This News Friday 3/6/98

by Lukas Kendall

The people have spoken: Rykodisc will not be including dialogue on any of their MGM Soundtracks following the April 7 releases! (See Collector Countdown for what these and other albums will be.)

We got some cool new CDs we've been listening to non-stop at the FSM headquarters: GNP/Crescendo's Godzilla Volume 1 CD, which Jeff Bond will discuss at outrageous length next week and for FSM; and "Classic Game Show Themes" from Varese Sarabande. This latter disc has the terrific themes for The Price Is Right, Family Feud, Jeopardy, long-forgotten stuff like The Joker's Wild, and the great 10,000/25,000/100,000 Pyramid theme--by none other than Robert Cobert.

Various News

The soundtrack to Lost in Space (Bruce Broughton) will be on TVT Records April 7. Varese Sarabande is releasing John Barry's Mercury Rising on 21. People keep asking me what's up with Scream/Scream 2--all I've heard is that Varese will do it in June. Intrada will be re-recording Bernard Herrmann's great Jason and the Argonauts score in their Excalibur series.

Superman Speculation

From: Jim Fisher <Jimf@aeimusic.com>

I would love to have a expanded Superman as I feel it is the best of John Williams's big over-the top '70s scores (that is until the new SW films come out.) It was reported at the time, that Williams was extremely upset with the production of the soundtrack, and it was in fact, the last of his scores to date that he did not produce himself. [I have never heard this -LK]

It does seem odd that given it's the anniversary of the film, the production of a new film is in the works, the stature of the composer, and the popularity of the subject matter that at an expanded score has not been at least discussed.

Finally, on a personal note, I can remember having to return my vinyl copy repeatedly to get one that didn't skip all over the place. It was a noisy (lots of hiss) recording. On the CD release, has it ever struck anyone else as strange that the domestic version deletes two track because of limitations of space, however the Japanese release restores the original length on ONE CD just fine? (hmmm) It serves as evidence of how little interest WB has in their soundtrack property.

From: Hiphats <Hiphats@aol.com>

I saw Bill Williams' post on your 2/27 "This Week Friday" section. Bill Williams did a good job at writing the E-mail, but I do have some things to add to it.

I am also a frequent contributor to MegadethDC@aol.com's "Superman in the Movies" web page and am also webmaster of "SUPERMAN 60/20 Celebration" (http://members.aol.com/Hiphats/superman.html), an unofficial homepage celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the character and 20th Anniversary of the movie.

A while back I did some research into John Williams's legendary score and nearly "dissected" it piece by piece, remembering what I heard by watching the theatrical and expanded versions and comparing it to the domestic CD, laserdisc, and videotapes of the extended version. When Megadeth told me he was planning an article on his website on the score, I gave him a hand by providing information on all the music heard and recorded for the film and ended up collaborating with him on this article (you'll find it on MegadethDC's site at http://members.aol.com/dsupermanc/contents.htm).

I can tell you one thing though...I have heard from people who are pessimistic about the campaign to get a "special edition" on video and/or theatres, and those who are optimistic over it. I personally would like to see some type of "definitive" re-release of "Superman" utilizing the added footage and the music cues that were left out of the theatrical version (but used later in the TV versions). But, as we all might have figured out, WB isn't saying much officially yet.

The score for "Superman" is the most legendary of all film music. I hope we see some type of reissue.

Affirmative.

From: Ralph Adler <radler@rmcres.com>

You've mentioned once or twice, in print or on-line, that the existing soundtrack recording for Jaws is all over the place, with lots of alternate and/or incomplete takes. You seemed to indicate pulling together a comprehensive score recording might be close to impossible. Can you tell us more? How bad is it, and what are the odds that a more complete score might be released? By the way, I just want to echo the need and desire for a new Superman recording.

About Jaws, it seems readers remember more of what I've said about the score in the past than I do. The album is a re-recording that expands on several of the film cues to make for more of a meatier listening experience. When Universal did their most recent laserdisc of the film a few years ago, there were talks of including isolated music tracks, but for whatever reason (money, time, etc.) it didn't happen. I don't think the tapes are "bad" off, it would just require a lot of work to assemble them--as it does for many archival soundtrack releases.

A Word About Nevsky

I can't recall why this was sent to me, but Alexander Nevsky is a classic score, so here's some info:

From: Josh Gizelt <AM0QC@qcvaxa.acc.qc.edu>

Alexander Nevsky was indeed composed by Sergei Prokofiev. It is perhaps one of the best scores in film history, also interesting due to the fact that most people have not heard the music first as a film score, but rather as a cantata arranged by Prokofiev from his film score.

There is a myriad of recordings of the cantata: Vox has a notable recording on a 2 CD set out for something like $11.99 that has this, the Lieutenant Kije and the Ivan the Terrible cantatas (also arranged from film scores) as performed by the St. Louis Symphony under Leonard Slatkin.

RCA Victor have rerecorded the score in its original form, with fine, rich sound and a great performance by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic under Yuri Temirakov. They have made this recording available on CD as well as part of the restored film on VHS and LaserDisc (the latter is highly recommended). The parts of the cantata that were not originally from the film score have been arranged into a wonderful new main title sequence.

New Web Site

Fans of Vance Brawley's writings about soundtracks at Turner's roughcut, check out his new web site at www.scorelogue.com.

We are always adding to our links section here at FSM of hundreds of film music-related sites. Check it out!

Concert Info

From: kevin@paradigmsim.com (Kevin)

Last night I went to a concert by the Dallas Wind Symphony. I was reminded that their next concert, on March 24th, will feature some film music:

The Cowboys Overture by John Williams; Silverado by Bruce Broughton; as well as other notable concert music by Copland, Gould, and more.

Sharing the stage at the March concert will be the Light Crust Doughboys -- which is interesting, since both the DWS and the LCD have recordings nominated for Grammys this year.

For info on the Dallas Wind Symphony, check their web site at: www.dws.org

Thanks for the info!

Close Encounters Question

Got this in about the complete CE3K CD coming from Arista on April 28:

From: JSchuer416@aol.com

On the original soundtrack issue of Close Encounters, the beginning of the track "Night Siege" contains several minutes of action music that seems to belong nowhere in the film. Do you have any idea what this was composed for? Is this "The Escape (Alt. cue)" that you mention in today's article? If not, is it on the new release?

Jeff Bond answers: If you're talking about the kind of bouncing rendition of Williams's four note, Dies Irae-type motif (used as Roy Neary drives to Wyoming to reach Devil's Tower), this piece is separated on the new release in a cue called "Trucking" which plays after the two versions of "The Escape." I have no idea what this music was written for; Michael Mattesino theorizes that it may have been part of the "blind writing" that Williams did before he saw any footage. Either that or it's for a deleted scene in the film that no one's ever seen...

Raksin/Library of Congress Answer

From: "Pulliam, Ron, GSA-RPM" <RPULLIAM@gsa.mail.co.alameda.ca.us>

In response to the query from Mr. Rumberg, I'll share my meager knowledge of "Wonderful Inventions."

"Wonderful Inventions" is a Library of Congress title, now deleted, consisting of a thick, LP-sized book filled with articles on films, including a very detailed breakdown of of some of David Raksin's scores, including those for animated films, a scholarly look at the score to "Bambi" by Ross Care, and much more. Now that the "Bambi" score has been released in its entirety, Mr. Care's article is more relevant now than when it was published. There are priceless pictures in this book, including one of Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Newman and Raksin at the time they were scoring "Modern Times. Accompanying the book was a 2-LP album filled with excerpts from all the Raksin films discussed in the book.

This book can be found with some tenacious searching, but there's no guarantee it can be found with the LPs. I have heard the LoC has entertained the idea of re-issuing the book with the LPs being replaced with CDs, but this has not happened. Perhaps a letter-writing to campaign to the LoC might change their minds.

From: Jack Smith <JSMITHHE@aol.com>

The recording of Maestro Raksin issued by the Library of Congress included The Redeemer, `Nocturne' from Force of Evil and something else that escapes my befuddled memory. Also included in the little insert LP was the complete score to FOREVER AMBER predating the Varese release by years and years. (The last sentence is a blatant falsehood, manufactured to disinform the uninformed.)

Secret of NIMH Question

From: "Shold, Kyle" <KyleS@humongous.com>

About forty seven seconds into track number 10 (Moving Day) there is a strange occurrence in the sound. It seems to fade in volume and the sound in the right speaker cuts out so that there is only sound in the left. Then it returns to normal. This lasts all of about 2 seconds but it tends to disrupt the listening experience. My question is, does this occur on all the copies of this score as a technical flaw or is it a problem that just mine has? I just picked this score up last Saturday and I listen to most of my CD's at work on headphones. (I hear the problem most clearly on headphones.) If this is a problem with just my CD then I'd like to take it back and get another copy. If you don't have this score then I'll take my question to the message board and see if anyone knows. Thanks for your time.

Can anyone check their disc for Kyle? I don't have mine here at the office.

Saving Private Ryan

From: "ROSARIO, MIGUEL" <mrosario@imail.valpo.k12.in.us>

I just read in a John Williams web page that he has just recently recorded the music for "Saving Private Ryan" with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Could anyone confirmed this from your camp? If he did, could somebody get an insight of what kind of music he has written for it?

Steve Head sent in the following:

From: SHead84417@aol.com

Spielberg, Williams and Co. shipped out of Boston very early yesterday morning after three straight days (Sat, Sun, Mon) of recording Saving Private Ryan at Symphony Hall. Various members of the Boston Symphony along with additional local performers were used. Technically it was not performed by the Boston Pops, although members did participate. Amblin Entertainment did put up a large movie screen for which to view sequences from the film. It was taken down yesterday morning.

At Symphony Hall I spoke with couple employees who said that the hours guarding the doors to the auditorium were long. One employee mentioned that Tom Hanks was present, but I question this. Are actors typically present at recording sessions? Except for performers and necessary personnel, absolutely no one else, not even security was allowed into the auditorium.

Although I didn't get to hear it, the general opinion was that the music is fantastic; very moving.

Horner Media Questions

From: "ROSARIO, MIGUEL" <mrosario@imail.valpo.k12.in.us>

Did anybody catch the "Entertainment Tonight" interview with James Horner regarding his nominations for "Titanic" and his current project "Zorro"? I saw it and he was very candid during the interview. They also showed some behind the scenes of the scoring session for the "Zorro" movie and he also talked about what kind of musical influences from Spanish music he is using for this film. Some of the music that I heard in combination with the scenes being played on the recording session screen sounded pretty decent to me. Now I am looking forward for this soundtrack.

From: Jeff, Zafier@aol.com

Did Horner conduct the orchestra at the Grammys during Celine Dion's performance of the Titanic love theme? From the back of the head it looked like him.

I didn't see either of these - sorry. Anyone?

From: Josh, "Master of Flanin" <flanin@hotmail.com>

You might wanna know (if you don't already): Yesterday (Feb. 24th), Universal released a 35th anniversary widescreen edition of "To Kill A Mockingbird" on VHS that contains a really good documentary at the end. In the documentary, Elmer Bernstein talks about his score and the thought processes that he went through to arrive at the various themes he used. Alan J. Pakula (the producer of the film) also discusses briefly how Bernstein's score was one of the truly great things about the film.

Cool!

Path to Knowledge

From: misterpat@webtv.net (patrick pendergast)

Do you know if the score to What's Eating Gilbert Grape is available? The music at the end of the movie is great and I have never been able to find it. Also do you know of any james horner compilation albums in the works?

For the latter, no.

For the former: readers, if you ever have ANY question about is there a soundtrack to this or that score, simply type in the movie title on our home page where you can access Tom DeMary's soundtracks database. That's what it's there for!

See You Next Week!

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