Search - Jerry Goldsmith, Jim [Composer] Grady :: Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

Vintage music from Jerry Goldsmith

allemande | Columbia, MO USA | 09/13/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Frankly I have never seen the movie "Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies". I'll go one better and say that I never even HEARD of it before this Film Score Monthly CD release was issued. But that may in some way be the point of these releases; they less often cater to popular tastes than they point the listener to obscure or underrepresented works.

If, like myself, you never heard of "Ace Eli", fear not because there is a well-written and lavishly illustrated booklet included in this CD release which traces the plot outlines of the movie and explains, where necessary, the place of the various musical cues within it.

The phrase "where necessary" in the above sentence is significant. For this is, after all, the music of Jerry Goldsmith, one of the true masters of film composing. A listener may less often need explanations of any music from this source, as the nail is hit squarely on the head so much of the time. That said, the listening experience is made richer for the background information provided by the booklet notes--and again, I for one had never even heard of this movie.

If the reader is wondering why I would purchase a rather pricey CD containing music from a movie I had not seen, the answer is found in the material on this disc that follows the "Ace Eli" score: theme recordings and episode cues from the 1970s television series "Room 222".

For those who remember it as I do, "Room 222" was a topical, often funny series about the life of some teachers in a public high school. It was a pretty good series which ran for several seasons, but the most memorable thing about it to my (admittedly prejudiced) mind was Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful theme music. The theme is in 7/4 time--not academic posturing on Goldsmith's part, but the work of a genius who could think and write in any metric scheme and using every tool available to a composer. It wouldn't surprise me if this music's irregular time signature went wholly unnoticed by listeners who heard only its charms.

There are several recordings of the theme, used variously over the course of the series, and they include both main title and closing credit versions. Also, as noted previously, there is some music scored by Goldsmith for individual episodes. Never heard of "Ace Eli"? Buy this disc for the "Room 222" music and have no regrets.

One more note: this Film Score Monthly series of CDs includes numerous original movie and television score recordings by Jerry Goldsmith and a host of other composers. The several in my collection claim to be limited editions of 3,000 per pressing. If you are interested in this music, the time to get this disc may be now."