What a wondrous treat to finally have the original tracks available!
I am particularly fond of the "Is Ten Too Old?" cue where the calypso percussion and florid woodwinds give way to calypso-fashioned menacing theme with rhythmic lower strings. And the opening and closing cues are particularly gorgeous.
I like Joe's art direction on this one too -- the whitening out of edges around photographs in the booklet was a nice touch.
With regard to recording engineer, I suspect John Norman or Joel F Moss were at the board as they were with Glen Glenn at the time. A warm and appropriately restrained mastering from Bruce Botnick.
"I was hoping that this release would help me appreciate the score. I still can't get into it. I'm disappointed - more in my own reaction to the music than to the CD itself. This is one of the very, very few Goldsmith scores I don't like at all."
Wow. This is absolutely his best score for me...this, and CHINATOWN...
"I was hoping that this release would help me appreciate the score. I still can't get into it. I'm disappointed - more in my own reaction to the music than to the CD itself. This is one of the very, very few Goldsmith scores I don't like at all."
Wow. This is absolutely his best score for me...this, and CHINATOWN...
Funny, because I love islands in the stream and can't stand Chinatown. Although I do love some parts of chinatown, just not the horrible sound quality of the CD.
Hey guys, me again! I received it already in record time from SAE, couldn't be happier with their service! I'm going to listen to it tomorrow, can't wait!
(OK just being fashionably late; joined the party tonight after having watched the flick for the very first time. The Hemingway run refuses to slow down. Anyway, thought the score was a great example of JG doing the Alex North bit i.e. music designed to capture pyschological underpinnings--which was no mean feat what with the sea and breathtaking land ho cinematography that usually lends itself to something like melodic paradise. Ah, but Jerry bent the main theme to create a mood, too, that more than did justice to the eye feast. Wouldn't be ordering the CD if otherwise!)
I think Goldsmith said that this movie's father/sons relationships made him cry, and that it was his favorite score. I also heard him talk about the death of Franklin J. Schaffner in which he said he almost wanted to cry remembering him.
I could see that. The segment with the kids is quite moving. The Hemingway biographical parallels are obvious. But the next part with the first wife reunion is outstanding. George C and Claire Bloom are simply pro's pros in moments with simple strands of dialogue and lots of understated but affective body language and all with no scoring. But the scoring that leads up to all this is breathtakingly beautiful.
I ended up rewatching both of these segments this afternoon. About the kids: this was Hart Bochner's acting debut and he and I both hit 60 this year (same for Tom Hanks if you're keeping score). And I felt the Wixted kid was superb. He reminded me of a young Nick Stahl. He was kind of a familiar face from TV back then and evidently dropped out of acting after his IITS stint.
For me working from home brings many benefits, one of which is being able to listen to music that I haven’t got round to.
This morning I took the wrap off FSM’s Islands CD that had been on my shelf ‘for a while’. It is entirely possible that I bought this partly for the art work, being a big fan of Bob Peak.
Schaffner brought out the A game in Jerry didn’t he? The back half of Is Ten Too Old? oof!
A fantastic CD release, this is. I never cared for the Intrada re-recording. It just always seemed to lack something. This CD lacks NOTHING!! It's bloody brilliant from beginning to end. Think I'll dig it out and play it again.
same here The rerecording is fine, but nothing beats the original version there is so much more emotion in the original performance that enhances the story so much, you literally can feel the actors emotion thru the interpretation, never felt it with the rerecording in that way
time to thank Bruce Kimmel again for rescuing this gem !
