Did DALLAS need new composers in its later years?

Snarky Oracle!

Snarky Oracle!

Telly Talk Supreme
After Victoria left, the musical cues from the last several years of DALLAS felt increasingly tired -- all the Angela Morley/Lance Rubin scores became obligatory and pedestrian at best.

Sure, we all know how John Parker's scores became a major problem, Bruce Broughton was long gone, Richard Lewis Warren was still doing acceptable work, and Jerrold Immel's presence was required.

But there was a drab repetitiveness in the later compositions, which, in a way, matched the increasing fatigue of the show itself.



An edited down version of the S7 DVD mini-doc about the music:
 
Taylor Bennett Jr.

Taylor Bennett Jr.

Telly Talk Winner
Interesting to hear Immel talk about reworking the theme each year to something more 'contemporary'

*Mild Diversion Alert*

I've posted this on a different thread, but wanted to bring it up again: I've always been curious about that driving synth line at the beginning of the season 7 DVD theme (the Peter Richards year). It's virtually identical to a distinctive feature of a big hit of the time. 'Legs' by ZZ Top, a popular Texas band (even more popular than the Coffins), and wondered which came first...

here at the 0:11 mark:

and here you have to make in about 28 seconds in:
.
same key, very close in tempo (Dallas is just a few ticks down on the metronome, about 121 bpm vs. 125 bpm for ZZ Top), not the same synth sound, but not that far off, and the line's the same but an octave apart...

the Dallas theme premiered September 30, 1983, and the ZZ Top tune's album was recorded in 1982 and released March 23, 1983, but the single didn't come out until May of 1984. So, ZZ Top recorded it first, but maybe it wasn't famous enough yet to have made it into Immel's ear? ...although I have a hard time believing the two were arrived at completely independently!

I wonder how far in advance a season's theme was arranged/recorded. Eliminator's first single was a big US chart hit in April of 1983, and the album was a huge seller, so maybe Immel had heard it before coming up with that year's theme. It definitely felt to me like he was going for something 'big' and 'current' and 'Texas', and that's absolutely what that record was at the time. Maybe it was just something that was 'in the air' that he picked up subconsciously.

en.wikipedia.org

Legs (song) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Eliminator (album) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

interestingly, checking Youtube, the miniseries 'disco-y' theme clocks in at 120bpm, gets bumped closer to 125 at some point I think during the next season, then back down by the Kristen/Alan Beam season... although maybe this Youtube recording is sped up a hair, and there wasn't really a faster version? It seems like that might be the case:

I always thought the early-season themes were noticeably faster than what it settled into, but it must have been the disco beat and slightly raggedy, less-rehearsed feel of the opening 2 bars between the 'fanfare' and the main theme.
 
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Taylor Bennett Jr.

Taylor Bennett Jr.

Telly Talk Winner
btw, did any other composer re-use material as much as Immel? I feel like he wrote about 2-3 episodes' worth of music and just kind of worked certain bits into pretty much every episode he did... the 'suspenseful' bits in Kidnapped, for instance, appear all over the place, even I believe in different series altogether.

Also, I wonder if the music budget was less in the later years and that might account for the decline in quality (in addition to what always sounds to me like Parker writing for a completely different show than the others)
 
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Toni

Toni

Maximum Member
Snarky Oracle said:
After Victoria left, the musical cues from the last several years of DALLAS felt increasingly tired -- all the Angela Morley/Lance Rubin scores became obligatory and pedestrian at best.

Sure, we all know how John Parker's scores became a major problem, Bruce Broughton was long gone, Richard Lewis Warren was still doing acceptable work, and Jerrold Immel's presence was required.

But there was a drab repetitiveness in the later compositions, which, in a way, matched the increasing fatigue of the show itself.



An edited down version of the S7 DVD mini-doc about the music:
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I´m re-watching the last season, and Warren, Immel and Parker (who improved a lot his scores here) are giving extraordinary works in some of the episodes, including the Paris episodes. They use little nods to French classic songs, which within the "Dallas" world only had happened when Afton destroyed "C´est magnifique" in Jock´s last scene. They create a great atmosphere of mystery and doom, and in the long scenes filmed in the Paris streets, the cues are quite remarkable. IMHO I would change a lot of things in this season but not the scores.
 
Toni

Toni

Maximum Member
Taylor Bennett Jr. said:
btw, did any other composer re-use material as much as Immel? I feel like he wrote about 2-3 episodes' worth of music and just kind of worked certain bits into pretty much every episode he did... the 'suspenseful' bits in Kidnapped, for instance, appear all over the place, even I believe in different series altogether.

Also, I wonder if the music budget was less in the later years and that might account for the decline in quality (in addition to what always sounds to me like Parker writing for a completely different show than the others)
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The pack of cues that Immel first used in the Dream Season (the season premiere), was used and abused in latter years, especially in the two reunions. That music was already dated in 1996 and they made a big mistake calling Immel again. Maybe Mark Snow should have been the man since he had been under Lorimar contract for "Falcon Crest".
 
Matthew Blaisdel

Matthew Blaisdel

Telly Talk Star
Taylor Bennett Jr. said:
interestingly, checking Youtube, the miniseries 'disco-y' theme clocks in at 120bpm, gets bumped closer to 125 at some point I think during the next season, then back down by the Kristen/Alan Beam season... although maybe this Youtube recording is sped up a hair, and there wasn't really a faster version?
Click to expand...
You should also keep in mind the PAL-Speedup from the european broadcasting system, which is often 4% faster (and also higher pitched) than the original US version, and with youtube you never know if it's the original speed or not, because it could be an US version as well as the (too fast and too high) European PAL-speedup-version. ;)
If you hear a tune with 120bpm and later anotherone with 125bpm, they can be different, but they could also be one and the same due to that phenomenon. :bump:
The 4% runtime difference might give a hint then.
 
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Matthew Blaisdel

Matthew Blaisdel

Telly Talk Star
Snarky Oracle said:
Oh, no, not Mark Snow.... he's fine for X FILES, but otherwise I'm not really a fan.
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But he scored "The birthday party", "The necklace", "The bordello" and "Fallon's wedding" of Dynasty's season 1 and i think he did a really great job with those!
He also scored 90 "Heart to heart" episodes and about 40 episodes of Falcon Crest.
 
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Taylor Bennett Jr.

Taylor Bennett Jr.

Telly Talk Winner
Matthew Blaisdel said:
You should also keep in mind the PAL-Speedup from the european broadcasting system, which is often 4% faster (and also higher pitched) than the original US version, and with youtube you never know if it's the original speed or not, because it could be an US version as well as the (too fast and too high) European PAL-speedup-version. ;)
If you hear a tune with 120bpm and later anotherone with 125bpm, they can be different, but they could also be one and the same due to that phenomenon. :bump:
The 4% runtime difference might give a hint then.
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that’s gotta be it - thanks! I was just so sure that the earlier theme was faster than the middle years that I didn’t think of that at first.
 
G

Grangehill1

Telly Talk Fan
Toni said:
The pack of cues that Immel first used in the Dream Season (the season premiere), was used and abused in latter years, especially in the two reunions. That music was already dated in 1996 and they made a big mistake calling Immel again. Maybe Mark Snow should have been the man since he had been under Lorimar contract for "Falcon Crest".
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I completely disagree. That music is absolutely timeless and has in no way dated at all.
As a whole the dream season scores is my absolute favourite.
Bobby’s death, funeral, the oil barons ball, then Angelica’s themes.

amazing music and I would love a score of all of it to be released
 
Snarky Oracle!

Snarky Oracle!

Telly Talk Supreme
Grangehill1 said:
I completely disagree. That music is absolutely timeless and has in no way dated at all.
As a whole the dream season scores is my absolute favourite.
Bobby’s death, funeral, the oil barons ball, then Angelica’s themes.

amazing music and I would love a score of all of it to be released
Click to expand...

Ironically, Immel was fired because of his score for Bobby's funeral --- Philip Capice apparently didn't like spanish guitar.
 
the-lost-son

the-lost-son

Telly Talk Well-Known Member
I would love to get Dallas' scores in full. Unfortunately there are only a handful of Dallas clips on youtube as a compilation - but only outtakes of the complete episodes. (I don't like the first scores during the 1st two years, because they don't fit really imo and are kind of repetitive.)

The score during Dallas' heyday is unrivalled, e.g. when Bobby is shot. Just great, giving the feeling of an epic saga, pure drama.

I don't know what to say about the later years. There are numerous shows which lost steam towards their end, mostly due to the writing/storylines. But Dallas lost basically everything which made it so great and unique in the first place - writing, casting, cinematography, hairdo, outfits, location shoots and the music/scores, yes.
 
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Taylor Bennett Jr.

Taylor Bennett Jr.

Telly Talk Winner
Billy Wall said:
Dallas definitely had a better soundtrack in the earlier seasons. I particularly liked the western morning theme they’d occasionally use to open the show.
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that's Parker, I believe. His 'themes' were kind of hit and miss for me. That one you're talking about is nice, and the Sue Ellen 'the adultress' saxophone one is campy, boozy fun, I liked the little bluesy 'Alan Beam and Lucy' theme with the slick drummer.. but some of the others... like the 'Lucy' one in Runaway... ugh.

He'd have these great moments - I'm thinking of the snare drum and acoustic guitar during Jock's showdown with Tom Owens, and I know @Snarky Oracle mentions some great Native American-flavored stuff he'd done previously on a different show - but also a lot of stuff that seemed too light in tone for a drama.

But those corny little interjections - I'm thinking of the 'blurts' when Jock rushes off after shaking Digger's hand quickly in Barbecue or when Sue Ellen gives Ellie and Jock a sculpture for their anniversary - sound like the 'you lost' music on the Price Is Right or something, and kind of deflate the drama.

(And why the hell was the maniacal Willie Gust listening to basically a guy soloing on electric piano in kind of a '70s jazz' style while on his 'groovy green van' rampage across Texas.)

Maybe his style was a bit of a clue as to Katzman's vision for the show - less arty, more 'humorous', like the later years?

Dallas - Original Televison Show Soundtrack by John Parker on Amazon Music - Amazon.com

Check out Dallas - Original Televison Show Soundtrack by John Parker on Amazon Music. Stream ad-free or purchase CD's and MP3s now on Amazon.com.
www.amazon.com

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(gotta like the closed-captioning sometimes!)
 
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Garry

Garry

Telly Talk Fan
Taylor Bennett Jr. said:
btw, did any other composer re-use material as much as Immel? I feel like he wrote about 2-3 episodes' worth of music and just kind of worked certain bits into pretty much every episode he did... the 'suspenseful' bits in Kidnapped, for instance, appear all over the place, even I believe in different series altogether.
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Along with Immel, Angela Morley, Lance Rubin and John Parker all had their familiar cues running through their episodes. Bruce Broughton never repeated himself however although his sound is very distinctive. Richard Lewis Warren only had two or three familiar cues running through his scores.

For the last two seasons Immel composed a few new cues for his episodes which were among his best. Can you imagine Mark Snow composing this scene below with cheap sounding synthesizers as he did on Falcon Crest? No thanks.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=708785626398761
 
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