Really thought Stanley Myers excellent The Witches might have finally appeared when the remake came out. I know these things don’t really matter for smaller soundtracks but it just reminds you again. There’s finally a Blu-ray coming of DREAMCHILD and again I wondered the chances of this great wee score appearing? There doesn’t seem much push for Stanley Myers releases. Shame.
The market for soundtracks comes and goes--and changes:
In the latter half of the sixties Myers was an up-and-comer who scored several high-profile pictures and deservedly had six of them commercially recorded:
Kaleidescope No Way to Treat a Lady Ulysses Otley Take a Girl Like You The Raging Moon
When the soundtrack market dipped, people like Williams, Barry, Goldsmith and so on survived, but scores by Myers were harder to come by on record.
When the niche soundtrack market took over, emphasis shifted to the big name composers and scores for comic book capers, sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, so Myers, who mainly did dramas, fell off the radar. The Martian Chronicles was an exception.
Since The Witches falls into the fantasy genre--and is an excellent score--there are occasionally calls for a soundtrack release.
I've never heard Dreamchild. Looking forward to it.
Myers collaborated with Zimmer for "Dreamchild" and "The Lightship" (among others). NoteforNote has been steadily releasing 1980s Zimmer soundtracks, so it would be great if they could get these, but they don't seem to be on their release list.
Myers collaborated with Zimmer for "Dreamchild" and "The Lightship" (among others). NoteforNote has been steadily releasing 1980s Zimmer soundtracks, so it would be great if they could get these, but they don't seem to be on their release list.
Yes, it would be really great to have all the Myers/Zimmer scores out (even though Zimmer protests to some of them), in addition to Myers' solo efforts, of course.
By the way -- you know that guitar theme from THE DEER HUNTER? Did you know that that was composed by John Williams, you know the guy who wrote STAR WARS and all that kind of stuff?
By the way -- you know that guitar theme from THE DEER HUNTER? Did you know that that was composed by John Williams, you know the guy who wrote STAR WARS and all that kind of stuff?
The piece was originally written by Myers for the 1970 film The Walking Stick.
John Williams — the other John Williams — performed the guitar on the track.
This particular John Williams also performed the guitar solos in John Du Prez' A Fish Called Wanda.
Weird, I've never really explored Myers much beyond Cavatina despite it being one of my favorite pieces to play - not nearly as well as John Williams of course (but you'd recognize it!) - on guitar. It's just a perfectly crafted piece. Am really curious to eventually explore the rest of Myers catalogue, but yeah as mentioned, his soundtracks aren't commonplace and when I first started getting into soundtracks, I don't recall seeing his name while browsing the soundtrack sections of now-extinct music shops.
I saw John Williams (guitarist) in concert - well, I've seen both of them, and it was a while ago, but he didn't play Cavatina - he was promoting a new album so the focus was on that. I was hoping he would!
More info regarding Myers and john Williams, plus the guitarist's work with other film composers, can be found online in an interview i did with Williams for Soundtrack Magazine.
"Cavatina" first appeared on record on a John Williams record called Changes from 1971. A pop/classical hybrid, the album featured 4 Myers compositions, and Myers arranged the rest--pop and classical tunes, a magnificent album that is extremely well put together.
This was the recording of "Cavatina" that Cimino heard and wanted for Deer Hunter.
I haven’t seen the movie since the VHS days but at the time I liked it a lot. I only knew Ian Holm from Alien at the time so it was quite the eye opener, and of course Jim Henson’s work was brilliant. Also at the time, I only had “ears” for the film music of Williams and Goldsmith so I’m afraid I don’t recall much of Myers’s score. I’ll definitely be revisiting.
I have strong memories of seeing this film in the theater and enjoying it quite a bit. It's a strange and sad story mostly, but such a brilliant melding of fantasy and realism - never quite been matched, but that's also because Alice in Wonderland is such a powerful source. One of Holm's best roles and made me absolutely fall in love with Coral Browne. And Dennis Potter too. And among my favorite non-Muppet work of Jim Henson's workshop, along with The Storyteller.
I do recall wishing for a soundtrack at the time, but it has been decades since I've seen it and had not recalled the music at all until I listened to these excerpts. I would purchase it in a moment.
Not great sound quality, but grateful it was put up. Just exactly the soundworld I recalled.
I love Myers and would release anything by him. Unfortunately, it's Warner Bros. for The Witches so a no-go for us - just too long and winding a road - I do have tapes of the score, though, and it's wonderful. The two I would issue in a heartbeat are The Night of the Following Day and No Way to Treat a Lady - sadly, both with Universal, and although I've been promised an entry in there it never happens, which is really annoying, and if the promiser happens to be reading - well? Maybe it's time? I have a fantastic tape of Lady all ready to go.
Oh, Bruce, I hope you get the chance to release No Way to Treat a Lady! That main title with the wordless female voices has a calming quality but also has an edginess to it.
I haven't seen the film in decades, so I don't remember if the album was a re-record. Are your tapes from the album or the film score? Even the album would be a great release. ALL of those Myers sixties soundtracks were such good albums.
Oh, Bruce, I hope you get the chance to release No Way to Treat a Lady! That main title with the wordless female voices has a calming quality but also has an edginess to it.
I haven't seen the film in decades, so I don't remember if the album was a re-record. Are your tapes from the album or the film score? Even the album would be a great release. ALL of those Myers sixties soundtracks were such good albums.
The album. Great sound, great stereo, and it plays perfectly as a listening experience.
Hey Josh, that was Thor's sense of humour. You probably thought he didn't have one!
Nah, I've met, and have had a couple of drinks with Thor. He definitely has a sense of humor.
And honestly, I should have known better than to think Thor of all people would get his John Williamses (John Williamsi?) confused.
There was that period of time when both John Williamsae (John Williams²?) were on the Sony label, thus confusing matters for erstwhile record store employees.
Maybe it's just residual anxiety from that video cover art copy for Mad Max that confused the Brian May the Australian with Brian May the astrophysicist that plagued my years working at Tower.
