Hour of the Gun
Jerry Goldsmith
" A re recording that out guns and outclasses its original partner "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
I remember the time Varèse Sarabande issued a lovely Goldsmith score in 2005, a score most people couldn't experience due to the unavailability of the original soundtrack of 1991. A score to a western movie that was depicting Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday during their 1881 battles against Ike Clanton and his brothers in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. A movie that was starring James Garner and Jason Robards, 2 celebrated actors at the top of their game. A movie housing a beginning work of a composer who was by then delivering hot compelling music that is still until this day classic material. In fact I remember the time new music was still out gunned by music written nearly 40 years ago.
Hour of the Gun is out gunning all that material, and it does so now in pristine sound quality. This is the first in a series of newly recorded classic Jerry Goldsmith scores, and it couldn't show a bigger difference immediately. One of the remarks I usually have with re recordings is that it projects the music slightly different, nuances that often tell you which composer you're looking for are omitted for a slightly different presentation. For concert performances this is understandable, but not when it concerns re recordings of complete film scores. Well, what Nic Raine and The City of Prague Philharmonic have achieved here is not only bringing Jerry Goldsmith back to the living, but remembering him with music that will out gun most of this year's blockbuster scores.
It's true. Whatever film music is lacking today, be ready to experience it in music that was written so long ago. Showing not only a lack of superiority by most of today's composers, but also the way how films now are approached differently. Just listen to the way the music starts. A simple guitar theme and various use of instrumentation makes it so easy to present an uneasy but equally compelling atmosphere ("Hour of the Gun Main Titles"), enough to make you attentive for what's about to come. The same moody use of the theme continues in "The Aftermath / Family Portrait / Funeral Cortege".
A moment of some relief is noticed in "On the Train / The Painted Desert" while the first sign of Goldsmith's action music doesn't dwell behind too long as well. In "The Visitors" it puts the second part on edge with brief but stout suspense, in "The Ballot Box" it ingeniously sets the main theme on a much beloved sense of high alert and the way he erupts the excitement in almost exotic passion in "Whose Cattle" is pure bliss.
In fact, Hour of the Gun is pretty much a one theme driven score, but the variations and the way Goldsmith colors each different track in a different sound make it so much easier. Like the utterly entertaining "Start Moving / The New Marshalls" which is followed immediately by a complete different version in "The Ambush", a thundering heroic version that literately outclasses much of today's action music through sheer personality. Luckily the best is saved for last when we hear what main themes oughta do best. Namely shine. Wow, are the last 4 minutes of "A Friendly Lie / Hour of the Gun End Titles" and "Hour of the Gun Theme" a treat for the ears and the heart.
The additional bonus comes from The Red Pony. Recently released in full (but in much lesser sound quality), this concert suite is a nice and thoughtful gift for the Goldsmith fans. More the re recording suddenly makes it the score you wanted to hear on the Varèse Sarabande release. The soaring Americana theme in "The Red Pony Main Titles", the playful and the soft version of that theme in "True Love" and the equally stirring version of it in "The Foal" shows a touch of Goldsmith class on an early age.
With over 25 new minutes of music, and a re recording sound quality that makes us wish every old score is presented that way, Hour of the Gun is simply a delightful surprise. Though not the best of Goldsmith at all, there's a kind of quality embedded in the master's writing that puts many scores of today to shame. Plus the basic delight of hearing 14 minutes of music of a score that was recently released in much lesser quality makes this package all the more explosive. It sets the bar high for future re recordings. Something The Salamander fulfilled easily in April 2013.
Favorite Moment - A Friendly Lie / Hour of the Gun "End Titles" (2.57 - 4.09)
Always a candidate for this kind of award, the end of a Goldsmith soundtrack.
Track Listing
1. Hour of the Gun Main Titles (5.16)
2. The Aftermath / Family Portrait / Funeral Cortege (3.14)
3. The Visitors (3.53)
4. The Ballot Box (4.55)
5. On the Train / The Painted Desert (2.07)
6. Start Moving / The New Marshalls (3.33)
7. The Ambush (2.07) Excellent track
8. Where's Spence? (1.28)
9. A Bottle and a Bag / Deliberate Murder (4.49)
10. Doc's Message / A Room for the Night / On the Train Again (7.37)
11. Whose Cattle? (2.42)
12. The Search (7.53)
13. A Friendly Lie / Hour of the Gun "End Titles" (4.13) Excellent track
14. Hour of the Gun "Theme" (2.50) Excellent track
The Red Pony Concert Suite
15. The Red Pony Main Titles (2.41)
16. True Love (2.29)
17. Father's Gift (2.51)
18. A Day's Work (2.01)
19. The Foal (3.14) Excellent track
Total Length: 69.53
Hour of the Gun is out gunning all that material, and it does so now in pristine sound quality. This is the first in a series of newly recorded classic Jerry Goldsmith scores, and it couldn't show a bigger difference immediately. One of the remarks I usually have with re recordings is that it projects the music slightly different, nuances that often tell you which composer you're looking for are omitted for a slightly different presentation. For concert performances this is understandable, but not when it concerns re recordings of complete film scores. Well, what Nic Raine and The City of Prague Philharmonic have achieved here is not only bringing Jerry Goldsmith back to the living, but remembering him with music that will out gun most of this year's blockbuster scores.
It's true. Whatever film music is lacking today, be ready to experience it in music that was written so long ago. Showing not only a lack of superiority by most of today's composers, but also the way how films now are approached differently. Just listen to the way the music starts. A simple guitar theme and various use of instrumentation makes it so easy to present an uneasy but equally compelling atmosphere ("Hour of the Gun Main Titles"), enough to make you attentive for what's about to come. The same moody use of the theme continues in "The Aftermath / Family Portrait / Funeral Cortege".
A moment of some relief is noticed in "On the Train / The Painted Desert" while the first sign of Goldsmith's action music doesn't dwell behind too long as well. In "The Visitors" it puts the second part on edge with brief but stout suspense, in "The Ballot Box" it ingeniously sets the main theme on a much beloved sense of high alert and the way he erupts the excitement in almost exotic passion in "Whose Cattle" is pure bliss.
In fact, Hour of the Gun is pretty much a one theme driven score, but the variations and the way Goldsmith colors each different track in a different sound make it so much easier. Like the utterly entertaining "Start Moving / The New Marshalls" which is followed immediately by a complete different version in "The Ambush", a thundering heroic version that literately outclasses much of today's action music through sheer personality. Luckily the best is saved for last when we hear what main themes oughta do best. Namely shine. Wow, are the last 4 minutes of "A Friendly Lie / Hour of the Gun End Titles" and "Hour of the Gun Theme" a treat for the ears and the heart.
The additional bonus comes from The Red Pony. Recently released in full (but in much lesser sound quality), this concert suite is a nice and thoughtful gift for the Goldsmith fans. More the re recording suddenly makes it the score you wanted to hear on the Varèse Sarabande release. The soaring Americana theme in "The Red Pony Main Titles", the playful and the soft version of that theme in "True Love" and the equally stirring version of it in "The Foal" shows a touch of Goldsmith class on an early age.
With over 25 new minutes of music, and a re recording sound quality that makes us wish every old score is presented that way, Hour of the Gun is simply a delightful surprise. Though not the best of Goldsmith at all, there's a kind of quality embedded in the master's writing that puts many scores of today to shame. Plus the basic delight of hearing 14 minutes of music of a score that was recently released in much lesser quality makes this package all the more explosive. It sets the bar high for future re recordings. Something The Salamander fulfilled easily in April 2013.
Favorite Moment - A Friendly Lie / Hour of the Gun "End Titles" (2.57 - 4.09)
Always a candidate for this kind of award, the end of a Goldsmith soundtrack.
Track Listing
1. Hour of the Gun Main Titles (5.16)
2. The Aftermath / Family Portrait / Funeral Cortege (3.14)
3. The Visitors (3.53)
4. The Ballot Box (4.55)
5. On the Train / The Painted Desert (2.07)
6. Start Moving / The New Marshalls (3.33)
7. The Ambush (2.07) Excellent track
8. Where's Spence? (1.28)
9. A Bottle and a Bag / Deliberate Murder (4.49)
10. Doc's Message / A Room for the Night / On the Train Again (7.37)
11. Whose Cattle? (2.42)
12. The Search (7.53)
13. A Friendly Lie / Hour of the Gun "End Titles" (4.13) Excellent track
14. Hour of the Gun "Theme" (2.50) Excellent track
The Red Pony Concert Suite
15. The Red Pony Main Titles (2.41)
16. True Love (2.29)
17. Father's Gift (2.51)
18. A Day's Work (2.01)
19. The Foal (3.14) Excellent track
Total Length: 69.53