I would say that FDR is sounding way too European for most people visiting this board. This is not at all aimed as a bad criticism but it is obvious that there are two different schools when it comes to movie scoring. Sentenza, basing on your list, I think people like you and me do favour the European approach over the Hollywoodian one, whereas most FSM members think the opposite way. This said, I have a lot of scores by Goldsmith, Williams, Schifrin, etc and there’s no question I hold these guys as skillful artists too.
MusicMad, regarding cover versions by FDR, there are indeed very few on the market, probably because the composer was so much embodying his music, in particular thanks to his numerous performances in his own home studio. You can find essentially this excellent tribute album by Fred Pallem & his ensemble Le Sacre du Tympan:
Sentenza, since you are very fond of that sound from the 60/70’s era (the composers on your list are indeed all great ones!), I can recommend to you Fred Pallem’s brand new album, L’ODYSSEE:
Tracks 3, 4 & 6 bear in my opinion a Morricone feel to them in a thriller / mafia vein, especially the dry string strokes and some E-guitar parts (esp. in track 6). Being a non-soundtrack album, I seize this opportunity to mention it here since it would be useless to dedicate a separate thread to it.
in the booklet with DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS, you can read:
This is one of the most widely used composition picked up by electronic and hip hop artists. There are 2 reasons: first the music is of rare quality and is rife with harrowings soundscapes that are perfectly suited to illustrating the often violent world of these rappers like ICE-T. They have sampled, modified, manipulated or simply added a beat to it in order to enrich their promotional singles or albums. This score is on a par with the music of Ennio Morricone in A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN. In a previous post, i said that somebody called Francois De Roubaix the french Morricone, i also think the same.
Sentenza, I can understand your disappointment because I also hold FDR in high esteem, among my 5 favourite composers for sure. The problem is indeed that his short career didn't allow him to be known outside of France. This self-taught musician was absolutely unique. Listen for instance to his outstanding scores to LES AVENTURIERS, LE SAMOURAÏ, L'HOMME ORCHESTRE, LES LEVRES ROUGES (released recently), LA SCOUMOUNE, L'ANTARCTIQUE (rejected by Cousteau), MORT D'UN GUIDE, LE VIEUX FUSIL, etc. I still hope some of his scores such as LES CHEVALIERS DU CIEL or LE SOLEIL SE LEVE A L'EST (both being TV series) will be released someday. Next year will be celebrated his 80th birthday, so let's hope for more publications.
@ Laurent78: bumping the thread. You've described M. de Roubaix and his work very well.
His creativity was seemingly boundless, and his music sounded like no one else's with the possible exception of Ennio Morricone, but not because of any particular influence, but more because both had very distinct voices. I can't recall any works by de Roubaix that sound like anybody else's music. Very rare.
I also hope - talking to you gentlemen at Music Box and Quartet - that any unreleased de Roubaix will soon, someday at least, be brought to the market on CD.
Advise and consent, thanks for your nice comments and for bumping this rather old thread. As far as I can tell, there is alas very little to report on the FDR front. The last thing I heard about consisted of two unreleased tracks from the TV series ENQUETEURS ASSOCIES available on a recent LP published to celebrate the 20 years of the Emarcy collection from Universal France. We discussed it in another thread. But that's pretty much it ! FDR would definitely deserve much more interest before the tapes get damaged for ever.
Regarding LP's I also purchased three of them featuring FDR's music: LES SECRETS DE LA MER ROUGE, DERNIER DOMICILE CONNU / UN ALLER SIMPLE & L'HOMME ORCHESTRE. But it was just for fun since they offer no new material compared to their CD counterparts (in some cases even less tracks of course).
François de Roubaix would be in my Top 10 if the focus is on only French language films & TV.
1. Pierre Jansen 2. Jean Prodromidès 3. Antoine Duhamel 4. Georges Garvarentz 5. Michel Magne 6. Maurice Leroux 7. François de Roubaix 8. Paul Misraki 9. Jacques Loussier 10. Claude Bolling
When regarding all that 'world' cinema offers, though, I relegate de Roubaix to my Top 100 (but not my Top 10).
Advise and consent, thanks for your nice comments and for bumping this rather old thread. As far as I can tell, there is alas very little to report on the FDR front. The last thing I heard about consisted of two unreleased tracks from the TV series ENQUETEURS ASSOCIES available on a recent LP published to celebrate the 20 years of the Emarcy collection from Universal France. We discussed it in another thread. But that's pretty much it ! FDR would definitely deserve much more interest before the tapes get damaged for ever.
Regarding LP's I also purchased three of them featuring FDR's music: LES SECRETS DE LA MER ROUGE, DERNIER DOMICILE CONNU / UN ALLER SIMPLE & L'HOMME ORCHESTRE. But it was just for fun since they offer no new material compared to their CD counterparts (in some cases even less tracks of course).
@ Laurent78@ Do we know if Universal France will make the "Enquêteurs Associés" tracks available as downloads?
I understand about the LPs because even if we don't listen to them per se, the covers (and artwork) are more often than not, awesome.
François de Roubaix would be in my Top 10 if the focus is on only French language films & TV.
1. Pierre Jansen 2. Jean Prodromidès 3. Antoine Duhamel 4. Georges Garvarentz 5. Michel Magne 6. Maurice Leroux 7. François de Roubaix 8. Paul Misraki 9. Jacques Loussier 10. Claude Bolling
When regarding all that 'world' cinema offers, though, I relegate de Roubaix to my Top 100 (but not my Top 10).
@ Mr. ZardozSpeaks: On a scale from 11 to 100, where would M. de Roubaix fit?
Personally, I rank composers on the basis of what I enjoy most and less on the basis of the "world" or specific countries. Of course, most movies hail from the US and so do most major film composers, but on any given day my top ten would always included non US talents.
@ Mr. ZardozSpeaks: On a scale from 11 to 100, where would M. de Roubaix fit?
Personally, I rank composers on the basis of what I enjoy most and less on the basis of the "world" or specific countries. Of course, most movies hail from the US and so do most major film composers, but on any given day my top ten would always included non US talents.
We also have to take into consideration that large amounts of his production are unknown and have alas virtually no chance to be released one day. I think in particular of countless industrial movies or commercials (dedicated to whatever trademark or activity). To mention but two examples, even the first movie he scored around 1960, a Robert Enrico documentary short called THAUMETOPOEA (regarding a processionary caterpillar, where he used a.o sounds glasses filled with water) or the TV movie LA REDEVANCE DU FANTÔME also directed by Robert Enrico in 1964 (featuring a mysterious main theme as well as various songs performed by Marie Laforêt) have never been released so far. Also the fact he died at the untimely age of 36 is a real shame. Had he lived longer, I have no doubt whatsoever that he would belong to the all-time greats, not only in France but also worldwide. But we of course can’t change History…
Advise and Consent: I have no idea if both tracks from ENQUETEURS ASSOCIES are supposed to be available as downloads but will try to know about it.
We also have to take into consideration that large amounts of his production are unknown and have alas virtually no chance to be released one day. I think in particular of countless industrial movies or commercials (dedicated to whatever trademark or activity). To mention but two examples, even the first movie he scored around 1960, a Robert Enrico documentary short called THAUMETOPOEA (regarding a processionary caterpillar, where he used a.o sounds glasses filled with water) or the TV movie LA REDEVANCE DU FANTÔME also directed by Robert Enrico in 1964 (featuring a mysterious main theme as well as various songs performed by Marie Laforêt) have never been released so far. Also the fact he died at the untimely age of 36 is a real shame. Had he lived longer, I have no doubt whatsoever that he would belong to the all-time greats, not only in France but also worldwide. But we of course can’t change History…
Advise and Consent: I have no idea if both tracks from ENQUETEURS ASSOCIES are supposed to be available as downloads but will try to know about it.
Thanks. Fortunately, M. de Roubaix's works are NOT underrepresented on disc. I have more than two dozen releases of his wonderful works and I wouldn't part with one of them.
The "glasses of water" anecdote perfectly illustrates how explosively imaginative M. de Roubaix was as a composer and an artist. A truly one-of-a-kind talent.
I have a 1:50 track of ENQUÊTEURS ASSOCIÉS on a compilation: Les plus belles musiques de films de François de Roubaix, vol. 2 (track 10, Hortensia label)
Is that possibly one of the two tracks on the Universal France/EMARCY compilation?
Not at all familiar with the composer. The above piece sounded like inferior Herrmann. Doesn't mean FDR isn't a great composer, but this piece was rather simplistic to me and almost sounded like what a film music student might write. I shall seek out more of his work, though.
Not at all familiar with the composer. The above piece sounded like inferior Herrmann. Doesn't mean FDR isn't a great composer, but this piece was rather simplistic to me and almost sounded like what a film music student might write. I shall seek out more of his work, though.
@ Mr. MMM: A bit out of the blue, no. There are plenty of François de Roubaix cues on YouTube. I suggest that you give a few more a try, hopefully with an open mind, before opining in a student-like fashion.
Its the kind of comments that a Heavy Metal music fan would give to a Classical music fan question ! Maybe they should split this forum in various kind of music:
1- GOLDSMITH (85 % fans in this forum) 2- EVERY OTHERS (10 %) 3- STAND UP COMICS (5 %)
Anyway, everybody knows that its not the subject of the post that is important, its the member status. Hard to believe but even in this virtual word, whe are not equals !
