SECOND (and final round) VOTE on next Goldsmith recording project for Leigh Phillips!

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

The first round of voting eliminated some very promising possibilities -- not necessarily forever, only in terms of the next project prioritized. But this second and final round simplifies things with four options, one from each decade from the 1950s to 1980s -- please note the addition of the 1972 TV movie twofer, Pursuit/Crawlspace! Please pick only ONE option that you want MOST out of the following:

 

1. 1950s - Jerry Goldsmith at The CBS Radio Workshop (1956-1957): The centerpiece of this recording would be the great composer's very first true masterpiece, for the episode "1489 Words", basically a collection of four concert pieces featuring famous poetry set to music. Some people are already familiar with "The Thunder of Imperial Names" because it was later adapted into a concert work for wind band which has had multiple recordings released on album already, but never in Goldsmith's original orchestral version. But if you've never heard the other three incredible works that make up this program, you need to listen to this full radio episode. The opening piece "The Highwayman" is going to blow you away, I promise -- just imagine it in modern sound quality!

But Goldsmith creatively scored at least a half dozen episodes of this series total, over a one year period. Here is our podcast coverage of his first score for the series, very much in his modernist style:
https://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/159614/14067728-episode-41-storm-cbs-radio-workshop-1956

He also first crossed paths with Ray Bradbury on this series, brilliantly scoring a pair of short story adaptations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWiDEj-6Xbk
All in all, his music for this show constituted the most creative and experimental of his '50s output, with fascinating and unique scores from a whole host of subjects, from scoring the Twilight Zone-esque "Jacob's Hands" to the Shakespearean "Hamlet Revisited"!
 

2. 1960s - Thriller Volume 3 (1960-1961): This important option would "close the book" on Goldsmith's output for the series, after the two fantastic volumes of suites that Leigh Phillips co-produced for Tadlow Music years ago. Four excellent Goldsmith scores remain unrepresented on album, and in addition to highlight suites from those Leigh also plans to tackle suites 2-3 of Morton Stevens's series scores as well (including the fan favorite "Pigeons from Hell"!) to fill out the disc. To hear excerpts from each of these episode scores (taken from the DVD's music & effects tracks), please listen to this podcast conversation with Leigh:
https://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/159614/8425660-odyssey-interviews-leigh-phillips

 

3. 1970s - Pursuit/Crawlspace (1972): These two TV movies released in the same year are definitely Jerry Goldsmith's greatest feature-length works which are yet unreleased (except for a single cue from Pursuit on a Silva compilation). The original tracks seem almost certainly lost forever, so a new recording is probably the only way these will ever happen. Here are the "Advance Liner Notes" I did at FSM years ago, both of which link to accompanying video of the films you can watch online to hear every cue:
https://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=117275&forumID=1&archive=0

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

 

4. 1980s - All-Synth "Trilogy", Orchestrated (1984-1988): Not meant to replace the original all-synth versions of Runaway, Criminal Law, and Alien Nation, this will be something of a re-imagining by Leigh Phillips for orchestra with synth elements, allowing Goldsmith's compositions to flourish in a new context not hampered by budget. Leigh has been intrigued by the prospect of arranging these for orchestra for well over a decade now, and has floated the idea of tackling a 20 minute suite of highlights from each score to create roughly an hourlong album. If there's enough interest, maybe the shortest score Criminal Law could even be recorded complete (the Varese album leaves off a few cues) because with 20 minutes from each of the other two scores, the whole thing would still fit on a single CD. Have a listen to Leigh's mockup of some action music from that score, which gives an idea of what it could sound like if performed by an orchestra. In my opinion it's something of a revelation:
https://mega.nz/file/eyQVAZaA#UqwCtT_L9TCdzlLU7Ox0KxMwE6BwGADwgiCjKYun_Xo
And here's a mockup he produced for Runaway (which to my ears has the most dated synths of the three):

 

Happy voting, all!

 

Yavar

 

[crocodile 8,018]

Thriller 3 for me. Although, I am interested in others as well.

 

Karol

[Edmilson 7,470]

Wait, the first round eliminated Lionheart? Really? Oh crap

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

Doesn’t mean Lionheart won’t get done though! But yeah, even though Lionheart beat the Synth Trilogy by five votes in THIS forum, at FSM surprisingly the Synth Trilogy was a runaway 1st place while Lionheart was in last place!

 

Yavar

[Edmilson 7,470]

2 minutes ago, Yavar Moradi said:

Doesn’t mean Lionheart won’t get done though!

I hope so. It's a wonderful score and an optimized version would really make it soar.

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

Lionheart is the most important for me. But since it was explicitly stated that that would happen anyway, and the other stuff won't necessarily, I voted for the other stuff.

[Thor 7,518]

4

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

Hey now Thor, you already voted at FSM

[Thor 7,518]

The Thor that posts on FSM is a separate entity!

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

10 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Lionheart is the most important for me. But since it was explicitly stated that that would happen anyway, and the other stuff won't necessarily, I voted for the other stuff.

Which?

 

Yavar

[GerateWohl 4,371]

I am not familiar with these synth scores (Runaway/Criminal Law/Alien Nation) in particular. But in general I don't see a point in orchestrating synth scores. It is a little bit like these classic rock album of the LSO. Why listen to an instrumental version of In The Air Tonight?

Yes, I liked it, if for example sequel scores of originally synth scores contained orchestral textures, like Terminator 2 or Rush Hour 2 or John Ottman's H20. But that is for me something different.

Maybe the transfer to orchestra makes sense for the mentioned scores. Of course there are cases where this is a big win for the music, especially in cases where the synth anyway more or less emulate an orchestral arrangement. But in general I see that rather critical.

 

I am rather in favour of the re-recording of original orchestra scores.

I voted for the "The CBS Radio Workshop".

 

[pete 907]

18 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Lionheart is the most important for me. But since it was explicitly stated that that would happen anyway, and the other stuff won't necessarily, I voted for the other stuff.

 

I remember reading that as well - that Lionheart was going to be recorded. I guess that's no longer true for now?

 

Oops, Yavar clarified here that other projects would come first. 

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

21 hours ago, Yavar Moradi said:

On 06/03/2024 at 3:31 PM, Marian Schedenig said:

Lionheart is the most important for me. But since it was explicitly stated that that would happen anyway, and the other stuff won't necessarily, I voted for the other stuff.

Which?

 

 

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

Oh I remember that answer in the other thread, I was curious about which single one you picked in this second round @Marian Schedenig.

 

14 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

I am not familiar with these synth scores (Runaway/Criminal Law/Alien Nation) in particular.

 

Check these out:

 

14 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

But in general I don't see a point in orchestrating synth scores.

 

 

Here's the point, in two tracks:

Perfectly good! I think it works well in the film and is probably Jarre's best all-synth score.

 

But this later orchestral arrangement I enjoy listening to much more on album:

 

 

14 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

I am rather in favour of the re-recording of original orchestra scores.

I voted for the "The CBS Radio Workshop".

 

This I 100% agree with you on; it was my #1 choice too. The synth trilogy would be my last pick of these four options but I still would love to hear it and I think it's worth doing.

 

14 hours ago, pete said:

I remember reading that as well - that Lionheart was going to be recorded. I guess that's no longer true for now?

 

Oh, Leigh still plans on doing it! He just wrote this in the FSM poll thread an hour or two ago:

Quote

To be honest, I'm happy to do all/any of them; but these polls are just a way to get a good feel for the temperature regarding certain projects. "Lionheart" is never off the table for me, as it's something I've always wanted to do (*personally*) for a long time.
The responses to these two polls are giving me a lot to consider, so I'm grateful for the participation.
Thanks, everyone (and big thanks, Yavar, for keeping the tallies while I'm up to my ears in part prep!)

(bolding emphasis mine)

 

14 hours ago, pete said:

Oops, Yavar clarified here that other projects would come first.

 

And even that's not guaranteed. It's just a possibility. These polls might determine what Leigh starts tackling before Lionheart, or they might determine what he starts after Lionheart. He just endorsed my doing the polls because he was in a bit of limbo land with the Lionheart plans, and wanted to take the temperature of Goldsmith fans on what else they wanted.

 

Yavar

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

7 minutes ago, Yavar Moradi said:

Oh I remember that answer in the other thread, I was curious about which single one you picked in this second round @Marian Schedenig.

 

Ah. I stuck with CBS, of course!

 

7 minutes ago, Yavar Moradi said:

He just endorsed my doing the polls because he was in a bit of limbo land with the Lionheart plans, and wanted to take the temperature of Goldsmith fans on what else they wanted.

 

If you put it like this: Rambo III.

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

10 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

If you put it like this: Rambo III.

 

I would love to get a new recording of Rambo III... not because it was poorly recorded but because it was poorly performed (Lionheart was noticeably performed better, IMO). And the orchestral End Credits from Rambo: First Blood Part II would be perfect to include with that.

 

11 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

I stuck with CBS, of course!

 

Excellent!

 

Yavar

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

8 minutes ago, Yavar Moradi said:

I would love to get a new recording of Rambo III... not because it was poorly recorded but because it was poorly performed (Lionheart was noticeably performed better, IMO). And the orchestral End Credits from Rambo: First Blood Part II would be perfect to include with that.

 

Exactly!

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

Here's a grand tally and ranking taking all four places polled (here, FSM, Jerry Goldsmith Online, and "The Cult of Jerry" on Facebook) into account:

FIRST PLACE: Pursuit/Crawlspace, with a whopping 72 people voting for it as their top choice!
SECOND PLACE: the All-Synth "Trilogy", Orchestrated, with 56
THIRD PLACE: Jerry Goldsmith at The CBS Radio Workshop, with 48

Thriller Vol. 3 brings up the rear with only 23 people preferring it as their #1 choice... but that's still a healthy number of people, and it is impressive enough that it made it through the first round! Thanks to all for participating, and I'll just point out what Leigh himself said in the FSM thread for anyone who missed it:
 

Quote

To be honest, I'm happy to do all/any of them; but these polls are just a way to get a good feel for the temperature regarding certain projects. "Lionheart" is never off the table for me, as it's something I've always wanted to do (*personally*) for a long time.
The responses to these two polls are giving me a lot to consider, so I'm grateful for the participation.

Lots of food for thought here, and good options (all with a lot of support) for what to tackle next. So if your own pick didn't win, don't assume it's never happening. (After all, CBS Radio Workshop scores have much smaller ensembles than the two options which beat it and that's always a factor to consider as well.)

Yavar