I remember being traumatized by this film when I saw it on TV as a kid. That was long before I paid any attention to film music, and I have no memory of having any reaction to Jerry Goldsmith's score. Jump ahead 50 years -- I have generally avoided horror movie scores, and so I never bothered to listen to this one, even though I am a huge Goldsmith fan. But when I first heard the samples, I knew that I had really missed the boat. Now I have the CD and a new appreciation for this Goldsmith classic. I still don't think I could stomach the film.
The film was way more scary than a conventional horror flick, gut churning and deeply depressing in fact. I listened to the score earlier and it is a beaut, but one much like The Illustrated Man and Flowers in the Attic, won't be revisited very often. Just too darned depressing.
I'll go and cleanse my ears with some of Jerry's patented trombones now.
So why recreate such a frankly unsatisfying presentation of the score, that only existed as it did out of necessity and lack of restoration tech at the time?
Exactly. There are absolutely suites and album presentations that are done with listening in mind and are curated for creative reasons. Those deserve to be preserved. And then there are (forgive the pun) the others.
This new presentation is leagues better than the old one, not because it's complete (though this score happens to work well that way), but because the score takes you on a journey that the old suite simply couldn't do (not their fault, they did what they could). I've listened to the new album three times and I've enjoyed it more each time. I had the old suite for a quarter century and it never really penetrated my consciousness.
My CD still hasn't arrived. I'll be interested to read the liner notes when it does!
First off, are club titles now not limited editions? I don't see a limited number anywhere on the Varese page. Did I somehow miss it?
It say limited to 2000 on the disc cover.
I see this release is selling well (good news, indeed). It's now SOLD OUT in the Varèse Sarabande International site. I've had to order it to US, so I will be prepared for an outrageous VAT in my European country.
I ordered mine from Varèse Sarabande US store right away, and it's expected to be here in about a week. This is one release I'm very enthusiastic about. I always enjoyed the suite for THE OTHER, simply because it was the only available release of this excellent score! It's all I ever heard of the music. I am very much looking forward to hear a fuller and acoustically restored presentation of the score.
I find the theme/melody from this film a lot more memorable than many other Goldsmith 70s Americana/Folksy tunes that he wrote. I couldn't recall or hum things of a similar ilk, like TRAVELLING EXECUTIONER, SHAMUS, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, BABE, GIRL NAMED SOONER, but his theme for THE OTHER is a real earworm that never lets go.
I like all of the scores in that list (Shamus in particular is so much fun!) but with the possible exception of the lovely A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I admit that they don't remotely compete with The Other in terms of masterpiece status.
Yeah, I'm not knocking those others (which I also enjoy, except for SHAMUS) and a catchy theme doesn't validate something more than lesser memorable melodies. But there's something infectious about THE OTHER main theme that really sticks with me.
I like the main theme of The Other a great deal (and I agree it’s quite memorable) but in terms of my own personal preference, the theme I outright ADORE in this score is the one for the twins’ mother.
Yeah I certainly don't see how it fits with the others Kev listed as "Americana/Folksy", but then I figured he was mainly just talking about other Goldsmith scores from that general era he found to be less memorable.
I like the main theme of The Other a great deal (and I agree it’s quite memorable) but in terms of my own personal preference, the theme I outright ADORE in this score is the one for the twins’ mother.
Yavar
The point towards the end of "Alexandra" where that theme enters a higher pitched section is the type of emotional string work that I only associate with Goldsmith.
For those interested, here is an excellent video essay on the making of the film THE OTHER. You may want to watch THE OTHER itself first if you haven't seen it, as there are spoilers in this brilliant documentary. Bravo to director Adam Zanzie. And shout outs to our very own FSM friends Lukas Kendall, Jeff Bond and Henry Stanny who contributed their expertise to this production. It surely is one of the best "Making of" films I have ever seen. Enjoy!
Thanks for that, Zooba! I watched it last night, after having seen the film for the second time (the first was about 1980 I think). Yes, interesting "video essay" (it's not like other "Making Of"s that I've seen). It really made me want to watch the film again - a lot of it went over my head. (Note to self - Must Pay More Attention")
Yes, I noticed the contributions of Jeff Bond (quote from the notes of FSM's THE LAST RUN CD release) and Henry Stanny (our own Morricone), and they both get credited at the end along with LK.
Patiently waiting for the CD to arrive. My appetite is well and truly whetted.
I brought this up in the Sudden Death thread so I apologize for bringing it up here but is anyone experiencing bad glitching or distortion during playback (or issues with encoding into digital formats)? Sudden Death had this issue on several tracks but The Other seems to be even worse for me.
I've played the CD about 5 times since I bought it and ripped it to my digital players. No problems whatsoever. Spectacular release (still haven't read the booklet/notes yet though).
I brought this up in the Sudden Death thread so I apologize for bringing it up here but is anyone experiencing bad glitching or distortion during playback (or issues with encoding into digital formats)? Sudden Death had this issue on several tracks but The Other seems to be even worse for me.
Yes I’m having the same issue. I did play the main title on my regular cd player and listened with headphones and could not hear any issues but when I try to rip it I’m getting a similar problem as the City Hall fiasco. I used dbpoweramp and it showed issues with 14 out of the 19 cues.
I know my external drive is probably due for replacement so I bought one that is an upgrade from it and will see if that helps.
