Customer Reviews

Film Music - Mrs. Soffel ~ The Times of Harvey Milk ~ Never Cry Wolf

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Mark Isham has continued to be my favorite composer ever since I first discovered this album (back when vinyl was all we had). I have since watched Mr. Isham's music develop with baited anticipation. Although I find it hard to find a "favorite" in his pantheon of music, his work titled "Tibet" is still one of his most haunting pieces yet composed. I find it unique when a composer can leave you with not just a catchy melody, but an fully developed emotion.... these seem to stay longer. This album, along with "Tibert" are special to me because I can distinctly remember "feeling" several passages when I first held my newborn twin girls in my arms. Thank you Mark.

along with peter gabriel's "last temptation of christ" and john barry's work, this is the pinnacle of movie music that can also be used for driving, working hard, playing hard, or just listening. most record stores don't carry this gem because they don't know exactly where to file it. this has been in my top ten (with shawn clovin's fat city, sarah mclachlan's fumbling, peter gabriel's so and john hiatt's slow turning) for years. unless you're only into gothic metal or german accordion music, buy this cd immediately.

After scoring many, many films... I always seem to come back to this c.d which compiles three movies scores onto one and each distiguishably different from one another and it's refreshing to listen to a soundtrack that doesn't repeat the same theme over and over which is quite common. If I had to be stranded on a desert island and had a choice of c.d's to come with me, I can not be without "FILM MUSIC"... That's saying a lot of high praise for a musician that was little more than just a session trumpet player playing with the likes of The Beach Boys, Van Morrison. Van Morrison always demanded the best from his musicians or quite simply they didn't play for him at all.

If you haven't seen the movie Mrs. Soffel, don't bother the music clearly out shines the movie...Lyle Mays on piano is amazing and expect lots of penny whistle, synthesizers and being that the setting takes place in Pittsburgh, the industrial sounds of a steel mill. The "Times Of Harvey Milk" is just under 9 minutes, it never gets a chance to mold into anything other than sounding alright. What ever fault there may be with "Times Of Harvey Milk" it was an important score for him to score because of him growing up in the San Francisco area, the main focally point in the documentary...Times Of Harvey Milk went on to win a Academy Award for best documentary. And lastly "Never Cry Wolf"...wow, thats what made me run out to buy the c.d in the first place. You could not ask for a better score to compliament the wintery terrain of Alaska. Although very somber through out the most part, there is a brief moment that will raise a few hairs on the back of your neck...my favorite part of the score, lots and lots of drumming.

What more can I say, just run out and buy it...highly recommended.

This is the first CD of Mark Isham's that I ever purchased. I first heard it a number of years ago when my girlfriend fell in love with it and insisted that I get it for her.

Other equally qualified composers have written sound tracts, i.e. Aaron Copeland and his protege, Leonard Berstein. Mark Isham is without a doubt in this league.

Hopefully, in time, this artist will get the recognition he deserves. Do your friends a favor. Spread the word.

Judging by my own experience and other reviews here, I suspect that in the 1990s Windham Hill were handing out copies of their more tranquil tapes and CDs to the maternity suites of hospitals around the world. My daughter Erika was born to the sounds of 'The Shape of the Land', which was much the most interesting tape hanging around at Kingston Hospital. That tape led me to purchase the Windham Hill double-CD compilation, which contained an extract from 'Mrs Soffel', and that led me to purchase this CD.

The CD was a revelation, for two reasons. First, there was much more 'Mrs Soffel' music than the extract had led me to expect. And second, the compilation never mentioned the fact that the pianist behind the glorious playing was none other than my favourite, Lyle Mays. (Unfortunately the CD notes misspell his name as 'Mayes'.) The piano is beautifully simple, but it is among the best Lyle has done, inside or outside the Pat Metheny Group.

I have subsequently seen the 'Mrs Soffel' movie (starring Diane Keaton), and to be frank, it was a disappointment. My expectations had been raised sky-high by this CD, which is marvellous. The elements of the Isham music are spread across the movie, perhaps too thinly, and Isham does a great job of bringing them altogether into a 14-minute symphony.

'Harvey Milk' does nothing for me, but track #3, 'Never Cry Wolf', just leaves me pining to see the Disney film. It sounds arctic, wintry, sparse, and menacing.

All three tracks show that Isham is not just a top-flight musician but also a fine composer.

I love really movie theme music and film scores. I remember thinking when I got The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album way back when, that the theme tune by Alan Silvestri at the end of the album was actually the best part - no disrespect to Whitney Houston et al; I think they were all brilliant - and I still feel that way about it now. The pity is that at just 2mins 44secs, it's over almost as soon as it begins.

I've seen two of these three films but I wanted this CD principally because of Lyle Mays (of the Pat Metheny Group), who plays on the theme from 1984's "Mrs. Soffel". It's pretty much what I expected, Mays plays beautiful piano, with Peter Maunu on violin, Mark Isham himself on synthesiszers, Penny Whistle and piano, with a full orchestra behind them all, arranged and conducted by Mark Adler. It's serene, relaxing but at 13mins 59 secs, always interesting, with several different movements.

The theme to "The Times of Harvey Milk" is equally interesting, though shorter at 8mins 32secs. Isham plays synthesizers and trumpet. This 1984 Oscar-winning Robert Epstein & Richard Schmiechen documentary is the only film here that I haven't seeen and I'm quite keen to get my hands on it if I can find it on DVD.

The final tune, from the 1983 Carroll Ballard film "Never Cry Wolf" is also a pleasant surprise. At 24mins 48secs long, it takes me on a delightfully moody, almost haunting journey. Rufus Oliver plays bassoon, Bill Douglass is on bamboo flutes, George Marsh plays percussion, Tucky Bailey plays glass, Natalie Cox plays harp, Mark Isham is on synthesizers and voices are provided by Annie Stocking, Stephanie Douglass, Kathy Hudnall and Jeanette Spartaine. Once again, Mark Adler arranges and conducts the orchestra.

Not quite jazz and not quite classical, maybe it falls somewhere in the middle? Whatever it is, I think it's beautiful.

Like the movie, Mrs. Soffel, this soundtrack did not receive much attention from the public. Listening to any of the tracks will immediately bring you back to the movie which had the same haunting and alluring quality. This is a music review however after reading other reviews of Mrs. Soffel the movie, I would add many people nowadays find it hard to appreciate movies that don't have car chases, explicit sex scenes and in your face dialogue. A young Mel Gibson gives a performance that makes you somehow like and feel sorry for him even though at the back of your mind you know he is a murderer. Very few actors now can pull off such a feat. Diane Keaton gives a very convincing performance of a woman torn between what is expected of her as the wife of the jail warden and yet driven to save the lives of two inmates from a death sentence who she doesn't even know are innocent or not. The movie would not have been complete without this enchanting and mysterious soundtrack. On the other hand I never listen to this soundtrack without remembering very fondly the wintery scenes in this movie and witnessing the undeniable chemistry between Mel Gibson and Diane Keaton. Gibson's ability to draw you into a scene and capture your attention shows he is a treasure to the cinema. I say buy this cd and the dvd together to experience this movie and music magic time and time again.

And "Never Cry Wolf" is a terrifically underrated movie. While Mark Isham is hardly the best American composer alive today (that honor goes to Stephen Sondheim", he's consistantly inventive and his music just about always provides just the right amount of counterpoint to the visiuals ("Trouble in Mind" is another great example). I only wished they'd included the harpsichord music he wrote for the mouse eating scene in "Never Cry Wolf." Isham came dangerously close to being labled a "New Age Musician," but thank GOD (or L.Ron Hubbard, if you know what I mean!!) he's proven he's more than a tape for massages(!!). I don't know if he still performs live, but I saw him in 1987 doing a JAZZ suite from "Never Cry Wolf" that blew me away. I wish THAT was on CD!!!!