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.

Vintage Trailer Music Score - Jonathan Elias - Back To The Future & Explorers

These days, most movie trailers will either pick a generic Media Venture style score track with the obligatory big brass drone sound and plenty of choral voices.

In the 1980s however, there seemed to be a bit more mystique to the trailers, especially the teaser trailers.  There was no actual footage shown, and the music in the end was completely different to the styles used in the actual movies.

Some examples are Back To The Future and Explorers, both given teaser trailer music by Jonathan Elias.

Explorers ended up with a Jerry Goldsmith score, whilst Back To The Future ended up with an Alan Silvestri score.

A possible example of where Silvestri could have gone with an electronic score is by listening to "Flight Of The Navigator".

It would definitely have been interesting to have had a full electronic score for Back To The Future, but in the end the Silvestri score was perfect.

Jonathan Elias started off doing many trailer scores and these ones seem to stand out, as they are both similar and have a signature electronic arpeggiated sound very similar to the Tangerine Dream sound of the era.

Many have been mistaken such is the distinctive synthesizer sound, that its quite easy to mistake it for a Tangerine Dream piece, but these are both composed by Jonathan Elias.


These days Jonathan Elias does not like to discuss his 80s synthesizer score period (it seems he did not like it!), but he did give a few great scores such as Tuff Turf and Vamp amongst others.

Teen Wolf T Shirts - Get Yourself a Stiles T Shirt and don't be a Dicknose

If you love your Teen Wolf (The REAL 1985 one, not the disgraceful modern MTV garbage!) and want to emulate the hero of the movie Stiles, then you must get one of his infamous T Shirts.

The "What are you looking at dicknose" T shirt is a legendary part of motion picture history.

You can get these from a few places online, but only a few have the correct font and lettering done exactly as the original.

This one here from Amazon is a dead on accurate version.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teen-Wolf-shirt-looking-dicknose/dp/B00A3QZOA2

Other Stiles T shirts to look out for include "Life Sucks Then You Die", and "Obnoxious The Movie", along with the hand drawn "Teen Wolf" t shirt that he sells in the movie.  These can be found on ebay amongst other places usually.

Retro Score Review - Teen Wolf (1985) - Miles Goodman

For the first retro review, it is Teen Wolf from 1985. This movie was originally filmed before Back To The Future, and was released shortly after that to capitalise on the success of Michael J Fox as the lead actor.

The plot is ridiculous, a high school basketball player turns into a wolf and nobody bats an eyelid, but that is the charm of the 80s. Its funny, ridiculous, hillarious and has great moments throughout.

Miles Goodman composed the music for the movie and all of the songs. They have a distinctive sound throughout, with guitars, synths and gated drums.

The soundtrack however only consists of 9 tracks, with lots of score being absent. It was released on CD and Vinyl in 1985 on the Metronome label in Japan, and in Germany. Since then, there has been no re release or expanded version, which is surprising given the movie has a cult following.

Some of the key tracks missing are as follows:

Miles Goodman's instrumental rendition of "Staying Alive" composed in the synth fashion of the rest of the soundtrack.

Interlude score pieces, such as Beer Keg scenes.



The Wolf Dance opening score at the high school dance. This funky jam is a percussive heavy track making use of the Linndrum and some groovy bass.

The alternate "Big Bad Wolf" song. On the CD and Vinyl releases, this song sounds different due to the drums and vocals being used. In the movie version, different vocals and drums are used and it sounds sufficiently different.

Given that the songs only take up around half an hour, it would be easy to include everything on an expanded release. It may be likely that Intrada, La La Land or Perseverance Records may do a release.

1. Flesh On Fire James House



This is a fantastic song, great galloping guitar, synths and a vintage 80s melody. Linndrum percussion throughout this track. One of the best of the decade.

2. Big Bad Wolf The Wolf Sisters



This is a funky track, with vocoder and again percussion heavy with the Linndrum.
The movie version is slightly different with an unreleased intro and alternate drums and vocals.

3. Win In The End Mark Safan



The iconic theme from the end basketball game. Not much is known about Mark Safan, but the track is a perfect end to a satisfying 80s movie.

4. Shootin' For The Moon Amy Holland

A great theme, making use of the DX7 and Miles Goodman's talents for orchestral themes.

5. Silhouette David Palmer

This is the track played during the house party, and is visuallised perfectly on screen through Scott Howard slashing his way into his female friend Boof!

6. Way To Go Mark Vieha

Another classic played during the halfway point of the movie showcasing how Scott Howard as the Wolf is helping win all their games. The music matches the hilarity of the onscreen action.

7. Good News David Morgan

A great song, buried in the background before the wolf dance.

8. Transformation Miles Goodman (instrumental)



Probably the most recognised song in the movie, this is the key instrumental music for Scott Howard's first transformation at home. Absolute perfection.

9. Boof Miles Goodman (instrumental)

A great interlude, and uses the melody from Shooting from the moon to great effect.

Intrada Release Brad Fiedel's Fright Night Score

If you were left unfulfilled by Djawadi's Fright Night score this year, then you can at least ease your pain a little by getting the music for the superior original movie.


After almost 26 years comes the first official release of Brad Fiedel's Fright Night score.  After being bootlegged to death, its quite surprising that its taken this long, but better late than never.

Also check out a new interview with Brad Fiedel here:

http://rejectedfilmscores.125mb.com/bradfiedelinterview.html 

FRIGHT NIGHT
Music by BRAD FIEDEL
INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 183

The score from Columbia Pictures' darkly humorous horror film Fright Night (1985) proved challenging to release: the master elements were initially missing. Now, 26 years after its initial release, Intrada presents Brad Fiedel's long-awaited score. After much additional searching, Sony was able to locate a single ¼” 15 ips two-track scoring session master containing approximately 16 minutes of music. Further search led to a DAT transfer of the ¼” 7 ½ ips two-track stereo safeties of the remaining cues. With these two finds, Intrada was able to proceed on a release of Brad Fiedel's score.

Fright Night tells the tale of a Charlie, a teenage boy who enlists the help of TV host Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowlel) in a real-life battle with the undead, featuring a horror homage that would become its own trendsetter -- pitting the duo against a ladykilling, Yuppie bloodsucker who just moved in next-door. Fiedel responded with a score that was both state-of-the-art and old school -- imbuing the hip villain with the stuff of supernatural legend. But while Fiedel tracked the story from a humorous beginning to an unexpectedly shocking climax, Fright Night’s experimental jolts were also firmly bound by the same melodic laws of a classic Hammer film, filled with themes and motifs that paint The Vampire as an eternal creature of seduction.The main theme introduces Jerry Dandridge with a swaying, hypnotic rhythm, enticing Charlie to peep on his neighbor, and the beautiful call girl he’s undressing. It’s a sensual build worthy of a rock god and his conquest.

Because of differences between the above-mentioned master reel and 1/4" safeties, Intrada presents all 16 minutes of the score from the high quality session master as a single track to start the CD. All of the individual tracks that make up that track also appear in the subsequent score presentation, allowing listeners to finally enjoy Brad Fidel's long overdue score.


INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 183
Retail Price: $19.99
SHIPS OCT 18th
For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7292/.f

Commando Score - Tropical Wild Jungle Fever Returns Again

If you were waiting for a reissue of James Horner's wild tropical beast of a score for Commando, then you just missed out. The reissue for Commando sold out in less than 24 hours, showing there still are human beings with good taste in music!

The legendary 1985 score by Horner carries on from his wild "48 Hours" score, introducing heavy percussion, tropical drums and just wild action cues which haven't been heard since. Actually, they did reappear when Horner scored Red Heat a few years later, but this score is his definitive masterpiece alongside his Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Kahn soundtrack score.

This new release is on La La Land Records who have done a public service by releasing this beast of a score once more. Now if only James Horner pulled his finger out of his backside and did another score like this, we could have some more enjoyable one liners and wild action scenes.

To top it off, they have included the long trenchcoat Power Station anthem with this score to satisfy the cravings of everyone, somewhere, somehow, indeed..

Enjoy the score and remember these great one liners.

"I eat green beret's for breakfast and right now i'm very hungry".

"You're a funny guy Sully, I like you. That's why I'm going to kill you last."

"Don't disturb my friend, he's dead tired."


Even Sully went "oooh la laaaaa" when Matrix dropped him like a piece of meat.

Vince DiCola - The Legend

The Legend, that just sums up how good this composer is, a true pioneer in synths.  From Rocky IV to Transformers and his legendary synth solos, this man is a true powerhouse of motion picture soundtracks.  As to why he was never offered more soundtrack scoring work? Probably due to ignorance and a lack of appreciation of his skills.

True fans though know how iconic his music is.  Just listen to his version of Bill Conti's Rocky Theme which he used as a demonstration for Stallone to showcase his abilities for the Rocky IV soundtrack.  This version was never released until 2010, when the entire original score was released for the first time on Intrada records.

Stallone decided not to use DiCola's version of the "Gonna Fly Now" theme in Rocky IV, instead using the Training Montage theme that DiCola came up with. I guess Stallone felt he wanted something slightly different for this movie, but it would have been great to have it somewhere in the movie!   

Apparently Stallone was so impressed, he hired him immediately, and with Jeremy Lubbock, they both created a synth/orchestral masterpiece that still holds up today.  You only have to listen to "Hearts on Fire" and the way it changes into "Up The Mountain" to hear how good he is.

You could say he mastered the art of motion picture soundtracks way before Hans Zimmer went and generically shat on everything in the 90s (Not that Hans Zimmer is bad! But much of 1990s scores and onwards have been very generic).

The last I heard on the scoring front was the one he did for a movie called "Sci Fighter", but other than that, there hasn't been much activity.

Here are some of Vince DiCola's greatest tracks.

Some Soundtrack Classics - Montage favourites

Here are some classic montages, when songs on a soundtrack actually featured in the movie!

Commando (1985) - The Arnie Show - The Almighty One Liners

You don't need to say anything to describe this ultimate macho masterpiece. Its the one liner king as Arnie shows today's "action" failures how to do proper action scenes.

The only modern movie which even comes close is Liam Neeson in Taken, but none of Neeson's lines can match such legendary quotes as "WRONG" and "I eat green berets for breakfast, and right now i'm very hungry", not to mention the way Arnie skilfully snaps the neck of his "Dead Tired" friend.

This movie also features the pounding action classic by James Horner where he improves his 48 Hours score by giving us more tropical and jungle flavours than ever before. Bask in the glory of the one of the greatest action scores known to mankind.

It ends with a hard hitting Power Station classic to close out this masterpiece of film making.

This is how you make a proper action movie Hollywood, now give us another one like this and stop pussying about!

Check out Commando Fans for more great entertainment. http://commandofans.com/