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Lost Issue: Ancient, Dead Reviews
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| Posted By: Jason Foster, Bill Powell, Jeff Szpirglas on July 6, 2004 - 10:00 PM |
Lost Issue: Ancient, Dead Reviews
Here's another installment of reviews
of older albums (from circa 1999). For various reasons most or all of
these never ran in FSM or
even here on FSD. Many famed FSM
writers, including Jeff Bond, poured
a lot of time and effort in to these critiques, only to see them
languish on a hard drive for years and years. But now, thanks to modern
technology and enormous patience, here they are, rescued and restored
for all to enjoy. And if it's any incentive to read on, most of them
are short and painless, like our pocket reviews.
By the way, we're not sure who wrote
all of these -- if you happen to see an old review that you wrote and
it's now credited to FSM,
don't be angry. If you want, write us and we'll credit you on
Film Score Friday.
OLD PROMO CDS REVIEWED!
A Collection of Chris Young Scores
Tales from the Hood, CD96001
(7 tracks-53:25)
Species, CD96002 (12
tracks-43:25)
Virtuosity, CD96003 (17
tracks-44:06)
Unforgettable, CD96004 (15
tracks-52:23)
Head Above Water, CD96005 (13
tracks-38:03)
Recently released as "impossible to get/for promotional use only" CDs
were the Christopher Young scores to Species,
Tales From the Hood, Virtuosity, Unforgettable, and the yet to be
released Head Above Water.
Released as a 5CD set, these scores are a good showcase of Young's
abilities and show us that he is not just limited to the sometimes
standard sounding horror genre. Throughout the five scores represented,
Young shows several completely different styles, from techno (Virtuosity) to science fiction
orchestral/synth mix (Species)
to quirky, darker 20th Century orchestration (Tales From the Hood, in which he
does a good impression of Goldsmith's The
Omen in some parts) to dark tango-oriented music (Head Above Water) to more
conventional orchestral suspense music (Unforgettable). Whatever the style,
Young gives each score his own unique feel, which some might consider
to be quasi-minimalist. He also, as always, shows his ability to come
up with clever orchestrations, sometimes using sound effects or synths,
to create very interesting and effective music. He's also not afraid to
throw in some atonality in order to "mix it up." Young seems to have
become type-cast as a horror/thriller composer, probably because he's
darn good at it. But his ability to vary his music, even though many
times he deals with the same genre(s), leads one to believe he would
fair well scoring other types of films (see Murder in the First). Hopefully,
this 5CD set, which was put together with the help of Intrada's Doug
Fake, will allow more people "in the biz" to see this, as I'm sure is
part of the reason it was made. It may have already worked, as he is
set to score the action/thriller Murder
at 1600 and the disaster drama The
Flood. At a boy, Chris! -- Jason Foster
Sphinx (1981) ****
MICHAEL J. LEWIS
Promo
19 tracks - 59:58
As soundtrack fans are well aware, great scores to bad movies are
legion, and this promo CD from Michael J. Lewis is a good case in
point. Director Franklin J. Schaffner's Sphinx was an uninspired
archaeology/mystery film that starred Lesley-Anne Down, Frank Langella
(at his most wooden), Sir John Gielgud and John Rhys-Davies. The acting
was uniformly dull, the scenes sleep-inducing, and the storyline too
silly for words. But the music was another matter, because Schaffner
had the good sense to hire British composer Michael J. Lewis to score
his cinematic atrocity. Lewis was a rather unusual choice, since
nothing in his canon indicated a penchant for Middle Eastern material,
but the talented composer buckled down and delivered a beautiful and
adventurous score nonetheless. His music imbues the film with a sweep
and sense of grandeur it hardly deserves, highlighted by a lovely main
theme that vaguely recalls Jarre's
Lawrence of Arabia, and diverse, exotic instrumentation that
adds a prickly, expectant edge to many scenes. Xylophone, celesta,
marimba, hammered dulcimer and various kinds of drums, lutes and reeds
are just some of the instruments Lewis uses to create and maintain this
edge. There are no individual highlights on the CD -- all of the tracks
are a delight from start to finish -- but several cues deserve a closer
examination, including the delicately-scored "Romance on the Nile at
Luxor," the moodily atmospheric "Menephta's Cave of Treasures," the
dynamic, propulsive eight-minute "Luxor Chase," and the gorgeous "End
Title." (Two versions of the latter are included, the film version and
an alternate take.)
The sound quality is excellent, with clear stereo separation and plenty
of rich detail. (The original sessions were recorded at Wembley,
England's impressive Music Centre, and this undoubtedly contributed to
a fine mix.) If there is a downside to this release, however, it is the
no-frills packaging, which features just a single, plainly printed
inlay card and no liner notes or photographs. But don't let that minor
point stop you from unearthing one of the brightest and most exotic
scores of the early 1980s, a find worthy of any music-loving
archaeologist. Now if we can just get Mr. Lewis to release his complete
scores to Theatre of Blood
and The Medusa Touch, we can
all float blissfully down the Nile. -- Bill Powell
Doctor Who ** 1/2
JOHN DEBNEY
Additional Music by John Sponsler & Louis Febre
Promo CD (JDCD 005)
26 tracks - 50:38
In Doctor Who, you can get
away with a lot of things. You can change the lead actor whenever
necessary, and you can screw with continuity to your heart's content,
because the fans will find some silly way of making it all work. But
one thing you absolutely CANNOT do is fiddle with the theme music. For
26 seasons, the show's theme song had been virtually unchanged -- a
melody which sent children scrambling behind the sofa and became a top
ten dance hit for Gary Glitter and the Timelords back in '88. And then
last year John Debney decided to mess around with it. The nerve of this
guy.
Last year, I commented on the unoriginality of Debney's score for the
Fox telefilm, though it worked well in context with the rest of the
visuals, which I suppose is the point. The music obviously suffers as a
50 minute CD because so much of it was filler -- ominous surges of
dissonant chords whenever the Master showed up and what-not.
Surprisingly, however, there are several fun cues -- mostly
underscoring chases and escapes -- and that love theme isn't so bad
either. It's a pity Debney felt he had to include the whole score,
because I think this would have made a listenable 25-30 minute album.
In the end, it makes me scratch my head and wonder about this whole
"promo" business. I highly doubt some studio executive is going to
listen to this and go, "Wow, great dark meaningless chords. Let's hire
him!"
This, of course, raises another question...who actually wrote the bulk
of this score? John Sponsler and Louis Febre each wrote a number of
cues by themselves, in addition to co-scoring with Debney, and yet they
are only credited for writing "additional music." Debney, from what the
packaging states, only co-composed those aforementioned cuts with
Sponsler and Febre. So now the big question is, who are those
executives going to hire?! In the end, it's all a bit of a pity,
because Doctor Who used to
have the best and creepiest music, featuring composers like Dudley
Simpson, Carey Blyton, Geoffrey Burgon, Stanley Myers and Tristram
Cary. All to end up with a movie nobody saw and a temp track of a
score. Sigh. -- Jeff Szpirglas
Tin Cup ** 1/2
WILLIAM ROSS
WRCD 02
11 tracks - 29:57
Long time orchestrator and occasional composer William Ross continues
to try and get his name out there as a "solo" artist with the release
of his second promo CD, this one for his score to the 1996 golf comedy Tin Cup.
The music here covers a variety of styles: from western guitar licks,
to blues, to tango, to straight-forward Copland-esque orchestral "the
hero is about to win the big game" music. While it could be said that
this shows Ross' versatility, the music, as presented on CD, lacks any
real continuity -- sounding unlike a film score, but more like a
compilation of un-related material. Though there are a couple of themes
that reoccur in these various styles, it's still hard to find much
common ground in the music.
The orchestral tracks (found mostly toward the end of the disc) are by
far the highlight of the score. The cue "Master of the Game" will
likely forever be the stand- alone cue that this score is known for, as
it presents the themes in their full form and as heroic as ever. The
same cue can be found on Varèse's Hollywood '96 album, which is
actually a better performance than the one found here, most likely the
result of a larger orchestra. Nevertheless, the cue is admittedly
exciting.
As for the rest of the score, again, lots of variety, but little
substance. I'm sure it all works in the film, but as a listening
experience, it falls short. I guess if you're in the mood for bluesy or
cowboy music, this CD could better serve you. Otherwise, the Hollywood '96 disc has all you'll
need, as far as Tin Cup
goes. -- Jason Foster
In Cold Blood *** 1/2
HUMMIE MANN
HMCD-002
19 tracks - 54:52
Hummie Mann's talents have always seemed underused to me. He seems to
agree, the evidence being his recent release of promo CDs. The latest
in his batch of scores released as promos is In Cold Blood, a TV remake of the
1960s film based on the Truman Capote novel. Mann's music, as you might
expect, is mostly of the southern twang variety (utilizing mandolin,
dobro and bottleneck blues guitar), which is quite appropriate as the
story takes place in the south. But Mann also uses a lot of synth
effects to give the music a dark, cold feel, which captures the tone of
the story and its characters quite appropriately. Interestingly enough,
Mann used lyrics actually written by one of the killers, who was an
amateur songwriter, and set them to music. It is these songs that
comprise the heart of the score. In addition to the cold, twangy music,
there's a quieter, resolution-like theme for guitar and synth that
comes up in a few tracks, most notibly "The Last Goodbye." Overall, the
score is appropriately haunting and, if nothing else, shows off a bit
of Mann's versatility. It also seems as if more thought went into this
score than do most TV efforts and the end result is almost an hour of
interesting and effective music. The packaging of the disc features
notes from John Burlingame, who mentions director Jonathan Kaplan's
praise for Mann's music. There is also a rather detailed bio of Mann,
which is pretty rare for most promos, or even commercial releases for
that matter. -- Jason Foster
Lorca *** 1/2
Mark MCKENZIE
PROMO
20 tracks - 55:15
Also releasing a promo disc in hopes of breaking out and starting a
solo career is Mark McKenzie. His newest promo contains some admittedly
beautiful music to the upcoming film Lorca,
staring Andy Garcia and Edward James Olmos. The film is the story of
20th Century Spanish poet Frederico Garcia Lorca and McKenzie makes an
effort with his music to capture every element of the man's life (love,
poetic intelligence, etc.).
As one would expect, the score is tinged with Spanish elements, though
most of the music takes a straight-forward symphonic approach. McKenzie
provides some nice delicate material for the strings and woodwinds, as
well as some darker passages to go along with Lorca's inner struggles.
Most of the latter moments are represented musically by dark mariachi
music, complete with growling male voices (Hi-ya-ya-hi-ya). There's
also a few action cues, which seem to be out of James Horner 's musical
palet, but they take a back seat to the more melodic moments of the
score. Thematically, the score is held together by one melody
(Ricardo's Theme), which is bent, twisted, and passed to different
instruments (flute, piano, guitar) throughout the score to fit various
moods. The theme, when presented in its unrestrained form (Track 1:
"Overture"), is really nice.
This is McKenzie's second promo, his first being Mark McKenzie: Orchestral Film Music Vol. 1.
He seems to know how to exercise command over the orchestra and also
seems to know what he's doing melodically, both of which are probably
the result of his long career as an orchestrator. He shows talent and
promise here, though, and it will be interesting to hear what he has to
offer in the future. -- Jason Foster
Jetsons: The Movie/Jonny's Golden
Quest **
JOHN DEBNEY
JDCD 01
25 tracks - 67:37
Before he graduated to the "adult" likes of seaQuest DSV and Cutthroat Island, John Debney
slaved away for Hanna-Barbera; this CD of two of his scores proves just
why he couldn't replace Hoyt Curtin. MCA did issue a soundtrack album
for the 1990 blandness-fest Jetsons:
The Movie (which, incidentally, is still miles better than The Flintstones) but Debney's score
was sacrificed in favor of Tiffany et al, and even the MIA mall queen
would be preferable to the 29 minutes over 13 tracks preserved here.
When he isn't filling the score with second-hand David Newman comedy
riffs (the one-two one-two underlying beat, the comedy sax), he's
ruining more serious cues like "The Factory Goes Haywire" and "Elroy
and Judy Meet the Grungies" through the same lack of coherence that
plagues the more cartoony tracks. ("George Goes to Work" even has
typing sounds -- innovative or what?) In fairness, he develops a nice
secondary theme out of the main one (best heard in "Spacely
Sprockets"), while the introspective though dinky "Space Ace Classical"
and the amusingly bad "High School Marching Band" are probably the best
of a dull bunch, though the latter is in direct contrast to the rest of
the score -- it deliberately misses the mark.
Debney does at least avoid Theme Overdose, unlike the 38 minutes from Jonny's Golden Quest, the boring
1992 USA Network movie version of the show that never caught on in
England (where Buck Rogers in the
25th Century is repeated to this day -- go figure). His
arrangement of the show's theme music is energetic enough, but sounds
like it should be accompanying a float during carnival in Rio (good
thing one of the cues is called "Jonny & Haji Escape in Brazil");
most of the emotional cues -- "Fond Memories of Mom," "Jonny Reflects"
-- are aural sludge, the action cues rely too much on the percussion
section to carry them along and less on actual musical notes, and "Ice
Sailing in Japan" is a pleasant diversion which would be even more
pleasant if it wasn't ripped off from Dennis McCarthy's secondary theme
for MacGyver. The slim
packaging is not improved by graphical errors both bio (Warner Bros.' Little Giants is listed as a
Disney movie) and typo ("Hoyt Curtain?"), but it distracts attention
from how less effective both scores are than your average The Adventures of Batman & Robin
outing. To be fair to John Debney, the
Jonny's Golden Quest score certainly wouldn't disgrace a
live-action film -- that live-action film being Barb Wire. --
Victor Field
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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Today in Film Score History:
September 14 |
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| Alan Silvestri begins recording his score for Back to the Future Part II (1989) |
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| Franz Waxman begins recording his score to Cimarron (1960) |
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| George Fenton wins his first Emmy, for the Blue Planet episode “Seas of Life: Ocean World;”Adrian Johnston wins for Shackleton Part II; Thomas Newman wins for the Six Feet Under main title theme (2002) |
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| Gerald Fried records his score for the Mission: Impossible episode “Odds on Evil” (1966) |
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| John Williams records his score for the Lost in Space episode "Island in the Sky" (1965) |
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| Laurence Rosenthal wins his seventh Emmy, for The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles episode “Travels with Father;” John Debney and Louis Febre win for the pilot episode to The Cape; Mark Isham wins for his main title theme to EZ Streets (1997) |
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| Marco Beltrami and Brandon Roberts win the documentary score Emmy for Free Solo (2019) |
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| Recording sessions begin for Danny Elfman’s score for Scrooged (1988) |
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| Sol Kaplan's score to the Star Trek episode "The Enemy Within" is recorded (1966) |
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