This News Friday 4/24/98
by Lukas Kendall
The new Close Encounters CD comes out next Tuesday, 4/28. How
about that! I didn't get a chance to do this last week, but I want to thank
everybody who replied to my questions about their soundtrack buying habits.
We've uploaded
all of the responses and they are terrific, really helpful.
There is a very specific reason I'm interested in these replies which
will be apparent once everyone receives their May issue of FILM SCORE MONTHLY.
(In a first, the May issue will actually be out in May; we're looking at
an early-to-mid-May receipt by readers.) In addition to our usual great
features--in this case, we've got stories on Godzilla (David Arnold),
Lost in Space (Bruce Broughton), and the new CE3K CD--there's an
announcement which will make it very clear why I wanted to know soundtrack
buying habits. I know I am being deliberately vague here--that's for fun!
I want you guys to get excited! It's all in the May issue.
In web-site news, we got a lot of nice comments about Jason Comerford's
Bernstein
article yesterday. Check it out. Additionally, we also got a ton of
additions to our column about composers
who have made screen appearances. We'll run these next Monday.
We received some reports on John Barry's well-attended concert in London
last Saturday. We'll have a full story in an upcoming issue of FSM. Barry's
new non-soundtrack album, The Beyondness of Things, is available
now in the U.K. but won't be out in the U.S. until September. However,
it can be ordered from HMV in London, call 01-44-171-631-3423.
Saving Private Ryan
From: Steve Head <SHead84417@aol.com>
Yesterday I spoke with a member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus
who performed on the score to Saving Private Ryan. I suppose the placement
of Hymn to the Fallen in the film could be likened to the placement of
Patrick Doyle's Non Nobis Domine (did I spell that right?) in Henry V.
I asked what was on the screen while they recorded Hymn to the Fallen...
scenes of the battlefield aftermath on D-Day. Spielberg recorded the performance
with his camcorder from Symphony Hall's balcony. They said the CD would
be out in May.
Interestingly enough, the chorus was handed the unedited music a
half hour before recording. They only had that much time to practice. Most
of the edits were made during the recording session.
The Truman Show
From: Tamas Kiraly <tkiraly@cs.elte.hu>
I've recently read two reviews about "The Truman Show."
One of them mentioned Philip Glass as the composer, but the other one insisted
that the score was written by someone else and Glass was only credited
for "additional music." What do you know about this?
This is news to me. I haven't heard anything except that Glass has done
the score.
From: "Donald Fitz-Roy" <donfitz@concentric.net>
What's going on with The Truman Show? All I've heard for half a
year has been good hype from all directions... then all of a sudden things
start to go slightly negative. I've heard that things have been cut since
the early test screenings, but I certainly hope they aren't butchering
the movie, and that would be highly illogical considering that it was such
a hit with test audiences.
Another concern of mine is the score. I'm rather unfamiliar with
Phillip Glass, but a theory of mine is that perhaps everything in this
movie was going good until the temp tracks were lifted and the score was
tracked in. :-) Hey, ya never know.
In any case I can't wait to see The Truman Show, but I hope by the
time I do it won't be a shell of the former movie that has been raved about
so much on the 'net.
Me too... I wish I had the conviction to predict that this would do
one thing or the other. I really loved the test-screening I saw back in
October, but it is a hard film to get people to come see. It could take
off, or it could not. We'll find out soon enough.
Anticipated Scores
We're putting this topic to bed for now, but one late comment worth
replying to:
From: cooling <cooling@usc.edu>
I can't believe that none of your fans mentioned that Ennio Morricone
has a new score this year for a major American film: Bulworth! Instead:
Horner, Williams, Goldsmith, over and over and over again. Sheesh.
Be warned, there's around 6 minutes of Morricone left in Bulworth--and
for most of that, a rhythm track was pasted over Morricone's music. I guess
it's just a case of the score not really working, and being diminished
in the final movie as a result.
Trailers
From: FoxMulderQ <FoxMulderQ@aol.com>
In the new X-Files movie trailer where a kid falls through this
hole and finds a skull and then it goes into about a minute of action sequences:
what is the violent choral piece being played? It is driving me nuts and
I really need to find it. I don't think it's an original but who knows.
This is from Volume 2 of the soundtrack to the recent William Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet--which just won the BAFTA (British Academy Award)
for Best Film Music.
From: "Sean O'Neill" <e.design@sympatico.ca>
Does anyone know were that killer kick ass action music is on the
trailer for Daylight? I heard the same music at the beginning of the trailer
for that new action movie with Patrick Swayze, when he shacking hands with
this guy at a gas station (I think); it only appears for like 30 seconds
and then some annoying rock song starts playing. The trailer is attached
to the film Mercury Rising.
This I don't know. Sorry.
In Praise of Pino
In response to our recent Pino
Donaggio Primer column:
From: MHazotte <MHazotte@aol.com>
It was a great surprise to read the article about Pino Donaggio.
Brian DePalma is my favorite filmmaker and his collaboration with composers
is very interesting: John williams, Bernard Hermann, Ennio Morricone, Dave
Grusin, Patrick Doyle, Danny Elfman, Gorgio Moroder. All these composers
are gifted and are the best of their profession. However, Pino Donaggio
is the only composer Brian DePalma's fans have in mind. He managed to combine
admirably suspense, romance, drama and fantastic. The museum scene in Dressed
to kill is absolutely beautiful and makes the picture a real masterpiece.
Donaggio is the only who understood very well the atmosphere and the world
of DePalma. His composition for Carrie is moving and in the same time is
disturbing, like the movie. I don't know if this collaboration will continue
but i hope so. Indeed, Donaggio's last works (La Setta, Two Evil Eyes,
Trauma, Giovanni Falcone) are very bad (except Never Talk To Strangers)
and he needs to find a new grand movie to confirm that is still a genius.
From: Chris Kinsinger <76263.2355@compuserve.com>
To view Brian DePalma and Pino Donaggio as "rip-offs"
of Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann may not be an opinion that John
Maher shares, but it really doesn't require much scrutiny to understand
why this allegation persists.
DePalma is a self-professed Hitchcock aficionado; he has not tried
to hide his love for the "Master of Suspense." Quite the contrary.
If Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Hitchcock has been very
well-flattered throughout DePalma's body of work. This is not to say that
I would agree that there has been any "ripping off" going on
here. DePalma has been a cinematic innovator whose work can stand on its
own, his hommages to Hitchcock notwithstanding.
His obsession with Bernard Herrmann would definitely have forged
a long creative partnership, had Herrmann lived longer.
From: Corey C. Witte <Galt1138@aol.com>
In response to one aspect of Mr. Maher's otherwise fine article
on a very overlooked composer, I must say that he is either not well versed
in film history or is ignoring certain facts when stating DePalma is unfairly
compared to Hitchcock. Anyone who has seen Vertigo, Rear Window and to
a lesser extent Marnie and Frenzy will see numerous references in DePalma's
Obsession and Body Double (and, among others, The Fury, Blow Out and Sisters).
These exist both visually and thematically. DePalma himself admits this.
It is true that he's been harshly criticized for what is at heart a fascination
with not just Hitchcock but also the whole process of visual imagery used
to tell story. DePalma is keenly aware of the artifice of cinema and, probably
more so than any other major Hollywood director, makes this obvious through
many visual tricks and stylistic choices which bring attention to the fact
that film is constructed (the "Odessa steps" in The Untouchables
and the long, slow zoom to the train in Mission Impossible). Whether or
not this is flaw is merely a matter of opinion.
From: "David Guay" <DGuay@casdn.neu.edu>
I used to follow Pino Donaggio's career very closely. His work with
De Palma--"Carrie" and "Dressed to Kill" in particular--was
wholly original, powerful, and richly imaginative. And I was especially
pleased to see him tentatively branching out of the horror genre with such
films as "Zelly and Me" "Tex" and the 1987 "Hercules."
But aside from these and a few other, minor films, Donaggio never got out
of thrillers--often second-rate thrillers. And that is a shame. He has
a wonderfully romantic style and it would have been terrific to see what
he could have done with a major Hollywood project.
More Vinyl Madness
From: Kevin McDermott <kevin727@yahoo.com>
In defense of his Eulogy to Vinyl (last week), Jerzy Sliwa made
a few errors:
1. Vinyl is NOT to the CD what the wheel is to the car. It takes
very little imagination and just a tinge of objectivity to imagine the
CD in a world without vinyl.
2. His original letter DID imply that the LP sound is better than
that of the CD. He called one "listener- friendly and warm,"
"superbly reproduced music," while regarding the other he spoke
of "listening to musicians picking their noses in Dolby surround."
3. My response was NOT 'vituperative' any more than was his original letter.
However, for blatant 'vitriol,' see his second letter.
4. I did NOT criticize Goldsmith. I just pointed out something that
I found funny.
5. I AM a shrink.
And you don't need to buy an LP to own a big cool picture. 'Look'
and 'feel' are qualities the sound media do not need. HAIL TECHNOLOGY!
('Global guffaws'? Okay.)
Quick Questions
From: Scott Stein <scottie8@gte.net>
1) Is the music in the IMAX EVEREST by James Horner? It sounds like
it. I wondered if it is derivative or original, and if so, is it available
on CD?
2) Was the George Harrison score to TIME BANDITS ever released?
It is my personal holy grail of film music, and so far no one's heard of
it, even in top film score stores in New York. Help please!
The music to Everest was by George Harrison, Daniel May, and
Steve Wood. I don't know of any plans to release the Time Bandits
score.
Witches Question
We received a very strident question from Goonie@pacbell.net which I'll
summarize as "Why hasn't The Witches of Eastwick been re-released
on CD?" To give a rough education as to why certain things come out
again on CD, and others don't, it's all about what company owns what soundtracks,
and their current interest in releasing them. For example, Rykodisc is
now in partnership with MGM, so a ton of great United Artists LPs are coming
out on CD; similarly, Rhino has been delving into the Turner vaults. Varese
is working with Fox (although the Fox LP catalog is now held by PolyGram),
and Pendulum have been able to reissue titles from the Columbia and PolyGram
LP catalogs. I know, it gets confusing.
The point is that there are still some companies which are not active
at the moment in score reissues: namely, Warner Bros., who own Witches
of Eastwick (although they are licensing tracks to Rhino for an upcoming
4CD 75th anniversary WB box set--sans Witches, sorry--and selected
scores are being restored to accompany Warner Home Video releases). So,
things like Twilight Zone The Movie and The Towering Inferno
are in limbo.
Also dormant right now is MCA Records; Varese Sarabande used to license
a lot of their old LPs for CD release, but MCA has raised their rates and
requirements to the point where Varese can't do that anymore.
If I can stress one thing, it's to be patient. I have a theory that
if it's not completely destroyed--and even then, certain things turn up--most
everything will be on CD eventually.
What Soundtracks Sell
Two helpful responses to a question last
week:
From: shadow1@bellsouth.net (Jeffrey Wheeler)
In researching for my recent sidebar for Film Score Monthly [this
will appear early this summer -LK], I took to the Recording Industry Association
of America for information on domestic sales figures. I find the details
provided by them to be the most thorough and realistic representation of
album sales around. Fortunately, facts cannot be Copyrighted.
Composers and their agents make passable last-minute resources,
but people do indeed lie. John Barry continues to claim that only three
film scores have gone platinum, and that all of them are his. But then,
who would be so cruel as to tell him that he shares that honor with the
likes of Vangelis and the "Titanic" guy? Not I! Agents and composers
might try for the person who honestly says "I am just curious to know..."
to get the record company to spill the beans about sales figures, but this
is iffy.
Papers like the L.A. Times often do a yearly story or two about
soundtracks. Their attempts to debase original filmusic by using sales
as condemnations nevertheless offer bundles of info on how well certain
scores do. Oh, yes... the average Williams score *does* sell about 50,000
units.
From: Karl Scott <karl_scott@opcode.com>
As you know the CD release depends heavily on the reuse fee. When
I co-produced the original release of Night Crossing on both LP and CD
we did an original run of 2,000 copies. This was far below what would be
necessary to reach a break even point. A second and third run of the CD
were enough to meet the public demand. Since the price to a dealer like
Tower Records is about $9 this means 4,000 copies will only product $36,000
in income. The determining factor in the transaction becomes upfront costs.
The less units produced the more the overall cost of the art work, jewel
case, and CD pressing. Along with reuse fees if paid 100% upfront as we
did with Night Crossing indicates that a sales figure under 6,000 means
we lose money. The economics are the final determining factor.
Elmer Bernstein's defunct Film Music Club produced a publication
and LP for their limited releases but with the extremely low membership
it was a losing if worthwhile pursuit from the beginning. The production
of score reissues is often done by fans who have entered the release arena
because none of the major labels have any interest in releases which don't
mean big bucks. Lets all hope that the fan interest in this great segment
of music continues to inspire economic as well as personal interest or
many of the older scores will never see the light of day.
Have a good weekend!
There's a big soundtrack CD auction going on now at Soundtrack.net.
Check it out! Also, we are revamping our message
board to weed out the off-topic idiocy. Thanks for your patience. See
you next week.
Any questions or comments, you know where to send them: MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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