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Now for some labels to celebrate these anniversaries and reissue expanded scores for Forbidden Zone, Pee Wee, Nightbreed, Dick Tracy, Darkman, Edward Scissorhands, and The Flash (in volumes like Batman: The Animated Series) I know this is only going to happen in my dreams. But hey Back to the Future finally got released. So…..
Descent Into Mystery Wrote:
In 1995, Elfman
> celebrated his 10th anniversary by composing three
> movies that would signal a change in his style:
> “Dolores Claiborne”, “To Die For”, and “Dead
> Presidents”.Well, that’s somewhat of a subjective assessment. I personally put MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE as THE defining moment in his change of style, even though there were hints of it in stuff like DOLORES too. M:I just seemed like the first score that was almost through-the-core radical compared to much of his earlier output.
Still, thanks for pointing out the anniversaries. There’s always an anniversary.
Well, you’re right, Mission : Imposible was different… But I think Descent Into Mystery is right.
Dolores Claiborne was the first giant step. It was one of his first less-theme-based score. Don’t get me wrong, there are beautiful themes in Dolores, but they’re not the heart of the score. It’s much more complex. He created new textures for that score. A new way of using the strings. A new atmosphere, and he kept developping these textures later on, specially with “Extreme Measures” (a score that everybody keeps ignoring, for some reason).Then, “To Die For” was surprising as well, because it took you to unexpected areas. For example, the Main Titles start with a typicall Elfman-old-fairy-style melody, and suddenly turns into hard rock. It was, I believe, the first time he really mixed that rock-guitar sound with his film music style. (In my opinion, Midnight Run doesn’t count, because it wasn’t an orchestral score. It sounded more like an Oingo Boingo instrumental album). Actually, To Die For’s main titles always made me think of some sort of Schizophrenia. I remember Danny talking about this duality of being a rock songwriter and a classical orchestra film composer in an interview back in the days, and this music really reflected that duality perfectly. Pretty happy he ended up writing a whole piece based on Schizophrenia.
And “Dead Presidents” and also “Freeway” were the start of his “experimental” universe. With the creation of new sounds, weird percussions, electronics mixed with orchestra and electric guitars.
Then came Mission : Impossible, where he continued using the string textures of Dolores Claiborne, some of his old style action composition, combined with some new sound design and percussion ideas that he had started to developp with Dead Presidents or Freeway…
I have it listed as ’85, but that is clearly wrong! I think the official date for FZ is ’82.
I actually just re-watched PEE-WEE on Friday night and wondered when the complete score – as recorded for the film – would be released. I beloeve that is up to Varese as they hold the album rights.
Stay tuned for THE FLASH. That’s coming in 2010
Ryan
You missed an obvious Descent Into Mystery, as “To Die For” is the first collaboration between Van Sant and Elfman; probably his best after his love story with Burton.
Great job anyway !I’d place his Sam Raimi collaborations above his Gus Van Sant ones. “Darkman” is one of his best. The “March of the Dead” theme from “Army of Darkness” is another classic. I’m not a fan, but a lot of people here seem to love the “A Simple Plan” score. And, of course, there’s the two “Spider-Man” movie scores. Those two, plus the re-uses in the third one, kept Elfman relevant to the general public in the `00s.
Agreed but I find his Van Sant scores more creative. In addition, the film themselves are better but that’s another subject…
Oops, small correction, Forbidden Zone started filming in 1980, and, according to the Boingo book, it wasn’t released in theaters until “82-83.”
The real question being “When Richard Elfman got the idea for the film ?” And I want a specific day of the week, damned !
Yes, I’m not denying there were elements of “something to come” in the mentioned scores during the mid 90’s, but it was really M:I that was THE consistent break from start to finish; especially regarding the whole contrapuntal writing wherein he “messes up” the homophony by juxtaposing two constrasting melodic lines and all kinds of harsh harmonies and dissonance, which would be one of the main trademarks of his style to this day.
rkeaveney Wrote:
> Stay tuned for THE FLASH. That’s coming in 2010
>
> RyanFor real. Where did you hear this ? What label is releasing it ?
I guess it’s gonna be Lala Land, like the Batman Animated series… But it’s only a guess…
By the way, what happened with Lala Land’s Scrooged release ? Is it still going to happen ?
Is “Flash” even popular enough for a CD sale? That show hasn’t been on the air in, well, 20 years. I don’t think most people even remember that show.
Our first anniversary is coming up. February 16. Twenty years ago on that day, “Nightbreed” was released in theaters.
Music Composed by Danny Elfman
Conducted by Shirley Walker
Orchestrations by Steve Bartek and Shirley Walker
Vocal Performances by The L.A. Master Chorale
Recorded by Bobby Fernandez and Shawn Murphy / Mixed by Shawn Murphy
Album Produced by Danny Elfman and Steve Bartek“Once again it was time for me to stretch out…Combining dark/fun/sweet/tribal all into one. The great joy in the score for me, other than working for Clive Barker, was being able to use the children’s voices and a whole slew of ethnic drums and instruments together with an orchestra, in an attempt to bring a unique musical tone to the film.”
– Danny ElfmanWhen I listen to Nightbreed, I am almost immediately reminded of the classic children’s story “Where The Wild Things Are” By Maurice Sendak. Equal parts dreamy magic and foreboding monstrous danger, Nightbreed cleverly mixes soothing ethnic percussion, woody riffs and calming choir (both adult and children). Ultimately resulting into a score fully capable of transporting you through visceral action and stunning beauty.
-RyanOur second anniversary is coming up. June 15. Twenty years ago on that date, Dick Tracy was released.
Music Composed by Danny Elfman
Conducted by Shirley Walker
Orchestrations by Steve Bartek, Additional Orchestrations by Shirley Walker and Jack Hayes
Recorded by Dennis Sands, Album Mixed by Shawn Murphy
Album Produced by Danny Elfman, Steve Bartek and Bob Badami“Mr. Beatty’s colorful dreamscape and characters gave me a much desired chance to write something big, old-fashioned romanticism on a grand scale. I tip my hat to Mr. Gershwin on this one.“
– Danny Elfman
Dick Tracy, to me, has never been a terribly personal or favorite score. Probably due to the film being a snooze, Danny Elfman tries to work overtime to inject some sort of vigor into the lavish Disney film directed and starring Warren Beatty as Tracy.
The score marks and interesting evolution of Danny Elfman’s style in that it’s precise cues, which are extremely dependent on the film’s action, are somewhat new. Danny’s previous scores were always detailed in their accompaniment to the action, but Dick Tracy seems to be the point where scores like Batman Returns were born.
– Ryan
Impressive. You actually remember which DATES these soundtracks were released? I barely remember the YEAR.
Yesterday (August 2) was the 25th anniversary of Weird Science.
Monday, August 9 is the 25th anniversary of Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. The movie that started it all.
Tuesday, August 24 is the 20th anniversary of Darkman.
Music Composed by Danny Elfman
Conducted by Shirley Walker
Orchestrations by Steve Bartek
Recorded by Robert Fernandez, Mixed by Dennis Sands and Shawn Murphy
Album Produced by Danny Elfman“I loved writing this score. Again old-fashioned and melodramatic, but in a way that I’m crazy about. Sam Raimi has a wonderful visual style that lends itself easily to music. It was an enormous relief writing long, extended musical sequences, something which is very rare in modern films. No reason to hold back on this one.” – Danny Elfman
Darkman is a film I hold in very high regard. A lot of folks just don’t appreciate Sam Raimi’s high-octane take on the comic book hero as tortured loner. The film has it all: amazing visuals, quick pacing, fine performances, memorable setpieces, humor, scares, romance, sadness — and great music. Darkman is the team-up of my favorite director, Raimi, with my favorite composer, Elfman. Can it get any better then when these two work together?
The film and score work hand in hand. Danny Elfman captures all sides of the Darkman character: the rage, the isolation, the love-lost for Julie (Frances McDormand). Liam Neeson may have given Darkman life, but it’s Elfman’s music that is the air Darkman breathes. Darkman was written in that super-fertile period for Elfman that was the early 1990’s, so his orchestrations are thick and feature plenty of orchestral might. Of note is the brass-heavy main theme stated, in traditional Elfman fashion for the era, in “Main Titles”. Also par for the course was the ingenious variations on the main theme, Elfman weaves it in and out of the score in many guises, including a circus motif (“Carnival From Hell”) which starts out vibrant and quickly descends into hell. The two concluding tracks “High Steel” and “Finale/End Credits” are among the best, with “High Steel” featuring some of Elfman’s most dynamic brass writing ever.
The Darkman album seems like it’s available everywhere, but is no longer available at the online retailer Amazon.com. If you see a copy, grab it before it disappears. – Ryan Keaveney
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