The Spartacus Post.

Varese Sarabande head honcho Robert Townson celebrated his 1000th release by tackling a score he and many others have been jonesing for for decades - Spartacus. An epic undertaking with an epic set to match; Alex North's makes-Gladiator-look-like-crap music not only gets four discs to itself (two with the complete score in mono, one with all the surviving stereo cues, and one with alternates and preliminary material), but it also includes a double-disc tribute album - made up entirely of versions of the love theme (probably the first ever film music tribute album devoted to one composition) - and a DVD of the likes of John Williams, Alexandre Desplat and Mark Isham singing the praises of North and his music. With the addition of a 170-page book (not a booklet, an actual book) on the score, on North and with a bit of Townson self-promotion (other labels have done their bit in bringing out Alex North treasures, like Intrada's release of his original music for 2001: A Space Odyssey, but they don't get mentioned) that is the only blip in this work of genius, it's thoroughly, utterly recommended.

The Operation Varèse Sarabande Post.

This post is brought to you by The Hiatus Project, and the post dealing with his putting up a complete index of his collection. He very kindly agreed to let me do it on this 'ere blog, but the problem is I've got so damn many it's hard to crack down and do it. Luckily I've been keeping track of them in written form for years...

Anyway, Varèse Sarabande is a soundtrack (and also vintage music) label of long-standing; the label's brown and white spine is no stranger to film music fans (or TV music fans, having released albums for (among others) Stargate Atlantis, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, Prison Break, 24, Alias, Lost and (coming soon) Pushing Daisies). The reason I'm blogging about them is that I decided to get hold of all their current CD Club releases.

"Their what?" Okay, see, the CD Club is a series of limited edition releases running from pressings of 1000 to ones of 3000, available from their website (and specialty dealers) or from the Lady Penelope to Varèse Sarabande's International Rescue, Colosseum. Right now they're up to 93, and my mission, should I choose to accept it, is to get all their releases that I don't already have, apart from the ones that are all sold out. Ones I have with asterisks are also out of print. (For the purposes of this post, I count owning original vinyl or cassette releases as already having, since my MO is not to get straight CD reissues unless I don't have previous releases, or if they include lots of new material. I count CD-R copies made by friends as having as well...)

84 Charing Cross Road (George Fenton)*
The Agony And The Ecstasy: The Deluxe Edition (Alex North and Jerry Goldsmith)
Alien Nation (Jerry Goldsmith)
An Almost Perfect Affair (Georges Delerue)
An Unfinished Life - CD Club (Christopher Young)
Anna Lucasta (Elmer Bernstein)
Anne Of The Indies (Franz Waxman)
Author! Author! (Dave Grusin and Johnny Mandel)
The Ballad Of Cable Hogue (Jerry Goldsmith)
Beloved Infidel (Franz Waxman)
Big (Howard Shore)
Birdman Of Alcatraz (Elmer Bernstein)
The Bride (Maurice Jarre)*
Broadcast News (Bill Conti)
The 'Burbs: The Deluxe Edition (Jerry Goldsmith)*
By Love Possessed (Elmer Bernstein)
Cannon For Cordoba/From Noon Till Three (Elmer Bernstein)
Careful, He Might Hear You (Ray Cook)
The Caretakers: Deluxe Edition/The Young Doctors (Elmer Bernstein)
Cast A Giant Shadow (Elmer Bernstein)
Commando (James Horner)
Desiree (Alex North)
Die Hard (Michael Kamen)*
F.I.S.T./Slow Dancing In The Big City (Bill Conti)
F/X: The Deluxe Edition (Bill Conti)
Fitzwilly/The Long Goodbye (John Williams)*
The Fury: The Deluxe Edition (John Williams) *
Gangs Of New York/The Journey Of Natty Gann/The Scarlet Letter (Elmer Bernstein)
Ghostbusters (Elmer Bernstein)*
Gloria (Bill Conti)
The Great Escape: The Deluxe Edition (Elmer Bernstein)*
The Great Train Robbery: SACD Deluxe Edition (Jerry Goldsmith)
The Hallelujah Trail (Elmer Bernstein)
Hawaii: The Deluxe Edition (Elmer Bernstein)
Heartbeeps (John Williams)*
Home Alone 2: Lost In New York - The Deluxe Edition (John Williams)*
In A Shallow Grave (Jonathan Sheffer)
Iron Eagle (Basil Poledouris)
The Island (Ennio Morricone)
Jerry Goldsmith At 20th Century Fox
Joe Versus The Volcano (Georges Delerue)
Justine: The Deluxe Edition (Jerry Goldsmith)
The Karate Kid (Bill Conti)*
The Kindred (David Newman)*
The Left Hand Of God (Victor Young)
Les Misérables (Alex North)
The Long, Hot Summer/Sanctuary (Alex North)
Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing (Alfred Newman)
Lucas (Dave Grusin)
Magic (Jerry Goldsmith)
Magic Fire (Richard Wagner, ad. Erich Wolfgang Korngold)
Making The Grade (Basil Poledouris)*
The Man Who Loved Women (Henry Mancini)
Marie Ward (Elmer Bernstein)
Matilda (David Newman)*
The Matrix: The Deluxe Edition (Don Davis)
My Cousin Rachel (Franz Waxman)
Neighbors (Bill Conti and Tom Scott)*
North And South (Bill Conti)
North And South: Book II (Bill Conti)
North By Northwest: The Complete Score (Bernard Herrmann, cond. Joel McNeely)
Piranha (Pino Donaggio)
Pony Soldier (Alex North)
Predator (Alan Silvestri)*
Project X (James Horner)
The Racers/Daddy Long Legs (Alex North)
The Return Of A Man Called Horse: The Deluxe Edition (Laurence Rosenthal)
Return To Peyton Place (Franz Waxman)
The Robe: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Alfred Newman)
Romancing The Stone (Alan Silvestri) *
Rookie Of The Year/A Night In The Life Of Jimmy Reardon/Bushwhacked (Bill Conti)
Runaway: The Deluxe Edition (Jerry Goldsmith)*
The Sand Pebbles: The Deluxe Edition (Jerry Goldsmith)*
The Scalphunters (Elmer Bernstein)
Seven Cities Of Gold/The Rains Of Ranchipur (Hugo Friedhofer)
Sheena (Richard Hartley)
Sky Bandits (Alfi Kabiljo) *
Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone (Elmer Bernstein)
The Story Of Ruth (Franz Waxman)
Studs Lonigan (Jerry Goldsmith)
The Tall Men (Victor Young)
Those Secrets (Thomas Newman)
Three Coins In The Fountain (Victor Young)
Top Secret! (Maurice Jarre)*
True Confessions (Georges Delerue)
Vamp (Jonathan Elias)
The Vanishing (Jerry Goldsmith)
Varèse Sarabande: A 25th Anniversary Celebration - Volume Two
The Virgin Queen (Franz Waxman)
Viva Maria!/King Of Hearts (Georges Delerue)
Viva Zapata!/The 13th Letter (Alex North)
The War Of The Roses/The Sandlot (David Newman)
The Wonderful Country/The King And Four Queens (Alex North)

So that's 35 to get... it begins.

July 21st. The magic ends.

Today marks the occasion of the departure of a magician. A fellow who took us on a fantastic ride for years. One who will be, and is, missed by many who know the real thing when they see it.

Today is also, I understand, the day the last Harry Potter book goes on sale (assuming that it is the last one, like when The Sopranos was supposed to end a few years before it actually did), but it's the third anniversary of the passing of a real magician; Jerry Goldsmith.

A tribute video for Rudy, containing his wonderful music from said film:



His down-home theme from The Waltons (though he always preferred the theme he wrote for the TV movie that spawned it, The Homecoming: A Christmas Story):



A scene from The Challenge:



From Supergirl, one of many, many lousy movies that benefitted from his work:



Jerry winning his only Oscar, for The Omen:



And to finish:

Good enough for you is good enough for me...

Has it really been 22 years since The Goonies came out? (Well, give or take a few months.) There are still plenty of fans of the flick around, and their love extends to the music (if not Kerri "Andy, the girl who played the death organ and gave Sean Astin a little more of a 'happy' in the book of the film" Green, who seemed to fall off the face of the Earth after Three for the Road in 1987). Since the 18-minute rerecorded suite on the Cliffhangers album won't do, ditto (very much ditto) Dave Grusin's own performance of "Fratelli Chase" on the Cinemagic CD, fans are rallying to make a CD of his work on the movie - which Varese Sarabande's expressed an interest in - a reality; their petition is here, and I know these things almost never work, but if La-La Land can release score albums for Spaceballs and Tango & Cash then it can happen.

For the record, the tracklist for the 1985 Epic soundtrack looks like this:

1. The Goonies "R" Good Enough - Cyndi Lauper (3:37)
2. Eight Arms To Hold You - Goon Squad (4:21)
3. Love Is Alive - Philip Bailey (4:17)
4. I Got Nothing - The Bangles (3:09)
5. 14K - Teena Marie (4:59)
6. Wherever You're Goin' (It's Alright) - REO Speedwagon (5:00)
7. She's So Good To Me - Luther Vandross (5:40)
8. What A Thrill - Cyndi Lauper (3:17)
9. Save The Night - Joseph Williams (3:50)
10. Theme From The Goonies (3:01)

Mr. B, one for your collection...

Although I wish Robert Rodriguez would a) stop getting so much help in scoring his own movies (at least John Carpenter did his by himself for the most part) and b) stop scoring his own movies... (Mind you, still beats Quentin "Now what can I use from my record collection this time?" Tarantino - his half of Grindhouse has its own song album on Maverick.)

Jen: Woah...can Rose even sing?
Me: She sang on an episode of Charmed. She wasn't bad - she can certainly sing better than Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Jen: So can most cats ;-)
Me: So can you, probably. ;-)

1. Grindhouse (Main Titles) (Robert Rodriguez) (3:30)
2. Doc Block (Robert Rodriguez & Carl Thiel) (2:03)
3. The Sickos (Robert Rodriguez & Graeme Revell) (1:39)
4. You Belong To Me - Rose McGowan (Pee Wee King, Chilton Price & Redd Stewart) (2:15)
5. Go Go Not Cry Cry (Robert Rodriguez & Rick Del Castillo) (1:09)
6. Hospital Epidemic (Graeme Revell & Robert Rodriguez) (1:16)
7. Useless Talent #32 - Rose McGowan (Rebecca Rodriguez & Robert Rodriguez) (3:11)
8. His Prescription... Pain (Robert Rodriguez & Carl Thiel) (:55)
9. Cherry Darling (Robert Rodriguez) (1:01)
10. The Grindhouse Blues (Robert Rodriguez) (3:01)
11. El Wray (Robert Rodriguez) (1:18)
12. Police Station Assault (Robert Rodriguez) (1:33)
13. Dakota (Robert Rodriguez & Carl Thiel) (2:27)
14. Zero To Fifty In Four (Robert Rodriguez) (1:35)
15. Fury Road (Robert Rodriguez) (2:03)
16. Helicopter Sicko Chopper (Graeme Revell & Robert Rodriguez) (1:22)
17. The Ring In The Jacket (Robert Rodriguez & George Oldziey) (1:34)
18. Killer Legs (Robert Rodriguez & Rick Del Castillo) (2:14)
19. Melting Member (Graeme Revell & Robert Rodriguez) (1:51)
20. Too Drunk To Fuck - Nouvelle Vague (Jello Biafra) (2:12)
21. Cherry's Dance Of Death - CHINGON (Robert Rodriguez) (3:26)
22. Two Against The World - Rose McGowan (Rebecca Rodriguez & Robert Rodriguez) (2:08)