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 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 7:59 AM   
 By:   Music Box Records   (Member)

FITZWILLY - SPECIAL ARCHIVAL EDITION (1967)
MUSIC COMPOSED AND CONDUCTED BY JOHNNY WILLIAMS


Limited Edition of 1000 copies.
Long-awaited re-issue of out-of-print soundtrack with complete score as a bonus.
78 minutes of music, including 45 minutes of music never released before.
12-page CD booklet with liner notes by Gergely Hubai.

Ref: MBR-035
RELEASE DATE: October 21, 2013

Music Box Records is proud to present one of its most ambitious releases yet - a classic John Williams score from the last ever film that credited him as Johnny!

Before he shaped film music history with Jaws, or the Star Wars franchise, John Williams worked on a lot of comedies which already hinted at the unrealized genius of the Maestro. One such title was Fitzwilly, a yuletide comedy starring Dick Van Dyke (from The Dick Van Dyke Show) and Barbara Feldon (Agent 99 from Get Smart, making her television debut here).

The story is about the titular butler Fitzwilly (Van Dyke), who runs a number of elaborate scams in order to help his master, a kind old lady who doesn't realize she doesn't have any money left. When a new secretary (Felton) is hired at the mansion, Fitzwilly pretend to fall in love with girl in order to scare her away and keep the business running. When he starts falling for the secretary, our hero must fight his conscience on following the right path while simultaneously planning his greatest heist: breaking into a department store at Christmas!

John Williams' enchanting score is built around two key themes: Fitzwilly's pompous march which offers a comedic underscoring of the scheming butler running his usual errands to make enough money for keeping up the lie. The other theme is the love theme, the basis of the song "Make Me Rainbows" co-written with Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The rest of Williams' score projects his usual 60s comedy charm (his caper comedies Penelope and How to Steal a Million are good indicators of what to expect here), but the suspense material for Barbara Felton's investigation predates similar tense moments from the composer's Indiana Jones scores!

The original soundtrack album to Fitzwilly (actually a re-recording) was released by United Artists on LP and the same tracks were issued in 2004 by Varese Sarabande. The out-of-print CD has since become a sought after collector's item, so we decided to revisit the classic title and put our own spin on it.

In addition to the classic LP program, we also gained access to the monaural music stem of the complete soundtrack, courtesy of MGM - including an isolated score. While the quality of this stem is far from perfect, it is the only available source to hear John Williams' complete score for the first time.

This archival expansion of this classic title falls in line with other recent classic releases which used similar sources as our release of Fitzwilly. With the help of our engineer, we did our best to fix the fluctuating volume levels and remove the low-level dialogue that may occasionally bleed over from the film's audio masters. As such, we kindly ask you to listen to our samples and make a decision on the quality yourself.

This classic LP-program and the archival presentation of the complete score on the same disc offers a rare opportunity to hear a lesser-known Williams title in two different presentations. The handsome package is rounded out by 12-page liner notes with Gergely Hubai sharing his comments about the film and the score.



TRACKLISTING:

The Original 1967 Album Re-Recording (stereo) (31:24)
1. Overture (03:57)
2. Make Me Rainbows (Instrumental) (03:09)
3. Fitzwilly's Date (03:40)
4. Lefty Louie's Love Life (02:49)
5. The Gimbel's Robbery (03:53)
6. Make Me Rainbows (Vocal) (03:04)
7. The Xerox Crisis (01:25)
8. Samson And Delilah (02:20)
9. More Theft (02:28)
10. Juliet's Discovery (02:15)
11. End Titles (02:07)

The Film Recording (mono) (44:09)
12. Main Title (03:57)
13. Theft / More Theft (05:24)
14. You're Hired, Miss Nowell (01:18)
15. Buckmaster And Albert (01:35)
16. A Fresh Attitude (01:08)
17. Piano Caper / Steinway / Boogie Woogie (01:48)
18. Xerox Crisis (02:15)
19. Phoney Pastor (01:18)
20. Pickpocket (02:48)
21. Sportsman's Robbery (01:49)
22. Juliet's Suspicion (01:47)
23. Samson And Delilah (01:33)
24. Make Me Rainbows (03:56)
25. Doorstep Stuff (01:04)
26. Juliet's Discovery (02:07)
27. Lefty Louie's Love Life (02:49)
28. Money Plan (01:19)
29. Within Earshot (00:46)
30. Gimbel's Robbery (02:24)
31. End Title (02:32)

Bonus Track (stereo)
32. Make Me Rainbows (Vocal) (Alternate Ending) (02:53)

For sound clips, please visit: http://www.musicbox-records.com/en/49-fitzwilly.html

 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 8:15 AM   
 By:   mstrox   (Member)

Excellent, unexpected news - preordering now. Thanks, Music Box!

 
 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 8:21 AM   
 By:   JB Fan   (Member)

Predict - will be sold out very quickly...

 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 8:30 AM   
 By:   Maleficio   (Member)

I don't have the original FITZWILLY but I will have this one!

 
 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 9:40 AM   
 By:   Morricone   (Member)

I'd heard this was lost, just the album remained, like so many Mirisch scores. Thank goodness people are still finding these original tapes. Thanks, Music Box!

 
 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 9:44 AM   
 By:   Thor   (Member)

It's a fun score for a really bad movie. Glad to see it out there again for those who missed it the first time around.

 
 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 10:40 AM   
 By:   fommes   (Member)

Excellent surprise!

I'm sure it's not Music Box's fault, but what's wrong with the high shipping cost though - 7,5 euros for 1 CD to Europe? Surely something's wrong when it's cheaper to buy it from US vendors - even including their raised shipping costs.

 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 10:54 AM   
 By:   LEONCIO   (Member)

Like my girlfriend in bed, reaching the climax YES, YES, YES, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!
Too bad the original recording comes in mono. Still love her.

 
 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 2:39 PM   
 By:   shadowman   (Member)

It's a fun score for a really bad movie. Glad to see it out there again for those who missed it the first time around.

I must disagree with your first statement. It's a great score for a really fun movie, IMHO. I do however heartily agree with your last statement.

 
 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 2:41 PM   
 By:   tarasis   (Member)

Yikes, looks like a great deal. (Apart from the postage, €7.50 to Germany) or have the Varese album but like the score so I'm curious to hear the film version.

 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 3:15 PM   
 By:   bdm   (Member)

Bought!

 
 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 3:25 PM   
 By:   Thor   (Member)

It's a fun score for a really bad movie. Glad to see it out there again for those who missed it the first time around.

I must disagree with your first statement. It's a great score for a really fun movie, IMHO. I do however heartily agree with your last statement.


I found nothing funny about the film at all. It was a rather painful experience. Here are my comments, btw:

http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=58686&forumID=1&archive=0

But nice score that I keep playing once in a while.

 
 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 5:37 PM   
 By:   Jon C   (Member)

This is a nice surprise today. Thanks MBR. Ordered.

 
 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 6:03 PM   
 By:   Zooba   (Member)

I believe Williams conducted the Overture on a episode of EVENING AT POPS once. Or perhaps Andre Previn conducted it on PREVIN AND THE PITTSBURGH. I just remember seeing it on TV in the late 70's. It was cool. I think it was the Pops. Anybody remember seeing it? I have it recorded from the broadcast on an old KMART audio cassette somewhere in storage. Ha Ha.

 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 6:48 PM   
 By:   Mark Hill   (Member)

I wasn't expecting this when I went online this morning. Especially from Music Box Records which seem to focus mostly on French film scores. I'll be looking forward to hearing the film score taken from the film music stems.

I own the Varese album and consider this as one of my favourite Williams albums from the pre-Reivers period.

 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 6:49 PM   
 By:   Mark Hill   (Member)

.

 
 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 7:14 PM   
 By:   filmusicnow   (Member)

For my money, Williams' best comedy score!! I will definitely be looking into this!

 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 11:43 PM   
 By:   Loren   (Member)

Already have it, also in vinyl, but first Williams always deserves attention.
Ordered of course!

 
 Posted:   Oct 15, 2013 - 11:52 PM   
 By:   Senn555   (Member)

I missed out on the previous Music-Box release (Au Nom De Tous Les Miens); no chance in hell I'm missing out on this one.

Not that I have a particularly strong liking to John Williams per se; I'm mostly buying this because everyone else is and it's going to sell out in a day. Better to have the music now and listen later than to not have it and not be able to get it at a decent price again.

 
 
 Posted:   Oct 17, 2013 - 10:51 AM   
 By:   JB Fan   (Member)

From FB:

Less than 15 copies remaining!!!

 
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