Classic SB soundtracks coming to CD

[Mark Pollard]

Classic Shaw Brothers soundtracks coming to CD
http://www.kungfucinema.com/?p=3199

For the first time ever, De Wolfe Music Library, the original licensee of many of Shaw Brothers’ memorable kung fu movie soundtracks is releasing some of these gems onto CD for our listening pleasure. That’s right. You will soon be able to own the original theme music from DIRTY HO, INVINCIBLE SHAOLIN, RETURN TO THE 36TH CHAMBER, and many more in its original unfiltered form.

KUNG FU SUPER SOUNDS: UNRELEASED SOUNDTRACKS FROM THE DE WOLFE MUSIC LIBRARY AS FEATURED IN THE SHAW BROTHERS MARTIAL ARTS MOVIES 1976-1984 features 43 tracks from over 20 classic kung fu and wuxia films.

The collection was compiled by Joel Martin, co-member of Quiet Village, a U.K.-based electronica duo specializing in ambient, psychedelic and surf music.

De Wolfe Music Library is the oldest and largest provider of production music in the world. They have supplied original and fully licensed music to literally thousands of movies, TV series, documentaries, commercials, you name it.

KUNG FU SUPER SOUNDS is scheduled for release in the U.K. in late November. It can be pre-ordered now at MovieGrooves.com, a retailer specializing in soundtracks of the ’60s and ’70s. While there, you can sample some of the tracks.

Here is the complete track list to KUNG FU SUPER SOUNDS.

1. Counterspy
(Dirty Ho - Theme)
Reg Tilsley

2. Horror House [CD only]
(The Four Assassins)
Paul Lewis

3. Suppression
(Two Champions of Shaolin)
Jack Trombey

4. Drama Bridge
(Two Champions of Shaolin)
Peter Knight

5. Waiting for the Man [CD only]
(Shaolin Mantis)
Jack Trombey

6. Drama Sting 1 [CD only]
(Shaolin Mantis)
Paul Ferris

7. Perception in Rhythm [CD only]
(Shaolin Handlock - Theme)
Ivor Slaney

8. Grotte Sous-Marine
(Shaolin Handlock)
Pierre Arvay

9. Rite De la Terre-Earth [CD only]
(Avenging Eagle - Theme)
Edward Michael

10. Violence [CD only]
(Invincible Shaolin)
Eric Towren

11. Old Dark House
(Heaven and Hell)
Pete Willsher/Keith Cheshire

12. Moonbird
(Heaven and Hell)
Roger Webb

13. Dr. Witch-Wot
(Heaven and Hell)
Pete Willsher/Keith Cheshire

14. Spin Out [CD only]
(Heaven and Hell)
Pierre Arvary

15. Tension Trip [CD only]
(Dirty Ho)
Reg Tilsley

16. Troubled Mind [CD only]
(Dirty Ho)
Don Harper

17. Crime Club
(Dirty Ho)
Reg Tilsley

18. Fast Moving Stranger [CD only]
(Dirty Ho)
Don Parker

19. Violent Pay Off
(Dirty Ho)
Reg Tilsley

20. Violence Link 1 [CD only]
(Dirty Ho)
Reg Tilsley

21. Electro Beat 5
(The Kung Fu Instructor)
Ronald Marquisee

22. Counter Kill [CD only]
(The Kung Fu Instructor)
Jack Trombey

23. Two Minutes Precisely
(Ten Tigers of Kwang Tung)
Derek Scott

24. Industrial Complex [CD only]
(The Master - Theme)
Reg Tilsely

25. Electro Beat
(The Master)
Ronald Marquisee

26. Red Sequence [CD only]
(Bat Without Wings - Theme)
Jack Trombey

27. Electro Link 18
(Return to the 36th Chamber)
Ronald Marquisee

28. For and Against
(Return to the 36th Chamber)
Barry Stoller

29. Bitter Lemons
(Flag of Iron - Theme)
Frank Rothman

30. The Mystified Man [CD only]
(Flag of Iron - Theme)
Pierre Arvay

31. The Tournament [CD only]
(Heroes Shed No Tears - Theme)
Spencer Nakin

32. Duck and Blacker
(Martial Club)
Johnny Hawksworth

33. Face to Face
(My Young Auntie)
Frank Rothman

34. Sentry [CD only]
(Masked Avengers)
Jack Trombey

35. In The Shadows [CD only]
(House of Traps - Theme)
Paul Ferris

36. Jackboot
(House of Traps)
Peter Francklyn

37. Dogarnit
(Hex After Hex)
Robin Artus/Johnny Hawksworth

38. Zenith [CD only]
(Hex After Hex)
John Saunders

39. Abimes Souterrains
(Human Skin Lanterns)
Eric Towren

40. Moog Shot 25
(Buddah’s Palm)
Sam Spence

41. Manoevres
(The Bastard Swordman - Theme)
Jack Trombey

42. Nerve Stretch 2
(The Bastard Swordman)
Paul Lewis

43. Dodge City 1
(Return to the 36th Chamber)
Jack Trombey

[The Running Man]

That's really cool. :)

Thanks for the tidbit.

[Yakuza954]

Haven't most of these songs been in circulation already (both in mp3's uploaded on this website and through p2p programs)? I guess having anything Shaw Brothers related being released is a plus, but I would have been more excited if there were a wider variety of music available, or shaw brothers music included that was not just from De Wolfe (which is btw harder to find and identify). Just my two cents.

[SamuraiDana]

I'd be curious to listen to these to see which ones sound familiar to me. I tend to categorize the music in these films as either a) coming from familiar Hollywood/Italian western soundtracks (e.g. the Bond films, Morricone) or b) coming from a completely different music library. I used to make the mistake of thinking that if the music sounded "Chinese" in orchestration then it was probably an original score by the composer actually listed. Then, at some point I either learned or figured out that it was simply coming from a more "Chinese"-sounding music library.

So the questions I have are:

Did the De Wolfe Music Library provide the "Chinese"-sounding music as well as the other cues that didn't come from familiar movie soundtracks? Or did the Chinese cues come from another library?

Why was there so little attempt to come up with appropriate scores for these films? I'm not speaking about the Huangmei operas, of course. Those films required a whole different set of musical tasks and I'm assuming those orchestrations were unique to those films, even if the music wasn't.

But, for me, it all comes down to this: why, after making an epic adaptation of a classic Chinese novel, "The Water Margin," in 1972, didn't the filmmakers come up with a real score for a film they'd put such hard work into? Instead, they lathered on cues from Dominic Frontiere's score for HANG 'EM HIGH. When the film played in the U.S. as SEVEN BLOWS OF THE DRAGON (shortened by 40 minutes), it had a different, somewhat better score. Provided, I'm sure, by another music library.

[Killer Meteor]

Much of The Water Margin's score is from Uriah Heep's Salisbury

Originally Posted by SamuraiDana

I'd be curious to listen to these to see which ones sound familiar to me. I tend to categorize the music in these films as either a) coming from familiar Hollywood/Italian western soundtracks (e.g. the Bond films, Morricone) or b) coming from a completely different music library. I used to make the mistake of thinking that if the music sounded "Chinese" in orchestration then it was probably an original score by the composer actually listed. Then, at some point I either learned or figured out that it was simply coming from a more "Chinese"-sounding music library.

So the questions I have are:

Did the De Wolfe Music Library provide the "Chinese"-sounding music as well as the other cues that didn't come from familiar movie soundtracks? Or did the Chinese cues come from another library?

Why was there so little attempt to come up with appropriate scores for these films? I'm not speaking about the Huangmei operas, of course. Those films required a whole different set of musical tasks and I'm assuming those orchestrations were unique to those films, even if the music wasn't.

But, for me, it all comes down to this: why, after making an epic adaptation of a classic Chinese novel, "The Water Margin," in 1972, didn't the filmmakers come up with a real score for a film they'd put such hard work into? Instead, they lathered on cues from Dominic Frontiere's score for HANG 'EM HIGH. When the film played in the U.S. as SEVEN BLOWS OF THE DRAGON (shortened by 40 minutes), it had a different, somewhat better score. Provided, I'm sure, by another music library.

[Mark Pollard]

SamuraiDana, you pose some good questions that deserve better answers than I can provide but I'll take a stab at them.

I'll start with the second question.The way in which Shaw Brothers and lesser studios cranked out films for quick profit suggest that there wasn't time or funds available to invest in original film scores. The fact that Sync Sound, recording live sound on set, wasn't even used regularly in Hong Kong until the 1990s also suggests that sound in general was an afterthought for the producers.

Another issue seems to be intended markets. Early on, SB was targeting mostly Chinese audiences and I believe this is why most of their early wuxia films, for instance, do tend to use Chinese-styled music undoubtedly not provided by De Wolfe. But after KING BOXER was introduced to America and was followed by Bruce Lee's films, it's likely that SB saw the value in borrowing Western music to better sell the films overseas. It was probably far less expensive to license music from a library than to find local artists, build a recording studio and pay composers to craft original works for each production. On top of that, it would have undoubtedly slowed post-production, resulting in fewer films being released each year. Given that films rarely ran for more than two weeks in theaters, this would have definitely hurt their annual box office takes.

The bottom line is that SB favored quantity over quality. While this resulted in more films for us to watch it's still a shame as we could have ended up with more films being treated with the same measure of critical reverence as King Hu's works or those of Akira Kurosawa. What's doubly a shame is that I have heard some fantastic Chinese-themed orchestral work performed by the likes of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra that would make wonderful, rousing soundtracks to period kung fu and wuxia movies of the 1970s. Original scores to period martial arts movies today tend to be too melancholy, bland or pretentious, not unlike some of the films themselves.

[Yu_Xihong]

Originally Posted by SamuraiDana

Did the De Wolfe Music Library provide the "Chinese"-sounding music as well as the other cues that didn't come from familiar movie soundtracks? Or did the Chinese cues come from another library?

De Wolfe does have traditional chinese (and japanese) music lps by chinese composers and lps that could pass for chinese too. IMO, the traditional music Shaw used was too bland and basic. It was in their best interest to use a variety of library music. It's a given that the actors movies elements and concepts are chinese but the music doesn't have to be to convey the moods and atmospheres.

[SamuraiDana]

Originally Posted by Mark Pollard

Another issue seems to be intended markets. Early on, SB was targeting mostly Chinese audiences and I believe this is why most of their early wuxia films, for instance, do tend to use Chinese-styled music undoubtedly not provided by De Wolfe. But after KING BOXER was introduced to America and was followed by Bruce Lee's films, it's likely that SB saw the value in borrowing Western music to better sell the films overseas.

Thanks for the thoughtful response, Mark. If only they'd known these films would be finding appreciative new audiences 30 and 40 years later, they might have put a little more care into the music scores--or, more importantly, at least stored the negatives a little more carefully!:S

Anyway, just for the record, Shaw Bros. was using cues from James Bond films and Morricone soundtracks (e.g. FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE) long before KING BOXER and the Bruce Lee films. Just checking my notes on SB films seen in the past two years I found four from 1967-72 that had such cues: THE ASSASSIN (1967), RAPE OF THE SWORD (1967), THE SWIFT KNIGHT (1971), and THE DELIGHTFUL FOREST (1972) and I'm sure there were quite a few more.

[Yu_Xihong]

Okay so I bought this and if I was a casual fan I would be more than satisfied... but you know I'm not a casual fan. My main issue is that some of the movies are wrong. I thought maybe it was an error on the sites' behalf like one site got the official tracklist typed in it wrong and everyone else copied but nope... they're in the book like that. Some of these movies I've never seen so those I can't confirm and others I have to watch again. Here are the right movies for the ones I noticed...

02. Horror House - Rebel Intruders/Shaolin Prince [Not Marco Polo aka Four Assassins]
24. Industrial Complex - ??? [I've heard this but not in "The Master" not even in "The Master of Kungfu"]
34. Sentry - Life Gamble/Brave Archer [Not Masked Avengers]

Did they do a good job otherwise? Sure they did. IMO, the standout tracks are 2.Horror House, 3.Suppression, 9.Rite de la Terre, 10.Violence, 29.Bitter Lemons, 33.Face to Face, 36.Jackboot, and 41.Manoeuvers. While the book is informative, it didn't have the type of info I was looking for. I was moreso interested in the source material but they didn't say. However, there is a cool "treatment" image of a play by play sound scheme. Atleast I now know a few more track names from Invincible Shaolin that I didn't know before. They have a couple of other interesting official Shaw documents too. Shaw literally paid for the entire libraries of DW and their 3 subsidiaries... 2 copies of each record I believe. WOW! I'll be IDing Shaw forever.

When they advertise it as music from "Dirty Ho," "Return to the 36th Chamber," and "Invincible Shaolin," they really do mean that. For them to have had so much access, I would have expected more variety or better choices but I'm pretty sure they had their own criteria and favorites among themselves. A clever thing to do would have been to list alternate movies that used the same cues. I wouldn't have been fooled but somebody would have. If they made another one would I buy it? Probably. Unbiased I'd rate it 4/5. Biased, I'd rate it a 2.5/5.

I would send them an email asking what was sourced from where but I don't think they would tell me lol.

[Yu_Xihong]

I got mine on ebay... good ol ebay. Would you believe I got a used copy of a NEW CD that's really not even out yet!!!!!!?????? It's always somethin...they did list it as brand new so I'm going to file a dispute as soon as I get time to photograph my evidence. There's more on there but from different people. I doubt lightning would strike twice.

On the positive side, I managed to find and order another rare LP thanks to the sound scheme sheet. I would pay for those sheets if someone would sell them (in bulk). There would be no more IDing. I would simply have to find the record/cd.