Here’s something I had blocked out of my memory: an attempt to make, circa 2009, a free FSM “sampler CD” from our albums released out of the Turner catalog (the historical M-G-M film library).
I think we had hoped to have this somehow circulated through Screen Archives to reach fans of Turner Classic Movies.
How, I don’t know—and maybe that’s why we pulled the plug?
I do remember getting it mastered (which was easy for Doug Schwartz to do, as he had mastered all the tracks to begin with) and the packaging designed (rough draft above, by Joe Sikoryak).
It would have been some kind of cardboard fold-out digipak—whatever was cheapest to make. This was Joe’s sketch:
This was the track list:
1. Plymouth Adventure: The Mayflower (Miklós Rózsa) 3:14
2. The Gypsy Moths: Big Stunt (Elmer Bernstein) 3:22
3. Coma: Study in Anatomy (Jerry Goldsmith) 3:13
4. Above and Beyond: Main Title/Narration (Hugo Friedhofer) 3:22
5. Joy in the Morning: The Rocking Chair (Bernard Herrmann) 3:12
6. The Thing From Another World: Main Title (Dimitri Tiomkin) 1:48
7. Eye of the Devil: Main Theme/Philippe’s Study (Gary McFarland) 4:49
8. Edge of the City: Violence in the City (Leonard Rosenman) 2:07
9. Knights of the Round Table: Main Title/Excalibur (Miklós Rózsa) 3:58
10. The Subterraneans: Main Title (Why Are We Afraid?) (André Previn) 1:57
11. Lust for Life: Orchards (Miklós Rózsa) 1:12
12. Where Eagles Dare: Entr’Acte (Ron Goodwin) 2:49
13. Demon Seed: Last Voyage (Jerry Fielding) 2:33
14. Cimarron: The Land Rush (Franz Waxman) 6:24
15. The Time Machine: Main Title/Credits/London 1900 (Russell Garcia) 3:11
16. Dark of the Sun: 1M1 (Main Theme From Dark of the Sun) (Jacques Loussier) 3:10
17. Lili: Main Title/Prologue (Bronislau Kaper) 3:34
18. Never So Few: Main Title/Parachute Drop (Hugo Friedhofer) 4:10
19. Ride the High Country: So Long Partner (Finale) (George Bassman) 1:44
20. The Prize: Man Hunt (Jerry Goldsmith) 3:34
21. The Brothers Karamazov: Main Title (Bronislau Kaper) 2:05
22. Penelope: Penny Runs Away/Penny’s Substitute (Johnny Williams) 1:37
23. The Shoes of the Fisherman: End Title/End Cast (Alex North) 1:22
24. Rhino!: Prologue/Zululand (Lalo Schifrin) 5:16
25. Mutiny on the Bounty: Christian’s Death (Bronislau Kaper) 4:48
Total Time:79:31
I think I had been hoping for a gratis license from Rhino (who controlled the rights at this time) and despite their best efforts, whatever their minimal quote was, plus the manufacturing, was going to be too expensive for a kind of “Hail Mary” promotional item with no real plan to turn into new business.
One of the constant fantasies of my time doing Film Score Monthly—from the magazine through the CD label—was thinking, “There are potentially thousands of film score fans we’re not reaching! If only we could reach them...”
Are there? I don’t know. There are certainly thousands of customers for the most famous film score albums, from Star Wars to Titanic.
Whether that would translate into folks buying Knights of the Round Table—well, having been at this for some 30 years, I just don’t think so.
We’re a niche audience, and that’s just the truth of it.
If you have all these albums, go ahead and make a playlist in iTunes—let me know how it sounds!