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NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR – Dominic Muldowney
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The thought police. Big brother is watching you. Who, if anyone, can claim to be unaware of the legacy left by George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, in which he outlined his terrifying vision of a totalitarian, oppressive future in the land of Oceania. Director Michael Radford, who would later go on to helm the recent Oscar winner Il Postino, adhered faithfully to the guidelines set out by Orwell during filming, using the precise locations and dates set out in the text, assembling a stellar cast including Richard Burton, John Hurt and Cyril Cusack to breathe life into the classic prose.
Upon its release, Nineteen Eighty-Four was a critical and commercial smash hit, but one of the most debated elements of the film surrounded the eventual removal of the original score in favour of pop songs by the British rock group, the Eurythmics. Since the release of Nineteen Eighty-Four, Dominic Muldowney has become one of the most influential composers in English theatre, but has limited his screen work to a few feature films and episodes of the TV series Sharpe. Nineteen Eighty-Four remains his most celebrated cinematic work to date, but until now has been unavailable on CD. This release from the Airstrip One company and producer Christopher Landry marks the first time the complete score has ever been heard on CD. Read more…
THE BEYONDNESS OF THINGS – John Barry
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
If one was to take everything that is good about John Barry’s music and compress it into one, all-encompassing album, you would end up with The Beyondness of Things. Strictly, The Beyondness of Things is not a soundtrack: it is a unique, individual classical piece written by Barry for his own pleasure and released by London Records for us all to enjoy. But, more than that, it is a celebration of the work of a true film music legend – a testament to nearly forty years of dedicated service to the industry, in which time he has composed some of the most well loved and beautiful music the cinema has ever known. It is also a personal odyssey on Barry’s part, in which he has tried to musically sum up his life to date, capturing the innocence and wonder of his childhood in the Yorkshire countryside, the heady heights of fame in America, with all its trappings and temptations, and finally the satisfied, relaxed semi-retirement he enjoys today (I say semi-retirement – he has just released Mercury Rising and has two other scores currently on the back burner, so it is not as though he is not working!) Read more…
AMERICAN HISTORY X – Anne Dudley
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Tony Kaye, the director of American History X, was so incensed when New Line Pictures re-edited his film against his wishes, he threatened to remove his name from the final cut and replace it with Humpty Dumpty. He believed that the core of the film, its very essence, had been stripped away by the barbarous production company, and that the finished product was now only half the movie it used to be. Having seen New Line’s end result, I can only wonder just what Kaye’s original cut was like, because as it stands American History X is still one of the most emotionally shattering, intellectually stimulating, totally amazing movies I have seen in years. Read more…
A RESPECTABLE TRADE – Julian Nott
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The BBC are renowned the world over for their high quality TV features and drama series, and many high profile composers cut their musical teeth on these comparatively small-scale projects. One of Rachel Portman’s first assignments was for the mini-series Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. Debbie Wiseman wrote for sitcoms before getting her big break with Tom & Viv, and people like Harry Gregson-Williams, Barrington Pheloung and Richard Hartley were working on British TV movies as recently as 1996. The latest addition to the list of composers making names for themselves on this side of the pond is Julian Nott. Nott is probably most famous for the bouncy brass band march he wrote for the main titles of the cult Wallace and Gromit animated shorts, so the beautiful, emotional music in A Respectable Trade may come as something of a surprise to those unfamiliar with his other works. Read more…
ARMAGEDDON – Trevor Rabin
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
In the all-spectacle, no-brains world of the Hollywood summer blockbuster, Armageddon became the antithesis of everything that people find wrong with commercial film making. Even the title – “commercial” film making – smacks of financial return being held in higher esteem than artistic merit. Everyone hated it, from the critics at Cannes who laughed during the premiere, to the newspaper hacks who decried the banal dialogue, Bruce Willis’ wooden lead performance, and the glaring implausibilities in the plotline. Despite this, audiences loved it. For all its shortcomings, Armageddon was an out-and-out crowdpleaser, with genuinely spectacular special effects, plenty of action and romance and, in the shape of Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler, two cover-story attractive protagonists. Read more…
BATMAN – Danny Elfman
MOVIE MUSIC UK CLASSICS
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
In 1989 Danny Elfman was a 36-year old newcomer to the world of film music, still better known for his days as the lead singer of the alternative rock band Oingo Boingo than his scoring exploits, which by then had included titles such as hit films like Back to School, Beetlejuice, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Scrooged, but gave no indication of the composer he would become. Then came Batman, director Tim Burton’s gothic re-imagining of the old camp Batman story that, prior to this movie, was something of a joke, known for Adam West and his day-glo costume and Neal Hefti’s kitsch theme music. To say that Burton took the Batman story in a different direction was an understatement in the extreme: instead of being a wisecracking comic figure with a Bat-gadget for every occasion, he became a tortured, tragic anti-hero clad in black leather, struggling with his own inner demons while simultaneously dealing with master criminals in a dirty, dangerous Gotham City. Read more…
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