I realize this is poor timing for a Christmas special thread, but considering the lack of interest from record labels, it's probably as good a time as ever to talk Rankin/Bass.
Lately I've been picking through some of their lesser known works, both holiday specials and otherwise, and it's come to my attention just how criminal it is that no proper score releases have surfaced yet. There's oodles of fantastic scoring here that I believe rises above the standard of 60s/70s television music and is more than worthy of a release, even on its own merits outside the popularity of the Rankin/Bass specials.
While there is a lot of tracked music in the Santa Claus-centric specials, I was surprised by the Maury Laws "Little Drummer Boy" duology--yes, there's a sequel, and it's not half bad-- particularly the presence of near wall-to-wall dramatic underscoring, which is easily on par with, if not better than Laws' later "Hobbit" and "Return of the King" scores. Alongside the title song, the musical numbers are all gorgeously orchestrated, standouts being "One Star in the Night" and "The Goose Hangs High". The two scores joined would make for a phenomenal release.
Another Maury Laws grail of mine is the relatively unknown "Jack Frost", one of their later works, and one of their best. The great villain's number "There's the Rub" drones in the underscore mournfully, heightening the drama and somber tone of the film brilliantly, as does the rest of the broadway-y song score. Too many action scoring highlights to count!
Of course, a collection featuring each holiday special ala the La-La-Land Star Trek set would be ideal, but that'd be a herculean effort of research, remastering and licensing considering it spans nearly 20 years of music--though apparently even a standalone release of something like "The Year Without a Santa Claus" or "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" is a no-go, for whatever reason. I'd like to think it's just a lack of interest from the rights holders and/or record labels, but StudioCanal managed to get "Daydreamer" and "Mad Monster Party" onto CD, so I doubt it's a lack of cooperation from the labels. The loss of masters is also very possible given the age of the material. I suppose that's just how the cookie crumbles.
I realize this is poor timing for a Christmas special thread, but considering the lack of interest from record labels, it's probably as good a time as ever to talk Rankin/Bass.
Lately I've been picking through some of their lesser known works, both holiday specials and otherwise, and it's come to my attention just how criminal it is that no proper score releases have surfaced yet. There's oodles of fantastic scoring here that I believe rises above the standard of 60s/70s television music and is more than worthy of a release, even on its own merits outside the popularity of the Rankin/Bass specials.
While there is a lot of tracked music in the Santa Claus-centric specials, I was surprised by the Maury Laws "Little Drummer Boy" duology--yes, there's a sequel, and it's not half bad-- particularly the presence of near wall-to-wall dramatic underscoring, which is easily on par with, if not better than Laws' later "Hobbit" and "Return of the King" scores. Alongside the title song, the musical numbers are all gorgeously orchestrated, standouts being "One Star in the Night" and "The Goose Hangs High". The two scores joined would make for a phenomenal release.
Another Maury Laws grail of mine is the relatively unknown "Jack Frost", one of their later works, and one of their best. The great villain's number "There's the Rub" drones in the underscore mournfully, heightening the drama and somber tone of the film brilliantly, as does the rest of the broadway-y song score. Too many action scoring highlights to count!
Of course, a collection featuring each holiday special ala the La-La-Land Star Trek set would be ideal, but that'd be a herculean effort of research, remastering and licensing considering it spans nearly 20 years of music--though apparently even a standalone release of something like "The Year Without a Santa Claus" or "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" is a no-go, for whatever reason. I'd like to think it's just a lack of interest from the rights holders and/or record labels, but StudioCanal managed to get "Daydreamer" and "Mad Monster Party" onto CD, so I doubt it's a lack of cooperation from the labels. The loss of masters is also very possible given the age of the material. I suppose that's just how the cookie crumbles.
Anyone else willing to vouch?
I’ve never seen the second Little Drummer Boy, but the first one has always been my favorite of the specials (One Star in the Night and the ending never fails to make me shed a tear), so I would certainly welcome a release containing that one.
Considering the rights to the Rankin-Bass library is split between Warner and a company called Classic Media, the rights may be difficult. Also, I have to say I’m surprised that this topic wasn’t brought up immediately after Maury Laws’ passing. Supposing something could be worked out, I think the best way to release them would be in volume sets with each containing a certain amount of Rankin-Bass scores (the Tolkien specials would probably make a nice two-fer). I’m also surprised that there was never a soundtrack for Year Without a Santa Claus (arguably the most popular of the Christmas specials outside of the big three [Rudolph, Frosty, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town), considering how relatively well-remembered the Miser Brothers’ song is.
I’ve never seen the second Little Drummer Boy, but the first one has always been my favorite of the specials (One Star in the Night and the ending never fails to make me shed a tear), so I would certainly welcome a release containing that one.
Considering the rights to the Rankin-Bass library is split between Warner and a company called Classic Media, the rights may be difficult. Also, I have to say I’m surprised that this topic wasn’t brought up immediately after Maury Laws’ passing. Supposing something could be worked out, I think the best way to release them in volume sets with each containing a certain amount of Rankin-Bass scores (the Tolkien specials would probably make a nice two-fer). I’m also surprised that there was never a soundtrack for Year Without a Santa Claus (arguably the most popular of the Christmas specials outside of the big three [Rudolph, Frosty, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town), considering how relatively well-remembered the Miser Brothers’ song is.
I'm surprised at myself for not thinking of Maury Laws' passing while writing that post. I imagine there are a great many stories and production insights that we'll never get to hear now that he's gone. Shame. I would've liked to hear his thoughts on some of the lesser-known productions, as well as Arthur Rankin's before his passing.
Universal absorbed Classic Media through some buyout several years back, so all of the big titles are in their hands now. So far they've proven themselves less than competent.
I’ve never seen the second Little Drummer Boy, but the first one has always been my favorite of the specials (One Star in the Night and the ending never fails to make me shed a tear), so I would certainly welcome a release containing that one.
Considering the rights to the Rankin-Bass library is split between Warner and a company called Classic Media, the rights may be difficult. Also, I have to say I’m surprised that this topic wasn’t brought up immediately after Maury Laws’ passing. Supposing something could be worked out, I think the best way to release them in volume sets with each containing a certain amount of Rankin-Bass scores (the Tolkien specials would probably make a nice two-fer). I’m also surprised that there was never a soundtrack for Year Without a Santa Claus (arguably the most popular of the Christmas specials outside of the big three [Rudolph, Frosty, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town), considering how relatively well-remembered the Miser Brothers’ song is.
I'm surprised at myself for not thinking of Maury Laws' passing while writing that post. I imagine there are a great many stories and production insights that we'll never get to hear now that he's gone. Shame. I would've liked to hear his thoughts on some of the lesser-known productions, as well as Arthur Rankin's before his passing.
Universal absorbed Classic Media through some buyout several years back, so all of the big titles are in their hands now. So far they've proven themselves less than competent.
Well, as far as I can tell, Classic Media wasn’t exactly the gold standard in care taking themselves considering that they, among other things, botched the audio restoration on Little Drummer Boy (I have kept my VHS for this reason, as there was no excuse for that error in the narration near the end, to say nothing of the various missing sound effects).
Well, as far as I can tell, Classic Media wasn’t exactly the gold standard in care taking themselves considering that they, among other things, botched the audio restoration on Little Drummer Boy (I have kept my VHS for this reason, as there was no excuse for that error in the narration near the end, to say nothing of the various missing sound effects).
I didn't mean to imply that Classic Media is any better. I only bear more venom for Universal because they, while retaining the butchered audio of the DVD "restoration", somehow had the gall to use an even worse print of the film for the Blu-ray release, which introduced a slew of color degradation problems ala the whole "is Yukon Cornelius' jacket blue or green" debacle (I recall there are also new audio distortion issues that weren't present in Classic Media's restoration). The fact that they can't locate a better print (or the original film negative?) and proper audio elements makes absolutely no sense to me.
They had fantastic music, and more attention needs to be given to the RB library. Rick Goldschmidt is the individual who has done the most research on the RB specials and television shows. He would be the one to go to.
Also wish the RB Hobbit and the Return of the King soundtracks would come out on CD. They had some beautifully illustrated books to go with the records back then.
Apologies for the bump; yesterday, I decided to take matters into my own hands and write to Rick Goldschmidt himself regarding the Rankin/Bass situation. His response confirmed my worst fears:
"... no underscores were saved to my knowledge. ... I doubt any more releases will come to CD properly by these idiotic companies, that is why I offer the CDs I sell.
I can only hope somebody buys up all of Rankin/Bass' material and does something with the music & effects tracks. These poor films deserve so much better -- over 50 years since the original "Rudolph" and nobody at Classic Media/Universal OR Warner Bros has lifted a finger for the music. This is one of the largest untapped libraries of beloved film music out there.
Apologies for the bump; yesterday, I decided to take matters into my own hands and write to Rick Goldschmidt himself regarding the Rankin/Bass situation. His response confirmed my worst fears:
"... no underscores were saved to my knowledge. ... I doubt any more releases will come to CD properly by these idiotic companies, that is why I offer the CDs I sell.
I can only hope somebody buys up all of Rankin/Bass' material and does something with the music & effects tracks. These poor films deserve so much better -- over 50 years since the original "Rudolph" and nobody at Classic Media/Universal OR Warner Bros has lifted a finger for the music. This is one of the largest untapped libraries of beloved film music out there.
There should be an expanded release of “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” with both the Johnny Marks songs AND the Maury Laws score. Let’s hope they have improved sound on the songs, because the sound on the M.C.A. C.D. Is absolutely atrocious!
Given the shows are such cash cows between VHS, DVD sales and TV licensing fees, they certainly can afford to invest back in them.
Except Warner doesn’t have any of the actual cash cows except for Year Without a Santa Claus and the Tolkien specials (I’m surprised they haven’t released these though the Archive yet, unless they’re busy working on fixing the audio on The Hobbit), though it still doesn’t excuse the neglect these specials have suffered.
There should be an expanded release of “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” with both the Johnny Marks songs AND the Maury Laws score. Let’s hope they have improved sound on the songs, because the sound on the M.C.A. C.D. Is absolutely atrocious!
Actually, the credits there are flip-flopped -- Marks wrote and orchestrated the dramatic underscore himself, but the songs were orchestrated by Laws.
This is also true of "The Ballad of Smokey the Bear", another great RB Marks/Laws collaboration from the "Rudolph" era. Marks later returned in 1979 to write songs for "Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July"--I don't think anyone knows who scored the film, though.
Given the shows are such cash cows between VHS, DVD sales and TV licensing fees, they certainly can afford to invest back in them.
Except Warner doesn’t have any of the actual cash cows except for Year Without a Santa Claus and the Tolkien specials (I’m surprised they haven’t released these though the Archive yet, unless they’re busy working on fixing the audio on The Hobbit), though it still doesn’t excuse the neglect these specials have suffered.
Well based on what was just reported there's nothing to invest back in, the music tapes are long gone.
