Music for Twin Terrors & International Cops

By: Randall D. Larson
Date: Thursday, June 09, 2005

THIS WEEK'S RECOMMENDATIONS

England's Harkit Records, who have preserved on CD such quirky and cultic scores of the '60s and 70s as BARBARELLA, THE PENTHOUSE, VANISHING POINT, THEY CAME TO ROB LAS VEGAS, and MODESTY BLAISE (and who will soon release BURKE'S LAW and HONEY WEST), have added a trio of splendidly attractive soundtracks to their catalog. www.harkitrecords.com

Christopher Gunning made a big impression when he scored Hammer's HANDS OF THE RIPPER in 1971, with a melodic and persuasive orchestral score. Gunning's first feature film was another memorable horror offering, the previous year's GOODBYE GEMINI (aka TWINSANITY), starring the delectable Judy Geeson, Martin Potter, and Michael Redgrave in a weird story about twin siblings enmeshed in the 1970s London,

based on a novel called Ask Agamemnon by Jenni Hall. The film became noted as one of the most chilling movies of the 70s. Rather than evoking the swinging London scene of the period (the King/Black Main Title song, performed by a group called The Peddlers, and two upbeat songs by Gunning, sung by Peter Lee Stirling and Jacki Lee, respectively), Gunning crafts a sensitive and atmospheric score for breezy melodies and gentle moods. The score drifts easily through cool jazz, delicate acoustic guitars, and brass driven big band material. The music lends an eloquent and pretty atmosphere of relaxed reassurance, playing against the film's growing sense of unease at least until the fevered strings and chorale moans of "Ritual Murder" or the cacophony of screeching violins that inhabit "Jacki's Nghtmare." Harkit's premiere CD release of the score (HRKCD 8092) presents as much of the music as was available to them (27 mins) and includes informative notes from Music from the Movies' Andrew Keech.

INTERNATIONAL DETECTIVE was a 1962 TV series starring Arthur Fleming as a New York detective. The show was filmed in a dramatized documentary style that set it apart from others of its ilk. The music was composed by respective composer Edwin Astley, noted for his work on British television and films (THE MOUSE THAT ROARED, 1959; Hammer's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in 1962; tv's DANGER MAN [the British version of SECRET AGENT] in 1960-66, etc.) Astley scored the episodes with a mixture of adventurous classical orchestral material and popular jazz tracks, some of which is used as background source music (the jazz tracks are composed by Astley along with Harry Booth). The series' thrilling main title theme was written by Leroy Holmes (later known as a conductor of "easy-listening" variations of film scores and theme compilations for United Artists Records). The soundtrack CD (HRKCD 8090) is a mixture of these jazz-based instrumentals and a handful of Astley's orchestral underscores, with seven versions of Holmes' main theme presented for good measure. The accompanying CD booklet provides a very good 3-page biography of Astley but talks actually very little about the music for INTERNATIONAL DETECTIVE.

The music for MAN FROM INTERPOL (originally released by Harkit in mono last year but now reissued in an expanded stereo version) is a boisterous jazz soundtrack by

Tony Crombie, very much in the loud, urgent-jazz vein of popular British TV shows of the early '60s. The show ran for a single season in 1960 and starred Richard Wyler and John Longden as an international detective and his boss. Crombie, who played with Duke Ellington's band when they toured the UK in 1948, provides a mixture of brassy '60s TV jazz as well as old-school Ellington jazz, such as the wonderful "Slow Boat," a brilliant track for marimba and saxophone, and "Fordaire," a catchy horn melody that will really get your toes tapping. There's virtually no dramatic underscore in his efforts, nicely presented with 35 tracks and almost 80 minutes of music on Harkit's HRKCD 8144, but it's a tremendous jazz album.

A modern film but with music very much based in decades past, Alex Heffes' Main Title theme to THE PAROLE OFFICER is a grandiose, Westernlike theme in the best Elmer Bernstein tradition, a thunderous, fully orchestral overture that really opens the Harkit soundtrack CD (HRKCD 8093) splendidly. Somebody referred to this theme as "MAGNIFICENT SEVEN With Attitude" not an improper statement. This 2002 British

action-comedy (termed THE ITALIAN JOB on bicycles) starred Steve Coogan as a parole officer who witnesses a murder. "Car Chase" is fast-paced jazz riff for brass over a sturdy electronica undercurrent. "Drive to the Club" and "Air Shaft" are both raucous, rhythmic, Schifrinlike riffing jazz. "Do I Look Like A Bank Robber" is made up of the kind of subtle militaristic snare drum and wind intonations that parts of Bernstein's GREAT ESCAPE were crafted from. "Victor's Grave" is low, somber male chorus and suspenseful violins. "Ride of the Gottler" adapts Wagner's Ride of the Valkyrie into an amusing chase scene. "We've Done the Job" is a very brassy, triumphant cue in the style of John Williams. "The Getaway" starts out ala exotic Les Baxter, with bongos and brass and cymbals, segueing into a beautifully bombastic version of the main theme. "Never Mess With An Office Worker" is bold and brassy and energetic, and could have come from an episode of MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. or MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. All of this may sound like this score is little more than an amalgamation of other material; it is in fact a tremendously thrilling composition that works very well despite its thematic ancestry. Heffes has taken the gist of Elmer Bernstein's signature American Western musical style, grafted it into the signature style of 60's American TV jazz scores, and crafted both onto a very British action show, and the result is a unique sensibility that is as cleverly tongue-in-cheek as it is terrifically exciting and appropriate. Harkit (who also released Heffes' score for TOUCHING THE VOID) has done a fine job preserving this excellent score on disc. At 20 tracks and 34:33 minutes, it's a fairly short job, but sounds terrific throughout.

FILM MUSIC NEWS

Time Magazine film critics Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel have announced their picks for the All-Time 100 Best Films. Included in their online article, they also list their personal picks for the top 5 soundtracks of all time. Schickel picked Korngold's THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, Herrmann's CITIZEN KANE, Morricone's THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY, Raksin's LAURA, and Leonard Bernstein's ON THE WATERFRONT. Corliss picked FRED ASTAIRE AND GINGER ROGERS AT RKO, Elmer Bernstein's THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM, Delerue's JULES ET JIM, Marc Shaiman and Trey Parker's SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER & UNCUT, and Bollywood composer A.R. Rahman's ROJA. Get your first listen to more than twenty minutes of Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard's score for BATMAN BEGINS at the Japanese website Cinemart. The score plays during footage from the film's world premiere, where you can see the stars of the film sign autographs and have their pictures taken by a sea of camera phones. (via cinemusic.net) http://www.so-net.ne.jp/movie/batmanbegins/

Dan Goldwasser at SoundtrackNet has posted a report from Michael Giacchino's SKY HIGH scoring session. "With THE INCREDIBLES, Giacchino had gone for a retro 1960s vibe, but with SKY HIGH, he has a lot more freedom," reports Goldwasser. "The resulting score has a main theme bursting with triumphant heroism. Action cues are brassy and bold. Some of the smaller cues vary in tone and style, from sparse tension, to the string-heavy emotional cues that fans of LOST will truly appreciate. There's even an otherworldly theremin used for some of the quirkier moments. Giacchino said that he wanted the score to be 'fun, but serious' - he recalled the way he felt growing up watching the Max Fleischer animated SUPERMAN cartoons, and so he filled the score with large orchestral Americana." Read the full story at: www.soundtrack.net/news/article/?id=605

Silva Screen records has reissued their 2000 expanded release of the soundtrack to ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (SSD 1110), featuring music (and dialog extracts) by director John Carpenter and synthesist Alan Howarth.

Michael Rogers died on April 25th, 2005 in Los Angeles at the age of 55. The son of jazz bandleader Shorty Rogers, he began his career in music as a drummer for L.A. bands in the 1960s before working as a copyist at Columbia Pictures Music in the 70s, for such shows as Police Story and Police Woman. He became head of Universal's music library in 1981, involved in music preparation and licensing, and continued at MCA Music as director of clearance. Donations in his memory may be made to the American Cancer Society. via filmscoremonthly.com

After 2003's THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, composer Don Davis has been working on his opera, Rio de Sangre, and except for the music for BBC miniseries SPACE ODYSSEY he has not written any new film music. Now, musicfromthemovies.com reports that Davis has returned to the world of theatrical features and will score THE MARINE for release in January next year. The film tells the story about a marine who returns from battle to find that his girlfriend has been involved in a kidnapping plot. Robert Patrick, Kelly Carlson and John Cena stars in the film that is directed by debutant John Bonito.

Jerry Goldsmith wrote one of his most acclaimed and effective scores for Paul

Verhoeven's BASIC INSTINCT in 1992. Now, thirteen years later, the sequel, BASIC INSTINCT 2: RISK ADDICTION, is in the works and the composer who has been chosen to score the new film is - quite surprisingly - John Scott, an experienced 74-year old British film composer who, among film music aficionados, is considered to be one of the most underrated composers in the film business. John Scott has been writing film music for 25 years, but he hasn't scored any major studio pictures in many years. Among his best-known films are GREYSTOKE: THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, LORD OF THE APES, THE FINAL COUNTDOWN and SHOOT TO KILL, all of them released in the 80s. BASIC INSTINCT 2: RISK ADDICTION is currently shooting under the helm of Michael Caton-Jones. Sharon Stone makes a highly anticipated return as Catherine Tramell and other cast members include Charlotte Rampling and David Thewlis. The film's premiere will take place on March 10th 2006. via musicfromthemovies.com

Max Steiner's Oscar nominated score for JOHNNY BELINDA, recorded in 1948, will be the next release from the Max Steiner Collection at Brigham Young University. The CD also includes a deluxe 32-page full color booklet with definitive liner notes by Rudy Behlmer and John Morgan. Pre-orders will be accepted starting on June 10, 2005 at www.screenarchives.com

England's Chandos label's latest film music

compilation is The Film Music Of Francis Chagrin, set for release on July 27th. Rumon Gamba conducts the BBC Philharmonic in premiere recordings (except track 1) of HELTER SKELTER (1948 madcap comedy), THE COLDITZ STORY (1955 WW2 POW drama), GREYFRIARS BOBBY (1961 Disney' remake of A CHALLENGE TO LASSIE), THE FOUR JUST MEN (British TV Series 1959 1960), THE INTRUDER (1954 postwar mystery with Jack Hawkins), EASY MONEY (1949 crime drama), and LAST HOLIDAY (poignant 1950 drama with Alec Guinness as a man mistakenly informed that he has only a short time to live).

GAMES MUSIC NEWS

Composer Garry Schyman (www.garryschyman.com), whose experience outside of videogames includes feature films, television movies, and series television, has created the original orchestral score for the upcoming alien invasion-inspired videogame Destroy All Humans!, developed by Pandemic Studios and published by THQ. The musical score is written in the style of 1950's sci-fi movies such as the classic THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, using a Theremin as the lead instrument. Schyman recorded his 60-minute cinematic score in Los Angeles with some of Hollywood's top orchestral musicians.

Commenting on his music for the game Garry Schyman said, "I never played the humor of the game directly. Instead I wrote the score as if this was 1953 and I was a working composer of that era. With that in mind I played it dead serious, which led to an overly dramatic score and the humor that comes from that approach."

Greg Borrud, Director of Production, Pandemic Studios, attested, "Garry not only nailed the style for Destroy All Humans!, he helped shape the game with his brilliant score. The soundtrack takes the game to a whole new level."

Destroy All Humans! is scheduled to release for Xbox and PlayStation® 2 on June 21, 2005. For more information please visit www.destroyallhumansgame.com.

Recommended Soundtrack sources:
www.buysoundtrax.com  
www.intrada.com  
www.screenarchives.com  
www.footlight.com  
www.arksquare.com/index_main.html  (Japan)
www.intermezzomedia.com  (Italy)
www.moviegrooves.com

For questions or comments, contact the author at Soundtrax@cinescape.com