INTRADA
Announces:
CITY OF FEAR
Composed and Conducted by JERRY GOLDSMITH
INTRADA Special Collection Volume 170
Intrada's release of Jerry Goldsmith's score for the 1959 Columbia Pictures motion picture City of Fear marks the appearance of his earliest film score on CD. For this film noir thriller, Goldsmith's music supplies the sensation of an alien, poisonous force constantly at work, and the inevitable drumbeat of suspense that drives the narrative. Goldsmith’s music is highly illustrative, “hitting” specific actions and plot points with an orchestra devoid of violins and violas, giving the score a brutal, unsentimental quality. City Of Fear a perfect, modernistic film noir score: cold, unsettling, and bursting with potential violence Although an early score for Goldsmith, it features such familiar devices as the striking of chimes in unison with muted trumpets, the extensive use of wooden xylophone during rhythmic passages, the cuica (a Brazilian friction drum) and numerous metallic percussion effects, rhythmic ostinatos that drive action cues, melodic ideas being built from short motifs and significant passages for the composer’s favored solo trumpet. These and other beloved Goldsmith signatures were introduced in City Of Fear and anticipate his use of similar devices a few years later in The Satan Bug.
For this premiere release of Jerry Goldsmith’s second motion picture score, Intrada had access to the ¼˝ full-track (mono) session tapes made in August of 1958, courtesy The tapes contained virtually every cue Goldsmith recorded with the exception of the last few seconds of “The Search” and one other brief cue (“Motel”). This latter cue had to be transferred from the music & effects-only tracks, which happily contained minimal effects with the music getting prominence.
City of Fear opens on a lonely road outside Los Angeles, an ambulance containing escaped convict Vince Ryker (Vince Edwards) and a dying accomplice races along in the aftermath of a violent heist. Ryker is convinced he’s landed “a pound of 100% pure snow”—but the metal cylinder he killed for actually contains radioactive Cobalt 60. As he struggles to find a buyer for the stash Ryker gradually succumbs to the substance’s radioactivity, and begins to endanger everyone around him. Police and a radioactivity expert lead a manhunt for the criminal, eventually cordoning off Los Angeles itself to prevent him from escaping.
INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 170
Retail Price: $19.99
AVAILABLE NOW
For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7063/.f
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