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Posted: |
Jan 2, 2012 - 10:09 AM
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By: |
ToneRow
(Member)
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1966, the Italian C.A.M label issued an LP containing John Scott's first movie score (A STUDY IN TERROR), with 4 tracks on side 2 from Chico Hamilton's REPULSION.
Scott’s A STUDY IN TERROR got released in the U.S.A. on Roulette records, but Hamilton’s REPULSION tracks didn’t.
Actually, both REPULSION and A STUDY IN TERROR were made by Compton/Tekli in UK (shot at Twickenham studios, weren't they?). My understanding is that Compton started out making independent adult movies and wished to get into the B-movie market with professional actors and production teams. This eventually evolved into Tony Tenser's Tigon company, which gave us British horror titles like BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW.
Roman Polanski's regular composer - Komeda - was not able to get his visa cleared in time to travel to the U.K. in order to score REPULSION, so Polanski asked Hamilton who was touring in England at the time.
I don't have the C.A.M. LP, but the Harkit CD reissues those same tracks that were on that LP (which sounds like a re-recording to me, not the music as heard in the film).
I first saw REPULSION in 1998 when it became available (at long last) on a Columbia VHS tape.
Since then, I've gotten subsequent incarnations of REPULSION on home video, like the 2003 region 2 DVD from Anchor Bay in the U.K. and the current Blu-ray from Criterion Collection.
It's on my personal "top 10" film list with several Bergman films and THE TRIAL by Orson Welles. Nothing supersedes black-and-white paranoia in intensity and artistic quality, in my opinion.
REPULSION is a monochrome film that should never be colorized.
Unfortunately, I don’t consider Hamilton’s music to be as outstanding as the film is.
Speaking for myself, I would have preferred REPULSION to have an atonal score by a British concert composer, such as Humphrey Searle or Elisabeth Lutyens or even by Richard Rodney Bennett (who was scoring THE NANNY around this time).
But I suppose jazz was Polanski’s way of differentiating himself from the previous generations of filmmakers.
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Onya, I'm not going to be much help here, so don't get your hopes up.... I'm in a bit of a rush at the moment but I thought your topic looked very sad and bare, so I'm just going to say that I THINK (can't be sure) I read a while back, somewhere, that the Harkit REPULSION (featuring, as you say, THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS) sounds awful and contains music not heard in the film while missing out a lot that IS in the movie. I shouldn't say any more in case I'm doing someone a disservice with my bad memory... Sorry, must go.
By the way, AMAZING film. I think there's a topic about it on the other side. I may have even started it. Can't remember right now.
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Thanks, Tone. Now I'm late for work.
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Posted: |
Jan 2, 2012 - 4:07 PM
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By: |
ToneRow
(Member)
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Thanks all. I am a big Chico Hamilton fan, especially from the 1960s period when Gabor Szabo was in the group. This is the lineup that recorded this score. In fact, Gabor Szabo gets arranging credit in the opening titles.
The 60s Chico Hamilton group was into these hypnotic, minimalist Eastern-tinged modal grooves which both reflected where jazz had been going with modal structures while providing a precursor in many ways to sounds that pop groups like the Yardbirds would soon explore.
I think that the minimalist nature of music in Repulsion - both "minimalist" in terms of the music itself and the overall sparseness of music in the score - really sets the mood in this film. It would be hard for me to imagine the film with anything else, but then again, this is what I'm used to.
I wonder if the tracks from the film survive.
This is interesting.
Being a fan of Chico Hamilton, you'd be predisposed, of course, to liking the REPULSION music.
I wonder how many people in 1965 were already followers of Hamilton before they saw REPULSION?
Anyway, minimalism is typically credited to folks such as Terry Riley, Steve Reich & Philip Glass who started to do their thing in 1968 & '69. Since Hamilton's group was doing this sort of minimalism earlier, I wonder if Hamilton had encountered any music by Morton Feldman?
I agree that the sparce music spotting in REPULSION is a significant thing. Silences and sound effects are very effective here.
The small group of players lend the intimacy needed to depict the reclusive life of the protagonist; however, the jazzy origins of the music "date" the film even more so than the black-and-white photography, IMO, since most younger generations who may watch this film have grown up without any jazz music in their life (especially those born after the 1970s).
In Thor's initial post on REPULSION from 2001, he didn't even know who Chico Hamilton was.
One wonders what other jazz men might have created for REPULSION, like Gary (EYE OF THE DEVIL) McFarland, or John (ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW) Lewis or, perhaps, Quincy Jones.
Check out the British horror thriller CORRUPTION (starring Peter Cusing) to witness an in-your-face jazzy score by Bill McGuffie which stands out as a sore thumb!
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How DARE you not know much about Chico Hamilton, Thor!!!!!! Mumble grumble kids today....
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Posted: |
Jan 2, 2012 - 5:14 PM
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By: |
OnyaBirri
(Member)
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This is interesting.
Being a fan of Chico Hamilton, you'd be predisposed, of course, to liking the REPULSION music.
I wonder how many people in 1965 were already followers of Hamilton before they saw REPULSION?
Chico was very well known in both Europe and the US. Those 60s albums with Gabor, most on the Impluse! label, both had credibility in jazz circles but also had a certain crossover appeal without being watered down. Because of all the jazz and pseudo-jazz that had been used in, say, French films and some US films, I think it fits with the period and style, and I think that audiences that would have been predisposed to seeing a film like this in 1965 would have at least been familiar with Chico. Additionally, Chico's 1950s group, which included a cello, reflected the chamber jazz vibe of the period, and tended to appeal to listeners who were not jazz fans per se. These are broad, non-academic generalizations.
...however, the jazzy origins of the music "date" the film even more so than the black-and-white photography, IMO, since most younger generations who may watch this film have grown up without any jazz music in their life (especially those born after the 1970s).
Well, I know what you mean. These kind of "dated" elements are the very things that draw me to cinema. I don't know that I would specifically agree that the jazz soundtrack "dates" a film, but the universe that my wife and I have built for ourselves is so far out of the mainstream that I'm the wrong person to ask. The only thing missing from our world is the cigarettes. 
Tonerow, search youtube for Chico Hamilton and Gabor Szabo. There are a number of tracks from those LPs available. Sadly, many of these have yet to be issued on CD, at the least the last time that I checked.
Also, I was using "minimalist" in a very general way. I'm not sure that Chico was deliberately going for "minimalism" in any formal sense.
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