Hey folks -- long time, no see. Here are some re-uploaded soundtrack promo discs, back by popular demand. Get 'em (by scrolling down) while they're hot!
U571 - Richard Marvin
The Tigger Movie - Harry Gregson-Williams
Behind Enemy Lines - Don Davis
Call of Duty - Michael Giacchino
Swordfish - Christopher Young
Cartoon Concerto - Bruce Broughton
U571 - Richard Marvin
The Tigger Movie - Harry Gregson-Williams
Behind Enemy Lines - Don Davis
Call of Duty - Michael Giacchino
Swordfish - Christopher Young
Cartoon Concerto - Bruce Broughton
Soul's Midnight - Ceiri Torjussen
9 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 7/08/2008 at 12:15 PM.
Back with another promotional disc, Soul's Midnight by Welsh composer Ceiri Torjussen, an all synth (but effectively done) horror score for the 2006 low-budget shocker starring Armand Assante(!) as a vampire cult leader.
Fans of Marco Beltrami will find lots to like here, as Torjussen has orchestrated and written additional music for many of Beltrami's scores(I-Robot, Hellboy, Joyride, Blade 2, Dracula 2000, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines). The action material ("Final Showdown", "The Story") here has the same rhythmic insistence of Beltrami's work.
Torjussen also employs a synth choir ("The Ceremony Pt. 1"), and while it'll never convince you it's the Metro Voices, it at least fits with the synth palette. Soul's Midnight is a great little horror score with a good main theme ("Opening") and plenty of atmosphere from a young composer to watch!
Link in comments...
Fans of Marco Beltrami will find lots to like here, as Torjussen has orchestrated and written additional music for many of Beltrami's scores(I-Robot, Hellboy, Joyride, Blade 2, Dracula 2000, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines). The action material ("Final Showdown", "The Story") here has the same rhythmic insistence of Beltrami's work.
Torjussen also employs a synth choir ("The Ceremony Pt. 1"), and while it'll never convince you it's the Metro Voices, it at least fits with the synth palette. Soul's Midnight is a great little horror score with a good main theme ("Opening") and plenty of atmosphere from a young composer to watch!
Link in comments...
Meet The Spartans - Christopher Lennertz
11 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 3/17/2008 at 6:39 PM.
Did you think SSharity was dead? If it was, it wasn't for long! Because it's back. The rules are the same: if it wasn't released commercially, but as a promotional disc by the composer, then you might find it here.
To get things rolling again here's Christopher Lennertz's, ahem, dead serious score for the comedy spoof Meet The Spartans. It's a large orchestral effort that mainly skewers Tyler Bates' 300, with nods notably to Elfman's Spider-Man and Edward Scissorhands ("Land of Sparta", who would have known?) to name just a few (or three to be specific). And of course, released only as a promotional CD at the time of the film's release.
Stay tuned for more shares over the next few weeks! Titles like Aaron Zigman's The Jane Austen Book Club, Ceiri Torjussen's Soul's Midnight, and JAC Redford's Leroy & Stitch.
Link in the comments.
To get things rolling again here's Christopher Lennertz's, ahem, dead serious score for the comedy spoof Meet The Spartans. It's a large orchestral effort that mainly skewers Tyler Bates' 300, with nods notably to Elfman's Spider-Man and Edward Scissorhands ("Land of Sparta", who would have known?) to name just a few (or three to be specific). And of course, released only as a promotional CD at the time of the film's release.
Stay tuned for more shares over the next few weeks! Titles like Aaron Zigman's The Jane Austen Book Club, Ceiri Torjussen's Soul's Midnight, and JAC Redford's Leroy & Stitch.
Link in the comments.
FilmMusic - Christopher Lennertz
7 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 7/30/2007 at 3:44 PM.
Next up in this series of composer promo reels is Christopher Lennertz's FilmMusic, a circa-2000 compilation comprised of cues from some of the composer's earliest efforts like Joel Silver's short-lived TV series The Strip, the Hallmark Channel's America! and Brimstone (a 1998 FOX TV series). This is a cross section of moods and feels, from the contemporary to the more traditional. It's also a neat look back at Lennertz's early career, before he went on to score the gothic Saint Sinner and a string of Medal of Honor videogames. Christopher's most recent project is the videogame based on The Simpson's Movie.
This is entirely unreleased film music which you'll find only here on SoundtrackSharity. That is until someone re-uploads the files and posts links elsewhere.
Link in comments...
This is entirely unreleased film music which you'll find only here on SoundtrackSharity. That is until someone re-uploads the files and posts links elsewhere.
Link in comments...
SoundtrackSharity is all about promotional discs distributed for free to promote a composer's work (and not a place you'll find commercial releases).
There's no older form of promotional disc then the "general reel", a compilation disc of a composer's greatest hits, showcasing their diversity with selections from their "contemporary", "orchestral" and assorted styles. The next few titles I'll be posting are compilation/reel albums. These are titles that can only be found here at SoundtrackSharity... That is until the files are re-uploaded somewhere else and linked on another blog... (let me emphasize that dot, dot, dot!) I post only original albums, not re-ups from other sites.
First up is Conrad Pope's Film Score Suites, with music from a few films you've probably never heard of, but feature music inspired by scores you probably have! While it is exceptionally well crafted, Pope relies a bit on memorable themes and ideas from more prominent film scores like Goldsmith's Basic Instinct and Williams' Hook. Check it out in the comments...
Heavy Metal 2000 - Frederic Talgorn
6 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 3/30/2007 at 10:39 PM.
Here's a fantastic and sadly underrated score from French film composer Frederic Talgorn. A sequel to the classic animated rocker Heavy Metal (with score by Elmer Bernstein), Talgorn was handed a film that perhaps works best in the mind's eye of his music, which is suitably expansive, instantly evoking the dark reaches of space... (i.e., it was pure shit).
The music is incredibly reserved in emotion, but is so professionally written it's no surprise that Talgorn enthusiasts bemoan his absence from the Hollywood film music scene for the last ten years.
While Talgorn continues to write top notch music in his native France, Heavy Metal 2000 remains his last major Hollywood effort, which, if you haven't heard until this point, will surprise you with rich, evocative orchestrations ("Julie & Kerrie) and enough rage-filled action scoring to keep things interesting ("Julie's Journey").
This promotional disc was released in 2001 by Super Tracks, and has since burnt up into out-of-print oblivion like an asteroid entering the gravitational pull of the sun. How's that for a lame space metaphor?
Link inside...
The music is incredibly reserved in emotion, but is so professionally written it's no surprise that Talgorn enthusiasts bemoan his absence from the Hollywood film music scene for the last ten years.
While Talgorn continues to write top notch music in his native France, Heavy Metal 2000 remains his last major Hollywood effort, which, if you haven't heard until this point, will surprise you with rich, evocative orchestrations ("Julie & Kerrie) and enough rage-filled action scoring to keep things interesting ("Julie's Journey").
This promotional disc was released in 2001 by Super Tracks, and has since burnt up into out-of-print oblivion like an asteroid entering the gravitational pull of the sun. How's that for a lame space metaphor?
Link inside...
Heffalump Movie / Lion King 1 1/2
13 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 3/07/2007 at 11:15 AM.
Wow, a bit of a vacation there. Let's resume the posting, shall we?
Up next is a pair of Mouse House titles, Joel McNeely's Pooh's Heffalump Movie and Don Harper's The Lion King 1 1/2, both released as promotional albums by their composers.
Neither score has been released in any significant form. Only Heffalump received a few scant minutes of space on Walt Disney Records' Best of Pooh and Heffalumps, Too album, which was released to conincide with Heffalump's theatrical run and was dominated by Carley Simon tunes.
Harper's Lion King 1 1/2 felt even less love, completely ignored on a quickie soundtrack release that featured songs performed by Raven, and Vinx (who?).
Both scores are entertaining and animated (er, like their films). McNeely's is a traditional orchestral score that is both unassuming, gentle and sweet. Certainly inline with the work of a composer with considerable strengths for melodic, listenable film music.
Harper, who has carved a career for himself writing additional music for Trevor Rabin, continues where Hans Zimmer's Oscar-winning score for The Lion King left off, those this time tipping the balance towards the orchestral/choral, with plenty of ethnic touches, and African-style vocals.
Links in the comments.
Up next is a pair of Mouse House titles, Joel McNeely's Pooh's Heffalump Movie and Don Harper's The Lion King 1 1/2, both released as promotional albums by their composers.
Neither score has been released in any significant form. Only Heffalump received a few scant minutes of space on Walt Disney Records' Best of Pooh and Heffalumps, Too album, which was released to conincide with Heffalump's theatrical run and was dominated by Carley Simon tunes.
Harper's Lion King 1 1/2 felt even less love, completely ignored on a quickie soundtrack release that featured songs performed by Raven, and Vinx (who?).
Both scores are entertaining and animated (er, like their films). McNeely's is a traditional orchestral score that is both unassuming, gentle and sweet. Certainly inline with the work of a composer with considerable strengths for melodic, listenable film music.
Harper, who has carved a career for himself writing additional music for Trevor Rabin, continues where Hans Zimmer's Oscar-winning score for The Lion King left off, those this time tipping the balance towards the orchestral/choral, with plenty of ethnic touches, and African-style vocals.
Links in the comments.
Supernatural - Christopher Lennertz
28 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 1/27/2007 at 3:38 PM.The hits keep on coming... Next up, Christopher Lennertz's Emmy-nominated music for Supernatural (Season One), which airs on the WB Network (Now The CW) in the U.S.
Lennertz alternates ambient and shrill orchestral textures with the modern tonality forged by Penderecki, Bartok and Adams, aptly underlining the series' exploration and extinction of dark myths, legends and monsters. The composer also dials in plenty of contemporary rythmic loops, and fuzzed-out e-guitars, giving the show a necessary gritty and modern feel.
Highlights include the thundering action in "Fighting The Beast", and the sickly chills of "Evil Awaits".
Released to the soundtrack press on the heels of Lennertz's Emmy nomination, here are 25 selections from Season One, totalling 43+ minutes.
New! Fixed file and re-uploaded. Link in comments.
Honor & Glory - Basil Poledouris
7 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 1/19/2007 at 8:06 PM.I hope everyone had a great 2006. Welcome to 2007!
Sadly we lost a major film music icon last year when Basil Poledouris passed away. His music was immensely popular with collectors due to his incredible gift for full-scale melodies, evidenced in classic scores for Conan The Barbarin, Flesh & Blood and The Blue Lagoon among many others.
When Basil was commissioned to write an original piece for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, he titled his piece "The Tradition of The Games". It forms the hub of Honor and Glory, a promotional compilation of Basil's work to that point, including selections from White Fang, Free Willy and Farewell To The King. This album serves as a great testament to his talents. Each track is brimming with emotion, talent and heart. If you're not familiar with Basil's work please check out this album. Basil, we miss you!
Link in comments
Hi folks - no real time to add an album at the moment, but thought I'd share some various uploads I've made for future posts. Might as well give 'em away now as presents. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!
My Favorite Martian - John Debney
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer - John Frizzell
Fly Away Home - Mark Isham
Sorry, files expired/deleted. Bah, humbug!
My Favorite Martian - John Debney
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer - John Frizzell
Fly Away Home - Mark Isham
Sorry, files expired/deleted. Bah, humbug!
Ernest Saves Christmas - Mark Snow
10 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 11/23/2006 at 3:01 PM.It's Thanksgiving in the U.S., typically the day that kicks off the Christmas season. While Christmas, er, "Holiday" ads have been airing on TV for weeks already, it's time to really get into the Christmas spirit. The forecast is calling for Snow... Mark Snow!
Yes, it's the veritable classic, Ernest Saves Christmas.
Surprisingly, this is a fully symphonic effort (orchestrated by the very capable William Ross and Don Davis) from Snow, known mainly for his synth-based television scores. It's also incredibly bouyant (wasting no time getting started with an overture in track 1, "Ernest Saves Christmas", moving into the sweet "Christmas Spirit" and "Airport Shenanigans"). While by no means exceptional, it's a fairly effective Christmas flavoured score that helps set a holly-jolly mood ("Lift-Off", the appropriately titled "Snow For Christmas").
Just twenty-seven days until Christmas. Start getting ready! And check back for my Holiday music.
Link in comments
Unforgettable - Christopher Young
10 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 11/09/2006 at 3:33 PM.By request, here's Christopher Young's Unforgettable (yes, another Chris Young title!).
Directed by John Dahl, this supernatural medical thriller may have faded at the box office, but it provided another opportunity for Young to roll out his standard bag of tricks and in the process write one of his most effectively uneasing scores. Think of it as Hellraiser-lite ("Crucixion Cerebellum"), Unforgettable is an stealthy blend of that score's melody with the brisk percussion rythms and undulating strings of Murder at 1600. Certainly not a break in style or sound for the composer (parts -- "Fireball", and "Departed Return" for example -- are interchangeable with Young's Copycat, and Jennifer 8), yet still a welcome addition to the Chris Young discography.
Released as a promotional disc by Intrada with a batch of other titles (Species, Sweet November) the album runs almost 52 minutes over 15 tracks.
Link in comments
Urban Legend - Christopher Young
8 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 10/28/2006 at 1:22 PM.By request, and again, keeping with the Halloween theme, here is Chris Young's Urban Legend, the first in a dreadful series of teen slasher pictures. As always, Young lends a velvety menace and style to the proceedings with his music, a slick and terrifying effort brought to crackling life by Los Angeles AFM union musicians.
A handful of Young's score was released on Milan Records' official soundtrack album, but a 45-minute promotional CD was released by Young via Intrada shortly after.
Link in comments
Continuing with the Halloween theme... While not the delirious trip into style and insanity that was Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Mick Garris' 1997 mini-series for ABC is considered more faithful to Stephen King's source material.
Along for the ride is Garris' frequent composer Nicholas Pike, here given the rare opportunity to record his score in Los Angeles with a substantial orchestra. The results are anything but Penderecki, Bartok and Wendy Carlos. Instead Pike's score is much more traditional in approach, mixing orchestral elements with plenty of atmospherics ("Psychic Call", "Croquet With Wendy", "Unmask!" and "Falling Into Blackness" - admittedly the second half of the album really cooks), voices and thundering percussion to great effect with the score reaching an emotionally satisfying climax with the final track "10 Years Later". Great Halloween time listening, especially on a long twisting drive into the country.
Released as a promotional disc shortly after the mini-series aired by SuperTracks.
Link in comments
Mixes seem to be all the rage these days so I thought I'd celebrate Halloween with a short mix of my own. I prefer to just throw stuff together without much thought -- the less of a "theme" the better. This being a Halloween collection meant the tone should be consistent throughout... Pure, unmitigated, horror! This is a collection of unreleased and commercial tracks. I hope that if you hear something you like and it's available for sale you'll buy the CD.
A note about sound: these tracks come from different sources. There are variations in volume and quality. If you are using iTunes you can manually set the playback volume for each individual track. More details on sources below.
The tracklist:
01. The Fury - John Williams +(2:44)
02. The Exorcist - Lalo Schifrin *(1:10)
03. Terror Tract - Brian Tyler (3:34)
04. The 'Burbs - Jerry Goldsmith (2:34)
05. Amityville 3D - Howard Blake *(3:22)
06. It's Alive 2 - Bernard Herrmann +(3:03)
07. Hocus Pocus - John Debney *(1:41)
08. Candyman - Philip Glass (1:05)
09. The Night Walker - Vic Mizzy *(4:39)
10. The Shining - Wendy Carlos And Rachel Elkind ^(3:31)
11. Urban Legend - Christopher Young *(3:24)
12. The Ring Two - Hans Zimmer, various (2:48)
13. Young Sherlock Holmes - Bruce Broughton ^(3:46)
14. I Know What You Did Last Summer - John Debney *(3:24)
15. The Monster Squad - Bruce Broughton ^(3:22)
16. Fear No Evil - Frank LaLoggia *(1:27)
17. The Fly II - Christopher Young (6:22)
18. Evil Dead 2 - Joseph LoDuca +(5:02)
Total Running Time: 56:58
* - Promotional Release
^ - "Private" Release
+ - Out-of-print
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House of Frankenstein - Don Davis
4 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 10/10/2006 at 6:35 PM.Sorry for the delay folks, been busy. Please note that Rapidshare now deletes inactive files after 10 days, not the previous 30. Lennie Moore's Outcast has been deleted from Rapidshare, and will not be re-uploaded. I will honor any requests that a file be removed from Rapidshare.
Now on with the regular post... Here's something to kick off October and a bit of a Halloween theme... Don Davis' big orchestral romp House of Frankenstein. Running the gamut from standard scare-score ("Frank-N-Danish") to all out chorale fantasy ("In Paradisum"), there's plenty here to enjoy in the disc's generous 67-minute runtime. From Davis' Matrix-style tonalities to James Horner action licks ("She's Not Hungry For Food").
Issued as a bare-bones promotional disc by the composer in 1997, House of Frankenstein remains a solid effort from a composer we don't hear from often enough. Enjoy!
Sorry, file expired/deleted!
Although I doubt that Randy Newman has ever had to press promotional discs beyond the "For Your Consideration" awards kind, let's pretend that someone somewhere felt it was necessary that his unused/rejected score for Wolfgang Petersen's rah-rah presidential-thriller Air Force One be heard if not in the film than on disc.
Newman, not known for his straight-up action scoring, was perhaps a "prestige" pick for Air Force One, meant to lend the production some much needed class. Ultimately, the composer's personal idiosyncratic style didn't work for the filmmakers, and was tossed and hastily replaced in the eleventh hour by legendary Jerry Goldsmith (with a significant assist by the dependable Joel McNeely, in full Goldsmith mode).
Newman's score is a crackerjack mix. Think of it as A Bug's Life on speed. A lot of the action writing reminds me of Don Davis' later Matrix scores, which gradually mixed in more traditional, melodic action material as the series progressed. It's hard to imagine this hyperactive Newman score being any more different than Goldsmith's decidedly more linear effort. At that point in his career Goldsmith was painting action sequences with broad strokes, whereas Newman's score was hitting every eye blink.
Enjoy the 15th share on SoundtrackSHARITY!
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I remember reading an article in Cinefantastique (back when it was a real genre movie magazine) on Wes Craven's Scream where Craven revealed the composer on the film would be Marco Beltrami. Marco who?
Beltrami made a huge splash on the film, helping to reinvent horror film music (while the film single-handedly resurrected the horror genre) and save it from the synth doldrums that had become the stock sound for the rare horror movie that reached Blockbuster shelves at the time.
It was no surprise then that Beltrami would become Dimension Films' favorite composer, scoring all three of the Scream films, Nightwatch, Mimic, 54 and writing additional music for Halloween H20, for the studio. Next up would be Dimension's The Faculty, for director Robert Rodriguez, and once again Beltrami would go back to the well, pulling out an orchestral scare score in the Scream vein.
To celebrate back to school time (in North American at least), here's Beltrami's The Faculty. Released as a promotional disc and manufactured by the Intrada label in 2000, the disc runs a brisk 29 minutes.
New! Link in comments
Cartoon Concerto - Bruce Broughton
10 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 9/03/2006 at 8:58 PM.I'm baaaack! I'll now resume a regular posting schedule...
After enjoying a successful stretch in the '80s scoring features, Bruce Broughton moved to the small screen, scoring several animated series, namely Tiny Toons. This promotional disc is a major collection of Broughton's cartoon material, running almost an hour in length spread over six lengthy suites.
The music is in the manic, "mickey-mousing" Carl Stalling style, so fans of the shifting schizophrenic nature of animation music -- from Gershwin one moment to fiddle-ho-down the next in "Carnival Presto" -- will find plenty to enjoy here.
Produced for promotional use only in 2002, Cartoon Concerto was made available in limited quantities to buyers, and is still available via Screen Archives, if you are so inclined to try before you buy.
New! Link in comments...
Pitch Black / Bride Of Chucky - Graeme Revell
10 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 8/11/2006 at 1:37 PM.Graeme Revell's ambient-electronic score for Pitch Black remained unreleased until Super Tracks coupled it with the composer's Bride Of Chucky, a satirical riff influenced by Marco Beltrami's Scream 2 by way of Hans Zimmer's Broken Arrow.
Pitch Black was inexplicably desired by the film music collector market. I say that because the score is a series of anonymous electronic hums and pulses, rarely rising to more than that. As a listening experience it fails miserably, but perhaps the legions of Pitch Black cult fans will appreciate it.
Bride Of Chucky doesn't work much better. Unlike Child's Play 2, which featured at least a sprinkle of live orchestral content, Bride is entirely peformed on synths. Not scary, and not really meant to be, Bride Of Chucky is more a leering winkfest, and Revell's score is more playful than frightful.
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The Adventures of Conan - Basil Poledouris
4 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 8/09/2006 at 1:07 PM.Here's a quick addition to the blog -- Basil Poledouris' The Adventures of Conan: Sword And Sorcery Spectacular, music the composer wrote for a live-action stage show at Universal Studios, Hollywood in the early 1980s.
Running just over sixteen-and-a-half minutes, Poledouris evokes the spirit of his Conan The Barbarian score without (sadly) explicitly quoting any themes from that score. Recorded in London with the "London Studio Symphony Orchestra and Voices", the results are a little less epic than Barbarian, but worth a download/listen, considering how little we hear from Poledouris these days.
Also included on the promotional disc, released by Supertracks in 2000, is the cheese y stage show audio track. Total time of the disc is 24:35.
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Big Trouble In Little China - John Carpenter
11 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 8/08/2006 at 10:21 AM.Indeed! It's Big Trouble In Little China, John Carpenter's cult-classic Asian-American-Adventure. No fan of '80s classics collection is complete without the synth-rock rythms of Carpenter's (with associate Alan Howarth) driving "Porkchop Express", or the power-chords in "The Great Arcade". Carpenter dips his American cheese deep into the dimsum, mixing his rock idiom with plenty of Asian flair.
Also included on the disc as bonuses: Alan Howarth's Backstabbed and a single cue -- the deleted "Atlanta Bank Robbery" -- from Carpenter's Escape From New York.
Originally issued on CD by Demon Records in 1987, this re-issue from Super Tracks was released as a promotional disc (surely to skirt proper licensing fees) in 1999, with about 1:30 additional minutes of Big Trouble score.
"Son of a bitch must pay!" But not you!
See comments for newly-ripped/fixed Big Trouble tracks!
Continuing with Chris Young titles... Here's Swordfish, a spiritual brother to Virtuosity, only this time the contemporary elements were handled by an expert -- D.J. Paul Oakenfold. The results are significantly slicker, albeit no less dated as the "techno" sound Oakenfold was spinning at the time is now more suited to rallying fans at sporting events then it is dancing.
Thankfully the idea of "remixing" a film score died a quick death. Unfortunately we'll never get to hear the crackling contributions of Young minus the merciless loops from Oakenfold.
The action/adventure/thriller genre is really where Young excels. His often over-the-top theatrical style works best when the onscreen antics are completely ludicrous ("Music for Violence and Orchestra", "Wrapped In C4", "Black Ops"). Think of Swordfish as the James Bond score that Christopher Young has never written.
Certainly a step up from Virtuosity, and at this price, how can you complain?
New! Link in comments...
Michael Giacchino at this point is now a fully fledged film composer, but he got his start in videogames. Honing his craft with the first entries in the Medal of Honor series, writing fully symphonic orchestral scores for the WW games, it's no surprise then that Activision and Infinity Ward lured Giacchino to kick off their similiarly themed Call of Duty. The musical results are in the Medal of Honor vein, though with an agitated streak (witness the unison agressive string and pounding drums that open the disc in "Call of Duty"). A firestorm of brass follows, before the brass and strings compete with Giacchino's soaring main theme. It's this cacophony of the patriot tropes and sinister undercurrents that so effectively evoke rambling forces in battle. Call of Duty is a rollicking ride.
Call of Duty was released as an "official soundtrack sampler" via the EB Games (aka Electronics Boutique) chain in the U.S. Recorded in Los Angeles with union musicians, releasing the music commercially at the time was probably too pricey a proposition for the developer.
New! Link in comments...
I don't know a lot about Chris Young's Virtuosity because a lot of it is so terrible I can't listen to the whole thing without scrambling for the skip button.
It's a synthesis of Young's trademark thriller style with a overload of contemporary electronic whizbangery, a lot of which sounds awfully dated, some twelve years after the score was written. Look no further than the infamous "orch hits" in the aptly titled "Techno Turd" if you feel like cringing.
Virtuosity was released in a string of promo titles (along with such "classics" as Hush, Murder at 1600) by the composer and manufactured by the label Intrada. I'm sharing this album by request for Chris Young titles. Look for more (better) titles in the near future.
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Following the success of The Matrix, Don Davis scored this laughably over-the-top actioner with a mix of Matrix-like modernism with flourishes of contemporary rock and synth effects.
While not as popular as his music for the Matrix series, Davis' score infuses the film with a patriotic fervor and a sense of urgency, effectively evoking the chilly Eastern-European locale ("Main Title (Ustao)") and militaristic might of America. The score does descend into temp-tracking reference in the rah-rah finale ("Battle On Thin Ice"), sounding specifically like Jerry Goldsmith's chest-thumping main theme for Air Force One.
Released in 2001 as a promotional disc by the composer shortly after the film's theatrical release. The disc runs 67:20 over 23 tracks.
New! Link in comments...
While not as popular as his music for the Matrix series, Davis' score infuses the film with a patriotic fervor and a sense of urgency, effectively evoking the chilly Eastern-European locale ("Main Title (Ustao)") and militaristic might of America. The score does descend into temp-tracking reference in the rah-rah finale ("Battle On Thin Ice"), sounding specifically like Jerry Goldsmith's chest-thumping main theme for Air Force One.
Released in 2001 as a promotional disc by the composer shortly after the film's theatrical release. The disc runs 67:20 over 23 tracks.
New! Link in comments...
The Boy Who Could Fly - Bruce Broughton
12 Comments Published by Soundtrack Sharity on 7/16/2006 at 8:24 AM.Bruce Broughton must have been the King of the '80s, judging by his prodigious output in that decade. The assignments have gotten lower in profile and farther between for the composer these days, but we'll always have those '80s gems to hold on to. One of which is The Boy Who Could Fly, a fantasy/drama scored by Broughton in 1986.
Broughton's music is appropriately tender, considering the subject matter, anchored on a sweet theme for flute, harp, guitar and strings, which the composer wastes no time establishing in the opening track ("Main Titles/Meeting Eric"). The orchestrations are firmly entrenched in Broughton's sound at the time, i.e., a lot of the filigreed elements ("Military Mission/New Neighbors") are similiar to those in his masterwork, Young Sherlock Holmes.
Originally released on LP as a re-recording by Varese Sarabande shortly after the film's disappointing theatrical run, Percepto Records produced a 1,000 copy promotional disc in 2001 that quickly vanished from specialty retailers.
Anyone ever wonder what happened to Lucy Deakins, who played Millie? Me too.
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Lennie Moore's score for the videogame Outcast helped pave the way for what is now a standard occurrence in the gaming industry -- the full orchestral score. Moore recorded his mammoth effort in Russia with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra with film music favorite William T. Stromberg conducting. The result is not unsurprisingly Soviet in sound, with the large mixed chorus evoking the lumbering might of Basil Poledouris' The Hunt For Red October. However Moore's Outcast is more varied, mixing ethereal chorale with exotic percussion and a rollicking main theme.
Available only through purchasing the game in 1999, this is a limited promotional release produced by Infogrames. The score has been available for download from the game's official site for years, but this is perhaps the best sounding free version on the internet. Highly recommended download. Enjoy!
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Before he started scoring comedies, Theodore Shapiro wrote two standout scores for David Mamet. The first was State and Main, released by RCA Victor on CD. The second was Heist, an underrated, lippy thriller starring Gene Hackman, Danny DeVito and Delroy Lindo delivering classic, profanity-laced Mamet barbs. Shapiro's score harkens back to a '70s aesthetic with bass and a solemn brass theme not unlike Ron Grainer's The Omega Man. The score also has a sharp-edged Goldsmith feel, particularly Goldsmith's smoky Chinatown and aggressive L.A. Confidential. Released only as a promotional disc, and yours for $0. Remember, stay quiet, as quiet as an ant pissing on cotton.
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Moving right along... From action music to... The Tigger Movie!? This smaller classically animated Disney release features a, er, bouncy, score by Harry Gregson-Williams the same year as he co-wrote the score for Chicken Run with John Powell and a year before he and Powell scored Shrek.
Walt Disney Records released a "Songs & Story" album back in 2000 that contained none of Gregson-Williams' score. This promotional features disc 15 tracks, total running time: 30:18.
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The first share on STS is Richard Marvin's fully-orchestral score for U-571, the WW2 actioner Americanized for audiences in the summer of 2000. Similarities to Jerry Goldsmith's Air Force One are strictly co-incidental.
Released as a promotional disc in 2000 as RMCD 01 and manufactured by Super Tracks. 23 tracks, total running time: 62:07.
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Hi and welcome to SoundtrackSHARITY, or STS for short. The idea here is to share "promotional" discs. You know, the ones issued by composers and enterprising soundtrack producers in limited quantities? If you've missed out on these titles then congratulations -- I'm going to save you the cash.
What STS isn't going to be is a mad, feeding-frenzy of free downloads of commercial material. While occasionally there might be an extremely, blazing, out-of-print title available for download, the idea here is to get interesting scores heard even after the economics of film music has determined there just wasn't a market for these titles.
The files will be in 128kbps mp3s (don't whine about compression), zipped and uploaded to Rapidshare. You can either sign up for a paid account with Rapidshare, or use the service for free (but they do limit you to one file per 60-80 mins). While I am sharing these files, I am not going to provide technical support. You'll have to figure out how to download, open and play these files yourself. Requests are welcome, as are shares from you, the visitors.
Remember that not everyone in the soundtrack community has a day job. This blog will ruffle feathers. If you enjoy it, pass the link to trusted friends. Or keep it to yourself and dangle all the cool titles you got here!
What STS isn't going to be is a mad, feeding-frenzy of free downloads of commercial material. While occasionally there might be an extremely, blazing, out-of-print title available for download, the idea here is to get interesting scores heard even after the economics of film music has determined there just wasn't a market for these titles.
The files will be in 128kbps mp3s (don't whine about compression), zipped and uploaded to Rapidshare. You can either sign up for a paid account with Rapidshare, or use the service for free (but they do limit you to one file per 60-80 mins). While I am sharing these files, I am not going to provide technical support. You'll have to figure out how to download, open and play these files yourself. Requests are welcome, as are shares from you, the visitors.
Remember that not everyone in the soundtrack community has a day job. This blog will ruffle feathers. If you enjoy it, pass the link to trusted friends. Or keep it to yourself and dangle all the cool titles you got here!