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Film Music Over The Years Richard Band is one of those hidden treasures you can find in Hollywood when you look and listen carefully enough. When you find him, you find you have a talented composer who is respected by both his peers and critics. He can write music to accompany any manner of subject. He has coaxed bombastic performances from the Royal Philharmonic to accompany thrilling action, and delicately enveloped intimate love stories with sounds from a small ensemble. I was introduced to his work back in 1978 when his first film, Laserblast, was screened for the staff of the science fiction / fantasy media magazine Starlog. Over the years, as their resident expert on film music, I was often asked about the various composers who scored the movies we covered each month. I made it a point to especially follow the careers of promising new talent and, since much of Band's early work was in that genre, I couldn't help but hear his potential time and time again. The quality he could deliver was especially evident when he utilized a 75 piece orchestra to perform the exciting action score for Universal Pictures' 3-D spectacular Metalstorm. As well as composing music for witches, demons, and goblins, Richard Band's range extends into comedies, documentaries and family drama. Most notable of these works are Prehysteria, which was Paramount Home Video's # 1 selling family video in 1993, and his score for Shrunken Heads, on which he collaborated with Danny Elfman. As a recording artist, he has had over 16 soundtrack albums released to date, with several more planned for the future. Band's intimate knowledge of movie making is the result of a family tradition. His father, Albert and his brother, Charles are both producers and directors. Richard, however, chose to follow his own path into musical performance. When electronics invaded the music end of the film industry in the mid 1970s, producers and directors, unable to afford a multipiece orchestral score, welcomed these tools as a cost-cutting device. Unfortunately, many of the resulting scores sounded as if they were not written down, but improvised at a moment's motivation. Such was not the case with Richard Band! As technology improved, so did band's skill and insight into its capabilities. Writing with electronics in mind, he never called upon the synthesizers to try and reproduce the tones of hard-to-recreate acoustical instruments. Instead, he created ones that were unique to the electronics and natural in their own way. The resulting scores fit the film beautifully. For the darkness of The Resurrected, he integrated an orchestra with electronics to create an ever-deepening nightmare. In another exaple, The Pit and The Pendulum, he incorporated a 30 piece choir, orchestra, and period instrumants, with various electronics to portray 15th century Spain. In other instances, he would supplemant his electronics with a few orchestral instrumants to create the appropriate motifs. This unusual marriage, partner resulted in several stunning achievements. The wide range of band's expertise is particularly evident on this compilation. This divers story subjects and musical styles of the films required that he draw on his expansive knowledge of composition. You can hear Band utilize several ethnic instruments and arrangements to relate the locale of the Scotland-based Dragonworld. Pairing the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with ancient Asian percussion he created Ghost Warrior's spectacular Japanese mystical aura. Big Band music was incorporated to add a bizarre twist of the Shurnken Heads, while a 12th century poem arranged for orchestra and choir created the lyrical, yet diabolical world of Troll. What you hold in your hands now is Sonic Proof of Richard Band's immeasurable talents as a composer, orchestrator, and master of acoustic and electronic instrumentation. He has much to offer any film. So listen, discover, and enjoy the musical magic of Richard Band. An appreciation by David Hirsch Music columnist, Starlog magazine reviewer Film Score Monthly magazine It took the birth of my daughter in 1992 to remind me of just how powerful music can be. There would be those times she would sneak into my studio to listen to different cues I'd be working on when I'd be amazed to discover her either dancing, laughing, humming or just being pensive or sad or sometimes interrupting to tell me that my music was frightening her and to turn it down or stop altogether. Occasionally I'd ask what the music was saying to her when to my astonishment her imagination or perhaps I should say her "musical imagination" would go wild. While film music is still programme music, some of it when removed from the film for which it was intended can still stand on its own. I believe the music I have compiled on this C.D. meets that goal and that each selection holds its own little story within, a story only YOU can create upon listening. My strongest hope is that you let YOUR "musical imagination" go wild. Listen to this at home, in your car, at the office or perhaps with your children, but above all, have fun with it, for hopefully my music and your imagination can remind you, as it did me, of the wonder we all felt as children. - Richard Band Return to Richard Band |