Best Soundtracks of 2004 Part 2

Just as more and more original film scores are captured on disc despite the ongoing proliferation of song collections masquerading as "film music" the increasing market for classic and forgotten film scores being fully restored either through archival releases or newly-recorded performances continues to make available soundtracks many of us could only dream about years ago. Owning a recording of the original GODZILLA score? Having original soundtrack music from THE GIRL FROM U.N.C.L.E.? Thanks to intrepid specialty labels like FSM, Intrada, Silva Screen, Varese Sarabande, Harkit, La-La Land, Percepto, Prometheus, and others, many soundtracks that would have (or have) fallen into oblivion have been rescued and preserved for appreciation and enjoyment. These, now, are my selections as 2004's best restored and compiled soundtrack releases.

1: AMERIKA (Basil Poledouris; Prometheus PCR 519)

Basil Poledouris' magnificent epic score to this 1987 ABC miniseries has finally made it to CD, courtesy of Belgium's Prometheus. The score exemplifies the spirit of an America conquered by the Soviets, its melodic lines drawn from folk influences, simple and emotive, before surging forward heroically to support those fighting against the Soviet tide. Poledouris wrote five hours of music for Donald Wyre's 15.5-hour miniseries, which was shown over seven nights in the waning hours of the Soviet Union not long before the end of the Cold War. 75:39 minutes' worth of it has been effectively sequenced on this CD. The score remains one of Poledouris' finest works, a score through whose orchestral fabric runs a rich thematic integration, majestic as well as intimate melodies, as he supports both the grand, national scale of the film's milieu and circumstances, but the intimacy of its individual characters and the underlying symmetry of its national spirit. Beyond themes and associations, the music is simply wonderful, with broad, powerful melodies and surging, proud motifs that are interlaced effectively with its powerful action material.

2: TIMELINE (Jerry Goldsmith; Varese Sarabande 302 066 600 2).

Jerry Goldsmith's final score, extricated due to [IMG4R]creative differences from the film (director Richard Donner reportedly wanted a "grittier" and more full-on action score; which Brian Tyler supplied more than adequately in his replacement score, although the film still failed miserably), has been beautifully preserved in what has become the composer's final epitaph. TIMELINE is a heavy action score, a field in which Goldsmith excelled perhaps better than anyone else, with some incredibly powerful moments that make its evisceration from Donner's film inexplicable (Donner has reportedly admitted he was "in error"). Cues like "No Pain" are pristine Goldsmith action moments, pure and pulsing and dynamically driven through tremendous performances from the Hollywood Studio Symphony. We've heard the style in previous Goldsmith scores, but it remains brilliantly potent and effective here. TIMELINE not only shows that even it his twilight, Goldsmith had a profound grasp on scoring action films, and the score remains a triumph. Even if it's not one of Goldsmith's all-time best, it's still one of the year's best, and Varese Sarabande is to be thanked for rescuing it from the music editor's floor.

3: L'ENFANT DES LOUPS (Child of the Wolves; Serge Franklin; Lympia LRCD-4101)

From France comes this expanded release (limited to 1500 copies) of the score for a lavish three-part 1991 French TV Mini-Series. Taking place in the 6^th Century, a young girl is discovered lost and living among wolves; when she grows up and plague and famine occupy the land, the wolves invade and only the girl can save the town. The score is a thoroughly wonderful and magnificent symphonic composition of epic proportions, punctuated by powerful, chanting choruses and operatic solo voices. The music is wondrous, magical, poignant, epic, and persuasive; richly evocative, vigorously performed, and harmonically textured. The CD is newly remastered and resequenced, and includes over 20 minutes of previously unreleased material.

4: THE GREAT ESCAPE - Deluxe Edition (Elmer Bernstein, Varese Sarabande CD Club VCL 0804 1029).

In what would become a poignant epitaph for Elmer Bernstein, whose death last August was as keenly felt in film musicdom as that of Goldsmith four weeks earlier, Varese Sarabande located and released for the first time the original soundtrack recording of one of Bernstein's most celebrated scores. Previously available only through an edited re-recording, the original film recording, which had been thought lost for 40 years, was recently discovered and, through 42 cues on two CDs, really shows what a magnificent and timeless score this is. With its rousing military marches and infectious main title, its Herrmannesque mysteriosos, and its brilliant action cues, THE GREAT ESCAPE is one of Hollywood's best scores ever, and having it preserved in such fins fashion after so many years is truly a treasure.

5: GODZILLA (Akira Ifukube; La-La Land Records LLLCD 1022).

Say what you will about the long-lasted Japanese monster movie series, the original 1954 GODZILLA (GOJIRA) is simply one of the finest horror scores ever written. While there have been plenty of theme collections from the original Godzilla and other Toho monster films released in the USA and Japan [see Compilations #6, below], this is the first full-length score release from a single film released in the US. In the first of what would become a long-running series of scores that would rework much of the same material, Ifukube created a magnificent composition carefully fortified with potent musical motifs that provided stunning orchestral accompaniment to the monster film. Four motifs dominate the score - a tremendous March associated with the Japanese people, a second March associated with military's efforts to protect them, the deeply reverberating, plodding, and growling motif associated with the monster, and the tremendously sorrowful Requiem, a descending violin melody resonating with painful mourning for the people as they are conquered by the towering monster. Ifukube also composed a variety of subordinate motifs and Japanese-styled music and action/battle motifs that remain quite compelling in CD.

6: THE ENEMY BELOW (Leigh Harline; Intrada Vol 15).

Intrada's first ever-release of one of Leigh Harline's best scores, that for the 1957 World War II film, THE ENEMY BELOW, preserves a terrific military action score for Dick Powell's dramatic film about a running encounter between an American Naval Captain and a German U-Boat Captain, both of whom gain a respect for each other during their repeated engagements. The music is vigorously militaristic, centering around a thrilling, heroic theme and featuring plenty of 1950s styled orchestral suspense and action motifs, including a neatly developing menacing motif for violins and woodwinds. The score avoids the major battle scenes as well as the lengthy dialog sequences, concentrating on enhancing the many scenes depicting tactical operations and naval maneuvers in between each battle; with the exception of the final battle sequence, wherein Harline enhances the drama as each Captain seeks to outwit the other. This is a most welcome release to have on CD.

7: THE ADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN (Max Steiner; Naxos 8.557570).

Newly reconstructed by the brilliant team of [IMG5L]John Morgan and William Stromberg, this classic 1944 Max Steiner score is rich in graceful Americana, as lovingly melodic as it is steeped in Steiner's characteristic quotations from music of the time. The multi-faceted musical threads that make up the score are beautifully woven into a score that exudes musical traditions, speaks for the character of Twain in both his playful humor and his down-home folksiness. The score, like the film, remains fairly lighthearted and lively, only occasionally turning somber when necessary ("The River Pilot" and "Riverboat in the Fog" are excellent dramatic pieces, with heroic trails of brass ascending from an undulating, riverlike cadence from the winds and strings; the music is nearly reverent toward the power of the Mighty Mississippi, and Steiner captures this effectively in these two connected cues). A lilting, poetic love theme for the love of Twain's life is introduced in "The Squirrel Livy." Other motifs are mixed in with quoted tunes aplenty, anchoring the score firmly in a sensibility of Americana. MARK TWAIN was released in both standard CD format and as a DVD Audio release in rich 5.1 surround sound (5.110087), which provides a full spectrum of orchestral sound, allowing the careful score reconstructions of John Morgan and performance of the Moscow Symphony, conducted again by William Stromberg, to truly shine.

8: MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (Bronislau Kaper, FSM Vol 7 No 16).

Bronislau Kaper's historical magnum opus is such a thoroughgoing majestic orchestral soundtrack, mighty and

Music from the LONE WOLF AND CUB film series is compiled on a new CD.

© LaLaLand Records

9: RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (George Bassman; FSM Vol 7 No 12).

FSM's premiere archival release of this 1962 Western score reminds me what a beautiful and affecting score this is. Built around a lovely and theatrical melody, Bassmann's score exemplified a gentle Americana that was quite compelling, whether resonating proudly and passionately as it the Main Title or sounding more intimately melancholy, as in the Finale. The composer's "incidental" scoring may be less appealing and more serviceable, being in the typical '50s/'60s style of wandering figures and dappled minor melodies, but the score truly shines when its main theme opens up, like the vast prairies of the American West. This composition alone makes this score a worthy one in the annals of Western film music. The score is paired with Bassmann's 1964 Western, MAIL ORDER BRIDE, which is along fairly similar lines although less dramatic and more light-hearted than the former score, emphasizing harmonica, guitar, and a folk-styled main tune.

10: ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (John Carpenter; Record Makers 7243 593241 2 8).

Released in France, this is the first ever original soundtrack release of the full score from John Carpenter's second film, from 1976. As he's done with almost all of his films, Carpenter provided his own electronic keyboard score, a rhythmically driving craftwork of electronic riffs that funneled the film's energy into a powerful and straight ahead barrel of cinematic intensity. The score is a cold score reflective primarily of the heartless machinations of the armed felons waging gang warfare against the lone police station. Contrasting these action riffs is a single warm and mellow keyboard composition that at first aligns itself with the titular Police Precinct itself and later comes to musically represent the survivors who stand against the assault. There are enough nuances and energy in the score's sparse 26 minutes to sustain a movie of much greater length, and in its very minimalist simplicity Carpenter has crafted one of his most potent compositions. It achieves what ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK does with even greater effectiveness, a rhythmic cohesion that embodies the resolve of its characters, lends potency to their conflicts, and creates a terrifically toe-tapping riff that gives both of these films a very memorable musical fluidity.

11. BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE (George Duning; Harkit HRKCD 8099)

Making its first foray onto CD via England's Harkit Records, George Duning's lighthearted and theatrical score is reissued from the Colpix LP with an additional vocal track. Duning's score is gently jazzy, mostly comprised of easy listening tracks the blend into and out of the source music used prominently in the film. The show tune-like Main Title becomes a spooky mysterioso through a moaning, witchlike vocal, and the score's jazzier elements are quite attractive. Duning coats the film with a pleasing polish of melodic gloss and enough toe-tapping riffs to enhance the stagy drama of the production, which is really all the film needed.

12. THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN (Vic Mizzy, Percepto 015).

Percepto Records continues their single-handed preservation of the film music of Vic Mizzy with this enchanting score for the silly Don Knotts comedy film of 1966. The score is tuneful and comic, lending the perfect accompaniment to Knotts' madcap antics on screen, with a catchy main theme for winds and percussion that is as persuasive and memorable as any of Mizzy's classic TV themes (ADDAMS FAMILY, GREEN ACRES). There's enough variety on the CD's 23 tracks (which include Mizzy's 23-second promo tune for the "When In Southern California, Visit Universal City Studios" tag that was a coda to many Universal films of the '60s) and enough diversity in their musical texture (which ranges from orchestral romps to big bang brasses to fuzzy electric guitar and ADDAMS FAMILY-like keyboards, not to mention Mizzy's own organic take on Toccata and Fugue) to make each cue a fresh entity of its own. Supported by exceedingly comprehensive notes by Daniel Schweiger (40 pages!), this release expertly captures the delight and verve of one of Mizzy's most entertaining film scores. Percepto continues to venture where no label has gone before and, with results like this, continues to be one worth watching closely.

13.SHEENA (Varese Sarabande CD Club VCL 1104 1034).

Say what you will about Tanya Roberts and her jungle [IMG7R]maiden film, Richard Hartley's score remains a terrific example of '80s melodic adventure film scoring. Despite the obvious and heavy-handed use of a CHARIOTS OF FIRE-styled main theme (clearly the progeny of a temp track that one producer or another couldn't let go of; although the tune, on its own, remains quite nice, acoustic guitar replacing Vangelis' piano of CHARIOTS), Hartley's SHEENA is a pure symphonic adventure score that is really quite remarkable, ranging from wonderfully thunderous symphonic material, replete with heroic, ascending trumpets and low, strident brass chords; a beautifully lyrical embodiment of femininity accompanying scenes of the adolescent girl growing up in the African jungle; a pleasantly lyrical love theme for layered violins; darker, progressively Herrmannesque action cues that build a mounting mood of unease and apprehension, and a sumptuously rhythmic motif for strings over underlying keyboard that closes the score with a suggestion of modernity. Hartley's integration of synths and symphs is quite effective, taking advantage of the powerful tonality of the synthesizer to attain a powerful stridency that is contrasted against the more earthy texture of the symphonic orchestra. The CD, remastered from the 1984 Varese LP, remains a very effective and enjoyable soundtrack.

1: Jerry Goldsmith at 20^th Century Fox (Varese Sarabande VCL 0204 1028)

Without a doubt the finest soundtrack compilation of 2004, if not of the last decade, was Varese Sarabande's massive 6-disc boxed set, Jerry Goldsmith at 20^th Century Fox. Issued as a 1500-copy limited edition Club release in celebration of the composer's 75th birthday (Feb 10^th), the release quickly sold out. This historic collection features recordings from 39 films, nine of which have never been released in any form, housed in a boxed set that also includes a 64 page, full-color collector's edition book documenting four decades of Jerry Goldsmith's illustrious career at 20th Century Fox featuring essays, artwork and never-before-seen-photos. With over 7 hours of music, including more than 70 tracks of previously unreleased material, this ambitious collector's item serves up an amazing gallery of some of Hollywood's best music by it's most pervasive composer, a collection that has become even more bittersweet in view of Goldsmith's death last July.

2: Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone (Sony Classical SN 93472)

Sony's hybrid release of this eloquent interpretation of some of Ennio Morricone's most celebrated music is intricately affecting from start to finish. Arranged for cello and orchestra (the latter conducted by the composer), nineteen of Morricone's most beautiful, lyrical compositions are newly arranged for cello, which provides a compelling new texture to much of the music. Organized into several suites (cues from THE MISSION, cues from Giuseppe Tornatore films like CINEMA PARADISO, cues from Brian De Palma films (CASUALTIES OF WAR, THE UNTOUCHABLES), cues from Sergio Leone films (ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, -IN THE WEST, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY the latter included an especially poignant arrangement of "The Ecstasy of Gold" wherein the furious female vocal is taken by Ma's cello), and so on. The second side of Sony's dual-disc presentation includes the entire album re-mixed in Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound along with some significant bonus video footage.

3: The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Vol 3 (FSM V7No14)

Film Score Monthly's third and final MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. soundtrack brings to a close one of the most important collections of 60's television scoring yet produced. Thanks to the endeavors of producer Jon Burlingame and FSM, some of the decade's most intriguing, fun, and inventive television scoring, composed by wealth of notable composers of the era, have been preserved on CD. The music is built around James Bondian jazz and pop riffs (and lots of bongos), but a great deal of creativity in structure, instrumentation, variation, and development gave the episode scores a terrific verve. There were only a few recurring themes, but lots and lots of action riffs for the show's ubiquitous fight scenes, plenty of brooding mysteriosos, and enough stingers for those frequent cliffhangers. In addition to wrapping up the episodic music from the series, Vol. 3 includes the new cues composed by Gerald Fried for the feature-length movie, ONE OF OUR SPIES IS MISSING and, for the first time ever, music from THE GIRL FROM U.N.C.L.E., which is similar in style albeit a little sexier, featuring a variant on the MAN title music rearranged by Dave Grusin.

4: The Fantasy Film Music of George Pal (La-La Land Records LLLCD 1016)*

By gathering together original soundtrack recordings from celebrated sci-fi producer George Pal's last eight films, this limited edition recording compiles some of the 1960's most significant science fiction scores into a single package. The music is splendid throughout, from Russel Garcia's wonderfully swashbuckling music from ATLANTIS THE LOST CONTINENT to his ethereal and vivid score to THE TIME MACHINE; Miklos Rozsa's dark-hewn musical study in megalomania from THE POWER, one of his last scores, and Leigh Harline's sumptuously melodic BROTHERS GRIMM and provocative THE 7 FACES OF DR. LAO, the latter brimming with textural Chinese rhythms and rich, sweeping Americana. Ken Jones' main theme from tom thumb is a jaunty overture of the songs and orchestral flourishes heard in the film; but perhaps the most notable surprise is the score from DOC SAVAGE, Pal's final and arguably least successful film. Adapted by Frank de Vol, who made a fine campy adventure score out of the unlikely use of John Phillips Sousa marches (mostly "The Thunderer") as well as his own original compositions.

5: Logan's Run Television Soundtrack (FSM Vol 7 No 4).

This thoroughly satisfying compilation of all the original and hitherto unreleased music written for the 14-episode 1977 television incarnation of LOGAN'S RUN is an excellent restoration of important television science fiction film music. Nine of the show's episodes received original scores, and all are presented on this premiere CD: four by Laurence Rosenthal (including the 90-minute pilot), two by Jerrold Immel, one by Jeff Alexander, and two by a young Bruce Broughton. The music runs the gamut from Rosenthal's sweeping orchestral crescendos to Alexander's more dramatic, jazzy, and atonal approach or Immel's mixture of rapidly pulsating piano notes over long violin chords that create the fascinating and compelling musical sound design for "The Innocent." Broughton's scores tended to be more aggressive in their action music, reminiscent of that of the Goldsmith feature film score, while also being dabbled brightly with shimmering pastoral woodwinds, keyboard, and percussion.

6: Godzilla 50^th Anniversary Soundtrack Perfect Collection, Box 1 and 2 (Toho GB1 and GB2)

From Japan comes this pair of monster-sized six CD box sets [IMG6R]containing original soundtracks from the ten original GODZILLA movies from 1954-1970 (ultimately the series is said to be continuing through the most recent Japanese GODZILLA score). But these first two sets contain the best of the "classic" Godzilla film music, which remains some of the most potent and powerful sci-fi/horror scoring of the '50s and '60s. Akira Ifukube set the tone with the first film, and crafted similar music for a half dozen of the pictures. Masaru Sato provided exquisite scores for three in the series. Only Kunio Miyauchi's awkward pop music for 1970's GODZILLA'S REVENGE, after the series had become rampantly juvenile and cartoonlike, can be dispensed with. Both sets also include bonus CD's that reissue Toho's first LP soundtrack collections from the mid '70s.

7: The Best of LONE WOLF AND CUB (La-La Land Records LLLCD 1017)*

This unusual release compiles the music for the six films in the 1972-74 manga-inspired Samurai series, which is

Basil Poledouris' score to the 1987 mini-series AMERIKA.

© Prometheus

8: THE LONGEST DAY: The Ultimate World War Movie Theme Collection (Prime Time TVPMCD 812)

This four CD set, compiled and released by Silva Screen under their new Prime Time label, is an expansive compilation of World War II-related film cues, most culled from previous Silva Screen War and composer collections. The 53 tracks ranges from the old fashioned (the title score, THE DAMBUSTERS, SINK THE BISMARCK!, CASABLANCA) to very recent offerings (BAND OF BROTHERS, THE ENGLISH PATIENT), in a very satisfying and faithful recreation. Those tracks range from short theme or title cues to longer 7- to 11-minute suites, all faithfully recreated through lively performances by the City of Prague Philharmonic, London's Philharmonia and Royal Philarmonic Orchestras.

• Disclaimer: I admit to having been involved in these projects as author of their liner notes; however I must stress that my recommendation for them as among the "Year's Best" is purely in recognition of their musical significance and not upon my own limited participation in their packaging.