Well, dear readers, when I was a wee sprig of a twig of a tad of a lad of a youth, certain music just “got” to me – the harmonic appealed to me. Why is anyone’s guess. Where does that come from? For example, the music of Mozart doesn’t “get” to me – oh, I suppose I can admire it from afar, but the harmonics of his music just don’t resonate with me. I can tell you from my earliest recollections, which are EARLY, any song that had a major seventh chord “got” to me. In those days, I don’t think many people thought of chords in music. And I certainly didn’t become aware of what that kind of chord was until I was in high school. Oh, I knew the sound immediately – I could just hear it and it always “got” to me. Certain harmonic progressions always “got” to me. Even as far back as 1954, when I saw The High and the Mighty at the Village Theater and then had a 45 of it’s theme, the way it went from its first chord to its second chord (in simple terms let’s just use the key of C – so it goes from a C chord to an E minor chord) “got” to me. In the early days of rock-and-roll, which were just coming in, the standard chords were usually the Heart and Soul chords of C/A minor/D minor 7/G7. I liked those chords – who wouldn’t – but I liked C to E minor whenever I heard songs with that progression – like Tammy sung by Debbie Reynolds. In the 1950s nobody was adding a 2 into a chord – in other words playing the second note from the root – so a C chord with a 2 in it would be C D E G. When I first heard that sound I loved it as much as a major seventh chord, and amazingly if you added the 2 into your major seventh chord you got a major ninth, which was also wonderful. In film music, the first composer I consciously “got” in a major way was Bernard Herrmann, with The Man Who Knew Too Much. I just loved the colors in his music, and the way his music sounded. Obviously I had no clew as to why I loved it, I just did. And every time I’d go to the movies thereafter, I could instantly identify a Herrmann score from the first few notes. I was never wrong. Elmer Bernstein was another film music composer who “got” to me – everything about his music was mesmerizing to me. I liked others, but I always knew with Herrmann and Bernstein that it would “get” to me.
And then I discovered another film composer whose music “got” to me instantly – a man named Hugo Friedhofer. I didn’t see One-Eyed Jacks when it came out, but I did buy the LP because I liked the cover and it was in stereophonic sound. Well, the harmonies in that score were amazing to me – again, it just touched something in me and made me respond in a way that other music didn’t. The way his themes would get to where they were going, the melodic invention, all of it. From then on, I became a huge Friedhofer fan – I went back and listened to anything I could find on LP – The Barbarian and the Geisha, The Young Lions, This Earth is Mine – and all of it was gorgeous and all of it resonated with me musically. Yes, there were other film composers who came along who I also loved, but Friedhofer was always something special. And then the day came when I finally caught up with The Best Years of Our Lives, which I finally saw on one of those late-night movie programs in the 1960s. It instantly became my favorite film score ever and it remains so to this day. The majestic main title music is everything I love in film music and the long Homecoming sequence is maybe my favorite film music cue ever. The “American” sound is so beautifully rendered and the music is just so achingly beautiful, especially when Homer finally returns home – the fusion of image, performance, and music is one of the most magical in all of film.
Eventually, I’d hear almost all of Friedhofer’s oeuvre and I was never ever disappointed. And it wasn’t only the big, orchestral and lush stuff, his noir scores are amazing, too. You can imagine what a treat it was to be able to finally issue a complete recording of One-Eyed Jacks, as well as The Barbarian and the Geisha along with Violent Saturday. All that by way of saying, we have an incredible Friedhofer release coming and I was basking in this man’s glorious music for hours yesterday – a two CD set with three scores that should make any Golden Age fan very happy – for me it’s just a joy to be able to do such a release. And somewhere out in the garage, I still have my Varese Sarabande reissue of the This Earth is Mine LP, signed to me by Mr. Friedhofer. I only wish I’d met him and been able to tell him how important and life-changing his music was to me.
Other than being at the altar of Hugo yesterday, it was a perfectly okay day, although other than listening to stuff I didn’t get all that much done. I got up around ten, answered e-mails, had some telephonic calls, and then went and had a bacon cheeseburger and no fries and, as it turned out, no cheese either, which they apparently forgot to put on the burger. After that, I went and picked up a couple of packages, then did some banking, then came home. One of the packages contained the CD from the Montreal production of The Brain From Planet X in French, so you just know I had to listen to that. It’s just such a trip to hear one’s songs in a different language – I was entranced by it all. Then I listened twice to the new master of the Friedhofer material – once just wasn’t enough for the likes of me. By that time, day was done and done was day, so I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I began going through the new Universal Monsters Blu and Ray box set. I decided to watch the first and last movies in the set: Dracula and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. I’ve never been a huge fan of Dracula – even as a kid it was my least favorite of all the Universal monster movies. But the transfer is pretty terrific and I enjoyed it as much as I’m able to enjoy it. Creature isn’t a favorite either, but I happen to really like Richard Carlson and Richard Denning so to have them both in one film is great – add in Whit Bissell and it’s a lot of actors I like. I’d read some criticisms of the transfer, with one gentleman noting that it was very distracting how one shot would be really sharp then the next shot would be soft and so on and so forth. Well, the reason for that is very simple – it’s not a fault of the transfer, which is, in a word, superb, it’s because the soft shots are all opticals. In other words, you’ll cut from a really detailed shot to a shot with much less detail – if you wait out the duration of that shot it will dissolve or fade out every time – hence, an optical. There are a lot of dissolves in the film. It’s really a reviewer’s job to understand these things and points should not be taken away from a transfer that replicates perfectly what the film should look like. Next up will be Frankenstein.
After that, I listened to a few more mixes from the East Coast Singer’s Christmas album – some of the mixes are very close, while others are just not doing it for me, so we’ll definitely be spending some time finessing things. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really must get a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I have some errands and whatnot to do, hopefully I shall pick up some packages, I’ll definitely begin some liner notes, then I’ll mosey on over to the Hills of Beverly and have a meal at Nate ‘n’ Al’s, after which I will take a one hour walk to see all the new stores and things, as I haven’t walked around the Hills of Beverly in over a decade, maybe longer. Then at seven I’ll be at the Paley Center to see a little seminar they’re doing with my pal Richard Sherman.
Tomorrow, our very own Mr. Nick Redman is coming by for a visit, then we have our second Kritzerland rehearsal. Friday is busy, and Friday night it looks like I’m going to some James Bond film music thing at the Academy. This weekend is a book fair in Pasadena, but I probably won’t get to go – our Saturday stumble-through is an hour earlier than usual, and Sunday I probably won’t have the time or inclination to go before our sound check and show.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora or the Wah-watusi because today is the birthday of dear reader DougR. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to dear reader DougR. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO DEAR READER DOUGR!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up some packages, write, eat, and then attend a seminar. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, as I hit the road to dreamland, where my dreams will be accompanied by the music of Hugo Friedhofer.