Perseverance Records to release lost Elmer Bernstein masterpiece January 30th, 2011 10:45 pm ET
Okay. Okay. Okay.
Great news here. I got a nice little exclusive here I've been sitting on for weeks now and I've been completely hush about it because I made a promise and I've stuck to my guns despite all temptation. It's so awesome I had to mention it to soundtrack collectors and fans of the late Elmer Bernstein.
The score is a much desired and seemed to be unreleaseable for over 20 years. That score is SLIPSTREAM!
YES, You heard what I said. SLIPSTREAM!
The film starred post a Star Wars Mark Hamill and Bill Paxton of Big Love and Directed by Steven Lisburger, who directed the original Tron film and also produced the current one. The film was intended to be a major release by Star Wars and Dark Crystal producer Gary Kurtz, but the film did not get any real distribution and has been in public domain obscurity ever since. You can find the DVD real dirt cheap and unfortunately is not letterboxed with the exception of a laserdisc that was released in Japan close after it's release on video. The film is not terrible by any means and it is very interesting to see Mark Hamill for the first time as a real bad guy and lead him to play the Trickster in The Flash TV series a year later.
Elmer Bernstein's score is one of the best reasons to watch the film because it is a tremendous score and now finally after 20 years, soundtrack collectors and Elmer Bernstein fans will finally get to his one of his ambitious and majestic works. The score was recorded in London featuring Cynthia Millar performing on the Ondes Martenot as she regularly did for Elmer.
Perseverance Records will be releasing this score this Spring and it's almost prepped with great sound quality running about 49 minutes. Thanks to Robin Esterhammer for giving me the 411 one on this because I almost wet my pants when he told me about it and I had to keep it secret. So with his permission, here you go. Here's the news Bernstein fans and the film have been waiting for. So buy the album when it comes out!
A Douglass Fake Intrada post from a couple of years ago:
When we were recording RIO CONCHOS with Jerry Goldsmith and the London Symphony Orchestra, SLIPSTREAM had just been recorded. The LSO managing personnel were looking for a label to license Bernstein's score. During that admittedly exciting week in London, we talked with Silva Screen - our U.K. distributor at the time - about seeing the project happen. Sadly, it didn't happen. --Doug
Oh, I'm psyched Now! I'm guessing by the 49min running time Perseverance is releasing the album that never came to fruition. The film's score content is over an hour. I'm just as interested in hearing the story behind how Perseverance got the license over everybody else, given that Roger at Intrada said that attempts to obtain a license were "Inexplicably impossible". Maybe they will pull off Kamen's Highlander after all one day. :-)
I'm going to pretend I didn't see this thread - for fear I'll have a goddamned apoplexy in utter joy.
This is like Christmas, my birthday, winning the lotto and landing on the goddamned Moon. Finally. I'll believe it when its in my trembling hands and its gonna be a long wait these next couple months.
I wonder if they're using the unreleased Silva album master?
That is tremendous news if true--I think within a year or two there will be no holy grails left...except for Night of the Hunter, Damnation Alley with the synthesizer tracks and original Star Trek...
That is tremendous news if true--I think within a year or two there will be no holy grails left...except for Night of the Hunter, Damnation Alley with the synthesizer tracks and original Star Trek...
For those of you doubting the legitimacy of this release, I can address a few points.
I was in contact with the person who wrote that article for the NY Examiner, and he was kind enough to forward me his e-mail conversation with Robin Esterhammer.
As far as I know - all of the contracts and legalities HAVE been signed and sorted out. If they weren't, he would not have broke the news in the first place.
The Perseverance album has a running time of just over 49 minutes, comprised of 15 tracks.
The analog master tapes were housed at the USC Elmer Bernstein Collection, NOT in London. These tapes have been digitally transferred for this release; and yes, the sound quality is "amazing", according to Robin.
That is tremendous news if true--I think within a year or two there will be no holy grails left...
I don't believe that. Where's THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD? Where's the complete (and remastered) BODY HEAT; OBSESSION; DRESSED TO KILL? Where's THE BETSY? Where's HARRY IN YOUR POCKET? Where's....you get it.
With the many hundreds of thousands upon hundreds of thousands of films that exist, there's no way in hell everyone's holy grails are going to be fulfilled. Especially within the next year or two.
However, SLIPSTREAM is one more I can scratch off my list.
