Well, dear readers, today brings the official announcement of the new Kritzerland limited edition CD – the soundtrack to Two For The Seesaw by Andre Previn. Amazingly and happily, our official announcement just happens to coincide with Mr. Previn’s 80th birthday, so a very happy haineshisway.com birthday to Andre Previn. Even though he turned his back on original film scores in the late 1960s, he remains in the pantheon of my favorite film composers. He was a completely unique voice in film scoring – no one sounded like Andre Previn other than Andre Previn. Whether in symphonic mode like The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse and Elmer Gantry, or in jazzy mode like The Subterraneans, or in haunting mode like Two For The Seesaw and Inside Daisy Clover, or in weird mode like Dead Ringer, there was no one like him. He wrote some of my all-time favorite scores, and the films he wrote for, even if dogs, were enhanced immeasurably by his music. Releasing Two For The Seesaw is a dream come true – as a kid, I wore out two stereo LPs of the score. I just couldn’t stop playing it, and since getting the CD master, I haven’t stopped playing IT – over and over again. As I say in the notes, I am addicted to this score. Yes, I’ve got a Seesaw on my back. This was actually supposed to come out a couple of years ago as part the of FSM MGM Treasury box set. But only one side of the three-track stereo masters were found – everything else seemed to be mono, including several sets of mono album masters and even a mono digital 1630 master. But when I actually got the tapes and investigated, there was an oddly marked box and the tape in that box looked just like the side two three-track album master – we put the tape up, played it, and voila – there it was, the side one three-track stereo album master. I was so happy I did a jig. This was not pretty. The music, however, was. The sound was absolutely incredible for something recorded in 1962. In fact, it sounded better than most of what’s recorded today. We remixed the entire album from those three-track tapes (mixing being relative – it’s really just a matter of putting the faders up pretty evenly, since it’s only three tracks). We had to do a little further work to get it to sound clean and shiny – they’d added a little reverb for the LP since the original sessions were close-miked and recorded completely dry, which doesn’t sound good at all. But the reverb back in those days wasn’t optimal – the LP sounded good, but I knew we could get a cleaner, more defined reverb while maintaining the subtle use of it from the original LP. That we did – it took a couple of tries, but when I heard the right one I knew it was perfect. I couldn’t be more pleased with the sound. I cannot recommend this more highly, but I know that’s all subjective and I’m sure there will be people who don’t love it as much as I, just as I am sure this will be a happy discovery for many, IF they take the chance. There won’t be a Second Chance (that’s the name of the main theme from Two For The Seesaw) because we’re hoping this will be a quick sellout, so don’t dawdle Amaryllis – buy it now, buy an extra for a gift. It will be “live” at Kritzerland sometime in the early AM.
At one point, about six years ago, I was thinking of doing an all Previn CD – with my usual great Broadway cast of players. I’d begun the process of choosing songs, but thanks to some behind-the-scenes backstabbing, that and a few other projects didn’t happen. I found so many great songs that I’d never heard before and I think it would have been a terrific album. File it with a few other projects that got away. At least Guy Haines got to sing the beautiful and fairly obscure The Faraway Part Of Town.
Another album that got away was a Newley and Bricusse CD, both together and singly or with other partners. I really wanted to do it, and I think it, too, would have been wonderful. Since I’m writing about both here in these notes, I’m sure someone will have the brilliant idea to do both of them – just like that, all of a sudden. Stranger things have happened – for example, I woke up one morning and found a hickey on my stomach – that was strange.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’ve got a busy little day ahead and I really must get my beauty sleep.
Yesterday was quite a strange day. I got up and did the long jog, packaged up a few orders and took them to the post office, proofed about fifty more pages of the new book, delivered a big box o’ CDs to a local dealer, had a very interesting discussion with said dealer, and then had a half-sandwich at Jerry’s, after which I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled The Money Trap, starring Mr. Glenn Ford, Miss Rita Hayworth, Miss Elke Sommer, and Mr. Ricardo Montalban. What a strange little programmer it is – a late noir, filmed in LA (some great footage of POP just before it would close), with weird characters all doing things they shouldn’t because of the bitch-goddess MONEY. Nothing ends well for anyone in this film. The actors are all fine (I wasn’t quite prepared for how Miss Hayworth looked), and the direction is kinetic (Burt Kennedy), but the script, adapted from a novel by Lionel White (author of Clean Break, which was filmed by Stanley Kubrick as The Killing) just never really clicks. This is a Warners Archive release and of those I’ve seen it’s the best-looking transfer – a very clean black-and-white scope anamorphic transfer.
Today, I hope I’ll be printing out a lot of Kritzerland orders, and I’ll start preparing those boxes for Friday’s delivery of CDs. I’ll also hopefully proof the rest of the book and then the evening should be mine all mine. Tuesday I’ll be having a work session with David Wechter, Wednesday I’m having a breakfast meeting with a singer who wants me to direct and create their act, and I’ll also be taping a radio show with Donald Feltham celebrating our release of Illya Darling. And later in the week, it’s addressing packages, shipping packages and having lots of meetings and meals, and prepping our final series one LACCTAA event. Busy, busy, busy (that is three busys). Oh, and on Thursday I’ll be doing the final mix on the Kevin and Sean DVD. Busier and busier.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, proof, print out lots and lots of orders, and prep packages for shipping of same. Today’s topic of discussion: What was the first film score that made you actually sit up and think, holy moley on rye that is GREAT music and I must have it? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I go for another ride on the Seesaw.