Music Box is reissuing two of their out-of-print, expanded score CDs - Philippe Sarde's score for director Jean-Jacques Annaud's animal adventure drama THE BEAR, and Ennio Morricone's score for the 1973 spy thriller THE SERPENT, starring Yul Brynner, Henry Fonda, Dirk Bogarde, Philippe Noiret and Virna Lisi.

CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK

The Awakening (re-release) - Claude Bolling - Quartet
Fireball XL5 - Barry Gray - Silva
The Great Gatsby Ballet - Carl Davis - Carl Davis Collection
The Silence of the Lambs (re-release) - Howard Shore - Quartet
Symphonies No. 6 & 7/Night Voyage - Christopher Gunning - Signum
Zappa - John Frizzell, songs - Zappa Records 

Also in this issue, MARC CANHAM discusses his score to the upcoming Netflix thriller I CARE A LOT; Tim Burden and Saul Pincus look back at the classic movies and MUSIC OF 1991 in a 90-minute audio retrospective; NAINITA DESAI documents her work on THE REASON I JUMP and AMERICAN MURDER: THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR; BEN LOVETT gets hairy with THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW; JONGNIC BONTEMPS scores a civil rights icon in MY NAME IS PAULI; Volume 4 of SOUNDTRACK OBSCURITIES 2.0 unearths some frozen gems from Scandinavia and Iceland; an Ear of the Month Contest for 1991; lots of album reviews, including THE LITTLE THINGS, THE MIDNIGHT SKY, WANDAVISION, LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION - THE DELUXE EDITION and WOLFWALKERS; more embedded audio clips, and more. Enjoy, and HAPPY PRESIDENTS‘ DAY! 

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced shortlists for the nominations for nine categories for the 93rd Oscars, including the following music categories:

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

AMMONITE – Dustin O’Halloran, Volker Bertelmann
BLIZZARD OF SOULS – Lolita Ritmanis
DA 5 BLOODS – Terence Blanchard
THE INVISIBLE MAN – Benjamin Wallfisch
JINGLE JANGLE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY – John Debney
THE LIFE AHEAD (LA VITA DAVANTI A SE)  - Gabriel Yared
THE LITTLE THINGS – Thomas Newman
MANK – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
THE MIDNIGHT SKY – Alexandre Desplats
MINARI – Emile Mosseri
MULAN – Harry Gregson-Williams
NEWS OF THE WORLD – James Newton Howard
SOUL – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste
TENET – Ludwig Goransson
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 – Daniel Pemberton

The biggest surprise inclusion is Blizzard of Souls. I suspect I'm not the only one here who wouldn't be aware of this film or its score if La-La Land hadn't made the soundtrack available. Most unexpected exclusions are Let Him Go (Giacchino), Pieces of a Woman (Shore) and two scores by Hans Zimmer, Hillbilly Elegy (written with David Fleming) and Wonder Woman 1984 (aka WW84).

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

“Fight For You” -  JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH- Gabriella Wilson, Dernst Emile II, Tiara Thomas
“Free” - THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN – Diane Warren
“Green” - SOUND OF METAL – Abraham Marder
“Hear My Voice” - THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 – Daniel Pemberton
“Husavik” - EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA – Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus, Rickard Goransson
“lo Si` (Seen)” - THE LIFE AHEAD (LA VITA DAVANTI A SE) – Diane Warren, Laura Pausini, Niccolo Agliardi
“Loyal Brave True” -  MULAN – Jamie Hartman, Harry Gregson-Williams, Rosi Golan, Billy Crabtree
“Make It Work” -  JINGLE JANGLE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY – John Stephens
“Never Break” -  GIVING VOICE – Nasri Atweh, Benjamin Hudson McIldowie, Greg Wells, John Stephens
“Rain Song” – MINARI – Emile Mosseri, Stefanie Y. Hong
“See What You’ve Done” -  BELLY OF THE BEAST – Mary J. Blige, Darhyl Camper, Denisia “Blu June” Andrews, Brittany “Chi” Coney
“Show Me Your Soul” - MR. SOUL! – Robert Glasper, Muhammad Ayers, Lalah Hathaway, Melissa Haizlip
“Speak Now” - ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI... – Leslie Odom Jr., Sam Ashworth
 “Turntables” - ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY – Janelle Monae Robinson, Nathaniel Irvin III, George “George 2.0.” A Peters II
“Wuhan Flu” - BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM: DELIVERY OF PRODIGIOUS BRIBE TO AMERICAN REGIME FOR MAKE BENEFIT ONCE GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN – Anthony Hines, Sacha Baron Cohen, Erran Baron Cohen

(The specific songwriters on the list above have not been officially announced as the contenders, but are merely the result of my own research into the topic).

None of the songs from the animated films Over the Moon or Trolls World Tour made the cut, and other highly-touted songs that didn't make the list include “The Plan” (Tenet), “Tigress & Tweed” (The United States vs. Billie Holliday), “Together” (Music) and “Wear Your Crown” (The Prom). Continuing a recent trend, four of the songs are from documentaries -- All In: The Fight for Democracy, Belly of the Beast, Giving Voice and Mr. Soul!

The rest of the shortlists are at the end of this column.*

Joe Dante in Conversation with Tim Burden, Robert Townson and Marshall Harvey about Jerry Goldsmith

Late last year I had the pleasure of hosting a live virtual event with director Joe Dante about his work with Jerry Goldsmith. A key contributor with whom he had such a successful collaboration with. Indeed, Joe would often site the phrase: "Jerry will save it!" during interviews. Soundtrack producer Robert Townson and editor Marshall H

Jon Burlingame has written an article for Variety about the lists of eligible scores and songs for this year's Oscars (which, let's not forget, extended its release eligibility period to the end of February 2021 - hence the inclusion of Thomas Newman's score for the just-released The Little Things, for example). For example, the score to Pixar's Soul is apparently eligible, and the article suggests that Jon Batiste would be eligible for the film's original jazz compositions along with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for their background score.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced this year's nominees for the Golden Globes, including the following film music categories:

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE

MANK – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
THE MIDNIGHT SKY – Alexandre Desplat
NEWS OF THE WORLD – James Newton Howard
SOUL – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste
TENET  – Ludwig Göransson

BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE

“Fight for You” – JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH – H.E.R., Dernst Emile II, Tiara Thomas
“Hear My Voice” – THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 – Daniel Pemberton, Celeste
“Io Si (Seen)” – THE LIFE AHEAD – Diane Warren, Laura Pausini, Niccolò Agliardi
“Speak Now” – ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI  – Leslie Odom Jr, Sam Ashworth
“Tigress & Tweed” – THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLLIDAY – Andra Day, Raphael Saadiq

Variety recently featured an article discussing which scores were declared ineligible for BAFTA's music awards and suggests the same scores will be ineligible for Oscar consideration. For those interested, go to this link.

Those who read this week's Did They Mention the Music column below may note that of the seven reviews that praised Ludovico Einaudi's score for the critically acclaimed Oscar contender Nomadland, only one mentioned that Einaudi's music for the film is actually taken from his albums, specifically his Seven Days Walking set.

CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK

Civilta Del Mediterraneo - Bruno Nicolai - Kronos
Cold Mountain - Gabriel Yared - Music Box
Gaza Mon Amour - Andre Matthias - Kronos
Le Choc/Les Seins De Glace - Philippe Sarde - Music Box
L'Uomo Europo - Francesco DeMasi - Kronos
The Shepherd - Arthur Valentin Grosz - Kronos
Sostiene Pereira - Ennio Morricone - Caldera
Viking Women and the Sea Serpent - Albert Glasser - Kronos

Quartet is releasing a low-priced 12-disc set of the scores composed by Alberto Iglesias for writer-director Pedro Almodovar. This set features the 11 previously released soundtracks plus a CD featuring Iglesias' score for Almodovar's new 30-minute film version of Jean Cocteau's classic play THE HUMAN VOICE, starring Tilda Swinton. The Human Voice CD will not be released separately.

CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK

Cobra Kai: Season Two - Leo Birenberg, Zach Robinson - La-La Land
Cobra Kai: Season Three - Leo Birenberg - Zach Robinson - La-La Land
Film Music 1976-2020 - Brian Eno - Astralwerks
Muscle - The The - Cineola
The Orville: Season Two - Andrew Cottee, John Debney, Joel McNeely - La-La Land
Pedro Almodovar & Alberto Iglesias Film Music Collection - Alberto Iglesias - Quartet
Rams - Brian Eno - Universal