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The Mission
The whole thing started with a phone call "out of the blue" followed by our
"audition". We were summoned to the headquarters of Goldcrest Films in London and shown
to an upstairs office where Sr. Morricone pounded a ricketty, out-of-tune, upright
piano and sang tune after tune at the top of his voice. "Can you play this?"
enquired his son. few days later we were sitting in CTS studios recording the opening
sequence of the film, where Sr. Morricone, seated on a high stool, produced
a small plastic recorder from his top pocket and alternately improvised
musical phrases on it and pointed it at each of us to do the same on a
variety of drums, panpipes, etc. It went down in one take.
After three days of somewhat intense recording there was blood on the studio
floor - hands from drum walloping and lips from panpipe riffing. Ah, the
things we do for art.
Soundtrack Sample
All soundtrack samples in the movies section appear on Tony's Album Camera and can be purchased from the MP3 Download section.
Willow
James Horner had heard the score for "The Mission" and asked Mike Taylor and
myself to play
on "Willow", which had, at the time, the biggest ever music budget for a
movie.
On the first morning we began with a cue containing a nightmare solo in the
heinous key of
B Major. (For the uninitiated, that means a rather uncomfortable number of
sharps).
We only had one instrument between us on which it could be done - a somewhat
dodgy
cross-blown Bolivian flute. We tossed a coin for the dubious honour. Mike
lost.
The first run-through, predictably, didn't go that well. Audible sniggers
were heard from members of the London Symphony Orchestra. James, to his
eternal credit, tapped his baton
on the stand and said "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a 120-piece orchestra
here, two choirs,
Alpine horns, anvils etc., etc., and these chaps with numerous bits of
stick, some of which have holes bored in them. I have written the cue in the
wrong key and that's my fault. If anyone
thinks they can play any of these instruments better, please step forward".
You could've heard
a pin drop.
P.S. The rest of the sessions went fine(!).
Soundtrack Sample
All soundtrack samples in the movies section appear on Tony's Album Camera and can be purchased from the MP3 Download section.
Young Guns
You won't have heard this score, as it was binned. This happens to all film
composers at some
point and is, simply, a production decision and an occupational hazard. In
this case, however, I think the producers made (especially considering the
replacement score - in my humble opinion,
a pile of ****!) a huge mistake. We recorded it in the old Air studios at
Oxford Circus, London, and it was our introduction to the "Panpipe Olympics"
(see "Patriot Games").
James asked us to find a piper to play a slow air at the top and bottom of
the movie so we got Tommy McCarthy (RIP), a very, very fine piper from Co.
Clare, then living in London. Tommy played so beautifully that James said "
Lads, I don't know what we're paying Tommy, but double it!".
Field of Dreams
This was our first score recording in LA. We did it in a post-production
studio in the CBS television centre on Fairfax, so we got to know the
Farmers Market very well (also Molly Malones
pub!). I really enjoyed the movie (somewhat iconic, it seems, for many
blokes) and the director, Phil Alden Robinson, is a very nice and
exceedingly smart guy. Towards the end of the scoring I had to fly to
Frankfurt for a Michael Nyman Band gig, leaving Mike to "mop up" but then he
had to leave so I flew back to LA to continue the "mopping up" process,
which involved playing a
small duet with the, sadly now deceased, guitar legend Tommy Tedesco.
Monster!
If you build it they will come.
Soundtrack Sample
All soundtrack samples in the movies section appear on Tony's Album Camera and can be purchased from the MP3 Download section.
The Patriot Games
This was mostly recorded at Conway Studios off Melrose (near the Paramount
lot) in LA.
It was the score where the concept of the "Panpipe Olympics" really took
off.
It's a tension-building device involving prolonged (I think the record was
11 and a
half minutes!) riffing on Toyos (very big panpipes indeed). The biggest
problem is that after a
minute or two you start to pass out from a combination of lock-jaw and
hyper-ventilation.
Fortunately the recording engineer (scoring mixer to you American chaps and
chapesses), the
splendid Shawn Murphy, had mercy, stopped the tape and dropped us back in
when we had regained consciousness. Top bloke.
During the gig the LA riots broke out and the Old Bill (Cops) curfewed us in
the Mondrian Hotel for a few days. It was bizarre to sit by a hotel swimming pool and watch
fire after fire start up. (see "Clear and Present Danger" for earthquake news).
Abiding aural memories are Maggie Boyle on the phone to her aunt in rural
Ireland (in the middle of the night) tryng to get the Gaelic lyrics right,
punctuated by agonized groans as the film's director, Philip Noyce,
"manipulated" Mike's back!
Clear and Present Danger
Almost "Act 2" of the Patriot Games (complete with all-new panpipe
olympics), this was the one
where we found ourselves in an earthquake. On the night we arrived in LA, I
went to bed early
while Mike went out to the Comedy Store and afterwards for some refeshments.
I woke at 4.30 am to find myself on the floor and the whole room swaying.
Mike, walking back
along Sunset Strip found himself swaying and bouncing off walls. I thought
"blimey, it's an
earthquake". Mike thought "blimey, I didn't think I'd had that many beers".
Braveheart
This was done in Abbey Road, London with the LSO and is the first time I
used throat vibrato on a film score. Up till then I'd always played straight
but before we started I was practising on my
own in the studio when James Horner came rushing in. The conversation went
something like this:-
JH "What's that?"
Me "Erm, it's a quena James."
JH "Yes but that sound. How do you get that sound?"
Me "Erm, throat vibrato. It's how you're supposed to play 'em."
JH "I've been looking for that sound for years and didn't know what it was.
I thought it was a
different instrument. Keep it in!"
Being afflicted with terminal Scottishness, I came over all misty-eyed at
the Battle of
Bannockburn.
Soundtrack Sample
All soundtrack samples in the movies section appear on Tony's Album Camera and can be purchased from the MP3 Download section.
Jumanji
One of the first SFX movies...
On the morning session for the opening sequence I was playing, live with the
orchestra, a particularly small quena (more about that particular instrument later!)
I was nervous and Shawn (Murphy, the sound engineer/scoring mixer) liked to
have the studio temperature very low (better for the sound dontcha know - never mind about
the ******* musicians!), so I couldn't actually hold the thing steady on my lips. When
JH called the first ten (minute break) I hared round to the studio store and bought a sweater. It
saved the hour and to this day, countless washing-machine trips later, it's
still my lucky sweater. Am I a nutter or what?
During these scoring sessions, Mike Taylor, Kazu Matsui and myself, sitting
in the Todd-AO kitchen, attempted to categorize all the types of flute vibrato known to
mankind.
They are:-
Diaphragm - concert flute etc.
Finger - celtic flutes, whistles etc.
Throat - andean quenas etc.
Head waggling - shakuhachi etc.
Instrument waggling - Romanian panpipes etc.
Wobbling the thing on your actual gob - idiots etc.
Are we nutters or what?
Legends of the Fall
This was recorded at the (then newly opened) Air Studios, Lyndhurst Hall in
Hampstead,
London. It's one of those pieces of music that gets used again and again
(along with
Braveheart and Patriot Games) as a temp score by Music Editors. The broad
sweep of the
main themes perfectly matches the Montana scenery and makes this a film that
just HAS to
be viewed on the biggest screen possible.
One of the best aspects of the orchestration is the use of Kazu Matsui's
shakuhachi to double the string lines. The shakuhachi is traditionally a
five-hole pentatonic flute but Kazu has
bored extra holes in his instruments so they can play western scales.
Brilliant idea!
By the third week of scoring some people (no names) were considering spiking
Ed Zwicks
orange juice with something calming!
Soundtrack Sample
All soundtrack samples in the movies section appear on Tony's Album Camera and can be purchased from the MP3 Download section.
Apollo 13
I didn't play a note on this movie but James Horner asked me to come into
Abbey Road to
help with producing Annie Lennox's vocals. I would just like to say that,
out of her normal
element as she undoubtedly was, she turned out to be an absolute trouper and
gave a
performance that was 100 per cent commited. It was a pleasure to be there.
The Devil's Own
This was recorded at Todd-AO in Los Angeles and was directed by Alan J.
Pakula, who knew a thing or two about directing films. I say this because we
had to hang around while the ending
was re-shot as a result of the focus audience not liking the original
ending. "You can't kill Brad
Pitt" was, as I recall, the "verdict" of these geniuses. I have to conclude
that it is now compulsory for all Encino dudes to have an honours degree in
film-making.
I was charged with the task of finding an Irish (female) singer for the
recording, and, after a
bit of research and a couple of blind alleys I went to a performance of
"Riverdance" at London's
Hammersmith Odeon and heard Sarah Clancy sing. She was perfect and a
consumate
professional. Exactly right for the gig. She turned out to be (in musicians'
parlance) a
"one-take-wonder". 'Nuff respect.
Soundtrack Sample
All soundtrack samples in the movies section appear on Tony's Album Camera and can be purchased from the MP3 Download section.
Titanic
Sometimes I have a "gimmick" to see me through a project (not shaving on
"Braveheart", wearing shades 24/7 on "Troy" etc. etc.) - it's stupid
superstition. Anyway, for the Titanic I decided I was going to dress smartly
and so duly turned up on the first morning in a jacket
and tie, much to the amusement of my colleagues. "What, exactly, have you
come as?" was James Horner's greeting.
After much head-scratching about what key it was going to be in, the first
piece of business turned out to be the ubiquitous "My heart will go on". I didn't know it was
a song or who would be singing it or anything, save that I had to play it on
a B whistle which (thanks to the expertise of Phil Hardy at Kerrywhistles.com) I had! More about whistles later.
I must just name-check Sissel who is one of the most gifted singers I have
ever met and an absolute joy to work with, and Eric Rigler, who has taken the playing of
bagpipes into a whole new dimension.
Soundtrack Sample
All soundtrack samples in the movies section appear on Tony's Album Camera and can be purchased from the MP3 Download section.
The Mask of Zorro
For this score, James asked me to find flamenco guitarists and dancers, who
would use their
hands and feet as "percussion instruments" to provide the rhythmic framework
for the music.
I went to see Felipe Gonzales de Algeciras and his group, Flamenco Express,
and was so
captivated I knew I'd found the right people. A special dance floor was
layed at Air Studios and
off we went. Or, almost. What no one had thought of, but began to dawn on us
from day one,
is that flamenco artists operate on flamenco time. So whilst the Americans
were all coffee-ed
up and ready to go at 10 am, the flamencos would start to arrive from around
11.30-12.00,
have some breakfast and a nice chat, and gradually get in the mood by about
lunchtime.
After several days we just had to laugh and adapt to "flamenco time".
Soundtrack Sample
All soundtrack samples in the movies section appear on Tony's Album Camera and can be purchased from the MP3 Download section.
Troy
Eric Rigler and I were asked by James Horner to play on "Stroke of Genius" - a nice movie about
legendary golfer Bobby Jones. Two days before I was due to leave for LA, I got a call from music
editor Jim Henrikson asking if I could stay on to do another gig. Gabriel Yared's score had been
binned (these things happen) and James had 5 minutes to write a new one. Once the golf movie
was in the can Eric and I went up to San Francisco to get "anything that sounds weird".
This turned out to be Rag Dungs, Shofars, Sipsis, Conch Shells, Fish Trumpets (!) etc, etc.
Nothing like a good old film company panic to broaden ones musical horizons.
Four Feathers
This didn't do terribly well at the box office, which is a shame, as the score was somewhat exotic, to say the least.
I had to assemble an eclectic group of drummers and some blokes who
play weird things that you blow (in addition to yours truly), which I duly did. By the way, well done lads!
(check names on CD cover). The star of the show, however, was Rahat. He was held
up in Pakistan and it was touch and go whether he would make the sessions at all,
but eventually he got airborne and came straight from Heathrow to the studio.
The first cue, not a note of which he had heard before, was put up and he sang a "rehearsal".
Simon (Rhodes, the recording engineer) took it and everyone in the control room was open-mouthed.
Completely uncanny musicianship. He did it again "for real", which was equally good, but I believe the rehearsal was the take that was used.
Beyond Borders
The abiding memory of this was Martin Campbell, at the start of the "Chechnya" bit,
saying "you can't use that flute here - it makes you think you're in Cambodia". Well, he's the
boss. ( Trade secret - most film directors and a lot of composers haven't the foggiest idea where
particular instruments come from and, so long as it sounds OK, they're not all that bothered
either. e.g. - They say "Where does that one come from?" You say - as convincingly as possible -
"Er - Upper Volta." They say "Great, that's perfect - sounds marvellous.")
The Missing
Very good movie, this one, with a special shout to Eric Schweig. How evil is he? One of the
baddest "baddies" ever. Mike Taylor and myself supplied a lot of the "something awful's about
to happen" music on panpipes and shakuhachi. Cue my nephew Stephen who, whenever
Uncle Tony starts to play (on a film score!?!), immediately goes to hide behind the sofa.
Mighty Joe Young
Perhaps not the greatest movie ever made, but certainly the most consistently tricky thing I
have ever had to play (in terms of film scoring). At the end of the sessions JH said to me "you
seemed to find that difficult, how could that be?" Very simply, the entire thing revolved around
G (which, as all quena players know, is a half-thumb-hole)(!) and was a bit like keeping a football in the air
(that's soccer ball to our American chums) - sooner or later you're going to screw up. I was never much good at
"keepie-uppie" and am, apparently, not much good at revolving around G either. Maybe I'll try landscape gardening.
The Shipping News
Did this with the Royal Philharmonic at Abbey Rd. (on a Chris Abell high F, for all you whistle
afficionados - how good are his whistles?!?!). Poor Chris Young had to deal with playing back
every track down an ISDN line to the USA for approval and/or corrections. (Note to American film
producers - here's how you do it. You go to the airport, get on an aeroplane and, a few hours
later, you're in London, England, which is within easy distance of Abbey Rd. studios - the place
where the beleaguered composer is currently working his **** off on your project).
My cousin Doreen (Boston, MA) likes this score and so do I.
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