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When I first listened to this score, I thought it truly was the work of “the man who holds you down and pummels you with music.”
To be honest, it was too much to bear!
But I came to realise that some of it was more carefully crafted than the simple blaring and pounding that I had otherwise dismissed it to be.
This is especially the case when we were able to get away from all those over-modulated and distorted copies. We’re now all able to hear the score in the most favourable light for the very first time.
Chris
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Posted: |
Feb 16, 2017 - 9:30 PM
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By: |
Jim Doherty
(Member)
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I have one of those giant-sized 286-page, self-xeroxed copies of Albert Glasser's autobiography, I DID IT!! An amazing and absolutely fun read!
If you ever DO go through with publishing it in an everyday,edited, readable edition, correcting all his mistakes of grammar and syntax, I TRULY HOPE you also include as an addendum (even as only a digital download), Glasser's original version. There is just something about that original edition of his book that just screams GLASSER! His use of several exclamation points to emphasize a point, or his almost cartoon-balloon use of CAPITALS to get his point across, really do a priceless job of doing exactly that, and really, even echo the sound of the music he's talking about!
Sure, I understand, the man was a composer by profession, not an author. On the other hand, his autobiography reads like a conversation with an everyday guy who happened to write music for films. Even his grammatical mistakes are endearing and should be saved as he wrote them. Honestly, that's half the fun of reading the book.
Jim
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Posted: |
Feb 22, 2017 - 7:41 PM
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By: |
orbital
(Member)
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What can you say about Monster from Green Hell that hasn’t already been said? Directed by Kenneth Crane (When Hell Broke Loose, The Manster), and written by Endre Bohem and Louis Vittes, Monster from Green Hell was released in 1957 on a double bill with The Brain from Planet Arous. It opened to rave reviews and was one of the highest-grossing films of 1957. Now that we’ve gotten past the alternative facts part, in writing about Monster from Green Hell, critic Glenn Erickson praised it by saying, “Unadulterated awfulness.”
One of a spate of big bug pictures, this one has something to do with scientists sending small animals into space to see if the gamma rays produce mutations. Hint: They do. For a film like Monster from Green Hell, one needs the perfect composer, and they got him – Albert Glasser, whose music graced some of the most beloved and classic low-budget films of the 1950s, including several other big bug movies like Beginning of the End and Earth vs. the Spider, as well as such other films as The Cyclops, The Amazing Colossal Man, Attack of the Puppet People, War of the Colossal Beast, and The Boy and the Pirates.
Albert Glasser’s music for Monster from Green Hell is classic Glasser – all blaring brass and screeching strings and jagged rhythms, bombastically keeping the movie trudging along for all of its seventy-three endless minutes, and making it seem like something is actually happening. Glasser was an expert at this kind of thing, and clearly in his musical element.
I enjoyed the heck out of this text. Well played, Sir! 
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Uh...IIRC don't expect David and Bruce to work together on anything...
Yavar
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I didn't air it, but knowing that you are aware and still writing about David (helping with an answer) in a Kritzerland thread, it seems like you're trying to spark something yourself. If I'm wrong then let's both just drop it.
Yavar
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No one loves Mr. BIG more than I and I'm happy to call him a friend and we've shared some wonderful dinners together and I was VERY close to his late daughter Susan. I don't know Ms. Hart but from everything I've heard that's a difficult road to go down and it wouldn't sell enough to make that a road worth traveling.
At some point I may revisit Attack of the Puppet People - we did a suite from that, which, at that time, was all we could salvage from the severely distorted tapes. But with all the advances we might be able to fix enough of it to make it worthwhile.
As to the other business, I don't really let negative stuff stay around me very long - it's all fine.
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I would support a new ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE too.
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Posted: |
Mar 11, 2017 - 5:15 PM
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By: |
Jim Doherty
(Member)
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Just got my copy today and have been listening to it. It's just as advertised: lots of blaring brass and screeching strings (and I mean that in a good way), with a few trudging-through-the-jungle mysterioso cues thrown in. What a fun score to a horrible movie. For anyone out there who has enjoyed past CDs of Glasser's work, pick this one up, too. You will not be disappointed. The mono sound is clear and excellent.
Thank you, Bruce. You have certainly become the "master of Glasser" on CD. I really appreciate that you have released several of his scores over the years. Yes, I understand that the man never made it into the upper echelon of film composers, but, nevertheless, his music music has merit, especially considering the monetary and time constraints under which most of his scores were composed.
A side note: I believe that track 19, "Jungle Jazz," is not actually from MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL. It does not appear in the movie. Also, I used to have a cassette of this score, and Glasser verbally slated this piece as "DR. JEKYLL, Ballet." Well, looking at page 210 of Glasser's autobiography, he talks about teaming up with black actor Clarence Muse (who appeared in MANY films from 1921 through 1979, including WHITE ZOMBIE and THE BLACK STALLION). Apparently, Clarence Muse wanted to produce an updated version of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (an opera called DR. JEKYLL IN HARLEM), and wanted Glasser to write the music! This was right around the time of MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL. Indeed, "Jungle Jazz" even uses the main theme from MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL as its basis, but it is my opinion that this piece was actually a demo recording for the opera slipped into the MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL recording sessions. Unfortunately, this opera never came to fruition because of Muse's other personal and social commitments.
Bruce, of course, if you have cue sheets or other documentation that show "Jungle Jazz" WAS written for MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL, I will gladly admit I was wrong in my assumption. I was only making my own conclusions based on Glasser's comments in his autobiography and his verbal slate before this piece on the cassette I had.
Once again, thanks for getting another CD of Glasser music out there. The man deserves it!!!
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Just got my copy today and have been listening to it. It's just as advertised: lots of blaring brass and screeching strings (and I mean that in a good way), with a few trudging-through-the-jungle mysterioso cues thrown in. What a fun score to a horrible movie. For anyone out there who has enjoyed past CDs of Glasser's work, pick this one up, too. You will not be disappointed. The mono sound is clear and excellent.
Thank you, Bruce. You have certainly become the "master of Glasser" on CD. I really appreciate that you have released several of his scores over the years. Yes, I understand that the man never made it into the upper echelon of film composers, but, nevertheless, his music music has merit, especially considering the monetary and time constraints under which most of his scores were composed.
A side note: I believe that track 19, "Jungle Jazz," is not actually from MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL. It does not appear in the movie. Also, I used to have a cassette of this score, and Glasser verbally slates this piece as "Dr. Jekyll, Ballet." Well, looking at page 210 of Glasser's autobiography, he talks about teaming up with black actor Clarence Muse (who appeared in MANY films from 1921 through 1979, including WHITE ZOMBIE and THE BLACK STALLION). Apparently, Clarence Muse wanted to produce an opera called Dr. JEKYLL IN HARLEM, and wanted Glasser to write the music! This was right around the time of MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL. Indeed, "Jungle Jazz" even uses the main theme from MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL as its basis, but it is my opinion that this piece was actually a demo recording for the opera slipped into the MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL recording sessions. Unfortunately, this idea never came to fruition because of Muse's other moral and social commitments.
Bruce, of course, if you have cue sheets or other documentation that show "Jungle Jazz" was written for MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL, I will gladly admit I was wrong in my assumption. I was only making my own conclusions based on the knowledge I had.
Once again, thanks for getting another CD of Glasser music out there. The man deserves it!!!
Cue sheets? Albert Glasser? 
It was part of the Monster from Green Hell sessions, that's all we really knew. You may, in fact, be completely correct.
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Cisco Kid will come at some point this year. Thanks for the kind words, Jim Doherty. It's amazing the number of people who simply do not give a flying Wallenda about Mr. Glasser.
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Cisco Kid will come at some point this year. Thanks for the kind words, Jim Doherty. It's amazing the number of people who simply do not give a flying Wallenda about Mr. Glasser.
Looking forward so much to that Cisco Kid CD, hope it will be soon!
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