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| Delerue |
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| Horner |
Something Wicked This Way Comes: (Georges
Delerue/James Horner) It had long been the dream of author Ray Bradbury
to work with Walt Disney in the production of a film and, separately,
adapt the story of
Something Wicked This Way Comes that had so
long eluded the big screen. At the outset of the 1980's, Bradbury got
both wishes fulfilled at once, though like the townspeople of his
fantasy tale, the granting of these desires came with undesired side
effects. When Disney picked up
Something Wicked This Way Comes,
Bradbury offered a screenplay that told of redemption and dark magic, a
story of a mysterious carnival of evil that rolls into an American town
one October night and thrills the people of the area in more ways than
they could have imagined. The master of the carnival, "Mr. Dark," along
with his shady associates, can sense the deepest fears and regrets of
others, and his attempts to work his wicked magic on two young boys give
an embattled but ultimately redeemed father played by Jason Robards the
chance to shake his own demons while resisting the forces of evil that
tempt him. Director Jack Clayton's film was perhaps destined for
post-production problems, for Bradbury's story was a tricky balance
between the traits of wholesome youth in a 1920's Americana setting and
the always uneasy and sometimes terrifying malice of the carnival's
atmosphere. The production did indeed experience significant alterations
after principal photography was finished, partly due to a nervous studio
after at least one poor test screening, and its debut was delayed a
year. As is so typically the case in such studio panics, the composer of
the film is among those to be summarily dismissed, and this is
unfortunately what happened to European romance master Georges Delerue.
When Disney's own choice for the assignment, Jerry Goldsmith, was
unavailable on short notice because of his work on
Twilight Zone: The
Movie, Clayton actively sought services of the young James Horner,
who had just recently wowed audiences with his emergence for
Star
Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Despite an extremely busy year for
Horner, he agreed to give Disney the score that the studio believed was
a better fit for the post-production rearrangements that changed the
flow and, to a lesser extent, the demeanor of
Something Wicked This
Way Comes. Perhaps one irony in the post-production mayhem involving
this film was the eventual realization that the music by Delerue and
Horner wasn't too terribly dissimilar in terms of instrumentation and
tone.
The two scores for
Something Wicked This Way Comes
both earn significant respect from the collectors of their composers,
and, at the end of the day, either soundtrack would have sufficed for
the picture. For Delerue, this score would join the later
Platoon
as two of his highest profile efforts of the 1980's, despite (or perhaps
in part because of) the fact that both were undeservedly rejected. In
both the composer and the studio's defense, however, the primary
reported reason why Delerue's music was removed here was because of the
extensive special effects and other alterations to the finished cut,
requiring fresh recordings. The composer was devastated by his removal
from the project because it came at a time when he was eager to move
part-time to Los Angeles and tackle Hollywood productions on a regular
basis. He was also close friends with Clayton. For enthusiasts of
Delerue's music, an even greater irony revealed itself when Disney
considered his work for the film to be too dark, a descriptor completely
at odds with the composer's usual methodology. Indeed, the romance
writer's music for
Something Wicked This Way Comes remains as one
of his most mysterious works, with short bursts of fright quite unusual
for him. An eerie atmosphere prevails in his score, floated by
disembodied female chorus and an increased amount of dissonant lines of
counterpoint to his primary ideas. His main theme for the film is,
however, vintage Delerue, led by absolutely gorgeous solo flute in
trademark fashion. This theme of both innocence and wonderment is heard
in several places throughout his work, including the mesmerizing and
hypnotizing gypsy scene involving the town barber, but the end credits
cue allows the remainder of the ensemble to join the flute and string
accompaniment for a fluid conclusion of the idea that is as attractive
as the composer's most hearty drama themes. Outside of these statements
of the standard Delerue theme, the score loses the same flighty spirit,
with the carnival offered a five-note motif (sometimes extended to a
sixth note) that ominously broods in the bass region. This theme is
first heard immediately in the opening bars of Delerue's score, menacing
in its bass brass and pipe organ deliberation as the title is scrawled
and the train approaches. The idea stubbornly dies out after the
conclusion of the climactic confrontation at the magical, age-altering
carousel, a faint echo on solemn trombones that still shows no regret in
its tone. The use of atonal female vocals, sometimes shrill in their
application, creates a generally forbidding ambience. The explosive
brass rhythms of the final confrontation are a side of Delerue not often
heard.
Because of the poor condition of the known surviving
sources for Delerue's original score, it took a long before a satisfying
album release of this music prevailed. For a long time, the only
available copies of Delerue's session tapes broke the score into so many
short cues, sometimes only 10 seconds in length, that it was difficult
to appreciate. Widely distributed bootlegs with the innumerous short
cues circulated for many years, many of which containing a handful of
source recordings (of mostly carousel organ) and problems with shifting
mono/stereo dynamics. In 2011, a little over half an hour of the score's
highlights was finally pressed officially by Universal France, though
the source for this CD was the composer's personal tape. Even here, the
atrocious sound quality makes this recording difficult to enjoy outside
of intellectual study of the music itself. The Universal CD also suffers
from a terrible cut in the music at 3:30 into "Mirror Maze," at which
point a sequence of music is arbitrarily missing. After Disney finally
discovered the full master tapes for the score, Intrada Records issued a
proper 74-minute presentation in improved sound in 2015, complete with
numerous alternate takes. For those seeking the best sound quality,
Delerue rearranged and conducted a suite from the score as part of a
collection known as "The London Sessions" in England in 1989. Released
by Varèse Sarabande at the time and again in 2001 as part of a
comprehensive set,
Something Wicked This Way Comes was often
considered a highlight of the set despite some complaints from purists
regarding the choice of material to perform and distinct differences in
tempo at times. For the re-recording, Delerue conducted and produced
four cues from
Something Wicked This Way Comes, starting with the
final confrontation and shifting to a short, filler performance of the
title theme for the boys and town. After a significantly rearranged
version of the cue for the gypsy/barber scene, Delerue concludes with
his triumphant end credits cue. While it would have been nice to have
heard the opening credits and associated train arrival music, which
would have given (and necessitated) a representation of the creepy
choral aspect of the score, the twelve minutes that are heard in that
suite are more than enough to suffice for casual listeners. Two faint
hints of the carnival's theme of evil do exist in the second section of
that suite. The gypsy music, set to alluring varied percussion, is the
highlight of the suite, extended from its original form and largely
replacing the wild, accelerating crescendo in the film version with an
undeniably lovely performance of the main theme at 7:15 that makes the
piece more tolerable for entertainment purposes.
On the whole, for those looking for just a taste of
Delerue's
Something Wicked This Way Comes, the superior sound
quality and pleasant arrangements of the "London Sessions" re-recording
is a definite recommendation. It was once speculated in a discussion
about the director's career that Delerue's score was better tuned to the
film that Bradbury had originally intended to create but that Horner's
alternative ultimately better fit the version of
Something Wicked
This Way Comes that Disney released. Clayton reportedly literally
pursued Horner with a cassette tape of Delerue's score, insisting that
he give the production his attention. After a rushed recording process,
Horner's work for the project ultimately better addressed the sense of
warmth and heart that the two boys brought to the story, infusing a more
personal environment in much the same way he would accomplish when
replacing Elmer Bernstein's larger-than-life score for
The Journey of
Natty Gann a few years later. Horner conjured for
Something
Wicked This Way Comes a satisfying theme for woodwinds and strings
that is heard shortly into "Main Titles" and eventually prevails in "End
Titles," by which time the idea has received harmonica treatment. There
are similarities between this theme and the many that the composer would
write for his children's scores of the early 1990's, especially in the
fluffy woodwind figures and tingling percussion. It doesn't have the
same attractive personality of the theme for
The Journey of Natty
Gann, nor is it as lofty as Delerue's main theme, but it suffices.
Horner's carnival theme is a step in the right direction, however. Some
joke about this Horner construct representing what the composer might
have written had he accepted the assignment of
Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone, for the elegant, minor key progressions here have
basic similarities to John Williams' Hedwig theme for that franchise.
Others mention that it sounds like a variation of Williams' Imperial
March from
The Empire Strikes Back, which is a little more
accurate given that Horner's idea is a slight inversion of the opening
progression. This theme is present in many places throughout the score,
including a prevalent influence in "Dark's Pandemonium Carnival," but
never does it really receive a second muscular performance on brass to
rival the announcement of its arrival in the first minute or so of "Main
Title" (nor is it as playful again, either). In "The Carousel," you hear
a slight hint of the pipe organ rendering of this theme that mimics what
Delerue had attempted. The theme's translation to extremely high strings
in "Magic Window" is particularly unnerving. Otherwise, Horner's
carnival theme is mostly restricted to slight woodwind performances that
create a sense of wonder instead of wholesale fear.
As per usual for Horner in the early 1980's, a
propulsive rhythm section highly unique to his career serves as a
highlight. First heard in the final minute of "Miss Foley in the Mirror"
under the carnival theme, this rhythm suddenly erupts at about 1:30 into
"Discovered," brutally following the pursuit of the boys in what remains
one of the most effective moments in the score. This motif, when
combined with the disembodied female vocals, would suggest a reference
to the Dust Witch played by Pam Grier in the story. The use of tapping
cymbals, pounding piano, and violently chopping strings in "Discovered"
would inform many of Horner's future cues for panic, almost matching the
similar action/suspense material in
Brainstorm in intensity. An
interesting singular cue from Horner is "Side Show," which owes quite a
bit to Delerue (one must wonder if Horner had heard how the veteran
composer had tackled the scene and imitated it), though instead of
leading the flute and percussion to an ominously descending string
figure, Horner utilizes the eerie female vocal effects. The use of
unconventional vocal techniques in film scores of that era was a
byproduct of Goldsmith's success with
The Omen, and the crying
and wailing in Horner's score foreshadows dissonant techniques heard
better in
Willow. Another area in which Horner didn't differ much
from Delerue was in the employment of organ tones for the carousel
itself, though only in "The Carousel" does the seemingly manipulated
source recording work its way (with great difficulty) into Horner's
score. The remainder of Horner's recording is standard to his career,
"The Boys Buy a Lightning Rod" extending the effortless theme for the
boys and "Magic Window" equaling the minor suspense music (with
swooshing percussion to imitate the wind) that would exist in the
composer's later children's scores. The second score for
Something
Wicked This Way Comes will be a worthy addition to a Horner
collection, predictable in its tone but unpredictable in its tools and
structures of suspense. Neither score was officially released until
Intrada Records worked with Disney's technical gurus to restore an
outstanding master tape of Horner's score in 2009, resulting in a
45-minute score (with clarity equally Intrada's impressive remastering
of
The Journey of Natty Gann not long after) that comfortably
replaces the popular bootleg of that work that did not deliver in terms
of sound quality. As mentioned before, Intrada finally treated the
Delerue score to the same degree in 2015, supplanting the awful
bootlegs and 10 to 15-minute suites on foreign compilations. Both are
fine works, though Delerue's retains an edge in terms of memorable tone.
Fans regularly disagree on this, so use your affinity for one composer
over the other in general to guide you in the right direction.
@Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- Music as Written by Georges Delerue for the Film: ****
- Music as Written by James Horner for the Film: ***
- Music as Heard on All Bootlegs: **
- Music as Heard on the 2009 Intrada (Horner) Album: ***
- Music as Heard on the 2011 Universal (Delerue) Album: **
- Music as Heard on the 2015 Intrada (Delerue) Album: ****
| Bias Check: |
For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.16
(in 103 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.26
(in 192,938 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
The bootlegs contain no uniform packaging. The inserts of the 2009 and 2015 Intrada
albums include information about the score and film. That of the 2011 Universal product includes
detailed information about the circumstances of the rejection of both of the scores included,
presented in French and English. Sufficient information about the crews on the latter product
(for the recording and the album) is lacking.
