Music from the Underworld

By: Randall D. Larson
Date: Thursday, February 23, 2006

THIS WEEK'S RECOMMENDATION

Marco Beltrami has composed a guttural undulation of darkness for the opening moments of UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION, the sequel to the 2003 hit depicting an ongoing war between the vampires and the werewolves. The first film contained a compelling rock-based score by Paul Haslinger (reviewed in Soundtrax Jan 15, 2004), as well as plenty of modern rock music included to sell plenty of associated CDs. The new film also contains its requisite amount of songs, and like the first film they have been released on a CD by Lakeshore (LKS 33846); happily, Lakeshore has thankfully again preserved the film's actual underscore on a separate CD (LKS 338502). Beltrami (TERMINATOR 3, xXx: STATE OF THE UNION, CURSED, HELLBOY) has provided a brooding orchestral score that frequently captures a deep, cavernous pulse, musically echoing the heartbeat of the underworld where one does not exist. In "Corvin's Cruisin' Crypt" the score develops a faster, provocative throbbing rhythm, as surges of low

strings and horns, beaten by timpani, shed their quietude and develop a prominent, progressive cadence. Burbles of violins stroke quickly and quietly in counterpoint to the slow moving chordal descent, and the cue gets lower and lower. The motif grows stronger in the following track, "Morgue Medallion," developing the score's continued forward motion. Strings and percussion in rhythm are the score's mainstays, building to a ferocious pulsation in "Mikey Doesn't Like It" (track titles written by the staff of Saturday Night Live, evidently... we also have a "Kill Will 2" [insert your own rim shot here]), an aggressive rush of pounding drums and onrushing strings trying desperately to keep up. Horns modify the motif in "Trunkin,'" which breathes a wicked tempo on top of the miasmic string figures that underlie the chord progression, now ascending in force and treble. "William's Castle" is a potent offensive of horns and drums, erupting into a persuasive amalgamation of horns and strings and drums in "Selene, Willie & Marcus." The score maintains its stance as a propulsive, rhythmatic-based score, with occasional moments of triumph, as in "Heli Ride" and the final melodic respite of "The Future," which closes the score. It's a dynamic and dramatic score, perhaps a little too thoroughly onrushing and aggressive for some, but Beltrami creates a notable mood of hostility that well serves the film's continuation of battle between two opposing species. The score soundtrack closes with two songs, "Something I can Never Have," a potent Evanescencelike rocker by Flyleaf, and the dark industrial electronica, "EracTou" by cEvin Key & Ken Hiwatt Marshall, neither of which appeared on Lakeshore's separate song soundtrack album. www.lakeshore-records.com

Milan Records has released the unusual score for the new South African gangster thriller, TSOTSI (M2-36156), which opens this Friday. The film is a psychological thriller in which the protagonist, a hoodlum running the streets of Johannesburg's

shantytowns, is compelled to confront his own brutal nature, features a song-based array of material composed by South African musician and recording artist Zola (aka Bonginkosi Dlamini). The energetic vocal score is endowed with "Kwaito music" South Africa's answer to American Hip Hop and is quite persuasive and affecting, enhancing the film's locale and verve with a catchy sonic atmosphere that is uniquely African. In addition to the compelling beats of Zola's contributions, the album also features Kwaito artists such as Mafikizolo, Ishmael, Unathi, and others. An instantly likable collection of ethnic rhythms and earthy vocalisms www.milanrecords.com

FILM MUSIC NEWS

Marco Beltrami will be busy this year he is slated to score a slew of remakes, including John Moore's THE OMEN and Kevin Munroe's TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, plus David S. Goyer's THE INVISIBLE, Ole Bornedal's VIKAREN, and this year's latest SAW spinoff, Roland Joffé's CAPTIVITY. No word yet on soundtrack albums, but with Varese and Lakeshore and Perseverance and La-La Land around, it's more than likely they will be preserved on disc. Beltrami's score for 2005's second airborne thriller, RED EYE, was a lot of fun, but unfortunately never generated a soundtrack release. However, Beltrami's official web site has several tracks from the score (and other unavailable scores) that you can hear online: www.marcobeltrami.de/wocms.php?siteID=7&lngID=1  

Silva Screen will release on March 20th their latest actor based soundtrack compilation with Music From the Films of Marlon Brando, a quite nice 2-CD assortment of twenty years worth of notable film scores, from 1951's A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE by Alex North (represented by an 8:20 minute suite) to 1972's LAST TANGO IN PARIS, by Gato Barbieri. The collection ranges from Golden Age film

music with selections from SAYONARA (Franz Waxman), JULIUS CAESAR (Miklos Rozsa), THE MEN (Dimitri Tiomkin), THE YOUNG LIONS (Hugo Friedhofer), MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (Bronislau Kaper), and THE CHASE (John Barry), to the first innovative jazz scores (STREETCAR, Leith Stevens' THE WILD ONE, Leonard Bernstein's classic ON THE WATERFRONT, to classic orchestral scores of the 1970s, including THE GODFATHER (Nino Rota), SUPERMAN (John Williams), THE MISSOURI BREAKS (John Williams), and APOCALYPSE NOW (the Valkyries cue by Wagner). With the exception of THE MEN, all of the titles included herein are available on their own soundtrack releases; but Silva's compilation, well performed as always by the City of Prague Philharmonic and Crouch End Chorus, is a very nice collection of vintage film music of the '50s, '60s, and early '70s. www.silvascreenmusic.com  

Last week, the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror films has announced their nominations for the 32nd Annual Saturn Awards, including these nominees for Best Film Music of 2005:
Patrick Doyle: HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
Danny Elfman: CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
James Newton Howard & Hans Zimmer: BATMAN BEGINS
John Ottman: KISS KISS, BANG BANG
John Williams: STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH
John Williams: WAR OF THE WORLDS

Some awards have already come: John Williams took top honors for music at the 2006 British Academy Film Awards. The night saw multiple recognition for Ang Lee's BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, which picked up four awards, and MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, which took home three, including the 'Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement In Film Music' for Williams' striking music. The composer did not attend the ceremony, reported Music from the Movies; actress Ziyi Zhang collected the award on his behalf. The honor marks the composer's seventh BAFTA win, his last being for Schindler's List in 1994.

Varese Sarabande will release Jon Powell's score for ICE AGE 2: THE MELTDOWN on March 28th, a couple of days prior to the film's March 31st opening. Powell (ROBOTS, THE BOURNE SUPREMACY, PAYCHECK), has composed a score brimming with melody, which is described as "an epic adventure, overflowing with a sense of wonder and fun." Powell, by the way, is also set to score the third X-MEN movie, THE LAST STAND, as well as Paul Greengrass' super hero fantasy, WATCHMEN and the concluding film in the BOURNE trilogy, THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM.

Varese will also release TRUE GRIT: Elmer Bernstein Conducts his Classic Scores for the Films of John Wayne, featuring over 75 minutes of music, recorded with the Utah Symphony Orchestra. The compilation is culled from a series of LPs and CDs that Varese released in the mid 1990s, with Bernstein himself conducting. The collection includes tracks from TRUE GRIT, THE COMANCHEROS, BIG JAKE, CAHILL: US MARSHAL, and Wayne's final film, THE SHOOTIST. www.varesesarabande.com  

Intrada will release Michael Small's score for the 1987 thriller BLACK WIDOW, which starred Debra Winger and Theresa Russell in the story of a deadly seductress who marries a series of wealthy men, murders them, collects their estates, and gets away

with her crimes thanks to her assumption of multiple identities until an equally clever female adversary from the Justice Department tracks her down. Small is best remembered for the many first rate mystery and thriller scores he composed through the '70s and '80s, including KLUTE, THE PARALLAX VIEW, THE STEPFORD WIVES, NIGHT MOVES, THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE and THE STAR CHAMBER. As Bernard Herrmann did with his score for PSYCHO, Small utilizes the strings to create a piercing psychological intensity for BLACK WIDOW. This Intrada Special Collection release, edited and mastered from the original stereo session masters, is limited to 1200 copies. www.intrada.com

Chan-wook Park's 2005 Korean action thriller, SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE (final film of a trio begun with 2002's SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE and followed by OLDBOY in 2003), released a week or two ago on DVD in the US, featured an eclectic score based on baroque music, of all things, performed by Mo Ho Baroque Ensemble, which is available for free download at www.lady-vengeance.com/lady_vengence.html (Click on "Media") - the entire score can be downloaded through 4 zip files and burned onto a CD. It's an unusual approach but an interesting enough score.

Film Score Monthly reports that There will be a 007 extravaganza in Quebec City, Canada, at the end of the month, entitled in French "Vue sur Bond 007" (official bilingual website to the event: www.vuesurbond007.com), with the likes of Sir Roger Moore and director Guy Hamilton in town. The weekend will culminate on Feb. 25 in a concert of John Barry's music with, among others, Shirley Bassey singing, backed by the Quebec City Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nic Raine.

SoundtrackNet reports that Fox Music will be

releasing Sean Callery's score to 24: The Game as a digital-download exclusive. The album will be available for download, exclusively at www.foxmusic.com, on February 28th to coincide with the release of the game. The album will include 8 tracks of original music written for the game, including a new fully symphonic "24" Suite. The music was composed by the series composer, Sean Callery, and performed by the Nimrod Studio Orchestra in London, with world-class musicians and players from Hollywood's legendary film scores.

Music from the movies also reports that James Horner is set to score Robert De Niro's CIA drama, THE GOOD SHEPHERD, APOCALYPTO, a 16th Century action/adventure directed Mel Gibson, and Steven Zaillian's ALL THE KING'S MEN. The announcement of these new projects comes days after Horner was replaced by Mark Isham as composer for Brian De Palma's THE BLACK DAHLIA.

Among recent notable song-soundtracks is THE MATADOR, released last month by Superb Records. In addition to three score cues by composer Rolf Kent (WEDDING CRASHERS, SIDEWAYS, ABOUT SCHMIDT), the CD contains a cornucopia of styles including new wave/punk (The Jam, The Cramps), pop (Tom Jones), Latin rhythms (Ramon Stagnaro, Daniel Indart, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs), and the like. www.superbrecords.com

Arista/Legacy will reissued two classic soundtracks next week, GHOSTBUSTERS

and ROCKY IV; however both are the standard song-based soundtracks only. GHOSTBUSTERS contains two score tracks by Elmer Bernstein, but the only bonus tracks included are "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps and a 12" single remix of Ray Parker's derivative title song. The ROCKY IV CD contains one cue of composer Vince DiCola's score ("Training Montage"), but it's only bonus track is one more Survivor song culled from one of their albums. Nothing much of interest for the film music fan; GHOSTBUSTERS remains an eagerly anticipated soundtrack awaiting legit release. www.legacyrecordings.com  

RealWorld has released the latest album by Finland's folk-pop band, Varttina, fresh off of co-composing the music for the Toronto stage production of Lord Of The Rings

("the most expensive theatrical production ever undertaken."), which also featured music of composer A.R. Rahman and music supervisor Chris Nightingale. The stage show opens March 23rd in Toronto, with a London production in Fall 2006, and a broadway debut in 2007. The band was a good choice to collaborate with A.R. Rahman on the score to Lord Of The Rings; their vocal traditions embody moods of ancient Finland, which is as dark and haunting as parts of Middle-Earth. Varttina's new album, Miero ("Outcast") is an impressive blend of amazingly crisp harmonic Scandinavian singing and powerful instrumentality the most exciting album in the band's 23-year history. www.realworldrecords.com

Former editor/publisher of CinemaScore magazine, Randall Larson was for many years senior editor for Soundtrack Magazine and a film music columnist for Cinefantastique magazine. He is the author of Musique Fantastique: A Survey of Film Music in the Fantastic Cinema (Scarecrow, 1984) and Music from the House of Hammer (Scarecrow, 1995). In addition to Soundtrax and Music News for Cinescape.com, Randall reviews soundtracks Music from the Movies, writes for Film Music Magazine, and in many other fields.

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  
www.moviemusic.com  

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