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Artwork copyright (c) 1999 CPT Holdings,
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2004 James Southall
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CONTRACT ON CHERRY STREET Jerry's
Cherry is excellent crime score A review by JAMES SOUTHALL One of Jerry Goldsmith's most extraordinary achievements is
his stunning score for Roman Polanski's Chinatown, and it's surprising
that he has not returned to the genre particularly often; in reality, he would
not score another film like it until the brilliant LA Confidential in
1997. But at the height of his career, in 1977, just after he'd collected the
Oscar for The Omen, Goldsmith scored this tv movie starring Frank
Sinatra.
Hints of Chinatown run all the way through this
excellent album, with the lyrical trombone solo on the main title clearly
recalling Chinatown's legendary trumpet theme, to the staccato piano
playing and the frantic brass work. In truth though, this could even be classed
as a more substantial work. The main theme isn't quite as good - the
action music not quite so powerful - but this is a much longer score, allowing
Goldsmith a lot more time to develop his ideas. Sure, it's not as
effective as a whole package as Chinatown - very little is - but it shows
off some of the composer's best qualities, especially his taut writing which was
so prevalent in his 1970s output.
The first track sets the pace of things to come, with an
exciting action piece followed by the trombone theme. "Equal Partners"
introduces some touching romantic material, performed initially by piano and
synthesiser, and then with a string section added. The five-minute "False
Arrest" contains so many classic Goldsmith touches - the slowly-building
ostinato that runs through virtually the entire length of the cue is a delicious
precursor to Capricorn One, and there's some avant-garde writing for
piano and xylophone that could be straight out of Chinatown.
"Prowling", although quite short, is a certain highlight, with a
lovely version of the main theme performed by strings, accompanied by a delicate
piano and flute part, perhaps inspired by Bernard Herrmann. The touching
"Eulogising" contains some cello writing that, as the liner notes
correctly point out, offer a surprising preview of Goldsmith's later, classic,
tv score for Masada, before segueing into more of that Chinatown-style
atmospheric music.
If you're a fan of Goldsmith's intelligent scores for
thrillers like Basic Instinct, or either of the scores mentioned above,
you'll be in for a treat with Contract on Cherry Street. The only thing
that places it a notch or two below those classic scores is the lack of a really
high quality theme to bind the score together, but don't let that put you off -
this is an excellent score, and made a welcome early entry in Luc van de Ven's
Prometheus CD Club back in 1999 (and copies are still available today). The
sound quality is top-notch (it could have been recorded yesterday), though Gary
Kester's liner notes are rather peculiar. But otherwise, this is a solid
release. Tracks
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