The Silver Screen Oasis

Thank you, Fernando. You are very kind! I don't want to be braggin', just sharing. I hope I didn't sound too pompous...

Not at all Christy...

I posted a notice in "Gone With or Without Fanfare" about the death of John Barry. He has long been my favorite film composer. He seemed to have two distinct musical time frames that separate about the time of "Somewhere In Time."

Everyone is certainly familiar with the Bond films but I can't say I am all that familiar with most of his other pre 1980 works but he certainly had a successful non-Bond career. Then with "Somewhere In Time" the sound changed. His work became more heavily string based. The brass was more French Horn with trumpet support and almost more melodic. (That is not to say he wasn't before.) Following "Out of Africa" where he wrote about 35 minutes of music that worked in on a 3 hour film. "Dances With Wolves" and "Chaplin" followed. Even lousy films like "The Scarlet Letter" and "The Specialist" had his music to make them bearable.

He wasn't beyond experimentation, at least to my ears, as his Bond film for "The Living Daylights" tackled an electronic/dance sound built in with his melodies. It was certainly a different sound from his other Bond work.

Many of his themes were popular songs. After the Bond themes he had hits from "Born Free" and "Midnight Cowboy." Even the theme from "Dances With Wolves" had a single release.

If you're looking for a compilation album to get I suggest "Moviola." It has a new, is slightly similar, treatment from themes from several decades. Some of the themes include "Body Heat," "Mary, Queen of Scots."

If you're at all a fan two albums, "The Beyondness of Things" and "Eternal Echoes" are a fine and soothing collection of melodies.

There is plenty of other soundtracks to enjoy.

Some of you have mentioned Doris Day in your posts and today I read that Doris has an album called "MY Heart" coming out in the fall. She has worked with Bruce Johnston who has Beach Boys connections (as did her son Terry.)

Recently I have been enjoying Alan Parsons. Solo works for piano as well as the Orchestral Suites from Tchaikovsky have also been filling my music time.

I think it is a great song. Two for one. And I think I read Jimmy Webb doesn't know what some of it is about.

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A few I've been listening to:

She & Him--Volume Two--Zooey Deschanel is not only a good actress, she's a good singer/songwriter, too. Think late 60s girl group

PJ Harvey--Let England Shake--Peej gets political. And it suits her well.

Alice Cooper--Love it to Death--my sojourn into celeb name-checks led me to revisit this classic

Buckingham/Nicks--I finally put this album on CD

Dorothy Dandridge--Smooth Operator--current cooking cd

The Monkees--Head Soundtrack--recently watched the Blu-ray of the film and had to pull this out. Porpoise Song is about as good as pop/rock can get.

Kate Bush--Director's Cut--Any new Bush music is cause for celebration. Still scratching my head about the "why" on this, but it's still great. Not sure how she did it, but the already perfect song This Woman's Work is even more perfect.

Your lists always amaze me. Any idea how many CDs/LPs/tapes populate your library?

A day late, but posted by Paul today:
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The remastered Moody Blues "A Question of Balance" now "sits comfortably" in my collection. A favorite --

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For some reason The Moody Blues have been mostly under my radar. Other than a so-so best of collection, the only album I have is Days of Future Past. I'll have to check out A Question of Balance

movieman1957 wrote:Your lists always amaze me. Any idea how many CDs/LPs/tapes populate your library?

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Sorry, didn't see this earlier.

I have somewhere just short of 5,000 CDs. (Classical not included)
LPs are somewhere in the 2,500 area (and boy did the movers' love seeing them)
No store-bought cassette tapes (I'd buy blank tapes and dub over the LPs.)
Somewhere I still have nine or so 8-track tapes, too. (Which may explain why every time I hear Foreigner's Cold As Ice, I still feel compelled to fade the song out in the middle, wait a few seconds, and then fade it back up again.)

Holy cow!!! Did you build on an extra room? I'm not anywhere near that kind of collection and sometimes I'll stop myself from buying thinking I'll never get to listen to it often enough. I have that feeling now about my classical collection. If I can't fine time to listen to a whole piece I won't start it. (As long as I've listened to classical music I still have a hard time telling one Mozart piano concerto from another sometimes, as good as they are, it is my own lack of registration that annoys me about that situation.)

I have the same thing on music I had on an 8 Track from almost 40 years ago. "All Things Must Pass" still has a fade in "I Dig Love" that I am expecting. (There were others.)

I really enjoy The Moody Blues. Of the original seven I always enjoyed "Every Good Boy Deserves Favor" and "To Our Children's Children's Children" most. I find the writing of the music interesting as they often have unusual chord progressions and I think they have the most distinctive sound.

I have always been amazed at how many "collections" they have issued and still they must sell. There is a new one out later this month but I think they are all remastered. I read in an interview that Hayward said some of the masters were with different companies and he was able to get them all together so that generates one more collection.

movieman1957 wrote:Holy cow!!! Did you build on an extra room? I'm not anywhere near that kind of collection and sometimes I'll stop myself from buying thinking I'll never get to listen to it often enough.

Years ago I started putting the CDs and liner notes into storage-wallets. My garage is filled with boxes of empty cases. Only the "choice" discs (about 100 or so) are in a custom bookcase for quick access.

I have music on most of the time and since I was a kid the "rule" was that a new album didn't get filed away until I'd played it at least three times (but usually five). The rule still applies and has, more times than I can count, made me appreciate an album that, upon first listen, I'd hated (Abbey Road most notably).

movieman1957 wrote:I have the same thing on music I had on an 8 Track from almost 40 years ago. "All Things Must Pass" still has a fade in "I Dig Love" that I am expecting. (There were others.)

The 8-track was one wacky idea, wasn't it? The tapes I have were hand-me-downs from my sister. I know they included Pink Floyd's Animals, one of my favorite Floyd albums, and I'm sure in this case, the 8-track had additional music not found on the album. She also had a great Doors collection, Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine, which I later learned wasn't a greatest hits collection, but just a great collection. Never made it to CD, though. (My sister had great taste in music until the 80s. When she started groovin' to Kajagoogoo, I knew I'd lost her.)

I've fallen madly in love with the Quebe Sisters from Fort Worth, TX. The Andrews Sisters meet Bob Wills! A match made in musical heaven.

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They even do Duke Ellington!
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If only I were home instead of here.

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and

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