CD Reviews 10/19/00

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The Last Run/Wild Rovers ***1/2

JERRY GOLDSMITH

Chapter III CHA 0135

22 tracks - 63:35

Logan's Run/Coma ***1/2

JERRY GOLDSMITH

CHAPTER III CHA 0136

22 tracks - 78:03

Chapter III supplies two double-headers of hard-to-find Goldsmith titles in these reissues, with The Last Run (a European-flavored score for a crime thriller starring George C. Scott) making its first official appearance on CD. The Last Run score is an odd but enjoyable cross between Goldsmith's '60s spy style and Lalo Schifrin's Bullitt, whose driving, jazzy rhythms it reproduces wholesale in several cues -- I can only assume someone in the production assumed that since there were car chases in this picture that it needed to sound like Bullitt, the acknowledged touchstone of all future car chase sequences. The Last Run also has a trademark, melancholy theme for strings and harpsichord and lively chase cues, with elements of Planet of the Apes sneaking in to contemporary (at the time) rhythmic treatments in a style that mirrors Escape from the Planet of the Apes, which was released the same year. Also featured is song version of Goldsmith's title music sung by Steve Lawrence (minus Eydie Gorme).

Up until now, Wild Rovers, one of Goldsmith's most distinctive western scores, has only been available in a rare combo from Memoir, coupled with The Great Train Robbery. Wild Rovers was reissued on LP by MCA during the dying days of that format in the mid-80s, and an additional bonus cue from the score was included -- so far this has yet to show up on CD. Wild Rovers shows Goldsmith stretching himself with a score that's far removed from his more action-oriented western scores. The evocative use of mandolin and recorder may have been Goldsmith's response to the quirky, contemporary style that Burt Bacharach had made famous in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but Goldsmith managed to both transcend his regular style (in cues like "Old Times") and create some of his most kinetic Aaron Copland-style writing for the film's opening music and a bronco busting scene. There's also a raw energy to the album's two songs (sung by Goldsmith's daughter) that makes them a step above something like "The Piper Dreams."

Coma and Logan's Run were originally released separately by the defunct Bay Cities label, making those issues relatively collectible until now. Logan's Run is a masterpiece long overdue for some kind of expanded release, which unfortunately isn't found here. There's a minor change in the track title "Intensive Care," which is now called "The Key/Intensive Care" -- no, there's no unreleased music here; it's just a more accurate description of the piece, which combined music for a sequence in which Logan and Jessica are fleeing from Francis outside the City and use their ankh-shaped "Key" to get through a sealed passageway, and an earlier scene in which Logan is almost killed by plastic surgery lasers in the New You shop. Logan's Run has just about everything you could want in a Goldsmith score: a magnificent, romantic/heroic anthem ("The Sun"), explosive action music ("You're Renewed," "Intensive Care"), expansive outdoor music mixing Coplandesque fanfares with evocative impressionistic writing, and enjoyably kitschy electronics. It's a hallmark of the composer's science fiction work on a level with his more highly-regarded Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Coma is a more modest work and a superb example of Goldsmith's past approach to spotting (there's no music at all for the first 45 minutes of the movie). It's a warm-up for some of the harsher writing in Alien with vicious suspense cues marked by dangling, echoing metallic effects that evoke not only the eerie "hanging room" full of bodies in the movie's signature sequence, but also the deadly presence of medical instruments that pervades the movie and keeps threatening the investigation undertaken by heroine Genevieve Bujold. Consistently interesting, Coma leads up to a suspenseful climactic cue and a great musical shock chord ending that literally turns the lights out on the villain of the piece. Also notable in the deliriously creepy "The Jefferson Institute" cue, the Bartok stylings make this score a natural match for Logan's Run. -- Jeff Bond

GABRIEL YARED

Centropolis/Hollywood HR - 62280-2

26 tracks - 58:40

Richard Gere romances an ailing Winona Ryder in Autumn In New York, Joan Chen's second feature as a director. Chen was reportedly unhappy that MGM rejected her final cut of the film, which contained Wynona Ryder's nude scene. So now, aside from Gabriel Yared's pleasant score, the film is a complete waste of time. Yared's main theme, "Charlotte and Will," is an elegant, classical tune -- very European. Autumn in New York does not take place in Europe, but that's not important. The theme is melancholy and therefore appropriate for the issues dealt with in the film (aging, dying young, cheating on Wynona Ryder). Richard Gere's character is also rich just like in Pretty Woman, and Yared's tasteful sound works just fine for upperclass Manhattan.

Yared gets impressive mileage out of his main theme simply by varying the orchestration. "Elegy for Charlotte" wanders into Morricone territory with a solo female vocal by Miriam Stockley. Solo, wordless female vocals are always a good idea in films like Autumn in New York, Great Expectations and Guinevere. It's fun to pretend that the young and tender Wynona Ryder is singing (instead of Miriam Stockley). In the case of Guinevere you don't have to pretend that Sarah Polley is singing because she really is!

In the film, Yared's score is sabotaged every step of the way by the horrendous script, but on its own, the music is listenable enough. The light piano-cum-harp orchestration in tracks like "Opening Titles" even evoke John Williams' romantic scores for Sabrina and Stanley and Iris. Many other cuts feature a common Yared device: a simple woodwind reading of the main theme over a bed of strings. It's only when Yared adds a flamboyant sax counterline ("Apart") that the score feels insincere. Apart from that, this score only annoys on the level that it's asking the audience to take a terrible film seriously -- but that's Yared's job, not his fault. And to Yared's credit, his score lends dignity to two stale characters, and is an enjoyable listen apart from the movie. The album also has four pop tunes from the film, but you don't really care about those, do you? -- AK Benjamin

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