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Here's a score for the minority of connoisseurs of unusual soundtracks like FORBIDDEN PLANET by Louis & Bebe Barron(1956), THE SATAN BUG by Jerry Goldsmith(1965) or THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN by Gil Mellé(1971) to name a few.
It's an early score that combined electronic music with symphonic orchestration. Something that Jerry Goldsmith and other well-known composers later did sometimes more or less intriguing ways.
The film itself is considered a classic, although it is likely to be known to only an absolute minority of SF fans today.
The film is loosely based on a script by SF writer Stanislaw Lem(SOLARIS).
The film may even have influenced Stanley Kubrick at 2001 - A SPACE ODYSSEY.
According to today's standards, the film seems, of course, considerably outdated in terms of SFX.
But one has to bear in mind the technical and financial limitations that the makers in the communist Eastern Bloc were subject to.
Thus, the film is actually even below the level of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. So from the quality of the SFX today the film looks like a 50s TV production.
Detailed informations here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyage_to_the_End_of_the_Universe
I watched the film in my life 2 times. Once in my childhood on TV and once a few years ago on DVD.
The transfigured memory of the long ago first viewing gives way to considerable disillusionment at the film's second viewing.
Of course I have to consider the age of the movie, the technical possibilities of that time, as well as the slightly different production styl of Eastern European filmmakers appropriately in a qualitative evaluation to be fair.
Nevertheless, I have to say that I have no interesst to watch the film a third time.
The film music, however, has survived the time well.
Of course it's not a soundtrack that can be compared to a symphonic classic like STAR WARS.
So the score of IKARIE-XB-1 is music for a minority within a minority of soundtracks fans, like me.
It is not a soundtrack that I would hear every year. But like other unusual soundtracks, every few years it would be worth listening to.
Here a 10 min. suite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f_jOmfhQEU
It's a music like so many strange soundtracks from the distant past that I did not really expect this music would someday be released. Especially since it is an Eastern European soundtrack.
Several years ago I bought a czech CD on ebay with some tracks from Czech film classics. Among them was a track from IKARIE-XB-1. At least one small chance was given by this one track, that maybe the score could have survived the long time and one day maybe it could be released.
But a long time ago I made a habit of not waiting for the release of a special soundtrack. This only leads to depression. Instead, I'm happy with the soundtracks I have, or I'm looking forward to the soundtracks, the releases of which are definitely announced.
So I can not be disappointed if a long desired soundtrack is not released again.
But if, like now, such a soundtrack is released completely unexpectedly, the joy is of course especially great.
And it shows once again that we live in the best of all ages for soundtrack collectors. And I hope that this era lasts many more years.
FINDERS KEEPERS RECORDS now announced the soundtrack release of IKARIE-XB-1 by Zedenek Liska on LP and MP3:
https://www.finderskeepersrecords.com/shop/zdenek-liska-ikarie-xb1/
For me the only thing that is disappointing is, that this soundtrack is currently only released on LP and MP3.
I want the music on CD.
However, I have the best hope that FINDERS KEEPERS RECORDS may also release this music like other scores on CD in the near future.
My first soundtrack CD acquisition of FINDERS KEEPERS RERCORDS was 2005 - SITTING TARGET by Stanley Myers.
Since then, FKR has repeatedly lifted unusual soundtrack treasures.
Unfortunately, FKR does that only every few years because this label is not specialized in soundtrack releases.
But when FKR releases a soundtrack again, you can be sure that it is true musical gold; at least according to my definition.
That's why I'm looking forward to everything that will releaed from this label in the next years.
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Posted: |
Jan 6, 2019 - 11:15 AM
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By: |
Score-Man-X
(Member)
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Completely luck of geography knowledge is not "picking nits". It's like calling Americans british or mixing japanese with vietnamese/chinese. Try that and let's see what they'll tell you. 
I apologize a lot if my term "Eastern European soundtrack" was somehow pejoratively understood. That was not my intention. I am neither of the opinion that Eastern European music is inferior, or soundtracks of Western countries should be given priority in the CD/LP releases.
By "Eastern European soundtracks" I mean historically, just countries of the former Warsaw Pack or trivially expressed everything that was behind the Iron Curtain back then. And geographically I would say today if I take a look at the map of Europe: Czech is not north from England, not west from Portugal and not south from Italy, so ...
Okay?
All I can add to this soundtrack release is, that the chance of getting this IKARIE-XB-1 score release is obviously far less than any soundtrack by John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, etc.
I'm not an insider, just a music fan.
When the question about IKARIE-XB-1 came up in December in the QUARTET RECORDS final batch thread, I was thinking about writing something about it. After all, I had a CD with a single track from the movie on it. But since I can not read Czech, I could not give any information about the origin of all these pieces of music from the CD bookle text.
Why should I awaken any hopes for a soundtrack release from a movie that only a few people know, from a composer that nearly nobody knows, and whose music ultimately almost nobody requests!
So I prefer to shut up!
I must confess that the name of the composer Zedenek Liska was for me also unknown until the YouTube clip.
When I saw the movie IKARIE-XB-1 for the second time, I considered the chance of a soundtrack release to be practically unrealistic.
So why I should notice the name of the composer? Clearly a wrong decision from me!
When I think of all the hysteria and depressions that some fans get into when it comes to some special soundtracks ...
I hope that THE THIN RED LINE by Hans Zimmer, WILLOW by James Horner or the ROCKY scores by Bill Conti may be released this year. Otherwise ...
But even if they are released, of course the debates will simply shift to other Holy Grails!
Again, I am only a fan, not an insider.
Therefore, I do not really know much about the situation regarding Czech soundtracks.
I bought some CDs on ebay 13 or 14 years ago. This were for me blind purchases! All I knew was that this are CDs with music by Czech film&TV composers. I had money left over that I did not know what else to spend it on. So I invested in these CDs.
I already knew a name like Karel Svoboda, but I did not know many other names until later.
Lubos Fiser, Petr Hapka, etc.
Nowadays, thanks to the internet and YouTube, you can get a lot of samples of these composer names.
So could be found quite new fans for these soundtracks.
Unfortunately, too many people, instead of good music, subscribe only by names. They only buy CDs with names like Williams / Goldmith / Barry / Horner / Zimmer / etc. on it ...
Of course, these names are also among my favorites.
But from time to time a change does not hurt. So for me it can also always be music of other names from around the world.
But Czech soundtrack CDs are among of the rarest soundtracks in the world.
They are not officially limited, but the Czech Republic is not a big country. Therefore, I can assume that "unlimited" Czech CDs produced for the Czech market may have fewer editions than the officially limited ones of, for example, LA-LA LAND RECORDS.
Most Italian soundtrack CDs are only produced in limits of 300 or 500 CDs. And that, although Italy has the advantage that many Italian composers are also bought outside their own country. First and foremost of course the great Maestro Ennio Morricone.
Not to mention that many Italian soundtracks are also being released on CD in other European countries. From SAIMEL + QUARTET RECORDS in Spain, MUSIC BOX RECORDS in France or ALHAMBRA RECORDS in Germany.
Unfortunately, Czech or Polish film & TV composers do not have this tremendous advantage because, unfortunately, most of the time they were only able to work within their own countries.
Apart from rare exceptions such as Karel Svoboda or Wojciech Kilar ...
And if I remember that correctly, UNIVERSAL MUSIC finally stopped distributing CDs with these old soundtracks in the Czech Republic a couple of years after 2000. Right ?
Unfortunately, I have no idea how many CDs of which composers were released in the Czech Republic.
And what is the current situation of old score releases on CD in the Czech Republic?
In recent years, I have exclusively bought the CDs of FINDERS KEEPERS RECORDS.
So I do not know if there is any other manufacturer for these old soundtracks in the Czech Republic or anywhere else.
Therefore, I am happy that with FKR at least one music label still seems to have good connections to the music industry in the Czech Republic.
I hope FKR continues that and maybe other European soundtrack labels will be looking for Czech and other "Eastern European" soundtracks.
Maybe ALHAMBRA RECORDS in Germany?
I just found this:
http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=63903&forumID=1&archive=0
The only other thread about Czech Soundtracks ?
There really does not seem to be many fans for Czech soundtracks ...
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Thus, the film is actually even below the level of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. So from the quality of the SFX today the film looks like a 50s TV production.
From the little I heard from the YT sample, Liska's score for this 1963 production is on similar territory with the aural soundscapes that Tristram Cary wrote for DOCTOR WHO serials.
I don't think it looks like 1950s, though. More on par with THE OUTER LIMITS & Dr. WHO (also from 1963).
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Posted: |
Jan 7, 2019 - 1:04 AM
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By: |
Fighter
(Member)
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Completely luck of geography knowledge is not "picking nits". It's like calling Americans british or mixing japanese with vietnamese/chinese. Try that and let's see what they'll tell you.
I apologize a lot if my term "Eastern European soundtrack" was somehow pejoratively understood. That was not my intention. I am neither of the opinion that Eastern European music is inferior, or soundtracks of Western countries should be given priority in the CD/LP releases.
By "Eastern European soundtracks" I mean historically, just countries of the former Warsaw Pack or trivially expressed everything that was behind the Iron Curtain back then. And geographically I would say today if I take a look at the map of Europe: Czech is not north from England, not west from Portugal and not south from Italy, so ...
Okay?
All I can add to this soundtrack release is, that the chance of getting this IKARIE-XB-1 score release is obviously far less than any soundtrack by John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, etc.
I'm not an insider, just a music fan.
When the question about IKARIE-XB-1 came up in December in the QUARTET RECORDS final batch thread, I was thinking about writing something about it. After all, I had a CD with a single track from the movie on it. But since I can not read Czech, I could not give any information about the origin of all these pieces of music from the CD bookle text.
Why should I awaken any hopes for a soundtrack release from a movie that only a few people know, from a composer that nearly nobody knows, and whose music ultimately almost nobody requests!
So I prefer to shut up!
I must confess that the name of the composer Zedenek Liska was for me also unknown until the YouTube clip.
When I saw the movie IKARIE-XB-1 for the second time, I considered the chance of a soundtrack release to be practically unrealistic.
So why I should notice the name of the composer? Clearly a wrong decision from me!
When I think of all the hysteria and depressions that some fans get into when it comes to some special soundtracks ...
I hope that THE THIN RED LINE by Hans Zimmer, WILLOW by James Horner or the ROCKY scores by Bill Conti may be released this year. Otherwise ...
But even if they are released, of course the debates will simply shift to other Holy Grails!
Again, I am only a fan, not an insider.
Therefore, I do not really know much about the situation regarding Czech soundtracks.
I bought some CDs on ebay 13 or 14 years ago. This were for me blind purchases! All I knew was that this are CDs with music by Czech film&TV composers. I had money left over that I did not know what else to spend it on. So I invested in these CDs.
I already knew a name like Karel Svoboda, but I did not know many other names until later.
Lubos Fiser, Petr Hapka, etc.
Nowadays, thanks to the internet and YouTube, you can get a lot of samples of these composer names.
So could be found quite new fans for these soundtracks.
Unfortunately, too many people, instead of good music, subscribe only by names. They only buy CDs with names like Williams / Goldmith / Barry / Horner / Zimmer / etc. on it ...
Of course, these names are also among my favorites.
But from time to time a change does not hurt. So for me it can also always be music of other names from around the world.
But Czech soundtrack CDs are among of the rarest soundtracks in the world.
They are not officially limited, but the Czech Republic is not a big country. Therefore, I can assume that "unlimited" Czech CDs produced for the Czech market may have fewer editions than the officially limited ones of, for example, LA-LA LAND RECORDS.
Most Italian soundtrack CDs are only produced in limits of 300 or 500 CDs. And that, although Italy has the advantage that many Italian composers are also bought outside their own country. First and foremost of course the great Maestro Ennio Morricone.
Not to mention that many Italian soundtracks are also being released on CD in other European countries. From SAIMEL + QUARTET RECORDS in Spain, MUSIC BOX RECORDS in France or ALHAMBRA RECORDS in Germany.
Unfortunately, Czech or Polish film & TV composers do not have this tremendous advantage because, unfortunately, most of the time they were only able to work within their own countries.
Apart from rare exceptions such as Karel Svoboda or Wojciech Kilar ...
And if I remember that correctly, UNIVERSAL MUSIC finally stopped distributing CDs with these old soundtracks in the Czech Republic a couple of years after 2000. Right ?
Unfortunately, I have no idea how many CDs of which composers were released in the Czech Republic.
And what is the current situation of old score releases on CD in the Czech Republic?
In recent years, I have exclusively bought the CDs of FINDERS KEEPERS RECORDS.
So I do not know if there is any other manufacturer for these old soundtracks in the Czech Republic or anywhere else.
Therefore, I am happy that with FKR at least one music label still seems to have good connections to the music industry in the Czech Republic.
I hope FKR continues that and maybe other European soundtrack labels will be looking for Czech and other "Eastern European" soundtracks.
Maybe ALHAMBRA RECORDS in Germany?
I just found this:
http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=63903&forumID=1&archive=0
The only other thread about Czech Soundtracks ?
There really does not seem to be many fans for Czech soundtracks ...
Well, I'm also from Czech Republic, but I understood what you meant by "Eastern European soundtracks". You know, some of our people are sensitive to call Czech Republic as East Europe. This is unfortunately given by the history. But this doesn't belong to this forum :-)
But if you want to explore more Czech film music (what film music was released), I would like to recommend you this database: https://cs.ostlib.com/en/
It was founded by one of my colleague and I'm trying to keep this database updated. If you like the Liška's film music, maybe you can try the soundtrack from Temné slunce composed by Martin Kratochvíl. If I'm remember correctly from the booklet, the music should composed Zdenek Liška. But he was working on another project so he recommend Martin Kratochvíl as a composer for this movie.
Also we founded a fan project about saving the Czech film music several years ago. You know, in many cases the music from the old movies is not preserve - for example, it was destroyed after 1989, when it was not possible to pay rent for the storage facilities. In some cases, there is the film music preserve only in the private archives of the composers and their relatives and acquaintances. To the archive, we are seeking to obtain unreleased Czech and Slovak film and television music from private composers archives, or their relatives, and if possible from other sources. And we are working on the transffer the music to the digital format. We found or transfered several hundrets titles of Czech film music, so we hope that maybe there will be a more Czech film music soundtracks one day.
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Thanks, LC! This may be my favorite Finders Keepers release ever.
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Posted: |
Jan 12, 2019 - 6:03 PM
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By: |
Score-Man-X
(Member)
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I would like to recommend you this database: https://cs.ostlib.com/en/
... so we hope that maybe there will be a more Czech film music soundtracks one day.
I'm not on this board everyday, hence the late reaction.
Thank you very much for this important information source!
A comparison showed that much of this information is not available on soundtrackcollector.com.
For example, if you compare the discgraphy of Lubos Fiser:
Here soundtrackcollector:
http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/catalog/composerdiscography.php?composerid=8452
and here OSTlib:
https://cs.ostlib.com/en/composers/fiser-lubos/
Unfortunately, I can not read Czech, so I do not understand many detailed informations to the individual CDs / LPs (title / track title). But it does give me an essential overview of the local potential of releases of the past.
Anyway, I know positively that I have a large part of all for me relevant CD releases.
Unfortunately, I now also know negatively, that some for me important soundtracks have never been released in the past decades!
For example:
The world's only (as far as I know) Jules Verne film adaption THE SECRET OF STEEL CITY(Tjamstiví Ocelového Mesta - 1978)
Certainly one of Jules Verne's most important, but unfortunately also least known works.
The first prediction of chemical warfare ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Begum%27s_Fortune
Although the film has less fantastic content and therefore does not need a lot of special effects, the movie can compete qualitatively with other well-known Jules Verne films (Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, etc.)!
Who the Berhard Herrmann score to JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH like, that will certainly also appreciate this very successful score of Lubos Fiser.
Here a suite of a few important film themes by Lubos Fiser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI63wOjSOvA
Opening titel - 2. Part:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBGIu0jkobI
End titel sequence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOI5E8eVimQ
Since this very good score has not yet been released in any form, I can only hope that a Czech music label or FINDERS KEEPERS RECORDS will remedy this situation in the near future.
Likewise, a very heartwarming discovery for any fan of fairytale soundtracks:
ARABELA (Czech tv series 1979) :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabela_(TV_series)
There are some amazing(parallel fairytale universe) ideas between ARABELA and the TV series that has been written over 30 years later: ONCE UPON A TIME. There are all 13 episodes on YouTube in Czech, German, Romanian and Polish version.
Even if someone can not understand or read any of the four languages / subtitles, you can follow the simple story and understand it in principle.
It pays off to invest 6.5 hours of your lifetime to watch all 13 episodes.
And also in this series, the successful music of Lubos Fiser contributes significantly to the quality of the production.
Again, a complete release of the music would be very desirable. After the success of the TV series in Europe, there would have to be enough people interested in this music.
If one thinks of the successful multiple releases of the soundtrack to 3 NUTS FOR CINDERELLA:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri_oríšky_pro_Popelku ; could this also be a project for a Czech music label, or for a German CD label like ALHAMBRA RECORDS or CALDERA Records or again the British music label FINDERS KEEPERS RECORDS?
Would be really nice to have this music on CD.
These are just two of many musical treasures from the archives of European soundtrack composers.
So I hope it continues after the soundtrack release of IKARIE-XB-1 ...
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Posted: |
Jan 12, 2019 - 6:34 PM
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By: |
Score-Man-X
(Member)
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I'd love a Criterion release of this movie; the hardware and atmosphere still fascinates me (and there's a great scene of the discovery of a dead astronaut). Fascinating that any music from it exists...
Yes, the scene with the dead astronauts paired with the weird music also impressed me as a kid. When I saw the movie again 30 years later as an adult, I was a little disappointed. There is a difference between the perspective of a child and that of an adult. Sometimes unfortunately ...
Jindrich Polák not also directed this movie, he also co-written the screenplay of IKARIE-XB-1 and later also directed/co-written/produced other Czech Fantasy&SF-productions.
You can compare Polák's status in the Czech Republic (or in Czechoslovakia at that time) with Irwin Allen & Gerry Anderson and their movies and TV series!
One of his outstanding productions was the SF-TV-series THE VISITORS(Návstevníci - 15 episodes/1981-83), about a team of time travelers from the future. Interestingly, the time machine was built into an off-road vehicle (Lada-Niva) and the last episode was titled "Back to the Future"!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Návštevníci_(TV_series)
It's a series with a wonderfully simple, but very effective 80s typical SF soundtrack.
I'm happy to have found this music on CD about 15 years ago on ebay.
Here the essential majority of the soundtrack from the series in a long suite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MweQbuUFTIs
Of course, every music sequenze is only fully accessible in connection with the corresponding images from the episodes, for example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWORkwEBShg
Unbelievable what you can find on YouTube.
Here I found a kind of making-of or music video from the recordings of the composer Karel Svoboda:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1MlEqeXD-8
Or here a theme remix music video with SFX scenes and behind the scenes material from the series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNmXpkNAk-0&list=RDpNmXpkNAk-0&start_radio=1&t=101
I think the series has really solid and entertaining special effects for that time.
And finally the Lada Niva seems to me to be a bit more solid for a time travel than a Delorian(next time Doc Brown!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSjda4QF9wI
Someone from Czech has switched the score from BACK TO THE FUTURE and THE VISITORS, and it works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRQMSPvkedA
All episodes of this series are available complete on YouTube in different country versions. Unfortunately, I have not found any with English subtitles.
Here the first Episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL2KMgR0WjQ
It is a pity that such productions were possible at the time of the Eastern bloc division in the Czech Republic, but paradoxically after the end of the Cold War, no more!
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