Not only is the Rachel Portman/Wyclef Jean score for the remake quite good, but the CD also features the score for the original version, by David Amran! I nearly bought the Amran score years ago, and then, it disappeared from the CD bins....but now, thanks to Varese, it's available again, and at a terrific price.
Hats off to Varese Sarabande for this TERRIFIC release!
I wish the Amram had been sequenced better - my only complaint, as the sound is terrific. I'd bet he did the sequencing on his score (he is very strange) but if someone else did it, it's not wonderful. The music is, of course, brilliant. And unfortunately, it puts Rachel Portman's score to shame - it's a textbook example of the freedom people used to have to be unique and why scores of that era were always interesting and not cookie cutter. The Portman score is one big drone in the styly of today's droning scores. I listened to it once and that will be the last time (and yes, Virginia, I saw the film and it didn't work any better there), whereas I've listened to the Amram about ten times already. I've reprogrammed the Amram myself and it's already better.
What's the "Premier" release like, from 1997? I see it comes in at over an hour, with some unusually long tracks. There's likely to be quite a bit of source music in there, but is it the original soundtrack? Good re-recording done at the time? Representative of the film? Acceptable sound quality?
It's a great score to a great film, but due to the fact that I am a nutmeg, I do not have it in any shape or form.
I copied the Premier and sold off the original years ago. Sounds fine on my boombox (as I play it now). If there was any major dropout, I must have fixed it with a wave editor since I'm not hearing any gaps or mangled tape issues. And I dont think I integrated the Varese cues into my copy. The Portman score on the Varese is about 29 minutes. It only includes about half of Amram's music as it appears on the Premier release (which was 65 minutes). A separate Amram release would have been better.
Thanks again, Last. Interesting info in the link you gave to the earlier discussion here. I'd forgotten about that. In all truthfulness, not having this great score in any shape or form is something which I may never remedy. Life's short (increasingly so as time goes on), and I have the film on DVD. It's a richly rewarding movie. I'll just watch that again. I think I've only seen it three times, whereas I've heard all the CDs in my collection a million times each. Why is that?
Graham, speaking for myself, after I've watched my "favorites" to death, I cant view them again, but I can still experience them via the music. Plus I find I need to really be in the mood for some movies or shows or I lose patience. Media-wise, it's alot easier to put on a CD while you peel potatoes or surf the internet.
One thing about the Premier cd, it has a source cue that's used in 7 DAYS IN MAY (the radio/jukebox in the Texas bar) which is ironic since Frankenheimer decided on Goldsmith's score instead.
