Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

That one was new to me! cool indeed

I bet all the synthesis for this score was done on a Moog modular.

Electronic music pioneer Walter Sear also provided a spooky electronic score for this footage made for a short film

tim gueguen wrote:I should have done this before, but here's the opening to Invasion UFO. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz8CqrYwGOo Anyone have a clue who the music is by? Its definitely not Barry Gray!

I eventually found out the answer to this one. It's a piece by Francis Monkman of Curved Air and Sky fame called "The Dawn of an Era." You can hear it and other music from Gerry Anderson's UFO here:
http://ufoseries.com/music/index.html

Thanks for the info, Tim

I like Monkman's synth/keyboard work with Curved Air and Sky.

Not really a movie, but in the early 80s there was a kids TV programme in the UK called Think Again... Here's some more Mr Monkman with the closing theme to the show... (Ascent of Man begins at 1:43 the clip)

Here's another synthy soundtrack by Francis Monkman:

Long Good Friday (1980):


The music was recorded in Dec 1979 while Monkman was
still a member of SKY. At the time he used a Prophet 5 (rev 1) and
an Oberheim OB-1 so there's a fair chance they made it onto this soundtrack.

I was just re-watching the movie Jagged Edge (1985) and for the first time I noticed it's got a pretty
decent synth-score; slow melodious and melancholy pieces for solo piano, flute and synth-strings are alternated with
ominous synth drones, brass and spooky sounding choir. It's not the most varied score I've heard but still interesting I'd say.

The music is by John Barry and except for some use of piano and flute I think it's the only totally-synthesized score he did.
Barry did of course use synths long before this, most notably on the soundtrack to the Bond-flick "On Her Majesty's Secret
Service" (1969) and on The Persuaders theme (1972) and later on A Lion In Winter etc. but not in such a predominant way
as on Jagged Edge.

I tried to find a video clip from this movie on youtube but alas...

Not a "classic" movie, but I was watching The Rocker on cable the other night and the keyboardist had a Juno G, a Juno 106 and a Korg MS-20 - couldn't tell if it was the synth or controller. Not a bad array of 'boards for a high school kid. It was nice to see a close up of the Juno 106 with audio cables plugged in.

Jay Chattaway's scores to the Chuck Norris action movies "Missing In Action" (1984) and
"Invasion U.S.A." (1985) also contain some cool synthesizer music. Some of the synth work
in these scores reminds me of Chattaway's older synth score to Maniac (1980), but that's not
too surprising since the same synth-player played on all three scores, namely Pete Levin.

I have already posted some clips from this horror movie but here you can listen
to part of the score without dialogue/FX

The Boogey Man (Synthe-Sound-Trax/Tim Krog, 1980):



I think this synth-score is pretty awesome! unfortunately it hasn't seen the light of day on CD.

Synths used included a Minimoog, Oberheim 8-voice modular synth (sic!), Prophet 5 (rev 1 or 2 given
the timing) and a Crumar Multiman.

Chariots of Fire (Vangelis):


The Bounty (Vangelis):


Bitter Moon (Vangelis):


Witness (Maurice Jarre):


1492 - Conquest of Paradise (Vangelis):



Kevin

Couldn´t get a video where the soundtrack comes in, but the movie "The Looker" has a decent electronic soundtrack by Barry de Vorzon. It sounds so Tangerine Dream. Not a bad movie at all.

Virgule wrote: Here's the main theme from La Soupe aux Choux, Louis de Funès' last starring role. It alternates between the synthesized and acoustic version throughout the movie.

Watched that movie not so long ago.
Theres a great scene with very spacy synths when that UFO is landing the first time.
Unfortunately i can't find a video of it to post.

Well, take this instead.

Peter Weir's strange movie, The Last Wave (1977), has an amazing synth soundtrack by a composer who disappeared from the map... The soundtrack is all pads, blips, and synth strings, and the movie itself is haunting...



"Edit": better clip...