Film Score Friday 9/25/98
by Lukas Kendall
Tommy Boy is releasing a CD to NFL Films productions on October 20,
titled The Power and the Glory. We got an advance disc here at FSM
and it is sensational: pulsating orchestral/jazzy music by Sam Spence with
brilliant excerpts from the films themselves, with that great narrator's
booming voice. I don't have the disc in front of me so I'm chagrined to
say I don't remember his name. Anyone who likes those old NFL highlight
movies will love this CD, with its exciting dramatization of the awesome
spectacle of pro football. "Lombardi... the very name connotes awe..."
Oh it's so great. The CD is going to be marketed at stadiums and through
ESPN the way those "Jock Jams" collections were.
A new label called Beyond, distributed by BMG, is releasing Michael
Kamen's score to What Dreams May Come on October 13.
Alan Silvestri is writing the replacing score for Practical Magic,
as the first score by Michael Nyman has been rejected.
From: MHazotte@aol.com
I read today on the Varese Sarabande's site that John Ottman's Portrait
of terror will be released in October. It's said to be inspired by the
Halloween day and it will include a new arrangement of the John Carpenter's
Halloween theme. Couldn't it be, in fact, the Halloween: H20 score disguised?
Yes, it is!
Fantastic Voyage - Fantastic!
Here's some more info on our Fantastic
Voyage CD, regarding a signing we are having with Leonard Rosenman
in Burbank on October 3:
FANTASTIC NEWS BREAK!
LEONARD ROSENMAN will be autographing copies of the new FILM SCORE MONTHLY
Silver Age Classics CD of FANTASTIC VOYAGE on Saturday, October 3, from
1 to 3PM.
The venue is CREATURE FEATURES, located at 1802 West Olive Ave, Burbank
CA 91506.
Rosenman is the composer of East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, Beneath
the Planet of the Apes, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek IV, and many other
famous films. He is also a renowned composer of concert works.
This Fantastic Voyage CD is a limited edition not sold in stores. FSM
will be carting in copies specifically and exclusively for this signing.
If you want one, here are your choices:
1) Order from this web site, http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/cds/order.asp.
Feel free to bring your copy to the signing and get an autograph AT NO
ADDITIONAL CHARGE. However, if you live out of town, you will not be able
to get it signed.
2) Buy a copy at the store during the signing - at the same price as
ordering it from the web site - and get it autographed.
3) Reserve an AUTOGRAPHED copy ahead of time from Creature Features,
818-842-9382; fax 818-752-0752. This will cost slightly more than buying
directly from the FSM web site.
In other words... if you live outside of Los Angeles, and are unable
to attend the signing (sorry!), order from FSM for a non-autographed copy,
and order from Creature Features for an AUTOGRAPHED copy.
Come meet the great Lenny Rosenman and bug the FSM team about CDs we
should release! We will probably be bringing a "suggestion box"
- literally! We thank Leonard for making himself available for this event
- it should be terrific fun.
Fantastic! See
our Wednesday column for complete information on this CD. And here
are some nice letters from readers with positive expectations:
From: Kevin F Dick <baleywik@tgn.net>
I always read Film Score Daily in the morning before I go to work.
I must say it was a very pleasant surprise to read of the release of "Fantastic
Voyage". It was one of my suggestions when you started the series.
I have wanted this score for years and years and years. Needless to say,
I have already ordered two copies, one to keep and one to share! Thank
you, thank you, thank you!!! Nice order page, by the way.
From: InstntGuts@aol.com
When you announced that one of your new scores was going to be by
Rosenman, I thought, "please let it be Fantastic Voyage."
It is! AIIEEEEE!
When I was a kid, this is the score that got me interested in film
and TV music, and indeed, the marriage of music with visuals. (The incredibly
cool Proteus sub, the body special effects, and Raquel Welch in a white
divesuit also peaked my interest.) A landmark score, and a great thing
to release.
From: "Richard Ewalt" <rike@chicagonet.net>
I just wanted to thank you in advance for 'Fantastic Voyage'. Ever
since you announced the next release would be by Leonard Rosenman, I have
been keeping my fingers crossed that it would be F.V. One of my favorite
scores, it rates right up there with Planet of the Apes as one of the great
scores of the '60s. I remember seeing the film when it was first released
and being really impressed with the music, when it appeared for the first
time just as the Proteus enters the body. I was only 11 then, but well
on my way to becoming a film music geek. Thanks to you, I'm one step closer
to that great geek CD in the sky.
Trailers
From: ThePhage99@aol.com
I was curious if anyone knew where the music in one of the Simon
Birch television previews is from. I've heard the piece at the end of one
of the commercials (not the Mr. Hollands Opus one) and I think the same
piece in question was used in the Phenomenon trailer (not the Enya song).
From: irmo@iquest.net
The music in the PLEASANTVILLE trailer is the music from PLEASANTVILLE
itself, by Randy Newman. It's wonderful in the movie. This trailer (the
first one, with the Sense Of Wonder ending) has the best sampling of a
score since the TITANIC trailer last year. Again, the music is delightful
and wonderful. Yes.
Film Music and Media
From: ctipton@wab.wabco-rail.com (W. Carl Tipton)
It appears that film music has gain much more attention than years
passed. Yet it has much more ground to cover.
Film scoring is the blood of motion pictures, traveling through
the veins of the screenplay and envigorating it with a life of its own.
When will TV producers recognize this? For example, A&E's enormously
popular BIOGRAPHY fails to highlight the life and music of film composers,
while they give tribute to an actor or director (sometimes well deserved).
Another opportunity to educated and entertain an audience regarding film
scoring is on the show BREAKFAST WITH THE ARTS.
What are your observations on this?
This is interesting in that I met someone just last weekend who works
on Biography, and I asked her why they don't cover any film composers
- John Williams in particular would be great. She replied that the Biography
segments are actually produced by some five different companies, and
are carefully selected to appeal to different demographics... they'll do
Gladys Knight one day, then Steven Spielberg, then, say, John F. Kennedy.
I think for as much headway as film music has made, it is still not well
known as an art form. I do hope one of the shows like the above does something
on it one day.
Touch of Evil
From: Patrick Rogers <p5rogers@airmail.net>
I read your comments on seeing the "new" Touch of Evil
and I have been extremely interested in knowing just what the restorers
did with the score. I have not seen this mentioned in any article on the
restoration, and I doubt it just magically worked without tweaking in this
new version of one of my favorite movies. God only knows when it will play
here in Dallas. Anyway, your brief bit on the opening is the first thing
I've seen that addresses what kind of solutions were used to address this
problem. If there were an article on this in your fantastic magazine, you
have at least one interested reader.
We'll see what we can do to contact the producers of the restoration.
The most drastic change to the music was in the title sequence, where Mancini's
title music has been removed (along with the credit titles) in favor of
a collage of Mancini tracks as source music - coming from a car radio,
jukebox, etc. Overall, the sound of the movie seemed carefully manipulated
to be much more environmental - an aural equivalent for the deep-focus
photography of Welles's directing.
Superman
The following we received when we ran a poll asking what unreleased
cues people thought were most important to Superman - you can see the final
results in our poll archive.
From: Ed Kattak <EKATTAK@poloralphlauren.com>
I like the addition of the poll option to the site. Indeed, it may
shed some insight as to what specific issues are important to most people.
With respect to today's poll question (which is important when examining
the film), I've always associated the score very closely with the film.
Keeping this in mind, I always felt that the "Helicopter Rescue"
was always a pivotal point in the film because it first establishes the
relationship between Lois Lane and Superman. In addition, it also introduces
Superman in his first crisis situation, within the context of the film.
For these reasons, one would have thought that the inclusion of this cue
would have been certain on the original Warner double-LP.
However, as always, I guess it was a creative decision and I won't
second-guess or argue with it. Which leads to this issue. I guess that
many composers often view the assembled album as a standalone "concert
work," rather than an album merely representative of all the cues
in a movie. (Hence, Vangelis BLADE RUNNER album from Atlantic, James Horner's
BACK TO TITANIC, etc.)
This all seems like a simple common sense "duh" premise
that I've mentioned, but it does affect other issues, including the infamous
30-minute CD arguement that still goes around.
I guess the issue is how do you create and balance an album that
stands apart from the film, with certain budget and time limitations while
being represenative of the composer's creative vision and making a comment
about the film for which it was conceived for?
And how does one balance it? Do you recreate the experience of the
film by assembling the cues in chronological order (verbatim) from the
film? It may or may not make for interesting album. Or do you capture the
spirit of the film by including the cues from the more important plot points
of the film, with maybe Main and End titles to give a sense of begining
and closure. Or maybe an arrangement of cues in a form of suites is appropriate
(THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL, THE BEAR, MURDERERS AMONG US, etc.)
I think a lot of collectors might keep that in mind the next time
he/she questions why this cue or that cue isn't on the album.
We've been actually grateful that the scores we've released have been
"short," i.e. the total amount of music is 40 minutes or less.
Stagecoach was 25, The Poseidon Adventure 35, The Taking
of Pelham around 33. Fantastic Voyage is the longest to date
- 47 minutes, including the two minutes of sound effects for the main title.
This way, we can present the composer's complete work and have it not be
a haul of a listen.
Our CD series is generally of an archival nature, so we feel it is appropriate
to present scores in chronological order and as complete as possible. However,
I personally feel that is not always the best way to present a score, and
some of my favorite albums are not necessary complete or in film order.
For The Paper Chase, the score is of such an episodic nature, that
we felt it best to re-arrange the cues into a better sequence for listening
purposes.
It all depends on the movie, the score, and the audience for the presentation.
Legend Comments
These date back to Jeff
Bond's article on the two scores for this film - sorry I didn't run
them earlier.
From: Jackie Holstein, Wdp321@aol.com
I never knew that Jerry Goldsmith scored LEGEND originally.....
I never saw it though .had no desire to do so. It pisses me off a lot to
think what a film executive and/or the public and do to a film. i.e. LITTLE
SHOP OF HORRORS.
Now I will forever want a all new Director's Cut for Legend with
all of Goldsmith's score. I am a huge fan of DVD. I guess i would not hold
my breath for a new release for LEGEND anytime soon. I have watched for
the past year and a half of DVD releases and noticed the great films that
are still missing. I own 123 DVDs thus far.
I think a release of Jerry Goldsmith's entire LEGEND score would
not be to much to ask for. I would pay 20-30 dollars for such a CD or Double
CD.
From: "Pulliam, Ron, GSA-RPM" <RPULLIAM@gsa.mail.co.alameda.ca.us>
In his article on Goldsmith's score for Ridley Scott's "Legend,"
Jeff Bond wrote:
"Maybe it's ridiculous to suggest that a director's cut of
Legend is in order. At its most basic levels the film is incoherent and
uninvolving."
Still, it has Tom Cruise. What an enterprise it might be if it were
to be released on laser (and DVD) in its US format and Goblin's score,
but with Goldsmith's score properly tracked on secondary audio channels!!!
This would be a great way to watch -- with the original score and visuals
and not one syllable of dialogue. It might just work!
Poseidon on Real Radio
From: "Woods, Erik" <erik.woods@hbc.com>
Just to let you know that THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and THE PAPER CHASE
will receive their broadcast premieres on Cinematic Sound this week on
Saturday September 26th, 1998 from 12pm - 3pm (EST). Be listening at around
1pm for THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and directly after THE PAPAER CHASE.
To listen to the show "live" via Real Audio please visit
C101.5 FM's web site at http://www.mohawkc.on.ca/msa/cioi
Have a great weekend and thanks for your enthusiastic words about Fantastic
Voyage. European readers: The Flanders Film Festival should be announcing
their complete program for this year's festival, which includes a lot of
film music stuff. Check out: http://www.surf-inn.be/filmfestival
As always, send your questions and comments:
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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