I eagerly awaited the release of the latest STAR TREK movie and was not disappointed. The music however remains another matter…

Oddly, the genesis of the STAR TREK movies was not unlike that of the TV series itself. STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, although impressive, lacked – ‘something’. Some say the spirit and humour of the original series was absent, that it was a little sombre. Some called it ‘the motionless picture’ or even ‘the emotionless picture’. But it was still successful enough to generate a second movie. But this time there had to be ray guns and villains and space battles etc. This had been the case with STAR TREK’s original pilot episode THE CAGE. Whilst being an excellent science fiction story the execs deemed it too ‘cerebral’ for its perceived audience, but they were impressed enough by it to commission a second pilot, which was unprecedented at that time, ‘but this time we want ray guns and villains and space battles’ etc., in other words WAGON TRAIN in space.

This of course was my first introduction to the music of the STAR TREK universe, a realm I’ve learned more about in the forty years (my God is it that long?) since that introduction. The musical groundwork for the series was provided by Alexander Courage who also provided episodic music for LOST IN SPACE, another current and competing series at the time, and that memorable STAR TREK theme. Now, I always thought that the theme was incongruous with the rest of the music for the episodes, even as a child. It sounded like a dance band tune and I imagined the bridge crew playing the various instruments: Sulu on keyboards; Kirk on bongos; Spock on maracas and Uhura wailing away in the background. What an image. The theme I could never take seriously. The episodic themes and motifs however have remained with me for life, especially the additions from Sol Kaplan, Gerald Fried and in particular Fred Steiner. THAT was the sound of the STAR TREK universe and different to anything else on TV at the time. They were the leitmotifs, a technique that John Williams would later use in his STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES scores: the villains (usually Klingons) had there own themes; Spock had his own little pieces and the triumphant hero his. There was always also the humorous tag scene at the end of the show with its own specific score.

After a 12 year break came STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, a long longed for resurrection of the show, and a very different musical approach. The great Jerry Goldsmith produced a majestic Vaughan-Williams style score, and one of his best, to accompany the new ‘human adventure’, which, on screen, even gave a little nod to Courage’s original theme during an early ‘Captain’s Log’ sequence. Sadly this nod is not present on any subsequent releases of the soundtrack. Goldsmith also, after a little prompting by the movie’s director Robert Wise, eventually came up with another memorable theme that became the theme for this movie, the NEXT GENERATION adventures on TV and four more STAR TREK movies.

As I said earlier, though STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE was successful, the follow-up had to be more adventuresome and more in keeping with the style of the original show.

Harve Bennett, the producer and writer of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, arguably still the best of all the STAR TREK movies, watched all the episodes of the show to get the correct feel of it and even resurrected an old adversary of Kirk’s as the titular antagonist. The music too had to be more action-packed. Composer James Horner was approached and was basically told he could score the movie as long as it sounded like his score to BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS. Horner came up with an appropriately swashbuckling score in keeping with STAR TREK creator Gene Roddenberry’s original inspiration for his starship captain, one Horatio Hornblower, and fitted in with the Napoleonic naval cut of the new crew uniforms. He also re-introduced Alexander Courage’s TV series fanfare into the opening title so we knew exactly where we were. And this time, sure enough, we had ray guns and villains and space battles etc. Horner continued with the next movie THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, the two films basically forming a two-part episode.

STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME brought a much needed shot of humour into the franchise with our valiant crew travelling back in time in an invisible Klingon Warbird to bring two humpback whales back to the future to save the Earth from an alien probe. Where else eh? This time the score was provided by Leonard Rosenman – how ‘bout that? Three Leonards in one movie (I’ll let you work it out). A bit of an oddity in the STAR TREK soundtrack canon; when not in his discordant FANTASTIC VOYAGE/PLANET OF THE APES movie mode, his main themes were a little too reminiscent of Hobbits and his score for the animated LORD OF THE RINGS for my liking, though he did incorporate far more of Alexander Courage’s original theme than had either Goldsmith or Horner.

Albeit for what turned out to be a lacklustre affair, Jerry Goldsmith returned to score STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER, reprising his MOTION PICTURE theme, though now prefacing it with Courage’s TV series fanfare (as had THE NEXT GENERATION on TV), something he would continue to do with subsequent STAR TREK movies. Now this begs a question: Why did they go back to the original MOTION PICTURE theme, which was now, with THE NEXT GENERATION, acknowledged as the representation of STAR TREK on TV? Simply, they tied in the old with the new, but it does get a bit befuddled as the old crew had that theme way before the NEXT GEN did, but I suppose that’s by the by. The theme linked the cinematic and TV versions of the franchise together. But then, for the next two cinematic adventures, they ditched it.

STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY was a much darker venture, dealing with political intrigue and assassination. All previous scores were cast to the winds and Cliff Eidelman’s score is an appropriately mysterious and brooding affair during the opening credits (I thought at one point I’d walked in on a BATMAN movie), throwing in a few Holstian ‘Mars’ barrages and echoes, whether intentional or not, of ‘Ilia’s Theme’ from THE MOTION PICTURE, but ending with a wonderfully triumphant flourish as the cast members literally sign off during the closing credits, signifying their last mission, and movie, together as the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

Next up was STAR TREK: GENERATIONS, the first movie to feature the STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION cast, and also the first to drop the numbering system. Here we find the two famous captains of the Enterprise, James T. Kirk and Jean Luc Picard, brought face to face through a quirk in time and space to fight a common enemy. A wasted opportunity as far as I’m concerned but the NEXT GENERATION cast brought with them to the big screen their TV score composer Dennis McCarthy, and a splendid job he did too. McCarthy had scored NEXT GENERATION, and would go on to score many episodes of DEEP SPACE NINE, STAR TREK: VOYAGER (again featuring a main theme by Jerry Goldsmith) and ENTERPRISE. In fact he has composed more hours of music for STAR TREK than any other composer.

Jerry Goldsmith returned again to score the next movie, STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT, probably the best of the NEXT GENERATION cast’s forays onto the big screen and one of Jerry’s best STAR TREK scores (second only to his score for THE MOTION PICTURE) with some really heartfelt melodies and character themes, and of course bringing back once again the MOTION PICTURE/NEXT GENERATION theme, which would remain for the rest of the NEXT GENERATION crew’s cinematic outings.

STAR TREK: INSURRECTION was sadly another lily-livered entry into the series with mediocre villains and no real sense of jeopardy for our heroes, but once again scored by Jerry Goldsmith to give it some bravado and kudos.

The final NEXT GENERATION cast movie (so far) was STAR TREK: NEMESIS again scored by Jerry Goldsmith. Overall a disappointing finale for the NEXT GENERATION crew, but though the film is not, the score is memorable.

Now we come to the latest offering, simply entitled STAR TREK.

Now, I’m in a quandary over this. When I heard Michael Giacchino was going to be scoring it I was very excited. I had loved his work on THE INCREDIBLES where he had parodied John Barry’s Bond scores beautifully, and I couldn’t wait to hear what he would do with the music of STAR TREK. Basically he didn’t do anything with it. The score is totally original. No nods to Kaplan, Fried or Steiner, which was disappointing, as the film itself used heavily the sound effects from the original TV show, transporters, bridge sounds etc., even Majel Barratt-Rodenberry as the voice of the ship’s computer, so some musical acknowledgement to the old show would have been nice too, but not to be – yet. It’s a good score; suitably dramatic with a strong recurring motif, though I’m not sure whose theme it is meant to be: Kirk’s or Nero’s. But here’s my quandary. The score is powerful, action packed, tense and driven (and a bit gothic in parts – bit more SPIDERMAN than BATMAN this time) but then we segue at the end into the old TV show theme by Courage. Now, whilst it admittedly raised a smile, it just didn’t fit. But then, as I said, I could never take it seriously in the first place, so maybe it was appropriate after all, and I can still keep listening to it happily, and it did feel as if STAR TREK had come home.

I can’t think of any other film franchise that has been represented by so many different musical styles. As Spock would have it – Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination.
Live Long and Prosper.

Greetings once more and welcome to another of my soundtrack round-ups, this time featuring GET SMART, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, MEET DAVE, TRAITOR, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, BODY OF LIES, SPOOKS and INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL.

So, let’s head ‘em up and move ‘em out…

GET SMART

Original Soundtrack by Trevor Rabin

Label: Varese Sarabande

GET SMART, directed by Peter Segal and based on the 1960s TV series, follows protagonist Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) and his partner Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) on their mission to defeat crime syndicate KAOS and save the world from evil domination. The score is provided by South African born Trevor Rabin whose other scores include the action thrillers CON-AIR and ARMAGEDDON, the eerie Exorcist: The Beginning and Disney favourite Remember the Titans. He also scored the blockbuster hits National Treasure, Snakes on a Plane, Flyboys, and Bad Boys 2.

Rabin had never seen or heard of the series prior to working on the film adaptation and literally watched full seasons of the show on YouTube, non-stop, before interviewing with the director. In addition to writing the score he created a rock rendition of Irving Szathmary’s original GET SMART TV theme. In composing the score Rabin primarily has used a dramatic action approach as opposed to a comedic approach as he wanted the music to be the ‘straight man’. The result is a highly listenable-to rock and jazz orientated album with an appropriate cool, sixties spy-jive and an easy stand-alone from the movie, which is always a good benchmark. Fulfilling its function and also succeeding as an entity in itself is a rare thing as far as soundtracks go.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

Original Television Score by Christophe Beck

Label: Rounder Records

Emmy-award winning Christophe Beck composed, mixed and produced this latest BUFFY soundtrack. Beck has scored most of the BUFFY series, including Once More, With Feeling, the musical episode and soundtrack that has sold over 200,000 copies in the U.S. alone. Beck has also scored many films including We Are Marshall, What Happens in Vegas, Under the Tuscan Sun and one of my personal favourites, the Michael Douglas/Kiefer Sutherland thriller THE SENTINEL. He also composed the music for ANGEL, the television spin-off to BUFFY.

To come up with new motifs, melodies and themes and still maintain the ambience of such a long running series must be a daunting task. Beck does this masterfully. His music aids the series immeasurably; I would even go so far as to say his music makes the series the obvious success it is. Let’s face it, a show about a teenage high-school girl who fights vampires and other ghouls on the side could easily have taken the easy route and played it for laughs, and which would have probably run out of steam after one season. But Beck’s music, as with all the music contributed to the show by the other composers, gives it the gravitas it needs to hold your attention. His is the tie that binds it all together. This album contains all the mischievousness, ominousity, excitement, solemnity and fun of the series. The score contains 29 tracks, all drawn from seasons 2, 3, 4 and 5. You need never buy another Buffy album.

MEET DAVE

Original Soundtrack by John Debney

Label: Pinnacle Records

Academy Award-nominated John Debney provides the score for this sci-fi comedy which stars Eddie Murphy and follows a crew of miniature aliens as they operate a spaceship in human form (Murphy) and attempt to save their home planet. Debney’s ability to create memorable work across a variety of genres has led him to score such films as comedies Elf, Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty; the cutesy horse-opera DREAMER to the action adventures The Scorpion King, ZATHURA and Spy Kids (1 & 2) as well as the score for the controversial The Passion of the Christ.

This is from the outset plainly in the ZATHURA, feel-good family movie arena and consequently the music is nice and safe and does exactly what it says on the can, but as expertly crafted as it is, there is nothing to differentiate it from scores of similar scores (sorry) that are out there, and in some instances is somewhat TOO reminiscent of some. John Debney tells me it was a very tongue-in-cheek movie to work on, so maybe I’m missing a point somewhere and doing him a disservice.

It’s pleasant enough though.

TRAITOR

Original Soundtrack by Mark Kilian

Label: Varese Sarabande

TRAITOR is a taut international thriller set against a jigsaw puzzle of covert counter-espionage operations. Kilian has written an exotic and riveting score for the film. Although he has only a handful of film scores to his credit, his music has already received critical acclaim from his African-inspired score for the Oscar winning film Tsotsi to his Indian score for Before the Rains. Like Trevor Rabin, Kilian is South African and returned to those roots for inspiration in composing this score, and anyone who remembers the music that accompanied James Bond’s frenetic pursuit of the villain at the beginning of CASINO ROYALE, titled African Rundown on that soundtrack album, will have some idea of its flavour. His obviously deep understanding and appreciation of world music, jazz, electronica and modern classical music has formed a musical style which has been described as rhythmically sophisticated, evocative and driving, while retaining a raw emotional simplicity.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. It is exciting, evocative and, most importantly, distinctive and refreshing, and as you know, I like any soundtrack that fulfils its function yet stands alone from the movie in is own right. More please.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

Original Soundtrack by Mark Snow

Label: Decca Records

Award-winning composer and “X-files” theme creator Mark Snow returns to the paranormal with The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Directed by X-Files creator Chris Carter, the film reunites original cast members Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Andersen). Last year Snow was also the only American nominated for a César Award (the French equivalent to an Academy Award) for his score to the French romantic comedy COEURS (PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES), but more about that in Part 2. Snow’s name is synonymous with some of the most popular TV themes over the years, including STARSKY & HUTCH, and he continues his TV work with the scores to Ghost Whisperer and Smallville.

Anyone who’s ever watched an episode of X-FILES knows exactly what to expect here, and Snow doesn’t disappoint, presenting a totally original score. In fact the soundtrack is a lot less disappointing than the movie. Curiously we don’t even hear a whisper of his X-FILES theme until the end of track 20, then a full version, the UNKLE variation, as track 21, with the main melody played on bass strings, giving it an almost far- eastern accent reminiscent of Williams’ MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, which is very interesting, and perhaps a clue to its musical roots. They could’ve left off the two vocal tracks at the end for me though. They ruin the ambience the rest of the album has set up.

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS

Original Soundtrack by Kevin Kiner

Label: Sony Classic

Film music aficionados might know composer Kiner’s work for feature films including Madison, Wing Commander, The Other Side of Heaven, Leprechaun, Tremors III, and The Pest, and he has composed music for network television series and shows such as CSI: Miami, Star Trek: Enterprise, Stargate SG-1, The Invisible Man, Walker Texas Ranger, The Visitor, and Dead at 21. He’s also received Emmy nominations for outstanding achievement in music composition for Johnny Quest and Stuart Little.

Kiner, to be honest very bravely, has taken on the musical baton of the Star Wars universe and created the music for this all-new animated feature film, which was also followed by the television series debut in the autumn.

The album kicks off with typical STAR WARS-ian fayre, with a slightly altered version of the main theme and the usual Williams-esque cues to introduce us to the locales and characters in this, albeit animated, STAR WARS universe (though almost everything you saw in the last three movies was animated anyway, so this movie/series just dispenses with the actors, which would worry me if I were an actor…). Then we hit track 5 – ‘Obi-Wan to the Rescue’ – which employs a heavy rock guitar riff never heard in a STARS WARS movie before. From here on the album treads very different ground than any other SW incarnation, blending GALACTICA-like world music ethnicity, Arnold/Bond and Powell/Bourne action motifs with John Williams style arrangements to get a grip back on the fact that it is a SW movie after all. It’s a fascinating mix. It’s almost a conglomerate of every action movie score of the last ten years. I’ll leave this one for the listeners to judge.

BODY OF LIES

Original Score by Marc Streitenfield

Label: Varese Sarabande

The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe and is about a CIA operative (DiCaprio) that is sent to Jordan to track a high-ranking terrorist. The spy is aided by the head of Jordan’s covert operations (Crowe) in an uneasy alliance that leads to a cultural and moral clash between the men.

This is German-born Streitenfeld’s third score in a row and eighth consecutive music collaboration with director Ridley Scott This string-laden score, laced with north African percussion and other instruments from the region, captures the mood and location of the film perfectly. Now this is where reviewing these things gets tricky: Was my last statement correct? Does the score capture, or does it actually create, the mood of a film? This of course varies from movie to movie, and here I believe it’s the former. Director Scott is well able to establish his own mood and also able to employ a musician who he knows can provide exactly the right kind of accompaniment to his images. Here the word collaboration is well used. This album is a fine example of images and music working hand in hand, though here of course you’ve only got the music! If you want comparisons, then Desplat’s SYRIANA is up there, along with TRAITOR listed above. It’s a powerful and evocative score.

SPOOKS

Original Score by Lalo Schifrin & Andy Garfield

Label: Aleph Records

This has to be a first. Never before have I reviewed the soundtrack to a book. Lalo Schifrin (who needs no introduction to any of my regular readers) and Andy Garfield (HATCHET) have provided this score to the comic-turned-graphic-novel SPOOKS, which was co-created by Lalo’s son Ryan Schifrin (ABOMINABLE).

The two composers share the album with four tracks each and with Lalo taking the first and final tracks where he is in battle mode, the last track almost being a more frenetic version of his Tiger Tank track from KELLY’S HEROES. There are some great titles for the tracks also: ‘Headless Jack’; ‘The Witch’s Manor and ‘The Department of Supernatural Defence’, a piece of music which could easily be another of Lalo’s 70s TV themes.

Aleph Records have released a limited edition CD, limited to 500 copies, available exclusively on www.schifrin.com. The first 100 copies of the CD sold via the website will be autographed by Lalo. It’s a must have simply for the curiosity and uniqueness of it.

INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

Original Soundtrack by John Williams

Label: Concord Records

Nineteen years after the last Indiana Jones flick, John Williams actually returns to themes he wrote 27 years ago for RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, notably ‘The Raiders March’ of course, ‘Marion’s Theme’ and his leitmotif for the Ark of the Covenant itself, here reprised as ‘The Spell of the Skull’. This is a typical Williams swashbuckling/action/adventure soundtrack and he is on top form and thoroughly enjoying being back scoring for our eponymous hero. The music as presented on the album does not however follow the chronology of events in the movie; ‘A Whirl Through Academe’ comes after ‘The Journey to Akator’ and ‘The Jungle Chase’ comes before ‘Orellana’s Cradle’ and ‘Grave Robbers’, with ‘Ants!’ a further five tracks on, whereas ‘Ants!’ should come immediately following ‘The Jungle Chase’. Whilst I appreciate the impulse to present the pieces of music in a more varied and perhaps more pleasing listening format, to me this detracts from the growth of the themes presented. I like to listen to a soundtrack and follow, in my mind’s eye, the action taking place. This certainly does not correspond to a ‘soundtrack’ as described. The tracks can easily of course be rearranged into the right playing order by those discerning enough who wish so to do. That said, the music from John Williams is, as always excellent, and I know that nothing I can say will prevent Indy or John Williams fans from adding this to their collection.

That’s all for now folks. See you in Part the Second, and as always – keep listening.

Greetings. Here we are again with another assortment of recent filmusic releases.
Being the summer season we have of course the summer blockbusters (or so their distributors hope), but as you know, I also try and include some little, more obscure gems.

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN
Original Soundtrack composed by Harry Gregson-Williams
Label: Walt Disney Records

The inevitable follow up the ‘The Cat, The Cow and The Closet’ (sorry C.S. fans), PRINCE CASPIAN continues the story of the four kids from WWII England who are occasionally whisked away through a wardrobe to adventures in the magical kingdom of Narnia. One year has passed in the real world, but when the kids return to Narnia they find 1300 years have passed, Narnia has been conquered and is under the rule of a merciless tyrant.

Darker in tone than its predecessor, Gregson-Williams’ score for PRINCE is suitably more downbeat but more dramatic and heroic than its pastoral-laced forerunner. There’s plenty of action here, with some deft use of strings and chorale (which we’ve come to expect in these fantasy epics). Gregson-Williams returns to the themes from the first movie with slight variations, and brings in new ones for the new characters, predominantly for the eponymous hero Caspian. The album also features tracks from Regina Spektor, Oren Lavie, Switchfoot and Hanke Hukkelberg.

It’s a grand, luxurious score which will fit nicely on your shelf alongside PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, MASTER AND COMMANDER, ZATHURA and LOTR, if you get my drift.

SLEEPWALKING
Original Soundtrack by Christopher Young
Label: Lakeshore Records

Award-winning composer Christopher Young has done another wonderful job with his score to SLEEPWALKING, the tale of an abandoned 12 year-old girl who, with her slow-witted uncle, goes off in search of her missing mother.

With a cast that includes Charlize Theron, Nick Stahl, Woody Harrelson and Dennis Hopper the movie is… well it’s slow, dreary, disappointing and predictable. Christopher Young’s score captures that mood perfectly as it too is slow, dreary, disappointing and predictable.
Just like the movie, you expect it to get better, but it doesn’t. It just plods on, each track sounding like the last, maybe in a different key or at a slightly different tempo, like some melancholic guitar strummer making it up as he goes along. When it’s not doing that it’s just long-held subdued chords.

If only all movies and movie scores could go hand in glove like this one it would make my job a lot easier. Nice work Chris.

WALL-E
Original Score composed by Thomas Newman
Label: Disney Records

Thomas Newman (FINDING NEMO, AMERICAN BEAUTY) is a member of the film-scoring Newman dynasty. His father and uncle are the legendary composer and conductor Alfred and Lionel Newman respectively; his brother is composer David Newman and his cousin is composer/singer/songwriter/recording artist Randy Newman.

His score for WALL-E, the wordless tale of the last waste disposal robot on Earth that, when they all left, nobody turned off, is a pleasant delight. His mix of numerous musical styles is inspired, as are his introductions of tracks by Michael Crawford from Hello Dolly (Uncle Lionel incidentally conducted the music for the 1969 movie) and Louis Armstrong’s La Vie en Rose. These are nicely interspersed between lonely, romantic and heroic action themes, ‘dialogue’ from Wall-E himself and even a store jingle. The album wraps up with a Peter Gabriel number especially written for the movie.

A very nice listen. The sleeve and sleeves are also, appropriately, made from recycled material.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
Original Score composed by Andrew Lockington
Label: New Line Records

I’m going to have a frustrating time writing this review as my spell checker is going to insist on correcting the spelling of ‘Center’. I’m writing in Brit-speak, where we spell it ‘Centre’. I have the same problem with ‘Theater/Theatre’. Why can’t you people learn to spell? And don’t get me started on ‘colour’… Ah well. Here goes.

JTTCOTE (Ah! That’s solved it) is yet another remake of the famous Jules Verne story and the first time an entire film has been shot in 3D. Others have had 3D sections, but not an entire film.

(As a side note, my grandfather, Thomas Henry Pemberton, was a photographer in northern England in the early 1920s. He even had his own movie-camera, the first in that part of the country, and used to make his own newsreels of local football matches and other events. He also came up with an invention, which he patented in 1922, for a spectacular new form of stereoscopic picture. This did away with the Victorian style of stereoscopy, which entailed two pictures side by side made to coalesce in relief by the use of a viewer (like the old View-masters we had as kids). Instead, it is claimed, the Pemberton invention could make any photography look three dimensional through a new viewing lens. Those who saw them say the illusion was complete and extraordinary, as though you could walk around the room or down that street. Later on, when early in the talkie era Hollywood was looking for new gimmicks, Warner Brothers showed a brief interest in the invention for a possible application in movies. But it turned out that Thomas Henry had never been able to afford to patent his invention in America, and so it could be appropriated with impunity. In any case, for whatever reason, technical or financial, it was never used in the cinema. Pity. I could’ve been rolling in it…)

A relative newcomer to movie scoring, Lockington does an ok job here, keeping the action moving yet light enough not to overwhelm it. There is never any real sense of dread or menace; this being a fast paced family adventure (both on and off the screen). I did on first listening have trouble identifying that recurring theme that puts a stamp on a movie. There was a lot of charging about and scaling chords, but no identifying motif came through. Even the great Jerry Goldsmith sometimes had problems with this. When scoring STAR TREK: THE MOTION(less) PICTURE he’d written a beautiful and majestic piece of music to accompany the new Enterprise leaving the space-dock for the first time. Director Robert Wise listened to it and said basically “Yeah, that’s beautiful Jerry. But where’s the theme?” and Jerry went away and wrote the piece we hear now and which has been the iconic theme for the Star Trek franchise ever since. However, listening to JTTCOTE a second time I did pick it up, but it did take me a while to isolate it.

I have to say, like the movie, which takes a classic and exciting adventure story with nothing at all wrong with it, decides that the characters should now be a family, puts a kid into it and turns it into a watered down, slightly dangerous family picnic, it’s a little formulaic and does what it needs to do, but there is nothing inspired in it.

It was nice to have an excuse to tell you about my granddad though.

HAROLD & KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY
Original Soundtrack by George S. Clinton
Label: Lakeshore Records

Another comedy from John Cho and Kal Penn as the pot-smoking, multi-cultural slackers who this time have a run in with, and a run from, the authorities when they are mistaken for terrorists whilst trying to board a plane to Amsterdam.

Although it is a gross-humoured, riotous and raunchy comedy, the score quite rightly takes itself very seriously. Clinton himself says “In comedy, I write music like the straight man and let the characters make the film funny”. Clinton has scored all the AUSTIN POWERS movies and has recently re-united with Powers star Mike Myers on THE LOVE GURU. Last year he received an Emmy nomination for his score for HBO’s BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE.

This is a great action score and despite Clinton’s claims, there are some comedic moments in his score where he interpolates the American national anthem and even slips in a piece of Bernard Herrmann’s PSYCHO shower scene screeches.

Well worth a listen away from the visuals of the movie.

SUDDEN IMPACT
Original Score by Lalo Schifrin
Label: Aleph Records

Here for the first time is the complete score for the fourth in the Clint Eastwood/Harry Callahan series and the third to be scored by Lalo Schifrin, him being unavailable for THE ENFORCER which was scored by Jerry Fielding. Aleph Records, Lalo’s own label, have so far released the soundtracks to all these movies and my reviews of the previous releases, and a complete feature on Lalo’s many other scores, can be found in past Soundtrack columns in Films in Review.

It had been ten years since Lalo had scored a Harry Callahan movie and he was aware that times and musical tastes had changed. Also the character had grown older and the score wisely reflects all this. There are still many of Lalo’s typical trademark action and underlying tension cues, cool piano and jazz riffs, and even a bit of pop/rock, but here also is a touch of romance as the relationship builds between Harry and his murderous antagonist (Sondra Locke). And we also get a little glimpse of Harry’s original theme here and there.

If you’re a Schifrin fan this is a must have, if not, it’s still a great collection of music and I highly recommend it.

Finally I’d like to dedicate this column with a fleeting and totally inadequate reference to two gentleman and excellent movie and TV composers that have recently left us.

Alexander Courage, ‘Sandy’, best known for his iconic theme to STAR TREK, and who also made great compositional contributions to the original TREK’s then competing series, the Irwin Allen produced LOST IN SPACE, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA and LAND OF THE GIANTS. He also wrote many scores for THE WALTONS. He was also a phenomenally busy, often unsung, orchestrator ranging from ANNIE GET YOUR GUN in 1950, plus many other subsequent classic Hollywood musicals, through to HOLLOW MAN in 2000. Please look up this particular aspect of the man – you will genuinely be astonished at the body of his work. If you’d like to learn more, check out John Williams’ tribute here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH0aSwFKacw
You can make your own way from there, and it’s well worth the Trek…

Earle Hagen, who composed Emmy Award winning episodic scores for TREK’s contemporary series I SPY, also wrote original music for an amazing number of TV shows in his long career, including the theme tunes of hit U.S. series THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, THAT GIRL, THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW, GOMER PYLE, THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, THE MOD SQUAD and the piece ‘Harlem Nocturne’, used as the theme for the MIKE HAMMER series. He also contributed to episodic scores to many others including PLANET OF THE APES (TV). He also shared an Oscar nomination with Lionel Newman for his work on the Marilyn Monroe film LET’S MAKE LOVE in 1960. Also, like Courage, he was a prolific movie orchestrator in the 1950s. For more information go to http://www.earlehagen.net/

Both men were 88. Thanks to you both and rest easy; you’ve both more than earned it.

That’s all for now folks.

As always – Keep listening.

Sorry about the title. Sounds like something the ranch hands would be doing in BONANZA, THE BIG VALLEY or THE HIGH CHAPPARAL doesn’t it? Or maybe you’re not old enough to remember such things, or have just never studied. These were great TV series – big, heroic pioneering families tending and defending their huge ranches in the old west – yet none of them ever seeming to do any actual work. They spent most of their time squabbling, fighting ‘injuns’ and other assorted bad guys, and mainly eating. Oh, and chewing out the ‘houseboy’. Sometimes you might see one of them hunkily, and complainingly, banging in a fencepost to keep in some off-screen ‘steers’ whilst his ‘off duty’ comrades happened to pass him, delivering lots of ‘nyah-nyah-dee-dah-dah’ humour, as cowboys do (did?) when ‘going into town for supplies’ (and no doubt a good time with the gals in the saloon, ‘Yee-hah!’) and thereby instigating that particular week’s episode. It was also, of course, never divulged how any of these ranches made the money to pay for all these shenanigans or for them to be able to afford such an extensive wardrobe (both in clothing AND actual space) so that they might each wear the exact, same, personal attire for several years running… Anyhow, I digress.

Herewith is my usual mixed bag of (reasonably) unrelated offerings, featuring:

ENCHANTED; AMERICAN GANGSTER; MR. MAGORIUM’S WONDER EMPORIUM; MARTIAN CHILD; THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB; TOOTH & NAIL; THE DEATHS OF IAN STONE; THE SPY WITH MY FACE; THE AVENGERS; RUN, FAT BOY, RUN; ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS; NAVAJO JOE; THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN.

ENCHANTED
Score composed by Alan Menken
Songs by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz
Original Soundtrack from Walt Disney

I don’t like musicals. Especially Disney musicals. This album starts with the song ‘True Love’s Kiss’ – If a computer were to write a Disney song, it would never achieve the subtlety of this masterful piece of composition. As soon as it started I saw the Magic Kingdom, Tinkerbell, Mary Poppins, Cinderella, Snow White ‘la-la-la’ing around the cottage, then there was the cute little dialogue from the equally cutesy characters and animals, the background character chorus, the hero joining in the duet and building up to the big crescendo finale. The lot. All deliberate of course, but it was scary and touched something I thought long forgotten and beaten out of me. I had a smile on my face – and this was only the first track. What makes it all the more scary is that it worked. I have to admire how Alan Menken has not only written some melodic and memorable new ballads, but has also captured the classic essence of what is undoubtedly a neo-vintage Disney movie soundtrack. I also have to admire the demonically psychological Disney brains behind this score. Maybe I’m being cynical (hah! Heaven forbid), but this did worryingly strike a chord of indoctrination; comfort blanket; everything’s okay; the world is still wonderful as long as there’s old mom’s apple pie and that big rainbow over those big round ears and that big, pointy turreted castle. I am told that ENCHANTED is an homage to classic Disney films, so all this is presumably allowed. Nay, positively encouraged.

Eight-times Academy Award winner Menken is of course no stranger to the ‘Wonderful World of Disney’ having scored THE LITTLE MERMAID, ALADDIN, BEAUTY & THE BEAST, HERCULES, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and POCAHONTAS, the latter two with whom he also collaborated with Stephen Schwartz.
The first half of the album features the songs from the movie, whilst the rest comprises the thematic and dramatic orchestral score, plus a music video for your CD Rom and the lyrics to the songs so’s you can all join in. The later songs rightly become a little more streetwise as the action moves from animated world to real world, and the two are linked together, I must say, enchantingly. I was expecting to have to find a sick bag, but, I have to say, even though I knew I was being manipulated, I was enchanted (have I used that word too many times already? Sorry… pass me the anti-Disney-dote…please. And get that damned fairy out of my face!).

AMERICAN GANGSTER
Composed by Marc Streitenfeld
Original Score from Varese Sarabande

Set in the Seventies, the crime drama follows a detective (Russell Crowe) who works to bring down the drug empire of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), a Harlem kingpin who smuggles heroin into the country by hiding it in the coffins of American soldiers returning from the Vietnam War.

Appropriately it is a dark, moody score using an 80-piece orchestra (which is only ‘one element of many’ explains Streitenfeld) as long with other acoustic pre-records. There are no retro 70s elements here either, but a rhythmic, percussive and haunting sense of menace, doing what a score should – underlying all the on screen action, setting the pace, conveying the suspense, all of which it does with a misleading simplicity. Some sections also reminded me of some of David Arnold’s less energetic Bond scoring; those little ‘clock-ticking’ suspense scenes. It’s also very satisfying to listen to away from the movie. The score was nominated at this year’s BAFTAs (beaten to it by LA VIE EN ROSE).

Born in Munich, Germany, Streitenfeld relocated to Los Angeles at the age of 19, first working as assistant to Hans Zimmer, then as a freelance music editor and music supervisor on high profile features. Streitenfeld was nominated for a Golden Reel Award for his work on Ridley Scott’s KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. It was his long creative relationship with Scott that led to the offer of composing his first feature score A GOOD YEAR. Prior to his work as a composer, Streitenfeld had collaborated with Scott as music supervisor and music editor on several projects, including MATCHSTICK MEN, BLACK HAWK DOWN and GLADIATOR. AMERICAN GANGSTER marks Streitenfeld’s seventh consecutive music collaboration and second film score with Scott. I look forward to more works from this man.

(This release is not to be confused with a soundtrack album previously released by Island Def Jam which contained a sample of the score.)

From the sublime to the ridiculous…

MR. MAGORIUM’S WONDER EMPORIUM
Composed by Aaron Zigman and Alexandre Desplat
Original Soundtrack from Varese Sarabande

In a prolific five years Aaron Zigman has scored twenty-five movies, with ten released last year including THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB and MARTIAN CHILD (for both see below). As for Alexandre Desplat, I said in an earlier review of his SYRIANA score that you should buy anything composed by this man with confidence. A bold statement I agree, and I’m delighted to say so far that this advice still holds true. His collaboration with Aaron Zigman (JOHN Q., THE NOTEBOOK, ALPHA DOG) has produced a lively mix of drama, suspense, melancholy, whimsy and a hint of 40s jazz (a mix which reminded me a little of James Horner’s score for BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED. Zigman also scored THE NOTEBOOK in the musical style of the 1940s, performing it with vintage instruments and using period-specific recording instruments for an authentic sound). A classically trained pianist, Zigman began his musical career as a producer and arranger for notable popular music stars including Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, Tina Turner, Carly Simon, Christina Aguilera and Seal. Expanding his repertoire to include film, Zigman began to arrange and orchestrate for features such as MULAN, THE BIRDCAGE, LICENCE TO KILL, and POCAHONTAS, leading to his collaborations with JOHN Q. and THE NOTEBOOK director Nick Cassavettes. Desplat, who requested that Zigman co-composed this score with him, has of course also scored GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, THE QUEEN, THE PAINTED VEIL and THE GOLDEN COMPASS.

There are, given the absurd subject matter of this movie, well crafted and surprisingly adult, rich and moving themes here, also some very surrealistic and raucous themes, all of which, not to mention the combined talent involved, are wasted on the film itself. They deserved a better showcase than this, but, without it, the two composers may not have got together and the music would probably not have been written, so we have one reason to be thankful for this moralistically heavy-handed, poor man’s Willy Wonka of a movie.

MARTIAN CHILD
Composed by Aaron Zigman
Original Soundtrack from Sony Classical

This romantic drama stars John Cusack as a recently widowed science fiction writer who adopts a young boy with behavioural problems who claims to be from Mars. He gets more than he bargained for when a series of strange happenings lead him to believe that the boy’s claims may be true. And either way, does it really matter?

Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by real Sci-Fi writer David Gerrold (STAR TREK, BABYLON 5) and his own experiences as a single adoptive parent, MARTIAN CHILD is an OK little movie, helped enormously by Zigman’s relaxed and warm score. There is also a very distinctive, and recurring, descending chord motif which grabs your ears immediately and links the whole together. A light, melodic, whimsical and wistful score that’s not half bad. The Greek-style plate smashing track is fun too.

THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB
Composed by Aaron Zigman
Original Score from Varese Sarabande

Zigman again, and I have to say a score not dissimilar in tone to MARTIAN CHILD. In fact, if you were to put both these CDs on random play, you’d be hard-pressed to tell which film each individual track came from. That is not to say that there is anything wrong with that, or this. Filmusic composers are frequently selected on their individual style, or are told by the creators what kind of sound they are expected to supply for their movie. George Lucas played classical selections for John Williams to emulate for STAR WARS; James Horner was given the job of scoring STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN as long as his score sounded like the one he’d written for BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS (a habit he now can’t seem to get out of if you listen to TITANIC); and a Bond score must sound like a Bond score, no matter who writes it (a pity nobody bothered to tell Eric Serra…). So, that said, again this is a more than serviceable score. The only thing that lets down the listening experience is that the selections are very short cues which stop just as you’re getting into them. I suspect though that this is because the copy I have is a promotional release and the tracks will be edited together more satisfactorily for the final release.

TOOTH & NAIL / THE DEATHS OF IAN STONE
Composed by Elia Cmiral
Original Scores from Lakeshore Records

Two of the ‘Eight Films to Die For’ premiered during the After Dark Horrorfest 2007, TOOTH & NAIL tells a post-apocalyptic tale of a group of survivors followed by a savage band of cannibals and THE DEATHS OF IAN STONE is the tale of a young man hunted by an evil presence, forced to die every day until he can solve the mystery of his own life.

The After Dark Horrorfest was the first festival of its kind, running over the course of one week, including two weekends, on over 300 screens across the United States, making it the largest commercial film festival in the world.

No stranger to the world of thrillers, Czechoslovakian born Cmiral most recently provided the score to PULSE. This was Cmiral’s second collaboration with Wes Craven, having scored THEY in 2002. He also scored John Frankenheimer’s suspense thriller RONIN, also STIGMATA, BONES and SPECIES 3.
These two scores are of a kind, and great companion pieces, with perhaps IAN STONE having more melodic passages, but both contain hard driving, ruthless percussion and nerve-grating acoustics and electronics. Normally I find albums of this kind hard to listen to in isolation (I mean away from the movie, not just sitting on my own, though sometimes that can be scary also) but these are far from being simply ambient scary noises and simmering menace; there is sound musical structure, inventiveness and surprise here. Often cheap shocks are accompanied by a cheap, adequate score, whereas this is music from a mature composer and is exciting and satisfying on its own, which is seldom the case. I doubt the two movies in question could say the same.

It’s time I had a rant. I haven’t had one for ages, not since I reviewed that appalling ‘ADDICTED TO MOVIES’ CD, and now it’s time.

Will somebody please tell me what is so damned difficult about differentiating between what is a soundtrack and what is a score? Listen up everyone and get those Spock-like ears pinned back right now, unless you want to remain as dim-witted as someone who’s named after a very expensive hotel in the French capital and recently (back) in prison: A movie or TV soundtrack is that which is heard in the movie or TV program itself. By that I mean the very same recording that is heard while you’re watching the movie or TV program. That is why they call it T-H-E S-O-U-N-D-T-R-A-C-K. Any other subsequent rendition, rearrangement, re-recording or whatever, should thereafter be referred to as the score.

It’s simple.

So then why do so many people get it wrong? Especially those people in the industry who should bloody well know better.

I recently reviewed for FIR ‘MUSIC FOR THE MOVIES: THE HOLLYWOOD SOUND’. On this otherwise excellent DVD the eminently qualified John Mauceri actually tells the orchestra that they are going to play some soundtrack music. Sorry John, but the only way you can play some soundtrack music is to get it on a CD, stick it in a player and press ‘go’. Apart from that, all you and your orchestra can do is play the score. ‘X MEN III: THE LAST STAND – THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK’… erm… no, it isn’t. Great music, but the opening title theme in the movie is a totally different arrangement than that on the so-called ‘soundtrack’ CD. And there are scores more (if you will forgive the pun).

I know that for various reasons the music for a movie is sometimes rearranged and re-recorded for CD release and I have no objection to that, but do not tell me that it’s a soundtrack when it plainly isn’t. That’s misrepresentation. It’s a lie, and it’s probably also illegal. I want to trust what it says on the can and if I’m misled again I’m going to be calling my lawyer…

Also, while I’m in a belligerent mood, can somebody tell me why the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra is so sloppy, yet so popular? This orchestra features on many re-releases of film scores (scores, got it?) from Silva Screen Records, and whilst most of their prolific output is reasonably adequate, many of their performances are atrocious and should never have seen the light of disc. They particularly have trouble with light, fast pieces. They can’t do ‘light’ or ‘fast’, they’re just not tight, or light, enough, and I don’t know if this is the orchestra or the leader, but ultimately it’s the conductor who is to blame and whoever listened to it and decided it was okay to release upon the unsuspecting general public whom Silva Screen Records obviously assume to be moronic, unmusical imbeciles. In fact it’s a downright insult. Listen to their rendition of ET: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL on the SCIENCE FICTION ALBUM (FILMXCD 359). I listened to it alongside John Williams’ own release conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and whereas Williams produces a feather light soufflé, the City of Prague Phil comes up with gloopy custard. Stodgy just isn’t the word. Their version of Williams’ pacey LOST IN SPACE TV theme (season three) is also equally inept with one half of the orchestra unable to keep up with the other and ending on a terrible dischord. Don’t these people listen to the originals so that they at least have an idea of what they’re meant to sound like? An equally bad recording, if not in fact worse, is their version of Barry Gray’s great UFO TV theme, made all the more surprising as it’s conducted by Derek Wadsworth, who took over the musical reins after Gray for SPACE 1999 season two. Both the arrangement and performance is abysmal. One bizarre key change follows another and again the whole ends with blaring flutes hitting different, and wrong, notes! You’re just left thinking ‘What?!’ If you don’t believe me, both these recordings can be found on THE CULT FILES: RE-OPENED (FILMXCD 191). Sorry guys and gals of the City of Prague Philharmonic, I’m sure you’re very nice people, but simply get someone to listen to the playbacks before you release this second-rate dross, and I’m also reminded of the great and irascible Sir Malcolm Sergeant who once reputedly addressed a female cellist in his orchestra: “Madam,” he said, “you have between your legs an instrument that can bring pleasure to thousands, and yet all you can do is sit there and scratch it!”

One company who never lets me down on the soundtrack front is Film Score Monthly. No exception to this is their release of COMA, WESTWORLD and THE CAREY TREATMENT. The soundtracks (yes, soundtracks) to all three of these movies are presented on a double disc album being composed by Jerry Goldsmith, Fred Karlin and Roy Budd respectively and amounting to over 145 minutes of true musical class.

Jerry Goldsmith also features on another recent FSM release THE SATAN BUG, a biological warfare related science fiction adventure made in 1965. This oft thought long lost score has been gleaned from two sources: Film memorabilia collector Bob Burns in Burbank California acquired two original tapes of music via his wife, who worked for the Mirisch Company around about 1969-70, though it wasn’t until around thirty years later that he realised what they actually were as they had remained sealed in a box in his garage since that time. He offered them to Jerry Goldsmith who told him to send them to the MGM tape archivist who gratefully accepted them, but with so much music missing, no album release seemed possible. However, the missing parts of the score were recovered from the isolated music and effects track to MGM/UA’s 1996 laserdisc release of the movie, and this is how this painstakingly produced release came about. The end result is over fifty-five minutes of Goldsmith at his most formative (bear in mind this was around the same time as his work on THE MAN FROM UNCLE), with about half of the tracks featuring sound effects (gunshots, fights, glass breaking, helicopters etc.) which really capture the spirit of the movie. This is a must have.
One of the latest releases from FSM is WAIT UNTIL DARK, a classic score from Henry Mancini for the 1969 movie featuring Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman being terrorised in her apartment by villains Richard Crenna, Jack Weston and Alan Arkin. Mancini was personally asked by Hepburn to score the movie following their successful collaborations on BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S and CHARADE. I have to admit, though I remembered the movie I could not remember the score, and when I first played it I was immediately reminded of music from the old NBC Mystery Movies (the generic theme to which Mancini composed) and which started two years after this movie, especially the COLUMBO segments. I believe that Mancini did not write music for any of the individual movies of that series, but the roots are here, and Billy Goldenberg (COLUMBO’s main composer) certainly owes a debt as regards an influence on his musical style. Being a Mancini score, piano is heavily featured, but here it is two pianos, one a quarter tone out from the other, creating a very disconcerting sound. There are also discordant ascending glissandos (which I myself used to produce on a piano and title them ‘Columbo finds a clue’). There are also of course the lush romantic and melodic themes we’ve come to expect from Mancini, but here they are tempered with a darker menace, which he apparently enjoyed, and the whole album captures an era in movie making and film scoring style.

I’m always astounded by the meticulous detail that goes go into producing Film Score Monthly’s albums; the bonus tracks, the unused cues, the source music, the original album score tracks and the always excellent sleeve notes. They provide you with every piece of music and information from, for and about the movie that they can get their hands on and I can’t praise them highly enough (you see, I can be nice). I will say no more than that except to say that this is the way filmusic is meant to be presented and everyone take note (except La-La Land Records and Monstrous Movie Music – you’re excellent too).
FSM’s albums are available from www.screenarchives.com
Also visit Film Score Monthly’s website at www.filmscoremonthly.com

Another conscientious and meticulous label is Lalo Schifrin’s own Aleph Records who have recently released, for the first time, the score to the third DIRTY HARRY movie, and the only one in the canon not to be composed by Lalo himself, THE ENFORCER, composed by Sam Peckinpah’s one time composer of choice Jerry Fielding. Released as a companion volume to their previous offerings DIRTY HARRY and MAGNUM FORCE (which I’ve reviewed elsewhere on FIR) the only info I could get from the Schifrin camp as to why Lalo didn’t score this one was that ‘Mr. Schifrin was not available to write the music for “The Enforcer” because he had to go to London to work on the score of “The Voyage of the Damned.”Mr. Schifrin has been a good friend of Jerry Fielding and a great admirer of his music. Despite the fact that Fielding did not embrace the stylistic approach of the “Dirty Harry” series, nevertheless his contribution to “The Enforcer” was magnificent, because of his individual approach and his conviction. The way he uses the percussion instruments is very strong and the score as a whole has an intense integrity.’ I would have personally enjoyed a little more information from Aleph or Lalo himself and maybe that will be forthcoming in the future, but the album has nonetheless been released by Aleph, who thus far have exclusively released only Lalo Schifrin’s music, so that counts for a lot. Humble as my opinion may be, I am a great champion of Jerry Fielding’s music and he ranks up there with Goldsmith, Bernstein, Schifrin and Herrmann as far as I’m concerned, having worked his way through, as they did, early television with great panache. Consider THE BIONIC WOMAN and McMILLAN & WIFE, before he moved on to THE WILD BUNCH, BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA, STRAW DOGS, SEMI-TOUGH, THE OUTFIT, DEMON SEED, BEYOND THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, THE KILLER ELITE, GREY LADY DOWN, ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, THE GAUNTLET, THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES (the latter three again with Eastwood), hell, the man even wrote music for HOGAN’S HEROES, KOLCHACK: THE NIGHT STALKER and a seminal episode of STAR TREK: THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES. What more can you ask?

Also in my mailbox recently was the ‘soundtrack’ to PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: AT WORLD’S END (Walt Disney Records). I haven’t studied the movie well enough yet to determine whether this is the actual soundtrack (which it purports to be) or not, so I look forward to your mail. I was amused at one track’s title ‘At Wit’s End’, which is probably a reference to the scriptwriters’ dilemma, but the ever resourceful Hans Zimmer does a valiant and sterling job, capturing the mysterious scenarios, exotic oriental locations and swashbuckling action. For those of you who don’t know, a buckler was a small type of wood and metal shield, and the swash was the sound that the blade of a sword made against it, and a swashbuckler was the kind of person who could do just that; he could swash a buckler. Then it became adopted as meaning the sound of the waves on a ship’s hull. Swords on shields, waves on hulls…Yup, it took me a few years to discover that too. See the time and effort I’ve saved you? The opening track is very innovative as Zimmer uses percussion to emulate the rolling waves on a shingle beach and there’s also a great track (track 8: Parlay) which pays homage to Ennio Morricone’s spaghetti western scores (ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST in particular), similar to that in Lalo Schifrin’s tribute in KELLY’S HEROES when Clint and his compadres face-off the Tiger Tank. It’s great to see and hear movie history being perpetuated and poked fun at. Stirring and fun stuff, and probably far superior to the film itself (see Victoria’s review).

Finally we have the score for OCEAN’S 13 (Warner Bros/Sunset). The movie is ridiculous and disappointing (having said that, I didn’t like the previous two either.) the score from relative newcomer David Holmes, who scored the previous two movies, however is hip and sassy and entirely appropriate for a glossy high-rolling, fast moving movie such as this. There are also tracks by Sinatra (of course), The Motherhood, Puccio Rolens and even Isao Tomita’s rendition of Debussy’s Claire de Lune. It’s all lightweight, finger-snapping stuff reflecting the glitzy, hi tech and stylish environs of the movie, but sadly a bit 70s, unless you like that kind of thing of course.

That’s all for now folks, and as ever, keep listening.

First off the bat, let me apologize for my lengthy absence. Relocating to another part of the country is one thing. Relocating to another country altogether is quite another. So, now here I am in sunny Cyprus (well, actually today it’s raining, but 340 days of sunshine can’t be all bad), finally connected up with the rest of the world, which after all only took five months, and busy making up for lost time.

So without further ado, and to show you all that I’ve not been completely idle, sunbathing and just watching girls on the beach for the last few months (though to be honest, I have done a lot of that) I’ll quickly run through some of the best of the music that has winged its way to me since my last column.

John Williams has duly handed over the reins to two of his most famous cinematic musical creations.

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE (Warner Bros.), the fourth film in this incredibly successful franchise, gives us a fine score by Patrick Doyle, who interpolates Williams’ themes with his own and provides a dark, threatening piece in keeping with the maturation of the storylines and the characters themselves. There’s also a lively jig for the Quidditch World Cup which wouldn’t go amiss in a Riverdance performance. All in all a well-rounded score capturing all the moods of the movie.

Superman also returned to our cinema screens last year in the inventively titled SUPERMAN RETURNS (Warner Bros.) this time with a score by John Ottman. Although I was a little disappointed with the storyline (which to me was just a re-write of the first movie. And what is this preoccupation with Lex Luthor anyway? Can’t we have Brainiac for a change?) I liked it because it ignored the frivolous LOIS & CLARK and SMALLVILLE incarnations and basically picked up where the late Christopher Reeve left off. Despite my disparaging remark earlier, Superman had indeed returned and Brandon Routh is unnervingly similar to Reeve in the role. Williams’ iconic theme is obviously there, and there were some nice little touches like ‘Memories’ where Clark recalls his young days on the Kent farm, and snippets of ‘Can You Read My Mind’ in some of Lois’s scenes. The rest of the score, though, Ottman makes his own and gives a more serious edge to the proceedings than Williams. This is also a CD ROM enhanced disc with a few nice, if short, features. Recommended.

ZATHURA (Varese Sarabande), a feel-good family adventure movie and basically JUMANJI in space, features a suitably action-paced (yes, that is action-paced and not action- packed, though it is that too) and heroic score from John Debney. Debney seems to have borrowed a little from every major sci-fi film over the last 30 years to the point where this sounds like a sci-fi score written by a computer. But it’s exciting, fun and hits all the marks.

In my ‘They don’t write ‘em like that anymore’ slot is BREAKHEART PASS (La-La Land Records). Jerry Goldsmith’s score for this 1975 Alistair MacLean penned secret-agent-yarn-cum-western set aboard a snowbound train is one of his best. The film features a cast only the seventies could muster: Charles Bronson, Richard Crenna, Ben Johnson, David Huddleston, Ed Lauter, Charles Durning and Jill Ireland, and the score has terrific action underscoring, a poignant love theme and one track in particular (Here They Come) begins with slow tension which develops into some of the most dynamic and heroic action music you’ve ever heard, all in the space of less than a minute! Excellent, and with equally excellent sleeve notes too.

STAY ALIVE (Nicabella Records). When you read the tag line ‘You Die in the Game, You Die For Real’, you know what kind of movie this is going to be. Using a blend of electronic and orchestral, John Frizzell comes up with an innovatively raw, frenzied, frantic, haunting and sometimes startling score which I’m sure aids the movie enormously. An excellent example of music from this movie genre. Another is WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (Lakeshore Records) from composer James Dooley who previously collaborated on DreamWorks THE RING. A remake of the 1979 movie, the score is a more brooding and somber affair than STAY ALIVE, saving all its pent-up tension for the last few tracks, but it’s a nice build up and a nice companion piece to the former album.

ABOMINABLE (Aleph Records), the latest offering from one of my all-time favourite filmusic composers Lalo Schifrin, is exactly the opposite of what its title suggests. With a great melancholic love theme and terrific, rich, melodic action cues, this style harks back to the music that accompanied the horror ‘B’ movies Lalo used to watch as a child in Argentina, his grandmother being the only family member that would accompany him, and music which inspired him to become one of the great TV and filmusic composers of the last 40 years (sorry Lalo!). Maybe not deliberately, maybe so, it doesn’t matter, but I distinctly hear a repeat of the descending three note motif that accompanied the original KONG in this score, and the rest easily compares, and I’m sure this is deliberate, with those 50s sci-fi/horror scores by Herman Stein, Irving Gertz, Henry Mancini and Mishca Bakaleinikoff. Highly recommended. Oh, and it’s about Bigfoot, but who cares, it’s a great horror score.

THE SENTINEL (Varese Sarabande) features another hybrid electronic/orchestral score this time from Christopher Beck. A political thriller featuring Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland and Kim Basinger as the First Lady no less, the film has a hi-tech, militaristic feel, dealing with Presidential security, intrigue and surveillance, and the score reflects all this powerfully. Very refreshing.

THE BIG EMPTY (La-La Land Records) tells the story of a guy who simply has to deliver a suitcase to a desert truck-stop, for which he’ll receive $27,000. Simple? Add local vixens, hot-headed boyfriends, mysterious strangers, special agents, alien-obsessed locals, murder, decapitation and hundreds of missing people, it all starts to get very complicated. The score by Brian Tyler includes, in his words ‘nods to mystery scores of classic cinema, jazz, prepared piano music, 1970s scores and late night infomercial music’. I’ll just say that it’s pleasantly different and highly listenable to.

BASIC INSTINCT 2 (La-La Land Records), the inevitable sequel, but this time with a British feel (if you’ll pardon the expression). The score here is provided by John Murphy and is suitably moody, mysterious and rhythmically erotic with the occasional subdued action cue. There are of course frequent reprises of Jerry Goldsmith’s original theme, and the whole is mainly ambient and very atmospheric.

An interesting addition to anyone’s filmusic collection is Clint Eastwood’s score, and choice of source music, to his movie FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS (Milan Records). Eastwood has been involved with the scoring of his movies for a while now, usually associating with Lennie Neuhaus, who would score while Eastwood wrote the lyrics. The two then moved on to writing scores between them, and Eastwood, since MYSTIC RIVER and MILLION DOLLAR BABY, now ventures to write scores on his own, this being one, albeit orchestrated and conducted by Neuhaus. Eastwood’s son Kyle also provides some new arrangements of classic 40s jazz numbers and the album is also littered with original recordings from that era. There’s also the obligatory bit of John Philip Souza, plus Mozart and Haydn. An odd mix, but evocative.

With a voice talent list that includes Freddie Highmore (Charlie from CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY), Mia Farrow, Madonna, Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel and Emilio Estevez, Luc Besson’s ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES (Arthur et les Minimoys) (Atlantic Records) aims high. This live action/animated story tells of a ten-year-old, who in a bid to save his grandfather’s house from being demolished, goes looking for some hidden treasure in the land of the Minimoys, tiny people, some of whom might possibly live in his back garden. The score is by Eric Serra (who contributed the controversial Bond score for GOLDENEYE). There’s nothing tiny, let alone invisible about this score. It is scaled large, exciting, melodic, majestic, in fact all the kinds of things you’d expect from this kind of movie, only better. A pleasant surprise.

Now I come to a difficult part of my selection. The subject matter of the next three movies, for which, I hope you will remember, I am simply reviewing the music that accompanied the cinematic retelling of events, is very emotive. My comments on the music have no bearing on the actual events and are not meant to be dismissive in any way of those events, so let’s just get that out of the way. I don’t usually apologise in advance for any ill-will that may be caused by my reviews, but on this occasion I thought I should clear the air just in case you think that, as a Brit, I am dispassionate about the particular events, which I assure you, I’m not.

BOBBY (Rhino Records), relates the story of the 1968 assassination of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy from the perspective of a score of people who were present. Score by Mark Isham.

WORLD TRADE CENTER (Sony Classical), Oliver Stone’s controversial film about two police officers who become trapped under the rubble of the WTC on September 11th. Score by Craig Armstrong.

UNITED 93 (Varese Sarabande). A real time account of the events aboard the fourth plane to be hijacked on September 11th. Score by John Powell.

The movies are important as they reflect society’s feelings at the time when they were made. The making of the latter two titles shows that the American public were finally ready for a dramatic depiction of at least some the events of September 11th, and, edgy as I feel about simply reviewing the soundtracks to those depictions, it must be nothing compared to the emotional pressure placed upon those who had to compose them, and I am full of admiration for Isham, Armstrong and Powell for providing such powerful and moving scores. Inevitably though, moving as they are, they have a downbeat, plodding inevitability to them which therefore make them difficult to assess as stand-alone soundtrack albums. They are, rightly, inseparable from their accompanying movie images and anyone who gets any solace or pleasure from listening to them in isolation really needs to move on. They are undeniably beautifully and lovingly composed, haunting, poignant, heart-wrenching and inspirational, but they are the soundtracks to movies, not the soundtracks to real life, and as such should be kept strictly confined to the limits of the screen and the movies for which they were composed. And it’s not often I say that.

John Powell was in fact very prolific and diverse last year. As well as UNITED 93 he also wrote the score for ICE AGE 2: THE MELTDOWN (Varese Sarabande), an uplifting and great fun score (which I’ve actually just put on to drag myself out of the seriousness of my last entries). This album really does capture all the drama and humour of the movie, with all the various animal sing-a-longs (including the vultures’ version of ‘Food Glorious Food’) as well as the frantic action, pathos and majestic mammoth march. Powell has really impressed me with his ability to address any subject and probably my favourite score of last year was his terrific X-MEN 3 – THE LAST STAND (Varese Sarabande). This is a huge score encompassing a main theme that has the tempo of SUPERMAN combined with the darkness of BATMAN, a sumptuous love theme, and at times the whole takes on a Wagnerian grandeur. There’s emotion, power and pain in this score and the powerful and tragic climax literally gives a whole new meaning to the words ‘comic opera’. Absolutely breathtaking.

There have also been the usual collection of compilation so-called soundtracks, basically re-issues of old songs with the odd bit of new material, some of which feature in the movie, usually over the closing credits. I know some of you like these so the ones I recommend to those that do are HOODWINKED (Rykodisc), LEONARD COHEN – I’M YOUR MAN (Verveforecast), FLUSHED AWAY (Astralwerks) and CONFETTI (Sanctuary Records).

Well, the sun has finally come out, and probably will be out for the next six months and so, as the beach is calling, I’ll wrap up with a couple of TV soundtracks.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SEASON 2 (La-La Land Records) continues in the vein of Season 1, with an eclectic mix of musical styles. I’ve mentioned previously the incongruity of alien space travelers having the same mix of musical styles as we do here on Earth, so I won’t go on about it again here. Bear McCreary’s score is thoughtfully and imaginatively composed, and, as I’ve said, encompasses a wealth of musical styles from all over the planet, and if I were going to send a disc into space to introduce some passing alien traveler to the types of music they might encounter on visiting the planet earth, this would be it.

THE TRIANGLE (La-La Land Records) was a six hour mini series from Dean Devlin and Bryan Singer starring Sam Neill as a billionaire who, fed up of losing his cargo ships in the infamous Bermuda Triangle, hires a team of experts from various fields to sort out the mystery once and for all. The cast also included Eric Stoltz, Bruce Davison and Lou Diamond Phillips. The score was provided by Joseph Loduca, familiar to you all for his work on HERCULES – THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS and XENA – WARRIOR PRINCESS. His score basically works, appropriately, around a 3/4 time motif and is suitably mysterious, tense, intimate and militaristic (when the US Navy intervenes), moving from minor to major keys as the mission is completed. Again, this is another score that is highly listenable to with that 3/4 motif becoming very catchy.

So, there we are. Another mixed bag. There were more I could go on about, but I’m sure you’ve had enough, and I’m off to the beach.

As always – Keep listening.

My, oh my, don’t the years fly. This time it’s not been a question of what to include, but what to throw out; to avoid the obvious yet retain the essential, the up-to-date, the unusual and, of course, throw in some film aficionado’s ‘must haves’.

With the (welcome) proliferation of rediscovered and ‘remastered’ editions of either old, previously unavailable or specially packaged, so-called ‘Special Editions’ of soundtracks cropping up all over the place, it just gets harder and harder. Rest assured I haven’t gone, nor ever will, for the commercial presentations that are heaved out by the dozen at this time of year, and which are simply designed to part you with your hard earned cash, but have simply adhered to my simple description above.

One thing I have added to this column is a selection of other efforts from each composer before each review so as to help you decide, based on past experience, and irrespective of my comments, whether or not you’re likely to enjoy each particular score. Let me know whether this is a help or a hindrance.

I hope you enjoy the selection. Oh, and don’t look for KONG – there’s far too much about the big ape on the site already…

KISS KISS BANG BANG
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Composed by John Ottman
Label: La-La Land Records

‘Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ was an instrumental track on the James Bond THUNDERBALL soundtrack and was initially intended to be the main theme song, being recorded by both Shirley Bassey and Dionne Warwick, but was dumped in favour of the now famous title song by Tom Jones (and congratulations Sir Tom). I also believe it was the title of that movie in Japan. But that’s by the by. This movie has nothing to do with James Bond, but it is nice to know where people get their titles.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a deadpan comedy film noir with cool characters, private eyes, gorgeous dames, sleazy locales, a convoluted and unlikely plot, witty dialogue and one-liners, obligatory flashbacks, and even a hackneyed Dashiel Hammett-esque narrator. Ottman’s score captures all this with its trashy detective fiction saxophones and muted horns, wistful innocent piano, some terrific percussion, and a pulsing and immediately engaging main theme that kicks in whenever the action starts. I can listen to this one over and over again. It’s almost a light-hearted ‘MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM’ and I thoroughly recommend it. The only downside is Robert Downey Jr.’s final vocal track – it’s such a shameless imitation of a Sting style song and arrangement, whose style is so bland anyway that only he can get away with it the first place, and basically shouldn’t be there. It lets down the rest of the album.

Ottman is also scoring the new Logan’s Run and Superman Returns. Busy man.

Composers’ other credits (selection): Fantastic Four (2005); House of Wax (2005); Cellular (2004); Gothika (2003); X2 (2003); Eight Legged Freaks (2002); Bubble Boy (2001); Lake Placid (1999); Apt Pupil (1998); Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998); The Cable Guy (1996); The Usual Suspects (1995)

THE GETAWAY: THE UNUSED SCORE (Limited Edition of 3,000 Copies)
Original Score by Jerry Fielding
Label: Film Score Monthly

Jerry Fielding was understandably miffed when his score for THE GETAWAY was rejected by the film’s director Sam Peckinpah (with whom he was a long-time and successful collaborator) in favour of a score by Quincy Jones.

Fielding was adept at addressing any subject, style or environment (simply look at the diversity of titles above) and his GETAWAY score combines the dramatic themes and cues you would expect from any of his action movies with the folksy riffs heard in the BIONIC WOMAN theme and the light romantic touch of McMillan and Wife to create the thematic world of McQueen’s and McGraw’s husband and wife criminal team attempting to save not only their lives and their loot but also their marriage.
The package includes a bonus promotional item not available separately: an all region DVD of the half-hour documentary, Main Title 1M1: Jerry Fielding, Sam Peckinpah and The Getaway, a highly personal reminiscence by three of the women in Jerry Fielding’s life: his wife Camille, daughter Elizabeth, and Peckinpah confidante Katy Haber. This is actually a very endearing and insightful piece of film.

The CD itself features the premiere authorised release of the complete score in excellent stereo. At the close of the CD there is also a telling piece of character summating dialogue from Fielding himself where he tells of his disgust with people in the industry who turned against their colleagues during the McCarthy era in order to simply protect their careers, and although brief, its very powerful.

The liner notes by Peckinpah authority Nick Redman – who produced this album and directed the documentary film – provide a wealth of historical detail, and exact timings for relating the music to the motion picture. This is one of those aficionado’s ‘must haves’ mentioned earlier. All we need now is a re-release of the movie with this score reinstated (or at least optional). If there’s anyone out there reading this…

Composer’s other credits (selection): Escape from Alcatraz (1979); Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979); Gray Lady Down (1978); The Gauntlet (1977); Semi-Tough (1977); Demon Seed (1977); The Enforcer (1976); “The Bionic Woman” (1976) TV Series (also main title theme); The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976); The Killer Elite (1975); Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974); The Outfit (1973); Straw Dogs (1971); “McMillan and Wife” (1971) TV Series (also theme); The Wild Bunch (1969)

And while we’re on the subject of alternative scores…

THE APPOINTMENT (Limited Edition of 3,000 Copies)
Three Alternate Scores by Michel Legrand, John Barry/Don Walker and Stu Philips
Label: Film Score Monthly

As you know I always try to include a John Barry score somewhere in the column, and this one is no exception. You may be surprised though to hear me say that it’s one of his worst.

Here we have three alternative scores for the same movie by no less than four different composers. One was discarded altogether yet, bizarrely, the other two were both used.
1969’s THE APPOINTMENT, directed by Sidney Lumet, was an arty story of a lonely Italian attorney’s (Omar Sharif) romancing of a beautiful model (Anouk Aimee) despite the fact that he thinks she’s actually a high-priced prostitute, which results in a tragic ending to a troubled relationship – and a troubled production.

Legrand’s score relied on a constantly repeated motif which simply seems to change key and tempo and was rejected at it’s first screening to MGM execs. The job was then passed on to Bond legend and then recent BORN FREE and ZULU composer John Barry, who unfortunately had the same idea as Legrand and simply made use of a recurring motif. It seems even he got tired of it and handed it over to Broadway arranger Don Walker to finish. This score however accompanies the Lumet approved version of the film now in circulation.

When The Appointment was released in the U.S. in 1972 it was in a shorter version which premiered on CBS television as a late night movie, and this shortened version was re-scored by Stu Phillips, way before his stint as Glen Larson’s TV show composer of choice (see above), and which even included a couple of songs, and it is peculiarly different to the other composers’ ideas. It’s hard to believe they’re all seeing the same movie.

FSM’s CD of The Appointment is presented entirely in stereo, remixed from the original master elements. Liner notes by Lukas Kendall chronicle the production and differences between the scores.

This one is for film historians and completists only. Fascinating though.

Composers’ other credits (selection): Michel Legrand: Never Say Never Again (1983); Atlantic City (1980); The Hunter (1980); Gable and Lombard (1976); The Three Musketeers (1973); Lady Sings the Blues (1972); Summer of ’42 (1971); The Go-Between (1970); Ice Station Zebra (1968); The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) (also song “The Windmills of Your Mind”) John Barry: (You’ve got to be kidding…) Stu Phillips: “Knight Rider” (1982) TV Series (some episodes, also theme); “The Fall Guy” (1981) TV Series; “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” (1979) TV Series (also theme); “Battlestar Galactica” (1978) TV Series (also theme); Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)

SYRIANA
Music From the Motion Picture Composed by Alexandra Desplat
Label: Sony Music

Predominantly a composer for French movies, having scored over 60 films in his native France, Alexandre Desplat made his Hollywood breakthrough in 2003 with his moving score for Girl with a Pearl Earring, which garnered him a Golden Globe nomination.

Based on Robert Baer’s novel “See No Evil,” Syriana, with George Clooney and Matt Damon, dramatizes the international oil industry. Press: ‘From the players brokering back-room deals in Washington to the men toiling in the oil fields of the Persian Gulf, the film’s multiple storylines weave together to illuminate the human consequences of the fierce pursuit of wealth and power.’

Desplat is a true crossover genius. His music oozes the ease, confidence, jaw-dropping simplicity and style of in fact the majority of French composers from Jarre, Lai, Delerue and Legrand way back to Debussy, Bizet and Ravel. To capture the drama, energy and locale of the movie he combines classical strings with exotic solo instruments (including the duduk and the ney), frenetic percussion (there’s one long kettle drum sequence that reminded me appropriately of Jarre’s similar piece in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA) and synth to create an eerie, tense and beautiful, score. It’s magnificent. It’s also not surprising that in addition to his film work, Alexandre Desplat gives master classes at La Sorbonne in Paris and London’s Royal College of Music. Buy anything by this guy with confidence.

Composer’s other credits (selection): Casanova (2005); The Upside of Anger (2005); Birth (2004); Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003); Stormy Weather (2003); Tristan (2003); Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (2002)

AEON FLUX
Original Score by Graeme Revell
Label: Varese Sarabande (Release Feb. 2006)

Believe it or not Aeon Flux is the name of the main character played Lara Croft-like by Charlize Theron in a story set 400 years in the future when disease has wiped out the majority of the earth’s population, and when Aeon is sent on a mission to kill a government leader, she uncovers a world of secrets. As of course you would.
The score is a busy one which hardly ever takes a breath. New Zealander Graeme Revell blends traditional ethnic music, ambient, animal and industrial sounds, and creates an almost unique style, which, it has to be said, is quite riveting, though not engaging enough to listen to the entire album in one sitting. It has the coldness and freneticism of Christopher Franke’s BABYLON 5 scores which makes it okay only if you’re in the mood, or as background to the action, which of course is its primary function, and this it does admirably.

Composer’s other credits (selection): The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D (2005); Sin City (2005); Assault on Precinct 13 (2005); Open Water (2003); Freddy Vs. Jason (2003); Daredevil (2003); Collateral Damage (2002); Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001); Blow (2001); Red Planet (2000); Titan A.E. (2000); Pitch Black (2000); Bride of Chucky (1998); The Negotiator (1998); The Saint (1997); The Crow: City of Angels (1996); From Dusk Till Dawn (1996); Tank Girl (1995); The Crow (1994); Hard Target (1993); Dead Calm (1989)

THE FOG
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Graeme Revell
Label: Varese Sarabande

Robert Wainwright’s unnecessary remake, starring Tom (SMALLVILLE) Welling, of the 1980 John Carpenter movie. Again a fascinating audio experience but hard to warm to from a musical standpoint. Revell’s AEON FLUX score was a little relentless with its brow-beating, pounding score – this presents a different side of his compositional skill, being moody, menacing and downright creepy, mainly clunking, clanking and groaning through its length, though the pulse does kick in for the more shocking moments. But how else do you make fog scary? Franz Waxman achieved a similar effect in the 1941 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, turning a studio-bound London ‘pea-souper’ into a menacing scenario for Spencer Tracy (as Hyde) to gallump through to the strains of a precursor to Williams’ shark theme from JAWS (track it down and listen – Williams’ theme is a steal). Waxman did however find the opportunity to introduce some lighter-hearted melody. There’s none of that here. This is 39 minutes and 22 seconds of ominous dread punctuated by whatever shock moments your imagination sees fit to envision, or of course, watch the movie. Immensely innovative and serviceable though.

Composer’s other credits (selection): See above

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE*
Original Soundtrack composed by Harry Gregson-Williams
Label: Walt Disney Records

In the absence of KK I’ve opted for this one to fill his particularly grandiose and seasonal place on the epic front. Distributors, in their self-imbued wisdom, love to presume the intelligence, or lack of, of an audience and meddle with the original titles of things, a la Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone which became SORCERER’S STONE in the US (alone). Are you really all that dim over there? I think, and of course know, to the contrary. Yet still I half expected this movie to suffer a similar fate and have a secondary title of THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE CLOSET. However my lack of faith, at least on this occasion, was unjustified.

Gregson-Williams’ score is suitably pastoral and dynamic where appropriate and whilst the film is unashamedly jumping onto the LOTR bandwagon (the map of Narnia featured inside the casing behind the disc is straight out of Tolkien), with coincidentally (?) another New Zealander (Andrew Adamson) directing (his first foray into live action after SHREKs 1 & 2), the score itself has more of a contemporary feel in its use of tempo and vocals than Shore’s LOTR themes and the score is a whole lot lighter in tone.

The very sparse sleeve notes are merely a list of credits and thanks and contain no other information about the movie or the music’s composition whatsoever, which is pretty shoddy, but otherwise it’s altogether a well rounded and appropriately epic, albeit predictable, soundtrack.

*Also available as a two disc-set, the second disc being a DVD with the usual ‘making of’ featurettes etc., and a ‘collectable’ 40-page booklet (ah, so that’s why my sleeve notes are so crappy – surprise, surprise).

Composer’s other credits (selection): ANTZ; CHICKEN RUN; SHREK; SHREK 2; KINGDOM OF HEAVEN; VERONICA GUERIN; TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE; BRIDGET JONES: THE AGE OF REASON; DOMINO

Keep listening…

A lot to catch up on this issue, so I’ll be brief (well, as brief as I can…). Oh, and don’t expect a roundup of the releases from the latest summer blockbusters. You know I like to dig a little deeper than that…

MIRRORMASK
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack composed by Iain Bellamy
La-la Land Records

I don’t care what the film is about. This is one of, if not THE most original, innovative, fascinating and downright glorious pieces of music I’ve ever heard recorded for film. From its original and surprising opening burst of accordion, straight out of the Yukon, which segues into some cool contemporary jazz accompanied by what would ordinarily be incongruous oriental motifs and terrific muted percussion, I thought ‘What the hell is this?’ And that thought continued throughout. From this it goes into a piece that could happily accompany a silent French farce, then a whirligig of themes including insanely discordant tangos interpolated with bossa-nova; flamenco jazz; electronics; more accordion; symphonic percussion; haunting, whispered vocals punctuated with echoing flute and resonant chimes; classical and vibrant Latin piano; mournful strings; touchingly sweet celesta; spine tingling cimbalom and sitar, and more and more, mostly of instruments and melodic structures that are blended together in such a way as to make them unidentifiable, but who cares. I gave up trying to analyse it after around 5 minutes. Never have I known such a diversity of styles, textures and instruments to be incorporated into one musical composition, and never have I known my ears to have been so wonderfully, and constantly, challenged and enormously entertained. It’s a stunning piece. If The Joker ever had a favourite album, this would be it.
Oh, my lovely assistant tells me that it accompanies a great fantasy film by Dave McKean based on a story and screenplay by graphic novel impresario Neil Gaiman, a film which I’m sure it enriches no end. But as I said – I don’t care. And so much for being brief. Sorry, I’m just no good at it…

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
Original Score by Howard Shore
New Line Records 39051

Oscar winner Howard Shore (LORD OF THE RINGS) scores this thriller from director David Cronenberg starring Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, William Hurt and Ed Harris. This is a generally dark score with easily identifiable short cues that have been edited somewhat unsuccessfully into suites. Unlike his AVIATOR score, where he summoned a fresh approach to that of his LOTR scores, here Shore seems to have fallen back into Middle-Earth. Both the solemn and the brief lighter patches are reminiscent of those LOTR scores but without the grandiosity. Take all the heroic and apocalyptic stuff out of a LOTR soundtrack and you’d be left with this. A perfunctory score I’m afraid. Let’s hope he scores better (pun intended) with the upcoming KING KONG. Hey, talking of which:

KING KONG
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by John Barry
Film Score Monthly FSMCD Vol. 8, No. 8

In anticipation of this year’s Christmas holiday blockbuster, FSM have released the premiere CD recording of John Barry’s magnificent score for the 1976 remake of the classic tale. The movie itself was a let down for many, especially after the highly hyped special effects dept’s boasts of a 40 ft high robot Kong and effects by Carlo Rambaldi, where in fact Kong in the film is obviously played in the most part by an under acknowledged Rick Baker in a gorilla suit, plus a spectacular poster showing Kong straddling the two towers of the WTC, whereas in the film he leaps from one to the other. The film even earned a Golden Turkey Award from the Medved brothers in their ‘Biggest Rip-off in Hollywood History’ category. The score however is one of Barry’s best from the 70s, certainly with its love theme, which is one of his most cleverly convoluted and haunting, plus terrific tribal sounds and rhythms which are an exuberant extension of those he created for BORN FREE, ZULU and later OUT OF AFRICA, which all firmly put Barry’s stamp on the legend. This is a remastering of the original LP release with occasional bursts of (Kong) sound effects from the movie, a trend that was typical in the 70s when owning your own copy of the actual film was a sheer fantasy.
Although collectors may have acquired a CD of this title on the Mask label, that album was an unauthorized edition believed to be mastered from an LP – FSM’s release is the first official CD mastered from the original 1/4″ stereo album tapes. This is, at last, the first authorized CD of one of John Barry’s most memorable works outside the Bond cannon.

MYSTERIOUS SKIN
Music from the film by Harold Budd & Robin Guthrie
Commotion Records CR008

A controversial, edgy and disturbing film from writer/director Gregg Araki (SPLENDOR, THE DOOM GENERATION, NOWHERE) who seems to specialise in ‘exploring and dissecting the strange currencies of sexual relationships, this time the contemplative journey of troubled boyhood friends whose lives as young adults weave them down a slippery and dangerous path of self-discovery’ – at least that’s what the press release says. Composer Harold Budd previously worked alongside guitarist Robin Guthrie on several albums in the mid 1980′s, including the Cocteau Twins’ ‘The Moon and The Melodies’, and Budd’s ‘The White Arcades’. As lead guitarist of the Cocteau Twins, Guthrie was then creating a dreamy, layered guitar sound that impacted the indie rock scene, and inspired the sound of countless artists to follow. Here the two provide a minimalistic, meditative and ambient soundtrack. According to Araki ‘(Guthrie & Budd’s) music has been such an essential part of my life and such a profound influence on me and my work. I always listen to music when I write – as does Scott Heim, the author of the original novel Mysterious Skin – so this soundtrack is much, much more than mere background music: it’s the heart and soul of the whole movie’. And I agree. It’s entirely suited to the movie and not bad to listen to on it’s own if you’re in the right mood (and if you’re not, it’ll soon take you there).

This month (July ‘05) sees the premiere release from Aleph Records of the full original score from MAGNUM FORCE, the second movie to feature Clint Eastwood as uncompromising Inspector ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan. As well as taking a look at this great score I’ll also be putting a spotlight on some of Lalo’s other scores, many of which have become synonymous with some of the most iconic stars and movies ever to grace our screens.

Having said that, where do you start with a man who’s equally at home scoring for THE AMITYVILLE HORROR as he is with SPARKY’S MAGIC PIANO?

Lalo’s compositions and musical accomplishments are far too numerous to cover in their entirety, so by way of a compromise, the following selection is comprised of my own particular favourites and a selection from Lalo himself which are noted as such. Album details are given at the foot of the column.

Firstly a brief (and feebly inadequate) bio: Lalo Schifrin was born in Buenos Aires. He was a child prodigy studying music under his father Luis (a concertmaster of the Teatro Colón in Buenos and who conducted the Philharmonic Orchestra of Buenos Aires). Here too he studied law before moving to Paris, France, to study classical music and jazz at the Paris Conservatoire. There he also had opportunities to work in French radio and TV and became a professional jazz pianist, composer and arranger, playing and recording in Europe. By the mid ‘50s he had returned to his native Argentina, had his own jazz big band and had represented his country in the International Jazz Festival. The legendary Dizzy Gillespie, who had heard the band perform, asked Lalo to be his pianist and arranger and by 1958 Lalo had moved to the States and for a time was also musical arranger for Xavier Cugat in New York. Lalo then moved to Hollywood in 1964 where he began scoring TV shows and movies.

In the mid 60s, whilst composing episodic scores for TV series like NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SPECIALS, KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATRE, THE BIG VALLEY, BOB HOPE PRESENTS THE CHRYSLER THEATRE and T.H.E. CAT, Lalo’s name became associated with two of the most popular series of the time (and some would say of all time); MGM’s THE MAN FROM UNCLE, and MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE from CBS. Whereas he only did the occasional episode of UNCLE he had full writing honours on MISSION and it’s catchy 5/4 theme has become one of the most famous in TV history. Interestingly though it is also Lalo’s rearrangement of Jerry Goldsmith’s UNCLE theme, used from the second season onwards, with minimal alteration by Gerald Fried later, that most people remember today. Another show at that time, and from the same stable as UNCLE, was the short-lived and mostly forgotten JERICHO about an elite force, not unlike MISSION’s IMF force, operating behind enemy lines during WWII. Lalo scored the pilot, UPBEAT AND UNDERGROUND (episode three in broadcast order), and also a main theme. Here however Goldsmith, reportedly unhappy with Lalo’s treatment of his UNCLE theme, got his revenge: this time Lalo’s theme was rejected in favour of Jerry’s.

His association with these action-adventure series led to his involvement with the espionage movies THE LIQUIDATOR (’65) with Rod Taylor, and MURDERERS ROW (’66), an inept Bond spoof with li’l ol’ wine drinker Dean Martin as ‘super-spy’ Matt Helm.

Then came THE CINCINNATI KID.

KID was to poker what Paul Newman’s THE HUSTLER was to pool, and Lalo, with one of his first Hollywood soundtrack recordings, was now scoring for heavyweights Steve McQueen (The Kid), Edward G. Robinson (The Man) and Karl Malden (The Shooter). The setting is 1930s New Orleans and what better place to show off Lalo’s talent for jazz literally in a classic setting: The birthplace of jazz itself. Legend Ray Charles sings the powerful opening theme and the score has a diversity of themes and styles unusual for the time. Lalo’s training in jazz and classical music comes to the fore as he effortlessly blends the two together. We are treated to jazz waltzes (Christian’s Theme), a frenzied string and brass hoe-down (The Cock Fight), sleazy blues and wistful melancholy. Rich fare indeed. Lalo Schifrin had arrived and, like The Kid, he would take on anyone, at anything, anytime.

Soon to follow was COOL HAND LUKE featuring that other screen icon Paul Newman with wonderful support from George Kennedy. Again given the opportunity to combine musical styles, this time symphonic music and ‘blue grass’, Lalo’s Oscar nominated score gives us a rich and varied tapestry of melodies, from Luke’s sweet and plaintive guitar theme through trademark Schifrin action motifs and Latin ballads, some blues guitar and the location fixing banjo and harmonica riffs, Lalo again blows the competition away with the breadth of his musical dexterity. Sacrilegiously the “Tar Sequence”, from the memorable sequence where Luke and the other members of the chain gang demonstrate their resilience and defiance to the guards even when given the most arduous, repetitive and soul destroying of tasks, was used for many years as the theme for local “Eyewitness News” broadcasts on ABC-owned television stations.

THE FOX (Lalo’s choice), based on a D. H. Lawrence story, was in 1968 one of Hollywood’s first explorations of female homosexuality with Anne Heywood and Sandy Dennis as two women on an isolated farm whose tranquil existence is disrupted by wandering seaman (read the subtext in that!) Kier Dullea. With this score, which couldn’t be more different from KID and LUKE, Lalo really taps into his classical roots using pieces reminiscent of Debussy and Ravel to capture the peace and beauty of the farm whilst at the same time creating a sense of underlying menace. This is a real highlight from Lalo’s vast catalogue. The score to THE FOX was also Oscar nominated.

Not straying too far from his TV work Lalo was also at around this time scoring yet another successful and long running TV action series – MANNIX (another of Lalo’s selections). Ever unpredictable, as his 5/4 approach to MISSION proved, Lalo came up with a theme that was in 3/4 time, basically a waltz, for Mike Connors’ tough private detective, a move which caused producer Bruce Geller to comment “A Private Detective in three-quarter time?! Thanks Lalo, and what’s next? 4/4? 9/4? 9/8? Ten to one it’s all of them.” The original LP release was praised as one of the finest TV soundtracks ever released. With this new recording Lalo has re-recorded, and in some cases updated, the original 11 tracks and has added four new pieces based on his original MANNIX ideas.

As well as THE FOX, in 1968 Lalo was also busy scoring THE BROTHERHOOD, WHERE ANGELS GO – TROUBLE FOLLOWS, HELL IN THE PACIFIC and COOGAN’S BLUFF, his first collaboration on a Clint Eastwood movie.

This year also came BULLITT. BULLITT was one of Lalo’s first ‘kick-ass’ scores and his second for Steve ‘The KID’ McQueen. Here McQueen plays the contrivingly named Frisco detective Frank Bullitt (named Clancy in Robert L. Pike’s original novel ‘Mute Witness’ which was incidentally set in New York) who, like the later Harry Callahan, is a world weary veteran cop who now finds himself not being able to distinguish between the good and bad guys as his case is marred by double dealing within his own department and by corrupt government officials. The movie co-starred Jacqueline Bisset and ex-UNCLE star Robert Vaughan. Ironically, though remembered for it’s great car chase sequence, the sequence itself was un-scored with Lalo’s music simply creating the tense build up to it – the chase itself was actually a release to this tension. Frank Bullitt’s theme is strong, confident, sassy, streetwise, sexy and above all cool with a capital ‘C’ and defined McQueen as never before in the eyes of the moviegoer. This is a magnificent pulse pounding score and the taste of things to come from Lalo in the 70s. This new recording presents for the first time digital recordings of both the original record and movie versions of themes from this classic plus additional cues never before released.

Perpetually in motion, 1969 saw Lalo scoring for TV series like THE YOUNG LAWYERS and MEDICAL CENTER and the movie CHE! The following year came another collaboration with Eastwood, who himself was reuniting with Brian G. Hutton, his director on WHERE EAGLES DARE (’68), for KELLY’S HEROES, which co-starred Donald Sutherland and Telly Savalas and which was basically a violent, anti-war, action/adventure caper comedy, and, given that premise, who else would you call upon to score it? Lalo brought all of his skill and experience to play in creating a score that featured dynamic and contemporary action cues; eclectic jazz and country & western themes; a jaunty whistling theme, reminiscent of a jazzed up Colonel Bogey’s March, to encapsulate the Heroes themselves; a paradoxical take on The Battle Hymn of the Republic; a Morricone spoof to accompany Eastwood’s GOOD, BAD AND UGLY style confrontation with a German Tiger tank, and a powerful and menacing mechanistic theme for the tank itself. This release is a must have album, with most of the tracks being released here for the very first time, the original album release being mostly rearrangements and re-recordings. Also included are many cues not used in the film including Lalo’s original opening and closing title themes (the whistling theme mentioned earlier) which were replaced by the song Burning Bridges, and original source music. The album is completed by the tracks re-recorded for the original album release.

Once again though, just when you think you got a guy pigeonholed, Lalo goes off on a tangent. THX 1138 (’71) famous for being the then 25 year-old STAR WARS creator George Lucas’s first major outing, was yet another breakthrough for Lalo. Having scored for such projects as the documentary THE HELLSTROM CHRONICLE (a magnified look at insect life), sci-fi TV movies like EARTH II and THE AQUARIANS and Rod Serling’s NIGHT GALLERY, Lalo was being called upon more and more to write avant-garde scores. He recalls “Maybe that’s why the word went round and I got that reputation. It’s funny how things happen because at the beginning I was considered a jazz composer, and then I became the weird composer”. THX is a disquieting score, suitably reflecting the tone of the movie, but which again gives Lalo scope to combine many musical elements and styles, from baroque to electronic and acoustic effects to banal and soulless Muzak, to accompany Lucas’s vision of a future totalitarian society cleansed of any human feeling. This is an example of when a score is more than that – it is the soundtrack to the characters’ very existence and, though bleak, is undeniably intriguing.

1971 also saw Lalo teaming up with Clint Eastwood again on two projects: The post American Civil War western THE BEGUILED and, the movie that finally broke Eastwood out of the cowboy mould, DIRTY HARRY, both directed by Don Siegel. Lalo had also worked with both Eastwood and Siegel on COOGAN’S BLUFF. HARRY was the seminal 70s vigilante action flick and although Eastwood’s Inspector ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan is similar to McQueen’s Frank Bullitt, and inhabits the same Frisco locale, Callahan is literally a loose cannon, much to the chagrin of his superiors and the voter conscious Mayor’s Office. The only thing that makes Harry’s brutal violence justifiable is the much more violent and irredeemable nature of his opponent, Scorpio, an indiscriminate sniper who is not averse to rape or torture as well as cold blooded murder.

1972 saw Lalo and Eastwood together again for John Sturges’ JOE KIDD with Eastwood once more back in a saddle. Also that year came his score for the much underrated TV movie WELCOME HOME JOHNNY BRISTOL which starred Martin Landau as a soldier who has endured his captivity in a Vietnamese POW camp by keeping alive the memories of life in his home town, yet when he is finally released and heads for home, he can find no trace of it. It also starred Martin Sheen, Brock Peters, Pat O’Brien, Forrest Tucker and John Hoyt.

The success of DIRTY HARRY led inevitably to a sequel. Thus in 1973 came MAGNUM FORCE. Intriguingly the concern over Harry’s tactics shown by his superiors and the Mayor’s Office in HARRY seems to have rubbed off on the filmmakers as in MAGNUM FORCE his methods are positively noble compared to those of the members of the ‘Magnum Force’, a group of rogue motorcycle cops who have set themselves up as judge, jury and executioner. Once more Lalo was called on to repeat his magic and does so with aplomb and his score reflects the revised character of Harry. As mentioned at the beginning of this feature this is the premiere release of the entire score from MAGNUM FORCE and features substantial pieces not present in the movie, and is the essential companion piece to the DIRTY HARRY score. MAGNUM FORCE also featured a young David Soul as one of the bad cops, and who would, two years later, achieve worldwide fame as Detective Ken Hutchinson in the internationally successful STARSKY & HUTCH TV series for which Lalo provided both score and theme for the first season. Interestingly Lalo’s S&H theme is very reminiscent of some of the music for MAGNUM FORCE, but like Harry, S&H’s second season showing was toned down and the music and theme lightened accordingly. Lalo would subsequently score a further two DIRTY HARRY sequels: SUDDEN IMPACT (’83) and THE DEAD POOL (’88).As HARRY was the model for many action movies to follow, so was Lalo’s jazzy, sullen and driving score which is presented on this release in it’s entirety, and in stereo, for the first time.

1973 also brought another phenomena, and a phenomenal star, to our screens as ENTER THE DRAGON started a craze of martial arts movies, hitherto unnoticed in the West. The star of course was Bruce Lee. Lalo once stated in an interview that he’d been watching a martial arts movie in a theatre with his older son when suddenly he heard his MISSION theme in the score ‘It was really the theme, not even a paraphrase. And it was not a sample: It was a steal’. He also heard Quincy Jones’ IRONSIDE theme (a common cue in Martial arts movies and a tradition to which Quentin Tarantino doffs his cap in his KILL BILL movies). He left the theatre a little mad and wishing he could score one of these movies and show them how it should be done. Serendipity struck. When he got home that day his agent called to say that Bruce Lee was making his first American martial arts movie and the producers wanted Lalo to score it! The result is one of Lalo’s best loved scores as he blends pseudo Chinese themes, without clichés, with heroic brass, synthesisers, 70s wah-wah guitar, a selection of percussive, wind and string instruments from all over the world including traditional Japanese and Chinese folk instruments, and even uses Bruce Lee’s distinctive yell as an instrument in the main theme which became an anthem of the 70s martial arts generation.

As well as continuing his TV work with themes and scores to PETROCELLI, PLANET OF THE APES (TV), the aforementioned STARSKY & HUTCH, BRONK, and BRENDA STARR, the mid to late 70s also saw Lalo compose scores to many more movies, highlights of which are THE FOUR MUSKETEERS (’74), ST. IVES (’76), VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED (’76), THE EAGLE HAS LANDED (’76), ROLLERCOASTER (’77), TELEFON (’77), THE MANITOU (’78), a stint with Disney for THE CAT FROM OUTER SPACE and RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN (both ’78), the all-star war drama ESCAPE TO ATHENA (’79) and AIRPORT ’79 – THE CONCORDE (’79).

Also in 1979 Lalo composed the score for THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (Lalo’s choice). Allegedly based on real events recounted in Jay Anson’s bestseller, newlyweds the Lutz’s (James Brolin and Margot Kidder) move with their children into their dream home in Amityville, Long Island, unaware of the house’s gory history and it’s demonic inhabitants. In EXORCIST territory, once more Lalo comes up with an avant-garde, disquieting and diverse score, with it’s opening and closing credits featuring an echoey young voice ‘la-la’-ing a nursery rhyme type melody that is laced with underlying malice. Here again, in keeping with his roots and his earlier works, Lalo incorporates jazz and classical music with a very ominous string laden score reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann. There’s even a psycho style cue in ‘The Ax’. He also features cool funky and playful jazz alongside Bach’s 5th Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings, plus a disco boogie version, ‘Amityville Frenzy’, of his main theme. He would also score AMITYVILLE II: THE POSESSION (’82).

The early 80s brought us, amongst many others, scores to disaster maestro Irwin Allen’s WHEN TIME RAN OUT (’80, with Paul Newman), BRUBAKER (’80, with Robert Redford), THE STING II (’83, sadly bereft of Newman or Redford), THE OSTERMAN WEEKEND (’83), the aforementioned SUDDEN IMPACT (’83), and even when not scoring for movies, Lalo was always phenomenally busy with TV series, mini-series and TV movies, including KUNG FU: THE MOVIE which introduced Bruce Lee’s son Brandon to the screen. Sadly his acting career was to be even shorter lived than his father’s. Some of these shows, it has to be said, were unworthy of Lalo’s talents. 1987 gave us THE FOURTH PROTOCOL with Michael Caine and a pre-Bond Pierce Brosnan, ironically with hindsight, as a Russian spy. The final (so far!) DIRTY HARRY sequel THE DEAD POOL came in 1988. In ’91 Lalo scored F/X2 (THE DEADLY ART OF ILLUSION), then followed the movie version of the old 60s classic THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES (’93) and a revamp of the old MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE series in ’96, which, whilst not being as popular as the original, at least brought Lalo’s theme to another generation. And there were many more. Major league movie scores though were, for whatever reason, a little sparse in the 90s.

A real and literal ‘kick’ start to Lalo’s movie score career, though of course he never really left it, came in 1998 with RUSH HOUR starring, the latest and probably most popular contender to fill Bruce’s shoes, Jackie Chan (‘The Fastest Hands In The East’) and Chris Tucker (‘The Biggest Mouth In The West’) as two unlikely and reluctantly paired cops. Director Brett Ratner knew that to create an ENTER THE DRAGON for the 90s, one key element was essential – Lalo Schifrin. Lalo obviously enjoyed returning to the musical styles and tools of his earlier ENTER THE DRAGON and plays with them delightfully, especially with the track ‘Lee Arrives In L.A.’ which is basically a reworking of his DRAGON theme, and with which film Bruce Lee actually did. Yet he also knocks it up a touch and gives it a harder edge for the 90s. He also uses his classical training and exposure to French compositional techniques to explore some wonderful chord progressions. A fun movie and a fun score, and of course Lalo would also score RUSH HOUR 2 in 2001.

As I said right from the start of this feature, I’ve had to leave many of Lalo’s themes and scores unmentioned – there just isn’t room, and some of you probably think I’ve gone on far too long already. But where do you stop? That’s the difficult thing about trying to encapsulate a movie legend, and Lalo Schifrin is undoubtedly that. To date, Lalo Schifrin has won four Grammy Awards (with twenty-one nominations), one Cable ACE Award, and received six Oscar nominations. With the MISSION movies still pounding that unforgettable theme into people’s psyche, even more blockbusters like SHREK 2 being comfortably stuffed under his belt, and his scores for X-MEN 3 and RUSH HOUR 3 reportedly still to come, Lalo is set to continue for some while yet. And quite rightly.

At the time of going to press Lalo Schifrin is about to commence a U.S. tour with the Lincoln Center Chamber Orchestra performing his new concert piece ‘Letters From Argentina’. Tour dates and venues follow at the end of this column.

My sincere thanks go to Mr. Lalo Schifrin, and his assistant Brooke Casey, for their help with the preparation of this feature.

Keep listening.

LALO SCHIFRIN’S ‘LETTERS FROM ARGENTINA’ TOUR:

CHAMBER MUSIC NORTHWEST
Portland, Oregon

Sat. July 30—8:00 PM—Performance at Reed College
Sun. July 31-–4:00 PM—Performance at Reed College

SANTA FE CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Tues Aug 2 – –8:00 PM– Performance at The Lensic

LA JOLLA MUSIC SOCIETY SUMMERFEST
San Diego, California

Thurs. Aug 4 –7:30 PM—Performance at Spreckels Theatre

Also, while on the first leg of the tour in Portland, they will also be recording the album in a studio. Release should be in the fall, probably October.

ALBUMS FEATURED IN THIS COLUMN:

JERICHO – Lalo’s original soundtrack for the pilot and his unused main theme have recently been released on FSMCD Vol. 8, No. 6 from Film Score Monthly.

THE CINCINNATI KID – Original Score composed and conducted by Lalo Schifrin on Aleph Records 025. This new recording includes extended and additional cues previously unavailable.

COOL HAND LUKE – Original Soundtrack on Aleph Records 022.

THE FOX – Music from and inspired by THE FOX composed and conducted by Lalo Schifrin on Aleph Records 017. This new recording includes additional music previously unavailable.

MANNIX – Original Score composed and conducted by Lalo Schifrin on Aleph Records 014.

BULLITT – Original Score composed and conducted by Lalo Schifrin on Aleph Records 018.

KELLY’S HEROES – Original Soundtrack on FSMCD Vol. 7, No. 20 from Film Score Monthly.

THX 1138 – Original Soundtrack on FSMCD Vol. 6, No. 4 from Film Score Monthly.

DIRTY HARRY – Original Score composed and conducted by Lalo Schifrin on Aleph Records 030.

MAGNUM FORCE – Original Score composed and conducted by Lalo Schifrin on Aleph Records 033.

ENTER THE DRAGON – Original Score composed and conducted by Lalo Schifrin on Wea Records

THE AMITYVILLE HORROR – Original Soundtrack on Aleph Records 026

RUSH HOUR – Original Score composed and conducted by Lalo Schifrin on Aleph Records 005

For completists Lalo’s theme for the PLANET OF THE APES TV series can be found as a bonus track on Film Score Monthly’s release CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES on FSMCD Vol. 4 No. 1.

Aleph Records – The Official Website of Lalo Schifrin: http://www.schifrin.com/main.htm

Film Score Monthly – http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/

For a full filmography of Lalo Schifrin’s film and TV themes and scores check out the Internet Movie Data Base at http://www.imdb.com/

Just an interim column to mention some interesting CDs that have winged their way to me this past week.

FILMMUSIK
Composed & performed (except where stated) by Nathan Larson
Label: Commotion Records / Running Time 45:32
Verdict: Recommended and Refreshing

Nathan Larson’s filmmusic career began as a member of the influential art-punk band Shudder To Think (HIGH ART, FIRST LOVE LAST RIGHTS). His solo music for the Academy Award®-winning film BOYS DON’T CRY established him as a film-scoring force on his own, and since then he has become a sought-after composer by defining himself through highly acclaimed and challenging work. His diverse scores include Todd Solondz’s STORYTELLING and PALINDROMES, Joel Schumacher’s TIGERLAND and PHONE BOOTH, Lukas Moodysson’s LILJA 4-EVER, and Stephen Frears’ DIRTY PRETTY THINGS. His music for 2004’s THE WOODSMAN starring Kevin Bacon earned him the prestigious Gras Savoye Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

FILMMUSIK features a collection of original tracks and sound bytes from his soundtracks to PROZAC NATION, BOYS DON’T CRY, TIGERLAND, PHONE BOOTH, LILJA 4-EVER, THE WOODSMAN, THE CHATEAU, DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, HIGH ART and STORYTELLING and despite the tracks being selected, by Larson’s own admission, haphazardly, and presented in a random fashion, it is a satisfying and fascinating album, and for the most part consists of previously unreleased material.

Keep your eye, or more correctly ear, on Nathan Larson.

CRASH: ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
Composed, Performed & Produced by Mark Isham
Label: Superb Records / Running Time 58:41
Verdict: Highly Recommended

Not to be confused with the David Cronenberg movie of the same title, CRASH is a compelling urban drama taking a provocative and unflinching look at the complexities of racial conflict in post-9/11 Los Angeles, examining fear and bigotry from multiple perspectives as characters careen in and out of one another’s lives.

With an ensemble cast including Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Chris Bridges, Thandie Newton, Ryan Phillippe and Larenz Tate, CRASH is a rare cinematic event – a film that challenges audiences to question their own prejudices.

Composer Mark Isham’s other memorable and evocative scores include such films as MIRACLE, A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, THE MAJESTIC, OCTOBER SKY, BLADE, NELL, MEN OF HONOR, SAVE THE LAST DANCE and MOONLIGHT MILE. Here he provides an appropriately eclectic mix of musical styles and ethnic voices. Paradoxically, for a film about racial tensions, there is no tension in the score. The music is tranquil and in places beautiful. At times I was reminded of some of Chris Franke’s more peaceful passages from his BABYLON 5 scores. This is a supportive and unobtrusive soundtrack that you hear without realising it and it is also a great stand-alone music album. The album is rounded off by the two songs featured in the film, “In the Deep” performed by Bird York and “Maybe Tomorrow” by the Stereophonics.

A second album, also from Superb Records, ‘CRASH – Music From and Inspired by the Film’, contains the Bird York and Stereophonics tracks, plus ten additional songs by Billy Idol, Chris Pierce, Civilization, Randy Coleman, Al Berry, Move.Meant, Pale 3 featuring Beth Hirsch, Quinn, Quincy, and the lead single “If I …” by Kansascali. As inspired and inspirational as they may or may not be, they weren’t in the film and thus do not count as a soundtrack album. Also I do have my misgivings about these ‘music from and inspired by’ albums. I’m a professional musician myself and I have to say I’ve never been ‘inspired’ to write anything as a result of watching a movie (have you?) which is why I’m not reviewing it.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: SEASON ONE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
Label: La-La Land Records / Running Time 78:33
Composer Bear McCreary
Featured vocalists: Brendan McCreary, Caitanya Riggan, Daniel McGrew, Ken Stacey, Lillis Ó Laoire, Melanie Henley Heyn, Michael Now, Raya Yrbrough
Verdict: Interesting

Much as I enjoy this album I have a problem with it. Bear McCreary, who corroborated with Richard Gibbs on the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 2003 mini-series, has continued here with that multi-racial/ethnic and somewhat minimalistic style of accompaniment for the visuals. Here also have been composed pieces featuring Irish pipes, Bach/Mozartesque string pieces, Latin Muzak, Japanese Taiko (drum), Mediterranean/Middle-Eastern style percussion & wind instruments, Afro-Caribbean percussion and even full-blown traditional opera. Many tracks combine some these elements and are fine, and interesting. Some however are too nation, region, era, or musically specific to our own planet Earth, and even the lyrics for the songs are provided in the sleeve notes in both Gaelic and Latin. I accept that the characters have to speak in a familiar language so we know what’s going on, but the protagonists in this series are, after all, not from Earth, and certainly none of them ever speaks Gaelic or Latin, so the languages and music surrounding them should not be influenced by our regional perceptions. The counter to this of course is that Earth is supposedly, according to the premise of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA series, the ‘lost’ colony of these very same protagonists; we are/were originally the same race and therefore we will have developed music and language along the same lines.

This assumption is my problem.

All of us humans on this beautiful planet have, in reality, descended from the same root and have lived next door to each other for thousands of years yet still we have developed an infinite diversity of language, culture, musical styles and totally different ways of thinking (to the point of blowing each other to bits) from our fellow humans living relatively just down the road. How then would a supposed colony, separated from it’s home planet by a vast amount of space, and left to stew in it’s own juices for hundreds or thousands of years, possibly maintain the culture, languages and music of it’s forefathers?

That notwithstanding, although not a jolly listen, the album is compositionally fascinating in some parts, and totally enjoyable in all, because of it’s diversity and combination of musical styles. I just think some of the music is inappropriate for it’s series setting.

NEXT TIME: LALO SCHIFRIN – A TOUR DE FORCE…
A review of some of the man’s greatest and most iconic film scores including DIRTY HARRY, ENTER THE DRAGON, BULLITT, KELLY’S HEROES, COOL HAND LUKE, RUSH HOUR, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, THE CINCINNATI KID and the newly released MAGNUM FORCE.

Keep listening.