Interview with composer Andrew Lockington + Soundtrack News & Reviews

Because of time, I must restrict all editorial blather to bare minimums, so this one’s going to be quick!




New stuff:

Just uploaded an interview [M] with Andrew Lockington, were he discusses travelling to Papua, New Guinea, for research prior to writing the full score for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, the sequel to 2008’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. Both were filmed in 3D, and feature standout, full-blooded orchestral scores by Lockington.

Soundtrack News & Reviews

The big news this past week in the soundtrack realm is Varese Sarabande’s announcement that Alex North ‘s score for Spartacus (1960) will be released in a deluxe 6-disc edition featuring every extant note recorded for the score, in terms of the re-recorded soundtrack album, the final film mix, the pre-release cues, and re-recorded versions and interpretation of North’s Spartacus “Love Theme.”

The set, limited to 5,000 copies, also comes with a DVD featuring interviews with contemporary composers, but the fact producer Robert Townsend included the Ramsay Lewis Trio’s version of North’s theme means he’s really done his homework and gone uber-obsessive for this release, timed for the film’s 50th anniversary.

I’ll have a review of the set when it arrives, but those curious about the score’s history on LP and CD will find it interesting that the only release of the actual score recordings appeared on Criterion’s laserdisc and DVD, in the form of alternate and demo cues; the other CDs were, well, legally grey.

Only MCA’s album was internationally legit, but it contained re-recorded themes; the 'grey' editions were culled from other sources: the SVC 2-disc edition featured ‘reconstructions’ of cues from earlier 'pre-release' edits of the film, whereby some scenes and the intermission had different placements; the Tsunami CD was culled from material from the Criterion and SVC sources; and the Soundtrack Library 3-disc set was a mish-mash of those sources, as well as what the label reported to be an unreleased follow-up soundtrack album that was never released.

Varese’s set, due August 2nd, will feature surviving stereo cues in chronological order (CD 1), the full score in mono (CDs 2 + 3), alternates and demos (CD 4), rerecorded versions & jazz interpretations (CD 5 + 6) from giants such as Bill Evans, Lalo Schifrin, the Ramsay Lewis Trio, and others, and a 96 mins. DVD featuring interviews with contemporary composers reflecting on the score, plus a recording of the theme with Mark Isham and Diego Navarro.

I can’t wait to hear the set, but I also can’t wait to learn why so many of the cues only exist in mono. It’s an all-too common problem with some of the best-known scores from classic films that aren’t really that old, but whose master tapes no longer exist, were damaged, erased, destroyed, or whatever.

That of course brings us to this week’s CD reviews, which include La-La Land’s new disc of John Williams’ The Poseidon Adventure, which existed mostly as mono tracks until stereo versions were created from surviving sources using cutting edge digital technology. Also reviewed are a pair of comedy scores – Marc Shaiman’s Speechless (La-La Land) and Rolfe Kent’s Killers (Lionsgate)

This month’s issue of Rue Morgue features my reviews of Steve Jablonsky’s A Nightmare on Elm Street (Water Tower Music), and James Burrell’s review of Big Finish’s latest audio drama of Dark Shadows tales, The Night Whispers. The 85 year old actor recorded the vocal parts for vampire Barnabas in Toronto, and John Karlen appears as weasel Willie Loomis, and Barbara Steele as the mysterious Celeste.

No details on whether it includes any of Bob Cobert’s themes, but some of Nigel Fairs’ cues from scores for the other audio DS dramas have been collected in Dark Shadows: Music from the Audio Dramas, due July 31, 2010 on CD.

Coming Wednesday will be the first of three detailed examinations of the mythic story that evolved into A Star is Born.

--- The first part will contain comparative reviews of What Price Hollywood? (1932) which starred Constance Bennett, and A Star is Born (1937) with Janet Gaynor and Frederick March.

--- Next will be the 1954 Judy Garland-James Mason version of Star (just released in a fat Blu-ray edition from Warner Home Video), and the 1976 Barbara Streisand-Kris Kristofferson version.

--- That’ll be followed by reviews of Max Steiner’s 1937 score, and the musical score for the 1954 version. (There will be NO review of the 1976 version, because going there will cause my brain to bleed.)

Lastly, here are some new soundtrack announcements for July:

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Beat Records (Italy)

Da Corleone a Brooklyn / From Corleone to Brooklyn (Franco Micalizzi)

Voglia di donna + Maliizia erotica (Ubaldo Continiello)

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DigitMovies (Italy)

African Story (Francesco DeMasi)

Fatevi vivi la polizia non interverra (Piero Piccioni)

Le 4 Giornate di Napoli (Carlo Rustichelli)

Misteria / Body Puzzle (Carlo Maria Cordio)

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GDM (Italy)

Addio Zio Tom / Goodbye Uncle Tom (Riz Ortolani) --- August

Ad ogni costo (Ennio Morricone)

La mogile giapponese (Nino Oliviero)

Nico Fidenco: I mei pimri 50 anni da cantante e compositore / My First 50 Years as a Singer and a Composer (Nico Fidenco) --- 6 CDs

Vendo cara la pelle / I’ll Sell My Skin Dearly (Marcello Marracchi, Enrico Ciacci)

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Intrada (USA)

Black Bird, The (Jerry Fielding) --- limited to 1500 copies

George Washington (Laurence Rosenthal) --- 2 CDs, limted to 1000 copies

Mr. Atlas (Terry Plumeri)

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Kritzerland Records (USA)

Juggernaut + The Bed Sitting Room (Ken Thorne) --- limted to 1000 copies

Promises, Promises (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) --- 2 CDs, limited to 1000 copies

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Kronos Records (Malta)

Aragosta a colazione (Piero Umiliani) – limited to 500 copies

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Legend Records (Italy)

La spina dorsale del diavolo / The Deserter (Piero Piccioni)

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Quartet Records (Spain)

Hornet’s Nest (Ennio Morricone)

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Screen Archives Entertainment (USA)

Champion (Dimitri Tiomkin) --- 1500 copies

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Silva Screen (USA / UK)

Drumbeat: The John Barry Seven (John Barry)

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Varese Sarabande (USA)

Knight and Day (John Powell)

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Vocalion (Dutton Vocalion) (US)

Mancini’s Angels + The Theme Scene (Henry Mancini)

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Water Tower Music (Warner Bros.) (USA)

Inception (Hans Zimmer)

Sex and the City 2 (Aaron Zigman)

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Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com

And it came and went without much regard

I admit that while I was away in Germany during the weekend of April 12th (Easter time, chocolate bunny time, German bonfires illuminating the sky to bring in the new and the better for 2009) I was to some extent incommunicado with the rest of the world, but it strikes me as intriguing that about two weeks later, while rummaging around the web, that I discovered George Lucas' Star Wars: A Musical Journey [STTMJ] premiered in London at the O2 Arena.

The actually staged the damned thing.

Now, "musical" generally denotes singing and dancing, and the concept of dancers bouncing around in Star Wars costumes to the regal, Korngoldian themes by John Williams set to lyrics seems silly. Robots doing a jig, a neon light saber show, and maybe some audience participation with rebels running into the aisles and grabbing poor souls for a celebratory dance set to Lapti Nek.

However, STTMJ, by available reports, isn't an all singing-all dancing horror show, but a distillation of six film scores crunched and compacted into a live concert performed by the Royal Philharmonic under the baton of Dirk Brosse, with narration by Anthony Daniels (C3PO), and film highlights playing on a giant screen.

That's a concert, not a musical, although the use of journey perhaps infers orchestral travelogue or poem, like Peter and the Wolf. In any event, reviews and reports seem to be mixed; critics (1 --- 2 --- 3 --- 4) appreciate the music but can't help thinking the whole project is another means to keep the Star Wars franchise alive and well after multiple DVD releases over the past few years, whereas fans (1 --- 2 --- 3) appreciate the musical journey through one of the most beloved orchestral space operas ever created.

The concert ran around 2 hours (including intermission), and the concert hall lobby was outfitted with a variety of 'rare' memorabilia tuned to an uber-fan's knowledge of the three original and 3 dreadful prequels, and for all the inevitable dissing of all things Lucas, one can't say the event was far removed from the travelling orchestral love fest of The Lord of the Rings, which did tour, was also tied to a travelling prop show, and more uniquely spawned a very expensive and very floppy all-singing, all dancing musical.

The same can also be said of a Star Trek show (1 --- 2) that landed in Toronto last year, with themes and narrative bits tailored to fans, so perhaps this one time it's actually okay to salute the endeavor, since Lucas is no longer a visionary filmmaker or producer, but a franchise owner whose recent projects have been belated (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) or disastrous (Star Wars: The Clone Wars).



- MRH