This News Friday 8/22/97

Tomorrow in Los Angeles at the Beverly Garland Hotel, North Hollywood, 9AM-5PM, is a seminar by composers Mark Northam and Lisa Miller, "Film and Television Music: Breaking Into the Business." Cost is $95.00. There's still time to register; call 1-888-SCORE-38 (1-888-726-7338) or e-mail info@cinematrax.com.

I hope everyone who goes to this seminar also subscribes to FSM, since it's like one-third of the cost. I'll be there tomorrow, probably in the morning, since Ford Thaxton is speaking in the afternoon and I cannot possibly be in the same room as him.

Money Talks opens today, scored by Lalo Schifrin. This is the best line: Chris Tucker: "I'm gonna kick yo' ass in the head." Jeff Bond and I went to the premiere Tuesday night at the Cinerama Dome, one of the coolest buildings in Los Angeles. Director Brett Ratner, in his opening remarks to the audience, saved his final words of thanks for Lalo.

G.I. Jane also opens today. (Ooh, baby, I'm there.) For those folks wondering if a score album is coming out too, the answer is no. However, although there are "only" three Trevor Jones tracks on the song album, they are really frickin' long. Hans Zimmer fans will dig it.

Scoring assignments: Elliot Goldenthal is on Sphere. Jerry Goldsmith scores U.S. Marshalls, the sequel to The Fugitive directed by Stuart Baird (Executive Decision).

Questions

From Bill Clark:

"I was wondering if you could give me any information on where I can find the soundtrack to Under Fire on CD. I know it's an import from Japan on the Warner Bros. label but I can't find it any of the usual mail order places. Is it no longer made?"

I thought the Japanese Under Fire CD was still in print, but it has always been very hard to get in the United States. Unfortunately, the U.S. branch of Warner Bros. Records has shown little interest in reissuing film scores, and ask for high advance guarantees from any other label attempting to the license their albums—so don't plan on CDs of Lethal Weapon, The Swarm or Twilight Zone: The Movie any time soon. Also, don't look forward to any Superman restoration along the lines of Star Wars, because of this writing there are absolutely no such plans.

To Bill and anyone else looking for a single item like this, place a want ad in Film Score Monthly. It's free to have up to five items (total) for sale or wanted. Simply E-mail me with your name, address and the items you want to list. (No bootlegs!) Ads are now being taken for the September issue, which will appear, coincidentally, in September.

Several people have asked me about this new single of "The Imperial March" which RCA Victor has released, shaped like Darth Vader's head. However, it is not the question I would have, that being, how the hell does it play? (The CD "grooves" start at the inside rim, I guess, and are not affected by the shape.) No, instead everyone wants to know if it has any new music.

Folks, there is no more unreleased music from The Empire Strikes Back. It's all on the recent 2CD set from RCA. I think maybe there's an alternate ending to one cue that lasts 10 seconds (at the end of "Luke's Nocturnal Visitor"—the version in the movie is a little different from the one on the album). You wanted every last scrap of music from this movie, and you got it. You will never again discover anything new released on a novelty item like a CD single shaped like Darth Vader's head. There is no more. A fitting fate for a collector who wanted it all... in the twilight zone.

I had a question about the various releases of 1941 on CD, by a composer you might have heard of, John Williams. I hope the author of this query forgives me for misplacing his name:

"First, there is one released by Alhambra Records. Then there is the Bay Cities release (BCD-3005). Also, I have been able to locate a promo disc running 74 minutes. How are these CDs different? What's the best bet? Are any further releases planned? I'd be most grateful for an answer. Lastly, thank you for a great magazine."

The Bay Cities and Alhambra CDs are exactly the same. Although I have a policy of never mentioning bootleg CDs, since I don't want anybody to even know about them, I will mention the so-called "promo" of 1941, which is only promoting the wallet-size of the person(s) who made it. This CD was merely taken from Universal's deluxe edition of the film on laserdisc which isolates the complete score in stereo on its secondary audio tracks. In other words, if you want to hear the complete 1941 score, get this laserdisc. Um, and a player. I don't know of any planned re-releases of this score on CD.

Close Encounters News

Last week I reported that there was no news of whether or not there will be an expanded Close Encounters CD with the laserdisc reissue of the film later this year or next. I came to this conclusion after exhausive research which consisted of doing nothing.

The skinny is that Columbia Home Video was gung-ho about doing a score album with their laser, then they discovered it would cost money to assemble an expanded running order. Plus, they have been unable to locate the tapes.

So, stay tuned, true believers.

Can You Get Printed Film Score Manuscripts to Study?

Sadly, no. I don't know of any film score that has actually been published the way classical music is. I'm not sure why—probably royalty and other reasons.

A lot of film music has been published as piano sheet music, and occasionally larger transcriptions for orchestra or band.

Evening at Pops

By now, the installment of Evening at Pops with John Williams and Itzhak Perlman has aired on PBS in most markets over the country. Roger Grodsky reports:

"The program consisted of performances interspersed with film clips and interviews conducted by Gene Shalit. (At least some of the performances were done live to film clips as there was a movie screen over the orchestra.) Williams was a very enthusiastic and verbose interviewee. Unfortunately, some of the interviews ran over some of the music, so it was rare to hear a piece actually performed complete. The orchestra played like a house afire. Some of the non-Williams pieces were the stylish tango from Scent of a Woman dispersed with panache by Perlman and the Overture from Lawrence of Arabia. There were also the expected "Flying Music" (E.T.) and a snatch of Jaws. The sound was excellent."

I caught the second half of this and enjoyed the Star Wars suite, which Williams conducted live to film. However, he did not "score" any specific sequences; rather, it was a montage of his music against a montage of images and scenes from the film. This was interesting in that it was a configuration of his music I haven't heard before, and featured transitions which, although not originally composed, were new to his performances. He also played some segments he usually does not, like the bit where the Falcon escapes from the asteroid space slug.

Overall the special was pretty cool, and I have no idea how to get it if you missed it. (Call your local PBS affiliate and pledge some money.) It was produced to promote Williams's recent albums for Sony Classical, The Hollywood Sound and Cinema Serenade, the PBS station here in L.A. was offering the discs as a gift to contributors.

Site Stuff

I got a lot of nice feedback on our expanded links page—and when I say expanded, I mean EXPANDED! Check it out now, it's huge.

The next step will come next week: audio. Yeah, baby, yeah!

My dad saw Ray Charles in concert back home on Martha's Vineyard. My mom said it was like a Catholic meeting the Pope. Have a good weekend!

Lukas@filmscoremonthly.com