{"id":6150,"date":"2013-02-15T15:16:12","date_gmt":"2013-02-15T20:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6150"},"modified":"2013-02-15T15:16:12","modified_gmt":"2013-02-15T20:16:12","slug":"cd-film-noirs-finest-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6150","title":{"rendered":"CD: Film Noir’s Finest (2012)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>F<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Good<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0BSX Records<\/a> \/ Released: January, 2013<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 20 tracks \/ (70:34)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: n\/a.<\/p>\n

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Composer: various<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

BSX Record\u2019s latest compilation album features an eclectic collection of main themes from mostly modernist noirs \u2013 clear-cut homages by directors either evoking the period of the genre\u2019s birth – the forties – or transposed to contemporary and futuristic time periods.<\/p>\n

Whereas older noir compilations tended to focus on more vintage films, enough time has passed to make it easy for producers to fill up more than an hour\u2019s running time of material starting from the seventies, when a streak of filmmakers were transposing nostalgic elements instead of spoofing them (as done in the sixties and early seventies).<\/p>\n

The music selections are perfectly fine \u2013 part of the modernist streak is to incorporate \/ evoke jazz elements (which weren\u2019t as standard during the forties) \u2013 and the album\u2019s tone is mostly light, if not slightly lounge. The renditions of Body Heat<\/strong>, Chinatown<\/strong>, Blade Runner<\/strong>, and Basic Instinct <\/strong>represent the recognizable and populist films, and there\u2019s also Laura<\/strong>\u2019s theme \u2013 the only vintage film in the collection.<\/p>\n

The solo performances vary \u2013 John Barry\u2019s Body Heat<\/strong> theme has elongated chords which don\u2019t give saxophonist Tim Messina much room to create a strong impression \u2013 and the strings are clearly synth-based, and they don\u2019t capture the lushness of the original versions. The other problem is by picking recognizable themes there\u2019s the inevitable comparison to the originals, and none of the aforementioned film themes are given new spins, making their inclusion a little perfunctory.<\/p>\n

The CD\u2019s best material comes from the lesser-known themes \u2013 Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s Shamus<\/strong>, Don Davis\u2019 The Unsaid<\/strong> – and more striking arrangements, especially the piano and violin duets in Pino Donaggio\u2019s Blow Out <\/strong>and Howard Shore\u2019s Eastern Promises<\/strong>. The often overlooked closing music for Lalo Schifrin\u2019s Dirty Harry <\/strong>is given a lengthy performance on keyboards, and Mark Northam creates a nice balance between melancholy and nostalgia in David Shire\u2019s Farewell My Lovely<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Henry Mancini gets two nods in this collection \u2013 the sappy Physical Evidence<\/strong>, the breezy Remington Steele<\/strong> \u2013 and Dennis McCarthy closes the collection with his own salute to the genre (\u201cFilm Noir Suite\u201d) with the composer on piano, supporting the solo trumpet and string bass.<\/p>\n

Like Mancini, Jerry Goldsmith is given a sizeable representation, and collectors should note the recordings of Shamus<\/strong>, The Detective<\/strong>, and the main theme from his rejected Two Days in the Valley<\/strong> score were previously released on the BSX compilation The Jerry Goldsmith Collection Volume One: The Rarities<\/strong>, although that album features a separate recording of Chinatown<\/strong>‘s \u201cEnd Credits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the other score choices – Jennifer 8 <\/strong>and The Bodyguard – <\/strong>are a bit blurry as full noir films, and there’s the peculiar oversight of Mark Isham, whose work in noir includes Mortal Thoughts<\/strong>, The Private Eye<\/strong> and Romeo is Bleeding<\/strong>. If a volume 2 is in the works, perhaps the producers can shine some attention on marginalized works, if not a few indie films, such as Barry Adamson’s Delusion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2013 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

n\/a<\/p>\n

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Select Merchants:<\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" —\u00a0BSX<\/a> —\u00a0Intrada<\/a> —\u00a0SAE<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0F<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ F . Rating: Good Label:\u00a0BSX Records \/ Released: January, 2013 Tracks & Album Length: 20 tracks \/ (70:34) . Special Notes: n\/a. . Composer: various . . Review: BSX Record\u2019s latest compilation album features an eclectic collection of main themes from mostly modernist noirs \u2013 clear-cut homages by directors either […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[352],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1Bc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6150"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6150"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6156,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6150\/revisions\/6156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}