Mail Bag 9/28/00
Combined by Lukas Kendall
I have a confession to make. I have NO idea when the following letters
were received or to what they refer. I just had this file and I need to
fill this column before Film Score Friday tomorrow.
Have fun in No Context Theater!
It's actually kind of interesting this way...
Now that I look at the letters, I think we were discussing the collaboration
between pop musicians and film composers, or film scores by composers primarily
from the pop world.
From: "David McKissick"
Regarding "Zob10701@aol.com" questions it brings to mind
what I consider one of the most famous "situations" similar to
this, that of John Barry/Monty Norman and the James Bond Theme.
From: Randall Derchan <DSPY007@aol.com>
Regarding some of the letters, I agree on both counts, that Zimmer's
score for "Gladiator" at first listen was not impressionable,
but after seeing the movie I was convinced.
Two, "Beneath The Planet Of the Apes" cd is a splendid
production. Your remastered recordings are just getting better and better.
I always wanted this score. The album was another seventies joke. A rare
joke, though.
From: JoshGD@aol.com
There are a few points that I think were missed out on in this column,
most of them a little humorous to me. First of all, the mention of Danny
Elfman and his work in Batman, coinciding with Prince's song collection.
Mr. Elfman actually used one of the songs, reworking it as the love theme
for the movie ("Scandalous" was the name of the original song).
In addition, Richard Gibbs used to be a part of Danny Elfman's band,
Oingo Boingo, which is more an interesting side note than proof of anything.
It is rather unfair to just dismiss out of hand any "pop"
star who wants to try to create an orchestral score and needs to get some
help. Elfman has been working for years trying to put a stop to the rumors
that he doesn't even write his own scores. Both Williams and Goldsmith
enlist other people to do their orchestration. Is Randy Newman the only
person we are willing to believe can write both orchestral scores and pop
songs with equal skill?
More to the point - we may be denying ourselves some truly wonderful
music by pushing people off into musical categories. Anyone who wants to
write music for film will have to learn how, and some of them may be choosing
to do it on the job. Some may try and blossom, while others may create
work that will render head pain like we have never known. But to dismiss
without hearing is simply uncalled for.
From: Edgar Soberon <est@sinfo.net>
Hello. I do not know much about music, but I believe that the collaboration
between Michael Nyman and Damon Albarn for "Ravenous" is remarkable.
I enjoyed the film and the music very much. I think this example applies
here, although Nyman is not what one may call a typical film composer.
From: Laurence Page <laurence.page@bbc.co.uk>
Just to say a big thankyou for the wonderful "Beneath the Planet
of the Apes" score which I just received! I've always wanted this
score - especially the title music, which I always found full of alien
menace. The high metalic strings hinting at the unrelenting sun beating
down on poor old Brent, the throbbing bass glissandos (what makes that
sound - brass with double basses? Electronics?) The rest of the score is
equally powerful - great to hear it all at last in clear stereo sound.
Is Rosenman the master of piled-on chords or what? Tried to get a pay-rise
using the Mind control FX but my boss told me to get on with my work..
By the way - as much as I enjoyed Gladiator - I couldn't believe
the speed in which the hero rode from near-death in Germania to his homestead!
It seemed to take about 5 minutes. A major belief-suspending moment...
From: Brian Gruber <knightbg@mindless.com>
You wanted ill informed, so here goes...
REM (predominantly Michael Stipe) on Man On The Moon. Now, I'm not
saying this was a great score (frankly, i don't really remember it except
for the single "Elephants Up The Stairs" or whatever the actual
title was). But I do remember that I really liked the movie, and that the
score definitely worked. Plus, to add to my ill-informed nature, I don't
even know if Stipe collaborated with any filmscore regular. Anyhow, I guess
it shows that it is possible. Then again, there's Dune. But hey... I like
toto, and that score. Really. From: "Madapaty, Lakshmikanth (Lax)"
<lmadapati@lucent.com>
Any discussion on pop collaborations is incomplete without mentioning
all the wonderful songs that accompanied the exciting title sequences of
the James Bond films. In case of this franchise, it was almost an unwritten
rule for the composer to collaborate with the pop/rock artist to write
the main title (and in some cases like TOMORROW NEVER DIES, end title)
song. Some of the outstanding songs that came out of successful collaborations
between composer and pop/rock artist are the explosive Barry/Bassey songs
(GOLDFINGER, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and MOONRAKER) and K. D. Lang's superb
rendition of "Surrender" that David Arnold wrote.
But when the artists decided to go on their own with little help
from the score composer, the results ranged from the mediocre ("The
Living Daylights" by A-Ha and "Goldeneye" by Turner) to
the outright hideous (Sheryl Crow's "Tomorrow Never Dies"). It
is also worth mentioning that such collaborations are learning experiences
for both the pop/rock artist and the score composer. Barry mentioned about
how he was amazed at the way Duran Duran composer their killer song "A
View to a Kill" - the drum tracks were first laid out, the guitars
were layered on top of it and then the strings and vocal melodies on which
Barry collaborated. The result is one of the best Bond songs in the franchise
and the only one to hit #1 in the U.S. Billboard charts.
Special mention must be made about the one score composer who has
consistently worked with many pop/rock artists right from the 70's and
helped created some of the best rock albums of all time - Michael "caveman"
Kamen! His work on Pink Floyd's The Wall and The Final Cut, Metallica's
black album and S&M and with Queensryche on the superb "Real World"
from THE LAST ACTION HERO is quite commendable. Though Danny Elfman is
an outstanding composer from the rock world, I can't really think of a
great collaboration except if one counts the one with himself with great
results on THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS.
The actual question that was raised seems to me to be about the
recent trend where experienced composers were contacted to guide the novices
with the orchestral sounds. What we are discussing now is the pop/rock
star collaborations with score composers.
From: "Deena Parmelee" <drp1@mediaone.net>
Let me get this straight. They try one thing realize it doesn't
work. Try something else, decide it's perfect, now they're trying to make
the first thing into the second? If I tried to pull a trailer with a motorcycle,
couldn't do it then tried it with a truck and found how easily it worked
would I go back and try to make a motorcycle into a truck? Are drugs still
that prevalent in Hollywood? I mean no disrespect to any of the parties
involved but didn't we learn a long time ago that square pegs go in square
holes and round pegs in...well, you know.
Look, I know I don't get it. Every time I see a CD full of pop tunes
masquerading as a soundtrack I want to smack a producer, a director, somebody,
anybody. It's really annoying how they constantly cram three bars of a
song into a scene just to get it into the film so they can produce a "soundtrack"
CD instead of putting a real score into the scene to support the emotion
portrayed or, God forbid, let the actors play the scene without music.
From: Preston Jones <pjones@fulpat.com>
I don't think this will "get you in trouble" with anybody,
but here's my widow's mite to contribute to the discussion...
The first movie I ever worked on (as a lowly go-fer) was THE SWIMMER,
starring Burt Lancaster. I wasn't around during post-production, so I can't
shed any light on the score by Marvin Hamlisch (his first). But it's a
wonderful score, (unfortunately never put on cd), and the rumor has always
persisted that much of its quality was due to the handiwork of the orchestrators,
Leo Shuken and Jack Hayes, who were of course Elmer Bernstein's constant
support team in those days.
I might also mention a score which worked very well for its particular
film, combining the best of both worlds: THE GRADUATE, in which Dave Grusin
and Simon & Garfunkel sort of tag-teamed the picture, each handling
whichever sequence was most appropriate for his gifts.
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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