So which one was really first? It has to be Forbidden Planet
but Gil Mellé rejects that because it wasn't really "scored". That is,
the composers didn't think of the sounds they wanted to hear and then
produce them, they produced a bunch of sounds and said, here, use these
in the movie. Whereas Mellé took the more traditional compositional
approach to scoreing The Andromeda Strain, which is why he
claims it's the first true all-electronic film "score".
The problem with that is that it denies spontaneous composition.
If Forbidden Planet doesn't count as an electronic score
because the music wasn't thought of and written out first, then
that probably means that Anton Karas's music for The Third Man
shouldn't count as the world's only completely solo zither score for
a movie, for the same reason.
And now there's Didn't You Hear, which is from 1970, while
The Andromeda Strain is from 1971. We're going to leave it at that.
We don't really care which one came first but it has to be Forbidden Planet.
The main title for Didn't You Hear? would be a straightforward
kind of sappy/poppy song if it weren't for the otherworldly sonorities
of Garson's electronic music, which sounds like what a hippy Raymond Scott
might have got up to.
The second track, "No Smoking", is more in line with less commercial
electronic composition, a weaving, woozy, windy piece of electronica
that sounds very sci-fi. It starts out smooth and then shifts abruptly
to staccato and noisy.
Then there are "Dream Sequence I" and "Dream Sequence II". The first
one begins with what sounds like an analog synthesizer imitating what
a harp might conventionally play to suggest falling asleep and dreaming
but almost immediately swerves into a tense and aggravated pulsating
electro-prog groove before changing again into a brief cloud of texture.
The second part is calmer and more spacious, suggesting cloudy feelings
and milder anxiety.
"Kevin's Theme" has a descending ostinato line with a delicate melody
played on top, actually pretty but also with an undercurrent of unease.
Then it's time for "Sail! Sail!", which is part electronic freak out
and part Raymond Scott-ish melodious mood.
The A side wraps up with "Kevin and Paige", another sci-fi sounding
cue that has a mysterious and lonely quality to it.
The B side opens with "Bamboo City", which begins with some Doctor Who-ish
low tones before jumping into a brisk, percussive section that suggests considerable
urgency.
"Walk to Grange Hall" is actually a light, relaxed, sunny-sounding
piece that starts spacious before becoming a kind of happy, peppy,
poppy sort of number. It also goes back and forth between 4/4 and 3/4.
This is maybe Mort Garson channeling Burt Bacharach.
A more pensive, thoughtful mood is established in "Virgil's Theme",
with the synth suggesting the plaintive tones of a violin.
After that comes "Walk to the Other Side of the Island", which starts
out fairly minimalist but eventually becomes a cheerful and breezy waltz.
An eerie feeling appropriate to midnight ghost stories, complete with
some bell-like noises, dominates the gratifyingly creepy "Death Talk and
Jeep Approach", while "Jeep Ride" is an energetic and almost rocking piece
that could probably be effectively covered by a live band.
"Dead Tree" is another outer space-sounding cue, agreeably weird and
unusual. The synth!
Then there's a reprise of the main title, with vocals again. All in all,
a great record!
