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Interview: STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS composer MIchael Giacchino pilots The Enterprise

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/25/2013

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS soundtrack | ©2013 Varese Sarabande Records

Sure man, not to mention Hollywood, had boldly gone before in turning a TV show’s five-year mission into an ongoing cinematic voyage- the first 27 years of which involved its original “classic” cast before the com was handed over to a new generation. But just when that film future seemed to have grown a bit stale, a hotshot named J.J. Abrams leaped into the captain’s chair to reboot the franchise in a way that was as audacious as it was winningly nostalgic with 2009s STAR TREK. Taking the beloved crewmates back to their beginnings with a surfeit of style and …Read On »

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CD Review: SHE DEMONS / THE ASTOUNDING SHE-MONSTER

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/23/2013

THE ASTOUNDING SHE-MONSTER soundtrack | ©2013 Monstrous Movie Music

When you want the best in shrieking, old-school genre music, then Monstrous Movie Music has been the place for any Famous Monsters fan to geek out to, as the label has gone from sumptuous re-recordings of the likes of GORGO, DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS and THIS ISLAND EARTH to releasing the original recordings of fairly prestigious genre fare like ROCKETSHIP X-M and KRONOS. They’ve even dared to branch out with such distinctly non-monstrous Ernest Gold releases as SHIP OF FOOLS and THE McCULLOCHS. Now MMM goes digging into the vault of 1 AM Chiller Theater fare, not to mention whatever …Read On »

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CD Review: THE CARPETBAGGERS soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/22/2013

THE CARPETBAGGERS soundtrack | ©2013 Intrada Records

Elmer Bernstein was a composer who could wear many stylistic hats to fit his often over-sized characters, whether it was conjuring a biblical symphony for Moses or gun-blazing western music for John Wayne. But if I have a personal favorite approach, then it’s the Bernstein of the late 50s and early 60s, a time when jazz stood for bad behavior. Bernstein mainlined that hep, untamed sound with the more mainstream sound of an orchestra to create the defining sound of “movie jazz.” It was a deliciously swaggering approach that captured the morally bankrupt doings of heroin addicts (MAN WITH THE …Read On »

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CD Review: PATRICK DOYLE: IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/21/2013

PATRICK DOYLE: IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA soundtrack | ©2013 Varese Sarabande Records

After sojourning in Hollywood for a blockbuster career renaissance that’s included BRAVE, THOR and RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, the sprightly Scotsman musically visits the real America to satisfy his own inner muse in this expansively impressive concept album PATRICK DOYLE: IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA. Paying tribute to his ancestors who immigrated to Alabama, Doyle captures their destination with equal parts rousing beauty and wide-eyed affection. Of course he opens with “Washington DC’s” noble horns and symphonic sweep that also effortlessly conveys an Aaron Copland’s sense of Americana. Yet the nation that Doyle surveys is mostly on a smaller …Read On »

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CD Review: WAR GODS OF THE DEEP / CROSSPLOT (1,000 edition) soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/19/2013

WAR GODS OF THE DEEP / CROSSPLOT soundtrack | ©2013 Quartet Records

In addition to releasing current international scores like Alberto Iglesias’ I’M SO EXCITED and Pino Donaggio’s PASSION, Spain-based soundtrack label Quartet has also been digging into some of the 60s and 70s loopier scores like Dominic Frontiere’s HAMMERSMITH IS OUT and Riz Ortolani’s WOMAN TIMES SEVEN. But where said American and Italian were lucky enough to get some LP albums out long before a time when silver age soundtrack CD’s became hip, the equally prolific British musician Stanley Black (VALENTINO) had unaccountably never had one original title available. That makes this two-fer of WAR GODS OF THE DEEP and CROSS …Read On »

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CD Review: THE WILD BUNCH End of the Line Edition Soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/18/2013

THE WILD BUNCH END OF THE LINE EDITION soundtrack | ©2013 Film Score Monthly Records

Collector labels had been around long before Film Score Monthly magazine launched their soundtrack offshoot with THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE back in 1996. Founder Lukas Kendall’s fastidious attention to detail and shrewd mix of popular and obscure titles from the golden and silver ages of film music ensured FSM’s longevity over the course of 249 titles and nearly two decades, Now as if he were the grizzled leader of a bunch of ragtag outlaws, Kendall has chosen to take out FSM on his own terms in a big, gloriously bloody bang for number 250. Given Kendall’s biting …Read On »

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CD Review: THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/17/2013

THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES soundtrack | ©2013 Milan Records

Indy movies, and their scores can smack you upside the head with their high-minded pretentiousness, especially when attempting to grasp the epic with music that screams attention as to how outside the box it is. Yet what often provides pitfalls for those movies proves to be terrific assets in the cases of THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES, a decades-spanning American crime saga graced by an impressively big, WTF score by Mike Patton. Here the former Faith No More singer makes an auspicious jump in quality from the mindlessly fun electro-carnage of CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE using a voice that’s just as …Read On »

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CD Review: JURASSIC PARK 20th ANNIVERSARY soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/16/2013

JURASSIC PARK: 20th ANNIVERSARY soundtrack | ©2013 Geffen Records

By this point in a nearly four decade collaboration, John Williams’ DNA is as inseparable from the magic of Steven Spielberg as a moth encased in million-year old amber. And given a gigantic body of work whose themes are as instantly memorable, whether played with two notes (JAWS), five notes (CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND) or a plethora of them, it’s hard nailing down just what might be Williams’ finest melody for the director. But when it comes to his most singable theme, the award must go to JURASSIC PARK. God forbid this movie had come out when Meco …Read On »

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CD Review: THE HOLE Soundtrack (3000 limited edition)

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/14/2013

THE HOLE soundtrack | ©2013 Quartet Records

Kids and the monstrosities often mixed in Joe Dante’s legendary collaboration with Jerry Goldsmith, from mischievous GREMLINS and SMALL SOLDIERS to the atom bomb in MATINEE. One might imagine what Jerry would have done had he been around to peer into THE HOLE for Dante, only to find far more of an ephemeral and psychological threat than he’d been given to handle before with the filmmaker. Yet Dante’s still in very capable musical hands for a low key entry into teen horror, especially with the heavy lifting being done by Javier Navarette, a composer who teamed with Guillermo Del Toro …Read On »

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CD Review: SHOCK TREATMENT soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/13/2013

SHOCK TREATMENT soundtrack | ©2013 Intrada Records

Jerry Goldsmith had a particular talent for playing characters in the process of losing their minds, drawing on the dark, string musings of such avant garde composers as Bela Bartok to pioneer his own Hollywood sound for psychosis. Using a chamber approach of devilish fiddles and strings for the TWILIGHT ZONE episode “The Invaders,” the composer further plumbed a snapping mind with the waltzing sexual symbolism that haunted his Oscar-nominated FREUD to the eerie, conspiratorial tones of assuming a new identity in SECONDS. But when it comes to the pure, batshit enjoyment of a breakdown, then 1966s SHOCK TREATMENT gets …Read On »

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