Superman News: Final Bits & Pieces

by Mike Matessino

Album co-producer for the Rhino release

I have been fortunate to work on some very interesting soundtrack projects with my friend and colleague Nick Redman, SUPERMAN being the latest, but hopefully not the last. As score enthusiasts and collectors ourselves, we are enjoying the many expanded releases of recent years just as much as all of you who go out and faithfully buy them. Many of you have pointed out to us that we are in the enviable position of actually working with the music and getting to hear "all the stuff" that's not on the CD. And for that reason, I think the least we can do is share our findings with those who care about this minutiae.

On some of the projects we've done, like POLTERGEIST and the STAR WARS Trilogy, we were able to include just about everything that was fit for release. In the case of POLTERGEIST, we were surprised and pleased to find and include three or four cues that were not used in the film. That was an instance where the entire score fit on one CD, and all of it was there. On the STAR WARS films (2-CD Special Edition releases), we came pretty damn close, the exceptions being a couple of short alternates, music from RETURN OF THE JEDI that had been replaced for the Special Edition, and some source music from the same film that simply cannot be found. In all cases, however, putting the music together has been enlightening, and sometimes we've actually solved mysteries that have haunted some of us for decades.

This was also true with SUPERMAN. As I have discussed the "March" and the "Love Theme" in my articles from previous weeks, I now turn to source music and assorted miscellany, a subject about which there has been much speculation due to the variations in the score as heard in the elongated television versions of the film.

To survey first the source music (meaning music that is supposed to be actually audible in the scene, with a visual motivation for it): it appears that Williams wrote eight pieces for the film, but most of it wasn't used. Here is a quick list:

1) "Kansas High School" - 50's rock-and-roll, intended for the scene where Brad & Lana Lang drive off from Smallville High School. It was mixed in for the television version, but for the theatrical version the plan was to replace it with "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" by Bill Haley. In the end, the filmmakers didn't use either. Both were on the SUPERMAN score reels in fragmentary form, just long enough for the scene.

2) "Kansas Kids" - Another 50's rock piece, this time for the subsequent of Brad, Lana, and gang driving past the Kent farm. It was also used in the television version, with the scene being lengthened so interminably that it ruined the point about how fast Clark "ran" home. In the theatrical version, this was replaced with "Rock Around the Clock." Again, fragments of both were on the score reels.

3) "Sunday Morning" - One scene that didn't make it into the television version was a church scene that seems to have come right after the scene in the Smallville cemetery. It is just a short fragment, and also included on the score reels are some wild church bells, presumably for an establishing shot.

4) "Late Night Country Music" - This fragment has a strong country/western sound, and it was intended for teenage Clark's bedroom radio. In the film it is replaced by "Only You" by the Platters in both theatrical and television versions.

5) "Lair Source" -- This is the Hawaiian-style music which we included on the CD and called "Luthor's Luau." It plays longer in the television version, and fortunately we had the entire original recording.

6) "Lois' Pad" - Apparently there was also source music intended for the terrace scene as Lois waits for Superman (or is it Clark?), but nothing was found on the score reels.

7) "Lois' Car" - This is a fragment of 70's style rock-and-roll intended for Lois' car radio as she drives around the California desert. It is heard only in the television version. One other pop song associated with this sequence is "Give a Little Bit of My Life" by Supertramp, which is heard in all versions, but was not included on the score reels.

8) "Kids on Bus" - Intended for the school bus on the Golden Gate Bridge, this is another bit of 70's rock, but no recording of it was on the score reels. It was apparently recorded when it was decided to drop the score written for the scene.

That's it for source music, except for an unexplained fragment of "Sh-Boom" by the Crew Cuts and the fragments of piano solos played by Lex Luthor in the television version. Other interesting bits that were composed by Williams are the "twinkling" effects for the crystals in the Fortress of Solitude, and the effect representing Superman's x-ray vision in the terrace scene, all of which have been incorporated into their corresponding tracks.

In terms of actual score, we unfortunately turned up emptier than we had hoped. We did find the various versions of the Superman march and the original version of "Can You Read My Mind," as outlined in the previous articles, but the only other alternate we found was the original version of the fanfare for "The Planet Krypton." It is in a different key (intended for use with the original version of the "Main Title") and was self-contained. For the CD, we combined it with the original album version of the trial sequence, because it contained additional or augmented piano and synthesizer tracks. Doing this also allowed us to present an example of the kinds of cuts and alterations often made for soundtracks, a practice we wish would not be done as extensively and unnecessarily as it is.

Although we were able to re-construct every note of the cues actually used in the film, according to the scoring log several other cues were revised, and the written score bears this out... In chronological order, they are: the opening of the Krypton dome, the crystal ark's flight to Earth, baby Kal-El's emerging from the crater (though probably not recorded), the baby lifting Pa Kent's truck, Clark entering the Fortress of Solitude, and the mugging scene. Had any of these been found, they might have been included on the CD, but unfortunately they do not appear to exist and documentation is shaky.

With each project of this type that we do, we gain more and more appreciation for the material we DO find. However, over the course of these projects it has become very clear that producers need to make duplicates of the complete scoring sessions and have them vaulted. This seems to happen more often nowadays, but this is small consolation in light of the scores of the past that may be lost forever.

However, when a release like SUPERMAN comes along, with long-desired music finally available and re-constructed with no small effort, the rewards are many and the dreams of finding treasures in the future are nourished. And as I said upon the completion of the STAR WARS CD's, the most cherished reward for those of us who work with this great music is what we are now experiencing with SUPERMAN... to at last approach its release date so that we may share it with those who make these projects possible in the first place. So on that note, I wish you many hours of listening pleasure that will make you fly. It's been groovy, or should I say... super!

MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com