Wrapping up the year in Goldsmith collection additions.
Cabo Blanco...or is it Caboblanco? I’ve seen both.
The Latin-infused thriller stuff, very much a precursor to Under Fire, is fun, especially the opening track. The rest is, like, fine, I guess. Jazz arrangements in the bonus section are worth keeping in your listening program. It’s not essential, but it has enough above-average material to merit exploration.
***½
Next, Extreme Prejudice, possibly one of the more divisive scores Jerry wrote. I’m a fan and even I acknowledge its a mixed bag, though Goldsmith’s unused bank heist music (basically the halfway point between Hoosiers and Rambo) and the climactic Mexico-related tracks remain some of the best material he wrote in the 80s.
There isn’t A TON of difference between the new Intrada album and the prior LLL release. The shift of the electronic replacement music to the end is welcome. The most notable additions are some suspense moments that were edited out of the album version of the bank heist track. So the new album is worth getting if you’ve never heard the score before, but a toss-up if you already own it.
***½
Next, Rio Conchos and The Artist Who Did Not Want to Paint. I’d heard the original release of the rerecording and picked up Intrada’s reissue from earlier this year.
Does it sound better than the last reissue by the label? IDK! Does it sound better than the original mastering? OMG yes.
It’s BY FAR my favorite Goldsmith Western. Get to it if you haven’t yet.
****½
Last, Legend. I’d had the Silva release for a long time and picked up Quartet’s recent expansion.
The sonics might be better. The additional tracks (one a nasty choral track that wouldn’t sound out of place in The Omen 2 and one an effective transitional piece) are welcome and sound much better than they did on the bootleg “complete” versions of the score. A few seconds of horn that were oddly excised from a track on the Silva release constitute the remaining “net new” stuff. Liner notes are terrific, though there is no commentary on how they acquired the additional material.
If you think the synths sound like farts, then this release isn’t going to change your opinion of the score. But if, like me, you think this is one of Goldsmith’s most richly realized works, then this album is a must-buy.
*****
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
- Volume 7: Inchon 3CD release, Looney Tunes: Back in Action Deluxe, Studs Lonigan, Stagecoach (1966) film recording, The Loner, and Amazing Stories S1E17 ‘Boo!’
- Volume 8: The Spiral Road, Thriller, Shamus, Face of a Fugitive, and Take Her, She’s Mine
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