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Seems to me I've posted something like this before - but I keep a list of scores I'd love to see released. One name which keeps popping up is Frank Skinner. It baffles me that there has not been a box set covering his career at Universal. We see these new scores from the UNI vaults being released gradually - but where is their master musical chef for at least four decades?? Most recently I picked up 2 blu-rays with stunning work by Skinner: 'The Ugly American' and 'Captain Newman, M.D.' The scores are varied, consistent, always interesting and each of those two alone could easily comprise a handsome CD. And those aren't even his classics. Let's talk 'Harvey', 'Destry Rides Again', 'My Little Chickadee', 'When the Daltons Rode', 'Seven Sinners', 'Saboteur', 'The Suspect', 'The Naked City', 'The World in His Arms', 'Magnificent Obsession', 'My Man Godfrey', 'Midnight Lace', etc., etc., 270 films! I know a box set would be a labor of love ONLY for some enterprising label/producer - but what a feast of treasures it could contain. I can dream, can't I? Does anyone have the real scoop as to why Skinner's scores are so under represented? Or why a project like this - given that Universal seem to be opening their vault doors - goes undone?
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I've read that Skinner was among the "victims" of the terrible Universal-fire in 2008. So afaik no Decca-masters survived. So there won't be any new Skinner releases.
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I've read that Skinner was among the "victims" of the terrible Universal-fire in 2008. So afaik no Decca-masters survived. So there won't be any new Skinner releases.
Even though the Decca masters (owned by UMG) may have been destroyed in the Universal fire, there is still the possibility that the original elements for at least some 60s scores by Skinner may have survived at Universal. For example such titles as MIDNIGHT LACE, PORTRAIT IN BLACK, SHENANDOAH, CAPTAIN NEWMAN M.D., THE APPALOOSA etc.
However, the big question nowadays is whether Universal (together with one of our specialty labels) will be interested to release any of these in their Universal Classics CD series or if it is just not rewarding for them at all as probably not more than 500 copies could be sold of most of these titles.
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Posted: |
Apr 22, 2021 - 7:11 AM
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By: |
joec
(Member)
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Does anyone have the real scoop as to why Skinner's scores are so under represented? Or why a project like this - given that Universal seem to be opening their vault doors - goes undone?
Most of Skinner's output no longer exists. There are acetates on BACK STREET (41), THE HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES, ARABIAN NIGHTS and, supposedly, SABOTEUR. His final works may survive and whether or not the master tapes for the Decca albums is a big fat question mark, especially after the big fire.
In the meantime, we can dream, can't we....
Was this a real lp. I cannot find any information on it. Thx
No Joe, it was a dream! 
I thought so, a nice dream though!
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Box sets of classic scores of a particular studio,genre, director,composer or actor seems to me to be the way to go. Intrada has done it as well as Lalaland and Kritzerland. Throw in one or two premieres in there and your chance of selling a box set greatly increases.
The most obvious way to go would be a Douglas Sirk/Frank Skinner box set (even if this only shows one facet of Skinner's oeuvre). Unfortunately, this would perhaps also be the most obvious box set to bomb 
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Box sets of classic scores of a particular studio,genre, director,composer or actor seems to me to be the way to go. Intrada has done it as well as Lalaland and Kritzerland. Throw in one or two premieres in there and your chance of selling a box set greatly increases.
The most obvious way to go would be a Douglas Sirk/Frank Skinner box set (even if this only shows one facet of Skinner's oeuvre). Unfortunately, this would perhaps also be the most obvious box set to bomb
It's obvious that most of what is being clamored for on this request board and released by the specialty labels far outweighs what we ask for. It's not classic scores,but it is scores from action, horror and bloodletting minor films. There is one good thing about change in buying habits and that is , money spent on CD's can now be used elsewhere.
There's always the little hope that this will change sometime, but we can't be sure about it. Right now it seems as if the interest for art as we know it is generally dwindling close to zero. There's always been the situation, though, in which the art of yesterday ran out of fashion in order to make place for that from the year before. If this can also be true for pre-1970 movie scores remains to be seen.
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The 1950s Skinner titles may not be of interest to UMG since there are already PD downloads, but I wouldn't be surprised if downloads of the post-1962 items would appear at one point or another.
It is no secret that many post-1962 titles have already appeared as PD downloads during the last years just everywhere. Here in Europe the borderline is not 1962, but end of 1963 so that of course many albums from 1963 have been released as digital downloads during the last 6-7 years on all possible platforms and without any problem.
And in Canada that borderline is even much later, namely early 1965. Therefore Disques Cinémusique even tried to release Skinner´s SHENANDOAH from 1965 as PD download a few years ago, although I don´t know if it still available on any digital platform at the moment or if it had to be withdrawn.
Anyway, as to the Skinner scores which had been on former LPs during the 50s and 60s this leaves just MADAME X as the only one - as it is from 1966 - which has not received such a digital PD download till now.
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The trouble with trying to sample Frank Skinner's music on YouTube is that there's a British comedian with the same name, and there's more of the latter than the former. It's like trying to sort out the music of the proper Brian May from that long-haired bloke out of Queen.
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I like what he did with room 101.
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