The Rykodisc/MGM Report
by Lukas Kendall
Finally! Soundtrack fans have been hearing about this for a couple of
months, and now the deal is closed between MGM and the Massachusetts-based
record label Rykodisc to reissue soundtracks from the United Artists film
and record catalogs. Ryko had contracted me and my FSM writers to provide
liner notes for around half of the albums; because of this, they swore
us to secrecy and we could not talk about the CDs until the deal was signed
with MGM, or else... well, or else they'd get mad and not hire us for more
liner notes. We want to do more liner notes.
All's well that ends well, and here's the complete information. The
first albums to come out in the "Deluxe MGM Soundtrack Series"
are:
October 14:
Octopussy: John Barry (1983). Yeah, cross off another title on
the list of big-time wanted CDs, because it's reissue time for this $250
baby. Same music as the original LP and CD. Liner notes by Lukas Kendall
and Geoff Leonard.
Frank Zappa: 200 Motels (1971). First time on CD--a lost Zappa
opus, and the main reason Ryko was interested in this catalog, as they
specialize in Zappa and related rock.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: Music by Irwin Kostal, lyrics by the
Sherman Brothers (1968). First time on CD.
November 4:
Carrie: Pino Donaggio (1976). The classic Brian De Palma horror
film, first time on CD. Liner notes by Jeff Bond.
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World: Ernest Gold (1963). First time
on CD, liner notes by Andy Dursin.
January 13:
Across 110th Street: Bobby Womack + Peace, JJ Johnson (1972).
Classic blaxploitation soundtrack. Liner notes by Doug Adams, first time
on CD.
Lenny: Ralph Burns (1974). Film about the comic Lenny Bruce starring
Dustin Hoffman. Includes dialogue, underscore, source music, including
ģIt Never Entered My Mindē (Miles Davis). First time on CD, liner notes
by Jeff Bond.
Ned Kelly: Shel Silverstein (1970): Story of Ned Kelly, the outlaw.
Songs by Mick Jagger, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson. First time on
CD, liner notes by Paul MacLean.
Rancho Deluxe: Jimmy Buffett (1975). First time on CD for this
Jimmy Buffett work. Liner notes by Andy Dursin.
Revolution: Mother Earth, Quicksilver Messenger Service, the
Steve Miller Band (1968): No, not the John Corigliano score, but the late
'60s hippie movie with various rock artists.
That's it for now. Also definitely in the planning stages are Hang
'Em High (Dominic Frontiere), In the Heat of the Night/They Call
Me Mr. Tibbs (Quincy Jones), The Great Escape (Elmer Bernstein,
reissue), and Return of the Seven (Elmer Bernstein).
Because these CDs are being done in cooperation with the studio, they
will be loaded with the original film artwork and hopefully some never-before-seen
stills. Our liner notes have been pretty extensive, too, interviewing the
composers where possible. I'm also told that these will be enhanced-CDs,
featuring film clips and trailers on the CD-ROM parts. That would be cool
indeed.
Here is something that may make soundtrack fans turn white: the CDs
will all have dialogue from the movies. Throughout history the battle between
soundtrack collectors and dialogue on soundtrack albums has been fierce
and uncompromising. Here is the good news: the dialogue is all being indexed
on separate tracks so you can program it out.
Also, all of the above albums are going to be straight reissues of the
original LPs, with no extra music. However, this does not rule out any
expanded score albums in the future.
THE INFORMATION YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR:
There are currently no plans to re-release or expand any of the James
Bond soundtracks except for Octopussy. All of the pre-1980 Bond
albums (everything from Dr. No to Moonraker, inclusive) are
presently tied up in arbitration between MGM and EMI. Pending the outcome
of this legal action, nothing can happen. Also included in this EMI catalog,
unfortunately for Ryko and soundtrackdom at large, are the Ennio Morricone
spaghetti westerns like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and more
popular sellers like the Rocky films.
Also, I should clarify just what is being reissued, since soundtrack
buffs are well aware that a large part of the MGM film catalog is now the
domain of Turner, and through it Rhino Records (Ben-Hur, Gone with the
Wind, etc.). The movie studio now known as MGM was until only recently
known as MGM/UA, because it was a merged entity combing Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
Inc., and United Artists. When the studio was basically gutted by high
financiers in the 1980s, its back-catalog of MGM films (but not UA films)
was sold to Ted Turner.
To make a long story short, Turner now owns all pre-1987 MGM films and
soundtracks, in addition to early RKO and Warner Bros. holdings. These
are being reissued through Rhino, with some albums licensed out separately,
to labels such as Pendulum (Ice Station Zebra) and Intrada (A
Patch of Blue).
Rykodisc, via this new deal with the current MGM entity, will be issuing
and reissuing titles from 1987-and-beyond MGM films, and all United Artists
pictures, with the exception of those United Artists soundtracks which
had previously been released through EMI. Those, as I said, are on hold.
I know some fans are going to look at the above list of reissues and
feel this is another attempt to introduce film music to the general public
by including dialogue and song-oriented albums. Well, you're right! Ryko
and MGM have a great deal invested in this series, and are without a doubt
trying to appeal to people who never have bought soundtracks before. They
simply have to, in order to pay for the discs. The United Artists film
and record catalog is a giant treasure chest, and Ryko is wading into it
at first by reissuing those surefire albums that they know have a market:
Frank Zappa, James Bond, Jimmy Buffett, blaxploitation, etc. They are also
concentrating on reissuing existing LPs on CD, for two reasons:
(1) It is very expensive to issue film scores that have never been on
any album before. For film scores recorded in London and Los Angeles (nearly
all of them), this requires re-use fees to be paid to the session musicians,
and they can be very disproportionally exorbitant for a film no longer
visible or "hot." Case #1: Species. Ryko wanted to do
it, but the $80,000 re-use price tag made it out of the question. (If a
score was issued on LP, the re-use has already been paid, and does not
have be paid again to put it on CD. However, if you want to make an LP
longer when putting it on CD, you have to pay re-use for the extra tracks.)
(2) United Artists threw out most of their music masters in the early
1980s. Yes, "sorry" isn't good enough to make up for this evil
action. They saved tapes for those scores issued on LPs, and selected works
that never came out at all. However, there is a huge percentage of material
that, if it exists at all, exists only in the hands of the composers, and
not all of it in releasable condition.
I have no doubt that as the series progresses, we will get some all-score
albums of seriously cool things. I have certainly put forth some of my
recommendations, such as Farewell My Lovely (David Shire) and The
Golden Voyage of Sinbad (Miklos Rozsa). And maybe we'll finally get
the original tracks to a little western film you may have heard of, The
Magnificent Seven (Elmer Bernstein). It's all in the planning stages,
and Rykodisc needs the support of the hard-core collectors (us) as they
try to sell to the popular markets as well. (If you want to see what is
in the United Artists LP catalog, and presumably ripe for reissuing, go
to the soundtracks
database on filmmusic.com and do a search for "UA." There
will be some irrelevant titles sucked in; be sure to look at those films
listed for LP only.)
It has been fun for me and the FSM staff to contribute to these CDs,
and we thank Ryko and MGM for using us. We hope this is the beginning of
a great series. Stay tuned.
Lukas@filmscoremonthly.com
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