Lost Issue: Ancient, Dead Reviews
Here's another installment of reviews of older albums. For various reasons
most or all of these never ran in FSM or even here on FSD.
Many famed FSM writers poured a lot of time and effort in to these
critiques, only to see them languish on a hard drive for years and years.
But now, thanks to modern technology and enormous patience, here they are,
rescued and restored for all to enjoy. And if it's any incentive to read
on, most of them are short and painless, like our pocket reviews.
By the way, we're not sure who wrote all of these -- if you happen to
see an old review that you wrote and it's now credited to FSM, don't
be angry. If you want, write us and we'll credit you on Film Score Friday.
The Bad and the Beautiful **** 1/2
DAVID RAKSIN
Rhino Movie Music R272400
47 tracks - 57:11
I'm sure David Raksin fans gobbled this one up when it was released
last year, but I want to mention this score because it's the sort of thing
that could easily be dismissed by younger fans and even people my own decrepit
age because it's from some old black and white movie. First of all, the
movie is a ground-breaking satire of Hollywood, and secondly, Raksin's
score is just great. I have never been a huge fan of Raksin's oft-mentioned
masterpiece Laura, but The Bad and the Beautiful is a different
animal altogether, and I can honestly say that this will appeal even to
people who don't know Raksin, Korngold and Steiner from a hole in the ground.
The key to the score's appeal at first listen is not Raksin's ingenious
"siren" melody, which keys into producer Kirk Douglas's insidious influence
on some Hollywood creative types. Rather it's the insistent, infectious
rhythmic syncopation (also employed in Raksin's famous Ben Casey television
theme) that Raksin uses to conjure up the busy, collaborative Hollywood
creative process. This was showcased on a brief cue representing the score
on Raksin's lush rerecording of Forever Amber for RCA, but with
57 minutes of score, the original recording tracks show how Raksin managed
to keep this device moving forward, enlivening the score without driving
the viewer crazy. As for the primary "siren" theme, Raksin describes in
his extensive and fascinating liner notes (how many new albums of music
from Golden Age composers can boast liner notes by the original composer?)
how his composition often failed to make an impression on first hearing,
so he had to sneakily arrange for the powers-that-be to keep on encountering
it over a strategy meeting or two. That's exactly how the theme works:
it doesn't seem like much initially, but as it keeps making entrances into
the score, it hooks you completely, with a resolving melody that is one
of the most satisfying I've ever heard in a film score. The film's conceit
of analyzing the film making process on several fictional productions also
allows Raksin to do some ingenious and funny take-offs of numerous movie
score genres and studio signature themes. Great stuff -- Jeff Bond
Le Casse (The Burglars) / Peur sur la Ville (Fear in the City) ****
ENNIO MORRICONE
Playtime (France) 302083-2
25 tracks . 69:13 stereo. (CD Title: "Belmondo Morricone Verneuil")
First, a word of warning: DON'T dump your Burglars LP (Bell 1105). There
are four instrumental tracks missing from this disc. (Titles: "Ciao, Mantovani"
-strings!!; "To Melachrino"; "Irene" -one of the main characters!; and
"To Carlo S."). In their place, four vocals from deux chanteuses: Mirielle
Mathieu and Astrud Gilberto, singing pleasing vocal versions of the main
and love themes in French and Italian. There's a bonus with an alternate
version of the main theme "Le Casse" (un inedit, or "outtake") with a Nicolai
arrangement. Here he uses voices along with the prepared piano, making
a punchier version that sounds like it's in mono. Le Casse boasts
in my opinion the most consistently "listenable" Morricone score, with
perhaps the best Morricone instrumental ever: "Rodeo," and it sounds even
better on this CD! "Ma non troppo erotico," from the nightclub/strip show
sequence, has more "oomph" in its bump-and-grind (vocalese by Edda?): David
Rose this isn't! "The Love Theme" ("Theme d'amour") is all wistful sophistication.
Peur sur la ville (1975) is Verneuil's homage to Peter Yates'
1968 classic, Bullitt, right down to the black clothing and shoulder
hoster on the star, Jean-Paul Belmondo. Here, Morricone's music takes a
darker, aggressive tone -- perhaps a "Western Parisien," and there's also
a blues feel to much of the music -- especially in the main theme and "Paris
Secret," with bluesy piano, whistling (courtesy of Alessandro Alessandroni),
and the harmonica of Franco de Gemini. It recalls to mind the music from
1970's Citta Violenta (The Family). Mellow Morricone is evident
in "Defense de stationner" and "Letellier et Helene." Notes are "en Francais";
an overall above-average collection. Perhaps Razor and Tie will give us
the CD of the Bell album -- with that great yellow-orange cover! (and those
four instrumentals -- loungeful listening!) -- Guy McKone
The Rainmaker ***
ALEX NORTH
RCA/BMG (Spain) 74321 48943-2
11 tracks. 35:24 mono
A virtually set-bound filmization of the stage hit by N. Richard Nash,
The Rainmaker released in 1956 boasted marvelous performances by
Katharine Hepburn as the tomboy, Lizzie (then, some 49 years of age still
acting years younger -- and getting away with it!), and Burt Lancaster
in a defining role as Starbuck -- definitely a warm-up to his Oscar-winning
title role as Elmer Gantry. For me, Mr. North's score has lost some of
its charm -- yes, there's that plucky "Prologue" that leads into that warm,
wide-open main theme (but that wonderful theme which closes the film with
just the right kind of "happy ending" is absent from the record and this
reissue). It may have served as inspiration somewhat for George Duning's
classic main title for 63's Toys in the Attic. And there's a glowing
accompaniment to Lizzie's affirmation that "I'm Pretty." It's not one of
Mr. North's most memorable scores, but there are just enough points to
make it a not-bad listening experience. The sound is a tad shrill, but
there is a warmth in the bass -- the age of the master tape must be taken
into consideration. The cues are recorded out of filmic context. Nowhere
on the label or booklet does it say "An Original Soundtrack Recording"
-- but it comes mighty close. Original album notes (as with the Mancini
reissue) are out of date, since these albums were first released rather
early in their careers. Again, one should be thankful to BMG Music Spain
for making some fine music available once more. (For spelling enthusiasts,
check out the screenplay credit on the cover!) -- Guy McKone
The Romantic Splendour of Wales ***
MICHAEL J. LEWIS
PDP971W
20 tracks - 73:28
This is not a soundtrack but a very spectacular orchestral, instrumental
and vocal review of Welsh music -- mixed with pure simplicity -- as romantic
and splendid as the great movie scores of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Each and every track of this full lenght CD (nearly 74 minutes) is quite
outstanding. Lewis arranged and orchestrated some fine Welsh tunes into
sweeping, romantic, large-scale orchestral movements. Music for the Welsh
national instrument -the harp- abounds, as well as guitars. In contrast,
Lewis also recorded authentic folk-songs sung a cappella in Welsh by award-winning
artists. The CD also includes the very beautiful and well known song "Suo
Gan," heard, for example, in Empire of the Sun. The orchestral work
was recorded in Los Angeles studios, while the Welsh vocals in the 13th
Century Parish Church of Llanbadarn Fawr, Ceridigion, Wales. The 20-page
illustrated booklet contains historical noted and Welsh/English translations
of the songs to enhance the pleasure. -- Mariano Fernandez Alt
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea *** 1/2
JOHN SCOTT
JSCD 122
19 tracks - 63:05
The latest release on John Scott's JOS label is his wonderful score
to the CBS Sweeps Week feature 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Written
in the big-orchestra style of Hollywood's Golden Age, Scott's music is
the complete opposite of most TV scores today. It is grand, romantic and
adventurous, and perfectly captures the epic size of Jules Verne's undersea
tale. Aside from the romantic and adventurous main theme for Capt. Nemo,
there are also minor themes for Sophie, Ned, the warship Abraham Lincoln,
as well as a love theme derived from Nemo's theme. The non-thematic elements
are just as powerful as the thematic material, as they paint a clear picture
of whatever is going on. In terms of capturing the tone and other elements
of the story and it's characters, this score is virtually flawless. In
terms of its value as a listening experience, it should be equally praised,
as should its performance by The Philharmonia Orchestra. -- Jason Foster
Air Force One ***
JERRY GOLDSMITH
Varèse Sarabande VSD-5825
8 tracks - 35:42
For some reason Goldsmith isn't listening to the advice of us important
FSM writers who keep telling him to slow down and score fewer films,
and after calling in son Joel to help him out on Star Trek: First Contact,
this collaboration with Joel McNeely seems downright crazy. Yet it sometimes
seems Goldsmith does some of his best work with a gun to his head. Air
Force One features a big, Olympic-style brass theme that blends the
lyrical Americana of his First Contact melody (aping that one a
bit too closely), a touch of his old vengeful Rambo fanfare, and
some striking brass harmonies for that towering Aaron Copland feel that's
so appropriate for a superpowered American President played by Harrison
Ford. By the time I got to track 3, "Empty Rooms," with its shrill string-and-brass
writing and Goldsmith's old standby, staccato low end piano, and noticed
that there were obvious action cues ahead of five to seven minutes apiece,
I believed I was onto some incredible return to form for this legendary
composer.
What Air Force One becomes is yet another demonstration of Goldsmith's
consummate technical brilliance, but the use to which that dexterity is
put is a sometimes wearying and predictable exercise in action score bombast.
It's magnificently assembled and features some of the best sound, energy
and orchestral performance from a Goldsmith score in a long time. If only
First Contact had sported this kind of muscle! In fact, Air Force
One recalls (in addition to elements of Twilight's Last Gleaming
and Chain Reaction) Goldsmith's ballsy Star Trek V score,
which seemed to be trying to generate an entertaining movie all by itself.
The difference is on Trek V, the composer was given the time to
write a fistful of involving melodies and create relationships between
his thematic material. Air Force One's action music sounds like
vintage Goldsmith action licks on first listen, but there's little material
to be stretched out in lengthy cues like the seven minute "The Hijacking."
On the other hand, they work like gangbusters with the rapid-fire editing
and sound effects of the movie itself, which is really the idea anyway.
Goldsmith has gone so deeply into romanticism that a schism has developed
between his serial-based action roots and his flowing, new-found lyricism
of the '90s. When his music used to be essentially dissonant, he somehow
found a more natural way of allowing lyricism to emerge from a riot of
atonality and impressionism; now his action material has to grind to a
complete halt so that melodies like his Presidential fanfare can waft forth
(check out "Escape From Air Force One" at 2:10). Air Force One can't
be praised for its melodic invention apart from the effective Presidential
theme, but no one should slam a score that shows this much energy and drive
after being produced under such a brutal schedule. Possibly over-strident
in a panic response to whatever it was that Randy Newman's original effort
lacked, it's a score that says "You'll be excited and like it, damn it!"
But if it takes panic to get Goldsmith to write with such a full-blooded
sound again -- keep it coming! But next time, why not give him (or for
that matter, Randy Newman) the time and support to write a fully developed
score? -- Jeff Bond
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
|
