Intrada Soundtrack Forum

1/3/06

I'm being fickle. Watched MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA and decided to elevate it to "Best Score of 2005". That puts MUNICH in second place. No worry. The same guy wrote both scores so he gets a thumbs up no matter which.

The transformation scene in MEMOIRS is especially well-scored.

Lists are everywhere. It's the right time of year. In other words, the start of one. My choices for best score are apparent. If not, go back and start reading this column again. Anyway, since I play WAR OF THE WORLDS a lot, I'll add it to my list. I liked one non-Williams effort a lot - THE FANTASTIC FOUR - but around here I get picked on for praising stuff by John Ottman so I'm just keeping this one to myself. I play it when no one else is around!

I was happy enough with KING KONG but that's about it. Haunting "love theme". But it kind of wimped out a little bit in the action music. I think back to the helicopter music in OUTBREAK - and FUGITIVE for that matter - and I wonder if Howard will have the time or interest in going airborn like that again someday.

A really big disappointment. THE GREAT RAID by Trevor Rabin. It's a textbook example of what can go wrong with big scores today when they're not written by John Williams. Where's the tune? Lots of big chord progressions for brass, lots of military-ish stuff. But nothing seems related. Cues play with no seeming relationship to each other. Then somewhere after the raid you start noticing a theme and what happens? It's "inspired" by none other than John Williams anyway! SAVING PRIVATE RYAN anyone?

If I were a betting person I'd say someday they'll play the theme from MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA in pops concerts, maybe the finale to MUNICH. Someone may even concertize the ferry music from WAR OF THE WORLDS. But I'm having trouble imagining a suite from THE GREAT RAID showing up on the program. Sorry Trevor, but it's one big symphonic effort that just doesn't have any flavor to it. None.

Except that little Williams tribute, of course.

1/7/06

We're trying something new with our release announcements. The double-disc we hinted at for pre-ordering in December will still be available in January (probably within two weeks) but we'll announce it - when it's in stock! Golly!

People understandably like to bundle up their orders to save on shipping fees. We're hoping to minimize the number of orders that get partially filled, then stack up waiting for the next incoming release. We'll probably be able to maintain a better flow of packages going out without the pre-order stack-ups. Then again, it might just be "six of one, a half dozen of the other", too.

Either way, the flow of releases won't be interrupted. January's double-disc is on target, ditto the projects for February, March, so forth.

We have a very busy release schedule slated ahead. Whether you prefer the old scores or the new, you'll find some pretty exciting releases coming up!

1/10/07

Nice feedback about our release announcement plans. Actually, the plans aren't really that dramatic. We just want to try and have the release in our hands when we announce it as being available. We know people grow weary of seeing something advertised as "coming soon" for weeks, months - or with some labels - even years.

We have a good track record for shipping on the dates we've anticipated. We're now hoping to be able to post a new release and let you get it within a day or two of our posting. This will make processing orders more efficient, of course. But we may not always be able to keep things under wraps until those last few hours. We do have some very exciting stuff in the works that'll probably require some special marketing plans. But that'll get worked out in the months ahead. Our schedule of releases remains bustling. So check back here regularly to keep abreast of the bustle!

1/13/06

You asked for it (sort of)... you got it. More random "Nailing the Moments". For those new to the concept, the criteria is simple. Any movie, any scene, any composer. When the music is so perfect, it just can't get any better. No need to be a great score throughout, we're talking single scenes. We're just "nailing the moments".

In the kitchen. He sits with his hands folded. Hurt, angry. He makes a gesture, his little boy imitates. He sneers, the boy imitates. Scary movie perhaps, but no scares here. In this most intimate of moments, the music taps our heart with gently descending chords for vibraphone, strings. We're privilidged to share some privacy between Roy Scheider and son during JAWS. John Williams is our host.

Four men walk down the street, guns at the ready. They wear badges but they're out for blood. James Newton Howard knows this event is real. The music swells. The OK corral gunfight is coming. As the Earps and Doc Holliday turn the corner, as their motive becomes clear, French horns break into distinct two-part harmony. Four U.S. lawmen brandishing their weapons in public, serving notice to all concerned they're out to kill. Howard avoids his main theme, steers clear of his secondary motifs, tacets any suspense, even dismisses the violence ahead. Instead, he frames this most iconic moment of WYATT EARP with a striking, angular motif unto itself. History is made.

Those so inclined can find other moments spotlighted in my older columns stored under the following dates: 2000 (March 14, March 21, June 13) and 2001 (April 17).

1/17/06

Most people get their news from TV, newspapers and the internet. Sometimes they just make it themselves. But for you few who look at this corner before checking elsewhere, delight in knowing that on Monday night John Williams won a Golden Globe for best original score for MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA. It appears the Hollywood Foreign Press Association knows from violin, cello and orchestra.

The award is well-deserved.

1/19/06

Here's your chance to order a limited "Special Collection" new release and get it shipped as fast as you order it. Golly! If all goes well we'd like to be able to avoid the whole pre-order backlogs. The theory is you'll see the title posted on our site (with little fanfare) and you'll be able to order it and anything else in stock knowing you'll have it in a matter of hours. (Okay, days.) We hope to maintain a busy pace of new releases every three weeks or so. Our next project's nearing completion already and the one after that's wrapping production as well. So hopefully by announcing these titles as they actually become available, we'll remain speedy at getting them out to you. We'll be starting with this new 2-CD Irwin Allen set so by all means - order away!

1/20/06

If you're considering WARLOCK but need a nudge, factor in that we're down to less than 250 copies. Predicting exact numbers will always be anyone's guess but experience has taught me that somewhere about here the remaining copies dwindle pretty fast. Actually, with our attention focused on LOST WORLD this week we'll probably lose track ourselves! If I had to choose between WARLOCK and MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA this week I'd be bringing home another John Williams. But if the choice was between getting that last John Debney album or WARLOCK I'd be prioritizing with Harline and Friedhofer. But that's just me.

1/24/06

Two "nailing the moment" queries came in the other day. One: since I know him well, do I think Bruce Broughton nailed anything? Two: what about those really old "golden age" composers?

Yes and yes.

I looked back and saw one Broughton mention (SILVERADO, March 14, 2000) and one true "golden age" mention (KEYS OF THE KINGDOM, same column). Guess I'm short changing both. They deserve more mention. So here's some just for Bruce. I'll hit more for those old guys later.

October 26, 1881. Earps, Holliday on one side, Clantons, McLaury's on the other. The famed OK Corral's the place, TOMBSTONE's the movie. Like other composer's do in similar tellings, Broughton spotlights the gunfight as the stuff of legend. But it's real. Interestingly, Bruce's moment isn't the legendary walk to it, it's the aftermath that follows. The dust settles, bullets stop flying, bodies lay dead, wounded. But the feud's not over. Broughton enters with his main theme - minus all shreds of dissonance, void of any suspense, with nary a rhythm in sight. The tune emerges in full, a majestic swell in French horns with thick chords underneath, nothing else to intrude. No need for subtlety here. It's a majestic musical moment, a definitive underline to a piece of bonafide history.

Chasing after Ehtar, rescuing Elizabeth! When you need to move fast, try an airplane. It may be Waxflatter's invention but Holmes makes it fly. Broughton avoids his main Sherlock theme, leaves out Waxflatter's tune as well. It's the secondary "London" theme that goes airborn! And it's what races by underneath our exhilarated young pilots as Bruce "nails the moment".

The other two pets are back, not much chance the third one'll make it. Probably just too old. But wait. There's that theme coming ahead, starting way down low in horns just like that lump in your throat. As it rises, so come the tears. Shadow's home! And with him, Bruce is nailing a moment for HOMEWARD BOUND.

1/27/06

Best cover art ever. If you're sifting through a stack of soundtracks (especially LPs 'cause the jackets are bigger!) you notice how much the art can vary. Good covers, bad covers, in-between covers. Someone had to design 'em. Sometimes they were dead on!

Here's some to savor. Mostly old LPs. Imaginations were allowed to run wild back then. In fairness, I'm avoiding covers that mostly duplicate actual movie campaigns. DIRTY DOZEN and THE TRAIN and AROUND THE WORLD UNDER THE SEA may have cool covers but credit really goes to the movie marketing people. I'm limiting this to album art appearing to have been designed largely as album art. This rules out most Saul Bass covers, lots of Amsel paintings, bold letter graphics like EL CID and BEN-HUR, all that stuff. But I'm making my own bed here, so I've got to sleep in it.

A neat late fifties and early sixties approach spotlighted single photos, then added classy type around them. RCA did this a lot. I've always been partial to their PEYTON PLACE. Just two lovers surrounded by blue. Simple, elegant. The first PICNIC album sports a dramatic black & white photo of William Holden and Kim Novak, surrounds it in black. A dash of pink(!) behind the title adds contrast, an ever-so-slight splash of unusual color. Great concept, Decca! A dramatic variant of the single photo concept shows up on the American ZULU album. United Artists blows up a stunning color shot of men locked in battle, surrounds it in black, then lets a complicated title logo in bright orange dominate!

Another cool variant of the photo concept turns up for MAN IN THE MIDDLE. A duo-tone montage of actor photos. Two great colors, just purple or orange. Then suddenly a dramatic, mostly lower-case title inserted in yellow. Not as wild as it sounds, this one's elegant. Thank you, 20th Century Fox!

The original Project 3 LP for PLANET OF THE APES took part of the poster art campaign, (just the cage) and spread it in black & white over an all-white background. Slicing through the top are twin boxes, neatly dividing between titles (white on black) and a solitary full color photo. Someone worked on this one for awhile!

KINGS GO FORTH improves on a film campaign, takes it to high art. Starting with extraordinary black & white drawings of the actors (Frank Sinatra, Natalie Wood, Tony Curtis), Capitol then judiciously assigns small blotches of color behind select parts of the drawings. No realism here, the colors are a rainbow unto themselves. Blue, green, yellow, orange, red. The results are powerful.

I'd be lying if I said I could name the best cover ever. But here's one certainly worth pondering.

Paramount focused their 1961 campaign for Brando's ONE EYED JACKS with a cartoon-ish shot of the actor sporting a weird sort of grin. But Liberty Records trumped this with a stunning painting of Brando as you wanted to see him. Intense, brooding. Brando staring you down! I can't claim to know where the origins of this incredible art really start but I can say the results were stunning enough to make Paramount drop their initial campaign and embrace the LP art when they re-issued the movie later in the decade.

Now that's what you call elevating a soundtrack cover!

1/31/06

TV shows. Off the wall today, just some some stuff I'm watching. Full season DVDs make catching up on TV shows easier. More time consuming, too. You can get hooked! I grew up with TV shows in the sixties, seventies. By the eighties and nineties I was pretty much grown. I took time to build a family and a soundtrack company. Still building, in fact. But my trade-off? Little TV. Movies, of course, but few regular series. So DVDs were made for me to catch up on old stuff I missed then and new stuff I'm missing now. It's on my schedule, of course, which usually means after everyone else has gone to sleep. I should be, too. But here's random stuff I'm trading my sleeptime for.

ER. DVD's are up to Season 4 so that's how current I am. For my money, George Clooney is the best thing on TV. Well, in 1995, anyway. Multiple plots, all compelling.

A bit more current: THE SHIELD. It's up to Season 4, too. I'm smack in the middle of Season 3 but should be ready for 4 in a couple of weeks. This show's a humdinger. They've got so many plots going it's insane. All these cops and every one of 'em's got troubles. They're good at what they do so they catch a lot of bad guys. But they're flawed so you've got problems coming at you non-stop.

By the way, current shows are pretty light on original music. On a lot of these "reality" shows it ain't needed, anyway. But I miss those one's from my youth. Weekly stuff with Elmer Bernstein, Leonard Rosenman, Dave Grusin, Paul Sawtell, Lalo Schifrin, Jerry Goldsmith. Wow! What happened?

Anyway, going the other direction, I'm also catching up on stuff more or less before my time. HAVE GUN-WILL TRAVEL. It's up to Season 3 but I'm still slogging through 1. Then again, there are a lot more episodes back then. They're only a half hour each so plots are simple. But that Paladin, all dressed up in black... he's a stunner. And you get musical contributions from Bernard Herrmann, no less. Not to mention a very young Jerrald Goldsmith, too. There's also ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS. Just one season so far but that's plenty for me. I'm going pretty slow with these. By the way, now we're at the other musical extreme. TV still was on an incline so a lot of the music was being assembled in library fashion. That way it could be tossed into any show that needed it. The era of those fully-commissioned scores was mostly still to come.

COMBAT! I'm getting into Season 2. Good stories, solid actors, great music by Leonard Rosenman. Some great training ground for directors on the rise, too. Try Richard Donner, Robert Altman.

Everyone has old favorites they want to come out. I'm hoping for THE FUGITIVE. It seems likely someday. The show spawned a terrific Oscar-nominated movie, afterall. I'm also waiting for OWEN MARSHALL: COUNSELOR AT LAW but that's probably not on many want lists. Elmer Bernstein wrote some terrific stuff for it. This was during his period in the seventies when he enjoyed making his trumpet players use straight mutes all the time: TRIAL OF BILLY JACK, REPORT TO THE COMMISSIONER, DOCTOR'S WIVES, some others. I'm also waiting for THE DEFENDERS, which is also a little before my prime time but I'm told is apparently one the greats. I've heard some music Leonard Rosenman did for it. That whetted my appetite, too.

And there's so many others. Friends tell me to catch up on dramas like 24, LOST, ALIAS, X-FILES, SMALLVILLE, comedies like FRIENDS, CHEERS, SCRUBS. Someday I will.

The first season of HILL STREET BLUES just came out. That one sort of started the ER kind of multi-plot lines. So catching it would bring me full circle.

I may never get much sleep again.