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I can't drink cocktails without listening to music.
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Posted: |
Apr 23, 2020 - 2:59 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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Onya, at the risk of trying to "think like you", I've been doing a little dipping into my Norths over the last few days, and he does things which sometimes strike me as "resistible", perhaps as a result of his early career and studies (ballets in Mexico, theatre productions... don't shoot me for over-simplifying - this is real life chat). Very loosely and rapidly (I'm in a hurry) a lot of his influences and tendencies spill over into much of his film work, so we get a kind of showbizzy razzmatazz in the most unexpected places (THE SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN, AFRICA...), sort of wonky half-comedic moments (BITE THE BULLET, DRAGONSLAYER...) and the occasional very "unorthodox" melodic resolve, so that even the most dramatic moments of SPARTACUS remind me of Monty Python's "The Lumberjack Song". There are other Pythonesque moments in PONY SOLDIER (you'll hate that title), where he quotes "The Maple Leaf Forever" in a Pythonesque way. Then of course there's "La Adelita" as the backbone of VIVA ZAPATA, and a long list of etceteras. All those things that you dislike in Henry Mancini (pre?)combover LPs.
I wonder why North ticks so many boxes with you in the first place.
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Posted: |
Apr 25, 2020 - 7:08 AM
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By: |
OnyaBirri
(Member)
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Onya, at the risk of trying to "think like you", I've been doing a little dipping into my Norths over the last few days, and he does things which sometimes strike me as "resistible", perhaps as a result of his early career and studies (ballets in Mexico, theatre productions... don't shoot me for over-simplifying - this is real life chat). Very loosely and rapidly (I'm in a hurry) a lot of his influences and tendencies spill over into much of his film work, so we get a kind of showbizzy razzmatazz in the most unexpected places (THE SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN, AFRICA...), sort of wonky half-comedic moments (BITE THE BULLET, DRAGONSLAYER...) and the occasional very "unorthodox" melodic resolve, so that even the most dramatic moments of SPARTACUS remind me of Monty Python's "The Lumberjack Song". There are other Pythonesque moments in PONY SOLDIER (you'll hate that title), where he quotes "The Maple Leaf Forever" in a Pythonesque way. Then of course there's "La Adelita" as the backbone of VIVA ZAPATA, and a long list of etceteras. All those things that you dislike in Henry Mancini (pre?)combover LPs.
I wonder why North ticks so many boxes with you in the first place.
I don't have most of the titles you listed, but I think I know what you mean. North will occasionally launch into these intrusive, mood-busting passages that sound completely unrelated to the prior and subsequent passages.
I think his main theme for "Africa"is pretty bad in this regard. I think he mercifully omits this from the Africa symphony, IIRC. In the suite, there is at least one other mood-busting track.
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Onya, I hope your North collection contains Carny from 1980, one of his very best. Well captured on one side of the soundtrack album, it's at turns wry, carnal, comedic, and a lot in between. The orchestrations are colorful. Try to get to this one on your odyssey.
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Posted: |
Apr 26, 2020 - 8:07 AM
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By: |
OnyaBirri
(Member)
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Onya, I hope your North collection contains Carny from 1980, one of his very best. Well captured on one side of the soundtrack album, it's at turns wry, carnal, comedic, and a lot in between. The orchestrations are colorful. Try to get to this one on your odyssey.
Criswell predicts that OnyBirri will thank villa for his suggestion, that he will express his rejection of the very idea of listening to a score for a film titled "Carny", that he will express his horror of the 1980s and that he will further note that the adjective "comedic" is the final nail in the coffin as regards even contemplating giving this a 30-second listen on YouTube.
Well, you pretty much nailed it, except for 1980. I consider 1977-82 to be a very worthwhile mini-decade. The 80s don't really begin until 1983 or 84.
I plan to listen to several of these on Youtube, once I get beyond by Spartacus/Cleopatra roadblock.
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I sense now that this 'odyssey' is rather a 'last chance' listening to evaluate whether OnyaBirri wishes to purge albums or retain them.
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I am hoping to find more of his southern/sultry/Tennessee Williams scores, if they can be acquired for a decent price.
Once I get beyond my massive Spartacus/Cleopatra roadblock, I plan to explore stuff in the InterTubes and the Spotifys.
I wish you'd consider The Bad Seed, Onya. A personal favorite notwithstanding, The Bad Seed I nonetheless recommend because its music demonstrates North's aptitude for aurally expressing interior psychological conditions of characters and environment.
North appropriates an actual French lullaby from antiquity and, through a myriad of variations, distorts it a la Charles Ives.
I bought a used copy of the original 1956 RCA LP during late '91/early '92 - not long after North passed away. Not the sort of item that one finds cheap in bargain bins. Had it for over 25 years until I sold it a few years ago. The La-La Land CD on The Bad Seed is essentially a re-issue of the LP program with additional bonus cues. As La-La Land is still offering its discount, one could buy this CD for less than $15.
It's mono … so Onya won't need to contend with any fake stereo.
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Posted: |
Apr 30, 2020 - 2:55 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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Onya, I do hope you get over that CLEOPATRA roadblock. Not so much the SPARTACUS one, but I kind of "know" you, and if you don't like CLEOPATRA I'm afraid I'll have to give up hope - or you can abandon all hope, for there will be no saving you.
I listened to the whole 2-CD (2 and a half hours) release of CLEOPATRA over the last two evenings, and it really is - in my humble opinion - one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. I don't expect my mother-in-law to like it, or my young nephew, but you're neither of them. Yes, there are touches of "military music" which you will hate, and the occasional fanfare which you might deem "silly", but for the most part it's an incredible kaleidoscope of advanced 20th century writing, sometimes monumentaly complex, often deceptively simple, always absolutely fascinating. There are some quieter passages interspersed which the less intelligent would call "boring", but they remind me of the abstract lyre-pluckings of Vincent Price in House of Usher - and you know who wrote that one. Also, there's a curious "borderline jazz" sound to much of it, sort of similar to what David Raksin would do in his otherwise straight-up symphonic scores.
I haven't got all of Alex North's hothouse scores, but THE SOUND AND THE FURY is absolutely amazing. That's one I think you'd really like. Last time I looked, the 40-min LP prog was on YouTube.
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Posted: |
Apr 30, 2020 - 5:14 AM
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By: |
Les Jepson
(Member)
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Onya, I do hope you get over that CLEOPATRA roadblock. Not so much the SPARTACUS one, but I kind of "know" you, and if you don't like CLEOPATRA I'm afraid I'll have to give up hope - or you can abandon all hope, for there will be no saving you.
I listened to the whole 2-CD (2 and a half hours) release of CLEOPATRA over the last two evenings, and it really is - in my humble opinion - one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. I don't expect my mother-in-law to like it, or my young nephew, but you're neither of them. Yes, there are touches of "military music" which you will hate, and the occasional fanfare which you might deem "silly", but for the most part it's an incredible kaleidoscope of advanced 20th century writing, sometimes monumentaly complex, often deceptively simple, always absolutely fascinating. There are some quieter passages interspersed which the less intelligent would call "boring", but they remind me of the abstract lyre-pluckings of Vincent Price in House of Usher - and you know who wrote that one. Also, there's a curious "borderline jazz" sound to much of it, sort of similar to what David Raksin would do in his otherwise straight-up symphonic scores.
I haven't got all of Alex North's hothouse scores, but THE SOUND AND THE FURY is absolutely amazing. That's one I think you'd really like. Last time I looked, the 40-min LP prog was on YouTube.
I agree with all of the above, regarding CLEOPATRA. In particular, I never cease to be amazed by that blatant jazzy saxophone near the beginning of the "Moongate" cue, but it fits perfectly in the film, when Cleopatra slinks through the palace after her argument with Julius Caesar.
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