The Goldsmith Odyssey

The Odyssey team is thrilled to welcome a very special guest: film composer (and bona fide Goldsmith enthusiast) Carlos Rafael Rivera, whose music for the Netflix miniseries The Queen's Gambit ranks as one of the year's most compelling original scores. When your humble hosts David, Yavar, and Clark began recording this episode, our intention was to interview Carlos for about thirty minutes, then move into an examination of of the Rawhide episode "Incident in the Middle of Nowhere." However, Carlos had so many fascinating things to say that we simply couldn't cut things off at the half-hour mark, and we hope you'll enjoy what turned out to be a two-hour conversation about a host of different topics (the Rawhide stuff is coming soon, we promise). You'll hear Carlos tell us about the first Jerry Goldsmith scores he fell in love with, being mentored by Randy Newman, stories behind his assorted creative decisions on The Queen's Gambit, how Alfred Newman's score for The Robe came to play a pivotal role in the first episode, working on the western miniseries Godless, and much more! Check it out, and stay tuned for the follow-up installment coming soon!

Featuring music from Carlos Rafael Rivera's soundtracks A Walk Among the Tombstones, The Queen's Gambit, and Godless, as well as his classical pieces "Concierto de Miami - Finale", "Popol-Vuh II. Birth of the Hero Twins", "Plegaria y Canto (al Bodre de la Mar)", and "Cumba-Quin." Also featuring music from Jerry Goldsmith's Rawhide, Poltergeist, The Great Train Robbery, and Twilight Zone: The Movie, as well as James Horner's 48 Hours, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Avatar, plus John Williams's E.T., Ennio Morricone's Cinema Paradiso, Randy Newman's The Princess and the Frog, Alfred Newman's The Robe, Cliff Eidelman's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2, Op. 30 Romantic, Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, and the "Ave Maris Stella" choral. Full Goldsmith Odyssey Interviews Carlos Rafael Rivera track list here.

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We're late, we're late
For a very important date
No time to say hello and welcome to The Goldsmith Odyssey
A chronological journey through the filmography of Jerry Goldsmith
In this episode, your humble hosts Yavar, David, and Clark
Take a look at the Thriller installment "Late Date"
A sharply-directed (if intermittently frustrating) hour of television
Featuring one of the most devilishly complex Goldsmith scores we've covered thus far
No, most of this doesn't rhyme or even follow the basic melodic structure of the tune used as inspiration for this description
But, uh, it's art, stop trying to impose rules on my art, man
Agh, fine, let's just do the show, we've already missed the thing
And then we'll say goodbye, hello
We're late, we're late, we're late!

Also late, by about a year?  Your helpful Goldsmith Odyssey Episode 27 Late Date Track List!  Which is now available.

Please send your correspondence to [email protected].

There is a vast estate. Within that estate, there is some moorland. Within that moorland, there is an old castle. Within that old castle, there is a well. Within that well, there are your humble hosts David, Yavar, and Clark, splashing and fumbling in the dark, searching for a way out. To achieve this goal, they must explore a particularly moody episode of “Thriller,” and uncover the many secrets of its effectively ominous Jerry Goldsmith score. Can they find their way within a mere three hours? Click play to find out!

Oh, and here's your Goldsmith Odyssey - Thriller: Well of Doom episode track list!

Please send your correspondence to [email protected].

The Goldsmith Odyssey is thrilled to present a brand new sub-series! In our very first Odyssey Soundtrack Spotlight, Yavar chats with Douglass Fake and Roger Feigelson of Intrada Records about their forthcoming release of Jerry Goldsmith's score for the 1973 crime drama The Don Is Dead. Over the course of this half-hour chat, you'll hear about the movie's place in pop culture history, the score's distinctive instrumentation, the album production process, Jerry's first artistic collaboration with his wife Carol, and more. Along the way, you'll be treated to some wonderful samples from the new album. You can purchase your own copy of the score at intrada.com. Enjoy!

Please send your correspondence to [email protected].

The latest Odyssey Interview is our longest single episode to date, but we believe it's well worth the time. Mastering Engineer Chris Malone joins Yavar and David for a detailed, wide-ranging conversation about the myriad complexities of film music restoration, memories of tackling his first restoration project for Film Score Monthly, working on Goldsmith soundtrack releases like Take Her, She's Mine and Archer/Warning Shot, the joys and challenges of restoring scores by composers like Henry Mancini, Nino Rota, and John Barry, and much more. It's an interview loaded with both educational insights and memorable stories, and is sure to fascinate film music enthusiasts of all sorts. You can consume the whole thing in one big helping, or you can break it up into a half-dozen modest portions, but you won't want to miss it. Enjoy!

For specific tracks used in both parts of this interview, consult this Google Doc for a thorough Odyssey Interviews Chris Malone track breakdown.

Cover photo courtesy of Chris Malone, featuring him with legendary recording engineer Eric Tomlinson (Tora! Tora! Tora!, Ransom, Take a Hard Ride, The Omen, High Velocity, Damien: Omen II, The Boys from Brazil, Alien, Caboblanco, Outland, Night Crossing, Supergirl).

Includes music from Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, You Only Live Twice, Goldfinger, Dave Grusin’s Mountain Dance album, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Swarm, The Boys From Brazil, Logan’s Run, Chinatown, Alien, Capricorn One, Fallen Angels’ The Rip, I Spy, Eye of the Devil, Stagecoach, Hatari, The Twilight Zone, Princess Mononoke, Days Of Wine and Roses, White Dawn, Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Silver Streak, Sometimes a Great Notion, The Party, Santa Clause, La Dolce Vita, Amarcord, The Leopard, La Passerella Di Otto E Mezzo, Romeo and Juliet, Sunset Sunrise, The Taming of the Shrew, Sebastian, The Trouble With Angels, Poltergeist, Seconds, Warning Shot, The World of Suzie Wong, Return of the Jedi, Leith Stevens’s Paramount Noir Scores, I Married a Monster from Outer Space, Will Penny, When Worlds Collide, Star Trek: The Original Series, The Prize, The Egyptian, The Atomic City, Spellbound, WarGames, Superman, Superman II, The Towering Inferno, War of the Worlds, The Satan Bug, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, When Worlds Collide, Shane, Destination Moon, Then Came Bronson, Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed, The Last Valley, White Buffalo, Raise the Titanic!, Out of Africa, The Red Balloon, The Ten Commandments, The Red Pony, The Heiress, On Dangerous Ground, From Russia with Love, The Legend That Walks Like a Man, and The Furies.

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Ever wonder what a ballet set to the music of Capricorn One might be like? For our latest Gold Nugget, Jens sits down with film critic and film music enthusiast Bryan Erdy, who talks about his pair of first-hand encounters with Jerry Goldsmith, conversations with other notable film composers (including Michael Giacchino, Danny Elfman, and Tom Holkenborg) who expressed admiration for Jerry, frightening Hans Zimmer, witnessing the aforementioned ballet Belling the Slayer, and writing a memorial tribute to Jerry that reached a far wider audience than anticipated. This one is full of entertaining stories and touching memories, so give it a click!

• 0:00:00 - Psycho: A Suite For Strings - Prelude (Bernard Herrmann)
• 0:01:33 - Psycho II - Mother’s Room (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 0:02:20 - Patrick - Suite (Brian May
• 0:08:28 - Star Trek (2009) - Enterprising Young Men (Michael Giacchino)
• 0:10:00 - Basic Instinct - Main Title (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 0:14:00 - Gremlins - The Gremlin Rag (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 0:15:21 - Hoosiers - Theme From Hoosiers (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 0:17:41 - The Lonely Guy - House Hunting (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 0:20:18 - Meet the Robinsons - The Year 3000 (Jonas Brothers covering a song by Busted)
• 0:23:13 - The Dark Knight Symphony - Put A Smile On That Face (Hans Zimmer)
• 0:27:25 - 300: Rise of an Empire - Marathon (Junkie XL aka Tom Holkenborg)
• 0:30:43 - Rambo: First Blood Part II - Main Title (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 0:31:31 - Total Recall - The Dream (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 0:40:30 - Star Trek: Voyager - Main Theme (Concert Version) (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 0:44:52 - Capricorn One - Main Title (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 0:47:44 - Capricorn One - The Message (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 0:49:48 - Capricorn One - Break Out (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 0:52:12 - The Illustrated Man - Main Title (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 0:53:50 - Medicine Man - Rae’s Arrival (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 1:01:18 - The Salamander - Funeral: Requiem for a General (Jerry Goldsmith and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
• 1:06:41 - Masada - Main Title (Jerry Goldsmith)

Please send your correspondence to [email protected].

Who wants seconds? Hot on the heels of our first installment, here's part two of Yavar and David's Odyssey Interview with soundtrack album editor and producer Neil S. Bulk. In this part of the conversation, Neil offers his memories of working on a host of additional Goldsmith scores (Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Total Recall, The Great Train Robbery, and more), discusses why certain scores have an easier time staying in print than others, and details some of the unique music production problems he has solved. If you're a serious soundtrack collector, you won't want to miss the illuminating stories and insights Neil has to offer. Enjoy!

For specific clips used in both parts of this interview, please consult this Google Doc for a thorough Goldsmith Odyssey Interviews Neil S. Bulk track breakdown.

Please send your correspondence to [email protected].

Double your interview, double your fun! The latest Odyssey Interview not only offers two installments, but two interviewers: Yavar and David team up for a wide-ranging chat with renowned soundtrack album editor and producer Neil S. Bulk. In the first half of their conversation, Neil talks about how he got his start in the world of film music album production thanks to Mike Matessino, working with Lukas Kendall at FSM, the differences between titles like "producer" and "editor," the unique challenges of working with various analog and digital music sources, working on Goldsmith album releases like The Swarm, The Challenge, and The Blue Max, and much more! It's a chat sure to fascinate anyone interested in the album production process. Enjoy, and be sure to check out part two when you're done!

For specific clips used in both parts of this interview, please consult this thorough Goldsmith Odyssey Interviews Neil S. Bulk track breakdown.

Please send your correspondence to [email protected].

On infrequent occasions, members of the Goldsmith Odyssey team will disagree about something. On rare occasions, we will disagree about something without even realizing it. On the rarest of occasions —just the once, so far— examining the cause and nature of that disagreement requires its own miniature episode. Something a little less than a Gold Nugget, and a little more than Gold Dust. Join David and Yavar for our very first episode of Gold Shavings, a behind-the-scenes look at a complex misunderstanding regarding Jerry Goldsmith's thematic ideas for the GE Theater episode "The Legend That Walks Like a Man" (which we discussed in detail in Episode 25 of The Goldsmith Odyssey). Plus: a few insights into how our show gets made, a surprising musical connection to a Goldsmith score that has just been released on CD, and some additional observations that have emerged in the wake of our Episode 25 recording. Enjoy!

Please send your correspondence to [email protected].

Dear Goldsmith Odyssey Listeners,

In these uncertain times, we want to remind all of our loyal customers that we are here for you. In response to the unprecedented events that we are all experiencing, we are taking a series of new measures to ensure a satisfactory podcast experience. Measures taken in the latest Gold Nugget include:

• The return of all four core members of the Goldsmith Odyssey Family (David, Yavar, Clark, and Jens)
• A casual, fun, music-filled examination of the many exciting Jerry Goldsmith CD releases that have been offered since our podcast first debuted in 2018
• Dozens —and in some cases, thousands— of miles of social distancing applied during the entire recording process
• Thoroughly cleaning the raw audio to remove any bugs

So consume. Enjoy. And we’ll get through this... together.

Releases covered in this episode:

• U.S. Marshals: The Deluxe Edition (Varèse Sarabande)
• Morituri (Intrada)
• The Swarm: Expanded Archival Collection (La La Land Records)
• Simians & Serialism: Expanded Second Edition (John O'Callaghan)
• The Great Train Robbery (Quartet Records)
• Air Force One: The Deluxe Edition (Varèse Sarabande)
• Planet Of The Apes Original Film Series Soundtrack: Limited Edition (La-La-Land Records)
• Barnaby Jones in The Quinn Martin Collection Volume 1 (La-La-Land Records)
• Raggedy Man: Encore Edition (Varèse Sarabande)
• The Jerry Goldsmith Songbook (Buysoundtrax)
• Archer / Warning Shot (La-La-Land Records)
• The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud (Intrada)
• The Lonely Guy (Intrada)
• The Mummy (Intrada)
• Small Soldiers: The Deluxe Edition (Varèse Sarabande)
• 100 Rifles / Rio Conchos (La-La-Land Records)
• Baby: Secret Of The Lost Legend (Intrada)

Please send your correspondence to [email protected].