This News Friday 5/8/98
by Lukas Kendall
Citadel is releasing John Ottman's score to Snow White: A Tale of
Terror in June. This was the dark take on the fairy tale with Sigourney
Weaver; I think it ended up on Showtime.
Milan is releasing The Truman Show (more on that below) on June
2; music by Philip Glass and Burkhard Dallwitz. Also due June is Mulan
from Walt Disney Records--songs plus a big helping of Jerry Goldsmith's
score for the animated film.
Warner Home Video is releasing a $49.95 deluxe video set of The Exorcist
on August 25 which will have a newly remastered CD of the soundtrack (Tubular
Bells and various avant garde music), expanded from the original LP. This
will also present 15 min. of Lalo Schifrin's rejected score which has never
been heard. It's very dissonant and kinda sounds like the football field
cue from Dirty Harry.
We got some great reactions to Jeff
Bond's review of the new Close Encounters CD. We'll print these
next week.
Deep Impact
Here's a first look at Horner's latest:
From: "Paul Tonks" <ptonx@mistral.co.uk>
Horner's Deep Impact will be with the world shortly courtesy of
Sony Classical. Will his best-selling status mean a new core of fans rushing
to snap up his next release ? (Personally I doubt it).
My thoughts on the score are based purely on the album. We don't
get the movie here in the UK for 2 weeks. Firstly, the CD is long. 77:09.
Secondly, it's too long. Ordinarily I'd thrill to 13 / 10 / 11 minute long
cues. Overall it's a reasonably quiet score. Lots of solo trumpet to hammer
home just how darned patriotic our heroes & Mr President are.
There are many many familiar Horner-isms throughout. A snare drum
that has always represented the military. That strumming pseudo bass guitar
sample from Apollo 13 & (inexplicably) Titanic. Sampled wordless choir.
Etc.
However - after a couple of listens I remain reasonably sure there
are no direct 're-uses' of material. And blessedly, there are no Uilleann
Pipes.In fact, I found a couple of thematic phrases & action passages
I rather enjoyed. I reserve overall judgment until having heard it to film.
But I look forward to seeing the way the world works in the wake of his
predecessor phenomenon.
Scarface/MCA Question
From: Goonie@pacbell.net
You guys over at FSM have been very helpful with all the questions
I have asked in the past, so here I am again. I have been trying to contact
MCA records about this, but In the meantime I hope you can help.The question
is: Do you guys know of any plans that MCA might have in re-issuing the
soundtrack for SCARFACE (G.Moroder/various) on CD? I know they recently(mabye
it was a few years back) re-issued Cat People by Giorgio Moroder on CD,
but I and MANY, MANY, MANY fans have been hoping for Scarface to be released
on CD (especially just the score, but who can ask for so much). I figured
since MCA/Universal just released the special edition DVD of Scarface this
past month, they might throw out the sdtk as well.
I'm afraid I don't know much about MCA's plans, and assume they probably
won't be doing this--although you never know. Around 7-8 years ago MCA
was allowing Varese to license many of their back-catalog LPs for CD release,
but recently their raised their licensing rates and have not even allowed
other labels to re-release MCA albums in their entirety. They have been
doing some soundtracks, but more pop-oriented titles like Car Wash and
Two of a Kind. Perhaps they'll get to Scarface but I don't know.
Truman Show
From: "Uwe Sperlich" <uwe.sperlich@stud.uni-muenchen.de>
Regarding the TRUMAN SHOW, I saw this movie on 04/24 in a sneak
preview and Burkhard Dallwitz indeed gets the full scoring credits. As
mentioned before, Glass appears in the film as a TV-show piano player and
is credited for additional music. Considering the fact that this sneak
preview was shown here in Munich, Germany, I really doubt that this was
a test screening (maybe this was a test-screening for its German distributor
UIP). The official German release date for this movie is November 12 (!),
but hopefully they'll release it a bit sooner.
The film itself was excellent, Jim Carrey delivers a remarable performance
and honestly, I didn't think he could be this good. I'd even say that this
movie is the best film I've seen so far this year. I hope it gets the attention
it deserves when it opens in the US and here in Germany. I only hope they
don't advertise it as a "new Jim Carrey comedy" which it is definetively
not and which could kill this film. As for the music, all of it works very
well. I couldn't determine which music is by Glass and which one by Dallwitz,
because I'm not very familiar with their work. However, I really wish that
there will be a soundtrack release for this film with music by *both* composers,
as well as the contemporary music that was used.
Les Mis Trailer Question
From: Hawkeye <urbanek.3@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Congratulations on the great work! It's hard to believe your site
has been up for such a relatively short time. It was designed extremely
well: the organization of it is clear and your articles are diverse enough
to appeal to any film music enthusiast. And... y'all have always been quick
to respond to queries and general comments. So... it is one of the few
sites that I visit on a daily basis.
Read your questions on the Les Mis trailer, and I'm glad to give
you an answer. The song was indeed in the movie "Far and Away."
It is titled "Book of Days" and can be found on Enya's album
"Shepard Moons" (not sure if I spelled Shepard right...). Note:
there are two versions of "Book of Days." When "Shepard
Moons was first released, the album had one version. After "Far and
Away" came out, all copies of the Enya CD were released with the "Far
and Away" version. I have never heard the original.
Thanks for your compliments and for the information.
Barry Concert: Another Opinion
From: Chris Jojo <C_JOJO@exchange.creations.CO.UK>
Just thought I'd drop a few lines in response to the Barry Concert
Feedback. I too saw JB at the Albert Hall, and whilst I'd be the first
to say it was a terrific evening, It was slightly marred for myself, personally,
by some ropey playing from a few members of the ECO brass section (unattainable
upper register straining during the outro of the Knack and the odd balls-up
during Out of Africa stuck out like a pair of Dogs bollocks!)
But my biggest gripe and I'm sure a lot of the Old-school JB contingent
would agree, was the choice of using the 'Moviola' Orchestrations for the
bulk of program material. These arrangements,especially when applied to
the Bond Material,sounded incredibly flat.The 'balls' for want of a better
word had been summarily detached from the previous powerhouse 'wha wha'
muted brass driven originals. Much of the driving impetus from the rhythm
section also seemed to be lost on these new arrangements, they had transmogrified
into Flacid, lush, string laden interpretations that had lost a lot of
the 'Hep-Cat' swing of the originals.
The highlights for me personally were in many instances those arrangements
that had not been contaminated by the Quaalude infected Malaise of 'Moviola'.
The Ipcress File was awesome; complete with Cimbalon and a moody alto sax
substituting for the slinky flute vamp of the intro...it absolutely rocked!
So too was a sublime encore of the Girl With The Sun in Her Hair; a perfect
rendition using what sounded like the original CBS arrangements. Midnight
Cowboy and 'Dances' John Dunbar's theme were similarly arresting, not least
for the superb harmonica playing of Tommy Morgan.
The biggest Lowlight though was Amy Foster, a waste of valuable
concert time that could have easily been filled with material from Kong,
Deadfall, Scarlet Letter, Across the Sea of Time, etc. But instead we were
subjected to a Whole suite of Unfamiliar, and to be be honest, pretty bland
material that couldn't hold a candle to the likes of Romance for Guitar
and Orchestra, which I'm sure a great many Punters would have appreciated
more.
Gripes aside it was a deeply religious experience! Barry is the
Guvnor, and the sell out crowd, of all ages and obvious divergent interest
stood testament to his enormous mass appeal; one, that judging by the response
of the closing rapturous applause shows no sign of waning.
See Gareth
Bramley's report from last Monday for more information on this
way-cool event.
Time Bandits
Following up on a question from last
Friday's news column:
From: "David A. Koran" <webmaster@soundtrack.net>
Being a Gilliam-phile, I have the Criterion LD version of the movie
(excellent transfer I may add), in which Gilliam mentions Mike Moran (who
has three composing credits under his belt last itme I checked, plus the
Time Bandits score.... for a grand total of four) in the commentary tracks.
He notes that since this film was produced by Handmade Films, George Harrison's
production company that also did most of the Python films, that George
suggested that he write some songs for the film, in a kind of "Brother's
Grimm Fairytale" type of mood, which, if anyone has seen the final
cut, obviously wouldn't work. So, GIlliam contacted Goerge's keyboardist/recording
engineer (at the time), Mike Moran to do his first scoring assignment (hence
the electronic sound to the score). Well, George got pissed, and Gilliam
said, "Hey, we'll use one of your songs", and promptly stuck
it at the end of the film over the credits. However, unbeknownst to Terry,
George slipped in some lyrics that were meant to chide Gilliam for snubbing
his work on the picture (listen closely, or just buy George Harrison's
"Gone Troppo" to actually get the complete song and lyric sheet).
Thus is the story of the Time Bandit's score. Also there was a guest percussionist
for one piece (the cage sequence) that remains uncredited to this day (I
don't remember his name, but Terry noted that he enjoyed watrching the
guy "perform" the music live). Oh, and yes, Trevor Jones wrote
the dance music... one of his first film contributions.
Reactions to Jason Comerford
Engendered by Jason's
recent articles...
From: Chris Kinsinger <76263.2355@compuserve.com>
Regarding the responses to Jason Comerford's KING KONG review:
Mention anything at all about the Vietnam conflict in a crowded
room, and if a 'Nam vet is present, he will get right in your face and
shout, "YOU WEREN'T THERE, MAN! YOU WEREN'T THERE!!!" That simple
statement can seem to be so inane. But it's true. And it applies to many
experiences that we all have.
It was positively electrifying to watch Hitchcock's "Psycho"
before anybody knew about the shower scene: Alfred coaxed us into believing
that this movie was all about Marion Crane, a desperate woman embezzler.
He made us care about her, and then, without warning, EEE! EEE! EEE! EEE!
EEE! EEE! She's MURDERED! And suddenly the film makes a sharp 180 degree
turn into a completely different story. This had never been done before.
It was an incredible innovation that today is parodied, mocked and for
the most part unappreciated. Because everyone now knows its secrets long
before they even have the opportunity to experience the film itself. "Ya'
had to BE there!" The same is true about "King Kong". Its
multiple innovations in filmmaking are now a footnote in the History of
Cinema, and are almost totally lost on a generation of movie lovers who
are routinely exposed to the very latest on the cutting edge of the technology
explosion. Does anyone really expect the "Gen-X'ers" who have
been brought up with "Star Wars", "Jurassic Park",
etc., with all of their spectacular visual effects, split-second editing,
finely-tuned sound design and Dolby stereo musical scores to pay proper
respect to ANY innovative film from 35 years ago? Even 1941's "Citizen
Kane", a film which I, personally consider to be among the greatest
masterpieces of this century, is regarded as only another of those movies
from the past that film school professors love to show their students "over
and over again", as Mr. Comerford stated. HEY! Ya' HAD to BE there!
From: "Miguel Angel Perez Perez" <mapperez@ua.es>
The nature of criticism, and I'd even dare say the merit of it,
is that it is subjective up to a certain point, but with a kind of subjectivity
which is based on reasoned argument and on facts that deal directly with
the subject-matter in question. This is what makes or should make criticism
of any kind (high words coming!) both an art and a science (though I'm
a bit wary of the idea of having to make "science" out of everything).
Read Northop Frye's "Polemical Introduction" to his Anatomy of
Criticism and you'll get a clearer idea of what I mean - he talks about
literary criticism but it can be applied to any field. Of course I'm not
angry at Mr. Comerford, and I'm very glad to know that he intends to continue
sleeping soundly at night. It's just that there comes a moment when one
gets bored with reading so many reviews in which a score is good or bad
simply in accordance to the equation: "I like symphonic music"+
"This score is highly symphonic!)= "This is very good film music",
or any other example of that sort. To dismiss an atonal score on the grounds
that the reviewer prefers tonality is absurd, and so, in my opinion, is
to discuss the Kong score outside the realm of film music composition,
invoking extra-musical personal associations.
My last question was only meant to imply that we should try to have
as deep a knowledge as possible on any topic we decide to write about.
So, go on sleeping and I'll go on answering back! (just joking).
Have a nice weekend! Send your comments and questions: MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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