This News Friday 2/20/98

by Lukas Kendall

Here's something useful for a change--the track list to the new Close Encounters of the Third Kind complete-score reissue from Arista, due April 28:

1) Let There Be Light 0:48. 2) Navy Planes 2:07. 3) Lost Squadron 2:23. 4) Roy's First Encounter 2:41. 5) Encounter at Crescento Sum 1:21. 6) Chasing UFOs 1:18. 7) False Alarm 1:42. 8) Barry's Kidnapping 6:19. 9) The Cover-Up 2:26. 10) Stars and Trucks 0:44.

11) Forming the Mountain 1:50. 12) TV Reveals 1:50. 13) Roy and Gillian on the Road 1:10. 14) The Mountain 3:31. 15) "Who Are You People?" 1:35. 16) The Escape 2:18. 17) The Escape (alt. cue) 2:40. 18) Trucking 2:01. 19) Climbing the Mountain 2:32. 20) Outstretched Hands 2:48.

21) Lightshow 3:43. 22) Barnstorming 4:26. 23) The Mothership 4:34. 24) Wild Signals 4:12. 25) The Returnees 3:45. 26) The Visitors/Bye/End Title 12:31.

What? No disco version?

We do have an advance cassette here in the office, because after weeding through the message board to remove off-topic cussing, we deserve it. You know, Calgon, take me away or something. To be clear: the only permitting off-topic cussing will be by the editors. Anyway, it's wonderful, a magnificent John Williams score and this complete presentation is 21 years overdue. Yeah, it's got the truck music. Not sure yet if it has the Special Edition music--Jeff will go through it and drool for pages.

That Goddamn Message Board

From: Loran Alan Davis, Composer/Musicologist, Penn State University <lad184@psu.edu>

I want to congragulate Lukas Kendall on the terrific work he and his fellow minions provide in the print and electronic versions of Film Score Monthly. However, the rampant profanity on the message board is in bad taste. If composers and musicologists are going to take Film Score Monthly seriously, the profanity must stop! I for one would like to see more articles based on film music and it's theoretical and historical significance. I think we can do without the childish diatribes about Horner being a jerk or Goldsmith is God.

Lastly, I would like to present two questions I had posted on the message board:

Does anyone know if John Barry wrote a score for "Clash of the Titans", which was then rejected; or did Barry leave the project before writing anything?

Also, the David Buttolph score for "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" was a replacement score. Does anyone know who wrote the original?

We've been perplexed by the disintegration of the message board. Clearly the profanity is the result of one or two anonymous people who want to annoy us. Since we practically invented a lot of these guerrilla tactics in film score land, we're not fazed--I mean, who cares?--but it is regrettable. We do not have the machinery to require correct e-mail addresses, or to automatically delete flames. We'll do the best we can to police the board.

I do not think Barry wrote anything for Clash of the Titans. The original composer on The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms was Michel Michelet, says David Schecter of Monstrous Movie Music. (His two CDs are required listening for fans of the genre!)

Silent Film Concert Tonight/Tomorrow

New Jersey residents: There will be a screening of some films by George Melies (very early silent films), including Taking a Trip to the Moon with live music performed by Phillip Johnston's Transparent Quartet, at Demarest School Auditorium, Feb. 20 (today, 8PM) and 21 (tomorrow, 7PM and 9PM), 4th and Garden St, Hoboken. For info call 201-217-4077.

Barry Concert Info

Got this in from Barryphile Geoff Leonard on Barry's upcoming London concert, April 18, Royal Albert Hall:

First Half: Goldfinger, We Have All the Time in the World, Zulu, Somewhere in Time, Moviola, Mary Queen of Scots, The Persuaders, The Knack, Swept from the Sea Suite (10 min.), Dances with Wolves Suite (18 min.).

Second Half: Born Free, All Time High (from Octopussy), Out of Africa, Body Heat, Chaplin, King Kong, The Cotton Club, Midnight Cowboy, The Beyondness of Things world premiere (tone poem, non-soundtrack, 18:30), The James Bond Suite (Bond theme, FRWL, Thunderball, 007, You Only Live Twice, OHMSS, Diamonds Are Forever, 14:30).

Holy martinis this looks like a long concert! There will be a broadcast live in the U.K. on Capitol Radio but there are no definite filming plans, or plans for another performance. Get thee to England.

Bill Conti Concert

From: Richard Rothstein <rothstein@earthlink.net>

Bill Conti is conducting a night of movie themes with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington on April 17 & 18. (fri and sat). See kennedy-center.org or call 1-800-444-1324.

Plenty of great seats are still available. Don't order through web site though--computer will randomly generate what seat you get in the price range you choose. (No service charge on web site, there is one on phone though--but it's worth it.)

Box seats are $58; Orchestra are $47. In the concert Hall, if you can get within the first 10 rows of orchestra, they're better than the box seats, because box seats don't start until row 35.

On Thursday before concert is rehearsal free for the public.

Atonality

From: "Kris De Ruysscher" <Kris.de.ruysscher@skynet.be>

I would like to draw your attention to a mistake in one of the articles on the FSM web site. In his article "The Functions of Film Music," Yair Oppenheim states that atonal music is also known as twelve-tone music. As anybody who ever studied music will be able to tell you, this is false. The first atonal piece of music, labelled as such was the Third Movement of the Second String Quartet, opus 10 of Arnold Schoenberg, composed in 1908. In 1923 the first manifestation of serial dodecaphony was the Valse ending the Five Pieces for Piano, opus 23. So far for history. In a strictly theoretical way, atonal music denies all standard harmonic resolutions (I-IV-V-I), while 12-tone music will use all 12 notes from the chromatic scale at random, re-using them over and over in the same order. This isn't easy to explain in a couple of lines, but I guess that you know music well enough to realise that there is a distinct difference between the two.

This is correct. Sorry about the confusion. I'll stick up for Yair and his paper though in that this was a minor thing he mentioned in passing.

Portman Christmas Score

From: Daniel Robuck <robuck@hpl.hp.com>

Did I miss a reference that indicated that Rachel Portman would score "Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas"? Finally getting around to catching up with this year's Christmas videos (here it is Valentine's'Day, mind you), I saw no credit for Rachel Portman on the video box at all. I figured the video would just be another compilation of Christmas songs. Au contrair! There are four wonderful original songs by Portman and lyricist Don Black (famous collaborator with John Barry on many of the best James Bond soundtracks), and some very rich instrumental cues with full orchestrations, reminiscent of Portman's work on "Emma." Furthermore, the arrangements of the Christmas warhorses are amazing, bright, exciting, and easy to listen to again and again. (This cannot be easily said about Christmas carols, let's face it.)

I am sorry that I had not known about this early. It took me nearly two weeks to trace down a store that still had a Christmas CD left in stock. As I am a Portman fanatic, nothing could stop me from finding this. But why would Disney leave her name off the videotape package? Furthermore, on the CD her name is written in .02 font size and it takes a magnifying glass to read it against the blood red paper. She deserves better.

This is the first I'm hearing about any of this. I like Portman's music so thanks for the info.

Whither Disc-Connection?

Just a short note to let everybody know that Los Angeles soundtrack CD store and mail order service has left its present location, which is why its phone is now disconnected. Bernie is NOT out of business but is deciding whether to reopen somewhere else, or go strictly to mail order. If you placed and order and it's not filled, please give it a few weeks.

The Hunters

From: QUEST32681@aol.com

I'm trying to find 3 music pieces used in recent trailers:

The music used during the majority of the Alien Resurrections teaser that was also used for the last half of the Starship Troopers trailer that was played before Men in Black this past summer.

The music used during the first Starship Troopers trailer that was released back in Nov of '96 that still had the release date of summer 1997 advertsied on it, in particular the music played during the "bug swarm attack" shown in the trailer.

The music that played during the final fourth of the "Devil's Advocate" trailer, it's a chanting fast paced kinda piece that has been used several times before, in ads for such flicks as Scream, Lawnmower Man 2 and TV ads for Spawn.

I hereby turn this over to the obsessives who know these things, god bless you!

From: "Sean O'Neill" <e.design@sympatico.ca>

In the men's figure skating in the Olympics, Elvis Stojko (pronounced Stoyko) from Canada (where I live) had Jerry Goldsmith's score for Ghost and the Darkness playing throughout his preformance. Which was basically some evil sounding action music then moving on to that silly Irish theme.

What was the chorus music on the trailer for Das Boot The Director's Cut, the trailers on new video releases for Tri Star (Air Force One). Do you know if Horner composed the superhero type music on the trailer for The Mask Of Zorro?

I think they're using David Newman's The Phantom for that last one.

Questions

From: ecru <ecru@samart.co.th>

I am recording an orchestra project and it will be finished soon. I take the reaponsibility to complete all credits. Since I has been a soundtrack fan, I read all credits in every records and I just wonder in MUSIC PREPARATION and MUSIC CONTRACTOR. Could you please tell me something about these credits?

Music Preparation refers to the copying and physical creation of scores and parts. A music contractor hires the players for the orchestra.

From The Vamp:

Can you please tell me why Mr. Goldsmith or Mr. Horner won't give interviews to FIlm Score Monthly? I've been reading it for years and I've found it going from good to excellent. (I'm even considering a subscription.)

Yeah, please do subscribe! We simply got on Goldsmith's bad side with a few reviews of his work over the years. Horner is a total recluse and his handlers are very protective of him. Since we, ahem, print all these letters and comments about his work, bad, good and bad, you can see how his people would not allow us to grill him. (We'd be like, "Have you stopped beating your wife?")

Most composers seem to enjoy FSM, or at least read it and make themselves available to us. We think we're pretty fair overall and enjoy letting it all hang out. We picked on Hans Zimmer but he was happy to grant an interview and turn the tables on us!

Titanic Things

From: Wdp321@aol.com

Why would Enya sue the makers of Titanic due to her vocal stylings, give me a break, Sissel has been around for a while, you just don't see Madonna going around sueing people like Cyndi Lauper, and Janet Jackson becuase they can do pop music as well. It is stupid, there is no point there is no law stating that no singer can do a vocal arangement like Enya, it is not as if she is the only one who can do it!

Um, have you compared "Book of Days" to the Titanic track "Southampton"?

From: Kel-Aria Music <kelaria@istar.ca>

I watched Aladdin with my daughter right after seeing the Titanic. Now I know were James Cameron got the script from, just as I know where James Horner got the score from (my wife thought Enya did the soundtrack)...

The story of Aladdin/Titanic [SPOILERS]

A street rat falls for a rich princess.

She hates the pretensions of her place in society.

She tries to run away and almost gets killed in the process.

He extends his hand twice to her, saying "Do you trust me?"

While sailing through the breeze the rich girl closes her eyes and extends her arms out, and makes like she's flying.

The street rat gets chained in the dungeon for a crime he didn't commit.

The guys both die in water (ok so the genie saves Aladdin; it is a kids movie after all!)

Film Music on TV this Weekend

Don't forget to check this site for cool scores to this weekend's movies-on-TV fare: http://columbia.digiweb.com/~ellenbe/fmtvindex.html

Send your comments: MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com