PFC
12-02-2008, 10:43 AM
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Many of the movies featured on MST3K were disposable, forgettable sci-fi and horror movies. The best, or at least my favorite, episodes usually featured movies with something that stuck in my head long after watching them. Many times they were bad things like DEVIL FISH's editing, and other times, they were intriguing ideas like a man being impregnated with shrimp babies in NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST. A fair amount of the movies, however, despite not being able to afford much else, had interesting musical scores. So I decided to make soundtracks for some of my favorite scores from the MSTed movies. And before you ask, yes, I am insane. If that is not clear by the end of this post, then let me reiterate. I am insane.
Using DVD Decrypter and AutoGK, I rip an MP3 copy of the film's audio track. Then I use a program such as SonicStage and Audacity (the latest one) to copy particular sound clips to separate files. It's very rudimentary, so dialogue and sound effects are still present. Help filtering the audio would be much appreciated. However, the movies selected are pretty light on dialogue and sound effects... and production values. In a way, that's what makes the music from these movies so memorable. They're what drive the film when it would otherwise be silent.
"MANOS" THE HANDS OF FATE
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This was the very first of the soundtracks I've compiled. And the second and the third, at which point I realized I needed to buy an external hard drive to back up my files. This movie always had a certain... draw for me. It wouldn't be half of what it is without Torgo, one of the greatest characters in cinema history. Who doesn't love quoting and walking around like Torgo? He's #2 on my Halloween costume list right below Pootie Tang. I enjoy watching this movie on a rainy day or a late night, largely because of the score. My musical tastes lean towards jazz, and a couple of the songs sound like something you'd hear at a candlelit piano bar. Many of the tracks have very slow beats, and anything uptempo fizzles out softly. It's somnolent to be sure. Off the top of my head, there are maybe 4 or 5 themes, including the enduring classic, "The Haunting Torgo Theme," that make up the score. But like the Guyver OAV score, those themes are strong enough that the repetition is not unwelcome. The score had to be cut and pasted on the fly, I imagine, but Russ Huddleston and Robert Smith Jr. do an admirable job of creating something that amplifies the movie's surrealism.
EEGAH!
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This one was done at Ian's request, though, I don't disagree with his selection. The generic jukebox love songs were shoehorned into the plot for a reason. If Arch Hall Jr.'s face weren't an ipecac, then maybe the music would've been more tolerable. As it is, when his voice hits those high notes, I curl up in the fetal position. The main title sounds like the first few notes of "Jailhouse Rock" over and over, as if the song can't get out of first gear. The rest of the score is unexceptional, unless you like hearing that girl squeal like a pig for three minutes. Lord knows what Arch Hall Sr. was doing to her to elicit those sounds. As people more astute than I have pointed out, Jr. sings two love songs to his girl, "Vickie" and "Valerie." His girl's name is Roxy.
GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS
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As the movie is supposedly about go-go dancing, you'd expect there to be a good deal of music and girls in skimpy outfits. Unlike movies today, GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS is what it's supposed to be about and delivers the goods (I'm looking at you, ALIEN VS PREDATOR...). GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS is a very silly movie, but on the Deep Hurting scale, it doesn't register that highly except for the ugly, oily thugs. The oeuvre of songs is deeper than you'd expect for such a low-budget affair. Sound engineer Chris Howard wrote and performed half of the songs. Having to create 5 songs for the movie and mesh those with the other half dozen songs in the movie, Howard does a very good job of making each song unique (within the context of the movie). It's a shame that some of the songs seem to get cut short in the movie, as no official soundtrack will likely ever be released. The songs have a proclivity towards being bouncy and upbeat, from the titular theme to Cowboy Santa (yes, this movie is a Christmas movie that belongs right next to DIE HARD, LETHAL WEAPON, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE). Nicholas Carras, the composer of the instrumental score, keeps things similarly upbeat with goofy melodies during the "action" scenes. Overall, the soundtrack for GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS is the polar opposite of the "MANOS" soundtrack: energetic and invigorating.
Note: Because the songs are cut up in the movie, I wasn't able to figure out the actual titles for all of them. Can anyone fill in the blanks on this?
Many of the movies featured on MST3K were disposable, forgettable sci-fi and horror movies. The best, or at least my favorite, episodes usually featured movies with something that stuck in my head long after watching them. Many times they were bad things like DEVIL FISH's editing, and other times, they were intriguing ideas like a man being impregnated with shrimp babies in NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST. A fair amount of the movies, however, despite not being able to afford much else, had interesting musical scores. So I decided to make soundtracks for some of my favorite scores from the MSTed movies. And before you ask, yes, I am insane. If that is not clear by the end of this post, then let me reiterate. I am insane.
Using DVD Decrypter and AutoGK, I rip an MP3 copy of the film's audio track. Then I use a program such as SonicStage and Audacity (the latest one) to copy particular sound clips to separate files. It's very rudimentary, so dialogue and sound effects are still present. Help filtering the audio would be much appreciated. However, the movies selected are pretty light on dialogue and sound effects... and production values. In a way, that's what makes the music from these movies so memorable. They're what drive the film when it would otherwise be silent.
"MANOS" THE HANDS OF FATE
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
This was the very first of the soundtracks I've compiled. And the second and the third, at which point I realized I needed to buy an external hard drive to back up my files. This movie always had a certain... draw for me. It wouldn't be half of what it is without Torgo, one of the greatest characters in cinema history. Who doesn't love quoting and walking around like Torgo? He's #2 on my Halloween costume list right below Pootie Tang. I enjoy watching this movie on a rainy day or a late night, largely because of the score. My musical tastes lean towards jazz, and a couple of the songs sound like something you'd hear at a candlelit piano bar. Many of the tracks have very slow beats, and anything uptempo fizzles out softly. It's somnolent to be sure. Off the top of my head, there are maybe 4 or 5 themes, including the enduring classic, "The Haunting Torgo Theme," that make up the score. But like the Guyver OAV score, those themes are strong enough that the repetition is not unwelcome. The score had to be cut and pasted on the fly, I imagine, but Russ Huddleston and Robert Smith Jr. do an admirable job of creating something that amplifies the movie's surrealism.
EEGAH!
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
This one was done at Ian's request, though, I don't disagree with his selection. The generic jukebox love songs were shoehorned into the plot for a reason. If Arch Hall Jr.'s face weren't an ipecac, then maybe the music would've been more tolerable. As it is, when his voice hits those high notes, I curl up in the fetal position. The main title sounds like the first few notes of "Jailhouse Rock" over and over, as if the song can't get out of first gear. The rest of the score is unexceptional, unless you like hearing that girl squeal like a pig for three minutes. Lord knows what Arch Hall Sr. was doing to her to elicit those sounds. As people more astute than I have pointed out, Jr. sings two love songs to his girl, "Vickie" and "Valerie." His girl's name is Roxy.
GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
As the movie is supposedly about go-go dancing, you'd expect there to be a good deal of music and girls in skimpy outfits. Unlike movies today, GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS is what it's supposed to be about and delivers the goods (I'm looking at you, ALIEN VS PREDATOR...). GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS is a very silly movie, but on the Deep Hurting scale, it doesn't register that highly except for the ugly, oily thugs. The oeuvre of songs is deeper than you'd expect for such a low-budget affair. Sound engineer Chris Howard wrote and performed half of the songs. Having to create 5 songs for the movie and mesh those with the other half dozen songs in the movie, Howard does a very good job of making each song unique (within the context of the movie). It's a shame that some of the songs seem to get cut short in the movie, as no official soundtrack will likely ever be released. The songs have a proclivity towards being bouncy and upbeat, from the titular theme to Cowboy Santa (yes, this movie is a Christmas movie that belongs right next to DIE HARD, LETHAL WEAPON, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE). Nicholas Carras, the composer of the instrumental score, keeps things similarly upbeat with goofy melodies during the "action" scenes. Overall, the soundtrack for GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS is the polar opposite of the "MANOS" soundtrack: energetic and invigorating.
Note: Because the songs are cut up in the movie, I wasn't able to figure out the actual titles for all of them. Can anyone fill in the blanks on this?