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I have that. Was it released by Promethus? I thought it was "one of Those". 
It certainly has all the earmarks of "one of Those" and I suspect it would be thus considered at least in the USA, where we foolishly insist that the holder of the rights to the music approve the release and receive compensation for doing so. It could definitely use a serious clean-up and a good set of notes, which release I would buy despite owning a copy of whatever that is.
I'll have one of those too please, rather than "one of those" if ye get me meaning! I already have "one of those" but I'd rather have one of these "which release I would buy despite owning a copy of whatever that is"...right, time for a cup of tea, now that that's all sorted!
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I have that. Was it released by Promethus? I thought it was "one of Those".
It certainly has all the earmarks of "one of Those" and I suspect it would be thus considered at least in the USA, where we foolishly insist that the holder of the rights to the music approve the release and receive compensation for doing so. It could definitely use a serious clean-up and a good set of notes, which release I would buy despite owning a copy of whatever that is.
I'll have one of those too please, rather than "one of those" if ye get me meaning! I already have "one of those" but I'd rather have one of these "which release I would buy despite owning a copy of whatever that is"...right, time for a cup of tea, now that that's all sorted!
Thank you, Hank Kimball.
Well I never really wanted "one of those"...well, maybe not "never"...I mean I wanted "those" cause I never could get "these"...but, maybe now I soon might be able to get "one of these"...well, maybe not soon...hey. there's a big nor'eastner blowin in, yep gonna be a rough one, well, maybe not as rough as we think...
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Posted: |
Oct 29, 2010 - 7:04 AM
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By: |
Hurdy Gurdy
(Member)
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Finally played Disc 5 the other day and both scores suffer from similar problems, although one far more than the other.
I'm a sucker for that cheesy 70's synth-orch-rhythm thing, so I love the opening and closing cues from Schifrin's EARTH II, but the really boring suspense mid-section is a tough listen.
It's quite clever the way Schifrin emulates a heartbeat with the music, sometimes racing fast, other times so slow as to imply near death, but it becomes quite tedious after a while.
There'll probably be a cool 10 minutes or so that I'll transfer to my mp3 player.
The Goldenberg score suffers from a similar problem, to a much lesser extent.
Half the score is taken up by the break-in sequence, which is also appropriately well scored, but doesn't make for such a great standalone listen. But the surrounding cues are great, so there is something to be taken and enjoyed.
This whole set is one of those releases I'm gonna be pecking at time and time again, and probably discovering something new each time, and changing my opinion back and forth along the way, depending what mood I'm in.
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Any more comments on this? I'm giving it its fourth or fifth spin. Can't really add much to what I said before, but I'll try. Or I'll probably just repeat myself. But anyway -
I still can't quite get into the John Williams score. Apart from the beautiful theme, it kind of slips away from me even when listening... I'm not getting a hold on it.
The Rosenman score for THE PHANTOM OF HOLLYWOOD is classic, vintage Rosenman. If you like Rosenman, you'll like this. If you don't, you'll hate it. I find it consistently interesting.
Same goes for Don Ellis' THE DEADLY TOWER - it is quite gripping, but very subtly done - no hysterics here, just an unnerving atmosphere. And yes, quite like Michael Small.
The Grusin scores are very good indeed, but they really do need to be taken in separately. If not, it does tend to sound like a continuous loop of about six different themes which keep recurring in vaguely different guises. Hear them separately and you'll get the feel of them. The first score is fairly dry (with hints of Schifrin's JERICHO score, the one like MISSION IMPOSSIBLE). I think my favorite might be the third, with lots of groovy bass lines and a Quincy Jones-type vibe. This may be closest to Grusin's film work (although you'll hear another "tribute" to Michael Small in it - Love Theme from KLUTE).
The Parker scores are not my cup of tea. I might give them one more chance, but really, it's like when my mother-in-law forces me to listen to opera. For the twentieth time my dear, I simply don't like it.
I'm lovin' the Duning score for THEN CAME BRONSON more than ever. EASY RIDER it ain't, but it's the kind of big-screen sound I love - not old-fashioned enough to be shmaltzy - more like Friedhofer, North or Raksin. I think I've said all this before. Told you.
REALLY REALLY getting into the Mellés at last. As I said before (zzzzzzzz) they're kind of disconcerting at first, but now I hear his signature all over the scores - all except for that waltz, which is the most atypically annoyingly traditional thing the great experimental composer ever wrote. I think it's called "pastiche", but I can do without it. But just listen to the jazzy bits of "The Forest Primeval" or just his groupings of woodwinds which don't appear to be doing much melodically yet are wonderfully inventive.
I've given the Schifrin a fair go, but stand by what I said before. 20 minutes of fair-to-good stuff, and quite a lot of stressfully boring pulsing. I can see men floating very slowly in space when I hear this, so it's appropriate, but numbingly dull. My opinion. I might change it.
Love the Goldenberg. The central cue is not the centrepiece of the score musically, but it's surrounded by great COLUMBO-type chord progressions.
Some stuff I'm still kind of ho-hum about (the Fielding etc), and other stuff I didn't mention again (Richard Chamberlain). There, that was an ill-thought out rant, pilferring my own ideas from the earlier posts and some of your own good observations, recycled to make them sound like mine.
I think it's a great lucky-dip. But I'd better stop because I'm just repeating myself, and yourselves.
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Will the online notes be up for the remaining CDs anytime soon?
Yes, sorry about that, I got busy working on some other upcoming FSM releases but we'll have the remaining notes up soon.
Um…
Well, the pages for Bronson and Assignment: Vienna are up, and we'll have the other two pages up really, really soon (i.e. before another 30 days go by).
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I went through the sound samples and was surprised by how much of this I seemed to recognize, at least in concept.
I wasn't old enough to stay up late to watch TV through much of this era, but I guess I heard enough of the music that I recognize the style that it was written in. And I'm enjoying it!
This one's on my list!
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I got this for Christmas and I must say, I LOVE IT!! Tons of cool music from shows/etc. that I've never seen. Great notes as always on the FSM releases.
I need to go back and pick up a few other mini box sets from FSM.
and by the way...
I'm intrigued by the film The Phantom of Hollywood, Manderley, I would LOVE to sit down and talk to you about this, he knows my huge love for the old MGM back lots and anything associated with them, though they were all gone when I was born. Just the size of them is absolutely STUNNING. I've seen a few aerial shots and photos and I find it so fascinating. I don't know why, I think since I'm a huge movie buff and the fact that it's all gone is quite depressing. If MGM could have stayed, I think they could have made a fortune in renting it to other folks and maybe some of the works that's gone up to Canada may not have been that much if MGM could have kept the lots and all that.
I just watched a brief scene from that Phantom of Hollywood film on youtube and watching them destroy sets/vandalize sets, I nearly wanted to cry. Very sad indeed and to see it being destroyed in some TV movie is even more sad.
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I LOVE this set so much, glad I got it for Christmas. This set has so much interesting music and I learned so much and have contacted a few authors who wrote a recent book on the MGM Backlot, so that's kind of cool!
Pick the set up, it's a neat listen.
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Posted: |
Jun 5, 2011 - 11:35 AM
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By: |
ToneRow
(Member)
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I'm offering a belated evaluation of this CD Volume because I'd only purchased this set a couple of months ago.
Now that I've listened to each disc a number of times, I'm prepared to give my perspectives.
Realizing that Mr. Lester Sullivan & Mr. Graham Watt (amongst others) have written fine details covering each item on each disc, my approach will not take a Disc 1 through Disc 5 inventory, but rather to rank the half-dozen titles I prefer in descending order of interest:
THE DEADLY TOWER - this austere and uncompromising score by Don Ellis possesses qualities inherent with the fine & contemporaneous 'absolute music' compositions for concert. Comparisons with this and the film work of Michael Small are very apt, and Ellis' hesitant, atonal, almost minimalistic writing oozes the overall zeitgeist of post-modernism from the 3rd quarter of the 20th century.
There are many composers included in this 5-disc volume whose soundtracks I've collected for years - however, the music of Don Ellis has eluded my attention up until now. I can honestly state that this Ellis effort has surpassed my expectations to overshadow some of the other entries in this CD set, which follow below.
THE PHANTOM OF HOLLYWOOD - this fierce Leonard Rosenman opus has all of the modern writing techniques and the stylistic musical fingerprints that we expect from Rosenman, of course. However, the additional allusiveness to period pieces and nostalgia offers a divertimento element which is a nice change of pace for Rosenman fans (and brief harmonic respite for those listeners needing stamina with over 30 minutes of aggressive atonality). The manner of percussion playing here is more in keeping with concert works than with movie & TV music standards.
THEN CAME BRONSON - the music of George Duning is another reason why I bought this Volume. Being a soundtrack collector for years, I have had just about every soundtrack LP issued from a Duning-scored movie. It should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Duning's output that his music score for THEN CAME BRONSON should have the same cinematic quality. Indeed, upon listening to this 1969 TV Movie Pilot, one can detect a thematic motif/pattern very similar to an earlier theme within the soundtrack for THE WORLD OF SUZIE WONG. The interpolation of a traditional folk song detracts very little, I'm glad to say, from Duning's composition - which is top notch.
HIGH RISK - Billy Goldenberg's writing, with its inspired & colorful orchestrations and fluid transitions, yield a highly enjoyable music score for a program which appears to hold style over substance. This is not a serious drama about characters but an escapist fare, which gets support from Goldenberg's entertaining action music.
"The Bronze Locust" from THE ELEVENTH HOUR - this episodic score by John Williams is certainly NOT in the mold of the post-1974/Spielbergian film soundtracks by which Williams is known and loved for. Admirers of "The Bronze Locust" would sooner come from 1960s TV music followers than the legions of Williams fans expecting large-scale music.
From its very start, this music attracts with its infectious note-spinning mobility and good instrumental playing. I was not expecting to like this Willams piece as much as I do, and I think the primary reason is because it's a string-less ensemble of winds and percussion.
Bassoons are prominent here in the harmony, which keeps me coming back for repeat hearings.
"The Forest Primeval" from THEN CAME BRONSON - Gil Melle effortlessly keeps the tone George Duning had set for this series, but he did not copy what Duning had done. Melle's 2nd score for this series - "The Forest Primeval" - sees Melle gravitating towards the musical territories he is most remembered for, while still not departing to far afield.
Written for what may be considered a jazz octet, Melle's episodic score empathizes with the protagonist's rebel character within the bounds of acceptable harmonic languages without teetering into the avant-garde.
All of the other content within this TV Omnibus is passable listening; some of it is of mid-range interest to me (like Lalo Schifrin's EARTH II) while the entire ASSIGNMENT: VIENNA series I could very well live without.
Quite disappointed with Jerry Fielding's SHIRTS/SKINS, which I'd place alongside THE BLACK BIRD and THE OUTFIT as non-essential Fielding.
The Sukman and Romanis tracks could've been left off altogether, as these are not significant contributions and their absence would not likely be missed.
[interestingly, I find Lester Sullivan's input to be almost the opposite of my own, which agrees more with Graham Watt]
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