Red Bull Music Academy Tokyo Discussion - Harold Faltermeyer

A very interesting video from the Red Bull Music Academy in Tokyo has popped up, featuring a nice long discussion by Harold Faltermeyer about his music and film scoring career, touching on his most famous work such as Beverly Hills Cop, Fletch and Top Gun.

Faltermeyer discusses his early beginnings, and there is even a very rare video of him with his family performing and singing. A very rare video indeed.

A key highlight of this video is the discussions around his method of film scoring, and how some of his iconic scores were simply done by virtue of him being left alone to complete them.

The Running Man and Tango & Cash are scores which Harold completed when left alone to his creative freedom. The results are simply astounding, in particular his score for The Running Man, a true dystopian vision of the future which is more relevant now than ever.

Additional discussion is placed on his production work for popular artists such as Laura Branigan, and The Pet Shop Boys.

All in all, Faltermeyer says he is back in Hollywood and available to score movies and video games.
Let's hope the upcoming Beverly Hills Cop 4 movie producers have the guts to hire Faltermeyer and bring some much needed funky synth back to the movie world.

Hold On - Corey Hart vs Keta Bill - Beverly Hills Cop 2

Those familiar with the movie Beverly Hills Cop 2 will notice that the soundtrack release has a glaring omission still not rectified to this day.

During a key scene involving the Playboy mansion, a notable synthesizer/guitar track is played titled "Hold On", which is sung by Keta Bill.

This song however was never released, and still remains unreleased to this day. Instead, a different version sung by Corey Hart was released on the soundtrack.

One thing people might not notice is that both versions of the song can be heard in the movie.  The Corey Hart version is indeed in the movie.

The Corey Hart version is heard faintly whilst the three lead characters are sitting in their car discussing their next move.

As to why the Corey Hart version was released and not the Keta Bill version remains a mystery.

The Corey Hart version is a slightly faster, more guitar driven version produced by Giorgio Moroder, whilst the other version is a more DX7 bass driven track along with its superior guitar solos.

Beverly Hills Cop Returns, but now on TV and without Harold Faltermeyer

After almost 19 Years, there is another installment of Beverly Hills Cop, except this time it will be on TV, rather than the big screen.

This is expected to be a continuation of the movie series with Brandon T Jackson as Aaron Foley, the obligatory son of Axel Foley.

Unfortunately, there is no Harold Faltermeyer involved with this, so nobody knows what type of music we will get with this pilot episode.

What people don't realise is that without Harold Faltermeyer's music, Beverly Hills Cop loses a great deal of its success.

Faltermeyer's electro synth work is catchy, memorable and simply evokes a fever of action and comedy like no other.

There seems to be no music for tv shows as in the days of Miami Vice with Jan Hammer and movies like Harold Faltermeyer, so it remains to be seen whether this new continuation will be a flop or simply another nail in the coffin of a vastly underused character.

Axel Foley should have had many more adventures, it seems like this next one may bring more, but who knows what will happen.

Lost Classics - Keta Bill - Hold On (1987) - Beverly Hills Cop 2 - Hef Loves It

Another lost classic, it beggars belief how this one has never been released, given the fact it features during the infamous Playboy mansion scene in Beverly Hills Cop 2.  This is the original version of "Hold On" by Keta Bill which is a million times better than the Corey Hart version.

You can picture the funny guy in the tuxedo pulling off his hilarious dance moves with the playboy bunnies while Axel tells his pals to follow their dicks and find the bad guys.  Even the dirty old Hef makes a cameo in this classic piece of cinematic extravagance.

Both versions are featured in the movie, you can even hear Corey Hart's version very faintly during one of the scenes with the 3 main characters.

As to why this legendary classic has never been released remains a mystery.  The best song from the movie and its not even on the soundtrack.  Worse than that, none of Harold Faltermeyer's scores have been released for either the first or second movie which is unnacceptable.

Anyway, enjoy this lost classic, its not perfect quality, but Keta Bill herself gave this out a few years back, so the fact we even have this is a miracle in itself.

https://www.box.com/shared/lzih2271kt

Harold Faltermeyer - The Discovery - 2011 Style! - Syntesen

I came across this quite funky remake of Harold Faltermeyer's The Discovery score track.

Awesome just doesn't justify how cool this is!
I could imagine the next Beverly Hills cop sequel with this along with updated versions of the original score themes.