Williams, Schifrin, and CHiPS Featured in FSM's August releases

By: Randall Larson
Date: Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Hot on the heel's of FSM's massive Elmer Bernstein Film Music Collectionset (read last week's Soundtrax column for details), FSM's limited edition August soundtrack releases have been announced.

The first pairs two 1960s scores from John Williams and Lalo Schifrin, DIAMOND HEAD and GONE WITH THE WAVE, respectively, and the world's first soundtrack to the TV series CHiPS, featuring the second season scores of Alan Silvestri (now, before you say "be still my heart," these are actually rather interesting compositions for what they were intended to be, from one of modern film music's top composers).

DIAMOND HEAD (1963) was a big-budget drama starring Charlton Heston as Richard "King" Howland, a wealthy Hawaiian plantation owner involved in messy family affairs. The film tackled issues of racism, abortion and even incest, becoming a moderate commercial success. DIAMOND HEAD was one of the few dramas of the 1960s "Johnny" (as he was then known) Williams scored (he otherwise tended to score comedies) and his earliest feature film soundtrack album released.

Like many LPs of the era, the Diamond Head album was a re-recording featuring major score cues, source music, and cover versions of the main title theme (composed by bandleader Hugo Winterhalter, and sung in a vocal version on the record by costar James Darren). Williams adapted Winterhalter's melody for several cues in the underscore, otherwise writing all-new material for supporting characters and situations. Several source cues are more akin to Williams's television work of the time, while dramatic selections anticipate his symphonic glory of years ahead.

GONE WITH THE WAVE (1964) was an obscure surf movie scored by Lalo Schifrin, who recorded 31 minutes of original compositions with a top-flight West Coast jazz band. While the film itself was barely distributed, the soundtrack album on Colpix Records received rave reviews, eventually becoming a collector's item for both the jazz and surfing crowds. The album makes its CD debut here, a vintage array of Schifrin grooves from the glorious mid-1960s.

Alan Silvestri is best known today as the composer of stirring symphonic scores such as BACK TO THE FUTURE, PREDATOR, FORREST GUMP, and more, but in 1978 he was a struggling musician looking for any reliable employment. CHiPs was a police adventure/drama about to be retooled for its second season, and producer Cy Chermak hired Silvestri to be the show's weekly composer -- for which the assignment was to write everything in an upbeat disco style.

Consequently, Silvestri's music for CHiPs bears little resemblance to his latter-day symphonic works (save for a stylistic consistency to his melodies), but for fans of the show, Silvestri's music was an integral part of the show's presentation. Silvestri updated John Parker's theme for the main and end titles, and wrote his own theme (or two) for each weekly episode all in the catchy disco style of the SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER-era, utilizing a 19-piece orchestra. For fans of the show and the period in general, the energy, fun and "cheese" factor of the music is irresistible.

This premiere release of the soundtrack to CHiPs features music from the show's second season (1978-1979) which was Silvestri's first. In addition to the season's main and end titles, the CD is jam-packed with suites from 16 of Silvestri's episode scores, plus a guest appearance by Bruce Broughton, who scored the year's Halloween episode ("Trick or Trick") in a similar disco vein.

- www.filmscoremonthly.com


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