Silva Screen Records is a record company based out of London, formed in 1986 by MD Reynold D'Silva. D'Silva collected nearly 5,000 master recordings, from original movie soundtracks to cult television shows. In addition to selling soundtrack CDs (and now digital MP3s), I did browse their website to discover that they also license out their music to a variety of commercials. I was tempted to fill out for a free One Stop Music Box (a collection of "163 tracks covering over 40 music styles ranging from smooth jazz to symphonic film to Cuban"), but I thought maybe they'd want people in the movie industry looking to license background music.
Anyway, looking over their website, they do have quite an impressive collection, ranging from The Prisoner to Ennio Morricone to Clint Mansell. I should also mention that some of these are re-recordings, by new orchestras.
So below are some of the music that was offered to me. I should mention that some of these will be very brief and that I'm unfamiliar with many of these television shows (which is regional to Canada and the UK). Since I didn't grow up with these, I have no affiliation to them.
Let's get started, shall we?
MICHEL LEGRAND
Legrand is a legendary French composer, working in quite a few movies spanning over three decades. One of his more famous works includes the James Bond soundtrack to Never Say Never Again (1983).
Some key things before I talk about the actual release: (1) this is the first time in over twenty years that the soundtrack's been reissued for the United States and Canada (reissued 23 February 2010), (2) this was the last Sean Connery's James Bond and (3) Legrand replaced John Berry for this soundtrack (if you recall hearing Kristen rambling about how brilliant Berry is).
With that in mind, if you like James Bond, I would recommend getting the soundtrack. Unfortunately, at least to me, I always feel that soundtracks are generally served as background music. It's the type of music you put on while cleaning or doing the dishes.
However, there are some key songs that stood out for me. First is "Jealousy", a very 70s disco-ey and bass-rich song. It sounds almost funky, and I imagine something naughty in this scene (I have the Never Say Never Again on DVD, but I'm not going to rewatch it right now). The other song that caught my attention was "Bahama Island", because of its very Caribbean-style of music.
Of course, we also have the title track, sung by Lani Hall. I'm not sure if it's also her singing on "Une Chanson D'Amour", but I always welcome vocals when it comes to almost all-instrumental albums. 
THE LITTLEST HOBO
Wow, listening to the theme song and instrumental to "The Littlest Hobo" made me wish I grew up in the 70s. Apparently this was originally a Canadian show in the mid-sixties. It got canceled, but came back to CTV in 1979 - and I think this is where the theme song is taken from (hear the original opening theme). The show is about stray German Shepherd who helps random people, similar to Lassie.
Although it's referred to as "The Littlest Hobo theme song", the actual song is called "Maybe Tomorrow", originally sung by Canadian artist Terry Bush, the music is backed by the London Music Works. This version from Silva Screen Music sounds much, much crisper than witnessed here.
Anyway, not much else to add to this one song, except it's a joy to listen to. It's quite perky, considering it's about hobo-ing around and not settling down.
THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
I was really looking forward to reviewing this I Hear A Symphony: The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra perform the Classic Hits of Motown because I do like Motown and was interested in hearing what it would sound like on a grander and epic scale that only the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra can bring.
And they brought it.
In some ways, and not in a comical way, I have to smile at these reinterpretations because I'm just not used to hearing these songs with sweeping violins and amazing cellos and brass instruments. I'm assuming if you've ever heard these type of orchestra-style recordings to pop/rock artists such as Oasis, REM, and U2, then you'll feel right at home with this Motown version.
While it's unfair to dismiss these recordings as simply "Muzak" (this is a company that makes music for elevators), I can see why people will think that... although they'd be wrong because these songs are really exciting and bold. Just think of them as if they're music on a classy movie, not some b-movie.
Admittedly, I don't know an awful lot about Motown, and generally only know the hits. For instance, I don't know "Three Times a Lady" by the Commodores, which is a very slow song on the album. Also, I only know Mick Jagger and David Bowie's version of "Dancing In The Street" (the song was a cover of an old Motown artist, Martha and the Vandellas). I did think a lot about Bowie's hips and Jagger's lips though when I heard this orchestra version.
Other than that, you'll find yourself trying to sing to "My Girl", "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)", "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", and "Get Ready". 
RED RIDING
Released February 23rd on a two-CD set, this compiles the soundtrack to the British made-for-television trilogy Red Riding (2009). Although I consider myself to being a big horror film buff, I have never heard of these films about the Yorkshire Ripper murders, and they are probably not available on Netflix (correction, Netflix has a listing, but these films are not available for rental yet.)
It would seem that the marketing for this material might be for UK residents, since the trilogy was made available as a video on demand via IFC Film library. So the more people that ends up watching this and finding they love the orchestral soundtrack, that they'll order this.
Each score of the film (1974, 1980 and 1983) were written by different composers, Adrian Johnston, Dickon Hinchliffe and Barrington Pheloung, respectively.
Like I said, since I don't really know the movies, listening to the soundtrack I can only imagine that these movies were very, very moody and very, very dark. There was an exception of "Eddie", as this starts off acoustically and feels like a sixties folk song.
I'm kind of partial to the 1980 soundtrack, due to Dickon Hinchliffe. I think he was part of the band the Tindersticks, who were not exactly a pop group. Their music actually sounds like a foreign soundtrack, which I think Hinchliffe explored further with Red Riding 1980. Check out "Your Answer" and you can definitely hear Tindersticks.
Incidentally, these films were based on David Peace's Red Riding books, and he published a final book called Nineteen Eighty-Three in 2002, which I don't think was adapted by IFC.
If you're interested in purchasing any of these soundtracks, as well as a million others, they are available in both CD and digital formats at Silva Screen Music. Their latest release is Chloe Soundtrack, the movie is not out until the end of the month, but Silva has the soundtrack available for purchase.
03/10/2010 02:20:52 ♥ vu (
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| jaklumen wrote:
Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 4:55 AM
|
[this is good] Unfortunately, at least to me, I always feel that soundtracks are generally served as background music.
Heretic! How dare you impugn the greatness of movie soundtracks!
Heh heh heh, nahhh, I'm teasing. Really. But for a time, I was really into collecting soundtracks (I still do, but not as much as I once did). And it was sometimes for musicals as well. I always enjoyed figuring out when a certain song appeared in a film, whether it was orchestral or commercial.
But soundtracks have changed a lot in how they've been presented over the last few decades.
It used to be that soundtracks would have a mixture of commercial tunes with a specific selection of the primary orchestral themes. That seemed to change in 1988 when Warner Bros. released two albums for Batman: one with Danny Elfman's orchestration (not long after he had left Oingo Bingo) and one with songs Prince had written for the film (although only one was actually used). And ever since then, the schism seemed to continue: one album for the orchestral-type music, and one for the songs the pop musicians wrote. Although the soundtrack for Mission: Impossible (the first movie adaptation with Tom Cruise) was written by two members of U2, there was an entire second album with commercial tunes that were never even used in the film.
Of course, I'm biased as a instrumentalist music student in school. But I loved that mixture of contemporary and classical in modern Hollywood soundtracks. I remember being in high school, practicing an adaptation of the overture to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and we got to the presentation of "Everything I Do, I Do It for You" and our moody director was conducting with sweeping flourishes of his baton and saying, "This is the greatest music of the 20th century" and I turned to a friend who was playing bassoon at the time (I was the tuba player) and we wondered aloud if he was referring just to the orchestral presentation or if he was really saying that about Bryan Adams. Heh heh!
and was interested in hearing what it would sound like on a grander and epic scale that only the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra can bring
Reminds me a bit of my father-in-law: he pretty much only likes "classically" presented music and some '60s folk (Pete Seeger). He doesn't like studio-produced stuff and generally will only like such a commercially-produced composition if it's played by an orchestra or sung by a boys' choir. Oh well. We have plenty of common ground on other things.
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