1M1 Records - Newsletter

Welcome to 1M1 Records' December newsletter.

1M1 Records' last release was the film score for "The Coolangatta Gold" by Bill Conti. The 78-minute CD has become one of our most popular releases.

This month our new release soundtrack is a doubling of "Eliza Fraser" and "Summerfield" by Bruce Smeaton. The score will be released on the 1M1 website on December 17, 2002, and available for order and shipping from then on.

This month we also have some new Australian film soundtrack releases to films currently playing in cinemas around Australia: Bill Bennett's "The Nugget", with a score by Nigel Westlake; and Rolf De Heer's acclaimed new drama "The Tracker", scored by his longstanding collaborator Graham Tardif.

We also have copies of the soundtrack to Yahoo Serious' most recent comic offering, "Mr. Accident", which has a range of pop songs and a few tracks of scoring by Nerida Tyson-Chew, as well as the CD of her score for the film "Silhouettes of the Desert".

Also in this newsletter is information about the Australian Film Institute Award Nominations and the Australian Guild of Screen Composer Awards for 2002.

We look forward to seeing you back here for our January newsletter for 2003. Your feedback is always welcome. info@1m1.com.au

Happy Christmas and New Year wishes to everyone.

Philip Powers.

December 17th New Release

The new release from 1M1 Records is a double release of two scores by Bruce Smeaton, for "Eliza Fraser" and "Summerfield".

"Eliza Fraser" was a big-budget, bawdy adventure film, released in 1977 for the Grand Opening of what was then Australia's biggest new cinema complex in George Street, Sydney. The film boasted at that time one of the biggest overseas stars ever to feature in an Australian film, Susannah York. The screenplay for the film was also by a young writer, who is now regarded as Australia's greatest playwright, David Williamson. Bruce Smeaton, the only widely recognised Australian film composer of this period was commissioned to write the rollicking orchestral score. Brian May was the only other well known composer at this point in time, although mainly known as the conductor of the ABC Show Band. He was not yet famous for "Mad Max" (1979) which was still two years away from being made, although he had scored Richard Franklin's "The True Story of Eskimo Nell" (1975).

"The True Story of Eskimo Nell" and "The Great Macarthy" (1975) were huge steps forward in the development of scoring for feature films in the Australian film renaissance. Another score, for "Let the Balloon Go", composed by George Dreyfus, also featured a small orchestra, and helped lead the way back into an orchestral style of scoring in Australian feature films. Bruce Smeaton's "The Devil's Playground" (1976) and "Eliza Fraser" confirmed this style of film scoring as effective and important, and eventually "Mad Max" cemented it.

These three composers were paid a pittance as a fee in those days in the mid-seventies, and often the money that should have been paying them for composing the music, was put back into getting a larger orchestra for the job. Composers such as Bruce Smeaton and Brian May were not able to devote themselves fully to film scoring: firstly there wasn't sufficient work around, and secondly, what work there was didn't pay enough to make it a viable career.

Poor recording conditions often made these scoring tasks a triumph of will over adversity, with quite a bit of experimentation going on in the studio at the same time as recording the music for the film.

The same year as "Eliza Fraser", another Bruce Smeaton-scored film opened - a mystery thriller called "Summerfield", directed by Ken Hannam, the man who had directed the classic Australian feature film, "Sunday Too far Away". This eerie, Chabrol-like mystery, was enhanced by its offbeat scoring, featuring koto, piano and orchestra.

http://www.1m1.com.au/1M1CD1032.html

Recent Soundtrack Additions to the Website

Bill Bennett's "The Nugget", with a score by Nigel Westlake (just one track which is a suite of Nigel's music from the film); and Rolf De Heer's acclaimed new drama, "The Tracker", scored by his longstanding collaborator Graham Tardif.

We also have copies of the soundtrack to Yahoo Serious' most recent comic offering, "Mr. Accident", which has a range of pop songs and a few tracks of scoring by Nerida Tyson-Chew, as well as the soundtrack CD of her score for the film "Silhouettes of the Desert".

New stock is available of Paul Kelly's scores for "Lantana" and "One Night the Moon", and Alan John's score for "The Bank". "Dirty Deeds" and "Two Hands" are also still available.

The Coolangatta Gold CD update

Some unfortunate delays in the mastering and replication of the CD by SONY meant that stock was late coming in, and some orders were quite late going out. I apologise for the delays that some people experienced. Even now although all orders have been processed and sent, some of the payments are still being processed, so don't be concerned if you haven't had your credit card charged for your orders yet.

Some people who have been quite concerned about the delays and have contacted me, were concerned that their order had not been received. Hopefully by now, all those who ordered the CD in October and November have received their orders and are happy with the CD.

Delays were caused by a variety of circumstances which I was unable to anticipate, ranging from SONY's 'glass master' machine breaking down for four days, while actually replicating this job for 1M1 Records, which put them weeks - and tens of thousands of CDs behind. Ironically, if it had broken down just an hour later, everything would have been on schedule. This, when added to an overwhelming number of orders and emails, meant that a hectic 6 weeks ensued.

Hopefully everyone is pleased with the final result. Thanks to everyone for their patience awaiting their orders, and for those many customers who have emailed me congratulating 1M1 on this release.

The 1M1 Records Website

Current Releases; which are still being manufactured.

http://www.1m1.com.au/current.html

More Soundtracks; previously released titles which are still available, including titles previously released by 1M1 Records which are no longer being manufactured, and brand new CDs of other soundtracks which 1M1 has in its stocks. There are a few copies still available of Alan John's AFI-award-nominated score for "The Bank" and some Brian May scores. Several scores by Christopher Young, Leonard Rosenman, Elmer Bernstein, Ennio Morricone, Georges Delerue and Bruce Broughton are also available here.

http://www.1m1.com.au/more.html

Collectors Items; rare 1M1 CDs priced in the premium range because of the difficulty in sourcing them, containing 1M1 CDs like "Devil in the Flesh / We of the Never Never", "Roadgames / Patrick", "Race for the Yankee Zephyr / The Survivor" and "Harlequin / The Day After Halloween": items which have very few soundtracks left in stock and are quite unlikely to become available again in the foreseeable future.

http://www.1m1.com.au/collectors.html

Secondhand Titles; soundtrack releases from anywhere in the world which 1M1 currently has in stock, containing quite a few bargain-priced excellent condition soundtrack CDs for sale, including several Australian film soundtracks.

http://www.1m1.com.au/secondhand.html

New and Upcoming Releases

New Releases for 2003 will include Bruce Smeaton's scores for "Five Mile Creek" and "Eureka Stockade". In the works at the moment is an expanded "A Town Like Alice" by Smeaton, and "Bliss" by Peter Best.

"Harp in the South" and "Poor Man's Orange" by Peter Best are also slated for release next year, as well as two scores by Simon Walker for "The Last of the Mohicans" and "Tom Sawyer".

Awards 2002

Australian Film Institute Award Nominations for Best Score:

Australian Rules - Mick Harvey
Beneath Clouds - Alister Spence & Ivan Sen
Rabbit Proof Fence - Peter Gabriel
Walking On Water - Antony Partos

Best Film Nominations:

Australian Rules
Beneath Clouds
Rabbit Proof Fence
The Tracker

2002 APRA - AGSC Awards:

BEST FEATURE FILM SCORE
The Bank
Composer: Alan John

BEST MUSIC FOR A MINI-SERIES OR TELEMOVIE
Changi
Composer: Mario Millo
Publisher: ABC Music Publishing

BEST TELEVISION THEME
On the Beach
Composer: Christopher Gordon

BEST MUSIC FOR A TELEVISION SERIES OR SERIAL
Farscape
Composer: Guy Gross

INTERNATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
David Hirschfelder

BEST MUSIC FOR CHILDREN'S TELEVISION
Horace And Tina
Composer: Brett Rosenberg

BEST SOUNDTRACK ALBUM
One Night The Moon
Composers: Mairead Hannan, Paul Kelly, Kev Carmody, John Romeril, Deirdre Hannan & Alice Garner

BEST ORIGINAL SONG COMPOSED FOR A FEATURE FILM, TELEMOVIE, TV SERIES OR MINI-SERIES
The Tracker - Far Away Home
Composers: Graham Tardif & Rolf de Heer

BEST MUSIC FOR AN ADVERTISEMENT
Visa (Dining Out)
Composers: Mark Rivett, Bruce Heald & Andrew Firth

BEST MUSIC FOR A SHORT FILM
No Surrender
Composer: Michael Yezerski

BEST MUSIC FOR A DOCUMENTARY
The Creepy Crawleys
Composer: Cliff Bradley

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