Soundtrack of the Week: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

As winter weather tears across half of the country, why not curl up with a classic?

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first full-length animated feature (83 minutes in length) in color and with sound, one of Disney’s greatest films, and a pioneering classic tale in film history.

The risk-taking film made use of the multi-plane camera (first used in Disney’s own animated, Oscar-winning Silly Symphonies short, The Old Mill (1937)) to create an illusion of depth. It introduced human characters (the jealous Queen, the Huntsman, the Prince, and Snow White herself) modeled on live actors, and used larger painted cels and drawing boards. It took almost four years and an astronomical (at the time) $1.7 million to

 

create, and was released for its premiere during the Christmas season of 1937. Its single nomination was for Best Score. For the film’s remarkable achievement, Walt Disney was awarded with an Honorary Oscar – the film was “recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon.”

The soundtrack to the film was the first commercially issued film soundtrack. It was released in January 1938 as Songs from Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (with the Same Characters and Sound Effects as in the Film of That Title) and has since seen numerous expansions and reissues.

Soundtrack of the Week: The Magnificent Seven

Ah, the Western. That classic American genre about cowboys, bandits, and the taming of the Wild West. It defined a music genre of its own.

The Magnificent Seven is a 1960 American western film directed by John Sturges about a group of hired gunmen protecting a Mexican village from bandits. In the end, many of the seven are slain in a shootout with the bandits, but ultimately inspire the village to stand up and defend itself.

It is a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film, Seven Samurai.

The film’s score along with the main theme is by Elmer Bernstein. The score was nominated for an Academy Award in 1961. The original soundtrack was not released at the time until reused and rerecorded by Bernstein for the soundtrack of Return of the Seven. Instead electric guitar cover versionsby Al Caiola in the US and John Barry in the UK were successful on the popular charts. A vocal theme not written by Bernstein was used in a trailer.

Starting in 1963, the theme was used in commercials in the USA for Marlboro cigarettes. A similar-sounding (but different) tune was used for Victoria Bitter beer in Australia. The theme was included in the James Bond film Moonraker (also from United Artists). Other uses include a passage on an album by the rock band Yes in the early 1970s; in the 2004 documentary film Fahrenheit 9/11; in the 2005 film The Ringer; as entrance music for the British band James, as well as episodes of The Simpsons that had a “western” theme (mainly in the episode titled “Dude, Where’s My Ranch?”). The opening horn riff in Arthur Conley’s 1967 hit “Sweet Soul Music” is borrowed from the theme.

 

 

Soundtrack of the Week: Blues Brothers

The Blues Brothers was the first movie based on a Saturday Night Live skit, though, certainly not the last.

The story is a tale of redemption for paroled convict Jake (John Belushi) and his brother Elwood (Dan Aykroyd), who take on “a mission from God” to save from foreclosure the Catholic orphanage in which they grew up. To do so they must reunite their rhythm and blues band, The Blues Brothers, and organize a performance to earn $5,000 to pay the tax assessor. Along the way they are targeted by a destructive “mystery woman”, Nazis, and a country and western band—all while being relentlessly pursued by the police.

It earned just under $5 million in its opening weekend and went on to gross more than $115 million in theaters worldwide before its release on home video.

The Blues Brothers: Music from the Soundtrack was released on June 20, 1980 as the second album bythe Blues Brothers Band, which also toured that year to promote the film. “Gimme Some Lovin’” was a Top 20 Billboard hit, peaking at number 18. The album was a followup to their debut, the live album, Briefcase Full of Blues. Later that year they released a second live album, Made in America, which featured the Top 40 track, “Who’s Making Love”.

The songs on the soundtrack album are a noticeably different audio mix than in the film, with a prominent baritone saxophone in the horn line (also heard in the film during “Shake a Tail Feather,” though no bari sax is present), and female backing vocals on “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”, though the band had no backup singers in the film. A number of regular Blues Brothers’ members, including saxophonist Tom Scott and drummer Steve Jordan, perform on the soundtrack album but are not in the film.

 

 

Soundtrack of the Week: The Pink Panther

I’m talking 1963, not the new one with Beyonce.

The Pink Panther is a series of comedy films featuring the bungling French police detective Jacques Clouseau that began in 1963 with the release ofthe film of the same name. The role was originated by, and is most closely associated with, Peter Sellers. Most of the films were directed and co-written by Blake Edwards, with notable theme music composed by Henry Mancini.

Mancini won a record number of Grammy Awards (20), including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995.

In 1952, Mancini joined the Universal Pictures music department. During the next six years, he contributed music to over 100 movies, most notablyThe Creature from the Black Lagoon, It Came from Outer Space, Tarantula, This Island Earth, The Glenn Miller Story (for which he received his first Academy Award nomination), The Benny Goodman Story and Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil. Mancini left Universal-International to work as an independent composer/arranger in 1958. Soon after, he scored the television series Peter Gunn for writer/producer Blake Edwards, the genesis of a relationship which lasted over 35 years and produced nearly 30 films. Together with Alex North, Elmer Bernstein, Leith Stevens and Johnny Mandel, Henry Mancini was one of the pioneers who introduced jazz music into the late romantic orchestral film and TV scores prevalent at the time.

• A variation of “The Pink Panther Theme” performed by Hollywood Studio Orchestra was used in the film Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle as the background music at a strip club.
• From 1976 until 1993, it was used in the pricing game “Safe Crackers” on the U.S. game show The Price Is Right. The theme was played as the doors opened to reveal the game set, and again as “think music” while the contestant played the game.
• In the 5th season of Moonlighting it is used in the episode “Shirts and Skins.”

 

The retro cover art uses the image of the cartoon Pink Panther and incorporates mod elements such as the star above the I; this sets the retro-jazz tone for the music on the album.

Soundtrack of the Week: Rocky Horror Picture Show

Being covered on Glee does not necessarily make you a great artist.

However, the Rocky Horror Picture Show deserved its day in prime time.

Adapted from a British musical stageplay by Richard O’Brien, the film introduced Tim Curry and features Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick along with cast members from the original Kings Road production presented at the Royal Court Theatre, London. In its day it was a highly provocative, though comedic, portrayal of gay and transgender culture, a symbol of LGBT themes, as well as for sexual quirks.

It gained notoriety as a midnight movie in 1977 when audiences began participating with the film in theaters. Rocky Horror is the first film from a major Hollywood studio to be in the midnight movie market.

The soundtrack was released as The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Music From The Motion Picture in 1975.

The world record for number of people performing the “Time Warp” at one time was broken at the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval on October 31st/November 1st 2010. The number was 8, 239.

It’s just a jump to the left…

Soundtrack of the Year: Tron Legacy

Love it or hate it, the Tron: Legacy soundtrack, written by French duo Daft Punk, has been headlining soundtrack news for months.

Not familiar with Daft Punk?

They’re these guys –>

And, they’re behind some music that we’re sure you’ve heard.

Like One More Time and Technologic.

They’re pretty much the perfect fit for a Tron movie.

The soundtrack faced some setbacks, being delayed several times before finally releasing in December. Preorders received a glow-in-the-dark Daft Punk poster. The score features an 85-piece orchestra, recorded at AIR Lyndhurst Studios in London. Kosinski referred to the score as being a mixture of orchestral and electronic elements. Daft Punk’s score was arranged and orchestrated by Joseph Trapanese. The band collaborated with him for two years on the score, from pre-production to completion.

Soundtrack of the Week: Vince Guaradli’s A Charlie Brown Christmas

What is Christmas without hearing the jazzy “Linus & Lucy”? Everyone has that image in their head of Snoopy jamming on a bass, or hopping up and down on Schroeder’s piano. It is among the most popular Christmas music albums of all time. The Vince Guaraldi Trio consisted of Jerry Granelli on drums, Fred Marshall on double bass, and Vince Guaraldi on piano and Hammond organ.

In 1997 Fantasy issued a Starbucks Exclusive edition of the album, sold only through Starbucks retail. This version omitted “Greensleeves” and had very different cover art and new liner notes.

A Charlie Brown Christmas was the first prime-time animated TV special based upon the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz.

Initially sponsored by Coca-Cola, the special aired on CBS from its debut in 1965 through 2000, and has aired on ABC since 2001. For many years it aired only annually, but is now telecast at least twice during the Christmas season. The special has been honored with both an Emmy and Peabody Award.

A Charlie Brown Christmas is also one of CBS’s most successful specials, airing annually more times on that network than even MGM’s classic motion picture The Wizard of Oz. Oz was shown thirty-one times on CBS, but not consecutively as the Charlie Brown special was; between 1968 and 1976, NBC aired the film.

The special has not been seen in its original, uncut form since the first three telecasts in 1965, 1966 and 1967. Much of this is due to the opening and closing credits containing references to Coca-Cola, the show’s original sponsor. Specific, acknowledged cuts are:

• The main titles have Linus crashing into a Coca-Cola sign (complete with the main titles and the creator of this cartoon) after Snoopy has spun both him and Charlie Brown around with Linus’ blanket. In the versions currently available, the viewer never sees where Linus’ trajectory lands him. Instead, they see Charlie Brown landing towards a pine tree which causes more snow to fall on top of him. The removed clip of Linus crashing into a Coca-Cola sign is seen in a 1965 promo for the film.
• In the “fence” scene, where several of the Peanuts gang are attempting to knock cans off a fence with snowballs, Linus is seen knocking down a can with his blanket. In the original airing, this was a Coke can, but it was later replaced with a nondescript can.
• The final end credit originally had a voice-over saying, “Brought to you from the people in your town who bottle Coca-Cola.” This is why the “Hark!” chorus sung at the end trails off oddly before the song would normally end, as an announcer originally did a voice over at this point in the credits to repeat and reemphasize the local bottler’s well wishes to the TV audience (watch clip here: [1]). This edit was never changed, but in newer versions, a quick fade-out and fade-in revealed the “THE END” screen, in order to make the audio-fade seem more natural.

 

 

Soundtrack of the Week: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

All the Who’s down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot, but the Grinch, who lived just North of Whoville, did not.

Did you add the brass flourish between “Grinch” and “who”, because I sure did. No matter how many times I read “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” to myself, I will always hear the voice of Boris Karloff reading it.

In 1966, Chuck Jones, most famous for Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, directed an animated version of Dr. Seuss’s classic “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”. The special runs less than an hour, but is one of the few Christmas specials of the 60′s to still run regularly every year. The short film is narrated by Boris Karloff, who also provides the voice for the Grinch.

The special was originally produced by The Cat in the Hat Productions in association with the television and animation divisions of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.

The album was packaged with the audio of another Seuss classic, “Horton Hears a Who”. Dr. Seuss wrote the lyrics and Thurl Ravenscroft sang “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch”, though he was uncredited. Ravenscroft may be best known for providing the voice of Kellog’s Frosted Flakes’ Tony the Tiger.

Soundtrack of the Week: Home Alone

Home Alone is a defining movie for 80′s babies. Who didn’t dream of protecting their home from invaders?

Home Alone, directed by Chris Columbus, is a very tight film. It portrays an upper class family, the MacCallisters, with light to moderate familial dysfunction. The youngest child, Kevin (Maccaulay Culkin), wishes his would “just disappear”. His wish comes true when he wakes up the next morning, home alone (hey, that’s the title of the movie!). A pair of thieves are hitting every house in the neighborhood and Kevin must defend his house from the invaders while his mother tries to get back from France to be with him.

Every room of the McCallister house is decorated in reds and greens, a conscious decision that elicits an unconscious holiday response to the movie. The gangster movie that Maccaulay Culkin watches is called Angels With Filthy Souls. It was created specifically for the movie and most likely references the 1938 film Angels with Dirty Faces. The tongue-in-cheek sequel, Angels with Even Filthier Souls, appears in the second Home Alone film. While the premise may be silly, the themes of love and family have made this a classic.

Composed by John Williams, the soundtrack was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score and the main title, “Somewhere In My Memory” was nominated for Best Original Song.

The film’s signature tune, “Somewhere in My Memory”, was actually written to ‘run alongside the film’ by Williams. It can be heard in numerous sections of the film, either in full length or fragments, formi

ng the backbone for the film’s soundtrack and setting an innocent, nostalgic mood, mainly depicting Kevin’s struggles and his sorrow, which is reflected in the lyrics of the song. “Somewhere in My Memory” today is performed in many Christmas concerts in schools or professional orchestras and choirs alike across the globe.

Also not to be missed is Home Alone Christmas. While it has the Carol of the Bells version from the movie as well as Somewhere In My Memory, it mostly contains the traditional music from various artists that were featured in both Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

Soundtrack of the Week: White Christmas

Soundtrack Channel is celebrating the season with holiday themed soundtracks and trailers of the week. This week is White Christmas.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the version of “White Christmas” sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide. The song debuted in Irving Berlin’s “Holiday Inn”, starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.

A successful song-and-dance team, Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye), become romantically involved with a sister act, Judy (Vera Ellen) and Betty (Rosemary Clooney) Haynes, and team up to save the failing Vermont inn of their former commanding general. It was the top grossing film of 1954.

The song “Snow” was written by Irving Berlin a while before the film was made but with a different lyric and title and indeed subject (it had nothing to do whatsoever with snow): it was called “Free” and it was recorded by the composer.

Though Rosemary Clooney couldn’t be on the original album due to contractual conflicts, she recorded the song “Sisters” with her real-life sister, Betty Clooney. On the official album, Peggy Lee recorded the song and sang both parts via overdubbing, a new technology in 1954.