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I honestly believe McCarthy could have become one of the very top Hollywood composers right up there with Williams & co.,
I like McCarthy, but honestly....no.
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I'd trade for McCarthy over a couple dozen of today's modern and in demand composers, LIKE THAT. No second thought.
Why so many regular Star Trek spin-off composers seem to have been forgotten as soon as Trek left the airwaves, is baffling. McCarthy, Bell, Chattaway -- should all have gotten more work than they did.
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Posted: |
May 24, 2022 - 9:02 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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I gave GONE TO TEXAS a good listen last night. Dennis McCarthy always seemed to pass me by (even by the 1980s I was getting fed up with Star Trek spin-offs, so I missed out on getting a hold on his sound). But I enjoyed this score even though it may not be particularly distinctive. Solid effort though.
So GONE TO TEXAS was made in 1986 as a miniseries? I never knew of its existence, but it would probably have come shortly after SILVERADO - and that film's splendiferous Bruce Broughton soundtrack. Maybe McCarthy wanted to go in that direction but was hampered by budget? Who knows. More likely (and it's all speculation) he was following in the footsteps of Jerrold Immel's sprawling 1977-'79 HOW THE WEST WAS WON. No soundtrack release for that? Did Immel do all the music? I remember the title theme well.
I'll tell you why I like GONE TO TEXAS whether you want me to or not. It reminds me of coming home from HMV in Glasgow in 1986 with a 30-minute LP from an unknown TV show called "GONE TO TEXAS", by a composer called "Dennis McCarthy", who I knew of because he was doing a lot of Star Trek-related music around that time. And then I played it in 1986 and enjoyed it a lot because it was a good, solid score in the traditional vein, within my comfort zone.
This would have been around the time that I got the LP for THE RIGHT STUFF/ NORTH AND SOUTH. NORTH AND SOUTH was "kind of" in the same ballpark as GONE TO TEXAS, and NORTH AND SOUTH took up only one side of an LP. I was as happy as Larry Grayson that day, and it never occurred to me that NORTH AND SOUTH (the series) had a running time of 1,342 minutes and that the one side of the LP was probably missing a lot of score. Likewise, GONE TO TEXAS had a running time of a mere 144 minutes, but here it was distilled into a 30-minute LP. It was pretty good.
But that 1986 story never really happened then. It happened last night, and I was as happy as I would have been in 1986. Oh wait, I actually came back with TWO LPs in 1986 last night. The other one is also by Dennis McCarthy and its title is HIDDEN IN SILENCE. I'm sure this serious subject matter will have a much more sombre music score than GONE TO TEXAS.
I'll be listening to HIDDEN IN SILENCE tonight in 1986. If it's half as good as GONE TO TEXAS I'll be very pleased.
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Posted: |
May 25, 2022 - 4:15 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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Last night I travelled back in time once more, to 1986. I was coming out of HMV in Glasgow with a bag containing two LPs - GONE TO TEXAS and HIDDEN IN SILENCE. You can imagine my surprise when I noticed on the LP that HIDDEN IN SILENCE was (going to be) made in 1996, exactly one decade later, and so I had inexplicably gone back in time and into the future at the same time.
So, last night in 1986 it was HIDDEN IN SILENCE's turn for a good listen. And it was indeed good. Being written for a restrained TV movie about the Holocaust I was hardly expecting a barrel of laughs. I think that Dennis McCarthy did the job admirably. There are no hysterics here. It's all appropriately sombre and often quite moving, but it rarely tugs too explicitly at the heartstrings, which is probably a good thing. Nicely done passages for solo vioin, flute, guitar plus a conventional string section, plus one particularly poignant rendition of "Silent Night". It kind of moves around in Georges Delerue territory without any great highs or lows. I'm really happy with this LP. A fine, albeit fairly run-of-the-mill addition to my collection.
The great thing about these LP purchases is that they're solid scores which never outstay their welcome. GONE TO TEXAS comes in at under 30 minutes, Side A ending with the fine "Battle and Chase" cue and Side B beginning with "Victory". HIDDEN IN SILENCE is almost exactly 40 minutes long, divided into two 20-minute sides. Side A ends with "Papers Please" while the B side opens with "I Can Do It".
It must also be said that I got the two LPs for 3 euros 95, and that's even before the euro was invented. In today's money, that's exactly 1 euro 95-and-a-half cents for each LP. What a bargain for two pretty good scores.
The even better news is that I actually didn't go back in time. I made up those LP stories. I got the two scores on one CD for 3 euros 95, a few days ago, in the real world.
Whoah! What's that? Two LPs by Ken Wannberg? THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT and MOTHER LODE? For 1.97-and-a-half euros each? I'm gonna have to get those! Await my rabbit. Coming to an Indian Tandoori restaurant near you.
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