The Score Project

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Outrageous Fortune by Alan Silvestri (1987)

Just got another great TV theme uploaded. Falcon Crest by Bill Conti

Dynasty by Bill Conti (1981)

Kritzerland is proud to present a limited edition soundtrack release – world premiere of the complete score:

THELMA & LOUISE 
Music Composed by Hans Zimmer

Sometimes the right people come together at the right time to make the right movie for the right audience. Certainly it happened in 1991 with Thelma & Louise, a film where each of its creative elements came together and resulted in a film that truly struck a chord with audiences and critics. A road movie, a buddy movie, a comedy, a tragedy, Thelma & Louise became an instant classic. Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis are perfection as Thelma and Louise, both delivering multi-layered and iconic performances. Harvey Keitel is their equal as Detective Hal Slocumb, and Michael Madsen, Christopher McDonald, and Brad Pitt are all excellent in supporting roles. 

Every creative component of the film is masterful – from direction, writing, acting, editing, photography, art direction, costuming – it’s all of a piece and that includes the great score by Hans Zimmer. Zimmer, born in 1957, had begun scoring films on his own in the 1980s, with projects such as A World Apart, Paperhouse, and others. But it was in 1988 that he got his big break, scoring the Barry Levinson film Rain Man. Rain Man was a smash, and Zimmer received his first Oscar nomination. Then came Black Rain and Driving Miss Daisy, and since then he has been one of the most successful film composers in history, composing scores for such hits as Days Of Thunder, A League Of Their Own, The Lion King, As Good As It Gets, Crimson Tide, The Rock, The Prince Of Egypt, Gladiator, Hannibal, Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down, Batman Begins, The Da Vinci Code, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3, Kung Fu Panda, Sherlock Holmes, Inception, and many, many others. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards and taken home the prize once – for The Lion King.

Zimmer’s score for Thelma & Louise captures Scott’s visuals and the tone of the film perfectly. While there are a fair number of pop songs used in the movie, it’s Zimmer’s twangy, mournful, exciting, hard-driving, bluesy music that really propels the film and helps give it its distinctive feel – and it features the absolutely mind-bending guitar work of the great Pete Haycock.

Thelma & Louise had a soundtrack release on MCA that was all songs save for one four-minute track, “Thunderbird.” That track was assembled specifically for that album and was not used in the film in that form ever. It basically pieced together parts of three different cues to make the one four-minute track. For this first ever release of the film score, we present all the music as Zimmer recorded it for its use in the film. As sometimes happens, a few of the cues were shortened for the movie, but we left them in their entirety for the CD. As a bonus, we also include the “Main Title” cue exactly as it is edited in the movie (it’s comprised of two score cues). It’s a real pleasure to finally bring Zimmer’s wonderful score to CD – it’s been way too long in coming.

This release is limited to 1200 copies only. The price is $19.98, plus shipping. Go to the item page and click on the link to find out about it.

CD will ship the last week of October – however, never fear, preorders placed directly through Kritzerland usually ship one to five weeks earlier (we’ve been averaging four weeks early). To place an order, see the cover, or hear audio samples, just visit www.kritzerland.com. 

Intrada has finally released Young Guns II by Alan Silvestri. Hurrah! Now I can throw my old bootleg :)

The Score Project has 6134 videos up at http://soundtrackfans.com now. Here’s one of my favorites, Backdraft by Hans Zimmer. Here’s what Dennis Alan Flath has to say about it:

“Backdraft” is a 1991 action thriller film directed by Ron Howard and written by Gregory Widen. The film stars Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rebecca De Mornay, Donald Sutherland, and Robert De Niro. Jason Gedrick and J. T. Walsh co-star in the film.

The film received three Academy Award nominations (Sound Effects Editing, Visual Effects and Best Sound). It also received two nominations at the first annual MTV Movie Awards.

The sons of a Chicago fireman who gave his life in the performance of his duties, firefighting brothers Kurt Russell and William Baldwin carry their lifelong sibling rivalry into their work. Russell is convinced that Baldwin hasn’t got what it takes to remain in the fire department. Baldwin is transferred to a “safe” assignment, assisting arson investigator Robert DeNiro, who is trying to make sense of a series of fires involving an oxygen-induced ball of fire called a backdraft. The investigation reveals a link between corrupt alderman J. T. Walsh and imprisoned pyromaniac Donald Sutherland. The trail of evidence leads Baldwin to suspect that his brother Russell, a much-decorated hero, may be the “inside” man setting up the arsons.

Trivia:

Much of the soundtrack was later used for the Japanese cooking show, Ryôri no tetsujin, AKA “Iron Chef”.

Been listening to a lot of Henry Mancini lately and I have to tell you I’m addicted. He made an awesome theme for the NBC Mystery Movie, one of many I might add. Enjoy!

Here’s something from the archives of the score project, the beautiful track “When Cultures Meet” from the game score Anno 1404: Dawn of Discovery (2009) by Tilman Sillescu & Pierre Langer.