ARCHIVAL EDITION CONTAINING SOUND EFFECTS -- PLEASE READ CAREFULLY The Satan Bug (1965) is one of the first science fiction scores in Jerry Goldsmith's career, the predecessor of such landmarks as Planet of the Apes, The Illustrated Man, The Mephisto Waltz, Capricorn One and Alien.
It is also a recording long thought to be lost, and that is in some ways still true -- please see below.
The Satan Bug
was a "techno-thriller" (as it would be called today) about a
top-secret virus -- capable of ending all life on earth -- stolen from
a secret government installation in the Southwest U.S. George Maharis
plays the government agent assigned to retrieve it, with Richard
Basehart, Ed Asner, Anne Francis and Dana Andrews among the supporting
cast. Based on a book by Ian Stuart (a pseudonym for Alistair MacLean)
and directed by John Sturges, the film features hidden identities,
cloak-and-dagger intrigue, and chases galore.
Jerry Goldsmith's score to The Satan Bug
was an important stepping stone, featuring snaking, snarling atonality
and avant garde suspense as a kind of bridge from his television work
(such as on The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) to feature classics like Planet of the Apes.
Goldsmith wrote for an orchestra devoid of high strings -- only cellis
and bass -- with a battery of brass, percussion, woodwinds and two
early synthesizers, the Hammond Solovox and Novachord. Utilizing
12-tone serial techniques, Goldsmith concocted an eerie, malevolent
sound world of astringent action and seething creepiness.
The master tapes to The Satan Bug
were thought to be long destroyed (along with most of United Artists'
original soundtracks), but two reels turned up miraculously in the
collection of Bob Burns, a beloved industry figure who has archived
countless movie props and artifacts. The two units of the 1/2"
three-track stereo masters -- recorded on the Samuel Goldwyn scoring
stage in terrific sound quality -- represent around 40% of the score,
though none of the large-scale action cues. The only other source for
the Satan Bug recording is a monaural music-and-effects track which was isolated on a 1996 laserdisc of the film.
Because, in our opinion, all Jerry Goldsmith music is worth preserving, this premiere "archival edition" of The Satan Bug
combines the music-only tapes with the music-and-effects source (newly
retransferred) for a chronological presentation of the complete score.
(Fortunately, the main and end titles are free of sound effects, as
they appear that way in the film.)
By sound effects, please note, we mean sound effects:
car noises, helicopters, gunshots, doors slamming, grunts and groans,
air conditioners, monkey chirps, telephones...it is not pretty. But it
is all that there is.
The
surviving music-only sections total 30:34, and our original intention
was to release this material only. We then decided to add the
music-and-effects cues as a bonus. It simply happened to work out that
the music-and-effects cues "cleaned up" better than we had hoped (due
in large part to the transparent way Goldsmith wrote the music), and
that the cues were best presented chronologically. The CD liner notes
(by Jeff Bond) provide programming instructions for making a music-only
sequence.
Whether
you buy this CD or not, please understand exactly what it contains, and
why we chose to release it. For us, it's a Jerry Goldsmith masterpiece
from the sterling '60s and we are delighted to present it.
TO ORDER THESE AND OTHER GREAT FILM SOUNDTRACKS GO TO THE OFFICIAL FILM SCORE MONTHLY WEB SITE BY CLICKING HERE!