Soundtrack Reviews & Score Release Tally

You might think that with us now in the middle of winter, and with the U.S. Congress wrestling with SOPA, an anti-piracy bill symbolic of the corporate paranoia where entertainment is being being stolen by all / bought by none, that there would not only be fewer releases each year, but less labels surviving, but as this month’s tally indicates, people are still interested in film music releases, be it classic or new material in digital or physical form.

The best way to read the non-death of music distribution is how the industry needed to find new venues, hyper-target niche markets, and adapt by welcoming digital yet keeping physical in mind for collectors and audiophiles wanting an actual compact CD.

I’ve sort of bounced back & forth between the two mediums, happy with the little space digital music occupies, but kind of fond of an actual disc, knowing it represents the best sound, even though formats like flac are perfectly fine. It may also be the peculiar comfort in seeing music fans half my age wanting turntables, buying old vinyl (deliberately), and being excited about building a platter collection.

Major labels have little interest in niche markets, which is why, like the major film studios, their core business will be in primarily producing new material and licensing back catalogue material to indie labels for set time periods. The studios have the best masters which gives them an edge over copies of music or film circulating in the public domain realm, and with indie labels ostensibly servicing niche / collector / fan markets & interests, there’s an obvious need to work with the best possible elements.

Besides, if indie labels and producers weren’t working with major labels, it may be likely that a lot of material would remain uncatalogued, undiscovered, and we would’nt see the regular waves of expanded and premiere releases of complete original scores. Case in point: Spain’s Quartet Records recently announcing a February release of a Casino Royale 2-disc edition featuring Burt Bacharach’s original film score.

Even if you hate the 1967 film and music, this represents the ideal scenario of ‘lost’ or unfound material being not only discovered, but making its way into the commercial realm where it belongs. This could apply to any musical idiom: the reason, for example, why we have elaborate jazz sets isn’t because major labels have dedicated teams of historians and archivists working in the vaults, but a shared interest among a few indie & in-house people, and perhaps a sense of competition: if the people behind Mosaic Records set the standard for jazz reissues with their exhaustive sets, then it behooves labels to follow the meticulous production values if they want to re-sell catalogue material to fans anew in shinier, happier boxed sets.

To that end, I’ll move on to the score tally below, plus some new soundtrack reviews: Tyler Bates’ engrossing score for the sci-fi thriller The Darkest Hour [M] and Craig Richey’s Answers to Nothing [M] (both from Lakeshore Records); Danny Elfman’s complete music for Scrooged [M] (La-La Land); Howard Shore’s A Dangerous Method [M] and John Williams’ War Horse [M] (Sony); and the original Casino Royale [M] album, which Kritzerland released a year ago, coupled with a transfer of the original vinyl for purists unable to get their hands on a vintage Colgems platter.

I just got my Bernard Herrmann at Fox box from Varese, and while it was hefty at $200 smackaroons, had a I hesitated, I would’ve lost the chance to own this monster set and enjoy 14 CDs of pure Herrmann Heaven. (I still feel peeved I hesitated to snap up Mimic, but let’s not go there again.)

Reviews of that beast-box will come soon, as I’m trying to tie some film & DVD reviews to the respresented scores. A handful of the titles are out in Spain on DVD – White Witch Doctor, King of the Khyber Rifles – and I wouldn’t be surprised if Twlight Time has one or two Herrmann titles up their sleeves. (Now that The Roots of Heaven is a reality, hopefully they have their sights on Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, sporting a rich surround mix, Herrmann’s dreamy score, and Robert Wagner playing a really, really happy Greek fisherman.)

Coming soon will be a pair of John Guillermin film reviews, including Rapture (Twilight Time), which sports an isolated Georges Delerue score. The label has also announced Blu-ray editions of Pal Joey, sporting an isolated score track and an extra called “Backstage and at Home with Kim Novak”; and Swamp Water, the Jean Renoir film, sporting an isolated score track of David Buttolph’s music.

Buttolph is all but forgotten among the Golden Age composers, so this brings some of his music into the commercial realm. Personal favourites include his music for the Alan Ladd submarine thriller The Deep Six (1958), Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954), and perhaps his best-known work, House of Wax (1953), which appears in rich stereo on Warner Home Video’s DVD.

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The Score Tally:

Titles listed include current, upcoming, and some announced for February.

The term “ltd.” denotes titles released in limited quantities because collectors need to be driven crazy now and then.

The black dots (“.”) between titles could be interpreted as moderne spacing devices meant to break up the visual monotony of text clusters, or perhaps the point at which I *&%$# gave up in figuring out why the skilled minds behind MS Word, HTML, Dreamweaver, and Word Press can’t #*&^!! figure out how to permit fluid cutting & pasting of text and HTML code without spacing aberrations.

It’s 2012, for God’s sake. If a netbook can fly the space shuttle, why can’t you figure out code that guarantees what originates in any word processing software remains intact in its final published format?

Onwards now.

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ISOLATED SCORES ON VIDEO:

Mysterious Island (Twilight Time)

Picnic (Twilight Time)

Rapture (Twilight Time)

Roots of Heaven, The (Twilight Time)

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REGULAR RELEASES:

Alhambra (Germany)

Moby Dick (Richard G. Mitchell)

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Beat Records (Italy)

Alla conquista dell’Arkansas (Francesco De Masi)

Dove vai se il vizietti ce l’hai? (Berto Pisano)

…E tu vivrai nel terror! L’Aldila (Fabio Frizzi)

Enfantasme (Stelvio Cipriani)

Manhattan Baby (Fabio Frizzi)

Una bara per lo sceriffo (Francesco De Masi)

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BSX Records (USA)

Chillerama: Zom-B-Movie (Bear McCreary) – ltd.

Fireflies in the Garden (Jane Antonia Cornish)

Halloween 4 (John Acrpenter, Alan Howarth) — read the film review at KQEK.com

Humanoids from the Deep (James Horner) – ltd.

Music from the Twilight Saga for Chamber Orchestra (various)

Music from the Walt Disney/PIXAR Films for Solo Piano (various)

Satanic Rites of Dracula, The (John Cacavas)

Scrooge (1970) (Leslie Bricusse) – new recording

Thing, The (Ennio Morricone) – re-recording of complete score arr. By Alan Howarth

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Colosseum (Germany)

Als der Weihnachtsmann von Himmel fiel (Peter Wolf)

Die verlorene zeit (Julian Maas, Christoph M. Kaiser

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Cometa (Italy)

Inchiestra (Alessandro Alessandroni)

L’isola degli uomini pesce / Screamers (Luciano Michelini)

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Concord Records (USA)

Beneath the Darkness (Geoff Zanelli)

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Creature Features Records (USA)

Lost Skeleton Returns Again (John Morgan, William Stromberg)

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DigitMovies (Italy)

Castello dei morte vivi, Il / Castle of the Living Dead (Angelo Francesco Lavagnino)

Chi Sei / Beyond the Door (Dranco Micalizzi)

Corri uomo corri (Bruno Nicolai) – available separately on CD and LP

Finche c’e’guerra c’e’speranza / Where There Was War There’s Hope) (Piero Piccioni)

Flesh for Frankenstein / Blood for Dracula (Claudio Gizzi) – 2CDs

OK Connery (Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai) – available separately on CD and LP

Senza Dio, I / Sentence of God + …E intorno a lui fu morte / Death Knows No Time (Carlo Savina)

Siu puo fare… Amigo / Can Be Done (Luis Bacalov)

Squadra volante (Stelvio Cipriani) – available separately on CD and LP

Tentacoli / Tentacles (Stelvio Cipriani)

Zorro (Guido De Angelis, Maurizio De Angelis) – available separately on CD and LP

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Disques Cinemusique (Canada)

First Georges Delerue’s 45RMP Records

Maurice Jarre’s Unpublished French Film Music

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Dutton Vocalion (USA)

Big Suspense Movie Themes + Big Bond Movie Themes (Geoff Love & His Orchestra)

Eric Winstone Plays 007 + Supersonic Sounds

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Film Score Monthly (FSM) (USA)

Frantic (Ennio Morricone) – expanded

Gremlins (Jerry Goldsmith) – expanded 2CDs

Nightwatch / Killer by Night (John ‘Johnny’ Williams / Quincy Jones)

Space Children / Colossus of New York (Nathan Van Cleave)

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GDM (Italy)

Anda muchacho, Spara! / Dead Men Ride (Bruno Nicolai)

Cartoni animate (Ennio Morricone)

Decameron Nero, Il (Luciano Michelini)

Django spara per primo / Django Shoots First (Bruno Nicolai)

Ennio Morricone: The Complete Edition – 15 CD compilation

Gli occhi Freddi della paura (Ennio Morricone) – expanded

Notte e il momento, La / The Night and the Moment (Ennio Morricone)

OSS 77: Operazione fior di loto (Luis Bacalov)

Prato, Il (Ennio Morricone)

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Intrada (USA)

Core, The (Christopher Young) – 2CDs

Great Train Robbery (Jerry Goldsmith) – 2CDs

It (Richard Bellis)

Rapture (Georges Delerue)

Renegades (Michael Kamen)

Road House (Michael Kamen)

Sand Pebbles, The (Jerry Goldsmith)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Leonard Rosenman)

21 Hours to Munich (Laurence Rosenthal)

Wolfen (James Horner) — read the film review at KQEK.com

Wrong Box, The (John Barry)

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Kritzerland Records (USA)

Trial, The (Jean Ledrut) – ltd.

People in the Picture, The (Mike Stoller, Iris Rainer, Artie Butler) – stage recording

Raven, The + An Evening of Edgar Alan Poe (Les Baxter) – ltd.

Synanon (Neal Hefti) + Enter Laughing (Quincy Jones)

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Kronos Records (Malta)

Africa To-Day (Piero Umiliani)

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Lakeshore Records (USA)

Answers to Nothing (Craig Richey / others)

Contagion (Cliff Martinez) — read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

Darkest Hour, The (Tyler Bates)

Grey, The (Marc Streitenfeld)

One for the Money (Deborah Lurie)

Rampart (Dickon Hinchliffe)

Underworld: Awakening (Paul Haslinger)

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La-La Land Records (USA)

Batman Forever (Elliot Goldenthal) – 2CDs; ltd.

Fat Man and Little Boy (Ennio Morricone) – 2CDs; ltd.

55 Days at Peking (Dimitri Tiomkin) – 2CDs; ltd — read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

Friday the 13th Parts 1-6 (Harry Manfredini) – 6CDs; ltd.

Scrooged (Danny Elfman) – ltd. — read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

Space: Above and Beyond (Shirley Walker) – 3CDs; ltd.

Tora! Tora! Tora! (Jerry Goldsmith) – ltd.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (Greg Edmonson) – 2CDs; ltd. — read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: 50th Anniversary (Bert Shefter, Paul Sawtell) – ltd.

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MovieScore Media (Sweden)

Awakening, The (Daniel Pemberton)

Back to Gaya (Michael Kamen)

Captain Trueno y Santo Grial / Captain Thunder and the Holy Grail (Luis Ivars)

Hideaways (Eric Neveux)

Man to Man (Patrick Doyle)

Merlin: Series Two (Rob Lane, Rohan Stevenson)

Pslam 21 (Christer Christensson)

Treasure Guards (Michael Richard Plowman)

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Music Box Records (France)

Emmanuelle 4 + S.A.S. a San Salvador (Michel Magne)

Overboard (Alan Silvestri) – ltd.

Pigalle la nuit (Eric Demarsan)

Vous de jouer Milord, A (Francois de Roubaix)

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Naive (France)

Cle des champs, La (Bruno Coulais)

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Naxos (USA)

Jane Eyre (Bernard Herrmann) – rerecording; reissue

New Babylon (Dmitry Shostakovich)

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Null Corporattion, The (USA)

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross) – available separately digitally, on 3CDs, and 180 gram vinyl

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Perseverance Records (USA)

Animals United / Konferenz der tiere (David Newman)

Exorcist II: The Heretic (Ennio Morricone) – ltd; reissue — read the film review at KQEK.com

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Playtime (France)

Jo + Les grandes vacances (Raymond Lefevre)

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Prometheus (Belgium)

Conan the Destroyer (Basil Poledouris) — re-recording, 2CDs

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Quartet Records (Spain)

Blackthorn (Lucio Gody)

Mientras Duermas (Lucas Vidal)

Morte scende leggera, La (Lallo Gori) – ltd.

Quelle strane occasioni (Piero Piccioni) – 2CDs; ltd.

Verbo (Pascal Gaigne)

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Saimel (Spain)

Angeli senza paradise (Angelo Francesco Lavagnino)

Negre Buenos Aires (Bruno Nicolai)

K.O. va e uccidi (Cales Cases)

Maddalena (Ennio Morricone) – expanded

Pa negre – pan negro (Jose Manuel Pagan)

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Silva Screen (USA / UK)

Haywire (David Holmes)

Sherlock: Season 1 (David Arnold, Michael Price)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Alberto Iglesias)

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Sony (USA)

Artist, The (Ludovic Bource) — read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

Dangerous Method, A (Howard Shore) — read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

Descendants (various) — read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

Iron Lady, The (Thomas Newman)

My Week with Marilyn (Alexandre Desplat, Conrad Pope)

Red Tails (Terence Blanchard)

War Horse (John Williams) — read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

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Summit (USA)

Man on a Ledge (Henry Jackman) — digital only

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Sumthing Else (USA)

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (Grant Kirkhope)

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Universal Music (France)

Nouvelle Vague: Chansons et musiques de films (various) – 3CDs

Partitions inedites / Unused Scores (Georges Delerue) – includes Regarding Henry + Something Wicked This Way Comes

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Varese Sarabande (USA)

Bernard Herrmann at 20th Century-Fox – 14 CDs; ltd.

Big Miracle (Cliff Eidelman)

Black Gold (James Horner)

Ides of March (Alexandre Desplat)

In the Land of Blood and Honey (Gabriel Yared / various)

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Michael Giacchino)

Real Steel (Danny Elfman)

Safe House (Ramin Djawadi)

There Must Be Dragon: Secretos de passion (Robert Folk)

Tower Heist (Christophe Beck)

Will (Nigel Clarke, Michael Csanyi-Wills)

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Water Tower Music (Warner Bros.) (USA)

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Alexandre Desplat)

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (Andrew Lockington)

Joyful Noise (Mervyn Warren)

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This handy-dandy list was compiled from various awesome sources, including catalogue announcements at Screen Archives Entertainment, Soundtrackcollector.com, Chris’ Soundtrack Corner, and Intrada.

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Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Tags: Soundtrack News, Soundtrack Reviews, Soundtrack Tally

Category: EDITOR'S BLOG, FILM MUSIC