Intrada Soundtrack Forum

6/2/06

The scoop on TRUE GRIT. It's in stock but the folks at Tadlow Music have asked U.S. dealers to honor an official "street date" of June 5. Next Monday. We're shipping out pre-orders now since those'll take a couple of days to get to you. Otherwise, watch for a proper release on Monday.

TRUE GRIT's a winner! Certainly worth the wait. 27 years, in fact. For those of you not up to speed, it's John Wayne's Oscar winner. It's also a big item in Elmer Bernstein's repertoire that's never been released before. If you've got Capitol's official 1969 LP or their subsequent CD issue, or even DRG's more-subsequent reissue, you still don't have it. You've got the weirdest soundtrack album of all time, perhaps. It's got Bernstein's name, it's got a picture of him conducting, it's got Glen Campbell singing, it's even got the right artwork. But the score from TRUE GRIT it ain't.

In fairness, Elmer recorded a suite of highlights with the Utah Symphony some years back for Varese Sarabande. But since he left out a lot of good stuff - particularly Rooster's big gunfight at Bald Mountain - this one doesn't really count.

Now James Fitzpatrick takes up the challenge and finally gets it done. He leads the City of Prague Philharmonic, records the entire score, then adds bonus suites from several other John Wayne-starring Elmer Bernstein-scored westerns.

Like Tadlow's similar re-recording of THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, this one's a limited edition. Just 3000 copies to go around.

So stay on top of things. Once these are gone, we'll just be back where we started.

6/6/06

Hopefully this is a good omen! We're already offering another new release. This one carries warm, sensitive Americana music by Mark McKenzie for two scores he recently did for Hallmark Hall of Fame. It's pretty music, it's nicely packaged, it's limited!

By coincidence we also post word that two earlier limited editions are down to the last 100 copies. One is ROUGHING IT by Bruce Broughton, the other is HEART LIKE A WHEEL by Laurence Rosenthal. 100 copies will probably last at least a little while but if you've been thinking about them - and want the newest Signature Edition too - now's a good time to get them all. You'll save a few cents on postage and get three times as much good music!

6/13/06

If you've got kids, presumably you check up on what music they play. It's fun when there's a soundtrack connection. Anyway, I try to keep up every once in awhile. But it's tough. I'm talking iPods, computers, whatever! With my kids, CD players are yesterday. (And just what is a record player anyway, Dad?)

So the soundtrack connection. My 13-year old daughter just informed me of her three favorites. APOLLO 13, GLORY, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN. Two Horner, one Badelt. Her taste's all over the map but I won't dispute it. GLORY's a landmark, ditto APOLLO 13. (Oops. Sorry Mr. Badelt.) My older daughter's on a big Disney kick. She's got lots of classics to choose from!

A related thought. I saw CARS this last weekend. Somewhere in the middle I suddenly thought, if you dropped real people into this it'd be just like all the other high-tech summer movies I've seen. The animation is so crisp it makes you realize none of the regular movies are real, anymore. They just draw in whatever they need for backgrounds and voila! I guess everything qualifies as an animated movie nowadays. Oscar sure needs to catch up!

Random Intrada CD news. We're running out of the second batch of TOMBSTONE already. More have been ordered so if you catch us in the next few days without it, worry not. It's due back later this month. We have a long-term license and people seem to like the music so we'll happily keep this one coming batch after batch.

And refusing to sit idle on new releases for more than a week or two, we've got another Special Collection title coming out next Tuesday. It's two scores on one CD, full of seventies and eighties action. Hopefully, your kind of stuff!

6/17/06

This coming Monday, I can guess where you'll be. Things to do, places to go, people to meet. That should about cover it. Anyway, if you've got time late that afternoon, make popping onto our site one of those things to do, places to go.

Our newest Special Collection CD posts this Monday evening, ships out on Tuesday the 20th. It should appeal to action/thriller fans, seventies and eighties fans, good music fans, whatever.

It's in stock now so hitting our target date won't be a problem - unless we're too busy with all those things to do, places to go, people to meet...

6/22/06

I'm not a big complainer. That's not necessarily a good thing, of course. Judging by mail that comes in, people actually wonder if I just like everything. That's not good, either. Life's more complex than warmed-over vanilla pudding. (Just a little perceptive observation.) By the way, soundtrack capsules don't count. Those're just quick observations, what's on the album, maybe what goes where and how. They're not intended to be reviews.

So, okay, here's something I don't like. I mean soap-box level. I hate it. The HD-DVD/Blu-Ray battle.

People keep saying it's like the Beta/VHS format war of many years back. But it's not! It's a unique - and absolutely disgusting conflict all of it's own. When Beta fought with (and lost to) VHS the software market was puny. Remember those early CBS/Fox pre-recorded videocassettes? THE SAND PEBBLES, HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, whatever. Not a vast library by any means. But they were available in both formats and us buyers - excited at the new technology - ultimately chose one format over the other. It was a bitter battle but it did end. Later, when DVD's replaced videocassettes (and the never-really-popular LaserDiscs) we helped a superior format prevail. At least, I didn't hear too many complaints.

But HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray? Not the same thing. We've already had hi-def TV for awhile now. What a joy it should be to have software to go with it at last. But two competing formats have been unleashed by companies unwilling to merge formats BEFORE tossing them out to the public. (Thank God this didn't happen with compact discs!) So no matter what hi-def format you embrace, someone's going to get hurt. If these (selfish) companies made the software available in both formats, then maybe we'd have some say in the choice that prevails. But it ain't happening.

Unlike Beta/VHS and the initial limited movie selection available, there are vast DVD libraries around. Vast! Every new movie shows up, countless classics come out weekly, random not-so-classics appear, multi-disc special editions pop up, unrated editions follow, volumes of TV series arrive with meticulous full season presentations, budget movies, independent stuff up the wazoo, you name it.

Having a new format isn't neccessarily problematic. Both incoming DVD formats appear to be backwards-compatible. That's assuming you've got a machine that works. (If you've read about the Toshiba players you'll find this is another thing that should've been sorted out first.)

But having two incompatible formats with DIFFERENT software drawn from the same well is problematic!

Looking around at Best Buy last night, I fondled some six or seven new Blu-Ray titles from Sony Picture's initial offering (plus MGM's THE TERMINATOR). The Blu-Ray machine's look cool, too. Except right across from them are the HD-DVD players with an array of different Hollywood movies to watch! Nothing for both formats yet, of course. So you either choose to enjoy a hi-def copy of THE FIFTH ELEMENT and whatnot or APOLLO 13 and whatever - but not both. Or you'll have to get - what - two incompatible players? Two sets of connections? Separate DVDs for each respective hi-def format - knowing full well you're gonna throw away money on a losing format somewhere?

Then again, maybe both formats will exist side-by-side. Just like the game industry. X-Boxes and PlayStations. If you're an early adopter you'll put FIREWALL on one machine and THE TERMINATOR on another. What's the big deal? On the other hand, who knows what you'll do with all those full season TV shows. Hopefully they won't pull a switcheroo on us in the middle of season five of something or other!

There's another possibility, too. We can just resist both formats until the industry sorts out this disgusting mess they've created.

Then again, it sure feels odd to embrace an incoming technological advance - by refusing to buy into it!

6/28/06

When all else fails, turn to your composer. You may get one of those moments. No matter who writes the music. Popular composer, unknown composer, ham 'n' egger, whatever. So here we go to that place where where marriage of music and image feel perfect. Really perfect. Here are more of those musical treasures - those one and only, genuine articles - in other words, my seventh visit to those "nailing the moments".

Much has been made of Denzel Washington's Oscar-caliber turn in GLORY. Watch, see why. A battle looms, discipline is necessary. Right now, Private Trip's being stripped down, whipped for desertion. The camera closes in. A solitary tear wells, it falls. There's a twin meaning. Denzel's pride is finally broken, yes. But the whipping damn well hurts, too. To cry like this on camera - it's a performance of a lifetime, a gift Denzel gives to all of us. But give James Horner his credit, too. As the camera moves in, solo oboe reaches the top of it's compass, then finally breaks the ascension. Both tear and melodic line fall in tandem. A better marriage of music to image I've not yet seen.

Easy one but still a goosebumper. Clark Kent sees his dad fall. Cameras pan across, bring us to Jonathan's outdoor funeral services. John Williams' solo trumpet follows alongside. As attendees leave, cameras pull back. Music swells, cadences with a resounding major chord, leaning tone stuck in the middle. As the leaning tone resolves downwards to the tonic, twin funeral gates close. No need for musicology to share this powerhouse wedding between SUPERMAN's music and image.

A crime's been posed, the plot thickens. Okay. DOUBLE INDEMNITY. So now innocent-seeming Phyllis Dietrichson opens the car door, even more innocent Walter Neff lays behind the seat, ready to kill. It's Miklos Rozsa, however, that does the talking. His stark, angular opening theme finally re-appears, tells us we can't turn the wheel back now. We've been sucked in with our innocent insurance man, we're riding it out to the very end. A dramatic - and profound - marriage indeed!

Drums everywhere. Big ones, little ones, high ones, low ones, you name it. And rows of players, too. The DRUMLINE readies for half-time performance. We're watching early training right now. Fast edits, rapid pace. The musicians run, the rain pours down, the drill instructor snaps his commands. But it's John Powell that grabs our attention. Dynamic, chopping orchestral music with a beat all of it's own! This time it's John Powell that commands!

It's a no-brainer that we're gonna watch Tom Cruise do heroic stuff to bring that first MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE to a climax. We do, he does. Speeding helicopter, speeding train. Pumped up Cruise makes his leap. But just before that oh-so-famous quintuple-meter Schifrin tune jumps in, Danny Elfman leaps out with his own fanfare. It's a tiny motif he's been monkeying with throughout our entire two hour ride. But not like this. Cruise leaps and wham! Trumpets ring out, major chords blare, then Schifrin joins in to save the day. But it wasn't before Elfman had his incredible say. Talk about marrying music and image. This one brings down the roof!

Finally an oldie but moldie. And, okay, one of my favorites, too. ON THE WATERFRONT. Anyway, so this time, listen to Leonard Bernstein's closing contribution. Terry Malloy scores his victory, we see Johnny Friendly's been crushed, we cheer as everyone gets back to work. Sure, the main theme plays in fortissimmo manner. It should. Magnificent stuff here. All that thundering music, the victorious main theme, the pounding gong, the hammering tam-tam. But listen closer. Even closer. Hidden within those masses, solitary trumpet cries out with Edie Doyle's love theme. This is, afterall, not just a victory for Terry. It was Edie's slain brother that set wheels into motion in the first place. Bernstein leaves us with one of the greatest marriages of music and image of all time!