It sounds like music for a follow-up TV movie sequel in which things are a little better for Jake. That's not a slight, just the musical vibe I get from it, like Chinatown with a slight Archer detour.
As a huge fan of the seventies and particularly this kind of music I enjoyed it.
Very nice.
Thanks for the kind words! It is really fascinating to hear the theme arranged that way. It is like the main title for an alternate universe film we've never seen!
I just got around to hearing those. Onya's YT upload of the Jong Metropole rendition would have fit in very nicely with the source cues written by John Williams for THE TOWERING INFERNO and the like.
Another thing I always thought is that the original Goldsmith theme has a notoriously "difficult" resolve after the sweeping string passage, not easy to replicate. It's almost Herrmannesque. I'm not sure if it sounds a bit clumsy even in the OST. Possibly not, but in the Jong Metropole "easy listening" version, the brass and woodwinds seem to be playing a very uncomfortable sequence.
The Vince Mendoza one is good. The "unusual" part I referred to previously seems to work by just faithfully reproducing it. I notice that Terence Blanchard avoided it altogether, perhaps wisely, changing it to a more "standard" jazz form.
Right, that's enough "inverted commas" for one post.
I just got around to hearing those. Onya's YT upload of the Jong Metropole rendition would have fit in very nicely with the source cues written by John Williams for THE TOWERING INFERNO and the like.
Another thing I always thought is that the original Goldsmith theme has a notoriously "difficult" resolve after the sweeping string passage, not easy to replicate. It's almost Herrmannesque. I'm not sure if it sounds a bit clumsy even in the OST. Possibly not, but in the Jong Metropole "easy listening" version, the brass and woodwinds seem to be playing a very uncomfortable sequence.
The Vince Mendoza one is good. The "unusual" part I referred to previously seems to work by just faithfully reproducing it. I notice that Terence Blanchard avoided it altogether, perhaps wisely, changing it to a more "standard" jazz form.
Right, that's enough "inverted commas" for one post.
Graham, it sounds like Blanchard subtly reharmonizes the section that you refer to.
When you refer to it as a "difficult resolve," do you mean from a technical standpoint, or that the resolution sounds forced to your ears? I ask this question because I have encountered tunes over the years that I feel have a forced resolutions that don't really seem to work. I never thought this about "Chinatown," but I have about others.
Yes Onya, I meant that Blanchard had reharmonized that "difficult" section. Not "technically difficult" but rather, using your own expression, a sort of "forced" resolve. Almost clumsy to my ears, not so much in the original Goldsmith piece , but certainly when trying to adapt it into a slightly different form.
Which tunes have you heard over the years which seem to have a forced resolution?
Yes Onya, I meant that Blanchard had reharmonized that "difficult" section. Not "technically difficult" but rather, using your own expression, a sort of "forced" resolve. Almost clumsy to my ears, not so much in the original Goldsmith piece , but certainly when trying to adapt it into a slightly different form.
I think the Herrmannesque aspect that you hear occurs when the strings start the downward arpeggio and they begin with a D natural over an Ab major chord, the infamous tritone interval that Herrmann loved.
What may sound forced to you is the resolution from the Ab major to the D minor 7th. It does not sound forced to me, but I can understand why some may feel that way.
What kind of quality does Jerry Goldsmiths Theme have that it attracts so many musicians, especially in the way they arrange this tune?
Is it the melody or is there even more? Timeless elegance? Lightness? Is there kind of noir-romance in that melody?
I think it is in part the juxtaposition of the minor chords, along with the melody. In pop songs, you typically didn't get a minor 9th chord on the tonic followed by a minor 9th chord on the fifth, at least not until the very late 1960s or early 70s.
The minor chords on the two A sections, combined with the melody, create a melancholic and introspective mood.
The chords and melody of the B section offer a take on the more common elements of a so-called "Great American Songbook" song. This ties the theme to the era portrayed in the film.
The C sequence contains elements of both the A and B sections in terms of mood, chords, and approach, if not exact melodies.
So, I would say that the theme is simultaneously of its era (early 70s) while harkening to an earlier era.
