Had a little vacation and down time the past week so, sorry about no posts.  A new pile of discs for review has arrived again and if anything looks really exciting I'll pass it along here.  The floodgates were open this past month for new discs here making the budget take quite a hit.  So there was a wealth of things to choose from.

My find of the month was a Screen Trax special edition of Morricone's score for My Name is Nobody.  This late spaghetti western entry features a little bit of everything with some nods thematic and orchestrally to his earlier Leone scores.  It is probably one of the most listenable of the Leone scores overall.  I'm not even sure if this is still available but it was one of those finds in a CD bin.  Another reason why standing music stores can still surprise the casual browsers in ways no on-line store can do.

The big catch-up disc for my this month was the Morgan/Stromberg re-recording of Mysterious Island.  This is really a great recording all around and while I wouldn't toss the reissue of the original this is about as good a recording that this score may ever get.  Plenty of great action moments and classic Herrmann sound.  I know there have been plenty of limited edition joys the past few months, but grab this one now, or when their label's upcoming releases of She and some Korngold are released. 

On the light classics front, Naxos began a series of Leroy Anderson recordings featuring Leonard Slatkin and the

BBC Philharmonic.  Anderson was a stalwart of Boston Pops recordings and concerts for years and these

recordings bring together the familiar and the never heard in stellar recordings and performances from one of our

great under-appreciated conductors.  Slatkin made a recording with his St. Louis orchestra years ago on RCA

which showed a predilection for fine performances for these works.  Disc One includes what I think is the 2nd

recording of Anderson's wonderful piano Concerto (the first was on Telarc with Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops). 

It's hard to pick just one of the two volumes so it is good that they are together about the price of a single big label

disc.  I liked Vol. 2 the most but it is a close call.

For jazz fans, check out Eliane Elias' latest CD, Something For You on Blue Note.  The disc is a tribute of

sorts to Bill Evans and features Elias' covering a host of Evans' classic tunes and standards from his repertoire

including a new song he left unrecorded.  I've always enjoyed Elias' recordings and its nice to hear her in

something non-Brazilian.  Highly recommended, and a great drive CD.

I'm not quite sure how I feel yet about the new Williams' score for Indy 4, so in month of fewer discs I probably

would have made this one of my top 5 picks, but instead I am going for Joel Goldsmith's private label release of

music from Stargate, The Ark of Truth.  I know it might seem odd to choose a TV movie score over a return to

the genre by one of the greats, but Goldsmith's score is just a lot of fun to listen to and feels a bit fresher than the

re-used themes in the new Indy score.  (Besides, you don't need me to tell you to buy or not buy a score by John

Williams!)

Stealing very little thunder from the many of you who post movie reviews, I did manage a movie a week in May

somehow.  And can heartily say that of the three bigger blockbusters Ironman continues to be my favorite so far. 

Indy 4 is a close second and the Prince Caspian movie is a distant third. 

I'm not sure yet just what will get my movie dollars this summer with ticket prices continuing to go up and a small

popcorn running near $5 these days.  I might just have to save for a big screen TV and wait for the DVD--though

there is still nothing like a movie in a theater.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks with the semester ending and lots of grading to do.  After all that, and a few reviews here and there there is not much energy left for the blog here.  So, sorry about that.  Though there is still mail to get today, none of it would get listened to until May.  So here is the monthly personal favorite additions to my collection here.

I did pick up the Intrada Goldsmith release of Baby, but since it sold out there is no reason to lift it up here again.

First off then is Film Score Monthly's release of Heavy Metal.  This Elmer Bernstein score is a great opportunity to hear some of the thematic material in its original garb, away from the concert versions the composer often used.  The lyric quality of the music coupled with Bernstein's orchestral style provides a great contrast to other Sci-Fi scores.  As is usual it features great notes and stellar sound.

A surprise for the month was Kevin Manthei's score for the Direct-to-video Justice League: The New Frontier.  Though the low budget meant Manthei has to use mostly sampled sounds, his addition of acoustic brass helps blur the fact that this is essentially high end electronic music.  But there are plenty of great themes and classic action adventure music in that superhero vein that many fans should enjoy.  The disc is a limited pressing from La-La Land Records.

Somehow I missed Naxos' release of two critical Virgil Thomson scores from the 1930s.  The recording of The Plow that Broke the Plains is really quite well done and features the complete score (an earlier E.SS.A.Y. recording was essentially an extended suite version of this music as was a Hyperion release).  At nearly half the price of most CDs, this is a wonderful way to hear Thomson's music and add to one's collection two important film scores (the other is The River).  There is a DVD release of the films as well from Naxos that might be helpful to teachers of film history as well.

From the audiophile end and back catalog comes my next recommendation, music of George Gershwin.  This RCA SACD release of 2 classic albums is the quintessential performances of classics like Rhapsody in Blue, American in Paris, and the Piano Concerto, as well as Cuban Overture, and the I Got Rhythm Variations.  Yes this is the Arthur Fiedler and Boston Pops recording.  It's a classic putting to shame most any release and an essential addition to anyone's music library.  Gershwin's music feels like it is disappearing from concerts again.  Even the standard music text I do puts Gershwin as a footnote to music history.  This is unfortunate.  The RCA release is at a reduced cost and should be in your collection if it is not already...words I finally listened to as well!

Though I do not know if John Morgan stops by this blog much, I finally can add my appreciation for his and Bill Stromberg's production of Fahrenheit 451 easily one of the best releases of 2007 that couldn't make my list only because I never got a review copy.  But it was money well spent, as is my subsequent order of their recording for Mysterious Island--most likely next month's top 5 addition!  Herrmann's score here is given loving attention in fantastic sound.  There is more orchestral color and nuance in one measure of Herrmann's music than we often hear in entire cues in today's cinema.  Truly one of music's great masters and this score is one of his finest.  A crisp and clean recording overall with perfect notes to boot. 

In some other news, there are new scores anticipated in May including the next Narnia score, Giacchino's music for Speed Racer, oh, and a little film featuring music by some guy called John Williams.