Intrada Soundtrack Forum

1/2/07

It's a new year! We're back in town, resolutions have been made! If you made one, I'm told a third of them will get broken. Who exactly plots this data is another question altogether.

I'm promising to spend more time with my family. They're already keeping track of this and will encourage me to stay honest.

Anyway, if you made a New Year's resolution, hopefully, you'll be in the two thirds that keep it!

It's weird writing to an audience anticipating the arrival of 2001 - but since this is about a pending soundtrack and not the new year it's okay.

We didn't want to have things arrive too close to the holidays. It looks like we'll have CDs ready to ship on either the 19th of this month, or the following 23rd. We're also jockeying not one but two more Special Collection releases within a very short time span later this month, so we're still monkeying with our scheduling right now. We promise to pin down 2001 in a few days. You'd think that after nearly four decades we'd be able to figure out when 2001 comes. Silly us!

By the way, this isn't particularly informed since I haven't seen several end-of-the-year movies but what the heck. Here's what I probably consider the "best score" for 2006.

UNITED 93. John Powell. Not the most dynamic listening experience. Music no one talks about. But it's the one I'm thinking about right now. I'm sure it was hard to find a musical language for this project. We knew the story, the outcome, even before we saw the movie. Few of us didn't already have feelings about it. Powell had to enhance harrowing visuals and still gently encourage our emotions. It's a score where nothing over-the-top would work, but where nothing too sedate would work either. Adding to the challenge, Powell had to assist a film without a happy ending. In fact, this movie really has no ending at all.

Most importantly, Powell tastefully does his part within the confines of what ultimately remains an entertainment medium.

I'm impressed.

1/9/07

Over the holidays we depleted most of what remained in stock on BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA. We began with 1500 copies and are just now dipping into the final quartet of 25-count boxes sitting in our modest warehouse. When these are gone it'll be up to the eBay sellers to fill any gaps. And we all know what that can cost. So if it's in your "pick it up sometime" column, you may want to get it here for $19.99 while you still can!

1/15/07

Tax break! Time to do something else for a few minutes. If I can get away from the goop.

If you've got teenage daughters, you know about goop. Here's a simple lesson for all you other dads not there yet.

Just accept the goop. They're gonna put it on all morning then spend all evening taking it off again!

About two minutes ago I pointed out to both my girls how much time they'd save at night if they just didn't put on all this goop in the morning. And, yep! You guessed it! Now I've got goop all over the top of my head. Even Mary Ann slapped a handful of sorta white, definitely gooey stuff on top of my gently balding, previously goop-free dome! So the lesson to all you younger dads is simple. Don't use the words "goop" and "waste of time" while standing within, say, 100 yards of a teenage girl. (Or your wife, for that matter.)

Anyway, we should be ready to ship our latest new release in just a few days. Alex North's 2001 inaugurates our relationship with a new and much bigger plant. It's a big deal for us right now because not only do we have three releases coming out in short order but we've also got a whole slew of stuff in production. World premieres, expanded editions, our debut with the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, all manner of cool movie music projects ahead. In fact, more stuff in our pipeline than ever before in our 22 year history. So it's necessary to have a bigger, more efficient pressing plant that can keep up with us!

Okay, so back to taxes. Boy, talk about goop...

1/17/07

Sitting here working on capsules. Easy to get behind lately with the workload my boss keeps tossing out. (Guess I'll have it out with him soon. Hope I win.)

THE PAINTED VEIL. Alexandre Desplat. The 2006 Golden Globe winner. Sure to be an Oscar runner. One play, you'll be okay about this, too. But play it more than once because it's involved, sensitive stuff. Reflective comes to mind. I'm sure multiple plays will probably reveal many rewards.

If I can get through all this recent stuff, maybe I'll play it again, too!


1/18/07

Looks like turnaround times with our new plant are spot on. We should have 2001 (Special Collection Volume 38 ) in stock tomorrow afternoon, as predicted. We may get a handful shipped out before closing but expect us to really tackle pre-orders starting Monday. (Make sure you get your cornflakes that morning George, you'll need 'em!)

Things moved fast enough that we also have an early arrival for Volume 40. It's one we're pretty excited about, and we've got 3000 copies of it coming in next Friday! (Watch for a proper order solicitation, probably next Thursday at 5:15). By the way, this one's ironically happening faster than Volume 39 - which should be coming up just about three weeks from now.

That should get us to the next "Signature Edition" slated for late February, assuming our inertia - and George back in the mailroom - holds up!

1/19/07

Okay. So if you're last name starts with Aa and ends with Ab, we probably managed to get your copy of 2001 out the door before our last mail drop.

Yes, I'm kidding. Though we actually did get a few out this afternoon, we ship pre-orders in the same order they were received through our webstore, not alphabetical by any means. And don't worry. We never play favorites.

That is, unless you work here.

1/24/07

Too much reliance on technology. Yesterday. A car hits a local power transformer, shuts down our part of town in the middle of the afternoon. Dentist drills stop, supermarkets close, traffic signals go black, dogs and cats sleep together... the whole bit. Yep, it delayed processing orders for 2001 by a few hours. But it also gave us time to reflect on just how much we depend on that juice. Maybe we should take better care of what we've got.

Speaking of technology, here's a great way to use it if you have some extra time. Click your mouse on www.filmednotstirred.com and spend some time. You can also find the spot at the iTunes store by searching for "filmed not stirred". Anyway, when Jeff's not working back in the mailroom with George he's entertaining us with podcasts. Golly!

He does a show with Lisa Soloway, star of the movie I scored awhile back called HOLLY VS. HOLLYWOOD. They talk movies, share insights you might've missed. No snobs here. These two like movies. Old ones, new ones, you name it. Recent topics include director Edward Zwick, James Bond & Casino Royale, The Good German & Steven Soderbergh, the Superman movies. These ultra buffs also like to pick a pair of movies and compare them. Something current with something from years gone by. HOLIDAY and WHEN HARRY MET SALLY. NOTES ON A SCANDAL and THE CHILDREN'S HOUR. Right now they're doing THE QUEEN and MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE, which'll probably go up tonight. Next week: PAN'S LABYRINTH and CITY OF LOST CHILDREN. Relevance and nostalgia rolled into one!

New casts generally go up on Mondays, sometimes Tuesdays when they miss Monday. I get blamed for that 'cause I make Jeff put in overtime here whenever we have a new release to ship out. It is his day job, after all!

But when he's off work, this is one of the ways he chills. That's entertainment!

1/25/07

We keep our word. Volume 40 of our Special Collection is here, ahead of Volume 39. So around 5:15 p.m. our time today we'll post a proper announcement on the site and you can go for it. Hopefully you will! It's another landmark for us and opens more doors for future projects. And it's really cool music from the seventies, too!

1/27/07

I'm in between playing CDs and boxing up stuff Jeff and George abandoned last night. They left for the super silly reason of going home after some twelve straight hours of processing orders - on a Friday night no less. And no overtime pay, either. You just can't get good help these days.

2001 and HINDENBURG packages mostly. Random oddity. Looking at all these orders showing futuristic planets on one end and an exploding blimp on the the other end makes me think about travel for some reason. Or not traveling, maybe.

Okay, so time to capsulize a new CD. Throwing darts here, I landed on OCCHIO ALLA PENNA. Morricone. Digitmovies has a terrific new - and greatly expanded - CD. I recall getting the original Cinevox LP in 1981 and playing it a lot for about a month or so. (I've still got it!) Anyway, it's spinning now and I'm reminded why I fell for it. It's so damn tuneful! Just about everything on it says melody. If you've got a taste for orchestration, here's one that lets you hear what makes the guy tick. Modest orchestra doing it's usual Morricone thing on one hand, goofy contra-bassoon, tuba, vocalizations on the other hand, gorgeous solo trumpet, oboe smack in the middle.

Ostensibly it's a western. But Morricone refuses to take it seriously. Maybe the thing that's most memorable is you've got all this western melody and there's not one broad sweeping gesture to Copland's Americana. And after 25 years it still plays fresh and original.

Sometimes this guy is really just the man!


1/31/07

I like to get people excited about our projects but I try not to oversell things. However, just this once I had to babble about something in the works. I couldn't contain myself.

Don't worry, Roger. No spoilers here, no big clues either. It'll still be rolled out according to your game plan when the time comes. I just wanted to share the excitement of discovery.

While working on other projects we just located master elements long thought to be missing. I can't claim to have been around during the heyday of Newman, Rozsa, Friedhofer, Steiner, Waxman and all those "old" guys but I did start listening during the heyday of Bernstein, North, Goldsmith and all those other "new" guys.

What we just literally discovered is one of those treasures from the sixties. My era. The elements are in flawless condition. Every cue survives in multi-track stereo, complete with all sweeteners and whatnot. The whole score is there plus another half hour of music none of us ever even knew existed!

Yes, it's coming to you. Every note! I admit I'm pumped up about it so bear with me and my exuberance. And watch for it coming up ahead.

We've got a half dozen other releases landing first, not to mention AMAZING STORIES 3 and our next "Excalibur" release. Yes, of course, I'm pretty happy with all of them. But once they're finished, I'll contain my enthusiasm and share this newly found gem from the sixties with you. Every exciting brass-filled stereophonic note of it. I promise!