Film Score Friday 7/28/00

by Lukas Kendall

See yesterday's column for the announcement of our new limited edition JOHN WILLIAMS CD: A Guide for the Married Man, the wildly entertaining 1967 comedy score -- never before available.

If you read rec.music.movies, you know that soundtrack.net has reported that Howard Shore has been chosen as composer for the upcoming Lord of the Rings trilogy directed by Peter Jackson. So far, no further confirmation on this.

The Henry Mancini Institute is putting on concerts every weekend in August here in sunny Southern California, many with special film music guests -- like next Saturday, August 5th at UCLA's Royce Hall with Jerry Goldsmith, Mike Lang & Bud Shank. Go here for complete information: http://www.henrymanciniinstitute.com/concerts2000.html

Monstrous Movie Music -- IT LIVES!

Monstrous Movie Music has finally released their third CD of monster music from Hollywood's Golden Age, lovingly and faithfully re-recorded. Here's David Schecter's recent message to film music buffs everywhere:

Just wanted you to know that the long-awaited and much-anticipated third volume in the "Monstrous Movie Music" CD series will be available from us first thing next week. The CD is not presently being sold in stores, and there are no definite plans for that in the near-future.

This news is so "new" that our web site at http://www.mmmrecordings.com/ doesn't even mention the CD yet! So don't bother going there to order it. But since you have written to us in the past, we wanted you to be among the first to know how to order our new release.

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (and other jungle pictures) [MMM-1952]

From the label that produced two of the most acclaimed film music albums of all-time -- Monstrous Movie Music and More Monstrous Movie Music -- comes a new CD featuring world-premiere re-recordings of music from classic science-fiction, fantasy, and horror films!

"CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (and other jungle pictures)" contains all the previously-unreleased music from Universal-International's legendary 1954 monster movie, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. The 35-minute suite contains 21 cues available for the first time! This landmark score by Herman Stein, Henry Mancini, Milton Rosen, Hans Salter, and Robert Emmett Dolan conjures both the beauty and horror of the Gill-Man's Amazonian world, and this suite offers practically every second of music previously unavailable on disc.

The CD also contains almost all the music written for M-G-M's renowned TARZAN films of the 1930s and '40s starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan, with music from such well-known composers as Herbert Stothart, William Axt, and Daniele Amfitheatrof.

And finally, there's a 16-minute suite from THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE, a 1959 B-movie featuring a brilliant swampy score written by Irving Gertz, complete with that '50s staple -- the electric violin! Also included are bonus tracks, music cut from the films, and a state-of-the-art 40-page liner book, complete with never-before-released photos, music scores, and information.

Like the previous landmark MMM CDs, "CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (and other jungle pictures)" has been vividly recorded through close-miking techniques to recapture the dynamic full-orchestral sound heard at the original Hollywood scoring sessions.

The cost of the CD is $18.99 plus $2.75 shipping (25 cents each additional disc). California residents please add $1.57 sales tax for each CD. For foreign orders, please contact us first by e-mail so we can quote applicable postage rates.

Due to rising production costs, our first two CDs, "Monstrous Movie Music" and "More Monstrous Movie Music" will soon be priced at $18.99, but for the next two weeks we are still offering them at the previous $16.95 price. If you love the music from THEM!, THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, TARANTULA, GORGO, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA, and other '50s classics, you won't want to miss our first two discs.

You can order via phone by MasterCard or Visa, or via fax, snail mail, or e-mail. An order form is available at our site: http://www.mmmrecordings.com. Go to the "order" page and click on the "order form" link.

For more information, please contact us at: Monstrous Movie Music, P. O. Box 7088, Burbank, CA 91510-7088, PHONE: (800) 788-0892 or (818) 886-8863; FAX: (818) 886-8820; monstrous@earthlink.net; http://www.mmmrecordings.com

Jaws CD

See this week's column.

From: Michael R Goolsby <michael2001@juno.com>

John Takis' comments on the recent Jaws release were right on. In fact, after feeling slightly (but only slightly) underwhelmed upon first listen of the new CD, I used both the original score and the new release to create my own "definitive" version just as Mr. Takis did. The result was a wonderful album of music quite similar to his own.

My experience buying this album, while frustrating, also brought encouragement. On the day of its release, I visited Best Buy, Wherehouse Music, Circuit City, Media Play, and an independent dealer. By the afternoon, all were sold out (and yes, they had indeed had them earlier). I was thoroughly amazed and had to wait an entire week for more to arrive. During my efforts, copies of the DVDs were in several peoples' hands. Needless to say, the following week, I went early -- they even had to bring a copy from the back. But I gladly paid the asking price (like almost all new releases, too expensive) and was thrilled to be freshly reminded of that fun summer 25 years ago. Let's indeed hope that a successful release will insure that we see similar treatments to other great scores from the past.

Emmy Nominations

Apologies for not running these last week when they were announced, but this year's music-related Emmy nominations:

MUSIC COMPOSITION FOR A SERIES (DRAMATIC UNDERSCORE)

Falcone * Lealta * CBS * Johnson/Hancock Productions in association with CBS Productions and Columbia TriStar Television; Jay Gruska, Composer

Felicity * Help For The Lovelorn * WB * Imagine Television in association with Touchstone Television Productions, LLC; Danny Pelfrey, W.G. Snuffy Walden, Composers

Star Trek: Voyager * Spirit Folk * UPN; Paramount Pictures; Jay Chattaway, Composer

The X-Files * Theef * FOX; Ten Thirteen Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television; Mark Snow, Composer

Xena: Warrior Princess * Fallen Angel * SYN; Renaissance Prods. in association with Studios USA; Joseph LoDuca, Composer

MUSIC COMPOSITION FOR A MINISERIES, MOVIE OR A SPECIAL

Beyond The Prairie: The True Story Of Laura Ingalls Wilder * CBS; CBS Productions; Ernest Troost, Composer

Don Quixote * TNT; Hallmark Entertainment; Richard Hartley, Composer; Enslavement: The True Story Of Fanny Kemble * SHO; Showtime in association with LXD, Inc. & Catfish Productions; Charles Bernstein, Composer

RKO 281 * HBO; A Scott Free Production; John Altman, Composer

Walking With Dinosaurs * DSC; A BBC/Discovery Channel/TV Asahi Co-Production; Ben Bartlett, Composer

MUSIC DIRECTION

Annie * ABC; Storyline Entertainment, Chris Montan Productions, Columbia TriStar; Television and Walt Disney Television; Paul Bogaev, Music Director

E*Trade Super Bowl XXXIV Halftime Show * ABC; Walt Disney Attractions, LLC; Dan Stamper, Music Director

Heroes For The Planet Featuring Special Guest Charlotte Church * A&E; Weller Grossman Prods.; Michael Andreas, Music Director

The Kennedy Center Honors * CBS; A George Stevens/Don Mischer Presentation for Kennedy Center; Television Productions; Elliot Lawrence, Music Director

The Little Richard Story * NBC; Fox TV Studios; David Sibley, Music Director

MUSIC AND LYRICS

AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars * Song title: "Without You" * CBS; Smith-Hemioin Productions, Inc. on behalf of the American Film Institute; Marvin Hamlisch, Composer; Carole Bayer Sager, Lyricist

The 14th Annual American Comedy Awards * Song title: "My Bill Gates" * FOX; George Schlatter Productions; Bruce Vilanch, Glen Roven, Composers/Lyricists

Family Guy * Song title: "We Only Live To Kiss Your Ass" * FOX; Fuzzy Door Prod. in association with 20th Century Fox Television; Ron Jones, Composer; Chris Sheridan, Lyricist

Freedom Song * Song title: "Song Of Freedom" * TNT; An Alphaville Production in association with Carrie Productions; Carole King, Composer/Lyricist

Nickellennium * Song title: "Up to You " * NIK; Linda Schaffer Productions; John Kimbrough, Composer/Lyricist

MAIN TITLE THEME MUSIC

Falcone * CBS; Johnson/Hancock Productions in association with CBS Productions and; Columbia TriStar Television; Jay Gruska, Ross Levinson, Composers

Jack London's Call Of The Wild * AP; Cinevu Films; Hal Foxton Beckett, Composer

Jack Of All Trades * SYN; Pacific Renaissance; Joseph LoDuca, Composer

The Pretender * NBC; Pretender Productions, Inc. in association with 20th Century Fox Television; in association with NBC Studios; Mark Leggett, Velton Ray Bunch, Composers

The West Wing * NBC; John Wells Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television; W.G. Snuffy Walden, Composer

All right, two plugs for our CD in one column, I know I know -- but here's a letter we got about our new John Williams CD.

From: Mark Trachtman <mtrachtm@ngs.org>

Darn you, Lukas Kendall! Not more than 8 weeks ago I spent several hours in Cool Edit Pro lovingly editing and cleaning up my 20-year-old TV recording of "Guide for the Married Man" to send to friends as one of those "lost" Johnny Williams score they'll absolutely NEVER hear anywhere else - I was especially proud of the "You Can Never Be Too Careful" sequence which I believe you have titled "The Globetrotter" - and there you go releasing it - in STEREO no less. I honestly don't know why I bother to keep my old reel-to-reel tapes. You are rapidly making all my old recordings obsolete. And I am eternally grateful to you for that. HOWEVER along with my home-made recording of "Guide" I included the Main Title from "John Goldfarb" with that absolutely indescribable Shirley McLane vocal. You may not be able to release it, but I know you've heard it. Now THAT'S entertainment.

Thanks man!

Have a nice weekend.

MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com