The past week has been a boon to fans of A-list composers of the Silver Age of film scoring. Intrada has unearthed two unreleased scores (one entirely unused) by two of the most beloved composers of recent memory, while La-La Land has put back into print one of the most underrated scores by another genius of the same vintage.
James Horner had one of the best years of his career in 1989, scoring Field of Dreams and Glory that year and earning an Oscar and Golden Globe nod, respectively, for those works. He also lent his talents to In Country, a drama by Norman Jewison based on Bobbie Ann Mason's novel. It tells the story of a Kentucky teenager (Emily Lloyd, a recent breakout performer from the film Wish You Were Here) who uncovers the mystery of her father, who died in the Vietnam War, with the help of his brother (a Golden Globe-nominated Bruce Willis), a fellow veteran with whom she lives. A tender score with some military undertones, Horner's In Country was never released, an LP program having been scuttled in post-production. Now, Intrada and Warner release that album with another eight tracks, presenting the complete score in its entirety.
Not to be confused with the Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe film, 1992's Gladiator was a little seen sports drama about the friendship between two young men (James Marshall and Cuba Gooding, Jr.) trapped by circumstances in an underground boxing circuit. While the released film's music wasn't much to write home about (a solid electronic score by Terminator composer Brad Fiedel, a strange compilation album on CBS Records featuring tracks by C+C Music Factory, 3rd Bass and Warrant), the original plan featured a score by legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith. Featuring full orchestra with synthesizers and percussion on display, the results were classic Jerry - and perplexing that the cues are only making their debut now. But it's the full score, direct from the original session mixes and produced by longtime collaborator Bruce Botnick - and it's yours to order from Intrada.
After the jump, John Williams scares the daylights out of you with the sound of The Fury!
It's not that a John Williams-Brian De Palma collaboration is truly that odd. The duo were open admirers of each other's work by the time they collaborated on The Fury in 1978 - De Palma having recently broke through to the Hollywood mainstream with an adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie, and Williams having revived the art of film scores with his Oscar-winning orchestral work on JAWS (1975) and Star Wars (1977). But the supernatural thriller, starring John Cassavetes, Kirk Douglas and Amy Irving and also based on a novel (by John Farris, who adapted his own book for the screen), was really only a critical success in terms of the music; Pauline Kael called Williams' work "as elegant and delicately varied a score as any horror film has ever had."
And Kael's not wrong. Tucked in between two of his strongest scores of the decade, Star Wars and Superman: The Movie (1978), The Fury is classic Williams - tense, thematic and lushly orchestral. It's no surprise a limited deluxe edition released by Varese Sarabande a decade ago was a quick sellout.
Now, La-La Land ups the ante with a new, double-disc limited edition of The Fury. Limited to 3,500 units, this set includes all the material heard on the Varese edition - the original film score and the original Arista LP recorded by The London Symphony Orchestra more or less on a break from the Superman sessions, albeit newly remastered by Dan Hersch (for the score) and Tim Sturges at Battery Studios (for the soundtrack) - as well as nine additional source and bonus cues (two of which feature vocals from John's son Joseph, best known for his tenure as vocalist for Toto from 1986 to 1989 and 2010 to the present).
All of these sets are yours to order from their respective labels below!
James Horner, In Country: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Intrada Special Collection Vol. 230, 2013 - original film released 1989)
- Distant Memories
- Dwayne's Letters
- Faraway Thoughts
- Three Generations (Piano Solo)
- The Letter Home
- In Country
- Emmett
- The Vietnam Memorial
- Fallen Friends
- First Flashback
- Finding Photo
- Just a Country Boy
- The Vietnam Memorial (#2)
- Three Generations (Piano & Orchestra)
- Family Supper
- Family Supper (#2)
- The Storm
All tracks previously unreleased. Tracks 1-9 prepared for unreleased LP on Warner Bros. Records.
Jerry Goldsmith, Gladiator: Unused Motion Picture Score (Intrada Special Collection Vol. 231, 2013 - originally recorded 1992)
- I Owe
- The Diner
- Good Luck/The Real Thing
- The Crowd
- Knock Out
- He's Mine
- Repayment
- I'd Rather Walk
- A Favor
- My Baby/My House
- Stop the Fight
- Romano's Dead
- Finish Him
- Tommy & Dawn
- That's Enough
- Jackpot/Take a Look
- No Gloves/Refund/Get Him
- Tommy & Dawn Love Theme
John Williams, The Fury: Expanded Original Motion Picture Score (La-La Land Records LLLCD 1238, 2013 - original film released 1978)
Disc 1: Film score and unreleased extras
- Main Title
- Out of the Water
- The Train Wreck
- Thru the Alley
- The Fog Scene
- Hester's Theme & The House
- For Gillian
- Vision on the Stairs
- Hester Eavesdropping
- TV Surveillance
- Gillian's Vision
- The Conspiracy
- Coming Down the Stairs
- Death on a Carousel
- Gillian's Escape
- Remembering Robin
- Before Dinner
- Approaching the House
- Lifting Susan
- The Fall
- Father Meets Son
- Gillian's Power
- End Cast
- Chicago Street (Source) *
- More Bubble Gum (Source) *
- Hold You (Source) *
- I'm Tired (Source) *
- Wild ARP *
- ARP Theme *
- Bed Scene *
- Calliope Waltz *
- Calliope Goes Wild/Death on a Carousel *
* denotes previously unreleased track. All other tracks first released on Varese Sarabande VCL 0702 1011-2, 2002
Disc 2: Original LP and bonus track
- Main Title
- For Gillian
- Visit on the Stairs
- Hester's Theme and The House
- Gillian's Escape
- The Search for Robin
- Gillian's Vision
- Death on the Carousel and End Titles
- Epilogue
- Death on the Carousel (Original Version)
Disc 2, Tracks 1-9 released as Arista AB-4175, 1978. Disc 2, Track 10 was a bonus track on CD issue - Varese Sarabande VSD-5264, 1990
Leave a Reply