Volume 10, Number 5 Original Music Soundtracks for Movies and Television C3PO Conducts pg. 40 The Poet of Paranoia From Out of the Shadows Comes Michael Small Elliot Goldenthal Writing a Monster Opera Miami Vice Verses Song Scores That Work March of the Penguins The Emperors Strike Back Goblin Buyer’s Guide Meet the Proglodytes National Geographic The Trek to Find the Tracks $7.95 U.S. • $8.95 Canada ���������������������������������������� contents Sept./Oct. 2005 Film Score Magazine (ISSN 1077-4289) is published six times a year for $36.95 per year by Vineyard Haven LLC., 8503 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232. Periodicals postage paid at Culver City, CA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Film Score Magazine, 8503 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232 contents Sept./Oct.Sept./Oct. 2005 2005 DEPARTMENTS COVER STORY 30 The Poet of Paranoia 2 Editorial We’re proud to bring you an extensive profile on the life and The 1000 Club. times of one of film music’s most talented—and underappreci- ated—composers: the late Michael Small, the unrivaled master of 4 News paranoiac film music. Joe Harnell, Rick Victor, By Kyle Renick Clifford McCarty, et al. 5 Record Label Round-Up 35 Remembering Michael What’s on the way. Orchestrator Christopher Dedrick recalls working with his close friend. Now Playing 5 12 Welcome to birdland. Movies and CDs in FEATURES release. 6 Concerts 16 A Voyage of Discovery Film music performed Intrada’s releases of the music from those well-known National Geo- around the globe. graphic TV specials have been a boon for soundtrack buffs. But find- 7 Upcoming Film ing the tracks was an adventure in itself. Assignments By Mark Trachtman Who’s writing what for whom. 19 Vice’s Verses 11 Mail Bag Pop music as narrative has been used and abused in film and TV over Thank You, We Will. the years. But every once in a while, someone does it right. Take Miami Vice, for example. 12 Downbeat By Bruce R. Marshall The Emperors Strike Back. 19 What, no ringtones? 39 Composer’s Corner 22 Meet the Proglodytes Golden Boy. Italian Prog Rock band Goblin is a well-known film-music force in Italian cinema. With the help of this Buyer’s Guide, you can see why. 45 Score By Mark Hasan A muscular batch of releases, including Capricorn One, The Chairman, Fantastic 28 Grendel Watch Four and more. It’s been some 20 years in the making. Now Elliot Goldenthal is racing to complete his long-planned opera Grendel for its opening next year. 60 Laserphile By Doug Adams Totally Tube-ular. 40 Remaking Star Wars 55 FSM Marketplace This summer saw the end of the Star Wars trilogy, but the music lives on, thanks to conductor Erich Kunzel’s concert series. Hear how Kun- 60 What’s on the menu? zel, along with C3PO, has taken the Star Wars show on the road. On the cover: By Saul Pincus and Mike Petersen THE POET OF PARANOIA, MICHAEL SMALL. Photo courtesy Lynn Small. Film Score Magazine (ISSN 1077-4289) is published six times a year for $36.95 per year by Vineyard Haven LLC., 8503 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232. Periodicals postage paid at Culver City, CA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Film Score Magazine, 8503 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232 FILM SCORE MAGAZINE 3 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005 EDITORIAL The 1000 Club Volume 10 • Number 5 For some, speculation is the name of the game he limited collector’s edition is alive and well in the a few hundred copies sold in bulk to stores, and a few EDITORIAL STAFF world of film scores. Over the past two decades, more hundred copies sold to genuinely interested parties (who Editor & Publisher and more soundtracks have become available every may be motivated by fear of losing out), this whole craze LUKAS KENDALL year—from just a few dozen releases at the dawn can be attributed to a handful of greedy speculators buying Executive Editor T of compact discs in 1985, to some 500 releases last multiple copies for “investment.” JONATHAN Z. KAPLAN year. In the old days, soundtrack labels would have to press Remember when kids traded baseball cards and read Managing Editor a lot of discs to receive national distribution. Wholesale comic books—just for fun? Those ephemeral pleasures TIM CURRAN distribution was always financially risky, especially when a of childhood, popularized as cheap diversions after the Creative Director title did not sell, in which case the labels had to buy back the Depression and World War II, were never intended to last JOE SIKORYAK unsold copies. Ouch. Given that film scores as a group have longer than a summer vacation, and few survived even that Editor-at-Large never been big sellers—for every truly successful release, long. As a result, the few cards and comics that escaped JEFF BOND say, a John Williams Harry Potter album selling in excess of trashcans became valuable to collectors, and secondary Copyeditor 50,000 units, there are dozens of scores selling fewer than markets grew up around the scarce remnants. By the 1980s, DEBBIE NOTKIN 10,000 copies (usually, a lot fewer.) As more soundtracks that investor market warped the comic and card industries, Contributing Writers were released, the more brutal the economics became. as publishers rushed to generate “collectibles.” These were DOUG ADAMS Fortunately for film score aficionados, a new business limited collector editions that were more remarkable for STEPHEN B. ARMSTRONG model emerged: Rather than risking a small fortune on the speculative value than their intrinsic aesthetic. The DAVID COSCINA mass-market distribution, labels have opted for smaller, cards and comics weren’t fun anymore, and a generation LUKE GOLJAN artisan-style ventures. Like microbreweries that craft high- grew up thinking that collecting was really all about capital ANDREW GRANADE quality beers in small batches, specialty soundtrack labels gain. But you know what? If everyone has a sealed, mint- MARK HASAN have been targeting releases for a small but appreciative condition collectible, then it really isn’t worth much, is it? NICK HAYSON audience, selling them directly over the internet. The profit I’m afraid that this same mentality threatens film scores. JACK HOLSTEIN margins may be thin, but much of the waste is eliminated. Soundtracks are a misunderstood art form to begin with, CHRISTOPHER JENKINS The ceiling for these collector’s editions has tended to be and this sort of feeding frenzy only makes us look like crazy, STEVEN A. KENNEDY a few thousand per title, mainly because of licensing and hoarding nutjobs. Speculators crowd out other buyers, BRUCE R. MARSHALL reuse agreements. Lately, some labels have been even more denying them the opportunity to enjoy the music. Worse, MIKE PETERSEN selective, releasing titles in quantities as low as 1,500 or putting a dollar value on art cheapens its true, intrinsic SAUL PINCUS even 1,000 (most CD replication plants won’t bother with value. If you’re buying CDs because you think they will KYLE RENICK smaller quantities). It was a compromise born of economic make you wealthy, then I suggest you try real estate. But WILL SHAW reality: How few can we afford to press without losing our if you’re listening to film scores because they make you MARK TRACHTMAN shirts? One thing is certain about the folks in the film score happy, then you’re among the richest people in the world. STEPHEN WOOLSTON business, they do it for love, not money. CARY WONG his issue of Film Score Magazine is, as always, dedicated ell, a funny thing happened when the quantities were to the enjoyment of music. Perhaps you secretly hum BUSINESS STAFF lowered: sales went up. Typically, these CDs sell a few Talong to the pop vocal accompaniment of Miami Editorial & Subscriptions Whundred to a thousand copies right away, and then Vice. Maybe you’re curious to learn more of the hard 8503 Washington Blvd sales trickle off in a seemingly infinite curve. But when the driving, progressive sounds of Goblin (our Buyer’s Guides Culver City, CA 90232 Varèse Sarabande Soundtrack Club offered 1,500 copies of are always about worthiness, never about resale value). PH. 310-253-9595 Alfred Newman’s The Robe in 2003, everyone was surprised Perhaps you’re looking forward to hearing Erich Kunzel FAX 310-253-9588 to see it sell out in just a few months. Reissues of Maurice play Star Wars music in a concert hall near you. Or maybe Sales & Marketing Manager Jarre’s The Bride, Ennio Morricone’s The Island and others you’d like to rediscover the music of the overlooked and MARK KELLY in quantities of 1,000, sold out in even less time—until this underappreciated Michael Small. If so, have we got the 8503 Washington Blvd past August, when the 1,000 copies of George Delerue’s issue for you. And we won’t be selling out any time soon. Culver City, CA 90232 True Confessions sold out within 24 hours of being offered. PH. 312-352-0639 I’d like to think this is a rousing mandate for the dear, FAX 310-253-9588 departed Mr. Delerue, but I fear something else is at play. Our Website is updated five times Some justly obscure scores from lesser films have sold out weekly! Point your browser at: nearly as fast. No one was clamoring for Richard Hartley’s WWW.FILMSCOREMONTHLY.COM score to Sheena before it sold out last fall. And the ruckus © 2005 Vineyard Haven LLC.