My recent efforts for Crawlspace, The Ceremony, and Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate didn't seem to garner much attention or comment, perhaps because they are more obscure TV projects of Goldsmith's. I'm hoping that this infamous theatrical film will get people more excited! I selected it to do next because the entire film was on YouTube so I could continue to offer the film itself for people to follow along with my time index guide to the full score:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcmVSVkSKJkPersonally, though a bad movie, I think it's completely watchable. And the score goes a long way in making it enjoyable. I'll just give a SPOILER WARNING here about the below notes in case you want to stop reading and see the film first. A few notes about the score before I go into my track-by-track notes: First of all, it is FANTASTIC. I consider it a five-star effort all the way, evocative, exciting, and unique. Unfortunately it doesn't come across as amazing as it could on Varese's 19 minutes they were able to include on the Goldsmith at Fox box. A great deal of exciting music can be heard in the film but was left off the set because prominent synth parts were missing. If you listen to the unreleased cues in the film, you'll see why. While there are times when the synths just add a little bit of flavor and could be omitted without completely sacrificing the musical architecture, for many unreleased cues the synths are really just essential to the structure.
For my money this is some of Goldsmith's best, most interesting, least dated-sounding synth work. It fits in seamlessly with the rest of the score and I far prefer it to the way he was usually using synths in the following decade. The bulk of the unreleased music also happens to be brilliant action scoring, even if the film scenes themselves rarely live up to the music: cues I title "Setting Out", "Reunited", "Take the Wheel", and "Wrong Order / On the Road Again" are some of the best parts of the score, and their absence on CD is tragic. The other unreleased cue, "The Rocky Mountains", isn't as action-packed but is still a particular highlight because of it's uniqueness.
These five superb cues totaling almost 10 minutes are the only unreleased music heard in the film, not counting the synth overlays which were missing on some of the cues Varese did deem releasable. Interestingly however, four of the cues Varese did release on CD are noticeably truncated in the film ("Blue Sky" in particular, less than half its album length). I think it entirely possible that there may be entire cues Goldsmith wrote (and perhaps recorded) that went unused in the film, and it's certainly possible that there were difficult-to-detect microedits in the five unreleased cues that are in the film, so more than 10 missing minutes is a distinct likelihood.
A final note is about the End Credits cue -- at first glance it might seem like unreleased music that Varese could have simply included from the film's soundtrack if no other source was available. However, when listening, it quickly becomes apparent that it is in fact an edit of the hopeful new theme from the final two original cues of the score, Blue Sky and Finale (as far as I can tell, half a minute from the end of Blue Sky, edited into the last minute and a quarter of Finale). The edit between the two is done decently well and would have been hard to detect if I didn't have the separate cues on CD. What I really wonder is if Goldsmith ever got the chance to write (and perhaps record) an original end credits cue for this film, which may have gone unused because it didn't fit the timing correctly or something...in any case, though I list the End Credits below I do not include them on my "total time" calculation. I do, however, include the full cue lengths for the four truncated cues that have their complete length as released by Varese, with the film lengths (matching the time index) in parentheses:
*unreleased on CD
0:13 - 2:17 1. Main Title / The Missile Site 2:05
A fantastically exciting main title cue builds and builds with a six-note motif culminating on brass as we are introduced the one of our country’s many missile launch sites
12:37 - 15:00 2. After the Holocaust 2:24
For the entire nuclear war sequence of the film there is no music at all; it re-enters the picture only when we see the aftermath of the war, with an unnerving and brilliant cue underscoring the desolate post-apocalyptic landscape. This cue features the first prominent use of synthesizers, possibly to represent this new alien world. Other features of this unmelodic cue include strange percussion and bowing effects, as well as echoplex. (All synths and overlays appear to be present on the cue as released by Varese, which may be because the cue plays without dialogue or sound effects in the film itself.)
16:30 - 17:58 3. Into the Valley 1:45 (1:28)
The exciting six-note motif from the main title returns and develops over the course of an exciting action cue as Tanner (Jan-Michael Vincent) evades some desert fauna on his motorcycle while Keegan (Paul Winfield) watches from afar. (Though the film version of this cue contains some micro edits, it also features the first prominent synth parts, which are missing from the Varese release.)
23:06 - 24:12 4. The Landmasters 1:49 (1:06)
A brilliant and uplifting brass-led cue heralds the reveal of the landmasters. The more subtle opening 40 seconds is dialed out of the film during a conversation between Tanner and Keegan, only appearing on the film soundtrack when the garage doors open.
25:12 - 26:27 5. Setting Out 1:15 *
The first unreleased cue of the score is some fantastic action as the two landmasters set off for Albany — the powerful brass returns with a development of the main theme, but this time joined by prominent synths. (This is possibly a cue that Varese omitted due to lack of those elements, as it would be a key layer missing.)
34:55 - 37:25 6. Reunited 2:29 *
The third and most exciting action cue of the score so far, as the two landmasters try and fail to contact each other, and Keegan finally improvises a solution. Just under a minute in, the most varied and complex synths of the score enter. (This cue without those key synths would lose almost all of its impact.)
45:58 - 47:15 7. The Rocky Mountains 1:17 *
Synths begin a unique cue (a highlight of the score) with hints of more action but a greater sense of mystery and exploration as well.
51:05 - 55:21 8. Cockroach Attack 4:33 (4:16)
The most lengthy cue of the score, somewhat truncated in the film, plays as a swarm of hungry (regular-sized) cockroaches hunt the protagonists, Keegan dying in the process. (I guess he had the misfortune of being black, even though he was by far the most interesting character in the film.) Queasy string and brass effects punctuate the initial attack, eventually leaping into more Stravinskian action about halfway through the cue, the main six note theme returning in the last minute and a half.
57:44 - 59:07 9. Finding Billy 1:24
A lighter, relatively sprightly action cue, also based around the main 6 note theme, as Tanner chases down a rock-throwing kid (played by none other than a young Jackie Earle Haley!)
62:00 - 64:02 10. Take the Wheel 2:02 *
A fantastically exciting action cue as more terrain is traversed in the landmaster. The middle section which underscores a montage of life within the land master is some of Goldsmith’s most lovely impressionistic writing in the score. (This was likely omitted by Varese because of the very important synths at the beginning and end.)
71:21 - 74:00 11. Wrong Order / On the Road Again 2:39 *
Suspense gives way to another exciting action cue as the group thwarts a threatening group of survivors, transitioning immediately to a second road trip montage. This is some more good sustained thematic development and would have been a great addition to Varese’s suite of the score. Since the cue is not particularly synth heavy, perhaps the master tapes for it were not salvageable.
77:29 - 78:55 12. The Realignment 1:26
This cue begins with pitch-bending brass and a return to the unsettling textures of “After the Holocaust”, as strange lights appear in the sky while the group stops at a junkyard for parts. In the film is is dialed in and out of the soundtrack.
84:27 - 85:22 13. Blue Sky 2:18 (:55)
This is the most substantially truncated cue in the film, only being dialed in during its brighter second half, which introduces a hopeful new theme. The cue’s title actually comes from a line of dialogue spoken by the boy, Billy, as he begins to notice the blue sky through the water still crashing over the land master’s windshield. There are some neat watery textures in the cue’s first half which would be fascinating to align with the film to see how they fit.
87:51 - 89:25 14. Finale 1:34
The theme introduced in Blue Sky gets a full orchestral flowering in this finale cue as Tanner and Billy drive towards Albany on their motorcycle, ending as they arrive at a group of welcoming people and the credits roll.
89:25 - 91:12 15. End Credits (edit) 1:47
This End Credits edit begins with the latter part of Blue Sky for the first half a minute, transitioning around 89:56 to the Finale cue again (beginning 18 seconds into it). I wonder if Goldsmith wrote an original cue for the end credits, or if to save on budget it was always going to be edited from the score. It is exceptionally strange to hear almost the exact same music played again right away.
TOTAL KNOWN SCORE TIME (omitting tracked End Credits edit): 29:00
Whether the synth parts have to be recreated/reperformed or not, this is one of my most desired Goldsmith restorations! What do you guys think, after having heard the previously unreleased music?
Yavar
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Other threads in this series:
FACE OF A FUGITIVE (1959) Advance Liner Notes:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6958TAKE HER, SHE'S MINE (1963) Complete Score Breakdown:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6966THE MAN (1972) Advance Liner Notes:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6967CRAWLSPACE (1972) Advance Liner Notes:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7213DO NOT FOLD, SPINDLE, OR MUTILATE (1971) Complete Score Breakdown:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7216The Waltons: THE CEREMONY (1972) Complete Score Breakdown:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7219DAMNATION ALLEY (1977) Advance Liner Notes:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7223PURSUIT (1972) Advance Liner Notes:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7236
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