes of its main theme, a beautiful piece that never overplays its musical hand in the film – it’s a gorgeous melody. But it’s the dramatic scoring that’s so wonderful, especially for a first-timer. Fielding really has a feel for this story and these characters, as well as a terrific sense of how to set-up a scene, whether with exciting music, melancholy music, tense music, dissonant music – his score is a marvel.
RCA issued the soundtrack to the film, with the distinctive Saul Bass art adorning its cover. The album was, like all soundtracks of that era, fairly short at around thirty minutes. But what a thirty minutes it is. While there was a Spanish import CD of the album, it was not taken from the first generation album master, but a sub-master. For this release, Sony provided us with the original first-generation album master and it is, in a word, spectacular, and mastering engineer James Nelson has put his magic on it. The packaging also includes a lovely tribute to Fielding by Nick Redman.
ADVISE AND CONSENT is limited to 1000 copies only and priced at $19.98, plus shipping. CDs will ship by the first week of July, but never fear, we’ve actually been averaging three to five weeks early in terms of shipping ahead of the official ship date. To place an order, see the cover, or hear audio samples, just visit www.kritzerland.com. And check out our great show title, too.
ATTENTION INDIEGOGO CONTRIBUTORS: IF YOU WISH TO RECEIVE THIS RELEASE YOU MUST OPT-IN BY SENDING US AN E-MAIL AND SPECIFY WHICH ALBUM YOU WANT – SEND TO kritzerland@gmail.com. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE IT, YOU DON”T NEED TO DO ANYTHING. IF YOU ARE NOT AN INDIEGOGO CONTRIBUTOR, ORDER AS YOU NORMALLY WOULD. THANK YOU.
This one is a buy for me. The music is definitely melodic and that's what appeals to me. I will choose melody over atmosphere anytime. I hope it does very well for you, Bruce.
Let me know when they unearth the original recording. I resume to my cryogenic chamber.
Just curious but 1) do we even know if there is substantial unreleased music from the original sessions? and 2) even if there was, is there any reason to suspect it still survives? Somehow if there was a chance of expanding the score I suspect one of the labels would've done it already. I think there probably wasn't a rush among the labels to produce a straight reissue, but glad Bruce is one of those who cares about preserving things in the best possible sound quality and produced this first CD from the original tapes. I will definitely need to pick this up at some point.
I already own a copy.
Not from the first generation album master, you don't. If you want to know how much that can make a difference, look no further than Intrada's reissues from the Mainstream catalogue...or their incredible Bernstein AVA set.
Along the same lines, I hold out some hope that Kritzerland may one day re-release the original RCA album for Ernest Gold's Exodus in the best possible sound. We know Bruce loves Gold, this is his greatest and most beloved score, and frankly though released on CD many times, every single CD reissue has sounded HORRIBLE. I'm hoping Bruce and his sound people can come to the rescue on that title.
Not from the first generation album master, you don't. If you want to know how much that can make a difference, look no further than Intrada's reissues from the Mainstream catalogue...or their incredible Bernstein AVA set.
Along the same lines, I hold out some hope that Kritzerland may one day re-release the original RCA album for Ernest Gold's Exodus in the best possible sound. We know Bruce loves Gold, this is his greatest and most beloved score, and frankly though released on CD many times, every single CD reissue has sounded HORRIBLE. I'm hoping Bruce and his sound people can come to the rescue on that title.
Yavar
Totally with you as regards EXODUS, Yavar, and also the incredible improvement to sound quality evident in the posted samples for ADVISE & CONSENT. I do have the Spanish RCA release of A&C, which despite its sonic shortcomings has held a special place in my collection for lo these many years. To finally have this amazing FIRST FILM SCORE by Jerry Fielding -- and what an accomplished composition it is!! -- with the same treatment Kritzerland afforded to the old Spanish RCA release of SUMMER AND SMOKE, is a grail dream come true! I love every minute of this score, so expertly textured, so melodic and melancholy and sinister and bright and contemplative that it truly boggles the mind that it could have been anyone's first effort at film scoring. My only regret is that it was not possible to offer an expanded rendition of the score. But never mind, this is pure gold as is, and I can scarcely wait to have this new release in my little paws! Thanks so much, Bruce! We obviously are kindred souls in at least some aspects (early sixties) of your taste in film music.
For those inquiring about the maybe ten minutes of score that's missing (may not even be that much), believe me this has been in the works since last September and they looked but found only the first generation album master. We have other titles in the pipeline and, for example, for one of those we know they have the three-track tapes so I'm thinking for that one there may indeed be extra stuff. But it takes a long time to get clearances there, but it moves pretty quickly once you do.
As to the Spanish reissue ("I already have it") - if one is satisfied with that, then that's fine. All those RCA Spain CDs are from sub-masters that are generations away from the original and hence they all sound shrill and unpleasant to my ears. The minute Sony got me these raw transfers the difference was instantly hearable and when James put his little magic sauce on it it was even better - even Sony was impressed.
I love this score and was thrilled to get it - it was touch and go for a few weeks, but happily it came through.
Does anyone also have such "phases" when you have enough of listening to scores/OSTs? Well, at least I have these and did listen to other "stuff" in recent weeks. But hearing those samples I immediately knew I have to get this release. My order is in. Can't wait...
For those inquiring about the maybe ten minutes of score that's missing (may not even be that much), believe me this has been in the works since last September and they looked but found only the first generation album master. We have other titles in the pipeline and, for example, for one of those we know they have the three-track tapes so I'm thinking for that one there may indeed be extra stuff. But it takes a long time to get clearances there, but it moves pretty quickly once you do.
As to the Spanish reissue ("I already have it") - if one is satisfied with that, then that's fine. All those RCA Spain CDs are from sub-masters that are generations away from the original and hence they all sound shrill and unpleasant to my ears. The minute Sony got me these raw transfers the difference was instantly hearable and when James put his little magic sauce on it it was even better - even Sony was impressed.
I love this score and was thrilled to get it - it was touch and go for a few weeks, but happily it came through.
With SUMMER AND SMOKE and now A&C you may have gotten the cream of the RCA Spain stuff that hasn't already been released elsewhere (including by you). The only other one I can think of from that catalog that would bear a spruced up CD release is THE CARDINAL. Preamble's CD release of it omitted a cue from the LP version (a vocal), and while the RCA Spain had the whole program, it was as you know subpar soundwise. I'd certainly buy a Kritzerland remaster of that excellent Jerome Moross score. I fear that the original RCA recording of EXODUS has baked-in sound issues that not even the magic of modern sound technology could overcome, but who knows, it might be worth a try. The RCA and Buddah CDs are beyond dreadful. The Tadlow re-recording may have killed any market for an even vastly improved upgrade to the RCA material, but I for one would buy a copy if it showed up.
I'm worried that maybe the reason the CD reissues of Exodus just keep sounding worse and worse is because the original album tapes are misplaced? If they are found I am hopeful that at least *some* magic can be done on them. I mean look at how Bruce improved Taras Bulba!
