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Aren't you forgetting "The Rat Race"?
I suppose we could include it, even though Bernstein's name appears nowhere on the cover. The LP has score cues being played by the jazz group Sam Butera and the Witnesses.
Does anyone know how many of the LP's tracks are Bernstein compositions?
Tracklist
Hot Lips
Theme From The Rat Race Part Two
At Sundown
Lover
Out Of Nowhere
Two Sleepy People
Ja Da
Lullaby Of Birdland
That Old Black Magic
Wang Wang Blues
Manhattan
Theme From The Rat Race Part One
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Bob, nice to see those old album covers. On the Sam Butera LP, only the Theme from The Rat Race Parts 1 & 2 were based on EB's composition. The other tracks were jazz standards and the like. Not really a part of Bernstein's tenure as a recording artist for DOT Records.
More pertinent would be the two cues which were intended for inclusion on the "Love Scene" album but for some reason (lack of space, maybe?) were relegated for release on a 45-rpm single
(Dot 45-15687) comprising : "The Flaming Rose" from SPANISH AFFAIR (Mack David/Daniele Amfitheatrof) and Theme from DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS, a slightly more lush version of Bernstein's own love theme from that picture. Copies of this one turn up on eBay now and again.
"The Flaming Rose" is an up-beat arrangement of Amfitheatrof's main theme; very sprightly!
- James.
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This is not related to the DOT albums, but I sometimes wonder why Elmer Bernstein did not include additional composers within his 1970s film music series of re-recordings?
Seeing how he adapted an Amfitheatrof theme for that 45-single, why didn't Elmer record one or two Amfitheatrof film music suites on his label?
When we consider that 3 of Miklos Rozsa's scores received re-recordings in FMC, and that many other composers had gotten zero representation in that series, this offers the impression that there was (and still is) a skewered bias towards specific "A"-listers.
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When we consider that 3 of Miklos Rozsa's scores received re-recordings in FMC, and that many other composers had gotten zero representation in that series, this offers the impression that there was (and still is) a skewered bias towards specific "A"-listers.
Well, I think it's more than an impression that some composers are more popular, more recorded, more associated with higher profile films, and frankly are more capable than others. My guess is that Bernstein chose composers and scores that were (1) not well represented on existing recordings, (2) had high name recognition among film music fans, and (3) would keep sales at as high a level as possible. As it turns out, even given the composers and scores that he selected (from Steiner, Waxman, Rozsa, Herrmann, Newman, North, Tiomkin, and Bernstein himself), the Film Music Collection did not prove to be financially viable. I suspect it would have died an even earlier death had it been populated with less-well-known composers and scores. Nevertheless, I have no doubt that if it had been able to continue, Bernstein would have found worthy scores from such composers.
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Bob beat me to the punch. Here is what I was typing for Zardoz while Bob was posting:
Be that as it may -- or may not be -- I hope we can all continue to rejoice in the glass that is half full of A-Listers as opposed to half empty of B-Listers. (And don't forget there were a few A-Listers who never made the cut, either, even though we now know they too were part of the pantheon, such as Victor Young or David Raksin.)
Especially considering what a pioneering effort this was into almost totally commercially-uncharted territory, and considering that Bernstein was putting so much of his own money as well as his life's blood into this enterprise, I find it hard to disapprove of any of his choices. In addition to which, who knows where he might have turned for future albums if the Collection had been successful enough to continue past the point of running out of gas? And starting off with A-Listers was the best possible chance the Collection might have had to succeed and keep growing. No one would have been happier than I if the Collection had recorded Salter, say, or Skinner, or Duning. But I think Bernstein played his cards exactly as he had to at that time -- and more courageously than anybody else in his position had ever attempted.
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By the way, I sure hope someone at Intrada is reading this thread!
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There actually WAS a release of the Dot 10C album on CD, though punters claimed that the sound was very bad. It may even have been an LP master, and I think it was what's called from a 'grey area' around here. The best vinyl pressing of that album was the Sunset re-issue.
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