Film Score Friday 3/23/01

And the winner is...Monty Norman, in his libel suit against London's Sunday Times for a 1997 article suggesting he did not write the James Bond theme. (The paper had written that John Barry had substantially reworked and the piece and was the de facto author; all parties involved do acknowledge that Barry provided the arrangement made famous in Dr. No and beyond.) Norman, 72, has been awarded $43,000 in damages.

Aliens

Hot on the heels of their Cleopatra 2CD set, Varese Sarabande is announcing another soundtrack restoration -- this one a little more recent:

ALIENS
THE DELUXE EDITION
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Varese Sarabande 302 066 241 2
Release Date: 5/1/01

Music Composed and Conducted by James Horner
London Symphony Orchestra

This official soundtrack for the recently released Twentieth Century Fox Special Edition of James Cameron's ALIENS features nearly twice as much music than its original release!

Before Titanic there was one epic collaboration between director James Cameron and composer James Horner. In this action-packed sequel to Ridley Scott's Alien, Sigourney Weaver returns as Ripley, the only survivor from mankind's first encounter with the monstrous Alien. Her account of the Alien and the fate of her crew are received with skepticism... until the mysterious disappearance of colonists on LV-426 lead her to join a team of high-tech colonial marines sent in to investigate.

Personally supervised by director Cameron, the Aliens Special Edition DVD restored seventeen minutes of footage and treated the entire film to a high-definition makeover. Aliens has never looked or sounded better!

For this Deluxe Edition of James Horner's apocalyptic score we have restored every note the composer wrote for this massive symphonic assault. Horner's Aliens has always been among his most acclaimed scores and for fans of both the film and the score, we have gone all out. Included are extensions to cues formally only presented in edited form -- even in the film! Over a dozen cues appear for the first time ever! The entire score has not only been digitally remastered but fully remixed to optimize its sonic power. This 75-minute CD is the ultimate Aliens companion!

Mizzy Live

Don't Forget! Vic Mizzy will be making a rare personal appearance on Saturday, March 24th at CREATURE FEATURES in Burbank from 1pm - 3pm to sign the PERCEPTO RECORDS limited edition release of his new 78-minute compilation CD. To order signed copies, call (818) 842-9383 or visit www.creaturefeatures.com for more information.

Omega Screening

The Egyptian theater on Hollywood Blvd is screening The Omega Man tonight (Friday) at 7PM with special guest Charlton Heston. FSM will be there selling our limited ediiton CD of Ron Grainer's classic soundtrack. See you there! See www.americancinematheque.com for more information.

T. Newman Concert Work

From the Pittsburgh Symphony web site, in their announcement of their 2001-2002 season...

Thomas Newman will provide the composition for the third World Premiere (January 25, 27, 2002) of the season, a Concerto for Contrabass and Orchestra, with PSO Principal Bass Jeffrey Turner taking center stage. Turner, who wanted a composer with a different approach, focused his search on individuals writing for film. Newman, who received an Academy Award nomination for his music in American Beauty, includes movie's Erin Brockovich and The Green Mile among his Hollywood works. Newman is the son of American film composer Alfred Newman, whose movie scores include The King and I and Camelot, for which he received one of his nine Academy Awards. He also is cousin to singer-composer Randy Newman.

Here are some letters about completely different topics:

From: David Maxx, AdditionalScenes@aol.com

I read the letter from Varese Sarabande's Robert Townson concerning their short, short CDs and I found it to be very interesting. I think Varese Sarabande is the best CD company ever, not only because they make the majority of all soundtrack releases every year, but because they pay for more re-use fees than any other companies i know of. I am eternally grateful for them paying those additional expenses. I am so glad they released the SCREAM scores, even if the albums were short. I was surprised to find that Robert Townson is the vice president of the company. After all his hard work, after all he's done for the fans, he should be promoted to president. I cannot thank Varese enough for all they have done. I hope they never close!!! I happen to be a frequent customer and caller and writer to Varese. Robert Townson has probably gotten 50 e-mails from me in the past few months and is probably sick of me by now. But can I help it if Varese is so good?!

From: Jeff Commings, Jeffswim@aol.com

What a surprise and treat to see a two-page spread of Steven Spielberg and John Williams in Vanity Fair's Legends issue! Though they got JW's number of Oscar nominations totally wrong (they said he had only 22 noms), the picture is great and the little story is fitting. It mostly talks about A.I. and how huge it will be. Just a thrill to see them mixed in with Kate Hudson and Benicio del Toro.

From: Hiphats@aol.com

I don't know a better alternative title for this item I'm placing for consideration into your 'Film Score Friday" or mailbag section, but one I came up with was "She can sing...and she can cook too!"

Since we're nearing Oscar time, I thought I'd share a story with you and your readers.

Last weekend I heard one of the most emotionally stirring movie songs I have heard since "Can You Read My Mind" from 1978's "Superman"..."Dream Of Me" by Kirsten Dunst (from the current Miramax film "Get Over It"). Kirsten Dunst??? The actress, yes, but the singer??? Not until I heard this song.

Although the film is going to be a dud at the box office (I personally have not seen the film), I have a feeling the song has some great potential. "Dream Of Me" is one of those rare moments where a song is part of the story, rather than being stuck in the end credits of a picture where everyone is walking out of the theatre anyway (and you wonder why no one didn't care if Celine Dion sang over the final credits of "Titanic"). To me, anyway, "Dream Of Me" tells the story of the movie without having to see it.

This draws an interesting parallel to "Can You Read My Mind". Like "Dream Of Me", CYRMM plays as part of the overall storyline. I (as well as every other person who bought last year's Rhino 2-CD soundtrack reissue) still play the Margot Kidder vocal version almost all the time, and everytime I listen to it...gee, I'm almost ready to turn on the tears.

Somehow, these two movie songs really do bring a tear to my eye. That's the neat thing about movie songs...they move you, both spiritually and emotionally.

By the way, Kirsten Dunst pulls it off with flying colors. For an actress making her singing debut, she did excellent. "Dream Of Me" really is an emotionally moving song that deserves to be nominated for next year's Oscar for Best Original Song.

I only wish "Dream Of Me" could be released as a single, or at least get some radio airplay. Rumor has it that some Internet Radio stations are already playing this song.

In any event, even if you don't get a chance to see "Get Into It" in theatres, by all means, go buy the soundtrack album, especially to hear "Dream Of Me". You will be captivated as I was. It is worth the money.

Or better yet, if you have CDs of the "Get Over It" and Rhino "Superman" soundtracks, play "Dream Of Me" and "Can You Read My Mind" (the vocal "Flying Sequence" version) back to back, and you'll feel in your heart just how movie songs are supposed to be done.

Celine Dion, are you reading this?

From: Scott Clifford <scottc@irmh.com>

I just picked up the DVD for "The Doomsday Machine" from the classic Star Trek. I found something trivial, but interesting in the music. Towards the Climax of the episode Kirk is setting up a plan to blow up the ship to destroy The Doomsday Machine, after he says "I,m gona ram her right it's throat". Spock replies "You'll be killed...ect". When that scene played there was a tracked Alexander Courage cue from "The Naked Time", However on the DVD it is not there, there is NO music for that scene. Thought it was interesting to point out. Have a great one SC

Jeff Bond replies: I think there have been other changes as well--supposedly a cue from Doomsday Machine was tracked into part of The Menagerie. The changes seem arbitrary.

Regarding Jason Comerford's review of the Austin Powers CD recently:

From: Jack Nordheden, JNordheden@aol.com

I wonder if Jason is familar with what the "Chess" track was playing on. The music was a variation on the chess scene from the original THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR. Having grown up listening to these scores, it brings a smile to my face whenever I recognize the Barry, Jones, Mancini et al material he is poking fun at.

Finally, Bob Bryden wrote in with a scathing take on James Horner's Enemy at the Gates score which I am not printing only because I cannot deal with 800 letters about James Horner. Feel free to discuss on the message board. Sorry Bob!

See www.laughingplace.com for an interview with two of the designers behind the Soarin' Over California attaction at Disney's California Adventure, where they discuss the original music by Jerry Goldsmith.

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