Temp Music
This week’s work on the The Movie is largely about music. Our composer, Alex Wurman, has already composed one piece that plays on-camera, but most of the music at this point is temp — stuff grabbed from other soundtracks that roughly approximates what we’re going for.
There’s one piece of temp music that works really well — so well, that we might just want to license it for the movie. Unfortunately, we have no idea what it is. It’s an mp3 the editor had leftover from Oceans 12’s temp music. The track is labeled “Big Fuzz,” but that’s not brought me any luck through Google. So, I’m calling on the power of the hive mind to help me figure out what it is:
Anyone out there recognize it?
Articles
July 27th, 2006 at 10:44 am
Shazam identifies the track as:
Million Dan: Dogs N Sledgez.
For those who don’t know, in the UK if you dial 2580 into a mobile and point it at 10 seconds of any track (no matter how obscure) it texts you back the track name.
It’s never failed to correctly ID a track for me yet.
July 27th, 2006 at 10:49 am
You could always just use it without obtaining rights and wait to see who sues you…
But seriously, would Soderbergh or David Holmes be any help? The clip does sound like something David Holmes could have written — maybe it’s a piece he composed but then dropped from the movie for whatever reason…
July 27th, 2006 at 11:01 am
Now all you have to do is wait for the Cease and Desist order from Big Fuzz’s lawyers, and you’ll have your answer.
On another note, I’m trying to imagine the scene that goes with this music. I see a curvy, self-assured woman in a skimpy red dress strutting down Melrose, ostensibly window shopping for just the right something, but really testing out her new-found powers of sexual attraction (just yesterday she was a mousy meter-maid, her friends gave her the magic make-over this morning). Cafe busboys trip over each other to get a look. The old shopkeep has a heart attack right there in the tiled entry of his store, but he manages to crawl to the curb so he doesn’t lose sight of her. A skateboard punk slams striaght into a light post. She leaves them all twisting in her wake…
July 27th, 2006 at 11:15 am
i don’t know it sounds familiar…i began wondering if it was something from eternal sunshine of the spotless mind?
Probably not…I like the piece.
–RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com
July 27th, 2006 at 11:32 am
Thought I would try to chime in on this. Love your blog, been reading it for a while. I thought of Danny Elfman when listening to it. Maybe something early like from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, or even earlier, something from The Mystic Nights of the Oingo Boingo. Either way, if you have any way to get in touch with him, he would surely know the answer.
July 27th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
There is a track called The Big Fuzz by Johnny Pearson, on a compilation album of music from TV show ‘The Sweeney’. The album is called ‘Shut it! Music from the Sweeney’.
It’s a long shot but you never know.
July 27th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
I can’t get the clip to load on my computer. I want to try and listen to it and help solve this mystery.
July 27th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Sent it to a friend who plays violin on every score that needs it, as well as a music editor at Warner Bros. Fingers crossed on an answer…
July 27th, 2006 at 1:16 pm
ok, got it to work, forget thta last post I made. I don;t know what help this is, but it sounds like a variation on one of the tracks Holmes wrote for Oceans 12. I’m not sure which track, though. But it sounds familiar. I hope I’m not completely useless on this front.
July 27th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
A BMI search lists a song titled Big Fuzz. No idea if it is the same one:
BIG FUZZ (Legal Title) BMI Work #5249120
Songwriter/Composer Current Affiliation CAE/IPI #
MONOSMITH JOSEPH HENRY JR BMI 185663143
SCOTT BRYAN WAYNE ASCAP 199756595
July 27th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
There is a band called Big Fuzz. One of their records is on itunes, but the song isn’t on that album. The sound is slightly similar, so you may want to try contacting them. Good Luck.
July 27th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
I did a little googling and Icame up with this website…
http://www.scorebaby.com/archive_s.html
From the site,
“Shut It! The Music of the Sweeney
Various Artists
Cinephile
The Sweeney was a tough cop show made in Great Britain in the mid-70s. The soundtrack featured funky work by the great library musicmakers of the late ’60s and early ’70s, like Keith Mansfield, Johnny Hawksworth, Herbie Flowers, Jack Arel and several others from the studios KPM, Bruton, Chappell, De Wolfe and others.
Shut It! delivers 26 great library tracks with hard boiled dialogue preceding each one. That makes the disc perfect for groovy soundtrack and sound library fans alike — no surprise there!
Tracks include: “The Sweeney” “Flying Squad” “Funky Express” “Big Shot” “Thug” “No Man’s Land” “Steam Heat” “Funko” “Funky Pusher” “Freak Out” “The Heist” “The Big Fuzz” and many more. Top notch.”
A few paragraph down it mentions David Holmes. Hope this helps.
If this is it, do I win a Cupie doll?
July 27th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
No idea who wrote it.
But I thought I’d add that “demo love” (as it’s called in my little circle) is a fairly common phenomenon. Happens all the time in the ad world, where they use a piece of popular music to juice up a rough cut, and the client goes and falls in love with it. So they have to go to extraordinary lengths to get very expensive rights.
Back in the day, that’s how the Gap ads came to be and the Mitsubishi commercials were born.
July 27th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
Very true, ccobb. Out of curiosity, what part of the ad business do you work in? If you’re still reading this, hit me at js2ads@gmail.com
July 27th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
I don’t recognize the piece either but I would suggest you contact Darrell Brogdon about it. He hosts a great show on Kansas Public Radio called the Retro Cocktail Hour. The show features a ton of great space age jazz, Japanese crime show jazz, and other tunes that sound like this one. Brogdon might be able to recognize the track.
You can reach him from the show’s website at: http://kpr.ku.edu/retro/ .
If you like this kind of music, I suggest you listen to the show which is streamed over the internet every Saturday night from 7:00 to 9:00pm Central Time. A great way to kick off a Saturday night.
July 27th, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Have you tried searching the ASCAP or BMI web sites?
July 27th, 2006 at 5:23 pm
What the hell, I had a little time and did the search for you…
Nothing on ASCAP - however!!
On BMI there’s a listing for a song called Big Fuzz and that search produced two songwriter/performer names’s.
Joseph Henry Monosmith Jr & Bryan Wayne Scott.
Hope this helps!
July 27th, 2006 at 7:19 pm
i did a quick google search and found a guy who worked with david on the music for ocean’s twelve. i emailed him and he responded with this:
Hi Christopher,
The track is called ‘Big Fuzz’, by The Things.
Hope this helps!
July 27th, 2006 at 8:08 pm
david holmes.
alternate take/mix for an oceans 12 track.
July 27th, 2006 at 9:47 pm
total shot in the dark, but it sounds like something piero umiliani might have done (and he has another song on the ocean’s 12 soundtrack)…
July 28th, 2006 at 4:43 am
There is software that is supposed to “listen” to any song and be able to identify the artist and song title for you. It is called Tunatic. You can download it here: http://www.wildbits.com/tunatic/
I tried it a while back and it seemed to work pretty well. You might give that a shot.
Josh
July 28th, 2006 at 8:11 am
I’m just posting this unhelpful comment to comment on the tune: it sounds like an ironical version of music from some cheesy black-and-white horror film. Just imagine what a theremin would do there…
I don’t really see the red dress, though I agree on the skateboarder. The tune’s like zombie skateboarders, I think. Laid back, but still: there’s something horribly wrong.
P.S. Didn’t Kubrick demo love as well? I think I read from one of the biographies that 2001 was supposed to have a composer do the score at some point. Could as well have been some other movie, I don’t remember the book that well. But I think it was 2001.
July 28th, 2006 at 8:59 am
You’re all just guessing!.
I think it’s Barry White…
July 28th, 2006 at 9:28 am
John, why is it that when I posted the BMI/ASCAP search idea Matt Fogarty’s reply wasn’t on the page yet? I look this morning and his reply is several notches above me…(excellent work, Matt!)
Sorry - made me look like I didn’t read the replies to your original post…I did — Matt’s response wasn’t there when I posted mine.
Is it because I didn’t refresh cookies, etc. after reading the post the first time?
I’ll be more careful in the future…
July 28th, 2006 at 9:36 am
I know I’ve heard that song somewhere, and so has a friend of mine. Here’s what she says: “I think maybe on the soundtrack to a Greg Araki film, maybe some other film…definitely a movie. If I had to guess, I’d say it might be Pizzicato Five.” Don’t know how accurate it is or if it helps. Hopefully it does.
And Tunatic can’t identify it.
July 28th, 2006 at 10:26 am
I have a question about a movie practices which peeves me. In movies, characters have a
tendercy to speak their thoghts. In real life we don’t do this, a movies should try and re-present
reality. It would make it more believable. Once a character starts speaking his toughts, I’ve become aware I’m “watching” a movie, instead of being part of the “real” experience. Does this makes any sense ? Your thoughts ladies & gents !!
July 28th, 2006 at 10:31 am
John,
Why don’t you have interviews of Hollywood screenwriters, their beliefs, ideas, etc. It would
be aspecial feature of the month. You could charge to access that information.
July 28th, 2006 at 10:48 pm
I think it’s kind of funny ppl keep posting the same thing, i say props to Deepstructure, it sounds like he really went in the right direction and found out it was by the Things…i think that’s wonderful.
–RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com
July 29th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
Many thanks for all the hive-mind goodness.
My suspicion is that it’s a variation on something from The Sweeney, possibly retouched by Mr. Holmes. Regardless, we’ll know where to look if we decide to use it.
July 30th, 2006 at 11:46 am
I think this might well become your signature tune, Mr. August, much like “Funeral March for a Marionette” was for Alfred Hitchcock.
Just a thought.
July 31st, 2006 at 3:06 am
I wish you all the best on your movie! I have recently directed a short thriller myself and I know some of the hard work involved (trailer at http://www.decoyfilm.com “Night Geometry”) but also the rush of pure joy when all seems to come together! Since I’m also a composer I would be happy to provide some temp tracks for your current movie/future projects, if you should be interested. I’m from Sweden, a graduate from the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, and I’m working in film and television at the moment. I write in a variety of styles ranging from modern orchestral, chamber, to electronica and pop. I was recently awarded the Earplay/Aird Memorial Composition Prize, for my piece “Autumn Melody” which was performed in San Fransisco this May by the Earplayers. I can send a promo CD or mail some short examples on mp3.
August 7th, 2006 at 7:45 pm
Try my composer for the Mojo Cafe’, Grant Giesman.
August 13th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Big Fuzz,
I used a library CD recently with lots of tracks by a composer called Martin Pavey and, although I didn’t use this track I think I’ve heard it on that CD. Typically it belonged to the production company I was with at the time and has since gone missing from thier library.
A collegue of mine said he actually commissioned Martin to write something special for his film and I think the guy must live in a time machine as he seems to be expert in alsorts of genres of music.
Here’s his site.
http://homepage.mac.com/martinpaveymusic/
Hope I’m right about this. Martin is resident in the UK and I was asked to come to this site and have a listen to Big Fuzz by someone who also, vaguely recognises the piece and thinks the same as me.
All the best with the movie. I wish I couold help with the test screenings!
SARA D.