I’m a HUGE fan of Harry Robertson’s insanely mad score for “Hawk The Slayer”.
Sorry!
It’s pretty unique! There’s nothing else really quite like it…or is there?
I have both the original vinyl release and the same program on the BSX CD. It’s great!
However…when re-watching the film (a very guilty pleasure!) it’s noteable that the album presentation is a re-recording. I would LOVE the original score to be released, but there is little to no information about this score, and Harry is no longer with us.
I know this forum is frequented by people far more in-the-know than myself!
I have the cd too . And yes I like watching the film now and then . However I can't say I've watched it enough to notice differences in the music . It would be interesting.to see if anything shows up.
I wouldn't mind a CD of the original score myself but I get the impression it's lost, and there is possibly little interest in even trying to locate it, not least on the part of ITV Studios, the licensor.
The CD is ok - the sound quality isn't brilliant, probably as they had less than optimal sources for it, but nice to have it anyway. I had the LP back in the day and don't remember that being all that stellar either.
Disco flavoured orchestral score - it was an interesting way for Robinson/Robertson to have scored it, but I don't think that style was all that unusual to be honest - maybe for that sort of film, but that style was used in general movies quite a lot and occasionally still is.
I get the bluray out once in a while to watch and it's always a hoot, to be honest.
Never excuse yourself for a score you like. The film though is quite… well… shall I say special. I saw it in a hotel in London while attending two John Williams concerts.
I haven't played it in years. I remember it riffs on Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds with a dose of Morricone style spaghetti western vibes. It's pretty catchy and fun though.
I haven't played it in years. I remember it riffs on Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds with a dose of Morricone style spaghetti western vibes. It's pretty catchy and fun though.
Yeah the little bursts as hero puts his flying sword away in scabbard is the same concept of Ennio's flute trills as Clint Eastwood twirls his 45 n puts back in holster.
Hard to miss for me that the opening measures of the main theme is a pretty direct call back to Les Baxter's The Dunwich Horror, though all up and discofied and Morriconeed. That's one tissue of borrowings!
les baxter the dunwich horror
harry robertson hawk the slayer
(Baxter's is also that same weird mix of pop styles and orchestral - but a decade earlier, each one dated to its time, not that there's anything wrong with that.)
Interesting that Les Baxter had already jazzed up (or Mooged up) Bach on one (?) of his concept albums.
I hadn't heard any of Harry Robertson's/ Robinson's HAWK THE SLAYER until now, so thanks! Didn't he say that he wanted his TWINS OF EVIL score to evoke Westerns, and particularly Morricone? There's a touch of it anyway in the film he did for Hammer, but it sounds more Jerome Moross to me, in the middle bit.
Hard to miss for me that the opening measures of the main theme is a pretty direct call back to Les Baxter's The Dunwich Horror, though all up and discofied and Morriconeed. That's one tissue of borrowings!
les baxter the dunwich horror
harry robertson hawk the slayer
(Baxter's is also that same weird mix of pop styles and orchestral - but a decade earlier, each one dated to its time, not that there's anything wrong with that.)
I’m a HUGE fan of Harry Robertson’s insanely mad score for “Hawk The Slayer”.
Sorry!
It’s pretty unique! There’s nothing else really quite like it…or is there?
I have both the original vinyl release and the same program on the BSX CD. It’s great!
However…when re-watching the film (a very guilty pleasure!) it’s noteable that the album presentation is a re-recording. I would LOVE the original score to be released, but there is little to no information about this score, and Harry is no longer with us.
I know this forum is frequented by people far more in-the-know than myself!
Any chance of this from one of the labels?
Agreed. I'd love to get the actual film score as well. But as someone mentioned, it's probably lost.