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Fly Away Home
1997 Promo

1997 Bootleg


Composed and Produced by:
Mark Isham


Labels and Dates:
Fly Away Records - Bootleg
(1997)

Consideration Promo
(1997)



Audio Clips:

1997 Promo Album:

1. First Flight (0:32), 160K fly_away_home1.ra

2. Fly Away Home (0:31), 155K fly_away_home2.ra

3. Igor's Big Adventure (0:30), 150K fly_away_home3.ra

6. The Great Escape (0:30), 150K fly_away_home6.ra



Availability:

  Neither album is commercially available. The promo is more difficult to find than the bootleg, which continues to float around the secondary market every once in a while.


Awards:

  None.









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Fly Away Home

Audio | Availability | Viewer Ratings | Tracks | Viewer Comments | Notes & Quotes
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   Sorry, there are no commercial ordering options for this title. However, you can search for this title at the soundtrack specialty outlets listed on the Filmtracks Links Page.



Find it Used:
Check for used copies of this album in the:

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(including eBay Stores and Half.com listings)





Filmtracks Recommends:

Buy it... if you've seen the film and agree that Fly Away Home has one of the most effective scores of the decade.

Avoid it... if the search for the rare score may not be worth the reward.



Filmtracks Editorial Review:

Isham
Fly Away Home: (Mark Isham) Every once in a while, you get a combination of director, cinematographer, and composer that works so splendidly that the resulting beauty on screen captivates audiences of all ages. Fly Away Home is one such example, with the 1996 film offering the rewarding tale of a girl who has lost her mother and regains her vitality by adopting a flock of geese at her estranged father's large property. With the geese refusing to migrate properly (because of course, the little girl doesn't get up and fly south herself), the girl and her father use an ultralight plane to teach the young birds how to fly and begin their migration. It's a semi-true tale that culminates in the exhilarating journey through a flight at the end of the film that is saturated with wholesome sentimentality (in the days before American homeland security would chase them out of the air). It's an ultimate feel-good story, and composer Mark Isham plays his role in extending the fuzzy feelings through his score. The orchestral score, rich with the styles of Americana, utilizes instrumentation that plays straight to nature and the birds themselves. Woodwinds creatively chirp out the sounds of young birds, specialty string instruments and a harmonica bring back memories of the farm, and tapping percussion present the adversity that the birds face along their course of maturation. Heightening the score more than anything, of course, is the melodic heart of Isham's effort. The opening and closing titles, along with the momentous flying scene, are scored with a gorgeous solo string theme backed by a full orchestral ensemble. The performance, which features the regular strings of a usual orchestral ensemble, has the feel of a fiddle, further generating (along with a solo flute) the picturesque beauty of the landscape.

Isham spares no dramatic element in Fly Away Home, with even a solo voice inserted for the mournful cue of remembrance. The score would, at its outset, possibly seem like the kind of hokey Americana spirit that, in its deeper moments, fails to inspire more modern score fans. But although Isham is criticized for sometimes failing to produce a strong theme when one is really needed, there is no such flaw in Fly Away Home. The thematic grace that exists from start to end has a spirited personality that distinguishes itself from Isham's other works. Many film score critics have argued that Fly Away Home is the strongest score of his first dozen years of major film scoring, and they would be correct. Isham reaches out to embrace the same kind of rhythmic enthusiasm and thematic constants that draw Rachel Portman fans. The tragedy of this romantic score is, of course, that it completely fell through the cracks when the time came to release the score on album. It is rare that a score of this popularity receives no release at all, raising questions about the kind of studio mishaps that lead to these situations. An awards promo was released with nine cues amounting to a little over half an hour at the time that Fly Away Home came up for Oscar consideration. After this promotional album quickly disappeared, bootlegs began surfacing with regularity, and one in particular (Fly Away Records, with a handful of cues from other Isham works) took hold and worked its way into many collections. When the ultimate edition of the film was released on DVD in 2003, fans cheered when they saw an isolated score advertised. Unfortunately, it's one of those "commentary" situations during which Isham analyzes his work over some of the important cues, including the beautiful opening and closing cues. Thus, the DVD still isn't the answer for fans of the score. While fans of the film represent the most desperate seekers of the bootleg, all film music fans should take a moment to find this lovable, uncomplicated score. *****

Purchasing Options: eBay/Half.com (Used)




   Viewer Ratings and Comments:



   Track Listings (1997 Consideration Promo):
Total Time: 36:02

    • 1. First Flight (3:16)
    • 2. Fly Away Home (4:01)
    • 3. Igor's Big Adventure (5:49)
    • 4. 16 Eggs (3:46)
    • 5. If At First You Don't Succeed (3:39)
    • 6. The Great Escape (6:38)
    • 7. Halls of Glass (2:50)
    • 8. Remembrance of Things Past (2:14)
    • 9. Homecoming (3:45)


   Track Listings (1997 Fly Away Records Bootleg):
Total Time: 77:44

    • 1. First Flight (3:16)
    • 2. Amy's Remembrance (2:13)
    • 3. Sixteen Eggs (3:45)
    • 4. If At First You Don't Succeed (3:37)
    • 5. Theme from Fly Away Home (4:00)
    • 6. Igor's Big Adventure (5:47)
    • 7. The Great Escape (6:39)
    • 8. Halls of Glass/Tom's Crash (2:48)
    • 9. Homecoming/End Credits (3:47)
    Bonus Tracks from other Isham Scores:
    • 10. Nell (4:39)
    • 11. The Moderns (3:37)
    • 12. Made in America (2:57)
    • 13. Cool World (13:15)
    • 14. Timecop (1:49)
    • 15. Miami Rhapsody (1:23)
    • 16. Chicago Hope (1:38)
    • 17. The Net (12:34)

    (Fly Away Home running time: 35:49)





   Notes and Quotes:

    Neither album includes any information about the score or film.







All artwork and sound clips from Fly Away Home are Copyright © 1997, Consideration Promo, Fly Away Records - Bootleg. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 7/12/03, updated 7/27/03. Review Version 4.2 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2003-2008, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved.