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Posted: |
Jun 24, 2020 - 5:11 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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As I was saying, this is a pretty terrific release, and it only took me twelve years to get it.
I do love George Duning's work in general. THE WRECK OF THE MARY DEARE sounds spectacular here (the whole CD does). The score may lack the thematic variety of THE DEVIL AT FOUR O'CLOCK, or even his "Star Trek" scores, and my favourite Duning continues to be TOYS IN THE ATTIC, but I'm not downplaying how effective and evocative - even thrilling - THE WRECK is. I love the way Duning creates a kind of simple melody and then bends it in an unexpected way, and THE WRECK is full of that (I think all Duning scores are recognisably "him" for that reason, plus the melodic leaps). I haven't seen the film, but it does conjure up adventurous and mysterious images - some seafaring, but others could be water related or even from outer space. I like Grecchus' description, and possible "meaning", for the sonar ping effect from the Novachord. It's a wonderful sound, but again it also reminds me of outer space, the slowness and difficulty of moving underwater being akin to trying to move around in space. Coincidentally , I think that the opening four notes of the score remind me of Leith Steven's seminal DESTINATION MOON.
It's a darker than usual work from Duning, but a very good one. While I'm on about Duning, I've just remembered that I've seen a biography of his advertised on Spanish websites. The author is Spanish and it might only be available in that language. I'll have to check it out. Meanwhile, anyone know anything about the book I'm referring to?
I was totally surprised by TWILIGHT OF HONOR. I only knew of John(ny) Green through his songs and work as an arranger, so this score was always going to be the bonus score for me tacked onto the Duning. I don't think I've even heard any of RAINTREE COUNTY. Anyway, after I'd ordered the CD I was messing around on YouTube and came across the whole film, in good enough quality that I watched it all. It's a pretty good movie, but what immediately struck me were those fantastic Main Titles! The design (I think LK's liner notes refer to the graphics as being like newspaper cuttings) married to the music is absolute dynamite! I'd love to embed a YouTube link here, but I...can't. I wouldn't feel SUCH a thrill listening to this great opening cue if I hadn't already seen how each part is matched to a change in the title graphics. There's a great little "bum-bam-bum" as we see an animated image of the sexy dance behind "and introducing Joey Heatherton".
So I watched the film and looked forward to getting the CD just to hear those Main Titles. There wasn't much more music in the film so I was delighted to hear the whole score, much of which had gone unused. Apart from the terrific (here extended) Main Titles material, there's also quite a lot of slinky Alex North-type hothouse sultriness, and an unusually ambiguous "love theme". It's immediately odd sounding because the principal instrument is the (electric?) guitar. It's "Americana" enough to sound almost like a "Waltons" episode, but there are some very unusual melodic undercurrents. Part of it almost sounds "wrong" (I was reminded of Maurice Jarre at one point). The opening three notes descend in major key, but it's not completely happy. It's like Michael Small's "happy" music. There's a dark side to it, something dangerous shimmering away under the surface.
Oh, I love those jukebox cues! I've NEVER heard music like that come out of a jukebox in all my years of drinking in Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. Again, it's kind of weird sounding, almost like deliberately distorted melodies. I wonder if it's because it plays behind flashbacks which show two witnesses describing "their" version of "the Joey Heatherton dance"? Nothing is as it seems. Hey, wait - Why does that bit remind me of TAXI DRIVER? Oh, that's Ronny Lang on sax of course!
Few of the bonus tracks interest me. The (unused) car radio cues are like what WOULD have been heard on a jukebox in 1963. I much prefer the stuff presented that would probably never have come out of a real life jukebox. But I just now ignore the bonus cues and I play two consecutive scores one after the other with no need to skip a duff track for a whole hour.
Buy this CD!
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