Intrada Soundtrack Forum

10/3/06

Three movies, three scores. All different. Over the weekend, wrapped SATURN 3 orders, mastered an upcoming project, taught our dog a cool new trick, took some naps throughout, watched stuff in between.

This probably sounds like an attack on current movie music, but it's not. Well, maybe it is. Finally saw a famous Billy Wilder movie, THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS, made in 1957. Also caught (most of) THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT plus A SOUND OF THUNDER. Who says I don't have broad taste? (Which isn't the same as bad taste in spite of what my kids tell me.) Anyway, the former's got music by Franz Waxman, the middle one's got music by Brian Tyler, the latter's got music by Nick Glennie-Smith.

No big surprise for soundtrack fans of yesteryears but Billy Wilder's movie has the best music of the three. I'm not making that up, either. Check out the DVDs, see for yourself. THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS is mostly James Stewart in his plane. You know how it turns out. But Waxman literally flies, soars, trills, weaves in and about in through the clouds, all manner of aerial derring do. Wow! I knew the album but I never imagined how exhilarating it would be matched to the visuals. It lifts. It makes the movie. It's what I'd want a score to do if I made a movie like this.

Then there was THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT. I actually noticed music at the finale because it's the one cue that stood out on the CD. But noticed is about all I could do. The car noises drowned out everything in sight! What remaining score there was did some thumping, some bumping and whatnot. But that's about it. Light years from Waxman. (Funny. Waxman had to write around non-stop airplane engine roar but managed just fine.)

And there was the Peter Hyams movie. A SOUND OF THUNDER. Sci-fi time manipulation with Edward Burns, Ben Kingsley. If you buy this time safari tour you get to hunt dinosaurs but if you change anything at all while you're in the past the future will be destroyed. That kind of premise. So of course someone steps on a butterfly or something, alters the past and screws up the future. It takes Edward Burns to go back and unscrew it.

Nick Glennie-Smith writes plenty of music but - save for an exciting-ish end credits piece, I don't recall anything. I know there was a score but what it was doing was inconsequential. We've got the end of the world, time travel, dinosaurs, a lead who's willing to sacrifice all to save humanity... we've even got a butterfly. You'd think music that supported all of this, or at least supported some of it, or at least supported one part of it... well, you get the idea. It's there but it isn't there if you catch my drift. Which paraphrases a line by Ben Kingsley to one of the scientists, by the way.

So, anyways, it's not that I wanted to complain or anything. I just noticed more than usual this last weekend how much difference there is between Franz Waxman scoring an impressive Billy Wilder movie and Brian Tyler & Nick Glennie-Smith scoring not impressive movies. Maybe it's not their fault. But they're not giving us "good scores for bad movies" either. I think they just supplied music and left it at that. Write, conduct, call it a day. And it's not just just the competition with sound effects thing, either. These scores really offer no emotional support at all. If that's what today's directors want, they're no Billy Wilders. I assume they know this, of course.

So as I finish this corner and get ready to go back to helping out in the mail room, I'm listening to TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING.

Okay. Maybe it's all the chainsaws that Steve Jablonsky had to deal with, I don't know. But... man! Waxman just sounds better and better!

10/6/06

We invite you to visit our site this coming Monday afternoon, at 5:15 pm or so (we're not using the atomic clock here) where you'll find our newest Intrada Special Collection [Volume 37] in stock and available for ordering. Call it our Columbus Day treat. We'll actually begin shipping on Tuesday.

Music from a popular Oscar-winning composer appears as one of the two scores presented. The other guy's pretty well known, too. Anyway, those of you who like teasers may also enjoy knowing the following: The cover art shows two people.

That should narrow things down a bit!

10/10/06

We know you have choices when it comes to your soundtrack buying. We also know there's a boatload of stuff getting released these days to choose from. Except for a few random millionaires out there, most of us everyday working people have to be selective.

So your support around here is truly appreciated. What you're spending doesn't just go into our pockets, it also goes back into more projects. Kind of like a community. We all win.

Volume 37 is our first feature score by Georges Delerue. Coupled with music by Richard Rodney Bennett, it's a small but important landmark for us. After so much action from Goldsmith and Broughton and Horner and whatnot, it's a lovely change of pace around here. We're already pursuing more by these terrific composers so - who knows - pace changing may not be all that rare down the line.

Tech note. With the generous help of composer (and Oscar winning sound editor) Todd Boekelheide, we've made some big additions to our own studio, now encompassing some truly state-of-the-art editing and mastering gear. It'll come in very handy, too. Normally, we've got numerous things in various stages of talk but right now we've got more projects in actual production than at any other time in our 20-plus year history. I may not be able to count 'em all on my fingers and toes but I can say there's some cool stuff coming up ahead!

Anyway, thanks again for listening and supporting movie music - not just here on Intrada but on all the other fine soundtrack labels, too. You're making these releases possible.

I think we can safely say, you're really the power behind the throne!

10/17/06

Random pair of trivial observances, very loosely linked by coincidence, nothing more. Over the weekend I found time to play - for no apparent reason - BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, as in the 1978 Stu Phillips score. Probably on my mind since a copy of the original import CD was here a few days ago. Anyway, I play the score at home. I take a break, my younger daughter hums the theme back to me, more or less.

After she's gone to bed I end my night's entertainment with a movie. Something with scares. A "Raw Feed Production" called REST STOP fit the bill. Bear McCreary scores. Teens split from home, head to California on back roads, get separated. Horror, violence, torture, other "unrated edition" features ensue.

The mild link. Bear McCreary is, of course, heavily involved in scoring TV's new version of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.

Word to the wise. If you watch REST STOP, first, keep your kids away from it. Second, don't look for much in the way of melody.

I can't help but imagine what Herrmann would've done with this movie. Probably walked away from it, I suppose.

10/24/06

When it rains, it pours. Something like that. As if you don't have enough soundtracks coming out lately to choose from, we're adding more stuff to the pile.

We'll have our ninth Signature Edition release up for grabs late next week. Check back here or watch for Roger's official posting on the forum at that time. Then dig in. We'll have 1200 copies to spare.

Two discs, two related scores, one fantastic composer!

10/26/06

Giacchino nugget. And a related, totally weird oddity.

First the nugget. I was watching special features on the DVD for M:i:III and caught one that had particular appeal. Maybe I'll watch the movie soon. Anyway, the feature is on scoring the movie with Michael Giacchino.

There are terrific shots of the orchestra at work. It's a big one. You know you've got formidable masses when you see a closeup of two tubas! (Most orchestras have one, lots of them have none.) It's also neat to get a shot of director Abrams talking about Giacchino, too. But there's a really cool - and surely uncommon - highlight.

Tom Cruise actually attends the scoring session. He talks enthusiastically about having Michael Giacchino doing the score, about getting Lalo Schifrin's theme. But the real treat's watching Cruise conduct the orchestra. He's really having fun. Seeing megawatt star Cruise in front of a hundred musicians is an admittedly cool sight. Giacchino even speaks about the thrill of having him appear. Clearly the scoring sessions for M:i:III were a milestone for Giacchino.

Now the totally weird oddity.

The entire five minute nugget about Giacchino offers none of his music! It only spotlights Lalo Schifrin's theme. Whether setting recording levels, having players do a take, hearing the music behind the brief interviews - it's all Schifrin. Naturally, it's even the piece that Cruise conducts on camera.

You'd have thought the segment would've devoted a few seconds to Giacchino in action. Anyway, it's too bad Lalo didn't show up as well. He obviously still has admirers!