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Orchestrated by:
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Herbert W. Spencer
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Performed by:
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Hollywood Studio Symphony
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Release Date:
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November 1st, 2001
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Availability:
A Varèse Sarabande CD-Club
release. Only 3,000 copies of this album were pressed, though the albums are
not numbered. It can only be purchased through the label's website. This album
is the first of three to begin a resurrection of an earlier CD-Club that existed
in the late 80's and early 90's. Their initial cost is $20, and will likely
escalate if they ever sell out. Full index: VCL 1101-1001
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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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Heartbeeps: (John Williams) When a film music collector, or an average
movie-goer, thinks about John Williams soundtracks of the early 1980's,
Heartbeeps isn't exactly what comes to mind. But as is the case with
every established composer, a successful collaboration with a director or
producer for a major film will often lead to a subsequent collaboration on a
smaller, more personal project. Such was the case with Heartbeeps.
Williams had worked with the producer, Michael Phillips, on Close Encounters
of a Third Kind, and when this new, lighthearted Phillips comedy was being
assembled in 1981, Williams accepted the scoring job. It was perhaps awkward for
such a score to be written and recorded from the maestro in between The
Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the mystery is
deepened when you take a listen to the full score. For the reason of a lack of
interest from a distracted populus of fans, Heartbeeps was never released
onto the digital medium until long after all of Williams' other post-Star
Wars era scores had been released on CD. With the resurrection of the once
popular Varèse Sarabande CD Club, the score is finally pressed onto CD as
the new series of limited CDs took flight in late 2001.
The original Varèse Sarabande CD Club began in roughly 1988 and finished
four or five years later, highlighting a movement made by the label to press
limited editions of CDs in parallel series. The final few Club CDs sat in the
label's warehouse for ten years before selling out, so it is no surprise that
the original series, despite some excellent successes (namely The 'Burbs
by Goldsmith), fizzled to an unglamourous end. Always enthusiastic about the
more obscure film scores in existence, Varèse head Robert Townson chose
to begin another Club series in 2001 with Williams' Heartbeeps. All one
has to do is read Townson's liner notes to grasp his overwhelming respect and
joy for this score. Unfortunately, as seen by more than a few film score
experts, soundtracks such as Heartbeeps don't go unpressed on CD without
good reason. In fact, the overriding reason that this score was absent on album
for so long was because it is nothing resembling the John Williams known to the
world... nor is it particularly listenable. A story about two robots in a
futuristic setting, deciding to bust loose from their roles in society, tromp
through the woods, fall in love, etc, etc, Williams approached the very short
film with a touch of comedy and a more pronounced use of electronics than in any
other score of his career. If you had a strong opinion about Johnny Williams'
early days of writing music like A Guide for the Married Man and Not
With My Wife You Don't!, then you'll probably have an equally strong opinion
about Heartbeeps. While of different genres, the Williams style heard in
the latter 1981 score is simply a sci-fi spin off of the same pop-minded Johnny
Williams music as heard in the late 1960's.
For fans of the orchestrally complex Williams styles of the early-1970's and
beyond, Heartbeeps will be one of the few post-Star Wars Williams
scores that is barely listenable, if at all. He intentionally produced
electronics that merged with jazzy, contemporary instrumentation as to get a
psychotic form of sci-fi disco. The programming is purposefully hokey, as to
enhance the comedy and silliness of the film's content. The themes are trademark
Williams on paper, but once fleshed out with the droning electronics chosen for
the recording, the music is a mesh of embarassingly trite and ridiculous sounds.
To accentuate the robots' newly discovered love for one another, Williams throws
in some token orchestral performances of small to moderate size (with the 21st
track strongly resembling The Towering Inferno), but these --even in the
customary suite formate during the end credits-- are never lengthy enough to
steer the score away from the childish electronics. Of particular annoyance is
the never-ceasing Crimebuster theme, a prancing, pseudo-military repetition
meant to represent the bumbling bad-guy robot. After four of five minutes of
that theme, the fast forward button on your CD player is a welcome sight. The
only redeeming aspect of the Heartbeeps album --and one which may
actually make it a worthwhile purchase for the most hardcore Williams fanatics--
is that it is occasionally interesting to hear Williams-isms, little motifs that
would later be expanded upon for his future classics, that remind us that the
great composer is actually responsible for this barely tolerable music. In the
end, this is the kind of music you expect to hear in a Woody Allen film, or
maybe a television cartoon, and resembles very little of the composer that
modern fans know and love. What few moments Williams uses to concentrate on the
orchestra cannot make up for this, a surprisingly weak score to present first
for the second generation of Varèse Club releases. **
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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• 1. Main Title (3:10)
• 2. Beautiful, Isn't It? (4:25)
• 3. Thunderstorm (0:39)
• 4. Seeing the Rainbow (1:09)
• 5. Projected Trip (1:43)
• 6. Sneaking Out (0:35)
• 7. Val's First Drive (2:43)
• 8. Crimebuster (3:25)
• 9. Phil is Born (1:50)
• 10. In the Woods (2:00)
• 11. Come Phil! (0:52)
• 12. It's a Camel (2:27)
• 13. The Love Scene (2:04)
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• 14. Crimebuster Follows (2:24)
• 15. Crimebuster Breaks Up Party (1:05)
• 16. Domestic Spat (1:38)
• 17. The Junkyard (1:57)
• 18. Raccoon Chasing (0:41)
• 19. Crimebuster's Shadow (0:34)
• 20. To the Factory (1:49)
• 21. Val and Phil (4:22)
• 22. Catskill Rests (1:04)
• 23. Going to Sleep (3:30)
• 24. Domestic Bliss (1:18)
• 25. Crimebuster Always Gets his Man (1:56)
• 26. End Credits (4:12)
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The insert contains a lengthy note from
album producer Robert Townson, for whom it is customary to include lengthy
analysis of both the film and score in many CD-Club releases.
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