What are you listening to now?
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Batt is mostly known for writing the gobsmackingly beautiful song “Bright Eyes” from WATERSHIP DOWN (one of my favourite film songs), but he did lots of stuff, including fullblown film scores like this 1978 effort – delicious Middle Eastern exotica, orchestra, those east-meets-west tropes I dig so much.
That one I might give a listen.
In recent years I think Mike Batt was mainly known as the songwriter and producer behind Katie Melua. For her he wrote some really great songs.My first access to him was his video musical ZERO ZERO.
Really a weird work. But I always liked his very cinematic use of the orchestra there.
Wasn’t aware of that, thanks for the tip! He’s worked with a lot of great artists over the years, I know that (Melua, I know by name, and I think that’s pretty much it).
I remember Batt from this 1995 hit album:
I only know CARAVANS which is a nice score. I knew that Batt produced a lot but was not exactly aware whom.
I’m not the world’s biggest Horner fan, but I do enjoy many of his scores – STAR TREK II and III among them. As BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS is supposed to be a precursor to those, I wanted to give it a try. And a precursor it is, for sure, with many of the trademarks of harmonization, instrumentation and orchestral color that Horner would develop further in his TREK scores and others. There are also quite a few melodic motifs and phrases that would be reused and expanded upon later. And there are plenty of nods to STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE and STAR WARS, too.
The recording has a reputation of sub-par performances, so I was a little apprehensive about that – you get a bit blasé from listening to all those scores being performed by the world’s best studio musicians or the London Symphony Orchestra. And yes, there is trouble with the intonation here and there, especially in the brass, and some flubbed entrances. But it’s far from as bad as I’d feared. I understand they managed to “hide” some of it in the mastering of this 2023 Intrada release – which has great sound quality, too.
All in all, a surprisingly energetic and entertaining listen. And pretty mature-sounding for a 26-year-old.
So, we’re stuck in a glitch in the space-time continuum here? Cool. 😀
Well, fits as we’re still talking about physical media over here 😉
I came to Danna fairly late in the game (his music was too slow and abstract for my teenage self), but when I did, I totally embraced him. Beautiful electro-acoustic landscapes, often with ethnic elements, always rewarding. Especially his Egoyan collaboration, of course (chilly Canadians do warm Middle Eastern sounds!), of which this is a very nice sampler indeed.
ARARAT is a nice score as well and his NATIVITY STORY is one of my favorite “Christmas albums” 😉
He does not only do nice Middle Eastern sounds. His KAMA SUTRA has lots of Indian and with his brother Jeff he did two concept albums with Celtic sounds that I somehow dig.I am currently listening to the 4CD set EL HOMBRE Y LA TIERRA by Anton Garcia Abril.
https://quartetrecords.com/product/el-hombre-y-la-tierra/One of the album I have listend not I never saw or heard of this documentary series but bought it some years ago on a Quartet Records sale. Of course – doing the THor – 4CDs is a bit long and it could surely be condensed. But it flows quite nicely and not overly dramatic, bombastic or dissonant music mostly. A very “European film score” often reminding me a bit of Delerue and Morricone. I knew Garia Abril only from his italo western score TEXAS ADDIO previously and didn’t know he was a quite active concert composer as well.
ARARAT is a nice score as well and his NATIVITY STORY is one of my favorite “Christmas albums” 😉
He does not only do nice Middle Eastern sounds. His KAMA SUTRA has lots of Indian and with his brother Jeff he did two concept albums with Celtic sounds that I somehow dig.Oh yes, lots of different ethnic modes in his work, for Egoyan, Ang Lee and beyond. ARARAT and NATIVITY STORY are among my favs too. Others include EXOTICA (one of my favourite films as well!), THE ICE STORM, THE SWEET HEREAFTER, LIFE OF PI, ALIAS GRACE and WATER, which he did with A.R. Rahman.
I am currently listening to the 4CD set EL HOMBRE Y LA TIERRA by Anton Garcia Abril.
I remember I got this as a digital promo years ago. I liked quite a few of the tracks, others not so much, but as you say, it was overwhelmingly long. And I never set aside time to create a whittled playlist. Be sure to let us know if you come up with one.
Tucker – Joe Jackson
The topic Joe Jackson, one of my personal Pop Titans, and movie soundtracks isn’t probably one of the luckiest.
There was his rejected score for Mike’s Murder, that at least got an album release, that suffered a little from the second rate song material. Then there was his score for Three Of Hearts which never got any type of realease.
His work for the Coppola movie Tucker can probably seen as Jackson’s most successful excursion into the movie industry. The music is mostly solid 30s big band jazz and it is objectively good. But I am not that much of a big band jazz fan.
Every time I listen to this, I think it’s good. But it doesn’t make me love it.Oh yes, lots of different ethnic modes in his work, for Egoyan, Ang Lee and beyond. ARARAT and NATIVITY STORY are among my favs too. Others include EXOTICA (one of my favourite films as well!), THE ICE STORM, THE SWEET HEREAFTER, LIFE OF PI, ALIAS GRACE and WATER, which he did with A.R. Rahman.
Yeah, not to forget his (only?) western score for Ang Lee’s RIDE WITH THE DEVIL.
I remember I got this as a digital promo years ago. I liked quite a few of the tracks, others not so much, but as you say, it was overwhelmingly long. And I never set aside time to create a whittled playlist. Be sure to let us know if you come up with one.
We’ll see, once I ripped it maybe 😉 I actually rarely do playlists of scores.
Unfortunately, Jon, Amazon disallowed hotlinking (ie linking to their photos other places) years ago, that’s why your picture doesn’t show. I usually use Spotify or Discogs instead.
Fixed it for ya. You have to open the image in a new window, so you get the .jpg or .jpeg ending.
Cool album. Was any of the Michael Gore score ever released?
LOL, I’m too old for this, but thanks.
I don’t think any of the score was ever released.
I am writing an article about the 2026 40th anniversary of this album for Blitzed Magazine, so I have to dive into it.
Unfortunately, Jon, Amazon disallowed hotlinking (ie linking to their photos other places) years ago, that’s why your picture doesn’t show. I usually use Spotify or Discogs instead.
Just to add that most sites don’t allow hotlinking because it eats the server bandwidth and may cause costs. Not that amazon would have to care about that 😉
Many sites provide embedding mechanism like Youtube or Spotify so just pasting the URL on a separate link should be tried first. Amazon does not though it seems…
Two gorgeous scores in a row there, Nick (well, MIDNIGHT EXPRESS also has some harrowing, dissonant passages, but the rest is to die for).
What’s up with that STRAIGHT STORY cover, though, and its Microsoft Paintbrush-style font? Is it a reissue of some kind?
Yes, it’s a re-issue. That’s not the cover of the CD I have, but it’s the cover of the Intrada reissue of the score (both CD and digital release).
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