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.

The Golden Child Limited Edition Soundtrack Score - Michael Colombier

Recently released, this is a 3 CD limited edition set of the complete and rejected scores for The Golden Child. Eddie Murphy's classic supernatural action comedy features a great synth/orchestral mix with some great themes in there.

The sound quality is superb, mastered brilliantly and crystal clear. Its a definite upgrade from the existing soundtrack releases.

You even get the entire rejected score by John Barry, which itself is quite brilliant.

http://lalalandrecords.com/GoldenChild.html

On the 3rd CD you also get the various songs that were used in the film. All in all, a complete score and soundtrack edition nicely put together. Now if they would only do the same for numerous other films out there.