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Posted: |
Jun 26, 2012 - 2:35 PM
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By: |
Mike_J
(Member)
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Ok so I was thinking back to a time - around the late 80s - when movie scores were still not de rigueur and there was still excitement to be had hunting an album down, or even just anticipating when something would be released. And it got me remembering what was possibly my last "all time high" moment.
It was a Friday night in 1989 and I'd gone to see Batman at the Warner West End in London's Leicester Square. Oddly, I'd gone alone - very unusual for me at the time as all of my mates were avid movie fans and we'd generally all see the new tentpole openings as a group, so no idea why I was billy-no-mates that evening.
Now I was never a Batman fan - I'd always been into Marvel myself - so I wasn't that excited about the film. And I really didnt know much about the score either - the Prince album had been out for ages but was of no interest to me at all and I didnt even know if Elfman's score had been released.
And then the movie opened, with that swirling camera over the giant bat logo. And there it was - Elfman's theme in all its glory. I was literally spellbound and couldnt recall a time I had loved a bit of movie music as this.
And as the film unfolded all I could concentrate on was the score - and that awesome main theme.
As the movie neared the climax I was faced with a few dilemas. One was that it was about 10:45 and the only nearby record shop still open - Tower at Picaddilly - closed at 11:00. And if by some miracle I made it there before closing time, would I then make it before the trains home started into their very staggered service, one every two hours? And then I had to decide whether to watch the end of the movie or go now in the hope that Elfman's score was available (this was 1989 dont forget and I dont think there had ever been a score released along a pop-songs album at that time.
Oh yes, I forgot - I was also BUSTING for a wee as well. So that had to be factored in.
Ok so here is how it unfolded; In a scene you could easily watch with "Benny Hill" music, I waited until the very last shot of the movie and then raced out of my chair, up the aislle, into the loo (no time to wash hands tonight - I'd deal with being sick tomorrow) and then out into Leicester Square, running like a crazed loon and ducking in and out of the tourists/theatre goers/drunks/prostitutes along Piccadilly. Arrivng at the steps to the main entrance opposite Eros I was like Rocky, bouncing up 2 steps at a time, triumphant that I'd made it with 1 minute to spare..... until I then noticed Tower actually closed at midnight.
Dripping with sweat, heart pounding and the taste of copper now forming in my mouth (well probably not but you get the idea) I raced up to where the soundtrack department was. Or should I say, used to be. As was the way of Tower, they shuffled their departments around once every 3 days just to confuse customers and prevent me from getting my Elfman album!
Eventually I found it and I crashed through the doors, looking a bit like Patrick McGoohan when he bursts in to resign in the opening credits of The Prisoner.
And there it was. Awfull, soft focus blue cover yes, but it was in my hands; Elfman's Batman score.
I even made the last train home and put the album on straight away (woke my dad, scared the cat - collateral damage as far as I was concerned). Fabulous.
I still love the score even though I have since realised the main theme I adored so much was a total and utter rip off of Herrmann's Journey To The Centre Of The Earth (its identical!) but without a doubt I have never had so much anxiety, fun and exercise when buying a soundtrack.
Anyone else care to share their annecdotes of that "all time high" moment when buying a soundtrack or dvD or whatever?
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Posted: |
Jun 26, 2012 - 3:02 PM
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By: |
Francis
(Member)
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Nice story, you were expecting the album to be there, I had always little expectations that any score would be there, so pre-internet days I was always surprised to find titles that didn't 'belong' in the soundtrack section; you know, scores other than 'grease' and all the tripe that's usually there.
To pick a best out of those, it would probably have to be discovering Patrick Doyle's Needful Things in the Free Record Shop. I was huge into Stephen King movies and had taped the main and end titles from Needful Things on audio cassette and to get to hear 70 minutes of scores was a blessing. Someone on this forum mentioned that those titles probably ended up there due to customers not picking up their orders, but still, there was hope in the world 
The guy or girl behind the counter was probably thinking, geesh who would get excited over this CD? Well me!
Also, each city I visited (London, Paris, Istanbul, NY, San Fran ...) I always made sure to bring back a soundtrack. Nowadays that has become impossible with stores vanishing. So l have a lot of good memories from certain scores.
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Posted: |
Jun 26, 2012 - 3:36 PM
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By: |
Redokt64
(Member)
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I have said this before...
Way back in 1983... I went to see THE DEAD ZONE and was floored by not only the movie (excellent), but Michael Kamen's superb score. Week after week I would hope to find it in a local record store. Nothing. Years passed. Nothing.
A couple of years later LETHAL WEAPON was released... it's sequel... a couple other Michael Kamen scores. Every time something by him would be released, I hoped for THE DEAD ZONE.
Still nothing.
So, we now are in late November of 1994, 11 years after the release of the film. I was waiting for my fiance to get off work, so I decided to pass time at the Sam Goody in the mall she worked part time at. Flipping through the soundtracks... and a few tears came to my eyes... there it was... THE DEAD ZONE composed by Michael Kamen. Double take. Triple take.
My fiance walked in the store as I was walking to the counter... I was grinning ear to ear. She just knew I found something awesome. The associate rang me up... we left... went out to dinner... got home and blasted it through the stereo. It is a brilliant score.
Of course, there have been others that have been a shock when they have been released... and or when I purchased them... too many to tell... but, THE DEAD ZONE will always be the best purchase... and the biggest surprise.
*****
As a footnote... when I read the complaints as to "why didn't they do it this way?", "it's not complete", "they only released the original version of it"... it just makes me sick. Our little niche has come a long way... expansions, complete scores, etc. Embrace the past... look forward to the future... be thankful for what these companies have done and will do. Off my podium now.
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Posted: |
Jun 27, 2012 - 7:22 AM
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By: |
mstrox
(Member)
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I had a long post written out, but it was too flowery. I was 13, I only owned about 4 soundtracks, all on cassette. The Star Wars Special Edition album came out that year, and I yearned for it - went to the record store every few weeks just to look at the thing. Eventually, after a number of months, I had saved enough allowance to get it. Today dropping $30 on an album is a drop in the bucket to me, but the anticipation, time commitment, and of course the quality of the music itself once I heard it for the first time outside of the film, makes it the most memorable soundtrack experience of my life.
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I grew up in a very small and isolated town in the Midwest -- when I was a kid there were only 4 stores where one could purchase LPs -- Hesteds, Woolworths, Hemples, and Gambles. The Hemples store had the best overall selection (it is where I purchased some treasures like the MGM deluxe boxed sets of Ben Hur and Mutiny on the Bounty). I think the owner also loved soundtrack music because for a small town they had a superb soundtrack section.
I had never paid much attention to a huge loose leaf bound catalog thingy sitting off to one side on a counter at Hemples. I discovered one day when I asked if they knew if "The Wrong Box" would ever be available, that the "thingy" was the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) catalog of all records in print -- and they would actually special order whatever you wanted from that catalog upon request -- so with a great deal of excitement I poured through the pages and pages -- anticipation increasing as I saw so many freakin LPs that I had longed for!
I dug out my allowance, supplemented by money I'd made mowing lawns, and special ordered a bunch of LPs that were listed but that I'd never seen in a store or knew existed: The Wrong Box, The Collector, The Trouble with Angels, The Caretakers, and The Carpetbaggers. I remember when they arrived in about 2 months I was just so incredibly happy. Those albums have remained among my favorite scores ever since.
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When I got FSM's "Fantastic Voyage" in the mail. Literally, I had wanted this music since I saw the film in the theater as a wee one.
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My most fulfilling purchase memory was receiving (on special order from my mall record store) a new copy of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE on LP in the late 1970's. By then this score, though still in print, was not readily available in stores where I lived. A very pleasant guy named Michael, who was in charge of soundtracks and classical music at Musicland, introduced me to the Schwann catalog, and the special orders of the LPs I made from the catalog were very exciting when they came in. I was in the seventh grade at the time, and was on a James Bond and Jerry Goldsmith kick that ultimately threw me full force into the world of film music collecting.
Later on in the early 80's I connected with some mail order catalogs (Grammy's Attic in South Carolina, A-1 Record Finders, etc.) which were great on older LPs. Then the Film Score Monthly want ads and specialty mail order outlets like Screen Archives, Intrada and Soundtrack Album Retailers in the late 80's and early 90's. Finally came the internet, which provided all.
Amazing to compare how things have changed in the last 35 years. Going from difficulty finding even a James Bond score on LP in the late 70's to the now limitless treasaure trove of film scores coming out from specialty labels these days. Stuff never dreamed possible not so long ago.
SCOTT
P.S. It seems reading these posts that youth is the common thread with the most magical experiences we have. I wonder if the excitement is a product of younger vs. older, or just the fact that most anything can be "obtained" (or resaearched) via the net today, making it not if... but when?
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