Stone Age Schifrin: CAVEMAN Finally Comes to CD

By: Randall Larson
Date: Monday, April 04, 2005

Aleph Records has set a June 7th release date for their new recording of Lalo Schifrin's complete score to the 1981 prehistoric comedy, CAVEMAN. Directed by Carl Gottlieb, the film starred Ringo Starr, Dennis Quaid, and Shelley Long. Writing in Variety, film music writer Jon Burlingame described Schifrin's score as making a "clever use of percussion and above all [a] sense of fun... perfect for the movie's signature music. ... Schifrin's Stone Age score turns out to be a surprisingly sophisticated and satisfying orchestral experience."

From Aleph's press release: "One of the score's delights is the scene where mankind invents music, with Ringo and cast using gourds, sticks, bones, stones, and hollow logs. This became the movie's signature music. Add to this the lumbering motif for the slow-moving and often comical dinosaurs, the pastoral interludes and music of high jeopardy that occur throughout, a wonderful parody of silent-movie chase music, and a heartfelt romantic theme... a score with style and grace."

The score has never been commercially available before. This is the latest in Schifrin's personal CD label, Aleph, in preserving the composer's unreleased or unavailable catalog of film music.

www.schifrin.com