Zulu

Label: Silva Screen     
Catalogue No: FILMXCD 305

Release Date: 1999

Total Duration: 51:37

UPN: 5-014929-030524
City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nic Raine

It seems that James Fitzpatrick has something of a passion for ZULU, one of John Barry's very earliest scores. Silva Screen released the original tracks back in the days before re-recordings, when the label was better known for re-issuing cult deletions such as this and DAMIEN: OMEN II. Even on that release, the notes expressed some dissatisfaction at the non-existence of a true stereo recording. Now, on Silva's third release of re-constructed John Barry scores with Nic Raine and the City of Prague Philharmonic, James has put this demon to bed.

ZULU is, to be sure, an impressive and memorably bombastic work, but it's not normally one to be named as anyone's singular favorite. This recording is complete, although in practice that only means an extra minute-and-a-half or so of additional material. But although this album seems to be about a premiere complete and stereo ZULU, I think what will draw the collector's attention more than this will be the recordings of previously unreleased scores - THE TAMARIND SEED, LOVE AMONG THE RUINS, MY SISTER'S KEEPER, HAMMETT and MISTER MOSES.

This album is better than the two previous Barry ones in their reconstruction, although I think there's still some way to go before they match the note perfectness of Varèse Sarabande’s reconstructions. I feel that these versions of THE COTTON CLUB (which contain a little of the score's unreleased music) and the film version of DANCES' "The Buffalo Hunt" stand up pretty well against the originals, although it's hard to tell if the latter is accurate because the rhythm of the music is buried in the film underneath the sound effects. As for LOVE AMONG THE RUINS, this is a superb suite which is unquestionably my own favorite part of the album. John Barry's remarkably warm themes amount to much more than the interpolated theme that premiered on "Play It Again", and this suite contains a superb harpsichord performance.

THE SPECIALIST, and KING KONG's "The End Is At Hand" don't come over with the authority of the real McCoy. Maybe, like ZULU, it's partly the studio, which does seem to lack the re-assuring echo found in the original recordings. As to THE TAMARIND SEED, in Barry's original the piano and percussion are bright and sharp, but they seem faded here. Perhaps the original was recorded according to Barry's technique of placing extra mikes over these instruments to promote their sound.

Of the new suites, MY SISTER'S KEEPER and MISTER MOSES will be new to many listeners. The former is the more interesting; not one of the “great” scores, but it creates some nice textures with strings, piano and harmonica, and has a wonderful phrase picked up by both harmonica and flute just before the suite's ending. The latter is definitely a sibling of the percussion writing in BORN FREE.

Stephen Woolston - Originally published in Soundtrack Magazine Vol.18 / No.70 / 1999