CD REVIEW - 1000 DOLLARI SUL NERO


1000 Dollari Sul Nero
Music by Michele Lacerenza
GDM Hillside Series GDM 4115
23 Tracks 39:39 mins

This 1966 Italian western, starred genre regulars Anthony Steffen and Gianni Garko and was directed by Alberto Cardone.
The score, by Michele Lacerenza, not surprisingly features the composer on trumpet for the brilliant opening deguello "Johnny's Theme," which is as good as anything of its kind, and of course faultlessly played. The theme is expanded dramatically in the following "Uno Straniero in Citta," and variations and fragments appear frequently in subsequent tracks, even in somewhat romantic style for "Attimi D'Amore" and "Ricordi."
Some galloping action, complete with electric guitar features in "Inseguimento," and again the guitar theme, introduced in this track, returns for "Marcia di Johnny," and the uptempo "Caccia." Dramatic battle music can be heard in "Fuga," "Contro I Nemici" and "Spiando Il Nemico."
Contrasting all the action and drama are "Nostalgia Di Lei" and "Accompamento All'Alba" which drift along with choral enhancement.
Of course no score for this genre would be complete with its source cues and "Storie Del West" and "Leggende Del West" feature jolly harmonica-lead tune, whilst "In Chiesa" features a church organ solo.
The album concludes with Peter Boom's spirited vocal of the Lacerenza/Gangarossa ballad "Necklace of Pearls."
The colourful accompanying booklet features stills and original artwork from the film, as well as cast and crew credits.
Amazingly, for such a fine score, only a single, featuring "Johnny's Theme" and "Necklace of Pearls" was previously released, so it's great to finally have it available to enjoy in full.
Visit www.hillsidecd.co.uk.

CD REVIEW - HANCOCK


Hancock
Music by John Powell
Varese Sarabande VSD6908 (EU)
20 Tracks 44:43 mins

This latest big Will Smith action comedy drama mix sees him play an alcoholic super hero, whose heroics often lead to disastrous consequences, before he saves the life of Jason Bateman's character, who sets out to clean up his act and improve his public image.
The score is provided by the dependable John Powell, and combines orchestra with rock and blues elements, resulting in yet another winner, filled with a good share of his trademark action music, starting off with the opening "SUV Chase," which achieves quite a "big and bad" sound, and following up with plenty of fireworks and heroics in the likes of "Train Disaster," "To War," "I Really Hate That Word," and "Hollywood Blvd;" with just a few lighter, comic touches here and there, as in "The Kiss" and "Indestructible."
But this is a multi-faceted score and there are a good many quieter, more sensitive moments, reflecting Hancock's difficulties in fitting in with society, his therapy, and his eventual new-found sense of belonging, with the acoustic guitar-lead "Mary Brings Meatballs" and a theme first heard in "Getting Therapy" and reprised later on, particularly nice, reflecting a gradually emerging warmth towards the character, as he begins to overcome his demons and win over the people.
Things take a darker turn however in "Mortal" and the opening of "Death and Transfiguration," before Hancock emerges triumphant, with the "Getting Therapy" theme leading into the feel-good concluding track "The Moon and The Superhero."

CD REVIEW - WANTED


Wanted
Music by Danny Elfman
Lakeshore Records LKS 340212 (US)
15 Tracks 48:13 mins

This action-packed mix of stunts and CCGI, is apparently yet another film based upon a comic book, though not one that I've ever heard of. It stars Angelina Jolie as a beautiful assassin (who else could have played it?) and James McAvoy in a rare action role as the guy she has to train.
It's been a while since Danny Elfman wrote a score like this, but he did do a creditable job on the first Mission: Impossible film, so one could be fairly sure he would not let anyone down.
The album starts out with an original rock song, penned and performed by the composer himself, who of course used to be in a band before his transformation into film composer extraordinaire. It's quite a catchy, beat-driven number, which gets things off to a good start, and is followed by the purposeful "Success Montage," which has something of an eastern flavour about it, before picking up a techno rhythm. The flavour continues in "Fraternity Suite," with its subtle male choir giving an almost religious feel to proceedings.
Much of the music that follows is similarly purposeful, whether moving stealthily, or more in full-blown action style - largely orchestral, but with techno enhancements, and even electric guitars rock out in the exciting "Revenge." "Fox's Story" provides a change of pace however, a nostalgic, melancholy theme, with subtle female voice, but even this ends in a burst of action. The theme is expanded on later in the album in "Fox's Decision," where the female voice is more prominent and is joined by full choir, before reaching its crescendo.
When you add it all up, it's a pretty consistent and enjoyable action score, guaranteed to get your feet tapping and pulse pounding.

CD REVIEWS - THE EDGE OF LOVE & GET SMART


The Edge of Love
Music by Angelo Badalamenti
UCJ 1772844 (EU)
20 Tracks 45:31 mins

This new World War II-set love quadrangle is a fictional tale, starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys, and is based on real characters, including Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.
New Yorker Angelo Badalamenti is perhaps an unusual choice as composer for such a throughly British film, but he has actually done a good job, not only providing the score, but also collaborating with director John Maybury on a number of original songs, some performed in the film by Knightley, but others by the likes of Beth Rowley, Madeleine Peyroux, Patrick Wolf and Siouxsie Sioux. Singer Knightley is not, but she can just about carry it off, though she would be advised not to quit her day job.
Badalamenti's score is described by the composer himself as "tragically beautiful," with much melancholy, and even tragic, string writing, but also a tragi-love theme, best heard in the acoustic guitar-lead "Fire to the Stars"and "Home Movies," with "Holding Rowatt" probably the most unashamedly romantic theme of them all. Of course, his trademark "weirdness" (think the films of David Lynch) is also in evidence on tracks like "Underground Shelter," with its distant piano rag. Davie Hartley's piano provides a cheerful playout in the closing "Caitlin's Theme."
In addition to the aforementioned vocals, the album also features a track bySuggs, together with some of Thomas' poetry, read by Rhys, and underscored by Badalamenti.
The accompanying booklet features colour stills from the films, full music credits, and notes from both the film's director and composer.


Get Smart
Music by Trevor Rabin
Varese Sarabande VSD 6904 (EU)
20 Tracks 42:16 mins

The latest '60s TV show to get the Hollywood treatment is the spy spoof Get Smart, now starring Steve Carell as the bumbling Maxwell Smart, with Anne Hathaway playing the dependable Agent 99.
Trevor Rabin has provided the score, which is very much from the Remote Control stable, including the opening "Smart Dreams," which is reminiscent of Hans Zimmer's Backdraft theme.
But of course, how could anyone make a Get Smart movie without featuring the famous theme from the show, composed by Irving Szathmary, and it duly gets a fair few workouts here, albeit with a more modern feel, complete with big and bad electric guitars and techno rhythms even.
Often incorporating Szathmary's theme, Rabin's score plays things pretty straight and certainly "kicks ass" at times in enjoyable action tracks like "Cake Factory," "Skydiving,""Rooftop Fight,"and "The Big Chase;"with proud, militaristic colourings in the likes of "Max Denied" and "Max Takes a Bow," and plenty of stealthy movement in between.
All in all, a very entertaining listen then. Having been brought up on the original Get Smart, I wonder if I shall enjoy the film itself as much. Certainly, if they had to make it, I cannot think of a better choice of actor than Carell for the lead. We shall see.

AWOL NO LONGER + NEWS FROM MONSTROUS MOVIE MUSIC

Sorry I have been awol for more than a week now, due to unforeseen circumstances. Things are likely to remain patchy for a while, but please check back as reviews will appear, and I have a whole heap of things to get through, including the following:-

Soundtracks for new and upcoming movie releases:-

The Edge of Love by Angelo Badalamenti on UCJ
Get Smart by Trevor Rabin (incorporating Irving Szathmary's well-loved theme from the original series) on Varese Sarabande
Wanted by Danny Elfman on Lakeshore Records
Hancock by John Powell on Varese Sarabande
WALL.E by Thomas Newman on Walt Disney Records
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Andrew Lockington on New Line
Meet Dave by John Debney on Varese Sarabande
Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Karl Preusser on Lakeshore
The Promotion by Alex Wurman on Lakeshore

Older Scores:-

La Liceale by Vittorio Pezzolla, coupled with La Liceale nella Classe dei Ripetenti by Gianni Ferrio on Digitmovies
Buffalo Bill by Carlo Rustichelli from the GDM Hillside Series
1000 Dollari sul Nero by Michele Lacerenza, again from GDM Hillside
The Wreck of the Mary Deare by George Duning, coupled with John Green's Twlight of Honor on Film Score Monthly
Joko Invoca dio e Muori by Carlo Savina, again from the GDM Hillside Series

In addition, I'm still hoping to bring you my thoughts on Mark Griskey's music for the video game versions of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, so you can see that there's plenty to look forward to, and more good things are promised.

In the meantime, here's an announcement from Monstrous Movie Music:-

New from Monstrous Movie Music: Your Imagination Presents!

Dear MMM customer,

While you are familiar with our Monstrous Movie Music science fiction and horror soundtracks, my wife Kathleen and I have taken a temporary break from classic film music and are pleased to announce our latest creations!

"Your Imagination Presents" is a CD series of sci-fi musical adventure stories aimed at children 7 and older. It takes children’s audio in an incredible new direction, where the listener gets to be the star of the show by going along on the adventures!

But before you say to yourself, "I don't care about that -- I want more classic monster music!" you might want to give a quick listen to what we've done. Because if you have any kids, grandkids, cousins, nieces, or nephews, or have friends with same and you occasionally need to get them presents, then "Your Imagination Presents" might be right up your musical alley! Here's an mp3 audio sample to give you a taste of what YIP is about:
http://www.yourimaginationpresents.com/soundsamples/SOUND--YIP--MysteryIsland-LostAtSea.mp3

"Your Imagination Presents" provides a positive alternative to television, video games, and other toys that don’t help foster a child’s creativity and independent thinking. But while "Your Imagination Presents" is thought-provoking and is actually GOOD for kids, the main thing is that it's FUN and EXCITING. And if you love dramatic music, this is a wonderful way of helping to infuse that same love in children, so they don't grow up thinking that music is nothing more than simple songs with dumb lyrics. (How many times can you actually listen to "B-I-N-G-O" without going certifiably insane?) As if that's not enough, you get to expose children to scary monsters, futuristic rocketships, mad scientists, and all sorts of things that make classic sci-fi stories so wonderful!

The music of "Your Imagination Presents" was composed and recorded by Kathleen Mayne, who oversees the music on our MMM film music CDs. The stories and Creativity Booklet were written by David Schecter, who writes those mindnumbingly-detailed liner books for MMM. The cover art and Creativity Booklet illustrations are by Robert Aragon, whose cover art adorns all the MMM releases.

If you visit http://www.yourimaginationpresents.com you can hear more audio samples, find out what makes "Your Imagination Presents" different from all other children's audio, and if you're excited by what you see and hear, you can order directly from our website.

Our first two CDs, “Space Flight to the Unknown” and “Mystery Island,” are on sale now. The price of each CD is $14.95 plus shipping. We can take orders by phone, fax, e-mail, PayPal, etc.

“WITH A CHILD’S IMAGINATION, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!”

http://www.yourimaginationpresents.com
Your Imagination Presents
P. O. Box 4445
Chatsworth, CA 91313
U. S. A.
(818) 886-8863 or (800) 788-0892
FAX: (818) 886-8820
yourimaginationpresents@earthlink.net

CD REVIEW - THE ICE PIRATES


The Ice Pirates
Music by Bruce Broughton
Film Score Monthly Vol.11 No.5 (US)
22 Tracks 66:54 mins

The Ice Pirates was a low-budget lighthearted sci-fi adventure, directed by Stewart Rafill and released in 1984. The film has something of a TV movie feel, with even its stars, Robert Urich and Mary Crosby, drawn from that medium.
Having worked extensively in TV (including having written for sci-fi series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), the film was an early big screen opportunity for Bruce Broughton. Having said that, with the limited music budget involved, it wouldn't really be until Silverado that Broughton could really show what he was capable of.
I saw the film many moons ago, and don't remember it with any fondness. Chaotic is a good word to describe it, due to editorial decisions, with Broughton's score suffering a similar fate.
His music is somewhat of a mixed bag, being very dated by the sound of a time, resulting in some pretty awful muzaky source music, as well as other beat-driven, rock/pop pieces, and with drum loops and early electronics to the fore. Other pieces are more conventionally orchestral, with a Star Warsy character, though hindered by the small orchestra, which was mostly devoid of strings; and often rock/pop elements intrude.
Ruunning throughout are Broughton's principal themes, the first, a fun, brassy and heroic main theme; the second, an irritating pop-styled theme for Urich's character; and the third, a somewhat melancholy synth-lead love theme
There are plenty of action sequences, though these are often played for laughs, with pure moments of slapstick here and there; but also more low-key, suspenseful moments. It really is a hybrid score, stylistically all over the place, sounding at times a lot like John Williams, particularly in the orchestral colours, but at others it often resembles the TV scoring styles of the times.
If you're looking for the Bruce Broughton of Silverado, Young Sherlock Holmes and Tombstone, you will find little of him here, but it's not an unpleasant listen and has it's fun moments.
The accompanying booklet is lavishly illustrated with stills and artwork from the film, and comes with detailed notes and cue-by-cue guide, courtesy of Alexander Kaplan. Go to www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=9844 to hear samples, and of course to order your copy.

CD REVIEWS - MUSIC FROM THE FILMS OF TIM BURTON + THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN NOW RELEASED IN THE EU


Music from the films of Tim Burton
Silva Screen SILCD1261 (UK)
15 Tracks 60:33 mins

To celebrate the DVD release of directorTim Burton's latest cinematic outing Sweeney Todd, on July 7th Silva Screen will release a compilation of music from this and his past films, ranging from the early days of Pee Wee's Big Adventure, right up to date.
Of course, the lion's share of the music is written by long-time collaborator Danny Elfman, and themes and suites from his scores for The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Corpse Bride, Sleepy Hollow, the first two Batman movies, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mars Attacks! and the aforementioned Pee Wee's Big Adventure, are all presented here, faithfully performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic and Choir, conducted by Nic Raine and James Fitzpatrick.
Apart from Sweeney Todd, which was of course written by Stephen Sondheim, the only other non-Elfman music to be heard is Howard Shore's "Main Title" from Ed Wood, written in the aftermath of The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Probably the most interesting pieces are the four selections from the Sondheim Sweeney Tood music, only because I suspect, if you're an Elfman fan, you will certainly have all or most of the original versions of his Burton scores. This music is quite wide ranging and entertaining, from the church organ opening of the ominous "Main Titles," to the fanfarish introduction to "No Place Lie London," to the grand waltz of "A Little Priest," to the romantic "Johanna."
The accompanying booklet features notes on the director and a guide to those films and scores selected.


The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Music by Harry Gregson-Williams
Walt Disney records 2264610 (EU)
16 Tracks 75:09 mins

Regular visitors to the site will have read my review of this album from the copy of the American release I received. I would therefore do no more than point you in the direction of this review, posted on May 26th (go to the archive for May and scroll down, or search for "CD Review - The Chronicles of Narnia").
Suffice to say here that the EU release features exactly the same content, including the bonus material that can be accessed by your computer. Packaging is more standard than the U.S. digipack version, but the accompanying booklet content is the same, though the EU version is glossy.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian album receives its EU release on 23rd June, so if you haven't already invested in the U.S. version, be sure to pick up a copy of this fine score.