Great Performances

La-La Land Records Has Had Enough of Vinyl

June 7, 2017May 23, 2018andersrunestadLeave a comment

I read over at Film Score Monthly this comment from M.V. Gerhard of soundtrack label La-La Land Records:

It’s not worth our time, space, resources or money.

[Star Trek: The Motion Picture] is our last vinyl. Don’t get me wrong — it did incredibly well (will most likely sell out by year’s end), but we would rather focus on many other cd, blu-ray and film projects.

It’s gratifying when someone in the know confirms one of your pet opinions. I’ve long believed that the decade-plus vinyl revival is a hipster affectation, motivated by the democratizing effect that high-bandwith Internet had on the availability of rare music.

To put it another way: when I was growing up, you had to pay $20 for that imported Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians CD single just to get a weird bonus track. Now those rare tracks are all over YouTube, and it’s very hard to be cooler than the other cool people. But thanks to vinyl, large amounts of money can be flushed on a cumbersome, expensive, and fragile format that takes dedication to collect.

Whatever, I still feel like it’s 1987 and visions of a large CD collection are dancing in my head.

And if you want to experience Jerry Goldsmith’s majestic and mysterious score for STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, get La-La Land’s magnificent 3-CD release.

Happy Birthday, ATTACK OF THE CLONES

May 17, 2017May 23, 2018andersrunestadLeave a comment

Got to love that clone battle, and that spider robot in the thumbnail is a seriously awesome bit of Star Wars design. And the two scenes of Ewan McGregor verbally sparring with first a bounty hunter and then a Sith Lord are some of my favorite moments of the Saga. Fun, underrated movie in my humble opinion.

Catching Up

April 26, 2017May 23, 2018andersrunestadLeave a comment

I’ve been away from the blog for too long, so I’ll get everything up to speed:

–Belatedly . . . Happy Easter!

–A big congratulations to this year’s Rondo Award winners, announced just this past Sunday night. My book I Cannot, Yet I Must did not win in its category but I honestly did not expect that it would. The competition was stiff indeed, and the winner and runners-up are absolutely deserving. Myself, I’m still just tickled to be a nominee and that I can forever call myself a Rondo-nominated author.

–With Easter recently celebrated and springtime here, it’s time to post some exuberant music. And I can’t imagine anything more exuberant than this thundering, brain-melting, blistering performance by Simple Minds from Newcastle, England in 1982. Enjoy!

Getting Iffier

March 3, 2017May 23, 2018andersrunestadLeave a comment

And here’s another “If,” recited by Robert Morley and with travelogue footage by Chris Marker. Which makes it a little surreal. But it’s still “If.”

A Third “If . . .”

February 12, 2017May 23, 2018andersrunestadLeave a comment

Abbreviated, but still a very nice version by Harvey Keitel with Gustav Holst music. Keitel’s facial expressions are minimalist, and yet they add volumes. What a performance, what an actor.

The Ecstasy of Gold

February 11, 2017May 23, 2018andersrunestadLeave a comment

Ennio Morricone, with Susanna Rigacci:

Two “If”s

February 5, 2017May 23, 2018andersrunestadLeave a comment

Dennis Hopper recites “If”:

Dennis Hopper again recites “If”:

The Motorcycle Boy Reigns

January 21, 2017May 23, 2018andersrunestadLeave a comment

I saw Rumble Fish back in 1994, was stunned, and was also stunned that hardly anyone had seen it or written about it in the decade after its release. It’s a real love-it-or-hate-it experience, but it definitely clicked for me. Amazing visuals and sounds, and some outright surrealism in what was ostensibly a Hollywood movie. There’s nothing quite like it, and Criterion is bringing it to Blu-Ray in April.