Intrada Soundtrack Forum

INTRADA Announces:



THE BOY WHO COULD FLY
Composed and Conducted by BRUCE BROUGHTON
INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 295


Intrada presents the premiere release of Bruce Broughton's emotional, soaring, and exciting score to the 1986 Lorimar film The Boy Who Could Fly. The major theme for in the score is first evoked gently with harp, flute, guitar and strings, embracing the characters in a warm, romantic glow. This theme follows the story closely -- taking us from darkness to heartbreak to adventure, all with a aching, bittersweet edge. “In a movie like Young Sherlock Holmes, there are six to eight themes running through it and they’re used over and over again because the story is so complex. But The Boy Who Could Fly has a very simple story about a kid who seems to be very simple, but has a rich interior life,” Broughton says. Like all fairy tales, The Boy Who Could Fly has darkness at its center and director Nick Castle was open about portraying the devastating hurt of losing a loved one. Broughton carefully incorporated this, achieving a score that kept this pain either above or below the surface...but always there and delicately balanced.

At the time of the film, no soundtrack recording was released, although several months later Broughton rerecorded 34 minutes of the score with the Sinfonia of London for the Varese Sarabande label. Truncating may of the cues and in some cases simplifying the orchestrations, it never quite caught the spirit and detail of the complete score recorded in LA. This release includes the complete score, as well as the end title song by Stephen Bishop, "Walking on Air." Additionally, bonus tracks include “Fireworks” (from To Catch a Thief), composed by Lyn Murray for the 1955 Alfred Hitchcock classic and newly recorded by Broughton for a television sequence as well as the brief vocal “Back of the Bus” performed by the Coupe de Villes.

The Boy Who Could Fly begins as the Michaelson family tries for a fresh start in a new neighborhood. Single mom Charlene (Bonnie Bedelia) has inherited her late husband’s insurance job, but struggles with new technologies. Eight-year-old Alex (Fred Savage) has one mission—to get around the block without being harassed by bullies. Meanwhile, fourteen-year-old Milly (Lucy Deakins), the anchor of the family, notices the teenage boy next door (Jay Underwood). He’s silent and seemingly emotionless, precariously balanced on his windowsill or roof. His arms are outstretched, as if waiting for a gust of wind to lift him away to a better place. Thus begins Milly's mission to understand this mystery boy and uncover what is and isn't reality.

INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 295
Retail Price: $19.99
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For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.9332/.f

Couldn't help but double dip here.
Cant wait to hear the entire score.
Great job guys & gals @ Intrada.

Great to see this reissued, and I'm happy to see on FSM that you're keeping the excellent liner notes from the Percepto release (barring the track by track because that booklet was just too thick). I'm curious, is there a significant improvement in sound quality compared with that issue? (I know it was a promo of only 500 copies but I'm one of the lucky few who got it so I'm not in a rush to duplicate...)

Yavar

Yeah, I have the Percepto CD also - trying to decide whether to get the new Intrada version.

EDIT: ORDERED...:-;

One advantage is that this release is actually licensed for sale. The rights holder and AFM have been justly compensated and all is right with the world.

Thanks for the info Roger. And yes I do prefer to support licensed releases but I'm a poor college student now...

Yavar

I have just a curious question looking at the tracklist. On the Percepto release there is a track titled "Night" which is the 3rd track and plays in the film when Milly is upstairs in her room the first night in their new house. I don't see this track on the new release. I assume that "Late! (First Hint - revised)" is the music that plays in the morning when they are late for school, which was missing from the Percepto release. I'm sure I'll find out when my CD arrives, just curious what the story is on those 2 cues.

That's cool. I bet even then Roger could not imagine just how much more great stuff would be released in the coming years and that prying open the doors at Disney, Universal and Paramount would be possible.

We did get an abundance of great albums in the early 2000s, such as I Spy, The Conversation, 36 Hours, The Outfit, Brubaker, French Connection 1 & 2, The Illustrated Man, etc., but what we've gotten since from the Intrada label alone is incredible.

Just for the record I did purchase the Percepto album from Intrada years ago, perhaps when it was still a text form to send in your order. Also got other unlicensed titles like Young Sherlock Holmes, Deep Water, Swordfish, etc...and when I have a good regular income again I'll probably buy new licensed versions -- but I did support Intrada with those purchases!

Yavar

I missed out on the Percepto promo when it came out, so I had been waiting for somebody to turn their attention toward this score. I'm very pleased to finally have it. I took a break from defending the Frontier from Xur and the Ko-Dan armada to slow down and bliss on this score. I love the Varèse recording, but wasn't too familiar with the score outside of the film otherwise… it's a case where I'm glad to have both. The Sinfonia of London recording is definitely an album, with more rounded edges as opposed to the sharper and sometimes darker original soundtrack recording, which I feel has a more intimate feel than the album recording, which is a better presentation of the music purely as music. But like all Broughton scores, it's very attractive and engaging even when it deals with the more raw emotions.