Michael Kamen dies at 55

Film music lost one of its finest contemporary practitioners this week with the sudden death of Michael Kamen on November 18^th. The 55-year old composer had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996, but had persevered with a number of musical assignments until just recently, when he announced his illness a few months ago. He was signed to score two new films at the time of his death (FIRST DAUGHTER, and AGAINST THE ROPES the latter reportedly completed).

"Michael was the quintessential modern film composer, rooted in the classical tradition but open minded in his approach," posted a notice on the musicfromthemovies.com web site.

"Film music aficionados will forever remember his intense and exciting action music and majestic orchestral style; broader audiences will never forget his hit songs. He could do anything, and he had so much more to do." Among Kamen's notable scores were THE DEAD ZONE (original), BRAZIL, the LETHAL WEAPON and DIE HARD films, WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, FREQUENCY, IRON GIANT, and X-MEN.

Jerry Goldsmith's long-awaited new [IMG4R]score, LOONEY TUNES BACK IN ACTION, was released this week on Varese Sarabande (302 066 523 2). Taking his cue from the Carl Stalling passage that opens the CD, Goldsmith proffers up a new take on cartoon music, investing his approach with a prominent electric guitar that takes the main melody in several tracks. Throughout his orchestration is inventive, with quirky percussion textures and underlying bass rhythms embellishing his soaring melody lines. His bad guy theme, pure adrenalin-laced orchestra, strings and brass over percussion and electric bass, is terrific.) Moments of the score are pure Goldsmith, resonating in poignant, romantic melodies; the middle of "Dead Duck Walking" or attentive action riffs ("Out of the Bag"), nostalgic references (the old world violin figure that crops up in "Out of The Bag"), jazzified urban riffs (same cue), and so on. The music takes on so many guises and personalities that it's difficult to discern a cohesive central core but then that clear-toned guitar resonates to the fore, becoming a voice throughout the score that links the frequently riotous elements and gives them a grounding, associated usually with the story's human characters. You might consider this GREMLINS-Lite (there's even a tongue-in-cheek reference to Goldsmith's score for that film near the end of "Out of the Bag"); it avoids the cheerful malevolence of that earlier Joe Dante film score, but modernizes the traditional Carl Stalling LOONEY TUNES approach by its fusion of contemporary instruments with the signature frenzied mayhem of the furious Stalling orchestral approach.

There is a very similar cartoony sense in [IMG5L]David Newman's score for THE CAT IN THE HAT, also released this week by Decca (B0001610-2). Stripped away from the obligatory songs that are distractedly inserted amid the orchestral score (Smash Mouth's take on the Beatles' Sgt Pepper tune, "Getting Better"; and a pair of pop standards performed by star Mike "Cat" Myers), Newman's music cavorts as zanily as does the hatted Cat; it is free-spirited and relentlessly cheery. The main theme is part LEAVE IT TO BEAVER innocent, part LOONEY TUNES mischievous, with just a pinch of GREMLINS naughtiness; it's well introduced in the main title, "The Kids," which affords a lengthy (8 min.) overture comprising the score's main elements, including a swaggering lounge-ish synth-percussion tune before emerging back into Carl Stalling territory. It's thoroughly fresh, fun, and funny. "The Cat" is a delightful scherzo that embodies well-meaning misbehavior of the titular feline, and embodies much of score's rich humor. Like the best cartoon music, Newman shifts direction, rhythm, tonality, and atmosphere frequently, absorbing all kinds of musical idioms and sensibilities, while retaining at its core a heartfelt sincerity that comes through in his recurring piano melody associated with the Cat in the Hat.

James Horner's latest offering, THE MISSING, came to stores this week on Sony Classical SK 93093. The film, Ron Howard's taut thriller about a woman (Cate Blanchett) reuniting with her estranged father (Tommy Lee Jones) to rescue her daughter when the child is kidnapped by a psychopathic killer with mystical powers, received a broad and intense score that draws upon a wide range of sounds to musically [IMG6R]enhance the haunting nature of the film's Southwestern backdrop. Embellishing the tonality of the modern symphony orchestra, Horner employs chanting native American singer, ethnic instruments including the kena flute, the shakahachi, a bowed mouth harp, and panpipes plus an array of synths and percussion (including chairs played as percussion instruments) and choral voices. Horner also includes the sound of a bull's roar into the musical mix. Clearly, THE MISSING is a broadly textured score, which succeeds as a very intriguing musical experience on the Sony CD. Thematically, the score is more ambient and atmospheric; there are only a few moments when melodies soar ("Rescue and Breakout," and "The Long Ride Home," closing the score with an effective and extended 15+ mins melodic resolution) but more often Horner is underlying the film's psychological undercurrents, both that of the kidnaper and his mystic cult associations, and that of the uneasy interplay between Blanchett's character and that of Jones. This results in some interesting rhythmic, tonal atmospheres. This is the fifth Ron Howard-James Horner collaboration, and like the previous (APOLLO 13, RANSOM, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, A BEAUTIFUL MIND), it has resulted in a compelling musical score, rich in emotional flavors and honest poignancy.

Hans Zimmer's scores THE LAST SAMURAI (released next week on Elektra 62932-2) is as powerfully rhythmic as one has come to expect from Zimmer, who, like Horner, enhances his basic synth and symph orchestra here with ethnic instrumentation, sampling a variety of powerful Japanese Taiko drum hits into his synthesizers to create an effective percussive texture that is layered into the score (see last week's Soundtrax column for Zimmer's comments on this score). The music proceeds slowly, taking on a kind of Asian sensibility in their patterned development even while performed by mostly Western instruments. "Specters in the Fog" is a notable, and representative cue opening with Japaneselike pizzicato strings, hints of shakahachi flutes, and then segueing into a typical Zimmerlike rhythm pattern, powerful and effective, but very familiar. The score is pleasing and effective, but it's a standard Zimmer work that fails to shine above the expected; the tonalities are likable and the music builds a continually developing emotional texture, but it's the same kind of thing Zimmer had done many times over. The score fails to capture the freshness and "something new" appeal that graces his efforts in HANNIBAL, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2, BLACK HAWK DOWN, or even this year's MATCHSTICK MEN. If you like traditional Zimmer you'll like this score and I do find it quite likable in that context but you won't glean anything especially innovative about it. It's comprised of the same tried and true elements that have made most of his other action scores (CRIMSON TIDE, THE ROCK, BROKEN ARROW, THE THIN RED LINE, PEARL HARBOR, TEARS OF THE SUN, etc) so effective.

Varese Sarabande will issue John Ottman's score for SCARY MOVIE 3 on CD on December 16^th.

James

Fox's 9-disc ALIEN QUADRILOGY.

© Fox Home Video

Philip Glass' original score for THE FOG OF WAR will be released on CD by Orange Mountain Music.

LucasArts, in association with La-La Land Records will release on December 9^th the full-throttle orchestral score to the thrilling, high-flying LucasArts videogame SECRET WEAPONS OVER NORMANDY. Composer Michael Giacchino has written a rich, powerful music score, performed by the Northwest Sinfonia, the latest of several new game to warrant full orchestral scores. Disc two of this two-disc set is a special bonus CD-ROM featuring additional music cues and a behind the scenes look at the game, the score and its composer. A 12-page booklet features detailed liner notes. The same date the label will release the first-ever edition of Dominic Frontiere's jazz-based score for BRANNIGAN (the John Wayne vs. Scotland Yard thriller from 1975). http://www.lalalandrecords.com/

WINGED MIGRATION, the laudable 2001 French documentary on migratory birds that included a notable score by Bruno Coulais, was released on DVD by Columbia-Tristar this week, including a number of neat features, one of which details the creation of the score.

On December 2^nd, Fox will release

PETER PAN.

© Universal Pictures

Soundtrack sources:

www.intrada.com

www.screenarchives.com