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Webs. Robots. Wolves. Marionettes. And the Bad Color.

From France comes the first release of a new label called Lympia Records. In a limited edition of 1500 copies, L'ENFANT DES LOUPS (Child of the Wolves; LRCD-4101) is the score for a lavish 3-part 1991 TV Mini-Series directed by Philippe Monnier. 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, by Serge Franklin, is a thoroughly wonderful and magnificent symphonic composition of epic proportions, punctuated by powerful, chanting choruses and operatic solo voices. The score is described as a barbarian opera of sound and fury, which isn't far from the mark. The music is wondrous, magical, poignant, epic, and persuasive. The main theme is a soaring orchestral and voice melody that is simply pure and vividly beautiful. The music is richly evocative, vigorously performed, and harmonically textured. The release includes notes on both the film and its music as well as a detailed analysis of the music from the composer; the booklet notes are presented in both French and English. The CD is newly remastered and resequenced, and includes over 20 minutes of previously unreleased material. I'm not familiar with the original release of this score, but Lympia's edition is both an attractive and wonderful presentation of a fine and notable score. www.enfantdesloups.com

James Newton Howard collaborated again with M. Night Shyamalan for the moody score to THE VILLAGE, as he did for the director's previous three hit films. THE VILLAGE, released on Hollywood Records 2061-62464-2, is a score immersed in soft violins, weaving a brooding atmosphere of disquiet. French horns and flutes intone a solemn mysterioso that blends with the smooth, fluid fabric of the tonal ambience ("What Are You Asking Me?"). Eerie, hushed howls of synth voices and rasping, growling horns contrast with the pretty violin figures ("The Bad Color"), whose antiquated style both suggests the film's period and the simplicity of the village's inhabitants (the intricate and repetitive violin bowing in "Rituals" and "The Gravel Work" is quite wonderful). The overall tonality of the score is one of gloom and dismay, painting a picture of a town held in check by the evil that surrounds it, and Howard's music well reflects their apprehension and fear, even while doing so with very pretty melodic phrasing and lyrical instrumentation. That mood is contrasted with motifs that speak of the hidden things that exist beyond the village's confines and these motifs ("Those We Don't Speak Of," "It Is Not Real") rage with a harsher power, driven by percussion and raspy rattles. But the beauty of the score lies within its spirit, which despite the outside oppression speaks of an inner courage that unfolds nicely as the score develops.

Hans Zimmer is back with a pair of new scores. The first, for Jerry Bruckheimer's quasi-epic KING ARTHUR, is out from Hollywood Records (2061-62461-2) and is all you would expect from a Zimmer score for a Bruckheimer production. That may be [IMG4R]good or bad depending upon your appreciation of either talent. Zimmer's characteristically hybrid approach to filmscoring rhythmic-based synth/symph motifs and sparkling choirs skimming over low-end orchestral aggressions may bother some purists (to sample a more traditional Hollywood approach to this kind of film, listen to Miklos Rozsa's classic 1953 score for JULIUS CAESAR, whose original soundtrack plus a healthy portion of bonus material came out this month from Film Score Monthly), but the fact remains that it's tremendously effective in this kind of film. It's also quite emotive on CD. Following a gorgeously lyrical, slowly-rolling vocal from Moya Brennan, Zimmer's characteristic approach (think: THE ROCK; think: BACKDRAFT) plays out well in a half dozen long cues, wherein the music develops and changes and grows and broods and blasts with all the heft of Arthur's broadsword and all the fragile determination of Guinevere's arrow. It's massive and aggressive when it needs to be, personal and intimate when it needs to be. Carefully calculated for maximum emotional effect, the score, and Zimmer's typical approach to it is, for all its redundant simplicity (perhaps because of that), remarkably effective and emotive, and remains so on CD. Moments of "Woad to Ruin" are powerfully poignant, richly expressive, energetically exciting, and handsomely heroic. The finale, "All of Them!," is a sweeping 10:24 composition of epic proportions, ranging from full orchestral ferocity to haunting solo viola over echoing percussion rasps. The use of female voice in this cue elevates the music far above the furious action it accompanies and, like moments of Zimmer's PEARL HARBOR, pulls us away and out of the action, observing it from a farther distance and allowing us to notice and care about the individual personages and emotions of those playing out the battle (Howard Shore did the same to beautiful effectiveness in RETURN OF THE KING). The length of the cues allows a great deal of development of each piece and an avoidance of the one-cue-follows-another-cue noticeability, while each cue remains cohesive and .

Zimmer takes on a far different approach to THUNDERBIRDS, the Jonathan Frakes-directed live-action embodiment of the classic Gerry Anderson Supermarionation TV series of the '60, with Bill Paxton, Anthony Edwards, and Ben Kingsley assuming the parts heretofore performed by puppets. Released on Decca B0003219-02, the score is a far lighter composition than the Zimmer we know from KING ARTHUR and its musical ilk. While the original TV series theme opens and closes the film (the latter given a rock rendition by the band, Busted), the remainder of the score dispenses with it in favor of Zimmer's own pop-styled rhythmic score which is far more fast-paced than usual (think: KING ARTHUR amped-up to 78 RPM) and contains a lot more quirky musical textures (such as the twangy guitar plucks in "Can't Wait To Be A Thunderbird" and the synth textures that lay at the bottom of "TB3 Takeoff") than is the norm. Zimmer provides an effective catchy rhythm to his simplified motifs that make the score quite nice. It's a comic book hero-team music but it plays it straightforward, and the score is an enjoyable is unremarkable effort. The CD is well produced and sequenced, with most cues segueing into each other to sustain something akin to a single continual developing composition. The orchestra is conducted by composer Nick-Glennie Smith (HIGHLANDER: ENDGAME, THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK), and includes Zimmer's arrangements of Barry Gray's original THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO! and F.A.B. themes, as well as unidentified" additional music" by Ramin Djawadi, a new Zimmer Media Ventures protégé who also worked on the scores to PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, THE RECRUIT, K12 and THE TIME MACHINE.

Along with the Zimmer-scored new incarnation of THUNDERBIRDS, Barry Gray's original score for the THUNDERBIRD 6 feature film (the second film based on the popular Gerry Anderson supermarionation TV series, after THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!) has been released for the first time on a limited edition recording from MGM (MGMCD 01). Gray, who died twenty years ago this year, named this his favorite Anderson score (see next week's column for my 1982, mostly unpublished interview with Gray). Eshewing the pop-oriented style that had characterized the TV scores, and that of THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!, Gray wrote THUNDERBIRD 6 as a completely symphonic and melodic composition. Eschewing any kind of science fictionesque in the music, Gray lent this score a comfortable classical British elegance. Parts of it almost sound like they could come from an English musical setting. Gray takes the impetuous and heroic main THUNDERBIRDS theme and transforms it into an elegant drawing room motif, richly lyrical and effervescent (the original version of the THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO! theme appears briefly in track 9). The film's various locales also affords Gray the opportunity to provide varied musical styles, from the vivid and expansive orchestrations of "Breakfast Over N.Y." and "Grand Canyon to Melbourne" to the ethnicity of "Indian Street Music" and "A Visit to Egypt/Calling Switzerland." The relatively small orchestral achieves a great sense of sound in this nicely restored soundtrack. The release includes a 12-page book, nicely designed by Mark Banning and featuring plenty of color photos from the film along with somewhat general notes about Gray. The film's terrific poster art appears on the tray inlay. www.mgm.com/thunderbirds/main.html

From Intrada last month comes the first ever-release of one of Leigh Harline's best scores, that for the 1957 World War II film, THE ENEMY BELOW (Intrada Vol 15). Harline (whose noteworthy output for Hollywood has been almost completely ignored on record until recently; excerpts of Harline's scores for THE CIRCUS OF DR. LAO and THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM were included on La-La-Land's George Pal album a couple of months ago, and his full-length score and songs from SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS and PINOCCHIO are both available on Walt Disney Records), provided a first-rate 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. The film, recently released on DVD, is exceptional for its portrayal of nobility, duty, and a soldier's respect for a fellow soldier; Harline's score is a most welcome release to have on CD. Thorough liner notes from Jeff Bond described the score in detail. www.intrada.com

Prometheus Records has released the rare Basil Poledouris science fiction score for the 1987 Orion film, CHERRY 2000 (PCD 155), previously available only on a much shorter long out-of-print and sought-after Varese Sarabande club release (their first such release, in fact; and so sought-after a record $2500 was paid for a copy not too long ago). The film features one of Poledouris's most compelling themes, a vivid and vibrant rhythmic melody for orchestra and synth, embodying the kind of simple folk-styled tune that Basil does so well. Piping winds, doubled by synth, and a driving percussive rhythm makes the theme quite endearing in its various guises. There's also a lush, romantic theme for the "pleasure robot-turned-post-apocalypse rebel" character of Cherry (Melanie Griffith in a far different role than the same year's SOMETHING WILD and WORKING GIRL), and plenty of hybrid action motifs for orchestra and electronics. Among the previously unissued tracks are "Lights Out," "Moving," and "Lester Follows," all of which feature a very cool pop tune for toy piano and orchestra that creates a compelling and unusual musical texture. The Prometheus release enhances the 21-track Varese Club edition by nine additional tracks, and marries the CHERRY 2000 score with Poledouris' score for Peter Werner's 1987 action film, NO MAN'S LAND (a straight reissue from the OOP 1987 Varese regular release).

Thorough liner notes by Paul Tonks enhance the package and illuminate the background of both film and score. www.soundtrackmag.com

England's Cherry Red Records has released Psichedelico Jazzistico (ACMEM35CD), a collection of Ennio Morricone's more psychedelic and pop-mod motifs from the late '60s and early '70s. The original soundtrack collection features fifteen tracks from such Europop films as L'ASSOLUTO NATURALE, METTI UNA CERA A SENA, and Dario Argento's BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE and FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET. It's an intriguing and varied collection of stylistic similarity yet diverseness of approach. Brief liner notes are included but not all of the tracks are identified by film. www.cherryred.co.uk

Jerry Goldsmith wasn't the only notable film composer to have died last month. Italian composer Piero Piccioni died at the age of 82 on July 23^rd in Rome. Of his nearly 200 film scores, Piccioni was most prolific during the 1960s, maintaining running collaborations with directors like Alberto Sordi and scoring films for directors including Mauro Bolognini (BELL'ANTONIO), Roberto Rossellini (ANIMA NERA Black Soul), Luchino Visconti (THE STRANGER), and Lina Wertmuller (SWEPT AWAY). He was also noted for such scores as THE MATTEI AFFAIR, CAMILLE 2000 and LA DECIMA VITTIMA (THE 10^TH VICTIM). He scored such Italian Westerns as MINNESOTA CLAY, THE MAN CALLED GRINGO, SARTANA, THE DAY OF FIRE, and WATCH OUT GRINGO... SABATA WILL RETURN. A number of his scores have recently come out on CD during recent resurgence of '60s era European pop and spy film scores. His last score was the 1998 Austrian production, FORBIDDEN ENCOUNTERS.

John Ottman (X2, URBAN LEGENDS: FINAL CUT) had confirmed to Music From The Movies that he and X-MEN/X-2 director Bryan Singer will collaborate anew on the new SUPERMAN movie. Hired in the wake of director McG's departure, Singer will put his own touch onto the ultimate super hero movie, and composer/editor Ottman gets his most prestigious film scoring assignment so far in his career. www.musicfromthemovies.comPrometheus Records will follow up this month's release of Basil Poledouris's CHERRY 2000 with the premiere release of the composer's score for the 1987 TV miniseries, AMERIKA. Not unlike the composer's previous RED DAWN, the series told of an America subjugated by Soviet invaders. Poledouris's score is multi-faceted and epic in scope. Remastered from the original tapes and supervised by the composer, this score has never before been released on CD. A limited quantity of autographed copies, at no extra charge, can be ordered from www.buysoundtrax.com

Newly announced on the Decca label is a new double-CD compilation from John Williams and the Boston Pops called Encore. Featuring the ever-present cues from STAR WARS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS E.T. SUPERMAN, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and the other usual ones; plus interpretations of themes from GONE WITH THE WIND, CHARIOTS OF FIRE, THE PINK PANTHER, and a fistful of American standards. A nice Best-Of theme collection, it appears. www.deccaclassics.com/newsandnewreleases/july2004/4756176.html

The next release from Intrada's Special Collection series will be an expanded CD of Jerry Goldsmith's score to the 1968 Western BANDOLERO!, which starred James Stewart, Dean Martin and Raquel Welch. The release will present a new mix of Goldsmith's complete score, a pair of demo cues, as well as a bonus section featuring the LP cues in their earlier mix. The CD will be limited to 1500 copies and should be available in early September. www.intrada.com

Soundtrack sources:

www.buysoundtrax.com

www.intrada.com

www.screenarchives.com

Soundtrax is our weekly Movie Soundtrack column.

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