News 2012

News Archive

Django Unchained Soundtrack With Goldsmith's Under Fire

The soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino's new film Django Unchained features the usual eclectic selection of music from other films. Of particular interest is the presence of the Nicaragua cue from Jerry Goldsmith's Under Fire soundtrack. It will be interesting to see how that plays against the visuals.

Some years ago QT was quoted in interview saying this was one of his favourite scores. Nice to see some memorable Jerry Goldsmith music being recognised.

The Django Unchained soundtrack is available to purchase from Amazon.

Jerry Goldsmith eBook On Kindle And iBooks

The Italian Jerry Goldsmith book written by Mauricio Dupuis and issued in 2011 has now got an english translation and is available for download on Amazon's Kindle and Apple iBooks.

Although Fred Karlin's Film Music Masters: Jerry Goldsmith had a 94 page book included with the original video set, this is the first proper book to be published about the composer.

Download now from Amazon. Or from your Apple device.

Hoosiers And The Last Hard Men From Intrada!

Intrada close 2012 with two exciting Jerry Goldsmith CD releases. The main event is the first complete score release of Jerry Goldsmith's Oscar nominated feel good score to the hugely enjoyable Basketball drama Hoosiers (aka Best Shot).

The film and score was one of the composer's favourite assignments and a welcome break from the steady stream of action pictures he was being offered at the time. Goldsmith delivered a dynamic mix of orchestra and synthesisers for the exciting Basketball action while turning in some hauntingly beautiful moments for the character interactions and the Indiana locales.

Intrada's disc improves on the excellent 39 minute album by featuring over 18 minutes of previously unreleased music. Plus we get two dynamic covers and the usual high standard packaging.

The Last Hard Men was a curious title in Jerry Goldsmith's filmography. As Goldsmith fans know there was no original Goldsmith score written. After Leonard Rosenman had his score rejected the makers turned to a temp track and decided on using a library of Goldsmith cues from 100 Rifles, Rio Conchos, Morituri and Stagecoach. What many did not know was the tracks were originally re-recorded and conducted by Lionel Newman. In the end they were dropped and the actual tracks from the original Goldsmith scores were heard in the film. Goldsmith also got a prominent 'Music By' credit too.

Intrada present Rosenman's original score in stereo for the first time and also the Lionel Newman conducted Goldsmith cues, sadly only available in mono. Still it remains a fascinating album to add to your Goldsmith collection and to get to hear the re-recordings of earlier Goldsmith western scores.

Our Man Flint Blu-ray From Twilight Time

Specialist film label Twilight Time has announced the release of Our Man Flint on Blu-ray for release on the 19th December. The disc will feature a handful of extras including Jerry Goldsmith's score isolated.

In Like Flint will get similar treatment and be released in February and will include the short Jerry Goldsmith featurette that appeared on the Ultimate Flint DVD collection in 2006.

Order from Screen Archives.

Hour Of The Gun - Tadlow New Recording

Tadlow, the specialist label in re-recordings of classic film scores, has announced their first full Jerry Goldsmith project. Hour Of The Gun, directed by John Sturges, looked at the events after the infamous gun fight at the O.K. Corral. Jerry Goldsmith wrote a brooding western score that focussed on the poignant drama. The story played at times as a tragedy and Goldsmith delivered some beautiful melancholy moments, in particular the failing health of Doc Holliday and the bond between him and Wyatt Earp.

The soundtrack album released at the time ran to 31 minutes and opened with a stunning popularised version of the main theme. The album also benefited from an excellent recording. Sadly, like most of the Mirisch Corporation productions of the time, the full original film soundtrack is lost, believed destroyed. Only the album master remains, released on CD by both Intrada in 1991 and Varese Sarabande in 2005.

Tadlow and Prometheus present the full 57 minute score for the first time, reconstructed by Nic Raine and performed by the acclaimed City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. The album also includes a newly recorded suite from Jerry Goldsmith's The Red Pony.

The release is the first in a series of new re-recordings of Jerry Goldsmith film scores that should include The Chairman in 2013.

Order from Tadlow December 3rd.

Take Her She's Mine DVD From Fox

Fox's on demand DVD label Cinema Archives has issued the 1963 comedy Take Her She's Mine. The film features a rare screw ball comedy score from a young Jerry Goldsmith, a genre that the composer was not well known for even though he went on to write some successful anarchic comedic scores later in his career.

The film was based on a play that ran successfully on Broadway and was written by the late film director Nora Ephron's parents; Pheobe and Henry. It was supposedly loosely based on the young Nora's exploits while being a student Wellseley.

Of course the score remains unreleased. And it is assumed, based on Varese's attempt to include music on their Jerry Goldsmith At 20th Century Fox CD set, that the tapes are damaged and beyond repair. So this is probably the only way fans can get to hear the score.

Order from Amazon or Screen Archives today!

The Red Pony From Varese Sarabande!

A very pleasing CD release from Varese Sarabande's CD Club. Jerry Goldsmith's touching dramatic score from the 1973 TV movie version of The Red Pony. The film did get a theatrical release in Europe but Goldsmith's score still went unreleased at the time. So it is especially good to see this score make a belated premiere on CD. Goldsmith wrote a very warm melancholy score, very much in tune with the Goldsmith standard of the time. The kind of scoring you just don't hear now.

Order from Varese Sarabande today! Limited to 3000 copies!

Capricorn One Album Re-issued Again

Perseverance Records is re-issuing the excellent Capricorn One album Jerry Goldsmith recorded with the National Philharmonic Orchestra. The album may lack the intensity of the original film soundtrack and some of the score but the album is regarded as one of the best presentations of a film score and features a wonderfully sumptuous recording too. This is the third time this album has been re-issued, so if you are late to the game then this version may be of interest. The disc is limited to 3000 copies.

Order from Perseverance Records

Twilight's Last Gleaming Blu-ray And DVD

Olive Films are set to release their restoration of Twilight's Last Gleaming on October 30th in the US on Blu-ray in 1080p, as well as a DVD version too. The film will be released in other territories as well but no exact details are available at this time. The movie is presented in its original wide screen ratio with a running time of 146 minutes. The film is accompanied by a 70 minute specially commissioned documentary about the making of the movie titled Aldrich Over Munich. Sadly Jerry Goldsmith's stunning contribution is not discussed though. Still this remains a rare and excellent 70's thriller to add to your collection of Jerry Goldsmith scored movies. Hang around for the end of the song over the end credits as you are treated to a short but lovely Goldsmith scored coda, which never made it to the soundtrack album.

You can pre-order from Amazon in the US now.

The Shadow - 2 CD Set From Intrada!

Another wow title from Intrada! The complete score to the 1994 Alec Baldwin super hero thriller The Shadow has been announced. Jerry Goldsmith's lengthy score finally gets the release it deserves with a 2 CD set taking in the full film score, source music, alternates and the original album content.

Back in 1994 Arista's 30 minute album was just not enough to fully take in Goldsmith's spectacular score. A massive orchestral work headlined by a powerful main theme, replete with gorgeous love theme. Electronics play their part in creating an ominous and creepy atmosphere but the orchestra dominates with crisp and powerhouse brass and an abundance of percussion perfectly brought to life by Bruce Botnick's excellent recording. Highlights include the Knife fights and encounters with a nod to the style the composer employed in The Challenge. Another Wow title to follow on from Star Trek. Another great year for Goldsmith fans continues. Well done to Intrada and thank you for making a lot of fans very happy with this stunner!

Order today from Intrada!

La-La Land Expand Two Goldsmith Western Scores

La-La Land Records has revealed their two Jerry Goldsmith CDs for release on June 26th. They are essentially re-issues of the original Stagecoach film soundtrack, plus The Loner TV scores on one CD and Rio Lobo on another. Both scores were previously released by FSM and Prometheus respectively but have both been long out of print. The new Stagecoach CD features impressive new artwork and an extra 10 minutes of previously unreleased music, plus the missing Banjo overlays. Rio Lobo features the full score in improved sounding mono, plus the missing source music and an alternate cue. Along with the only surviving stereo portions of the score.

2 Days In The Valley Rejected Score Released!

Intrada has announced an official CD release for one of Jerry Goldsmith's handful of rejected scores. 2 Days In The Valley is a  companion piece to Goldsmith's other L.A. themed scores: Chinatown and L.A. Confidential. Sadly Goldsmith's vision was not carried in post production and his score was replaced by a more contemporary rock score by Anthony Marinelli. Goldsmith provided a stylish trumpet themed work supported by silky strings, comedic Italian music for one of the lead characters and requisite Goldsmith suspense too. Rarely does a rejected score mean that it's inferior and this score is a good case in point. Snap this one up from Intrada and add a very rare official Jerry Goldsmith CD to your collection.

New Recordings Of Rare Jerry Goldsmith Themes

Buysoundtrax has released a collection of newly recorded interpretations of various Jerry Goldsmith themes, some quite rare, for download via Itunes and as a limited CD release version of 1500 copies. The performances are solid and clearly efforts have been made to make them as accurate as possible. Highlights include the infectious Shamus theme, the complete score from Seven Days In May, one of the composer's shortest scores, and a track from Jerry Goldsmith's rejected score from Two Days In The Valley. Worth checking out.

Order from Buysoundtrax

Warning Shot Soundtrack From La-La Land

La-La Land has confirmed details that they are releasing Jerry Goldsmith's actual jazz and period pop score to Warning Shot, plus the Si Zentner Warning Shot album, featuring interpretations of the Goldsmith score plus a handful of Jazz variations of famous Goldsmith themes from the same period.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, the Warning Shot score is not sourced from master tapes, as the score has long been lost. What we get is similar to what La-La did for Seconds, utilising the film's mono music stems which will at times contain dialogue and sound effect bleed and variations in hiss. The Seconds album wasn't too bad as a listening experience so it is hoped this will sound better than the description here. The Zentner content is in stereo from the original Capitol tapes. The release is produced by Lukas Kendall and features notes by Jeff Bond. It is limited to 2000 copies and will be released on the 5th June, the same day as the epic 3 disc Star Trek CD set.

Order from La-La Land Records

Star Trek The Motion Picture 3 CD Set!

La-La Land Records has announced their long awaited definitive presentation of Jerry Goldsmith's masterpiece Star Trek The Motion Picture. La-La's 'magnum opus' is a feast of riches for Jerry Goldsmith fans and closes the book on the legendary first big screen Star Trek score. The wondrous music is spread over three discs, with the film soundtrack taking up the first and part of the second disc. The early rejected cues Goldsmith wrote and the original album from 79 complete disc two. Disc three takes in alternates, outtakes, Blaster Beam excerpts and to complete the picture the disco version of the theme and the vocal version "A Star Beyond Time"! The set comes in clamshell packaging and includes a 40-page full colour booklet with notes from Mike Mattessino and Star Trek film music authority Jeff Bond.

This stunning release has taken over 3 long years and is produced by soundtrack master Mike Matessino and Jerry Goldsmith's original and regular recording engineer Bruce Botnick. Botnick explains in the promotional material how they went back to the original analogue tapes to create a brand new digital master so that Jerry Goldsmith's score would sound better than ever.

The set is released to the world on June 5th and is limited to 10000 units. But for those lucky enough to live around Los Angeles La-La Land have a special launch event celebrating this release on June 4, 7:30pm at The Arclight Cinema in Hollywood (6360 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028.)

Tickets can be ordered from Creature Features.

Congratulations and thank you to La-La Land Records, Mike Matessino, Sony Music, Paramount Pictures and the many others behind the scenes for making this release a reality and doing it justice.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Re-issued By Intrada

A surprise re-issue of the complete score to Star Trek V has been announced by Intrada. La-La Land Records premiered a complete score 2 CD set in December 2010 and the limited edition run of 5000 copies sold out over several months. But a lot of fans still missed out on the stunning Goldsmith score and it seems Paramount were keen to see it made available again. Enter Intrada, clearly happy to oblige, and present the same master and liner notes with their own artwork layout in keeping with the look of the previous Star Trek expanded CDs from them and FSM.

So if you missed probably the best of the Star Trek film scores in complete form first time round then order today and enjoy Jerry Goldsmith's thrilling masterpiece.

Varese Re-issue Chinatown CD

Varese Sarabande have re-issued the Chinatown soundtrack on CD. Varese first issued the classic Goldsmith score way back in 1995. That disc has been out of print for a long time, meaning copies have been selling at inflated prices on the Internet. Although the title was re-issued in Germany at the beginning of the year.

This new disc is sadly not the 'deluxe edition' most fans want and quite frankly expected from Varese's CD Club, as it remains the same content as the original album. Goldsmith's slender but pivotal score, anchored by that wonderful love theme, was well presented on album but is still missing music. Considering this release follows the recent special edition Blu-ray release of the film it is a shame Varese did not go to town on this release.

The album has been re-mastered and has slightly different artwork. If you missed the original release then you know what to do. This version is limited to 3000 copies. Order from Varese.

Joel Goldsmith Has Passed Away

Shocking and terribly sad to report that Joel Goldsmith passed away on 29th April 2012. He had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer last year. Joel put up an incredible fight and continued to work, when he could, on a music/DVD project called Rhythm From Chaos, which the composer was extremely excited about and proud of.

Joel Goldsmith was born November 19th, 1957. His career in music for film and TV began in 1978 when he worked on the low budget Sci-Fi movie Laser Blast and collaborated with composer Richard Band. Joel worked with Band again as a Sound Mixer, this time on another lower budget feature titled The Day Time Ended. His first solo scoring assignment came in 1981, with Olivia for German director Ulli Lommel. This early score was succeeded by numerous TV assignments before finally being handed a major assignment in the guise of the cult Steve Martin comedy The Man With Two Brains. He went on to write critically acclaimed scores for the popular Stargate TV series and spin off Stargate Atlantis, which featured a stunning main theme.

Joel was Jerry's only child to follow him into the world of music for TV and film and attended his father's early sessions. He worked with his father on the aborted TV series' H.E.L.P. and Hollister, which featured Jerry Goldsmith themes with Joel Goldsmith scores. Joel produced Jerry's first all electronic score Runaway in 1984. He later collaborated with Jerry writing over 20 minutes of music for the acclaimed Star Trek First Contact and was to have worked again with his father on Air Force One's additional score but was unable due to schedules.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult and terribly sad time.

Lilies Of The Field CD Re-issue

Lilies Of The Field, one of Jerry Goldsmith's earliest acclaimed scores has been re-issued on CD by the Perseverance label. The CD is presented in mono and remains the original album content. The score captures the dusty western setting with Southern Gospel for a story of a Construction worker, played by Sidney Poitier, who helps European Nuns build a church in the desert. Goldsmith's sparse but effective score includes the song Amen by vocalist Jester Hairston.

Unfortunately if you live outside the US and Canada you cannot order it from them. I assume this is down to licensing costs, which is a shame for the rest of the world who might be interested in this release. You may be able to order this from another dealer, or of course check out EBay at some point.

Si Zentner's Warning Shot Album Comes To CD

A bit of an oddity this one and sadly not the original Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack. But for die hard Goldsmith fans you may wish to add this to your collection. Back in 67 there was no actual original soundtrack of Goldsmith's score to Warning Shot released. What fans got at the time was Jazz Bandleader Simon H "Si" Zentner's pop versions of Goldsmith's score plus a handful of other Goldsmith themes Jazzed up, quite literally. Goldsmith purists might say not entirely accurate but nonetheless if you enjoy Jazz this should prove a worthwhile and intriguing listen. It would be nice to think the actual Goldsmith Jazz score for a great David Janssen thriller still exists at Paramount but it's probably long gone.The re-issue also contains another Zentner album From Russia With Love.

Order from Dutton Vocalion.

Star Trek First Contact Complete Score CD

GNP Crescendo has announced a surprise CD release of Jerry Goldsmith and Joel Goldsmith's music from Star Trek First Contact. The label released the soundtrack at the time of the film's release and has been quiet on the soundtrack front for some years now. But it appears they are back and have followed on from the recent expanded Star Trek score CD releases with this new CD presentation featuring the complete score and bonus alternates.

First Contact proved a big success and allowed Jerry Goldsmith to score one of the series most intense adventures. Of course some of this is score is courtesy of Jerry Goldsmith's son Joel who was drafted in by Goldsmith senior when a scheduling conflict with The Ghost And The Darkness prevented him scoring the whole picture. Joel provided some strong moments including the exciting Flight Of The Phoenix finale.

Order direct from the GNP Crescendo website. The disc is apparently limited to 10,000 copies.

Freud Comes To DVD

Another rare Jerry Goldsmith scored movie comes to DVD. Freud was the composer's first Oscar nominated score in 1962. The movie was directed by the legendary John Huston and sadly proved a flop on release. But the film remains an entertaining and engrossing watch with superb performances from Montgomery Clift and a young Susannah York. Goldsmith's score is an unsettling atmospheric work and lead to his keen interest in electronics. The release info does not reveal any extras or wide screen format information. The DVD is R2 and is due April 23rd.

Order from Amazon UK

The Last Hard Men On DVD

Shout Factory, the specialist US based film and tv company, has released a double feature DVD featuring The Last Hard Men. The gritty and violent 1976 western features music by Jerry Goldsmith and a main title credit for the composer. But as many know Goldsmith never actually wrote an original score for it. Leonard Rosenman's original score was rejected at the last minute and Goldsmith was approached to edit music from some of his earlier Fox scores into the picture, working with music editor Ken Hall. It's assumed Goldsmith was approached to write a new score but time just did not allow it. The final movie score was made up of music from 100 Rifles, Rio Conchos, Morituri & Stagecoach. The movie comes with another James Coburn adventure Sky Riders.

Order from Shout Factory today!

Jerry Goldsmith's Universal Fanfare - New Arrangement!

It is pleasing to see Universal Pictures have not dumped Jerry Goldsmith's excellent fanfare for their centenary year celebrations. The logo music has been regularly replaced up until Jerry Goldsmith scored his version in 1997. So there was a concern it could have been replaced at such a key date in Universal's history. Goldsmith's piece debuted at the beginning of The Lost World: Jurassic Park and has remained as the opening to the majority of Universal released films. Acclaimed composer Brian Tyler wrote the new arrangement. Check it out on You Tube. 

Goldsmith Varese MCA Albums Re-issued In Germany?

It seems that the German Amazon site is listing the CD re-issues of the MCA Jerry Goldsmith albums that Varese Sarabande released back in the 90s. The three titles are Chinatown, MacArthur and Psycho II. These were the original LP content and nothing more but remain the only official CD releases of these scores. Varese also released Explorers at the time but a re-issue of that disc is now redundant in light of Intrada's fully expanded 2011 CD, which is currently available.

The Varese titles from the 90s are now out of print and most Goldsmith fans assumed, or rather hoped, they would be fully expanded by other labels at some point. For the time being those who missed them and can't wait for a possible expansion can order from Amazon in Germany. The titles appear to be available from the 17th of January and carry the English packaging. Please note it appears these are on the CD-R format. Thanks to Adam Dean for putting me on to this story.


Order Chinatown, MacArthur and Psycho II from these links.