Bill Frisell

[Gregg Rickman]

Guitarist Bill Frisell has released his scores for GO WEST, THE HIGH SIGN and ONE WEEK on a new DVD. Here is a review (likes the films, not the score):

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/937 ... obsession/

Anyone have any comments on Frisell's efforts?

[Richard M Roberts]

Guitarist Bill Frisell has released his scores for GO WEST, THE HIGH SIGN and ONE WEEK on a new DVD. Here is a review (likes the films, not the score):

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/937 ... obsession/

Anyone have any comments on Frisell's efforts?

Yes, they suck.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Jim Kerkhoff]

Richard, you're being much too kind.

Jim K

[Gregg Rickman]

Yes, but does the music "approximate the sad stillness blowing through the corridors of Keaton’s mind"?

[Richard M Roberts]

Yes, but does the music "approximate the sad stillness blowing through the corridors of Keaton’s mind"?

Not really, no, not that there is actually any "sad stillness" in one of the most busy and creative comic minds that has ever lived. However,they convey extremely well a very second, or perhaps eighth-rate artist trying to hijack a numero-uno, really great artists work by smearing it with his own pointless music and bringing Keaton's films down to his own level, rendering them as unwatchable as his tunes are unlistenable.

But, hey, I've already described Frisell's work perfectly and succinctly, it sucks. What more really needs to be said?


RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Jim Kerkhoff]

I remain in complete concurrence with Richard. Silly me. I couldn't imagine musical accompaniment for silent comedy getting any worse than the Alloy Orchestra. Just goes to show, I guess.

Jim K

[Gregg Rickman]

Just as a point of curiosity -- how are the prints? I"ve seen fine and I've seen blurry prints of GO WEST, and I'm curious as to what source material they used for this disc.

[Agnes McFadden]

I remain in complete concurrence with Richard. Silly me. I couldn't imagine musical accompaniment for silent comedy getting any worse than the Alloy Orchestra. Just goes to show, I guess.

Jim K

I am not familiar with Bill Frisell's scores, but you are saying that they are worse than the Allow Orchestra? I thought that only Maria Newman could surpass them ! To be honest, even some of the , in my opinion,BAD composers can sometimes get away with a passable score for horror or drama ( though maybe not Maria Newman - her score for Mary Pickford's"The Love LIght" sends me to the mute button), but comedy is different. I think that I am most picky about scores for comedy, since so much of what hits me as funny depends on the mood that is built around it. I can get into a drama sometimes even if the score is a bit off, but when the music lays a wet blanket on my comedy, I can't enjoy it with the sound!

After some of the really wonderful scores that I have been treated to (on DVD and live) , I have become even less understanding of a bad score that attempts to squash the mood of the comedy. I can deal with a fuzzy print and just be thankful that we still ahve the film at all ( at 80 and 90 years old, I appreciate that some of them just survived), but a thoughtless score that detracts from a great comedy has no excuse. There are plenty of great compsers out there.

And, speaking of Keaton, how does "The Club Foot Orchestra" get to stomp all over "Sherlock, Jr" when Vince Giordino and the Nighthawks had done such a wonderful score for that film?

Agnes McFadden

[Bruce Calvert]

Here's a link where you can sample some of the tracks: http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1242904/a/Go+West:+Music+For+The+Films+Of+Buster+Keaton.htm

I can't fairly judge it until I get a chance to see the movie matched with the music, but it sounds waaaay too laid back for a Keaton comedy to me...

[Uli Ruedel]

I can't fairly judge it until I get a chance to see the movie matched with the music

It's been a long time since this showed up on German TV, but I don't recall any such thing as a match between the Frisell music and the moviesl...

Uli
(by the way, Alloy admirer)