Best Soundtracks of 2001 Part Three

By: Randall D. Larson
Date: Thursday, January 31, 2002

In parts one and two of our overview of the best soundtracks of last year, we covered the new scores which made an impression in 2001 as well as the noteworthy sequels and successors to previous hits. Today, in the final leg of our rundown, the restorations and reissues of the year are discussed.

Restorations and Reissues

Thanks to the perseverance of labels like Percepto, FSM, GNP Crescendo, Varese Sarabande, Marco Polo, and England's GDI, soundtrack collectors have been able to enjoy many elusive scores from the past that have never been available, or not in as complete form, previously.

Leading this herd would surely by Varese Sarabande's Deluxe Edition restorals of Jerry Goldsmith's classic trilogy, THE OMEN, DAMIEN: OMEN II and THE FINAL CONFLICT. These three scores represent an integrated musical triad, revered as among the composer's finest works (THE OMEN, in fact, remains to date his only Oscar-winning score). Introduced in 1976, the trilogy commences with THE OMEN, for which Goldsmith created a vocal-based Black Mass, chanting chorus over chimes and organ, emphasizing with Gregorian and Catholic chants the Satanic evil that envelopes the characters and the story. For its 1978 progeny, Goldsmith turned up the beat a notch to create a very rhythmic variation on the same texture. OMEN II was less meditative than its predecessor, taking the approach on a much more energetic scale. DAMIEN is the wild extrovert to OMEN's quiet, introvert, yet it retains the diabolical tonality of the former score. It wouldn't be until the third film, THE FINAL CONFLICT, that a musical representation of evil's nemesis good would emerge. But that theme would be among the composer's finest, a full, dramatically ascending melody that arcs high above the dark chanted rhythms of the black mass. The music is more dramatic, less oppressive, and more optimistic than that of the other two.

All three

scores received belated releases on CD, but never in complete form. Varese's new edition of THE OMEN (302 066 288-2) includes seven previously unreleased cues (about 15 minutes) and is sequenced in film order (with one reasonable exception). The DAMIEN release (302 066 309-2) contains the 10 tracks from the original album release in their LP sequence (the LP was re-recorded in London by the National Philharmonic to save expensive re-use fees charged if the original soundtrack was issued) plus the complete 16 tracks of the original soundtrack recording (thought lost but discovered in the Fox archives late last year). The dramatically remastered FINAL CONFLICT (302 066 289-2) restores two unreleased cues, and expands by nearly five minutes the finale music to its original 8:32 length. The new version's improvement in sound quality is simply stunning the new version flies (with bat wings) out of your speakers, with a far more visceral dynamic. As CD producer Robert Townson notes in his OMEN article (his comprehensive liner notes for all three films are excellent), the trilogy has gone "down in history as one of the most powerful convergences of film and music," and with these new releases we have as stunning a release of these scores for home listening as we probably ever will.

Coming to release for the first time ever through the continued restoration efforts of conductor William T. Stromberg and reconstructionist John Morgan are two classic and very early Max Steiner fantasy/adventure scores, 1933's SON OF KONG and 1932's THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (Marco Polo 8.225166). As a follow-up to KING KONG, which remains the first great musical score of the talking era, SON is constructed around very similar thematic material. Stromberg takes the Moscow Symphony through a wild assortment of crescendos and mysteriosos and melodic interludes not to mention plenty of quotations included by Steiner for the film's gently comic moments. Musically, SON OF KONG's use of thematic interplay, diversity, and strength is quite the equal of that of his old man, and makes for a fine listen now almost 70 years later. THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME contrasts an adventure motif associated with the island on which our shipwrecked protagonists are stranded with "Zaroff's Theme," a piano concerto associated with the megalomaniacal Dr. Zaroff, who as a pianist performs this music early in the film. The music is a little more subdued and straightforward than SON OF KONG, but it's a perfect match, both in terms of cinematic continuity and in style and scope.

Varese Sarabande [IMG4L]also released, for the first time, the complete score for Bernard Herrmann's multifaceted score for 1960's THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER (306 066 162-2). The composer's second (of four) scores for a Ray Harryhausen animated film is one of his most interesting and varied. While numerous excerpts have appeared in compilations (mostly emphasizing the pompous British minuets and marches), it wasn't until 1993 that an original soundtrack was finally issued, from England's Cloud Nine Records. But that OST recording was monophonic, had only 12 tracks (totaling 43 minutes), and is now out of print. With this new 20-bit digital re-recording, helmed by film composer Joel McNeely conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in a very faithful recreation of the original score at 37 cues and 49 minutes, Herrmann's score truly comes to life in all its kaleidoscopic glory, with vivid scherzos, sweeping romantic melodies, compelling mysteriosos, those wonderful and characteristic Herrmann chord progressions, and, yes, those interminable minuets.

Of more recent films, we also have the first-ever CD release of two seminal James Horner film scores from his halcyon Roger Corman days, BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS and HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP (GNP Crescendo GNPD 8075). In 1978, the 26-year old composer created a brassy, heroic score for BATTLE which, despite derivations from Williams and Goldsmith and plenty of classical influences, became an infectious and bombastic symphonic work, achieving with no more than 62 players the kind of sound John Williams did the year earlier on STAR WARS with nearly twice as many musicians. This second rate STAR WARS is nonetheless pretty good stuff, and Horner's control over large orchestral forms and epic, sweeping, heroic themes is a good indication of his later musical triumphs. HUMANOIDS was a small Goldsmithian horror score, persistently phobic and spooky with plenty of the kind of evocative and potent musical effects Horner would later employ in such scores as WOLFEN and STAR TREK II. Even on their own merits, both scores are notable efforts; as examples of a major composer's earliest works they are even more fascinating.

Other notable

and important restored, reconstructed, or resurrected older scores released during 2001 include: GDI's powerful Hammer Vampire Film Music Collection (GDICD017) (with its full-blooded, first-ever OST material from LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES, KISS OF THE VAMPIRE, VAMPIRE CIRCUS and LUST FOR A VAMPIRE); Varese Sarabande's deluxe edition restoration of Goldsmith's TOTAL RECALL (302 066 197-2); FSM's thoroughgoing OST release of Goldsmith's THE ILLUSTRATED MAN (Vol.4 No 14) and of the final two PLANET OF THE APES scores, CONQUEST (Tom Scott) and BATTLE (Leonard Rosenman) (Vol.4 No.1); CANDYMAN (Orange Mountain Music OMM-0003), the first release of this compelling Philip Glass horror score; Percepto's remarkable OST release of two marvelous Ronald Stein sci-fi scores, INVASION OF THE SAUCER-MEN and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD (Percepto 005); Warner Bros. expanded first-CD issue of Ennio Morricone's EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC (Warner Music France 9362-46992-2); and, the first CD release of John Williams' quirky and fun robot score, HEARTBEEPS, on Varese Sarabande's resurrected CD Club (VCL 1101 1001). All of these are worth seeking out and, if you're not familiar with them, have a good listen to, as they are all excellent scores whose release on CD has been overdue for many years.

As for now, let's see what 2002 will bring us. You can learn more about that in Cinescape's bi-weekly Soundtrax column.