BUYSOUNDTRAX Records Presents the original soundtrack to U-BOATS: THE WOLFPACK. The album features music composed by Christopher Young as featured in the Midwich Entertainment Productions of ROMMEL, SECRET WEAPONS OF WW2, U-BOATS: THE WOLF PACK, B-17 THE FLYING FORTRESS and LUFTWAFFE – THE AIR WEAPON and other World War II documentaries. The composer’s music was originally used in the theatrical films WHEELS OF FIRE (1984) and GETTING EVEN (1986) and was licensed by producer/director Richard Jones for use with these documentaries.
In the 1980s, Midwich Entertainment produced a series of World War II documentaries that focused on different aspects of military might on both sides of the conflict. U-BOATS: THE WOLFPACK told the real story of how Hitler's submarine fleet almost turned the tide of World War II. SECRET WEAPONS OF WORLD WAR II detailed the attempts to turn the second World War into a futuristic nightmare. What seemed like science fiction in the 1930s and 1940s was slowly becoming real in the secret laboratories of the Allied and Axis Powers, unknown to the rest of the world. B-17 THE FLYING FORTRESS told an exciting account of the planes used in the daring daylight bombing raids that struck at the heart of the Nazi War Machine. These documentaries were well received in their day, featuring incredible combat footage and interviews with some of the brave men who fought to get through the gauntlets of enemy opposition in all theaters of combat. Narration was frequently provided by veteran actor Edward Mulhare (KNIGHT RIDER).
When it came time to consider the music for these documentaries, producer/director Richard Jones wanted to bring a more filmic and narrative feel to the editing and the music and preferred to buck the trend at the time of using synthesizers for the music and instead have orchestral music in his films. In addition to being a documentary producer, Jones was also a lover of movie soundtracks and he launched Cerberus records in 1979 to release soundtracks on vinyl records. Two of Christopher Young’s earliest soundtrack albums, THE POWER and DEF CON 4, were released on the Cerberus label. Like the early work of John Williams bore a similarity to the style of Henry Mancini and early James Horner scoring shared a resemblance with the style of Jerry Goldsmith, so did Young’s early work show the influence of Goldsmith as well, which seemed perfectly appropriate to Jones for a series of documentary films about World War II. Because of the connection to the composer through his record label, Jones was able to license specific tracks from some of the composer’s early films that had not seen wide release yet and use them for his documentary films. Like many composers starting out in Hollywood, Young’s initial efforts bore the influence of those composers who had sparked his interest in a career composing music for films.
Golden Globe-nominated composer Christopher Young has scored nearly 100 films, including films such as HELLRAISER, JENNIFER 8, MURDER IN THE FIRST, COPYCAT, SPECIES, THE HURRICANE, SWORDFISH, THE SHIPPING NEWS, THE HURRICANE, THE CORE, THE GRUDGE, THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE, SPIDER-MAN 3, UNTRACEABLE, THE UNINVITED, DRAG ME TO HELL, THE RUM DIARY, THE BLACK TULIP, SINISTER, KILLING SEASON, THE MONKEY KING and, most recently, DELIVER US FROM EVIL. Born in Red Bank, New Jersey, Young graduated from Massachusetts Hampshire College with a BA in music and did post-graduate work at North Texas State University, studying big band writing and classical composition before moving to Los Angeles in 1980. While enrolled at UCLA, he studied with famed film composer David Raksin. In addition to his career as a film composer, he has also taught composition at UCLA.
BUYSOUNDTRAX Records presents U-BOATS: THE WOLFPACK, featuring music composed and orchestrated by Christopher Young. Released previously on compact disc in 1993, U-BOATS: THE WOLFPACK has been out of circulation for quite some time and difficult to find. U-BOATS: THE WOLFPACK returns to the marketplace with new liner notes written by author Randall Larson, including a new interview with producer/director Richard Jones and the music newly remastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland.
U-Boats: The Wolfpack is a limited edition release of 1000 units.
1. Prelude (01:54) 2. The German War Machin (01:55) 3. Invasion (03:28) 4. Aftermath (01:55) 5. The Resistance (04:44) 6. Panzers (01:03) 7. Fotress Europe (01:39) 8. Blitzkrieg (02:56) 9. The Homefront (02:49) 10. The Pacific Fleet (03:03) 11. A North Atlantic Passage (02:58) 12. The Prisoners (03:12) 13. Operation: Overlord (02:42) 14. The Price Of Victory (00:57) 15. The Push To Berlin (02:14) 16. Those Not To Be Forgotten (02:21) 17. Liberation! (01:02)
I have the LP for this. There's a fun game to be played spotting the riffs from other scores by Goldsmith, Williams and the like. He does a great version of the Wargames song/end title cue that deserves points for sheer cheek!
I have the LP for this. There's a fun game to be played spotting the riffs from other scores by Goldsmith, Williams and the like. He does a great version of the Wargames song/end title cue that deserves points for sheer cheek!
Thanks to Young's "Fortress Europe" track, Goldsmith's Blue Max music has depicted two World Wars instead of just one.
I have the LP for this. There's a fun game to be played spotting the riffs from other scores by Goldsmith, Williams and the like. He does a great version of the Wargames song/end title cue that deserves points for sheer cheek!
Thanks to Young's "Fortress Europe" track, Goldsmith's Blue Max music has depicted two World Wars instead of just one.
Mr. Wright,
The piece in question was originally written for a 1984 "MAD MAX/ROAD WARRIOR" Knock off called WHEELS OF FIRE that was Chris's very first action film and was temped with tons of Goldsmith cues as well as a few things by Alex North.
Clearly he wanted to make his clients happy and did what he needed to do.
Given the budget he had to work with, it turned out vastly better then it had any right to be.
Such is the life of a young film composer trying to get his career off the ground.
This is a great score, really fun early Chris Young orchestral goodness.
I'm glad you mentioned WHEELS OF FIRE, Ford, I've always wanted a legit release of that with better sound quality. I don't know if it exists or not, but I'd pick that up in a heartbeat. Same goes for another early exploitaton pic that Basil Poledouris did, called AMAZONS, which was also from the early 80s.
This is a great score, really fun early Chris Young orchestral goodness.
I'm glad you mentioned WHEELS OF FIRE, Ford, I've always wanted a legit release of that with better sound quality. I don't know if it exists or not, but I'd pick that up in a heartbeat. Same goes for another early exploitaton pic that Basil Poledouris did, called AMAZONS, which was also from the early 80s.
Since it has come up, here is the Trailer to WHEELS OF FIRE
Sarge is very pleased by this release. I have an inexplicable fondness for the obscure action movie GETTING EVEN, where some of this music came from... Young wrote some terrific action cues for it.
This is a great score, really fun early Chris Young orchestral goodness.
I'm glad you mentioned WHEELS OF FIRE, Ford, I've always wanted a legit release of that with better sound quality. I don't know if it exists or not, but I'd pick that up in a heartbeat. Same goes for another early exploitaton pic that Basil Poledouris did, called AMAZONS, which was also from the early 80s.
Sarge is very pleased by this release. I have an inexplicable fondness for the obscure action movie GETTING EVEN, where some of this music came from... Young wrote some terrific action cues for it.
I'm enjoying this album a lot. Outside of the Goldsmith influence, which has been noted, it's interesting to see there are numerous similarities to other Young scores of the same time period:
The heroic, snare-driven theme bookending the score is an extrapolation of the exhilarating main title theme he wrote for HIGH POINT a few years prior (released with HELLRAISER 2), as is the secondary harmonica theme (which served as a love theme in Highpoint).
The cue "Blitzkreig" here also formed the foundation for the final confrontation music between the military and the supreme martian intelligence during his INVADERS FROM MARS score, a cue strangled absent from the Intrada release of that score (but present on the ten min. suite from his 'Cinema Septet' album). I imagine, in Young's hurry to replace his own electronic score for that film last minute with an orchestral one, he reused that piece and modified it a little to fit the film.
Derivative or not, I really like this portion of Young's career and I really do like the music a lot. It's fun, percussive, driving and weightily dramatic when need be. Very enjoyable album.
