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William Stromberg is conducting a film music concert with the Golden State Pops Orchestra in
MYSTERIOUS
KING KONG (Suite) - Max Steiner
NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS - Danny Elfman
TWILGHT ZONE - arranged by Stu Phillips
Sherman Oaks, CA – September 4, 2008 - There are few things as rewarding as listening to a great composer’s music written at the peak of his power and coming from the depths of his own soul.
So it is with Tribute Film Classics’ richly realized rerecordings of Bernard Herrmann’s scores for The Kentuckian (1955) and Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot (1957). Both are wonderfully expressive examples of
In his only directorial effort, Burt Lancaster also stars as The Kentuckian, a frontiersman with a yearning to leave
Tribute score reconstructionist John Morgan adds, “Since this 2008 rerecording would include all the music Herrmann wrote for the film and would contain forty-eight separately titled cues, we put many of the short cues together without pause to maintain a solid, rewarding listening experience. Due to Herrmann’s inherent musicianship, these cues fit together beautifully...”
Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot is one of Herrmann’s undiscovered treasures for many film-music enthusiasts. The film was created to run exclusively in the specially designed twin Patriot Theaters in Colonial Williamsburg. It first premiered in March of 1957 and is currently the longest-running motion picture ever: fifty-one years and counting. Herrmann scored
Steven C. Smith, author of the acclaimed A Heart at Fire’s Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann, says, “In
As with previous Tribute releases, the music is performed to perfection by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra under the baton of William T. Stromberg, who says, “Herrmann had a gift for writing wonderfully nostalgic and expressive
Included with the CD is a 32-page deluxe booklet beautifully designed by Jim Titus, with a Herrmann overview by Steven C. Smith and exhaustive cue-by-cue analysis of both scores by Kevin Scott.
The expert production and distribution of Tribute Film Classics score CDs is by Screen Archives Entertainment.
"Screen Archives Entertainment is one of the largest distributors of soundtracks and movie music in the world. SAE even produces exhaustive restorative film music recordings under its own label, working with major studios, composer estates, and universities to preserve music that would otherwise be lost to deteriorating celluloid."
That’s part of what I wrote last year for SAE’s Amazon information. I do go on a lot more about Craig, but it’s in an impersonal way, which gives a typically brief ‘press release’ 
capsule version of the man. But here’s what I should have said..."In the annals of soundtrack producing and distribution, the name of Craig Spaulding is definitely very high on the list of all-time movers and shakers. Yet he somehow maintains a mysteriously low profile."
But that’s not to say he’s aloof. I remember when I first met him back in the early 1980s, he was as amiable and friendly as you can imagine. He ran a store called Crossroads Market that had a truly eclectic inventory of merchandise for an equally eclectic clientele, and at the back of the store were bins of soundtrack LPs that no one else in the
I’ll never forget walking in one day and Craig showing me his latest acquisition – the Southern Cross recording of John Barry’s BODY HEAT! It even had the John Williams’ Ladd Company logo music!!! I loved the guy from then on...
I wouldn't learn until later that Craig's reputation had already spread nationally, with collectors calling him from across the country for the latest releases.
Sadly, Crossroads Market came to an end as a music outlet when Craig sold the store and moved away to the mountains of northern
"After we sold the store, I was looking for a job in D.C. when customers found me and literally demanded that I start selling film scores again," Craig says. "I called some of my old suppliers. We set up up a small space inside the house and started all over again, shipping out records and CDs one at a time. The internet was just taking off, making it easier to communicate with customers, list new releases and available titles, and exchange information.
"SAE just grew from there, first with one part-time employee and now with a huge warehouse and offices about 70 miles outside of
But what do we really know about this guy we’ve loved for all these years who gets us the film score fix we need at a price we can afford?
Craig was born on September 29, 1946, except the nurse on duty screwed up and typed ‘September 26.’ “So that’s the legal birthday and I get my presents three days early!” he says. He grew up in
He received a commercial art degree in college, but joined the Air Force to serve in
Now we zip forward to Virginia and SAE. I asked him what his primary responsibility was for the company (besides the obvious).
“I walk the dogs.”
Craig and partner William Waybourn are proud of their dogs.
“One is Hank the wonder dog, who volunteers his time as an AAA/AAT (animal assistance activities/animal assisted therapy) canine at the children’s cancer ward at a local major hospital, as well as with patients at
, a 135-lb., long-haired slug of a German Shepherd who goes to work with me – and everywhere else – and is named after the 1944 film WILSON that Alfred Newman scored and that we produced a CD of years ago for 20th Century-Fox.” A third German shepherd (10-year old
If you don’t know, Craig has produced some of the finest Golden Age scores ever made, including Newman’s CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE, Max Steiner’s MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR and PURSUED, and Dimitri Tiomkin's THE COURT-MARTIAL OF BILLY MITCHELL and HIGH NOON. Pretty damn impressive – and that’s just the short list.
What does he really enjoy about his own company? “I like the night shift, the people, and
all those new film music arrivals!”
Craig's memory of customers' tastes and buying habits is legendary, and staffers say it's not uncommon for him to remind a customer that he already owns something in his shopping cart, or that "you won't like this."
Because SAE is so much bigger now, it's hard for him to have as much contact with all the customers, but he still checks incoming orders while leaving overall operations to a dedicated crew run by Ed Dennis.
Craig's very proud of SAE's customer service record, especially since the company is considered one of the largest distributors of film scores in the world. In fact, SAE's customer list is a who's who of the film industry, and the staff frequently chats with celebrities attempting to enhance their personal collections.
An astute businessman, Craig says that SAE was always profitable, but he chooses to put a major portion of profits back into the company by buying more licenses and releases, and improving operations. Two years ago, he partnered with Lukas Kendall of Film Score Monthly to become its exclusive distributor. "That allows Lukas more time to focus on finding titles before they are lost forever," he says. Another partnership that Craig has nurtured is with John Morgan, Anna Bonn and William Stromberg and their label, Tribute Film Classics.
Composers, other labels, and even Craig's competitors speak highly of him. More than a few of them have stayed in business during rocky times thanks to his advice and/or financial support. "I treat everyone the way I would want to be treated," he says. "In all my years, I have gotten burned only once. That really speaks to the quality of the individuals of this business we're in."
And what does he like about life in general? “Food is the best part, but then there’s music and there’s so much of it. I usually just watch old movies on TV and hang out with the dogs at our mountain-top home overlooking the 
And my partner William, who likes basketball when Duke plays and a few favorite football teams – so I watch them too." Craig also enjoys maintaining their forested 40 acres -- and the cleared portion around the house keeps him busy. “I read every night, but it makes me sleepy – which is the effect I want."
Several years ago, Craig's “hobby that turned into a business” took a new turn by his amassing quite a collection of lobby cards and one-, two- and three-sheet posters from movies, including having some of them restored to their original splendor. "I collect film posters from projects we have 
produced, as well as others, but they are so big that most are still rolled up for lack of space to frame and hang,” he says.
I had to ask him about his favorite movies, of course. “KING KONG, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE MIRACLE WORKER, NETWORK, THE BIRDS, NOW, VOYAGER, THE LITTLE FOXES, HIGH NOON, PSYCHO, GONE WITH THE WIND, MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, THE SEARCHERS, and just too many more.”
(Does anyone else think that NETWORK is the oddball out on that list?)
But the big question I’m sure you all probably want to know is who his favorite composers are. Oddly enough, I’m confused myself because he listed Alfred Newman first, but then put Tiomkin in all caps with two exclamation points! So I’ll print it as he wrote it and y’all can sort it out...“Alfred Newman, TIOMKIN!!, Waxman, Rozsa, Herrmann, Friedhofer, North, Korngold, Raksin and all the other Golden Age composers. “
So there you have it. Not a Media Ventures guy in the bunch...
That doesn’t mean he won’t try to get you whatever you want in film music, regardless of the composer. As far as I know, he’s the best there ever was at that.
And I have to say that he listed his career highlight as “Just having grown up with classic scores and then having the privilege to actually produce some of them with others who love film music.”
Nuff said.
(Curt Hardaway has been a journalist, editor and writer for over 30 years and in many venues, including newspapers, national trade magazines, marketing and advertising copy, and on-line magazines and blogs. His love of film music began with Herrmann in the 1960s, but advanced to Steiner, Newman, Waxman and many others before discovering his favorite composer, Jerry Goldsmith. He lives in Dallas, Texas and recounts his first meeting with Craig Spaulding years ago.)
Superman The Music: 1978-1988
I want to thank everyone who came out to our get-together on Wed. evening, April 9th at Private Island Trax in Hollywood. I had no expectations and made even less preparations but it was a really lovely evening that everybody seemed to enjoy. Nowell Beer kindly sent the following photos.
By DANIEL SCHWEIGER, Soundtrack Editor
Published 4/8/2008
Disques CineMusique has reissued two Canadian CDs: Interlude/Rapture includes a newly revised 20-page booklet and the film music of Georges Delerue for Jack Clayton films has been reissued.Meet up with Lukas Kendall and get free shipping
If you are in the Los Angeles area and planning to join Lukas for an afternoon of film music gab at Private Island Trax on Wednesday, April 9th, you can place an order through SAE's web site on or before April 1st, and it will be shipped direct to Lukas at his FSM office so he can personally hand it to you, as well as personally autograph any FSM releases of your choice. Just make a note when you order in the notes field that your order is to be shipped to Lukas and we will automatically deduct the shipping charge from the invoice. All orders must be made no later than April 1st so we can them out the door in time for the event. Please use only credit cards or PayPal for payment. If you order any titles that are not in stock at the time of shipping, we will remove them from the order.
We hope you can meet Lukas and hear some of the secrets of making a CD.
When: April 9th, 7-9PM
6671 Sunset Blvd
323-856-8729
Thanks from the SAE/FSM staff!
Basil Poledouris' "The Legend of Butch & Sundance" is below 100 copies of its original limited edition of 1500.
Lukas here. This was a fun day in that we could unveil one of the "Holy Grails" of collecting: Heavy Metal by Elmer Bernstein. For years, this was a treasured LP; we have released not only the album, but the whole thing. But as this was a great LP that Elmer produced, the tracks are sequenced in such a way that you can program just the LP sequence, or the entire thing. It was recorded in England so there are no AFM union issues and the release is not a limited edition. The CD represents a good year's worth of negotiations on the part of Rhino, Elektra, Sony, the estate of Elmer Bernstein (who provided the masters) and other concerned parties...the album rights went through several hands and we are very grateful to everyone involved who took time to research their end of it and get back to us. I don't know why people thought this CD would never get done...it was just a hard road to climb due to the way the film was financed and distributed and the album released on Elektra in 1981. But really, Elmer's manager and attorney had researched it around six years ago when Elmer himself intended to release it on this Amber Records label (before his illness) -- they did most of the groundwork here, and very generously forwarded all of their research. I can't say enough about how wonderful the Bernstein estate continues to be as far as having a great attitude towards his legacy and putting their money and resources behind these efforts. 
HIGH NOON reviewed by Leonard Maltin
Music Composed and Directed by Dimitri Tiomkin (Screen Archives Entertainment) — Although it boasts one of the most famous theme songs in movie history, the entire music score for High Noon has never been released on disc until now. Producers Ray Faiola and Craig Spaulding obtained composer Dimitri Tiomkin’s original acetate recordings from his widow and treated them with tender loving care. Given that the famous ballad, “Do Not Foresake Me,” dominates the film, the balance of the score is surprisingly listenable, with a variety of instrumentation from one cue to the next. Of course, many scenes involve tension and conflict, but Tiomkin never overplays his hand.
The recurring use of the Tex Ritter vocal is especially effective on this CD, as the producers only used those reprises that Tiomkin had intended, and left out some additional fragments that were added to the movie soundtrack at the last minute. (They also remastered the music for the finale to reflect the composer’s original plan.)
There is an endearing moment at the end of the finale—never heard on the movie, but audible on the original session recording—when Tiomkin happily exclaims, “Wonderful! Wonderful!” to his musicians. Two additional tracks allow us to eavesdrop on Tex Ritter rehearsing his ballad, and then recording a demo version.
As with most of Screen Archives Entertainment’s releases, this one comes with a beautifully designed booklet featuring rare behind-the-scenes photos and a superbly detailed essay on the genesis and production of the film by Rudy Behlmer. It’s taken more than half a century, but this score was well worth waiting for.
"There are less than 600 remaining of the 3,000-qty. blue box first edition. There WILL be a second edition but we are waiting on a few answers from our manufacturer before a final decision about whether it will be the same format as the first. Also, the second edition may not be in stock for a couple of months so you may want to purchase now to avoid the dreaded "backorder" notice."
You can order it here now.
During the mid-1960s, I really hated The Beatles.
While all my friends were playing ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’ I shook my head in disgust and played Al Hirt’s ‘The Horn meets the Hornet,’ a collection of redone TV themes by the great trumpeter. That was the very first LP I ever bought.
Being a very devout Monster Kid, I’d gingerly turn the pages of my Famous Monsters of Filmland collection every day. And just like every other Monster Kid, I’d dream of buying all those great things from the Captain Company, including ‘Horrible Herman’ (I really wanted to know what that thing was and still do to this day).
One of the holiest of Holy Grails was the Dick Jacobs Coral LP, ‘Themes from Horror Movies.’ Man, did I salivate over that. I finally got it a few years later and was crushed to hear the awful sound effects and narration (“They zig... they zag...on and on!”). Still, I listened to it religiously, particularly the HORROR OF DRACULA and THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN cues. I wouldn't find out until later just how off-center all those themes really were.
I also remember being devastated when Bernard Herrmann put out those London re-recordings of his science fiction and monster movies, ‘The Fantasy Film World of Bernard Herrmann’ and ‘The Mysterious Film World of Bernard Herrmann.’ Hardly anything sounded close enough to the music I loved in all those films. The real heartbreaker was his recording of a few tracks from MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, probably my favorite Ray Harryhausen movie (and Herrmann score) of all time. Particularly horrible was ‘The Giant Bird,’ a cue that was so slowed down I had to play it at 45 rpm to get the tempo right, which really made those piccolos shriek, let me tell you!
And that’s how I learned about the incredibly iffy world of re-recordings. Although the original soundtrack to MYSTERIOUS ISLAND eventually surfaced on Cloud Nine Records, it was incomplete (most prominently missing were ‘The Giant Bee’ and lots of ethereal island cues) and with only so-so sound quality.
Enter Tribute Film Classics, the new label specializing in meticulous re-recordings that finally released the complete MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (with outtakes even) as their premiere CD last fall. It was more than I – and many, many others – could have ever hoped for.
But way before founding the company, two of the principals behind TFC already had a big hand in some of the best re-recorded monster music of all time, along with even more great non-genre film music. And, with a third partner, they’ve written a substantial number of original scores – most of those genre-related, too.
Click here for the rest of Curt's take on "Monster Kids Music."
