> Continuing the Goldsmith Collection Expansion Chronicles with another set
> of odds and ends.
> First up: Inchon, thanks to Intrada’s release last year. Honestly,
> I was expecting the sound to be a lot worse. Is it spectacular? Heck no,
> especially when you compare it to the vibrant recording The
> Challenge (another East/West musical fusion) had in the same release
> year. But the quality of the composition is still strong, with all those
> snarling horns and military marches proving engaging throughout,
> especially with the almost soaring orchestral flourishes in the final
> track. The love theme is pleasant even if it isn’t top-shelf Goldsmith,
> and one wishes the film had provided more opportunities to use it (the
> album suite of this being sequenced in the middle of the Disc 2 program is
> arguably a reason to prefer it to the complete program on Disc 3). And the
> percussion armada is striking.
> It’s no Patton or The Sand Pebbles. But it compares
> favorably to In Harm’s Way, and given how sensational the tracks
> included on Tadlow’s Blue Max recording sound one has to wonder if
> a fully re-recorded version would impress more.
> ****
> Next: Looney Tunes: Back in Action, thanks to the Deluxe release
> earlier this year. Yes, that’s right, I’d never heard this one, owing
> mainly to the short original album and me assuming “well, they’ll get
> around to expanding that soon enough, right?”
> As someone who appreciates Goldsmith’s goofy side (‘Gremlins Credits’ from
> The New Batch may be my most-played track from the composer over
> the last few years), I found this to be a joy. It doesn’t quite reach the
> heights of his other classic parodies, but it’s still wildly creative and
> much more thematic than any score for a film like this has a right to be.
> ‘The Bad Guys / Hit Me / Car Trouble / Flying High’ is some of the most
> addictive music Jerry wrote late in his career and triggers nostalgia for
> the great Western themes he wrote in the 60s and 70s.
> While it’s great to have nearly everything released, the “by committee”
> feel, including rearranged Stalling tracks and Stalling-like compositions
> by Cameron Patrick as well as classical music arranged by Mark McKenzie,
> does amplify the sense of musical schizophrenia. The climactic Debney
> material fits well enough with the rest of the music and even quotes some
> of Goldsmith’s themes (and his earlier Psycho-adjacent track is funny),
> but the sound overall is more akin to Debney’s other action/comedy stuff.
> But then perhaps expecting coherence in a score where the protagonist is
> Daffy Duck is to miss the point entirely.
> ****
> Next: Studs Lonigan, thanks to someone getting me the 2002 Varèse
> album as a Christmas gift.
> And, wow, what a total surprise this one, perhaps the best film score I’ve
> discovered on this Goldsmith journey, turned out to be. A main theme
> straight out of the “harmonica concerto” playbook Goldsmith used on The
> Twilight Zone, but one that’s also incredibly malleable (and would
> inform many of his Americana scores to come). A few rambling sequences
> (including the impressive ‘A Game of Pool’), some tortured moments, and a
> few woodwind statements all suggest a healthy influence of Alex North
> mannerisms. Plus, you get John Williams on piano!
> ****
> Next: Stagecoach and The Loner, thanks to La-La Land
> miraculously finding some extra copies in their warehouse earlier this
> year. I already had the LP recording of the former put out by Intrada.
> Stagecoach finds Goldsmith using an intimate ensemble to channel
> his playful Americana voice into a short, largely monothematic score, a
> template that Wild Rovers would follow to rowdier heights. If you
> like Goldsmith’s softer side then this will be a nice, low-key pastoral
> 20+ minutes. But it could also put some listeners to sleep, and I can’t
> help wondering what might’ve been if Goldsmith had been allowed to score
> the action sequences. The film recording pretty much covers the same
> ground as the LP recording, so if you already have the Intrada album this
> album is probably a “for completists only” purchase, unless you’re really
> into source music bonus tracks or Wayne Newton in which case it would
> obviously be a must-buy!
> Even with television budgetary constraints likely precluding any strings
> for The Loner, Goldsmith gets a lot out of his small forces. The
> off-kilter rhythms, guitar interludes, funky bass, and lively brass
> statements make the more active moments clear cousins of Rio
> Conchos and 100 Rifles. Also, whip cracks! The 20 minutes on
> this album don’t provide anything we haven’t heard before (there are also
> similarities to his spy/cop music of the era), but it’s still a lot of
> playful fun to hear Goldsmith’s Western material in more embryonic form.
> *** for both, with The Loner slightly preferred.
> Next: Amazing Stories, thanks to Intrada including all 3 volumes as
> part of its Kickstarter prizes for funding the new Dial M for
> Murder recording. Goldsmith scored the Dante-directed Season 1 episode
> ‘Boo!’.
> The tone, especially the use of shimmering electronics, is quite similar
> to the prior year’s Explorers and Legend, though the
> episode’s main theme somewhat suggests the next year’s Innerspace
> romance. Some occasional demented strings recall Gremlins, while a
> brief moment of tribal drumming foreshadows The ‘Burbs. There’s
> nothing new here (if I were in a worse mood, I might’ve called it
> “insubstantial fluff” or “spare parts”), but Goldsmith’s writing in this
> vein still has a certain unique charm.
> Goldsmith episode rating ***. It was tempting to write a
> perspective on all the music akin to my prior write-ups for The Man
> from U.N.C.L.E. and The Twilight Zone, but that would take too
> much time, plus Goldsmith’s contributions to Amazing Stories are
> proportionally smaller than his contributions to those 1960s shows.
> Prior entries
> - Volume 1: The Don is Dead
> - Volume 2: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. series
> - Volume 3: Hawkins on Murder / Winter Kill / Babe
> - Volume 4: The Twilight Zone series
> - Volume 5: Islands in the Stream film recording and The Last
> Castle expanded
> - Volume 6: The Detective / Von Ryan’s Express, The
> Challenge, and Total Recall 30th Anniversary
Excellent write up bud! A couple here as well that I haven't heard.
