Intrada Soundtrack Forum

5/5/09

I mentioned earlier that Scott Birmingham was filming new updates to some classic original TWILIGHT ZONE episodes. Jeff stars and I write the music. Scoring was completed recently and - as we speak - Oscar-winning mixer Michael Semanick is creating the 5.1 sound mix.

The filmmakers liked the music for THE CONVERSATION and wanted a similar piano score, albeit something creepier. They got me and... as we all know, you get what you pay for. Actually, they loved what I did and used everything I wrote pretty much where it was intended.

Anyway, Jeff's posted the trailer for "A Game Of Pool" on Youtube. You can catch a couple minutes of him as pool shark Jessie Cardiff, the role originally played by Jack Klugman. He's great but I see him "acting" everyday back in the order room, pretending to be on top of his workload, so what do I know? You'll hear some of the score, too. Hopefully it'll entice you to wanna see the whole show!

Somehow, Jeff and I found time to work on this movie and still get orders processed. Talk about being in the "twilight zone".

So here's your link to another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound...



5/9/09

On Monday, we'll post two new limited edition releases coming in for Tuesday, May 12. One will be a Signature Edition with 1000 copies available, the other will be in the Special Collection with 1200 copies available. We've got stuff from the horror genre on one side and stuff from the wild west on the other. Have fun!

ll be announcing one new CD on Memorial Day (Monday, May 25) to whet your appetite. (With so few CDs coming out these days, I imagine you're probably dying of thirst.) Speaking of thirst, the new title is a "hot" album. Maybe not in terms of familiarity, but certainly to the touch - so to speak. It's a straight CD premiere of an album from the seventies that boasts some torrid playing by an immensely famous musician. He's even someone I once met back in college. Golly! His fans will probably be the ones who snap up this CD, assuming they hear about it.

As to fellow soundtrack fans, I can add: the composer is an Oscar winner and highly popular with piles of famous albums available but... this one isn't one of those. In fact, it's probably one of the few that most people have never even heard of. Until now.

5/29/09
Here's something that disappointed me. It's a little off the wall but whatever. In fact, if you've got any insights on what's what, please post your thoughts on the Forum. I'm really curious.

You may already know about the recent Warner Home Video archive series available over their website. DVD-Rs of Warner titles otherwise not available because of their limited interest. Pretty much like what happens in the limited edition soundtrack marketplace with CDs.

So, anyways. I was thrilled to discover SOLDIER IN THE RAIN (1963) was available. Great movie and my favorite still un-released Henry Mancini score. I ordered the DVD, it arrived this week and I was on cloud nine. Until I put it on.

This is my favorite example of a film that moves from comedy to drama. My absolute favorite. You're smiling for awhile and then the movie wipes that smile right off your face. A lot of people pick BONNIE AND CLYDE in this category. I pick SOLDIER IN THE RAIN. Mancini tips you off with his main title. Playing against somber black and white graphics of the actors, Mancini offers a long, melancholy solo trumpet theme to identify with the lonesome soldier Steve McQueen has become in the army. Jerry Goldsmith often captured the images of lonesome soldiers via solo trumpet. But Mancini was here first. Anyway, the theme music sets a perfect mood.

Well, it did.

The new DVD has removed the main title music and uses a tune Mancini wrote called "Bird Brain" instead. The melancholy black and white images are still there but the music is now a goofy tune in place of that elegiac, sobering trumpet theme.

Anyone have any good ideas why?

I don't think it's one of those copyright issues that seems to be ruining numerous TV releases like THE FUGITIVE because the entire score is present save the main title music. In fact, the melody itself still appears elsewhere in the movie, wherever Mancini intended. But for some reason, the haunting title music is gone. The credit block still lists Allied Artists, the studio. Nothing else seems to be changed - except the entire mood of the movie!

Arrgghhh!