{"id":8226,"date":"2014-03-26T12:42:58","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T16:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8226"},"modified":"2014-03-26T12:42:58","modified_gmt":"2014-03-26T16:42:58","slug":"cd-blue-max-the-1966","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8226","title":{"rendered":"CD: Blue Max, The (1966)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"BlueMaxLLLCD\"<\/a>Score<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label<\/strong>: La-La Land Records<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>February 24, 2014<\/p>\n

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Tracks \/ Album Length:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0CD1: 25 tracks \/ (52:20) + CD2: 28 tracks \/ (71:23)<\/p>\n

Special Notes:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Colour booklet with liner notes by Jeff Bond \/ Limited to 2000 copies.<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jerry Goldsmith scored The Sand Pebbles<\/strong>, Seconds<\/strong>, Stagecoach<\/a><\/strong>, The Trouble with Angels<\/strong>, Our Man Flint<\/strong>, and The Blue Max <\/strong>in 1966 – a melange of orchestral, a little avant garde, jazz lounge, and classical romantic – and with the exception of Seconds<\/strong>, each score was a sizeable effort, but alongside The Sand Pebbles<\/strong>, The Blue Max<\/strong> was among the composer\u2019s bigger works that year.<\/p>\n

Both Sand Pebbles<\/strong> and Blue Max<\/strong> are war scores, and they certainly share a similar level of gloom (if not similar fates for their central characters), but the latter is easy to regard as more epic, due to the size, emotional scope, and orchestral bulk which immediately transplants the listener to the romantic world of an ace fighter pilot.<\/p>\n

The soundtrack albums for Blue Max<\/strong> vary significantly, in terms of overall length, deletion \/ addition \/ expansion of cues \u2013 nearly one-third of the 1966 Mainstream LP was filed with national anthems and march music of the WWI era \u2013 and\u00a0Blue Max<\/strong> may be among the rare Fox scores released by disparate labels, none of which were owned by studio Fox. (The order spans indies Mainstream, Citadel, Varese, Intrada, and\u00a0 La-La Land, plus major label Sony.)<\/p>\n

At least from the first LP releases, Blue Max<\/strong> lacked the sonic depth one would expect from Fox scores \u2013 even the Varese CD, the first real attempt at restoring the score\u2019s scope and length \u2013 had a slightly pinched, dry quality \u2013 and finding descent masters and tackling the challenges of the original tapes must have been tough for each label’s sound engineer.<\/p>\n

LLL\u2019s release offers the best sound, benefiting from the dedication of engineer Mike Matessino and recent innovations in sound restoration, but what will immediately impress listeners is the wealth of music not<\/em> used in the film. Goldsmith purists will lament the quantity dialed down in the film mix in favour of natural and plane sound effects, but director Guillermin was correct in most of his decisions \u2013 there\u2019s no denying the plane engines add great authenticity to the exciting dogfights \u2013 but there are many stellar cues whose A or B sections could\u2019ve been retained in the final mix without detracting from a scene\u2019s impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Attack\u201d is a lengthy work with a slow, careful dramatic build, and the stellar \u201cThe Bridge\u201d is filled with rhythmic twists and turns, grungy vibratos, and sterling contrasts between high register strings and deep brass. \u201cThe Bridge\u201d is also representative of the rich colours within the score\u2019s spectrum \u2013 the heavy chords on double bass alone provide a sense of buoyancy for the pilots swooping through clouds and attack formations; and the severe thickness of the vibrato mimics the pliability of canvas and wooden planes as they\u2019re put through stressful turns and dives. Goldsmith\u2019s elegant, romantic theme captures the dynamism of being a pilot with an open cockpit, breezing through the natural elements and gliding over the serene beauty of colourful fields, but it\u2019s the colours from the brass, woodwinds, and strings which capture the physicality of the flying machines in peak form.<\/p>\n

The colours in the score, plus the main theme \u2013 heroic, majestic, ridiculously noble \u2013 help soften the coldness and selfishness of the film\u2019s generally unlikable characters, giving some depth to leading character Stachel and offering some hint of genuine affection between Stachel and Kaeti when their relationship is often seen as purely carnal, and a little emotionally sadistic on both ends.<\/p>\n

On CD, the Blue Max<\/strong> score also feels very complete, especially with action cues buffered by short thematic renditions, soft piano and chamber versions. There’s a clear progression from romance to victory, self-accomplishment, and the tragic finaley. (The only humorous moment in the score comes from some wry fiddling in \u201cA Small Favor,\u201d composed for a rare lighthearted scene in which Stachel asks the house butler for some aid as he romances playfully with Kaeti, and uses a snare drum to coax out a little ire from his lover\u2013 an obvious turn-on for the pilot.)<\/p>\n

LLL\u2019s 2-disc set features the full score on CD1, and CD2 contains the original 1966 Mainstream album + source music (the marches and anthems) + alternate cues (some of which do appear in the isolated score tracks on Twilight Time\u2019s 2014 Blu-ray). Lengthy liner notes by Jeff Bond highlight the score\u2019s prime spot in the composer\u2019s sixties output, often regarded as his most creatively fertile period, and the perfect lead-in to the large-scale works that became his signature sound during the seventies, especially in thriller (The Boys from Brazil<\/a><\/strong>) and science-fiction films (Alien<\/strong>, Outland<\/a>, Star Trek: The Motion Picture<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2014 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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Additional Links:<\/strong>
\nComposer on IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a> —\u00a0 Soundtrack Album<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Film Review<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Select Merchants:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" —\u00a0BSX<\/a> —\u00a0Intrada<\/a> —\u00a0Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Score: Excellent Label: La-La Land Records Released:\u00a0\u00a0February 24, 2014   Tracks \/ Album Length:\u00a0\u00a0CD1: 25 tracks \/ (52:20) + CD2: 28 tracks \/ (71:23) Special Notes:\u00a0\u00a0Colour booklet with liner notes by Jeff Bond \/ Limited to 2000 copies. \u00a0   Review: Jerry Goldsmith scored The Sand Pebbles, Seconds, Stagecoach, The Trouble with Angels, Our […]<\/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":[2623,545],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-28G","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8226"}],"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=8226"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8236,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8226\/revisions\/8236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}