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Posted: |
Jun 23, 2007 - 3:38 PM
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By: |
dogplant
(Member)
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Now that all three volumes of Intrada's Amazing Stories scores have appeared -- amassing a grand total running time of close to seven and a half hours of diverse and pretty wonderful music from 31 shows, plus nine variations of bumpers and main and end titles -- I was just curious what are peoples' favorites from the collection, and why?
Amazing Stories, Volume 1 (135:04)
1. Ghost Train (Williams)
2. Alamo Jobe (Horner)
3. Gather Ye Acorns (Broughton)
4. The Doll (Delerue)
5. The Amazing Fallsworth (Goldenberg)
6. Moving Day (Shire)
7. Without Diana (Delerue)
8. Mummy, Daddy (Elfman)
9. Vanessa in the Garden (Niehaus)
10. Welcome to my Nightmare (Broughton)
Amazing Stories, Volume 2 (154:31)
1. Boo! (Goldsmith)
2. What If…? (Goldenberg)
3. Dorothy and Ben (Delerue)
4. The Main Attraction (Safan)
5. Such Interesting Neighbors (David Newman)
6. Thanksgiving (Broughton)
7. Hell Toupee (Shire)
8. One For The Road (Mandel)
9. Remote Control Man (Rubinstein)
10. The Greibble (Addison)
11. No Day At The Beach (Rosenman)
12. Santa ’85 (Thomas Newman)
Amazing Stories, Volume 3 (157:34)
1. Go To The Head Of The Class (Silvestri)
2. The Wedding Ring (Safan)
3. Mirror, Mirror (Kamen)
4. Mr. Magic (Broughton)
5. Secret Cinema (Goldenberg)
6. Life On Death Row (Steiner)
7. The Pumpkin Competition (Addison)
8. Grandpa’s Ghost (Metheny)
9. The Mission (Williams)
Titles, Credits and Bumpers
1. Main Title (Volume 1)
2. Bumper #1 (Volume 1, repeated Volume 3)
3. End Credits (Volume 1, repeated Volumes 2 & 3)
4. Amblin Logo #1 (Volume 1)
5. Main Title, Alternate #1 (Volume 2)
6. Bumper #2 (Volume 2)
7. Amblin Logo, Christmas Version (Volume 2)
8. Main Title, Alternate #2 (Volume 3)
9. Amblin Logo – Alternate (Volume 3)
Total running time, all three discs = 447:09
My pick of the litter must include The Doll (sublime), The Amazing Fallsworth (brutal, stunning), Moving Day (passionate), Dorothy and Ben (beautiful), Hell Toupee (infectious - sing along with the awful punning title), The Greibble (charming), Santa '85 (electrifying), Go To The Head Of The Class (thrilling), Life On Death Row (classic), The Mission (spine-tingling) and the Amblin Christmas Logo!
Please note I said 'favorites from the collection' - we all know Elfman's Family Dog escaped the pack (and a very exuberant score that was, too, if I remember the show correctly), but I think it's pretty awesome what Mr Fake and his compadres were able to wrangle for us here.
NP: Thanksgiving (Broughton)
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Posted: |
Jun 23, 2007 - 5:29 PM
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By: |
dogplant
(Member)
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I agree, JJH, about the occasional curve ball scores in the collection but, to be honest, some of the cues that I thought were hokey on my first listen have really grown on me! Just listening to Shire's Hell Toupée right now, which starts out with a loopy march - where I always imagine lyrics 'Here comes that hell toupée / Oh, there will be hell to pay / That hell toupée!' - and then it segués into a sexy Barry sax, then creepy 80s synth and God knows what else to follow.
I really enjoy the schizophrenic nature of the scores. There are show tunes and lounge music, like Safan's The Wedding Ring and Broughton's Mr Magic, rubbing shoulders with atonal and hard-hitting dramatic scores like Steiner's Life On Death Row and Goldenberg's Amazing Fallsworth. John Addison's pair of scores were also unexpected gems, jaunty little pastoral pieces, both very British, despite whatever the heck a 'Greibble' is supposed to be!
('LOL' at The Mutant, below  )
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Posted: |
Jun 26, 2007 - 12:43 AM
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By: |
dogplant
(Member)
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Thanks for the feedback, guys.
I did not find the Silvestri's Go To The Head Of The Class unlistenable or shrill perhaps because it's one of the few episodes I've seen and actually enjoyed. I thought it typical of the period, reminding me of Silvestri's Cat's Eye or, to a lesser degree, Charles Bernstein's Nightmare on Elm Street, both of which I own on vinyl from that era and don't listen to much now, but they are what I consider typical of mid-80's teen-oriented horror flicks. That, for me, was what Zemeckis' episode was all about. It was quite funny, too, from memory, although the music plays it straight.
I personally have a harder time with Elfman's Mummy, Daddy which, although it's a richer and more orchestrated sound, I find too mickey-mousey jokey-horror, hitting me over the head with one idea for 15 minutes.
It's a big fun mix though. Kamen's Mirror, Mirror is really out there with that mad, decaying offset phased synth sound in the first cue Zombies, which sounds like pieces of the music are falling off, before it gets to the main action, which is more eerie and reminiscent of The Dead Zone.
For the completists out there, and to prove I have too much time on my hands, here's a list of the shows and composers that did not make the Intrada cut:
Amazing Stories - not in the collection
(Listed in broadcast order)
1. Guilt Trip (Steve Dorff)
2. Fine Tuning (Jonathan Tunick)
3. The Sitter (Craig Safan)
4. One For the Books (Glenn Paxton)
5. Miscalculations (Phil Marshall)
6. Magic Saturday (Ralph Burns)
7. You Gotta Believe Me (Brad Fiedel)
8. The Eternal Mind (Miles Goodman)
9. Lane Change (Jimmy Webb)
10. Blue Man Down (Brad Fiedel)
11. The 21-Inch Sun (Ralph Burns)
12. The Family Dog (Danny Elfman)
13. Gershwin's Trunk (John Mayer)
14. Miss Stardust (John Mayer)
Edit: List amended - thanks for the correction, Mr Jack!
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Posted: |
Jun 26, 2007 - 7:49 PM
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By: |
thx99
(Member)
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Besides the two Williams scores and all of the Delerue scores, my favorites include:
- Safan's "The Wedding Ring";
- Broughton's "Thanksgiving" and "Gather Ye Acorns";
- Addison's "The Pumpkin Competition";
- T. Newman's "SANTA '85"; and
- Goldenberg's "The Amazing Fallsworth".
When the CDs were first announced, there were three less-obvious scores I was looking forward to hearing apart from the episodes: Rosenman's "No Day at the Beach", Addison's "The Pumpkin Competition", and Metheny's "Grandpa's Ghost". For me, the Rosenman score works much better in the episode than it does on disc, while the Addison score translates to CD even better than I expected. The Metheny score didn't necessarily fall flat, but I was expecting something a bit more emotional, from my recollections of the episode; obviously, my memory was hazy.
All in all, this series is a dream come true, and I can't thank the folks at Intrada enough for their incredible efforts involved with producing the CDs. It's a top-notch collection all around.
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After listening to all three, I must say Delerue's delicate scores are my favorite, followed closely by all the Williams material.
I also very much enjoy Goldenberg's "The Amazing Falsworth". Creepy, dissonant, but highly memorable. This continues to be a real stand-out for me.
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I would really like to hear Pat Metheny and Thomas Newman's contributions. Sadly, they are not on youtube.
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