Film Score Friday 7/17/98
by Lukas Kendall
Yesterday I used as an excuse for a short column that I had blisters
all over my hands from a batting cage. Well, that's my excuse again today.
But listen, there's tons of great stuff coming up, so bear with me.
We got a great response to the announcement of our next FSM Silver Age
Classics CD, John Williams's The Paper Chase/The Poseidon Adventure.
For full information and ordering details, see
our Wednesday column. On Monday, I'll respond to some of the letters
and questions we've received over the last 48 hours.
Scream City
From: Brendan Hood, Puck28@aol.com
Am I the only person who has noticed the hypocrisy of Varese Sarabande
when it comes to their compact disc film score releases and how little
music they often incorporate into these soundtracks? Case and point: I
was extremely excited to find out that Varese would be releasing the scores
for "Scream" and "Scream 2" on a single disc this summer,
and could barely wait to hear the violent orchestral cues that I remembered
from those films. But when I bought the compact disc, I was shocked and
disappointed to find that a paltry 12 minutes and 30 seconds of music from
"Scream" were included, and that there were only 17 minutes worth
of Beltrami's score from "Scream 2." And to add insult to injury,
some of the best cues from these films (including the entire section where
Drew Barrymore's character is tormented and killed; the chase and death
of Cici in "Scream 2") were completely ignored. Even worse, one
of the cues -- "Trouble in Woodsboro" -- had already been released
on the TVT rock compilation soundtrack when the original "Scream"
came out! Now we all know a CD can hold up to 70 minutes of music -- so
why in the world are we only getting 29 minutes on this compact disc? Something
is better than nothing, to be sure, but I get the feeling sometimes like
Robert Townson over at Varese thinks we're all still buying vinyl, considering
how little music was on the CD .... or perhaps Varese is too greedy and
hellbent on giving us as little as possible for our money to care what
we're doing ....
To explain this simply, the Scream CD is only 30 minutes because
the Scream scores were recorded with union orchestras in the U.S.,
which requires the musicians to be re-paid a percentage of their salaries
when the music is released on CD. These new-use or re-use fees are paid
by blocks of 15 minutes so Varese could only afford to do a 30 minute CD.
In this case, it was either a 30 minute CD or no CD. Don't blame us, we're
just the messenger on this, but cut Varese some slack.
Marco Beltrami's CD signing at Creature Features in Burbank has been
postponed due to a scheduling conflict. Signed CDs are still available
by mail, call the store at 818-842-9382.
Garden of Evil
From: jason.henry@lw.com
Well, I suspected as much; the new Garden Of Evil/Prince of Players
finally landed at my neighborhood store (Arons's) after 2 years of distributal
nonsense (Marco Polo should get OUT! of the film score recording/distribution
business) much to my anticipation. Alas, what appears to be another astounding
achievement, from just the few ques heard, I can tell another treasure
has been found. Peircing brass themes, sensitive underscoring, immense
percussion, all interwoven with orchestration to match creating a malevolent,
yet at times, serene landscape suggestive of Herrmann's oft other-worldly
inclinations.
but...
the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and the Stromberg conducting, as expected,
slightly marr (sic?) this release. Ill-punctuation, tempi that can't make
up its mind and sonics, presumably atypical with Digital recordings just
miss there mark on certain ques, albeit, when, of course, compared to the
original. Still, with being the only recording available so far, I will
allow leeway to another thrilling Herrmann film score and give ****1/2
out of 5 for the music and ***1/2 for the production.
In summary, 2 years to wait for this release is inexcusable, setting
up the inevitable letdown if the recording proves to be mediocre. Alls
I can say is, I hope Nick Redman gets wind of this so he can release the
inevitable Double CD release of Garden of Evil and Beneath the 12 Mile
Reef. OST that is!
This is a little surprising to hear since the Marco Polo recordings
have been so good. Okay, I have to ask this question. I love pretty much
everything Herrmann ever wrote - even It's Alive! - but Garden
of Evil drives me nuts, with its repetitive scales and bombast. What
is it people like about this score?
Where Is Music Kept?
From: Scott McCulloch <cnbr115@lismore.cc.strath.ac.uk>
I have had the pleasure of recently of attending a couple of film
music concerts performed by the RSNO here in Glasgow. Musical selections
have included the End Credits from Star Trek: First Contact and the theme
from The Lost World. Do those who are involved in the planning of a concert
programme obtain a copy of the score (written for orchestra) from a central
archive, and if so are the manuscripts lent out somewhat like a library.
In addition I was wondering if composers and publishing houses receive
payment for any public performances of this material.
The short answers are yes and yes: these scores are kept in a variety
of libraries, both by publishers, movie studios and third-party companies.
And yes, composers receive royalties for public performances of their music.
Who Is...?
From: Filmuse@aol.com
In reference to the composer behind CBS Evening News, I believe
it's Rick Patterson, also responsible for the score to The Attack of the
Killer Tomatoes. Any relevance is coincidental.
Thanks for the response.
Animated Responses
About
the recent article:
From: Jeff Commings, Jeffswim@aol.com
I agree with everything that Tom Daish says in his article on animated
film scores. While Alan Menken has been the undisputed king of animated
music, mostly because no one else has laid a claim to being a total animated
score composer, he hasn't done any good work since the astounding The Hunchback
of Notre Dame. About nine months ago I wrote to him and told him what a
joy it was to listen to the score at least twice a week and how he was
robbed at the Academy Awards (he lost to Emma). He wrote back and told
me that "Hunchback....was one of the greatest experiences of my career,"
and I think it shows in the music, from the revolutionary underscore to
the typical song score.
Jerry Goldsmith's Mulan is indeed a grand acheivement, but since
you have to look at it with the lame songs, its power gets diminished,
Goldsmith's music has a lot of of great moments, like when Mulan transforms
herself into a man (greath synth music here) and when she saves the Emperor
from the Huns and the crowd bows to her (very emotional). It is one of
the rare instances where the score stands out more than the songs in a
Disney film, but I think since Mulan is more of a regular animated film
than a musical, it makes sense. I am looking forward to The Prince of Egypt
this winter to see how Hans Zimmer handles song and score duties again.
From: Wdp321@aol.com
I loved the article on animated film scores. You really hit the
nail on the head with THE HUNCHBACK of NOTRE DAME, it is Menken's finest
film score. I also love the song HELLFIRE...one of the most electrifying
songs in a Disney film in recent years. It really gives the story more
depth into Claude Frollo's character.
For such a great score and songs to match..especially THE BELLS
OF NOTRE DAME...no OSCAR nomination! I was never so mad when Menken lost
for score that year. The Academy must have really been F!~KED up that year.
Yes, I had it when the Academy F!~Ks things.
Defending Randy Edelman
From: Matt Hulkkonen, GRIZZBEAR1@aol.com
I just glanced at an old article posted on filmscoremonthly.com.
The one about 5 composers needing a rest. Randy Edelman was one of the
ones you picked. That's all well and good but you picked Dragonheart as
one of the reason he should take a break. With all do respect....."Are
you nuts?" That is a wonderful score and we have played it in our
music store often with people coming up and asking, "What is that
you are playing?" Point being, they like it. I havnt heard Anaconda
(although if it's anything like the film, i'd rather not) or Daylight(which
i saw and liked) so i'll hold my tongue on those. Also, if you forgive
Horner and Williams (not that Edelman is a Williams by any means yet) for
their lackluster stuff because of scores like Braveheart & Titanic,
then do the same for Edelman because of his work on "Gettysburg".
I just want to take this opportunity to say that we present all kinds
of opinions on this web site for which we, the editors, take no responsibility.
And this is one of them, since I can't even remember this article. But
thanks for your note.
Who Is Danny Zietlen?
Also in response to a recent question...
From: Mark Hasan <markh@istar.ca>
Zeitlen did score only one feature - Invasion of the Body Snatchers
- and according to Randall Larson's book of fantasy & sci-fi music,
is also a practicing shrink in San Francisco (!).
He's also made a few jazz recordings, including a fine solo cd on
Concord - DENNY ZEITLIN AT MAYBECK (CCD-4572) from 1993 - which features
old standards and some great original compositions. It's a solid album
that doesn't become repetitive in spite of the often lengthy solo works.
X-Files Trailer Music
From: "Javier V. Chavez" <javkimmy@netvigator.com>
I've been visiting your excellent website for only a couple of months,
and I enjoy it immensely. To me, there's no better place to learn about
upcoming releases (I'm a big Williams fan, and can't wait to see/listen
to "Saving Private Ryan), which CDs are worth buying ("Seven
Years in Tibet", a movie I have yet to see), which CDs aren't available
where I live (Hong Kong, where one still can't get hold of the complete,
unexpurgated "CE3K" score), and so on. Keep up the great work!
Anyhow, I do have a question for you guys: I haven't seen the new
X-Files movie yet, but the trailers are everywhere, and I'd like to know
where the music used in it came from? It's not in the score CD (I have
both CDs already).
Oh man, I'm falling asleep. Dan Goldwasser must know this, I hope he
writes me.
Shadowbuilder
Responding
to another recent column...
From: Jorg Kremer <kremer@antenne-wien.at>
In the july 9 issue of Film Score Daily, Roman Deppe wanted information
about Eckart Seeber and his score to Shadowbuilder. Mr. Seeber is actually
an austrian composer, originally from Salzburg. A couple of years ago he
and his family moved to Canada. He now lives in Victoria, British Columbia,
where he has his own production studio. His work include commercial music
and film scores for Canadian and Hollywood films. Shadowbuilder was indeed
originally done by Guy Zerafa, bur the producers eventually decided to
have a large orchestral score. Eckart Seeber, who had lots of experience
with orchestral music was hired to score the orchestral soundtrack. The
music was actually recorded in Kiew, Russia.
The music is indeed gorgeous. It's a big symphonic horror score
which has traditional elements, that you've come to expect from horror
scores, but also features interesting and innovative musical ideas let
alone some beautiful themes.
I highly recommend this film (rent it in your videostore), because
it is a well crafted and entertaining movie with a great score.
Go to the Beach!
Hey, I wish I was there. Folks, just a short note to say I always thank
you for reading our daily column. I guess there are a fair number of people
who check in every day and that's really great. Also, the usage of our
Message Board just keeps getting higher and higher.
I know we've done some "cop-out" type columns lately that
just print a bunch of letters (Lukas's blisters start opening around now)
but that's because we are kind of undermanned at Film Score Monthly
(honestly, you have no idea) and we have to pour our attention into the
magazines and CDs we're working on. But we'll keep on getting you news
as it breaks and cool info and stuff. Hey, tell us what you like.
And tell me what's so great about Garden of Evil.
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
All right, I'm sorry. This column is too lame to print as it is. To
spice things up, here is a list of my favorite John Barry James Bond scores...
I mean, this is the list of all of them (minus Dr. No, for which he only
arranged the theme), in the order I like them, best to worst:
1) Goldfinger
2) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
3) Diamonds Are Forever (I just have a soft spot for this one)
4) You Only Live Twice (the first soundtrack CD I ever bought)
5) From Russia with Love
6) Thunderball
7) Moonraker (sorry, have a soft spot for this too... "Look after
Mister Bond. See that some harm comes to him.")
8) The Living Daylights
9) The Man with the Golden Gun (has a slidewhistle)
10) A View to a Kill (has cool snow sequence)
11) Octopussy
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