Dooley skips the Moon & Jupiter, goes straight to 'Mars'

UCLA Wind Ensemble to perform World Premiere of acclaimed 'Mars Underground' score as a suite-to-picture

Multi-talented composer of When a Stranger Calls, DreamWorks' First Flight short, SOCOM video game series and contributor to The Da Vinci Code and Pirates of the Caribbean also to appear.

James Dooley - established composer with a diverse and successful recent repertoire of feature films, animated shorts, video games, theatrical trailers and TV commercials- will appear on Wednesday, November 15th, 2006 at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall of Music. The UCLA Wind Ensemble will perform its first-ever live suite-to-picture performance of portions of Dooley’s original score from the 2005 landmark documentary, The Mars Underground.

The Mars Underground, directed by Scott J. Gill, is a CGI-driven documentary about the possibilities of colonizing Mars. The film focuses primarily on Dr. Robert Zubrin and his grassroots push for human exploration and settlement of the Red Planet. James Cameron was quoted as calling the film “the manifesto of the new space generation.” The film will be screened along with the live music.

The score itself has been critically acclaimed as well. Dooley was given the challenging task of writing music for numerous scenes of the “camera” panning across projected CGI landscapes of Mars and keeping the viewer interested while the landscape races past the screen. His contemporary approach produced a much greater musical presence for The Mars Underground than would normally accompany a documentary, but this was required given the distinct visual journey of the film.

For more information or to purchase tickets for the event, please see the UCLA Event website at calendar.ucla.edu/ or ticketmaster.com.

Samples of James’ scores can be heard on his official website jamesmichaeldooley.com.

New releases 10/24/06

Okay, enough slacking. Let's look at today's new soundtrack releases.

The Nightmare Before Christmas
Walt Disney Records / Music by Danny Elfman
Re-released to coincide with Walt Disney Pictures' limited 3D release of the film, disc one is a straight re-issue of the '93 OST while a second disc of all new material features four Elfman demos ("Making Christmas", "Oogie Boogie's Song", "Kidnap The Sandy Claws" and "This Is Halloween", an alternate version of the demo that was previously released on Elfman's Music For A Darkened Theater Vol. 2 set) and five interpretations of Elfman's songs by Marilyn Manson, Fiona Apple, Fall Out Boy, She Wants Revenge and Panic! At The Disco.

Also new and Elfman related is Lakeshore Records' Nacho Libre, which features dialogue clips, Elfman's "Ramses Suite", tracks from Beck, the immortal "Religious Man" from Mr. Loco and a couple of library tracks (!) from John Cameron and Allan Hawkshaw.

Destroy All Humans! 2
Lakeshore Record s/ Music by Garry Schyman, various
Following the popularity of the original game and score, Lakeshore Records releases 12 tracks of Garry Schyman's evocative (and orchestral) throwback score mixed with period tunes performed by contemporary music acts. Equal parts Herrmann and Barry (by way of Bond).

The perks of being a U.S. iTunes customer: Download Chris Young's The Grudge 2 several weeks early (the disc streets November 7th).

BuySoundtrax: 'Lifeforce'

'Lifeforce' 2CD set to be released by BuySoundtrax. Limited edition expanded soundtrack contains over two hours of music composed by Henry Mancini and Michael Kamen

BuySoundtrax Records will be releasing a 2CD set of music from Lifeforce, composed two legendary composers, Henry Mancini and Michael Kamen. The package will contain the complete original score composed by Mancini, the additional music by Kamen, the Film Version of "Grandson of The Web of Destiny", in addition to the original soundtrack album.

Lifeforce was the film adaptation of the novel The Space Vampires, by Colin Wilson. Director Tobe Hooper, took some liberties with the story to tie it in to the reappearance of Halley's Comet. A space shuttle mission investigating the comet inadvertently brings back a race of space vampires to London who seek to transform the populace into zombies. Cannon Films, felt the title Space Vampires seemed too low budget and the film was renamed Lifeforce.

In 1985 when the vampire science fiction film Lifeforce was in need of a composer, the Academy Award winner Henry Mancini seemed an unlikely choice. But when Hooper's first choice, James Horner, hot off the heels of his work with the first two Star Trek sequels, proved unavailable, Mancini was brought on board.

Henry Mancini may best be recognized for his work with more lighthearted film fare, like Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Pink Panther film series, but earlier in his career Mancini was a member of the music department at Universal Pictures. As such he composed the scores for numerous horror and science fiction films like It Came From Outer Space, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and The Monolith Monsters, which led Hooper to see if Mancini was interested in revisiting the genre.

Mancini composed a provocative, dramatic and dynamic orchestral score, an hour and forty minutes of music, which mostly fell victim to the cutting room floor. When Mancini did not want to go back and compose new materials for the film, itself now 20 minutes shorter, Michael Kamen was called in to fill in the musical blanks. Kamen was an up-and-coming composer, having already completed scores for David Cronenberg and Terry Gilliam.

BuySoundtrax Records presents a limited edition release (3,000 copies) of Lifeforce, featuring Henry Mancini's complete score as recorded in sequence, along with Michael Kamen's additional tracks. The package also includes the original soundtrack recording and a special bonus track, the film version of "Grandson of The Web of Destiny" performed with choir.

Lifeforce-Expanded Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on BuySoundtrax Records is available for pre-orders at www.buysoundtrax.com, and will be in stores on October 17.

Intrada: 'The Pick-Up Artist'

Intrada Announces:

The Pick-Up Artist
Composed and Conducted by Georges Delerue

Sherlock Holmes In New York
Composed by Richard Rodney Bennett
Conducted by Leonard Rosenman

Intrada Special Collection Volume 37

In this installment of the Intrada Special Collection, Intrada presents two New York-based 20th Century Fox film scores. The 1987 romantic film The Pick-Up Artist features Molly Ringwald and Robert Downey, Jr., telling the tale of a womanizer who eventually finds the right girl and is confronted with having to change his dastardly ways. The 1976 telefilm Sherlock Holmes In New York features none other than Roger Moore as Holmes up against his archnemsis Moriarty (John Huston).

Although Delerue wrote a concise 25-minute score for The Pick-Up Artist, most of it was deleted from the film. The score is both wistful and hopeful, conjuring up a spirit that could have lifted the film to an entirely different level if the score had been left intact. Director Ken Russell once described Delerue's gift for enhancing a director's work this way: "If you wanted to evoke a beautifully sunny day and it was raining, Georges' music could bring the sun out. Not many people can do
that. Only God and Georges Delerue." This score is evidence of just that.

In Sherlock Holmes In New York, Richard Rodney Bennett was fresh off Murder On The Orient Express and wrote a compelling adventure score, filled with suspense, unfulfilled romance, and excitement for what was his first American television project.

Both scores were assembled from pristine sounding stereo elements. This release is limited to 1200 units.

For cover art, track listing, and sound samples, please visit Intrada.com.

Eastwood: 'Flags of Our Fathers'

Milan Records will release the score to Flags of Our Fathers featuring music composed by director Clint Eastwood. The soundtrack is due in stores 10/17, while the movie will hit theatres on 10/20. Now for the press release...

Milan Records releases music from the motion picture Flags of Our Fathers, featuring an original score composed by Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood, previously Golden Globe nominated as a composer for his work on Million Dollar Baby. Along with his score, his son Kyle Eastwood also provides re-recordings of classic music from the period. The Milan soundtrack features nostalgic standards arranged by Kyle including works by Irving Berlin, Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne and John Philip Sousa, as well as original recordings by Dinah Shore and Artie Shaw and His Gramercy Five. Milan releases the soundtrack on October 17.

In addition to directing and acting in his films, Clint Eastwood has a long history of involvement with film music, dating back to Escape from Alcatraz. For Bronco Billy, Tightrope and Hearbreak Ridge, Lennie Neuhaus would write the score while Eastwood would write the songs. Starting with Unforgiven and continuing through Space Cowboys, the two wrote the scores together, resulting in a series of successful works. Eastwood has since written the scores to Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby on his own; the latter was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2004. For Flags of our Fathers, Eastwood writes, and Lennie Niehaus continues to orchestrate and conduct.

For tracklist, cover art and audio samples visit milanrecords.com

'Stargate' now, not 'Star' get later

Lots of new releases today on the (U.S.) iTunes store, many before their street dates:

Stargate: Deluxe Edition, David Arnold (Varese)
Lost: Season 2, Michael Giacchino (Varese)
Flyboys, Trevor Rabin (Varese)
Operation Stormbreaker, Alan Parker (Milan)
Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Beginning, Steve Jablonsky (Varese)
The Little Mermaid: 2 Disc SE, Alan Menken (Disney Records)

Also in stores but not on iTunes:

Serenada Schizophrana, Danny Elfman (Sony)