Tweet

THE PRIZE WINNER OF DEFIANCE OHIO
Music from the Motion Picture – Various artists – Original Music composed by John Frizzell
Milan Records

The film, directed by Jane Anderson (NORMAL), takes place in the 1950s and stars Julianne Moore as Evelyn Ryan, a mother of ten who supports her family by entering and winning commercial jingle and advertising slogan contests, thereby usurping her husband Kelly’s (Woody Harrelson) role as breadwinner.
Frizzell, whose previous credits include projects as diverse as BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD DO AMERICA and ALIEN RESURRECTION, here incorporates a full orchestra with performances by Sara Watkins (fiddle) and Sean Watkins (guitar), both from ‘newgrass’ band Nickel Creek, plus also ukulele, harp and piano to create a thematic yet intimate score which also has a strong sense of Americana to it, and which also reflects the popular music of the period. Lace this with recordings by Les Paul & Mary Ford, The Ames Brothers, Kay Starr and retro tracks by K.D. Lang and Dee Carstensen and you have nigh-on 50 mins of nostalgic and evocative schmaltz. One last thing – Woody Harrelson also sings on this – Note to Mr. Harrelson: Don’t give up the day job…

BATMAN
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack composed and conducted by Nelson Riddle
Film Score Monthly FSMCD Vol. 3 No. 7 – Limited Edition of 3,000 Bat-copies

Forget BATMAN BEGINS – Here is where it all really began. Here in all its dubious glory is the full soundtrack to the 1966 classic spawned from the now cult TV series and which introduced the Dynamic (but camp) Duo of Adam West and Burt Ward to an international audience. You can read my review of the movie in the FIR Archives, but needless to say the movie took all the ridiculous elements of the series and just made them bigger, brasher, louder and downright Batty-er! This applies not least to the music.
With all of Batman’s main TV nemeses, Joker (Cesar Romero), Riddler (Frank Gorshin), Penguin (Burgess Meredith) and Catwoman (former Miss America Lee Meriwether), appearing in the movie, Riddle was able to expand on, and interplay with, all their particular villainous motifs. He also provided driving (forgive the pun) cues for the various Bat-vehicles (Batmobile, Bat-Boat, Bat-Copter, Bat-Cycle), which usually referenced Neal Hefti’s famous Bat-theme, and of course the terrific big-band, brass-punctuated music for the fight scenes, which were accompanied by the words POW!, BIFF! and SOCK! (and sometimes even ZOWEE!) emblazoned across the screen. The movie of course also allowed Riddle to expand the familiar short cues needed for TV into longer, more satisfying pieces to accompany the grander scale of action.
Also included is the straight TV theme (which wasn’t in the movie) and a gorgeously illustrated and lovingly written (by Jeff Bond) multi-page booklet.
This limited edition release is now in short supply and limited to one per customer. Get it while you can.

MUSIC FOR A DARKENED THEATRE VOLS 1 & 2
Film and Television Music composed and conducted by Danny Elfman
MCA Records

These are by no means new recordings (Vol. 1 came out in ’90), but they are a must-have for fans of any genre and well worth tracking down, as I believe Elfman crosses them all, though admittedly he does excel in the weird and wonderful. Vol. 1 contains excerpts from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Batman, Dick Tracy, Beetlejuice, Nightbreed, Darkman, Back To School, Midnight Run, Wisdom, Big Top Pee Wee, The Simpsons, Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Jar, Tales From The Crypt, Face Like A Frog, Forbidden Zone and Scrooged. And that’s just Vol. 1.
Volume 2 is a double CD set that blows Vol. 1 into a cocked hat. Here are presented suites from Edward Scissorhands (five tracks), Dolores Claiborne (five tracks), To Die For (five tracks), Black Beauty (seven tracks), Batman Returns (four tracks). And (phew) on disc 2: Suites from Mission Impossible (three tracks), Sommersby (three tracks), Dead Presidents (five tracks), Nightmare Before Christmas (three tracks), Freeway (three tracks), main titles from Shrunken Heads, then come the ‘Television Odds ‘N Ends’ which include Amazing Stories’ ‘Family Dog’ and ‘Mummy, Daddy’, a ‘Nike’ commercial’, the themes from The Flash, Pee Wee’s Playhouse and Beetlejuice – The Animated Series, finishing off with ‘This Is Halloween’, the Original Demo for Nightmare Before Christmas. If that ain’t enough to whet your whistle I don’t know what is. Both volumes are still available from Amazon.com.

THE HOWLING
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack composed by Pino Donaggio, conducted by Natale Massara
La-la Land Records

Finally (yes, finally!) I have to mention this new release from La-la land of the soundtrack from Joe (Gremlins) Dante’s groundbreaking 1981 classic, and the film that resurrected the werewolf movie. For an at times gruesome movie there was a lot of humour in it and plenty of nods to its predecessors and the werewolf genre (such as pictures of Lon Chaney on the Doctor’s office wall), and this is reflected in the music with tracks entitled ‘Wolf Bites Man!’, ‘Animal Magnetism’, ‘Wolf at the Door’, ‘The Big Bad Wolf’, ‘Wolfing Down Terry’ and, my favourite, ‘Fur From the Madding Crowd’. Donaggio (Dressed to Kill, Body Double, Carrie) captures all the film’s suspense, shocks, chills and eroticism whilst still keeping his tongue firmly in his cheek. Just listen to the opening – the wolf howls and a truly Universal Pictures style barrage of dramatic, descending chords cues us into the movie. He’s having fun here and you can hear it. So here it is, available for the first time on CD, digitally remastered from the original ¼ inch album master tapes, featuring bonus tracks and exclusive liner notes from Donaggio himself. It’s a cracker, and a great one to finish on.

Keep listening.

Continue to page: 1 2 3 4 5