First off, it's great that Chandos has been keeping up their recording of classic British Film Music. 2 Arnold, 2 Vaughan-Williams, 1 Bax, 1 Bliss, 1 Rawsthorne, 2 Alywn, 1 RR Bennett, 1 Goodwin, 2 Ireland (the 2 suites from his one score), 1 Addinsell, and something like 5 or 6 Walton makes for a pretty good track record. Some of their renditions could have been a tad closer to the mark but the gap isn't as wide as it is with a lot of other company's re-recordings.

And now we get Clifton Parker. I've been a fan of Parker's ever since hearing his Damn The Defiant! score as a teen. With a big sweeping theme and lots of neat atmosphere besides it's one of the great British film scores and that 29 minute Colpix LP of it is one of my cherished possessions.

But unfortunately that was all the Parker there was to have on LP, that, a Stanley Black recording of Western Approaches, a version of the Sink the Bismarck! march I was never able to acquire, and a poor sounding cue from the 1959 version of The 39 Steps that was on a Citadel LP of acetates--the rest of the scores you had to hear in the films themselves.

A few Parker odds and ends later made it to cd: a 40s recording of Western Approaches, Curse of the Demon, a poor Silva version of Sink The Bismarck! and the classical overture The Glass Slipper (this was recently followed by a cd of classical works by Brit film composers that has another overture and two short ballet pieces that Parker composed but which didn't strike me as special the one time I've played them so far). There is a Brit cd that has a 40s recording on the same Glass Slipper overture on it conducted by Charles Williams.

And now we get a Chandos hopefully with Western Approaches (and perhaps more than just its well-known seascape), Damn The Defiant!, Treasure Island, The Hellfire Club, Sink The Bismarck, The 39 Steps, The Blue Lagoon, Circle of Deception, Blanche Fury and others. We'll have to see just what scores were still in existance to record, what the selections are, and how they turned out.

Nevertheless, from the Parker that has made an impression on me over the years, I have to rate him highly and if the disc does any justice to his work than it's a no-brainer you should pick it up.

Also, Chandos recording Parker is a good sign. It's not too chancy to do RVW and Walton. It's another thing to put out a Parker disc where people aren't as familiar with both him and the scores. Hopefully this means Chandos may be more willing to do scores and composers that really need to be heard again.

Imagine a whole line of Chandos British film music cds, even for composers who have seen some more light than others: Brian Easdale, Laurie Johnson, John Addison, Walter Leigh, Francis Chagrin, Anthony Collins, Benjamin Frankel, Robert Farnon, John Dankworth, Ken Thorne, James Bernard, Gerard Schurmann, Constant Lambert, Allan Gray, Mischa Spoliansky, Charles Williams, etc.

But even if the totality of my dreams are yet to be fulfilled, a Parker cd is a giant step in the right direction, something that I never expected that will be very welcome indeed.

Here's the track listing for you...

1 - 5 Suite from Treasure Island 23.35

6 Seascape from Western Approaches 4.37

9 - 12 The Sword And The Rose 7.23

13 March from Sea Of Sand 3.10

14 The Blue Lagoon 9.15

15 Night Of The Demon 3.02

16 Virgin Island : A Caribbean Rhapsody 9.24

17 March from Sink The Bismark 4.19

18 Blue Pullman 15.34

Parker was a great composer. I remember very well NIGHT (CURSE) OF THE DEMON, THE 39 STEPS, and WESTERN APPROACHES. I have that last one on maybe the Stanley Black thing that Lou mentions. Hugely interesting composer, very vibrant melodies.

I was very disappointed by his 'The Film Music Of Ron Goodwin', I was hoping there'd be some Village of the Damned, The Day Of The Triffids or even some of that fun scoring from Norman Wisdom's 'The Early Bird' but no such luck!

RG's conducting is solid but sometimes lacking in something. His version of the Malcolm Arnold Roots of Heaven overture just didn't cut it. Too quick, too much percussion. Gavin Sutherland did a better version of it on one of his recent cds and it makes me wish he was doing the Chandos ones as well.

On the other hand, his renditions have been decent and pass muster, much more so than a lot of others I could and have named before.

Yes, I've heard some people voice their disappointment over the new Ron Goodwin release. Maybe VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED and DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS weren't hugely attractive to the man in the street. A pity, but it gives us something else to hope for in the future. I mean, who would have ever thought that THE SKULL would see the light of day? I'd really like to hear this. It's only 15 or 20 minutes worth (and the score is quite extensive), but it's a start - if it's done right. Anyone got this?

The SCOTT OF THE ANTARTIC score is surprisingly quite different from the Symphony, anyway, you don't have it and obviously have no love of film music....your a lost cause mate!

I'd love to hear an extensive album of the music of BRIAN EASDALE, particularly The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus....if it's by Gamba Prawn Rumon Cocktail then so be it....GIVE ME THE FRIGGIN MUSIC!!

OK, the Parker arrived and on first play I was disappointed. I hate to diss the thing since it's so great that Chandos put out a whole CD of Parker in the first place, really they have to be commended for doing it, but just the same, I had problems with their recording.

First off, they treat the music like concert works, no compression of highs and lows as film music should have. Once again it sounds as if I'm in the 2nd Balcony listening to these works.

Worse, much worse, is that they have no umph or edge. After wanting a great Sink the Bismarck for years and really rankling over the piss poor Silva version, I get this namby-pamby Chandos thing with Rumon and the BBC playing it like it's a Mozart overture. This piece is supposed to have bite and sharp edges but you won't hear them in this version. Likewise, Kenneth Alwyn did a better job of the Night of the Demon titles on his Horror! album. Once again this conductor/orchestra combo is too gentile with the thing.

And its not that they aren't getting the tempi right or playing the notes but the versions are just lackluster.

I've only played the disc once and sometimes to go and review a recording from one play is unfair as some can tend to grow on you. But having had high expectations for this and high standards in general, I can't say I was as thrilled as I had hoped to be at this point. We'll see, maybe there's more to say about it after a few more plays.

There's a side issue as well. The liner notes discuss mounds of concert and film work that Parker wrote over his lifetime. I mean, if the sheet music exists, there is a ton of stuff by him out there. So where is it all? All these songs and scores and choir works and operas and whatnot...where are the recordings? Not that I'd be so thrilled to have modern orchestras tackle them if they're just going to drop the ball, but it seems as if Parker was very prolific and all his music is sitting gathering dust if it is in existance at all. That strikes me as a huge and sad shame and over sight.

And so it was sheer torture to have the liner notes talk about all of this music. No one can hear any of it. You might as well talk about the wonders of Atlantis. I'd tell Chandos to get off their butts and record this stuff but I've wanted the Parker album they did do forever and they still didn't come through on it.

So now I'm bumming and scared. Next year Chandos will probably go ahead and finally tackle a Brian Easdale album and what if it sucks too? Then what'll I do? Finally music I've wanted forever but in a form that just makes me bleed.

Oh, I'm so angry at this world. That all of the originals weren't kept, sheet music, tapes, acetates, etc. and released at the time, that all the union and other red tape and commercial concerns have gotten in the way of issuing what does exist today just destroys me. Only now are we catching up to what we should have known from the start and its just so late for so much. It's sad we have to talk about cultural artifacts from the 20th Century as if they were species that died off and can never return. And trust me, if the human race survives, I won't be the first or alone is saying what follows. 200 years from now they'll all be moaning about 1930-1990, the lost scores and recordings, the inability for orchestras to be any good afterwards. Fists will clench and raise about what a bunch of cultural philistines we were for not recognizing the value of this material, for losing it, and for not being able to reproduce it.

Either that or no one will be able to tell the difference. It's possible we've already lost our taste buds and are living in a decadence with poor craftsmanship that people from the 17th Century would be appalled by, who knows? But when I hear the music in the films or historical recordings I can tell that they had a higher quality that is lost and that modern orchestras can't reach any more. Ugh.

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