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The use of synthesized choir, the very liturgical moments punctuated by some extremely Devilish exclamations, the frenzied glissandi mixed with voices... No, for me it's not simply another good ´70s thriller score. Although it's so very varied that much of it may well have been at home in more standard fare.
Those synthetic voices do sound very life-like, but the liturgical aspect is not necessarily Satanic.
Consider Pete Walker's "THE CONFESSIONAL", with its choral Stanley Myers music, or Rosenman's KEEPER OF THE CITY.
Both have vocalisms to depict unhinged characters who embark on killing sprees with nothing supernatural transpiring.
Anyway, if I was a film-maker in the 1970s creating an occult entertainment, I probably wouldn't approach Gil M. to provide its music score.
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Posted: |
Nov 10, 2019 - 5:35 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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The use of synthesized choir, the very liturgical moments punctuated by some extremely Devilish exclamations, the frenzied glissandi mixed with voices... No, for me it's not simply another good ´70s thriller score. Although it's so very varied that much of it may well have been at home in more standard fare.
Those synthetic voices do sound very life-like, but the liturgical aspect is not necessarily Satanic.
Consider Pete Walker's "THE CONFESSIONAL", with its choral Stanley Myers music, or Rosenman's KEEPER OF THE CITY.
Both have vocalisms to depict unhinged characters who embark on killing sprees with nothing supernatural transpiring.
Anyway, if I was a film-maker in the 1970s creating an occult entertainment, I probably wouldn't approach Gil M. to provide its music score.
Oh? Who would you have approached, Zardoz, if you had been a film-maker in the 1970s creating an occult entertainment? I think that THE SENTINEL benefits ENORMOUSLY from having a score which doesn't sound like what an occult thriller score "should" sound like. I think it strikes the perfect balance between horror, occultism, and police procedure thriller! Mind you, I know I'm only saying that because I'm a Mellé nut, and he rules. Jerry Goldsmith might have done a great score too (he was at the top of his game back then). Williams would have done a soilid job. Michael Small could have come up with something great too. And Jerry Fielding, why not? But Gil got the job and it's fantastic and unique, to me at least.
It's a kind of silly argument anyway - "not occult-sounding enough". Just imagine it as a somewhat offbeat and unusually violent episode of Columbo and you'll be fine!
///PeeEss,desdeNaveEspacial///código000///
Y'know, I think I was downplaying how positively MALEVOLENT a lot of this score is. And yes, it does indeed conjure up Satan for me - not literally, not yet at least. And no Ave Satani or Dies Irae either. Whatever, I think it's a masterpiece, and I'd still think so if it had been written for any other film.
My release of 2019.
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Chill, Graham.
The Watt Overkill
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Oh? Who would you have approached, Zardoz, if you had been a film-maker in the 1970s creating an occult entertainment?
You'll be sorry you asked, Graham.
Here's my list of composers (similar to that meeting discussing who should write for STAR TREK):
'concert' composers
1) Maurice Ohana (he was very much into astrology & myths & occult) https://youtu.be/S6yygWVC_dU
2) Arne Nordheim (Norwegian pioneer of electronic and non-romantic music) https://youtu.be/c0HkLcZKb6c
soundtrack underdogs who proved they have/had the 'chops'
3) Jean Prodromidès (based on his DANTON score ... and this https://youtu.be/gwJxGkqMnks)
4) Paul Glass (based on TO THE DEVIL - A DAUGHTER)
5) Frank Cordell (GOD TOLD ME TO)
6) Giorgio Gaslini (LA NOTTE DEI DIAVOLI)
additional wishful thinking
7) Jerry Goldsmith (MEPHISTO, REINCARNATION, OMEN, etc.)
8) Lalo Schifrin (AMITYVILLE, GOOD vs. EVIL, unused EXORCIST, etc.)
9) Gino Marinuzzi jr. (PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES)
10) Leonard Rosenman (RACE, POSSESSION, etc.)
11) Hikaru Hayashi (based on ONIBABA)
12) Laurie Johnson ('70s Brian Clemens THRILLER TV)
13) Mario Migliardi (ghostly electronics)
14) Tristram Cary (synthesizers with acoustic instr., QUATERMASS, BLOOD, etc.)
15) Wilfred Josephs (UNCANNY, HAMMER HOUSE, etc.)
remote possibilities
16) Phillip Lambro
17) Toshiro Mayuzumi
18) Vittorio Gelmetti
19) Hans Werner Henze
20) Mario Nascimbene
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Somebody has way too much time on their hands.
Let it be, Graham . let it be
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More audio explorations for Graham.
In my review posts above, I refer to Morricone's giallos.
Here is one YT cue called "aleatorio" from his soundtrack to What Have They Done to Solange?:
https://youtu.be/d0fWxL8ChOY
What does Graham think of the pitch-bending brass that Morricone uses (with jazz rhythms underneath) ... and does trigger any associations with Gil Mellé's output?
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Posted: |
Nov 13, 2019 - 4:13 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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More audio explorations for Graham.
In my review posts above, I refer to Morricone's giallos.
Here is one YT cue called "aleatorio" from his soundtrack to What Have They Done to Solange?:
https://youtu.be/d0fWxL8ChOY
What does Graham think of the pitch-bending brass that Morricone uses (with jazz rhythms underneath) ... and does trigger any associations with Gil Mellé's output?
"Your honour, may I request to be grilled with the handcuffs off? I won't try to run away. Thank you."
"I like the pitch-bending brass that Morricone uses (with jazz rhythms underneath), but it does not trigger any associations with Gil Mellé's output. In fact, without the jazz rhythms underneath, the wavering pitch tones remind me more of a common Rosenman trait. And the jazz rhythms underneath trigger certain associations with some of the output of Mr Komeda - I apologise for being unable to pronounce his first name. May I call hin Chris?"
"YOU MAY NOT. COURT ADJOURNED. GUILTY AS CHARGED. YOU WILL BE HUNG AT DAWN. AND THEREAFTER DRAWN BY THE LOCAL AMATEUR ART GROUP. THEN YOU WILL BE QUARTERED. YOU SHOULD FEEL LUCKY YOU WERE BORN."
"Oh I do, your honour. Thank you very much. Thank you very much indeed."
"SILENCE!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I do think it's nice to derail threads to a certain extent. It reminds me of being down the pub. What I don't like are threads about score releases which develop into "What's next?" speculation. But that's not the case here. I think the court should find us not guilty of derailing the train and all who sail in her.
I see that the SOLANGE soundtrack was released as a double CD along with SPASMO. The entire soundtracks are up on YouTube. I dipped into them. I liked what I heard.
I really must expand my Ennio collection. Those two soundtracks sound particularly good. I love Ennio when he's being melodic and even orgasmic with Edda. I used to have difficulty with his atonal tracks, especially the ones which last eight minutes-plus, but now I find them, in general, quite hypnotic. What I don't like are when "silly" tunes pop up unexpectedly. Wow, if I'm going to start delving into Ennio's Italian giallioli at my age, when will I get around to purchasing my first Roberto Nicolosi? And do I just start ignoring Jerry Goldsmith from now on?
The train flew off the rails there, but since Jason Statham was the driver he's managing to land it right back on the railroad track. There. Wow, thanks Jason! THE SENTINEL - Zardoz, after listing all the composers you would have chosen for an occult horror-thriller in 1977, I'm sure you (and they) would all have been shocked at the heavy-handed sledgehammer-subtle approach of director Michael Winner. His glossy, sprawling, tasteless, magnificent vision would not have been fit for many of the composers you mentioned. The film needed somebody totally batshit crazy (copyright Kev McGann), and that person was Basil Kirchin, I mean Gil Mellé. Although I do recognise that if Mellé HADN'T done it, we'd be talking about how good the Mario Nascimbene score is, probably.
I wish Leonard Rosenman had done all those old Douglas Sirk melodramas, and not Frank Skinner, who played into the soapsuds visuals. I know he was double-bluffing, and it was quite a clever approach, but I never really "bought it" (as they say).
THE SENTINEL is brilliant though. Dead right for the film, and a fascinating, hugely entertaining listen in its own right. On the other hand, my sister-in-law dislikes it intensely. "Not even music!"
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Posted: |
Feb 19, 2020 - 9:17 PM
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By: |
Rollin Hand
(Member)
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Some of those source tracks are great. I love “Lipstick Commercial” too! It’s so cool! The “TV Drama” one is terrific too, because it’s not in any way pastiche, being right out of COLUMBO (with a few changes as you say, Member, but “Death Lends a Hand” it certainly is/ was). I also really like the smoochy “Memento” track. Surely Gil Mellé himself is playing baritone sax there?
The silky smooth intimistic moments that you mention are wonderful too, but I think it’s ALL wonderful. When it gathers all its forces together its powerhouse spine-chillingly humungous! It looks back towards FRANKENSTEIN: THE TRUE STORY, but also ahead to stuff such as BLOOD BEACH. And all those amazingly audacious screechings and electronics. I just love the whole thing.
I’m still trying to discover why some tracks sound different to what I was used to hearing. Maybe the electronics are brought more to the front in this release than would have been heard before... Going back to listen to it soon. And about a hundred times more, on constant repeat.
My dear Graham,
I just double-checked again my collection of Universal seventies telefilms and guess what, mate?
“TV Drama” is indeed a re-arranged cue from “Death Lends a Hand”: the second part of the murder inside the getaway car.
“Lipstick Commercial” is actually from the episode “The Vampyr” (1974) in Kolchak The Night Stalker: the muzak in the hotel room scene. It’s also re-arranged from another earlier telefilm entitled Savage (1973).
Last but not the least, I watched again the maverick telefilm Savage (1973) directed by Steven Spielberg and you found two re-arranged cues known to Mellé’s crowd.
• Allison Baker’s lipstick commercial scene (from Kolchak’s hotel room muzak from “The Vampyr”)
• The official party at Joel Ryker’s mansion scene (Columbo theme from “Death Lends a Hand” but redone with a jazz guitar)
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