First some anime soundtracks--

Super Atragon is a 1996 anime feature based on the same novel (Kaitei Gunkan) that the 1964 life-action film Atragon (scored by Ifukube) is based on. However, the film version and the anime version have great differences in story line.

Super Atragon's score by Masamichi Amano is, well, super! It's not so much a film score as it is a war symphony. Really exciting stuff.

Two game station scores on Ever Anime records:

Vagrantstory by Hitoshi Sakimoto was poor noodlings for synthesizer, it runs 2 CDs but gets absolutely nowhere. It's so bad that Media Ventures would disown it.

Tenchu (whose composer I will have to give you at another time) was absolutely VS's opposite, a synth-based score that was just amazing stuff. Now if only Media Ventures scores sounded this good...

A visit to Rocketbaby.net will give you reviews of anime soundtracks, a glimpse at what some covers look like, and interviews with anime composers like Kenji Kawai, whose music I'm very fond of.

Other stuff--

Based on a number of recommendations here at the site, I picked up Holst's The Planets conducted by Charles Dutoit. It's a good, solid, professional version that kicks butt. I haven't heard a variety of versions so I can't call it definitive but it worked for me.

Celluloid Copland, Jonathan Sheffer conducing the Eos Orchestra in 4 suites of Copland film music (actually 1 suite is theater music).

If all re-records were like this and say Broughton's Jason & The Argonauts, you'd never hear me complain.

I've heard The North Star in its original form, but none of these other suites. It's possible that the originals would devour these versions, but these versions are so delightful that even if they were glaringly "off", that is even if there existed better, earlier renditions, these work so well as listening on their own that I guess it wouldn't matter.

The real gem is music composed for a puppet show at the 1939 NY World's Fair, From Sorcery to Science, with it's great opening fanfare which develops into a march finale, and with Chinese and African-styled pieces in between. It isn't as Americana as most Copland is like say The City which is also on this CD, but it shows that Copland was more versitile than his usual sound suggests.

The whole CD gets my 2 thumbs up. Recently JS & the Eos performed Herrmann concert works in NY. One hopes from hearing this CD that a Herrmann CD by these guys is in the works.

And now the biggest shock/surprise of the decade!--

This has been a strange year of many reversals--I left this site and returned, I said kind words about both Horner and Zimmer, and now this, I can't believe it could ever happen!

Nothing can make up for Paul Bateman butchering To Catch A Thief, Dial M For Murder, The Naked and the Dead, and others. I payed hard-earned money for those and my hopes were dashed. I was forked.

But, somehow, those devils, Paul Bateman, Nic Raine and the City of Prague Orchestra working for the sleazemeisters at Silva Screen have come into their own, at least once.

The Cardinal-The Classic Film Music of Jerome Moross is everything it should be. The music is accurate, well-played, it has spirit and great sound.

I had problems with Silva's first Moross CD, but I can't say the same for this one. Nowhere comes that moment where I found myself cringing at an obvious goof. This is just good solid Moross to listen to. It's a dream come true to finally have more new Moross and good versions of some favorites as well.

I traveled to Dayton Ohio last year to see Seven Wonders of the World in Cinerama and may visit Seattle or LA at some point to see it again. One of the highlights of the film is hearing Raksin and Moross in 7 track stereo. And while the Cinerama Preservation Society has prints of 7 Wonders and Search for Paradise (the music exists on its own seperate tracks apart from the rest of the dialogue and effects), I couldn't talk them into handing me a tape. As the music may be in the public domain and was recorded at the Cinerama studios in NY (possibly with a non-union orchestra) they did talk about issuing the tracks some day, probably through John Lasher who issued the This Is Cinerama music from similar tracks, but it has yet to happen.

At least now through Silva here is an opportunity to have and hear music from this film.

This CD is highly, highly recommended. I can only hope that it's not an aberration and that it may lead to more of the same from future Silva releases. In any case, it can only help to confirm to all once again that Moross is one of the champions of film music.

One of the reasons why this CD may stand above some of the others at Silva is that it was supervised (and funded by) by Moross's daughter, but also it was produced by James Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick also writes the CDs well-done liner notes.

My guess is not having Ford Thaxton around to bring his tin ear to the proceedings was a godsend. Ford thinks anything he's around automatically sounds better than the originals. That said, I still think on principle that he should be re-instated, if only so I can beat him up some more.

On the DVD front:

I caught up to the Criterion DVD of The Third Man with no less than 2 hours of supplemental material--a radio episode of the Harry Lime series written and performed by Orson Welles, a radio version of the film with Joseph Cotten, a short intro with Peter Bogdanovich talking about the film, and the real find, footage of Anton Karas playing The Third Man theme on the Zither. The DVD has a number of production photos including the recording of the score. We've all seen photos of recording sessions, a big orchestra in front of a screen. Well here, it's just Anton in a small room sitting at a table in front of the zither looking up at a small screen. Quite quaint.

Welles's BBC series from 1955, Around the World with Orson Welles is on DVD. Both Gorillas in the Mist and A Night to Remember have making of documentaries, the ANTR doc runs 60 minutes.

Lastly, I was reading an interview with Camille Paglia included in her book, Vamps and Tramps. Although her great love is Rock music, she says she writes with the headphones on and listens to movie music. She specifically mentions Ben-Hur as a favorite! Call her what you want, once again she's my hero.

NP: Elegaic Blues (Constant Lambert), a piano piece from British Piano Music of the '20s & '30s performed by Richard Rodney Bennett on EMI Classics CDM 5 65596 2, also a recent acquisition.

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Originally posted by Lou Goldberg:
Back again with the latest:

First some anime soundtracks--

Super Atragon is a 1996 anime feature based on the same novel (Kaitei Gunkan) that the 1964 life-action film Atragon (scored by Ifukube) is based on. However, the film version and the anime version have great differences in story line.

Super Atragon's score by Masamichi Amano is, well, super! It's not so much a film score as it is a war symphony. Really exciting stuff.

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Incidentally, picking up this DVD brought back memories of my dad and I seeing THE THIRD MAN in late 1999 when it was being rereleased to theaters in a remastered print. Before THE THIRD MAN, a short film with Welles called RETURN TO GLENNASCAUL was shown (replete with an introduction by Bogdanovich, if I remember correctly). Anyway, apparently this short has been issued on video at one time under the title of "Orson Welles' Ghost Story," but it's now out-of-print. That's too bad. I'll definitely have to try and track this down sometime.

Rang--Where have you been? We have a tape or two more to trade I hope. Email me.

Ford--Since Ford can't post here to chew me out, he emailed me at home to blow his top (I love how angry he gets). But he was right. While Ford has produced some great re-issues, it was James Fitzpatrick alone that produced all the Silva CDs I loathe so much. Yes, shame on me for not looking at the credits. I saw Ford's name on some Silva thing and assummed his responsibility for all and we all know what assume means. So I can't blame Ford for Silva's previous dreck (but why then does Ford defend that crap?). So why this Moross CD turned out so well is beyond me then. With no Ford to blame I must turn to religion. This is proof there must be a god if the same cohorts as committed those earlier Silva crimes are responsible for this one. Only the divine intervention of providence could make a silk purse from Silva Sow's ear. I'm sorry for slamming you on this one Ford (I can't help it though--It's so much fun). I humbly apologize and accept your rebuke. I forked up as you said. You got me. If there were a blackboard here I'd write 'I'll not kneejerk slam Ford without doing the research' 100 times.

Lou, I wonder if you've seen this little piece about Paglia's BIRDS monograph:

http://www.latrobe.edu.au/www/screeningthepast/shorts/reviews/rev0799/bkbr7a.htm

KAITEI GUNKAN ("Undersea Battleship") was released in 1963, not 1964, albeit just a week or two before the year changed. It was produced in a horrible rush to make the New Year's season, and that often shows in the SFX shortcuts that were taken, although it's still a pretty decent movie.

The very name ATRAGON was conceived by Toho to refer to the monster snake Manda, and Japanese fans are always amazed that AIP chose to call the SUBMARINE "Atragon." Toho added the monster at the last minute for boxoffice purposes, and figured that American viewers would respond more to a movie with a monster's name in the title. AIP, which shortly would concoct the silly title GODZILLA VS. THE THING (like nobody remembered MOTHRA?), decided, for once, to do the honorable thing and call the picture's main "character" Atragon, although it's a damned strange name for a submarine. (The Japanese name for the sub is "Goten-go.")

The screenwriter of the original KAITEI GUNKAN, Shinichi Sekizawa, told me that he dispensed with the novel almost entirely when writing his script. This SUPER ATRAGON thing, of which I've heard before but never seen, might well be a more straight adaptation of the novel.

quote:

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Originally posted by Lou Goldberg:
Based on a number of recommendations here at the site, I picked up Holst's The Planets conducted by Charles Dutoit. It's a good, solid, professional version that kicks butt. I haven't heard a variety of versions so I can't call it definitive but it worked for me.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Lou Goldberg:
BMJ--the Super Atragon CD is on King Records KICA-308. I acquired a copy on tape from someone who has one. I don't know if the CD is still in print.

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Another recent anime score I didn't mention was Ayatsuri Sakon also on Ever Anime records. The composer's name is in Japanese so there is no way I can give it to you right now. The score is a mix of pretty flute melodies, electric giutar, synths, symphony, and traditional Japanese instruments. Not as good as Tenchu. Much better than Vagrantstory.

Rocco--Camille's book on The Birds is not really a straightforward tretise on the film, but Camille's rap on her usual subjects with The Birds as a focal point.

Paglia has read or watched or listened to just about every work of Western culture. She can cover 16,000 years in one sentence. So when she sees a fur coat or a statue that are barely significant in themeselves or as part of the film, she takes them and references them against a web of connections. That's a polite way of saying that she reads into things elements that were not intended but just about every critic does this so I can't hold it against just her. What I love is just where this takes her. True, she's adapting the film to her own theories, but in the process makes you think about the film in ways that at least I hadn't thought about before. And she's personal, she brings her own reactions on things into the argument. I don't think we're meant to see Cathy Brenner in the same light as Camille sees her, but Camille's take on her is hilarious.

Paglia is outrageous but that doesn't mean she's not correct. But The Birds book is more of a postnote to her ideas which are better explained in her other books and interviews. And out of a wider context, The Birds book might appear to be a grab bag of all sorts of assertions. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, and not just on the level of its wordiest or strangest statements, it really does have a consolidated view of what the film is about and how it relates to the culture.

Marian--Yeah, I have the Bernstein Planets to compare it with, and it doesn't have touches I'm used to from listening to that, it has its own approach which worked for me.

BMJ--No problem but I'm not sure just when I can do it. Recording for a number of people right now. Email me at home.

A while back I rented The Ghost and The Shell because it was mentioned
so often. Sorry, but I was rather bored and didn’t finish it. Looked like
a Heavy Metal cartoon dubbed in English. Today I went to the video store
and asked the owner where is Anime section was so I could look for the
movies mentioned by Lou. He turned red and muttered around acting
like I was asking to go into the “back room” where all the XXX videos
are roosting for select clientele. He took me to the section. Sorry
to say Lou’s suggestions weren’t there. I looked through a lot of them.
Some said, “Edited for kids.” From the pictures on the front, my first reaction
was that they were action oriented, used fantasy, and were probably graphically
sexual. Animated Japanese porn? Do American companies make these?
Do they show at theaters? Are well known Japanese composers employed for Anime? I’ve never seen them listed at our local theaters.
If anyone has a few spare minutes, enlighten me. I shall track down a few
with good scores. Thanks.

NP The Ghost and the Darkness

Often the best anime scores are not written for the best anime films/series.

Of all the anime I've seen there have been some tremendous finds but my personal favorites are the original Dirty Pair, Serial Experiments Lain, and The Irresponsible Captain Tylor. I admit I like the various Tenchi Muyo series (you'd think 2 girls fighting over some guy would get really old but its funny in episode after episode). I don't know, I could put together a whole list.

As for the anime scores just as for Hong Kong films, there are TONS of these things, but you rarely know whether it's a score CD or nothing but pop songs or what. Sometimes you have to blow $60 on junk in the hope that it'll turn out.

Yoko Kanno's scores to Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop are universally praised. A lot of people at the board seem to like the Final Fantasy film & game scores. It's pretty hard to say no to Princess Mononoke. I like most of the Kenji Kawai I've heard: Patlabor 2 and Vampire Princess Muyu or is it Vampire Hunter D?, I get all this stuff mixed up.

I'd say punch anime into a search engine and see what shows then look for the most interesting thing. Buying anime is unfortunately expensive. But there are some ways around it. Fansubs--VHS of anime titles not yet available in the US subtitled by fans--can be found and usually purchased for half what a store sold anime goes for. But be prepared to take what you get. I saw some awesome stuff this way: DNA2 and I want to Make Magic. But finding the good stuff is often by chance. Rent what you can find just for the experience, even a XXX anime may have a great score.

I too was not the biggest fan of Ghost in the Shell, the questions it raises about identity are already cliche and handled better elsewhere--though again the score was not bad.

If you get the Cartoon Network, they show anime: Gundam Wing, Tenchi, and Outlaw Star. They also show Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z but these last two, just like Pokemon, are cute for kids (in other words, unwatchable).

And speaking of unwatchable, anime may simply not be your thing. Most of it is just sassy kids from a military academy fighting monsters or rocketing through space. There are exceptions of course: Barefoot Gen, Grave of the Fireflies, A Night on the Galactic Railroad, SE Lain, etc.

NP: The Haunting (it reminds me of Goldsmith)

If you think Disney sticks too religiously to narrative cliches, just wait until you delve further into anime. Alot of it is bunkus passed off as esoterica; a good deal of it is embarassingly childish; and a great deal of it is unapologetically sexist, verging on misogynistic; and, like your experience with Ghost in the Shell, a good deal of anime is downright boring. But, then I'm not 17yrs old anymore with an infinite capacity for digesting nonsense...so I might be bias.

Still, here's one way to get your feet wet: though this P2P thing is a hot button issue right now, fansubs (like Lou mentioned) of current Japanese broadcasts that have not been licensed outside Japan are readily available to download from various Bittorrent sites. http://www.animesuki.com is one example. It's a great way to sample what's current and not so current. In fact, I would never have discovered Ebichu: the Housekeeping Hamster without this sort of distribution (believe me, it's not as innocent as it sounds--it's a sorta South Park and just a bit more, for want of a better description).

Anime movie recommendations that should be at your local Blockbuster:

Akira: plodding, muddled, but boasts superb animiation and a very good electronic score.

You can't go wrong with Gibbli Studios titles like:

Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Kiki's Delivery Service
Spirited Away
Princess Mononoke
Grave of the Fireflies

Just don't let your second introduction to anime be Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend, a 3 part anime feature with a notorious reptutation--and deservedly so. A novice viewer, and female to boot, may not find its creative use of demon tentacles entertaining. Be warned: anything with the word "hentai" in it delves into XXX territory.

Urotsukidoji aside, it must be pointed out that there seems to be an almost equal proportion of male/female fans of anime out there. There are anime websites, blogs and forums galore to choose from. For example: http://www.forums.animeondvd.comubbthreads.php?Cat=

As far as music scores go, well, the same logic applies. Much of it is appallingly derivative, with Williams, Zimmer and Morricone plagarized to no end. Techno, heavy-metal, thrash and "bubble-gum" are the mainstays. But, occasionally you come across a pretty good orchestral score. Of special note joan, is that there a good many prominent women composers involved in scoring over there. For example: http://www.jameswong.com/ykproject/core.html

Some of my favorites, apart from Joe Hisashi's output:

Composer: Kaoru Wada
Inu Yusha Vol's 1 & 2
Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo

Composer: Toshihiko Sato
Gundam Seed

Composer Senjuu Akira
Gundam V assorted titles

and many others...