Film Score Friday 2/25/00

by Lukas Kendall

John Williams is indeed scoring The Patriot. What is also true is that David Arnold recorded a full score which was subsequently rejected by the filmmakers; it will be interesting to see if he works again with Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin.

John Barry is apparently off of another movie, Thomas the Tank Engine. No word why.

Seattle residents, tomorrow night (Saturday) is "Composers of the Cinema: The Sequel" at Benaroya Hall, S. Mark Taper Auditorium, 3rd Ave and University. Call 206-363-1100 for tickets. Alexander Nevsky, Doctor Zhivago, Henry V, The Abyss, Conan the Barbarian, The Omen, Amistad, Saving Private Ryan and Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace are all on the program.

Grammys

Grammy winners Wednesday night:

Best Soundtrack Album: Phil Collins for Tarzan (Phil Collins & Mark Mancina, producers; Walt Disney Records).

Best Instrumental Composition for a Motion Picture, etc.: A Bug's Life (Randy Newman; Walt Disney Records).

Best Song from a Motion Picture or Television: "Beautiful Stranger" by Madonna (Madonna and William Orbit, songwriters, from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me; Maverick Records).

The Future of Rykodisc

From: "David McKissick" <mckissickd@issc.belvoir.army.mil>

I have a question regarding Rykodiscs and their soundtrack releases. About a year and a half ago there was a bit of fanfare regarding Rykodisc's intention to release numerous soundtracks from the old United Artists catalogue. There doesn't appear to be much going on these days and while it seems we soundtrack enthusiasts/collectors complain more about what we don't have than what we've gotten I have to admit when Rykodisc first announced their intention I was hoping more for releases of "The Wonderful Country", "The Unforgiven" and "One Eyed Jacks" rather than "What's New Pussycat". Does anyone know if Rykodisc has given up on soundtrack reissues? Thanks. Also, the FSM releases, most recently "The Flim Flam Man", continue the high standard that was established with the first release.

Thanks! There is no word at this time about Rykodisc's plans to continue their MGM series of United Artists soundtracks. The company was bought by Palm Pictures (or merged or whatever) and relocated to New York late last year, which changed their configuration considerably. As of now it's up in the air, but even if the series stopped with For Your Eyes Only (due in March) they still did a ton of great CDs: Thomas Crown Affair, Living Daylights, The Misfits, Greatest Story Ever Told 3CD set, Last Tango in Paris, Elmer Gantry and more.

Metallica/Kamen CD Review

See Monday's column for the review of this new orchestral album of Metallica songs, with arrangements by Michael Kamen:

From: Thor Joachim Haga <t.j.haga@hfstud.uio.no>

When I heard that Kamen and the San Francisco Symphony would team up with semi-heavy metal veteran band Metallica, I suspected something a la a "rougher" version of the cheesy "LSO plays Classic Rock"-albums that I loved so much in my infantile, pre-film music days.

Fortuntately, it wasn't that bad. The music was far more dramatic and refined than the lightweight LSO-recordings, yet not as complex as to satisy the hardened score fan.

Metallica is to be credited for their innovation, but I was somewhat disappointed by the end result. Although I stick to my theory that a symphony orchestra is far more powerful than anything else (unplugged), the electronic plug-ins of the rock band far outweighed the orchestral ambiance, which in many cases literally played "second violin" to the wailings of the el-guitars and the thump of the drums (you only heard high brass and timpani in many cases).

But when Kamen and the SFS were allowed prominence, it came off as quite pleasing, especially with the ballad "Nothing Else Matters".

As opposed to the perfect blend of rock and symphony, though (such as in Pink Floyd's THE WALL, in which Kamen also collaborated), the concert, as much it may have gained a few new Metallica fans, came off as dissatisfactory, IMHO.

But at least it goes to show Kamen's adaptability.

From: Yannick Fortin <yfortin@speakeasy.org>

As a casual film score listener and frequent Metallica listener, I was quite surprised to find a review of S&M on your site. To my surprise, it's probably one of the better-written reviews of the album. What I find particularly refreshing about Mr. Comerford's review is his examination of the album with a focus on Michael Kamen's contribution, which I think has been a little overlooked. I must say that I am very impressed with Michael Kamen's "supplemental" additions to Metallica's arrangements, and his contributions have taken their songs to new levels of majesty, especially "One," "The Call of Ktulu," "Master of Puppets," and "The Thing That Should Not Be."

One small complaint I have of the review, though, is the description of beginning the album with "The Ecstasy of Gold" as "odd". It should rather be described as "appropriate" since James Hetfield (Metallica's rhythm guitarist/main vocalist) has admired Morricone's Spaghetti Western scores for a long time, and "The Ecstasy of Gold" has been Metallica's prelude to their stage entrance on many of their tours.

Otherwise, I just really wish to compliment Mr. Comerford on his refreshing perspective in this review.

1999 in Review

Some letters regarding the recent announcement of the Oscar nominees:

From: Mathieu Beauregard <mbeauregard@lexitech.ca>

I think The 13th Warrior, Sleepy Hollow and Anna and the King should have been nominated for best music. Even Star Wars. The Academy seems to prefer quieter music. The scores nominated are all great, but I still think there are grave omissions. And what's with The Red Violin? Great music and film, but it was released in 1998! In Canada anyway.

From: "Scott Hanson" <srh@shore.net>

Every year there are the same belly-aching comments about "why didn't my favorite composer get nominated for the same rehashed crap that he rewrites for every movie?" Goldsmith being a prime example of this and at this point I think you can kiss his chances of a 2nd Oscar goodbye unless he goes back to the style that it almost seemed like he was resurrecting in "LA Confidential," his best work in years. As far as the other scores mentioned for not getting nominated go, I think we all realize why TPM didn't get a nom and it seems as though Danny Elfman's respect may have been thrown out the window again.... but what else can you expect from the Academy (then again, Danny's written other far better scores that deserved an Oscar before this [and we all know what those are] so I'm not griping). The only score I'd say that DESERVED to get nominated and wasn't was JNHoward's for "The Sixth Sense."

But now really look at what WAS nominated. Obviously not many readers have heard "The Red Violin." I don't think any film score has worked so well in a film in a long time. Aside from that, Corigliano's music is extremely enjoyable out of the context of the film (except for listening to that annoying Chinese fight song on the CD which I have to program out every time.... but again it goes well in the film). Kudos go to the months of work put into the music on Coriglianos' part and also to Josh Bell who not only graced the score with his violin, but also the film with the stand-in of his hands for many of the Pope scenes. Anyone who is griping about this or that not being nominated really should rent the movie and buy the CD. You won't care anymore about the others left out.

The only thing I have to gripe about is that "The Red Violin" wasn't recognized for more: costumes, director, picture, art direction..... this should have swept the awards.

From: Al77964@cs.com

Every year people write in to Film Score Monthly, either through the internet website or the print issue, and complain about the picks the Academy had chosen. They want this guy, and this guy, and what about this guy or gal. But there are only five spots and they can't all be nominated. This isn't the forties. I have a request: When someone asks why Goldsmith or Elfman wasn't nominated I would like to know who they believe SHOULDN'T have been nominated. Who should there composed have REPLACED! Same goes with actors. Mad Jim Carrey wasn't nominated? Well who didn't deserve the nomination that was nominated? Remember when Streisand wasn't nominated as director one year and people were mad (I don't know why)? Well, if she had someone else would have been dropped. Who? John Singleton? Pick. Also, the reason why the comedy/musical category was abolished was because the winners of past have been a joke! Remember Dudley's Full Monty? Also, Alan Menken doesn't get nominated anymore and he's the reason the category existed in the first place.

By the way Lukas, next year you should have the Best Of the Year picks chosen earlier so that advertisers for the composers can use it. For example, an ad for John Williams next year might say (hopefully): "JOHN WILLIAMS' THE PATRIOT NAMED BEST SCORE OF THE YEAR--Film Score Monthly." Or something like that. What do you think?

Uh... OK!

Flim Flam Man

Our newest FSM limited edition CD is The Flim Flam Man/A Girl Named Sooner by Jerry Goldsmith. Here's a satisfied customer:

From: Preston Jones <pjones@fulpat.com>

I first fell in love with Jerry Goldsmith's music when as a school kid I heard his scores for the THRILLER TV series. Around that same time, I saw LILLIES OF THE FIELD, and thereafter prayed for a soundtrack LP, a wish which was finally granted many months later, to my great joy. We're embarking on a whole new century now, but that joy remains unabated whenever I listen to the LILLIES cd. And now, thanks to you guys, I can experience a similar elation listening to FLIM FLAM and SOONER. This is indeed the Goldsmith of LILLIES and PATCH OF BLUE, the Goldsmith of my first youthful rapture, and I just want to thank you all deeply for making these fine works available after all this time.

Correction

Re: yesterday's article featuring a list of the cues you can hear isolated on the Dark Crystal DVD: the composer was Trevor Jones, but the conductor was Marcus Dodds.

Links

There's an interview with Jerry Goldsmith at Barnes and Noble's website; apparently it's several months old but I had never seen it until Stephane Michaud brought it to my attention. Check it out.

The psychotic Superman fans at the Superman music website have updated their Superman Score In Depth article to version 3.0 -- wow! Check it out at http://members.aol.com/hiphats/superman.html.

The President of the Local 47 -- that's the American Federation of Musicians union in Los Angeles -- has sent a letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences protesting the reduction in size of the Oscar orchestra this year: http://www.promusic47.org/Columns/headlines/HalOscar.htm.

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