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Posted: |
Feb 18, 2010 - 9:08 PM
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By: |
djintrepid
(Member)
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I finally bought this score and I must say that I am deeply impressed by the quality of the workmanship of the remixing, mastering, and overall assembly. I figured it would sound good, but not as good as it does. Absolutely fantastic! As the year's go by, I'm continually amazed by the advancements in restoration technology and the final product's sound quality. Of course, I'm also impressed by the compositions and performances, but I'm so glad that FSM has handled it with the love and care we come to expect, demand, and hope for.
Thinking back to when I first discovered, or rather recognized the name and connected the dots to earlier works I already knew and loved, John(ny) Williams back in 1989 with the release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, how difficult it was to track down recordings or even a list of his life's work up until then. Most of his filmography was not available, at least on CD. So much of it has become available since then and as it does I feel grateful that there are those, like them folks at FSM, who scrap in the back alley's with executives and union heads to get deals made and let fans like me hear whether or not the score is garbage or brilliance, whether or not it's worth my $19.98 plus shipping, and whether or not I've run out of whether or not's to finish what I'm trying to say. What am I trying to say? It's a better time now to be a fan and a collector of film scores than it was in 1989 and I hope it stays that way until I'm senile or my hearing goes, whichever comes first.
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I've been listening to this a lot recently, and it's marvelous. It did take me a few listens to get into it properly (there are some meandering bits around the halfway mark which demand close scrutiny, and which kind of washed over me the first few spins) but now I fully appreciate what a great score this is - and with absolutely excellent sound and production values (no surprises there).
I suppose it's not surprising to learn that it sounds like John Williams - I was reminded of LOST IN SPACE during some of the more frenetic passages, and I could even hear what would develop into his mid-to-late '70s sound (BLACK SUNDAY, STAR WARS...). But I wasn't really expecting the other influences to be so prominent, and they're interesting to note - Some of you have already mentioned them.
Yes, there is a brief touch of Rozsa there. I hear it more in one of the timpani-driven climactic tracks near the end than in the Main Title, but I hear it. There's a bit that sounds like Goldsmith (typically the Asian-flavoured moments, but also the aggressive first minute of Track 10, I think). And I hear Hugo Friedhofer, particularly in the militaristic snare drum and timpani - some would say that military snare drum material all sounds the same, but I hear a definite leaning towards BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL, plus a bit of ABOVE AND BEYOND.
Now, this is where it all gets tangled up, and I might be exaggerating what is a perfectly normal occurrence in the symbiotic relationship of Hollywood film scoring - but I find the whole Williams-Previn-Friedhofer "connection" (see the inverted commas?) fascinating. This is going to be a mess because it's all off the top of my head, but there we have André Previn doing DEAD RINGER, which sounded like it could have been written by John Williams. Then we have the touch of Rozsa, which André Previn himself channeled in his violin line for the Love Theme in THE 4 HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE. And of course NONE BUT THE BRAVE does bear more than a passing resemblance to THE 4 HORSEMEN. Then we have the Friedhofer sound in the drums - mostly reminiscent of BEYOND HEAVEN AND HELL, but also ABOVE AND BEYOND, the latter conducted by André Previn. Some of the shimmering orchestral moods are also somewhat like Friedhofer - in fact quite like one of the Korngold films (I can't pinpoint exactly which one) with orchestrations by Friedhofer, and represented on the re-recording "Previn Conducts Korngold".
Anyway, you can choose to ignore all that if you want. NONE BUT THE BRAVE is a top-notch CD.
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Kev, I think that you should get DEAD RINGER, because it's brilliant and the theme sounds like John Williams. Your childhood memory of running to get the tape recorder thinking it WAS Williams is an understandable blunder. Blame me if you buy it and don't like it.
Simple blunders of the "howler" variety from when I was little -
Seeing CLEOPATRA appearing in that sequence on her barge (no barge-poles in sight) and thinking it was Jerry Goldsmith.
Seeing THE GREAT ESCAPE, that bit where they are watching the tower and the searchlight, and I thought it was Bernard Herrmann.
Hmmm, quite intelligent howlers from an insufferable wee nipper.
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Sorry Kevin, I've just re-read your post. I am becoming less astute with age. IRMA LA DOUCE? Okay, that's a fine understandable blunder too!
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