Jeff Bond Recommends Non-Star Trek Television Music

by Jeff Bond

Since our current batch of FSM reader's suggestions to improve the magazine included ideas like "More reviews. But fewer opinions," and "Leave Hans Zimmer alone," I thought I'd actually say something positive about some of the CDs out there, particularly a few that no one has really been talking about. These are all TV-movie scores, most of which would have probably been made into interesting theatrical films if everyone wasn't busy making Scream 2. All of this are highly enjoyable albums and gave me a great deal of pleasure, particularly Into Thin Air, which came completely out of left field as far as I'm concerned and will definitely make me pay a lot more attention to Lee Holdridge. And it's always great to hear anything from David Shire, one of the great unsung heroes of film music. What I liked best about all of these scores is that they're some of the few dramatic scores I've heard this year that are actually dramatic. They're not content to just lie there, but they're actively working to get across the emotions and experiences of the characters in these films.

Into Thin Air ****

LEE HOLDRIDGE

Citadel Records STC 77112. 18 tracks - 45:51

While apparently no one wanted to watch a TV movie about people getting killed climbing Mt. Everest, I hope Lee Holdridge's music lingers a bit longer in the memory. His percussive Into Thin Air score opens excitingly with a jagged rhythm in the lower brass (similar in orchestration to Jerry Goldsmith's halting rhythmic material from The River Wild, but more dogged and heroic in character) that perfectly captures the manly struggles experienced by the doomed heroes of the film as they mount a disastrous climb on Mt. Everest.

I love the way this score is orchestrated: constant brass rhythms and relentless repeating figures reinforce the uphill struggle of the climbers while bells, trembling, high-pitched string chords and percussion accentuate the acrophobic, oxygen-poor heights of the mountain. The lurching title rhythmic material comes into play quite powerfully in "The Summit" as the climbers reach their goal, adding muscle to what might otherwise have been a treacly moment of triumph. Holdridge's summit attainment material is presented with pounding, Herrmannesque timpani (I was reminded of Jason and the Argonauts) and an ascending/descending fanfare; it's the sort of thing that sounds overly gushy on first listen, but Holdridge does such a great job of underscoring the agonizing effort of the climb that you really wind up feeling the pay-off music is well-warranted. The rhythmic material is so catchy and involving that this album called for immediate repeat listening, and is rapidly on its way to becoming one of my favorite scores of the year; there are some great, lengthy action cues here, but there's an emotional core and an avoidance of the typical action score approach that raises this way above the typical genre score. Highly recommended.

Last Stand at Saber River ****

DAVID SHIRE

Intrada Records MAF 7078. 11 tracks - 38:24

David Shire emerged from the last great golden age of movie-making, the '70s, as one of the most intelligent and versatile composers of the decade, a guy who could tackle an incisive, subtle masterpiece like Francis Copolla's The Conversation and a pompous disaster epic like Robert Wise's The Hindenburg with equal skill and equally memorable results. Last Stand at Saber River shows Shire working with his proven taste and economy, capturing the single-minded drive of Tom Selleck's character and his desire to reunite with his family after a term of military service during the Civil War. Shire treats Selleck's obsession with a wavering, repeating three note brass motif that works equally well murmuring beneath dialogue or under sequences of Selleck riding doggedly toward his goal, and as an expansive, bracing action motif played by trumpets during the "Horse Drives" and "Wagon Chase" cues. A syncopated percussion roll adds to the driven quality of Selleck's character, while the rest of the score fills out the emotional territory of the man's relationship with his family and the land that's nearly stolen from him during the course of the movie. The orchestration is full-blooded and powerful without sounding like every other Bruce Broughton-inspired western effort; Shire's sound has a tougher, sharper edge that balances the sentiment and obsessive elements nicely. It's a rare western score album that both fulfills the expectations of the genre while allowing the voice of one of film scoring's best composers to shine through clearly.

Rough Riders *** 1/2

PETER BERNSTEIN (Rough Riders theme & conducting by ELMER BERNSTEIN)

Intrada Records - MAF 7079. 18 tracks - 53:23

Another indication of how the scope and subject matter of current television movies often outstrips the ambitions of theatrical features is this John Milius-directed tribute to a young Teddy Roosevelt (also "lionized" in Milius's historical epic The Wind and the Lion) and his adventures during the Spanish American war. Reportedly this was an extremely cornball affair, but at least John Milius isn't turning out movies like The Rock.

Milius is a frequent collaborator with composer Basil Pouledoris, which I have to assume is the reason for Peter Bernstein's Rough Riders theme and its similarity to Pouledoris's Lonesome Dove music. As if that weren't influence enough, the younger Bernstein also gets a contribution from father Elmer Bernstein in the form of his sweeping, ebullient "G Troop Theme," which gets played out in two lengthy cues ("G Troop to the Rescue" and "Training G Troop") ‹ it's a great melody that's almost in a league with Elmer's classic western themes like The Magnificent Seven and The Sons of Katie Elder.

To the younger Bernstein's credit, the remaining 40-odd minutes of this album is an eminently listenable, full-blooded western-type score, perhaps inevitably informed by his father's warm, Coplandesque style (which has to be just about anybody's first choice of how to score a western). Along with the expected sweeping heroics are some evocative Spanish guitar, percussion and pan flutes to characterize the film's south-of-the-border locations. Rough Riders is no classic, but it certainly ranks as one of the more enjoyable albums of the year.

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