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3/29/01 - Great Composers: Georges Delerue: (Georges
Delerue) "The film music community suffered an enormous loss in 1992, when
Georges Delerue succumbed and left the world without its greatest
contemporary French composer. In what was truly an international career,
Delerue embodied the pure romantic side of film music, composing over
thirty years for some of the world's most dramatic and sensuous films.
Fans of Delerue's music remain intensely loyal to his expansive body of
work, even nearly ten years after his death. He represented a niche in
film music that still appeals to the hopeless romantics at heart. The mass
of his music is optimistic, with a spirited heart and genuine caring, and
always, always, including a memorable melody. He died just as a storybook
would have it; before leaving the sound studio on the final day of
recording Rich in Love in 1992, Delerue would be struck by a fatal
stroke. He would spend his last few moments surrounded by his incredible
music, and with the assistance of such compilations as this crystal clear
"Great Composer" album from Varèse Sarabande, he will not be soon
forgotten. To discuss the grand merits of each and every score would cause
me to ramble on for pages about the greatness of each, so let me instead
clarify some questions people have expressed about the recordings
themselves...." **** Read the entire
review.
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3/25/01 - The darkhorse underdog composer wins the Academy
Award! Confirming a trend of the Academy's preference for
classically-influenced music, Tan Dun was awarded the best original score
Oscar for Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Edging out the heavy
favorite, Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard's Gladiator,
Dun's award marks the second straight year in which a classical composer
has won this particular award. Also of note from the Oscars was the return
of Jerry Goldsmith's original Academy Awards theme, written a few years
ago specifically for the show, but absent from the past few telecasts. One
of the highlights of the Oscars was Itzhak Perlman and Yo Yo Ma's superb
duet performances of the five nominated scores, showing considerable
attention for a category that has been condensed and deprioritized over
the past few years. What do you think about Tan Dun winning the award? You
can discuss the Academy's winners and losers at The Filmtracks
ScoreBoard
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3/24/01 - Fire on the Mountain/Flyers: (Basil Poledouris)
"In the early 1980's, Basil Poledouris was just breaking through into the
mainstream group of Hollywood composers. And yet, even with The Blue
Lagoon and Conan the Barbarian --two extremely popular success
stories-- under his belt at the time, much of Poledouris' music from 1980
to 1983 is largely forgotten or ignored (with the exception of Conan
the Barbarian, of course). As with any composer working his way up the
pay and popularity scales, not all of Poledouris' scores during this
period were for lastingly popular films. Fire on the Mountain and
Flyers are good examples of such works. Fire on the Mountain
was a 1981 feature film rendition of the controversial book, but
unfortunately, the lack of bite in the film caused it to disappear without
a hint of a video release since. On the other hand, Flyers was a
1983 IMAX picture that did pretty well in the specially equipped theatres
across America. Without a doubt, Flyers is the more dynamic and
fascinating score of the two. Like all IMAX scores, the scope of the
project is gargantuan...." *** Read the entire
review.
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3/18/01 - Dragonheart: A New Beginning: (Mark McKenzie)
"With the original Dragonheart feature film of 1996 still popular
for kids of all ages, it is no surprise that a made-for-video sequel of
sorts was produced. The newer film doesn't contain the same main cast or
crew of the original, but composer Mark McKenzie is a good friend and
colleage of Randy Edelman. The original Dragonheart score by
Edelman has sold very well on album, and McKenzie continues that success
by incorporating much of Edelman's material and style into his own effort.
The sequel, slowed by production delays for nearly a year, changes
location from the original, now taking place in the Orient. This
opportunity allowed McKenzie to adapt what material he felt necessary from
the Edelman's Dragonheart score and infuse it with a touch of Far
Eastern interpretation for the new setting. The resulting score is both
functional and inspirational, although the ethnic influence is
unfortunately only slight...." *** Read the entire
review.
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3/14/01 - The battle of words between Monty Norman and John
Barry over the birth of the James Bond Theme has become total war.
After an interview with Britain's Mojo Magazine in which Barry stated that
he was the actual composer of the James Bond Theme in 1962, the
previously acknowledged composer for the theme, Monty Norman, has taken
legal action against the magazine's publishers. The libel case is now
proceeding, with much technical-musical testimony resulting from a variety
of witnesses, including the original guitar performer of the theme, Vic
Flick. When Norman took the stand, the libel case got ugly. He claims that
Barry is guilty of perpetuating the "myth" that he wrote the theme, and
also embarassed Barry and his wife by claiming that Barry had a "pretty
Scandanavian girl" at the house where the worksessions supposedly took
place. Barry was set to testify in defense earlier this week, but his
current fight against pneumonia delayed his appearance in court by a few
days. For the most current information about this nasty legal battle,
visit the The John Barry
Discussion Group.
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3/11/01 - Robotech: The Perfect Soundtrack Collection:
(Various) "The 1980's was a great time to be a kid. As an elementary
school student, I used to go over to my grandparents' house every
afternoon after school to watch cartoons such as "Voltron," "The
Transformers," and "G.I. Joe." I used to wake up every morning at 7:00 and
watch Robotech. I was too young to fully appreciate how great the
show was when it first aired in 1985, but I rediscovered the series in
high school and in college. Robotech was more than a toy commercial; it
was an epic, character-based, romantic space opera that spanned three
generations. Even my dad thought Robotech was cool. The 85 episode series
was made up of three unrelated Japanese anime series which Carl Macek
obtained and combined into a saga of three parts: The Macross Saga, The
Robotech Masters, and The New Generation. Musically, an entire library of
score and songs was newly created for the American version of the series.
As many as five different composers contributed background score and
songs, but the principals were Ulpio Minucci and Arlon Ober...." Read the entire
donated review.
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3/10/01 - Kimberly: (Basil Poledouris) "While best known for
his fantasy and adventure scores of more than ten years ago, Basil
Poledouris has also, in times past, deviated from that stereotype to
produce much smaller budget work for relatively unknown films. Some of
these projects have shown promise of scratching at the big box office
door, but Kimberly is an example of an even lighter film that
Poledouris occasionally produces a score for on the side. The film passed
without so much as an afterthought, but it is reminiscent of the period in
Poledouris' career of the early 1990s, when he was more inclined to dabble
his feet in the small scale comedy, light drama, and family genres. While
Free Willy turned out to be much larger than expected, scores such
as Serial Mom, It's My Party, Lassie, etc, were the
staple of his work at that time. With the late 1990's a dramatically
darker period for the composer, Kimberly and the recent Mickey
Blue Eyes perhaps signal a return to another interlude of comedy/drama
scoring in the Poledouris' career...." *** Read the entire
review.
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3/9/01 - You have one more week to enter the
February-March Cue Clue Contest! If you haven't already done so,
visit the new Filmtracks Cool Stuff page and try
your luck in this month's contest. Once again, the prize for this contest
is a copy of Varèse Sarabande's new album Cast
Away. Check out the Cool Stuff page for all
the details, and good luck!
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3/1/01 - The Filmtracks March, 2001, Theme of the Month is
now available. Just like every March
since 1997, Filmtracks examines the nominees of the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences, makes a few predictions, and adds some
perspective to the awards process. Finally, the fan's choices are added to
Filmtracks' own Awards to round out a complete overview of the film music
of 2000. You can discuss the Academy or Filmtracks' nominations and
winners at The
Filmtracks ScoreBoard.
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