Incredible Music

After several notable years scoring video games (MEDAL OF HONOR series) and television (ALIAS), composer Michael Giacchino scores a hit with his effervescent score to Pixar's THE INCREDIBLES, released on CD by Walt Disney Records (61100-7). The lively music fits the fast-paced CGI animated film like one of Mr. Incredible's spandex herosuits, well poised for lift-off and rippling with energy. As he notes in the CD booklet, writer/director Brad Bird wanted music that would capture the style and verve of early to mid '60s spy and superhero music, a task that Giacchino took to heart for his first feature film score. To the film's benefit, Bird and Giacchino rejected the notion of scoring the film with contemporary techno music, interspersed with pop songs designed to sell records. The music instead was to be big, bold, optimistic and vividly heroic, full of eloquent and jazzy suspense figures, rhythmic intimacies, and lavishly bombastic action and adventure strides. The score emanated with the kind of John Barry-esque adventure and romance that gave the James Bond films such an unforgettable musical atmosphere, while creating a terrifically stalwart main theme that is all Giacchino's own.

"When all is said and done, THE INCREDIBLES is about real emotion," Giacchino said of this score. "It's about someone hugging and then something exploding. I feel the score has come to mean the same thing to me!"

"Bob vs. the Omnidroid" is a terrific action cue flailing pulses of brass over a rumbling tide of jazzy percussion that reaches frenzies levels of coherent dissonance. "Lava In The Afternoon" is an easygoing jazz riff for marimba and rhythm combo, accentuated with ripples of strings that suggest imminent action. "Life's Incredible Again" is a Vegas-inspired big band cue that really kicks. "Off To Work" is cool lounge jazz for rhythm combo. "Kronos Unveiled" is a rich 007-inspired cue, with massively undulating string and brass chords. "A Whole Family is Incredible" gives the thunderous main theme a neat turn for small jazz combo before morphing into a sinewy atmosphere for suspense, with low, brooding strings echoing amidst a heartbeat of harp. The second half of "Road Trip!" is kind of like Giacchino's take on Barry's classic "Dawn Attack on Fort Knox" from GOLDFINGER, a wonderfully rhythmic, forward moving piece that really raises the adrenalin. "Saving Metroville" morphs from an intimate, strings-only rendition of the main theme into a brassy intonation of ascending danger, heralding over vibrato strings and percussion, and then segueing into a fully jazzed-up cue for lively rhythm section under strings. A thoroughly creative work, THE INCREDIBLES is surely amongst the season's most compelling scores, and makes for a terrific listen on CD. The 12-page CD booklet contains comprehensive liner notes by Paul Tonks as well as a two-page intro from writer/director Brad Bird.

Another notable Giacchino soundtrack released last week was the TV score for ALIAS, SEASON 2, released on CD by Varese Sarabande (302 066 622 2). In a thoroughly different style than THE INCREDIBLES, the music sustains a high-tempo, contemporary pulse throughout, although some of the brass figures in tracks like "On The Train" are not so unlike those '60s-era punches from INCREDIBLES, just given a contemporary techno edge instead of the James Bondian verve of the '60s. The ALIAS score is built around a high-energy and consistent modern vibe. That said, hearing the music on CD, one realized that there's so much more than that more overt musical pattern in cues like "Mother Of A Mother," "Rabat," and others, Giacchino has the opportunity to compose a number of exotic flavorings, motifs, and atmospheres that convey locale and allow the music to reign in more emotional textures apart from the more dominating cadence of the primary themes. There are a number of intriguing sonic textures that elevate the musical interest throughout the score, such as the vocal chattering that enhances the otherwise plainly rhythmic "Over the Edge." "Aftermath Class" is an eloquent strings soliloquy, quite moving, yet midway through the strings darken and an element of ominousness intrudes effectively upon the bright mood initiated earlier in the track. On CD, the score retains enough diversity and texture, not to mention musical excitement, to make for an absorbing listen apart from the show.

Last week, the 3^rd Annual Hollywood Reporter/Billboard Film & TV Music Conference was held at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles. This conference was initiated in 2002 in the hopes of developing a professional gathering for those involved in creating, selling, acquiring or promoting music for visual media and soundtracks. This two-day event brought musicians, composers, music editors, promoters and other professionals and would-be professionals together to hear from a variety of industry veterans who described the intricacies of their craft.

This year's agenda also included live performances [IMG2R]composer John Debney performed five stunning cues from THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST using a small combo of about 25 players, including a small choir, a terrific array of large percussion instruments, exotic woodwind player, erhu virtuoso Karen Han, and vocalist Lisbeth Scott, who reprised their performances in the film. Heating this richly exotic and beautifully textured music live was simply amazing, each facet of the ethnic instrumentation sounding fully and intensely. Guitarist Kaki King also performed two selections of her intriguing reinvention of electric guitar music, where the instrument becomes rhythm, lead, and percussion all at the same time. For good reason her music has been called cinematic, as it definitely suggested visual atmospheres and associated movement. Songwriter Alexi Murdoch also performed several numbers like those that were included in such films as LADDER 49 and GARDEN STATE.

Director McG (CHARLIE'S ANGELS, THE O.C.) replaced original keynote speaker Brian Grazer, who was unable to break loose from pre-production in Italy for THE DA VINCI CODE (seems like an audience with the Pope required his attendance instead). "Music is a character in anything I do," McG, who got his start as a director of music videos, told his audience. "I'm always thinking about the music. From Day 1, the scene is conceived with music in mind." While his talk had to do more with the use of songs in films (like the Destiny's Child hit, "Independent Woman," that was introduced in CHARLIE'S ANGELS), McG did note that features have to strike a delicate balance between song tracks supplied by the music supervisor and the composer's score. "You've got to walk that line and do what's best for the picture," he said, somewhat uncommitally.

Songwriter Glen Ballard was also a pinch hitter, replacing former Eurythmic Dave Stewart who was another last minute bail-out. Ballard spoke mainly about working with such pop artists as Alanis Morissette, Josh Groban, and OutKast, and his comments referred mostly to the music industry as a whole, only peripherally related to motion picture music.

An interesting panel discussion on "The Boom In Artist Biopics" was [IMG4R]moderated by Billboard Senior Writer Carla Hay and attended by Stuart Benjamin (movie/soundtrack producer for RAY), Darren Higman (Sr VP of WMG Soundtracks for the Warner Music Group), Robert Kraft (President, Fox Music), and Curt Sobel (Music Editor/Music Supervisor, RAY and others). The participants spoke in detail about the trials and tribulations about securing licensing rights, working with legends like Ray Charles on RAY, Johnny Cash on the upcoming WALK THE LINE, and covering in detail the basic philosophy of creating a movie based on the life of a musical legend. "In order to make a movie about anything you first have to have a good story," said Benjamin. "You can't just say that 'this particular artist is a great artist' and expect to make a movie. You've got a find a way into the tale, you've got to find the story to tell and hope you've got a story that matches up to the music."

The panelists also discussed the difference in making a movie like RAY, where the music consists of the actual recordings made by the artist being depicted on screen, and those like WALK THE LINE and Kevin Spacey's upcoming Bobby Darin biopic, BEYOND THE SEA, wherein the actor provides the vocals for the biographee. From all reports, Spacey's efforts in BEYOND THE SEA are outstanding (he's been a musician as well as an actor for years), as are Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, who portray Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash in WALK THE LINE. "We're not used to actors being singers, because there aren't that many opportunities these days," noted Kraft. "But in the good old days you could sing, you could dance, you could do comedy, all of that. They're surprisingly talented musically. They're not trained, but Joaquin is incredible as Johnny Cash, and Reese is a great singer, too, and they're working with T-Bone Burnett, so in that case, it works. There are other films where it doesn't."

Mark Mothersbaugh was interviewed by Billboard's Melinda Newman in a detailed and thorough exploration of the composer's career and philosophy towards composing for films like THE LIFE AQUATIC, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, and TV's RUGRATS. "Usually when people come to me they're not looking for a traditional score necessarily," said Mothersbaugh, who began as a founding member of the alternative rock group Devo. "So if they come to me they're looking maybe for a special voice and they're looking for something that helps complement the universe that they've tried to create with their picture."

Composer John Debney and [IMG5R]director Garry Marshall teamed up to describe how they collaborated on providing music for Marshall's THE PRINCESS DIARIES 1 and 2 and RAISING HELEN and Marshall proved to be as much a comedian as a director, leaving Debney as much a listener as a participant. The presentation didn't provide that many illuminations about the creation of the film's scores but it was a highly entertaining show all the same.

The next panel, moderated by ASCAP's Nancy Knutsen, was called "Across The Spectrum: Changing Trends in Composing for Television," which featured Bruce Broughton (JAG, TINY TOONS, and numerous TV movies), Sean Callery (24), Denis Hannigan (RUGRATS, CATDOG) and David Vanacore (SURVIVOR, THE APPRENTICE), all of whom relayed their various experiences and approaches to providing music for a variety of contemporary television.

The final panel consisted of four members of the visual and sound effects team from SPIDER-MAN 2, who described the process of creating the overall sound design for the film. [IMG6R]Little of this discussion really touched on the music, however, as the participants mostly described and demonstrated through video clips that will hopefully be on next week's DVD extras the creation of the film's sound effects. Moderator Paula Parisi, features editor for The Hollywood Reporter, did verify that, along with Danny Elfman's score, cues by Christopher Young and John Debney were also included (Young's spectacular music from HELLRAISER was used during the scene where Dr. Octavious first demonstrates the fusion technique; and a Debney cue accompanied the pizza delivery scene). While Parisi suggested the inclusion of these additional tracks was to serve director Raimi's very-specific intents for the scenes, word on the street has it that Raimi and Elfman had a severe falling out during the post-production process.

Overall the Film & TV Music Conference provided a variety of professional industrial viewpoints that illuminated much of the way that contemporary films and television are scored, illustrating through example the challenges of the essential and yet often overlooked value of music as the final element in the collaborative partnership that makes for effective cinema.

In a year that has already seen the unfortunate demise of many notable film composers, Michel Colombier and Carlo Rustichelli have also recently passed away.

The Hollywood Reporter has released their latest Film & TV Music edition, coinciding with their Conference noted above. The issue includes interviews with composers of current projects (Carter Burwell, Bruno Coulais, Alexandre Desplat, Michael Giacchino, Harry Gregson-Williams, Alberto Iglesias, Gregor Narholz and Vangelis).

The Varese Sarabande CD Club has announced its November limited edition titles: Richard Hartley's nifty electronic score for SHEENA (Remember? Tanya Roberts in a lion skin loincloth? Ah, I thought you would), reprised from Varese' long out of print LP in a limited pressing of only 1000 copies; Georges Delerue's also out of print soundtracks to VIVA MARIA! (a 1965 French-Italian Western) and KING OF HEARTS (an offbeat 1966 comedy); Alex North's original soundtrack to THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY coupled with Jerry Goldsmith's accompanying documentary score, THE ARTIST WHO DID NOT WANT TO PAINT (the latter also appears on Varese's out of print 6-CD Goldsmith set); and Victor Young's tuneful score for the 1954 romance, THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN). The Delerue and Young CDs are limited to 2000 copies while the North/Goldsmith CD will be provided in a run of 3000 copies. The club released can (and should) be ordered now (they have a history of going out of print fast), and will be shipped in early December. www.varesesarabande.com

Prometheus Records has released MATRIX composer Don Davis' score for THE UNSAID, a thriller starring Andy Garcia and Chelsea Field and directed by Tom McLoughlin. This is Davis' fifth score for director McLoughlin past collaborations include MURDER IN GREENWICH and THE THIRD TWIN. Performed by The Utah Studio Symphony Orchestra, the score is said to be in the tradition of John Williams and John Barry.

Walt Disney Records has released an expanded, special edition 40^th Anniversary soundtrack for MARY POPPINS, coinciding with the release of the film on DVD on December 14^th. The two-disc CD includes all of the songs from the film as well as- for the first time much of the film's musical underscore. The second disc, which may be of interest for one listen but doubtfully for more than that, consists of audio recordings made during the film's production, wherein Mary Poppins author P. L. Travers, composers Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, and screenwriter Don DiGradi discuss the original outline of the movie and its music, and how to bring both effectively to the screen. CD-ROM material on the bonus disc also provide a link to an exclusive website with a sneak peek at the new MARY POPPINS stage musical.

Sony Classical has released two versions of the soundtrack from Joel Schumacher's feature film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. The first version includes highlights of the primary songs, while a two-CD version includes all of the music from the film in a collector's edition package.

Composer Chris Hajian (NAKED STATES, THE STORY OF A BAD BOY) has scored this week's WB Network TV-movie, SAMANTHA: AN AMERICAN GIRL HOLIDAY, a family film based on the Mattel American Girl franchise. The music is delightfully Americana styled, in keeping with the film's American Victorian era of 1904, richly melodic and thoroughly orchestral and classical in tone. The nature of the show will probably not result in a soundtrack release, which is a shame as the score is quite lovely. Hajian has also scored episodes of A&E's BIOGRAPHY and his music has appeared in THE SOPRANOS, LAW AND ORDER, and FRIENDS. As evidenced by SAMANTHA, we will probably be hearing more from him in the future.

Film Score Monthly has announced a three-disc edition of Bronislau Kaper's classic score from MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, which has hitherto not been available on CD. This release features three programs split over three CDs: Disc one and the beginning of disc two features the complete score as it is heard in the finished film. The remainder of disc two and beginning of disc three features a complete "alternative score" from the initial recording sessions as it was intended from March 1962. The remainder of disc three features album versions, additional source music, and additional alternative orchestral cues. All told, it is four hours of music on three CDs, all in stereo and remastered from the original six-track 35mm film. www.filmscoremonthly.com.