YES! I'm hoping for this one (among many others of his works) to be released one day He was such a versatile composer and embodied so many genres.
I think that is a wonderful idea
Ford A. Thaxton
I'm probably missing something, but "Mindscape" had an LP and CD release way back. The CD had two additional tracks which the LP didn't have. Are we talking about a re-release here?
Crivvens! I found myself actively seeking out those films to watch, in anticipation of this new CD. I know I shouldn't do that.
I had seen JEALOUSY years ago, and liked the Mellé music for the segment he scored. The story itself isn't that bad either, with a neat twist, but it's got a kind of ho-hum flat ambience. The music works pretty well. It's not prime Mellé, but there's enough in the strings and reeds to give me nostalgia for the previous decade. The theme itself is a bit basic, but it's a good kernel to work from, as Angie gets increasingly jealous and the guitar-led theme goes increasingly distorted and bonkers.
HOT TARGET is a tawdry affair indeed. As Ford mentioned earlier, it's a sort of BODY HEAT thingy, with plenty of T n' A (and even F - the British F, not the other meaning, and you'll see it's the hairy part in the shower scene). But it has very little class, and I don't think Gil's score lends it any. In fact, the music even seems to cheapen what is already cheap and sordid. The opening scene is a "nightmare sequence", but it's scored like a game show theme, with splashy synth chords all over the place. Some of the later score moments look ahead to Mellé's non-film album "Mindscape" from 1989, but it was terribly dated and unsubtle even back then. But I love those guitar and piano melodies, which go off in such unpredictable directions that you know it just can't be anyone else than the Gil-man. Good trumpet work and- I think - flugelhorn too, which we never got to hear much in Mellé's compositions.
I'm REALLY looking forward to hearing this on CD, honest I am.
But nothing can beat the brilliance that is the GOLD OF THE AMAZON WOMEN CD!
This arrived yesterday, so I've only had the chance to listen to it once. I'm very happy with it, although I've said before that I have a hard time connecting to much of Mellé's work from this era. So, plenty of Simmons drums (I think), and an (over)abundance of "quirky", electronic sounds. Some of it sounds a bit kind of cheap and splashy, especially when most of Mellé's earlier scores (and non-scores) oozed class.
But there are a LOT of moments that hark back to earlier works. I feel like playing this again right now because it's such an intriguing mix of styles (especially HOT TARGET, although JEALOUSY has the standout track "Georgia's Descent Into Madness"). On first listen there seems to be a lot more (for me) to enjoy than in, say, STARCROSSED.
I'd be really interested to hear what others think of this CD, especially if there's anyone to whom these scores appeal MORE than THE SENTINEL (for example, to name a really solid '70s Mellé score). Any young whippersnappers getting introduced to the wonderful world of Gil Mellé through his later works? Or is it just some old farts talking about how it would be great to get some of "the early, good stuff"?
Just a little observation - I think that BSX/ Dragon's Domain could take a weeee bit more care with proof-reading and stuff like that. G.B. Kemner's liner notes mentions that Mellé scored the "film" KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER. The notes then just end ("...as well as scoring films like A COLD NIGHT'S DEATH, THE QUESTOR TAPES, KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER, and STARS."). I imagine that "STARS" is STARSHIP INVASIONS but the end of the piece got cut off. It shouldn't really be a big deal, and I suppose it isn't, but on the other hand it makes the final package just a trifle slipshod.
And so it came to pass that I listened to this again last night. It's really growing on me. There's really an awful lot of great music on this disc/ download. Mellé's ability to write long-lined, unpredictable melodies with odd harmonic shifts has always impressed me, and there are three or four really standout themes on show here. There's one theme in particular in HOT TARGET which is a close cousin to the principal theme in 1983's THROUGH NAKED EYES. That TV Movie had David Soul as a flautist (playing Gil Mellé tunes!) as a voyeur who gets voyeured!
I'm really getting into the '80s stuff now. STARCROSSED is still a "challenge" (I can't decide if it's mind-blowingly original or just horribly horribly banal, annoying and dated). I do have to accept that artists grow and develop, but I find it hard to reconcile the Gil Mellé of the mid-'70s with the Gil Mellé of the mid-'80s. Or at least I "found" it hard. I'm getting there. I suppose it's me who hasn't grown or developed.
If I can put the final nail in the coffin of this thread... If you're a Herbie Hancock fan who loves stuff like "Maiden Voyage" then is suddenly faced with his "Headhunters" album (especially the tracks "Chameleon" and Watermelon Man"), then that may be how you react to the Mellé of the mid-'80s. Or if you only know and love Quincy Jones for THE PAWNBROKER then have to listen to a Michael Jackson album... or if you love the Miles Davis of "In a Silent Way" and then are forced to watch him soloing with Cyndi Lauper... then that just might be how you experience "The Gil Mellé Collection Volume 1".
Actually, I'm glad I mentioned Miles Davis' "In a Silent Way". That, and "Bitches Brew" certainly influenced the "early, great" Gil Mellé. And even that early, great Gil Mellé was two decades after the first Gil Mellé, doing all those Blue Note albums since about 1953.
I'm going to play this again tonight, and tomorrow night. It's really addictive. WHAT DO YOOZ ALL THINK OF IT? (Jeez, you'd think I was asking about Lee Holdridge.)
And so it came to pass that I listened to this again last night. It's really growing on me. There's really an awful lot of great music on this disc/ download. Mellé's ability to write long-lined, unpredictable melodies with odd harmonic shifts has always impressed me, and there are three or four really standout themes on show here. There's one theme in particular in HOT TARGET which is a close cousin to the principal theme in 1983's THROUGH NAKED EYES. That TV Movie had David Soul as a flautist (playing Gil Mellé tunes!) as a voyeur who gets voyeured!
I'm really getting into the '80s stuff now. STARCROSSED is still a "challenge" (I can't decide if it's mind-blowingly original or just horribly horribly banal, annoying and dated). I do have to accept that artists grow and develop, but I find it hard to reconcile the Gil Mellé of the mid-'70s with the Gil Mellé of the mid-'80s. Or at least I "found" it hard. I'm getting there. I suppose it's me who hasn't grown or developed.
If I can put the final nail in the coffin of this thread... If you're a Herbie Hancock fan who loves stuff like "Maiden Voyage" then is suddenly faced with his "Headhunters" album (especially the tracks "Chameleon" and Watermelon Man"), then that may be how you react to the Mellé of the mid-'80s. Or if you only know and love Quincy Jones for THE PAWNBROKER then have to listen to a Michael Jackson album... or if you love the Miles Davis of "In a Silent Way" and then are forced to watch him soloing with Cyndi Lauper... then that just might be how you experience "The Gil Mellé Collection Volume 1".
Actually, I'm glad I mentioned Miles Davis' "In a Silent Way". That, and "Bitches Brew" certainly influenced the "early, great" Gil Mellé. And even that early, great Gil Mellé was two decades after the first Gil Mellé, doing all those Blue Note albums since about 1953.
I'm going to play this again tonight, and tomorrow night. It's really addictive. WHAT DO YOOZ ALL THINK OF IT? (Jeez, you'd think I was asking about Lee Holdridge.)
Graham, Thank you for the Miles Davis reference.
In my formative years In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew were cornerstone albums for me.
Mid-'80s Mellé is always quite a shock to my system, but I'm really beginning to feel LOVE for this. HOT TARGET plays like a great concept album at around 40 minutes. It's wildly eclectic in style, often within the same track - so it goes from silky smooth to thumping electro-pop, often embellished by the composer's quirky gimmicks. There's a lot I'm not too keen on, but much of it is jaw-droppingly awesome!
JEALOUSY is a great 15-minute listen. That penultimate track is spellbinding. The segment from the movie itself is also a lot of fun. I love that last line!
Nobody else want to vent their spleen(s) regarding the music on this disc/ download? I keep wanting to put it on again and again and again, add nausea if you please. I'm totally fascinated by it. I can't decide if HOT TARGET is just completely misjudged or if it's the work of a brain from Planet Arous. Or both.
Nobody else want to vent their spleen(s) regarding the music on this disc/ download? I keep wanting to put it on again and again and again, add nausea if you please. I'm totally fascinated by it. I can't decide if HOT TARGET is just completely misjudged or if it's the work of a brain from Planet Arous. Or both.
He was such a versatile composer and embodied so many genres. 
