Shamus is probably the second lost Goldsmith score that pains me the most that's it's probably gone forever (after Peter Proud). It's a fantastic slice of his Groovy 70's style, with so much invention. The scene where Reynolds is searching the warehouse is a perfect example of Gopldsmith's "weird jazz". We're lucky that most of the music is used on non-dialague scenes, so at least it's easy to hear. That might be part of why it's so effective - the music is allowed to be a more important part of the narrative, rather than just a mood enhancer. It's helping to tell the story in lieu of dialogue. Although the short running time - the score is only 23 minutes - makes me wonder if there were some unused cues.
The original is ALWAYS better! It's impossible to re-record Goldsmith and not lose an important part of the music's personality in the process. That's my opinion, but I don't think it's the prevalent one.
The original is ALWAYS better! It's impossible to re-record Goldsmith and not lose an important part of the music's personality in the process. That's my opinion, but I don't think it's the prevalent one.
This 70s sound, this cool, laid-back performance of the studio musicians, idiomatically perfect, must be very difficult to reproduce.
Exactly...it seems impossible to recreate the coolness of those 70ies scores...they had the mojo workin'! They tried it with MANNIX..etc..doesnt work. And SHAMUS is probably one of those scores ( if the tapes werent missing or destroyed ) that would sell out in a minute if on CD. A shame..the loss.
Exactly...it seems impossible to recreate the coolness of those 70ies scores...they had the mojo workin'! They tried it with MANNIX..etc..doesnt work. And SHAMUS is probably one of those scores ( if the tapes werent missing or destroyed ) that would sell out in a minute if on CD. A shame..the loss.
If, say, Tadlow/Prometheus were able to make a new recording of SHAMUS, I'd think getting the instrumentation right wouldn't be a problem since you have acoustic elements and vintage electronics that Leigh Phillips could easily reproduce. Somehow I wonder if the performance, and the quality of players, would be the issue here. I could be wrong, of course.
The re-recorded cue that was posted here was done solely with synthesizers.
Well..Hour of the gun..was very ..very good in performance..and the main theme has a pretty seventies groove which the players really treated well.. Would be great..maybe some day! And SHAMUS is a relative small score in terms of scale and amounts of players I guess.Just like the THRILLER volumes and they too sounded fantastic! So the guys from TADLOW are the ones ! GO FOR IT.. YOU WILL HAVE A SELL OUT!!!
I agree, the Hour of the Gun concert version groove is captured very well in the re-recording.
There's a video from the music sessions on the old DVD of Shaft showing the ultra-cool musicians grooving the music. All smoking while playing. Those were the days.
If I'm remembering this correctly, Prometheus looked into releasing Shamus about 15 years ago or so. They found the session tapes, but they were in bad shape, so they released Police Story instead.
Perhaps advances in technology could make those tapes more presentable now. Of course, they've gotten even older since then.
If I'm remembering this correctly, Prometheus looked into releasing Shamus about 15 years ago or so. They found the session tapes, but they were in bad shape, so they released Police Story instead.
Perhaps advances in technology could make those tapes more presentable now. Of course, they've gotten even older since then.
I almost forgot that. I remember there was talk back then about a possible release on Prometheus.
If Intrada can release something like Valley of Gwangi now Shamus must be possible!!