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The Official Jerry Goldsmith Thread


Faleel

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4 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Will be giving Freud from the same year a listen at some point as I honestly don't recall anything about it... I assume it sounds just like Alien ;-)


Not really. It’s its own thing, although some will sound familiar. I didn’t care much for it when I first heard it but it’s grown on me and is honestly a superb work well deserving of his first Oscar nom. (That said, I also consider Lonely Are the Brave and Studs Lonigan to be Oscar deserving scores.)

 

Regarding Lonely Are the Brave… my reaction was similar to yours when I first heard it. It took years to become my favorite Goldsmith western score (which for a long time was held by 100 Rifles), much less favorite Goldsmith feature score. It’s subtle. But if you allow it to, it will grow on you. And it will really help to experience it in film context, as the film itself is very powerful and the score is perfect for it. I’ll PM you. :)

 

He did some other fine work in 1962 though lots of it is unreleased TV stuff. Two more things you can explore on album though are The Spiral Road (lots of great stuff in his Asian style, and also one cue that looks forward to Looney Tunes 40 years later of all things!) and his final Thriller score (written for his Trouble With Angels collaborator, Ida Lupino): “The Bride Who Died Twice”. Great Hispanic guitar stuff in that, as you can hear in the Tadlow music video:

 

 

 

4 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

From 1972 I went for Anna and the King which, apparently, was a sitcom (somehow). I honestly had no idea. Have to admit that this is fairly incidental stuff, nice though it is. Given that his body of work at that point was already very impressive (Planet of the ApesPatton, The Sand Pebbles, The Blue Max amongst others), his 1972 roster was very TV heavy and not exactly thrilling TV at that. I mean Papillon came in 1973 so perhaps he stored up all his energy for that magnificent effort.


Actually he did a lot of excellent stuff in 1972, though you’re right that a lot was for TV… but that includes some excellent TV movie scores — Pursuit and Crawlspace in particular are my favorites and I really hope they get premiered on album some day. Check out my “Advance Liner Notes” for both scores here, complete with links to watch them on YouTube/Vimeo:

https://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=116952&forumID=1&archive=0
https://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=117275&forumID=1&archive=0

 

I also did “Advance Liner Notes” for The Man (1972), which was produced as a TV movie just like those two, but which transitioned into a limited theatrical run as well. Intrada will release their new RSNO recording of the score (paired with Black Patch) in the next few weeks!

http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=113568&forumID=1&archive=0

Listen to generous samples from the new recording here; it’s great stuff although a short score:

https://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/159614/9988703-production-report-black-patch-the-man-2021-intrada-recording

 

But my favorite Goldsmith score of 1972 was for a regular theatrical film, by the director of To Kill a Mockingbird! And it’s been released on CD, albeit in frustrating fashion (a single 24 minute suite): I’m referring to The Other, and it’s pretty wonderful. Here’s hoping Varese gives us a definitive Deluxe Edition some day because they control it.

 

You know what his biggest project was in 1972 though? He wrote the famous main theme and scored no less than a half dozen episodes of The Waltons! Supposedly all of that music is lost, alas, but it would make a great candidate for a 2CD Kickstarter re-recording! I did a Complete Score Breakdown for his “Jewish” score for the series, “The Ceremony”, here:

https://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=117025&forumID=1&archive=0

 

Also, Papillon was the final thing he scored in 1973, and he was super prolific during the year leading up to it, with a lot of great stuff (first out of the gate was a title theme and pilot score for Barnaby Jones!)

 

4 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Compared to a relatively modest offerings of those two years, 1982 has an embarrassment of riches... First BloodNight CrossingThe Secret of NIMH and Poltergeist are all pretty much Jerry classics covering the whole gamut of his more sweeping romantic style from horror, to animation, action and, well, however you'd classify Night Crossing. The latter will always have a special place in my collection as that's the score he signed when I met the great man in 1990something in London and, even without that connection, it's still a great score and appears to be the source for half of James Horner's action tropes from the 80s (I might be exaggerating a little... but only a little). I don't think much else needs to be written about the other three, absolutely terrific. Given the occasionally shonky performances he had to endure due to budgets, all of those four have absolutely stellar sound and performance. On the flip side, Inchon, also from 1982 is definitely less than amazing sonically, but you do feel like you're sitting in the orchestra rather than it surrounding you as a unit.


I love Inchon too but he actually recorded that score in 1980, and the film was initially released in 1981. You should swap it out for his awesome score for The Challenge, which did come out in 1982, in theaters the following weekend after NIMH!

 

4 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Mr Baseball isn't exactly one of his best efforts (I think it gets picked as a lowlight), but it's still breezy fun, although someone with his talent shouldn't have been wasting his time on crap like this. Still, it makes you appreciate his "proper" sports scores in Rudy and Hoosiers. I gave The Public Eye another listen and have to admit that it's more an interesting curiosity than a forgotten classic... I got a lot more out of Mark Isham's replacement effort if I'm honest. Still, nice to hear it if nothing else. Of course 1992 also gave us Basic Instinct, Forever Young, Love Field and Medicine Man. You'd think that would be more than sufficient for one year.

 

You forgot my favorite (maybe not best) score of that very packed and impressive year: Mom and Dad Save the World! It’s so much fun and so creative and energetic, like an honorary Dante score. Can’t wait for Varese to expand it!

 

You also forgot another unused score that year — Gladiator. It’s not a favorite of mine but when I saw some cues restored to picture it made an amazing difference in film context.

 

Yavar

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  • 1 month later...

Re THRILLER

 

JG and BH really knew how to write for small ensemble.

 A skill no doubt honed by their radio work.

 

It still.blows my mind that folks are so dedicated to this music that they would spend

so.much.time and money to record it.

Amazing!😄

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10 minutes ago, bruce marshall said:

It still.blows my mind that folks are so dedicated to this music that they would spend

so.much.time and money to record it.

Amazing!😄

 

Well, costs were much lower since the orchestras were so small, and apparently that first Tadlow Thriller volume actually turned a profit unlike most re-recordings -- and it did so fast enough to lead to the second volume being greenlit very quickly!

 

Yavar

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  • 2 months later...

I finally start to have a decent basic collection of Jerry Goldsmith's albums.  Not too bad for a guy who didn't have any CD of Jerry Goldsmith 3 years ago!!!

 

The discography of Jerry Goldsmith is so vast and rich, that I decided to go with "essential" albums first, of course, my collection will continue to grow in the next years.

 

Many essentials are still missing, either because they are on my wishlists, or because they simply are actually OOR (Out of Reach).

 

20220526_072327.jpg

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I wanted to get Small Soldiers too, but the OST and the OOP Expansion seems to be a bit out of price for the moment... Goldsmith's work is sooo huge, I understand why speciality labels have a hard time to properly reprint some titles. I can wait.

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The complication with Goldsmith is, that sometimes He wrote quite forgettable scores for big blockbusters and sometimes wonderful rich scores for rubbish movies. You never know. But basically I am rather a fan of his music from the 50s and 60s.

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"First Blood" is an essential, the OST is on my wishlist because its actually a bit expensive on the "used" market (for what it is). I don't have any interest for the expanded version.

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2 minutes ago, Jay said:

The Intrada edition is twenty dollars and have the OST album on the second disc

 

https://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.6859/.f

 

Thanks, I wrongly assumed it was OOP (and didn't know the OST was included).

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I was being facetious!

 

I haven't really listened to them enough to really judge them.

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6 hours ago, Jay said:

The Intrada edition is twenty dollars and has the OST album on the second disc

 

https://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.6859/.f

Had it.

Liked it.

Traded it for something I liked better!

6 hours ago, Bespin said:

"First Blood" is an essential, the OST is on my wishlist because its actually a bit expensive on the "used" market (for what it is). I don't have any interest for the expanded version.

Alot of folks are scamming this title on EBAY !

2 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I prefer Planet of the Apes.

Admit it it- you LOVE the song from RAMBO!

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  • 1 month later...
2 hours ago, Gibster said:

Does anyone know if there are any good Jerry Goldsmith books?


Jeff Bond has a two volume book being published soonish…that’s the one I’d recommend.

https://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=147139&forumID=1&archive=0


Yavar

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5 hours ago, Gibster said:

Thank you. Does anyone know what happened to the biography with his son? Most of it is online

 

You mean the biography his daughter Carrie was writing? Only a few chapters were ever online, and very few people read the whole thing. Lukas Kendall is one of them and he tells the story here:

https://www.lukaskendall.com/post/the-unpublished-jerry-goldsmith-biography

 

Yavar

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44 minutes ago, Yavar Moradi said:

 

You mean the biography his daughter Carrie was writing? Only a few chapters were ever online, and very few people read the whole thing. Lukas Kendall is one of them and he tells the story here:

https://www.lukaskendall.com/post/the-unpublished-jerry-goldsmith-biography

 

Yavar

Thanks for sending

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Recently got this box and it is really a strange salad of Jerry Goldsmith score snippets.

IMG_20220916_135630~2.jpg

It really didn't make me want to extend my Goldsmith collection. It presents in many ways Goldsmith as a utility musician and not as an artist. 

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Huh! I think it does a pretty good attempt at an overall view of his career, for beginners. But a lot of the performances are inferior to the originals so if I were trying to convert someone I’d just burn my own 4CD compilation for them.

 

Yavar

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

Remembering his late, great Jerryness with Tadlow’s terrific suites and themes selection they added to their equally excellent recording of The Blue Max, one of my favourite compilation as it has a few hits (The Mummy, Patton, The Final Conflict) alongside some rarities (Gathering of Eagles, The Chairman, the latter being a horrible tease for those who would love to see this get a new recording to replace the horrible sounding OST) and a listen to the expanded Matinee which is just so insanely delightful, whimsical, fun and catchy. It’s what he would have wanted. 

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