Hawkins On Murder, Winterkill And Babe
 
 

FSM continue to wow enthusiasts with another remarkable CD of yet more rare and previously unreleased Jerry Goldsmith music. This time three TV scores from the composer's time in the early 70's when he was writing for both the big and small screen. In this area alone Goldsmith remains a phenomenon for slipping into both mediums and coming up with equally well written music. TV may have been the poorer cousin to movies but musically Goldsmith exerted the same efforts into these budget constrained scores. Here we have two TV pilots and one Emmy winning TV movie score.

Hawkins On Murder is a 70's period score with Goldsmith providing a jovial pop tuned theme for James Stewart's wily old lawyer for a riveting court case. The short score of 16 minutes or so is the economical scoring Goldsmith and the TV medium is famous for. Predominately this score is about punctuation as the composer provides some unnerving 70's synthesiser work for the disturbing murder and tense build up to the case, while a small orchestral ensemble provides the more serious legal aspects of the drama highlighting guitar, timpani and brass. Of particular note is a lovely secondary love theme of sorts performed by guitar, and later ably supported by the rest of the orchestra. Without doubt the score highlight.

Winter Kill in some ways plays similar to Hawkins, but here Sheriff Andy Griffith is on the trail of a vicious serial killer at a picturesque winter ski resort. Goldsmith again leads with a strong, but a somewhat more dated sounding theme, which upon listening clearly became a precursor to the locomotion of Breakheart Pass. Here again electronics lead the way with Goldsmith providing some really unsettling and dissonant sounds for the score as bodies are discovered and new victims are sort. Again a small orchestral ensemble are on hand to provide a balance to the eerie electronics, highlighted here by percussion (tabla), woodwinds and strings. Again the score is quite short but provides a burst of suspense and some minor Goldsmith action writing for Goldsmith Piano.

Babe tells the remarkable true story of sports woman Babe Didrikson Zaharias who's life was tragically cut short by cancer at the age of 42. Winning Gold medals at the 1932 Olympics and then excelling in near on every other sport she participated in (javelin, hurdles, golf, tennis, basketball, high diving and bowling)! This heartfelt TV movie adaptation earned Goldsmith another richly deserved Emmy award for a beautifully tender and restrained score. Perhaps here the limitations of TV helped prevent any executives demanding a 100 musicians as 24 was enough to remind us how good Goldsmith is with limited resources. His main theme essentially carries the whole score and is called upon in most cues. Performed by guitar, strings and sometimes harp this delicate theme captures the essence of this incredible woman and her fight against this disease. Along the way the sports drama elements come to the fore with an upbeat rendition of the theme and the emergence of a small amount of brass and percussion providing some momentum during flashbacks and montages, albeit light.

FSM have produced another superb disc package, with a crystal clear transparent stereo source and some bonus tracks. These include a vocal for Babe, performed by Carol Goldsmith, some additional ambient tracks for Winter Kill and rounding off with the infectious Hawkins theme. Add comprehensive and enlightening booklet notes by Jon Burlingame and you have another award worthy CD from FSM.