Before I get into the next batch of nominated talent for shorts and music, now\u2019s also a good time for a quick soundtrack update with regards to newly announced goodies that will make you wish you didn\u2019t buy the fat Rozsa box from Film Score Monthly. (Don\u2019t these labels know we can\u2019t get into the black from Xmas binging until spring?)<\/p>\n
Intrada\u2019s latest limited CD duet are Gil Melle\u2019s still extraordinary electronic score for Robert Wise\u2019s The Andromeda Strain<\/strong> (1971), a great procedural virus thriller that the makers of the 2008 remake bungled when they added a bonehead reporter to fill out the story\u2019s running time for a two-part TV movie.<\/p>\n Andromeda<\/strong> first appeared on the old KAPP Records as a hexagonal platter that actually came with a warning telling music lovers to lower the tone arm *gently* to ensure the needle wasn\u2019t decapitated. The LP was nestled in a set of silver petals with info about the score and film, and that pressing remains a top collectible.<\/p>\n That status, as well as the utter stagnation of the KAPP catalogue in Universal\u2019s vaults meant no one could hear Melle\u2019s music commercially, unless they bought the hexagonal platter from a dealer, collector, or auction, or the standard round LP that followed after. It\u2019s a pity Melle\u2019s score is brief (I frankly can\u2019t recall if the album actually represents the full score), but I hope Intrada added some detailed liner notes to place the score and its brilliant (and neglected) composer in their historical context.<\/p>\n Melle was an amazing combo of talent: jazz musician, composer, album art director & artist<\/a>, film composer, and more. To jazz fans, he\u2019s best-known for his arresting music \u2013 which wasn\u2019t always easy to decipher \u2013 whereas film fans will recognize his name from feature as well as many TV productions, like the chilling Deliberate Stranger<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n Whereas Andromeda<\/strong> is limited to 1500 copies, the other Intrada CD \u2013 Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s Players<\/strong> (1979) \u2013 is set for 3000 copies. Frankly, I\u2019ve never heard of the latter film, but we\u2019ll find out soon enough how the music stacks up in Goldsmith\u2019s fat C.V.<\/p>\n Film Score Monthly also announced last month John Williams\u2019 Black Sunday<\/strong> and Goldsmith\u2019s Islands in the Stream<\/strong> were coming on CD. Black Sunday<\/strong> rocks; it\u2019s one theme beaten to death through addictive variations that keep changing according to the intensity of the terrorists advancements in enacting their plan to explode a cluster bomb from a blimp over the Super Bowl. The score has been around as grubby bootlegs likely taken from tape sources for years, so this legit release is long overdue.<\/p>\n Islands in the Stream<\/strong>, on the otherhand, has appeared in weird incarnations. There was a bootleg LP from the 70s or 80s that featured half the score on one side, and The Reincarnation of Peter Proud<\/strong> on Side B; 53 mins. of stereo score material from the infamous Soundtrack Library CDR during the 90s, and Goldsmith\u2019s own superb re-recording of his score for Intrada, done in 1986 when the label was emerging as a prominent player in soundtrack production and distribution.<\/p>\n (In 1986 the LP was only available in Canada via Masters Film Music. The guy who ran the company \u2013 some dude named Robert Townson up in Whitby, if I recall – later moved on to become an integral component of some unknown label called Varese Sarabande.)<\/p>\n The only legit commercial release of the original score was as a wonky isolated music track on Paramount\u2019s laserdisc<\/a>, so FSM\u2019s CD finally makes what\u2019s arguably Goldsmith\u2019s most harmonically beautiful score available. FSM\u2019s run for each CD is 5000 copies, so they shouldn\u2019t disappear in a blip the way Intrada\u2019s Inchon<\/strong> vanished in one day.<\/p>\n Inchon<\/strong>, for Pete\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n Not a career highpoint.<\/p>\n Other notables coming out soon include Andre Previn\u2019s Elmer Gantry<\/strong> (1000 copies) from Kritzerland. The CD features the LP cues, bonus cuts, and cues in chronological order as they appeared in the original film mix.<\/p>\n Tadlow Music, who crafted the amazing 3-CD set of Miklos Rozsa\u2019s El Cid<\/a><\/strong> (which Silva Screen released as a non-limited set, minus the bonus 3rd<\/sup> disc) are releasing two of Maurice Jarre\u2019s best ethnic scores.<\/p>\n Jarre\u2019s hardest detractors felt he wrote music out of tune; his supporters likely love everything he\u2019s ever written. I\u2019ve always been in the middle, because he was a composer whose style only clicked every so often with a film, but where he often fell into perfection was in writing music drawn from specific ethnic heritages, of which his forays into Arabic epics were his apex.<\/p>\n Best-known for Lawrence of Arabia <\/strong>(1962), Jarre also crafted some dynamic music for Moustapha Akkad\u2019s two epics, Lion of the Desert<\/strong> \/ Omar Mukhtar: Lion of the Desert <\/strong>(1981), and the Oscar-Nominated score for The Message<\/strong> \/ Mohammad: Messenger of God <\/strong>(1976). The scores first appeared on LP, and then as a double-bill Silva CD. Tadlow\u2019s release will feature The Message<\/strong> LP master, and the full Lion<\/strong> score with alternate and source cues.<\/p>\n The CD will also include a recording of Jarre\u2019s \u201cGiubleo,\u201d which seems to be an orchestral and choral suite of music based around themes from Lion<\/strong>, his rejected River Wild<\/strong> score, and Solar Crisis<\/strong> (a film and score badly in need of proper releases). I really want to hear this thing, because the thematic material comes from a film about persecuted Arabs, thugs holding river rafters hostage, and an apocalyptic sci-fi epic about a solar flare that will fry the Earth unless Charlton Heston and ex-model Annabel Schofield save us.<\/p>\n Please absorb that combo and reflect on the possibilities.<\/p>\n Both Lion<\/strong> and Message <\/strong>are listed in the Medved Bros.\u2019 book \u201cThe Hollywood Hall of Shame\u201d as pricey stinkers, but I think in spite of each film\u2019s flaws, unlike the book, the movies lived on as glossy epics that still entertain, so the late director managed to establish a bigger legacy in spite of the Medved\u2019s trashing. (The book, however, is exceptionally funny, with Inchon<\/strong> among the hallowed members.)<\/p>\n When Tadlow\u2019s 2-CD set comes out, I\u2019ll pair the score reviews with film reviews, since Anchor Bay released special editions of each film a few years ago. (I haven\u2019t watched them nor listened to Akkad\u2019s commentary tracks, but now I\u2019ve an excuse to blow 8 hours of my life on the DVDs. Wait. That\u2019s more than 10 hours if you count the CDs.)<\/p>\n Now then.<\/p>\n Below are the Oscar-nominated scores and songs, with links to release info as available at Soundtrackcollector.com, and Amazon.com (where applicable).<\/p>\n 2009 82nd<\/sup> Oscar Nominations for Film Music<\/em><\/p>\n Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)<\/strong> Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)<\/strong> – MRH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" List of and linked Oscar nominated scores and songs, plus new and upcoming notable soundtrack releases…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-21V","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7807"}],"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=7807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7807\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n“Avatar<\/a>” (20th Century Fox)\u00a0\u00a0 James Horner
\n“Fantastic Mr. Fox<\/a>” (20th Century Fox)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Alexandre Desplat
\n“The Hurt Locker<\/a>” (Summit Entertainment)\u00a0 Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
\n“Sherlock Holmes<\/a>” (Warner Bros.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hans Zimmer
\n“Up<\/a>” (Walt Disney)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Michael Giacchino<\/p>\n
\n“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog<\/a>” (Walt Disney)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
\n“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog<\/a>” (Walt Disney)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
\n“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36<\/a>” (Sony Pictures Classics)\u00a0\u00a0 Music by Reinhardt Wagner, Lyric by Frank Thomas
\n“Take It All” from “Nine<\/a>” (The Weinstein Company)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
\n“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart<\/a>” (Fox Searchlight)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett<\/p>\n