Are you now, or have you ever been, a Jerry Goldsmith fan? If so, you won’t want to miss our third and final production report on Leigh Phillips’s marvelous Jerry Goldsmith at The General Electric Theater series. Your humble hosts David, Yavar, and Clark chat with Leigh about the three latest additions: the stark and grim “My Dark Days”, the cheerfully Italian-flavored “The Committeeman”, and the gorgeous library music collection “Autumn Love”. In addition to exploring the various challenges...

We know what you’re thinking: “Wait… didn’t you guys already do an Inchon Soundtrack Spotlight?” Indeed we did, back in 2020, when Intrada rereleased Jerry Goldsmith’s memorable score for the otherwise largely forgotten 1981 Korean War drama. Now, Intrada has released the score yet again, with improved audio and a small handful of new extras. In this follow-up Spotlight, your humble hosts David and Clark chat with Intrada’s Douglass Fake and audio engineer Chris Malone about the surprising...

Jerry Goldsmith’s musical legacy lives on in the new animated series Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, featuring a wonderful score by composer Sherri Chung. In this Odyssey Interview, your humble hosts David, Yavar, and Clark chat with Sherri about the score’s large collection of memorable thematic ideas, the joy of being given the opportunity take a traditionally orchestral musical approach, the wide array of distinctive ethnic instruments employed throughout, the importance of nodding to...

Attention! Our final Soundtrack Spotlight of the year is here! 2023 hasn’t exactly been jam-packed with new Goldsmith releases, but it’s closing with a pretty special one: Intrada’s new 2-CD presentation of MacArthur, which offers both a restoration of the original LP re-recording and the premiere of the original film tracks. Your humble hosts Yavar and David are joined by Intrada’s Douglass Fake, liner notes writer Jeff Bond, and restoration specialist Chris Malone to discuss this thrilling...

Take shelter! Mariah is here! (No, not that one.) Your humble hosts David, Yavar, and Clark dig into the CBS Radio Workshop episode "Storm," a meteorologically-themed docudrama featuring striking narration from William Conrad and a tense, turbulent score from Jerry Goldsmith. You'll hear discussion of the unique nature of this experimental radio series, the effectiveness of Goldsmith's decision to use music to create a dividing line between the narration and the scripted drama, the striking...

We know what you're thinking: why is The Goldsmith Odyssey covering Leith Stevens? Well, for one thing, War of the Worlds (1953) is a personal favorite film and score of Odyssey co-host and editor W. David Lichty. For another, it's a good excuse to spend time with friends of the show Chris Malone (who co-produced the new expanded  album for La-La Land) and John Takis (who wrote the liner notes), both of whom once again have marvelous musical insights to offer. And for more reasons, just...

Better late than never, we offer a detailed Soundtrack Spotlight on Varese Sarabande's definitive presentation of Jerry Goldsmith’s memorably noir-tinged score for Harold Becker's City Hall! First, your humble hosts David and Clark are joined by liner notes writer Tim Greiving for a discussion of the film's modest virtues, the score's central ideas, the real-life experiences that informed the film's screenplay, the musical influence of Leonard Bernstein's On the Waterfront, and other topics....

The latest Jerry Goldsmith at The General Electric Theater volume is now available, and we're thrilled to give you all the details in this Production Report with our friend, conductor/reconstructionist/renaissance man Leigh Phillips. The fifth entry in his ongoing series of re-recordings is "The Last Dance," a sensitive and emotionally complex score for an episode of television that remains lost for the time being. In addition to offering a detailed breakdown of the assorted challenges posed...

Back in October of 2021, your humble hosts Yavar and David had a conversation with esteemed art designer Joe Sikoryak about his work  for Film Score Monthly, Intrada, Percepto, and La-La Land Records. Over the course of that chat, Joe offered comments on falling in love with film music as a child, shopping at Intrada Records during the physical shop's early days, and getting a job from Lukas Kendall to redesign and help give Film Score Monthly a more professional magazine look. He mused on...

Given that all members of the Odyssey team are also lifelong Star Trek enthusiasts, we were particularly thrilled and honored to welcome actor/director Jonathan Frakes to the program. Your humble hosts Yavar, David, and Clark, along with Film Score Monthly founder Lukas Kendall, chat with Jonathan about his experiences working with Jerry on Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection, the complex nature of Goldsmith’s relationship with the Trek franchise, the collaborative qualities...

In this episode, we turn our attention to one of America's most memorable, witty, and insightful figures: Andy, co-host of the excellent film music podcast Settling the Score. He joins your humble hosts David, Yavar, and Clark to examine the Playhouse 90 installment "The Shape of the River," which details the tragedy-filled later years of writer Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain), and offers a Goldsmith score that alternates between bustling Americana and plaintive melancholy. We take a look at...

The whole band is back together for a very special kinda-sorta anniversary show! Your humble hosts David, Yavar, Clark, and Jens dig into Goldsmith’s memorable radio score for the 1956 CBS Suspense episode "The Security Agent," a political thriller about two friends attempting to flee Communist Poland. You'll hear discussion of the surprising musical origins of Goldsmith's main theme, the composer's early instincts for knowing when to hold back, the surprisingly nuanced characterizations this...

After decades of writing about Jerry Goldsmith, author and film music historian Jeff Bond is preparing to deliver his definitive work on the subject: The Jerry Goldsmith Companion, a massive, two-volume set offering a thorough examination of the legendary composer's full career. In this Production Report, your humble hosts Yavar and David chat with Jeff about the process of creating the book, the degree to which the Goldsmith-themed liner notes he's written over the years informed the...

Another pair of Jerry Goldsmith re-recordings are right around the corner, and we're pleased to offer all of the exciting details in our latest Production Report. This time, Leigh Phillips is presenting two strikingly different Goldsmith scores written for The General Electric Theatre: the bright, chipper “The Legend That Walks Like a Man” (previously covered by The Goldsmith Odyssey back in Episode 25) and the grim, militaristic "Hitler's Secret." Your humble hosts David, Yavar, and Clark...

In the summer of 2022, your humble hosts David and Yavar had a conversation with Mike Matessino about his work on the Director’s Edition of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (both the original DVD presentation and the dazzling new 4K restoration). While some of the revelations Mike offered prevented us from releasing this show until now, we are pleased to finally share this extraordinary interview. Over the course of this bountiful conversation, Mike talks about the years he spent working...

A lot of unusual noises have been heard in Jerry Goldsmith’s score for The ‘Burbs, so we gathered all of the neighbors together to discuss them. In this very special Soundtrack Spotlight, your humble hosts Yavar, David, Jens, and Clark are pleased to welcome director Joe Dante, editor Marshall Harvey, recording engineer Bruce Botnick, album co-producer Neil S. Bulk, and album art designer Dan Goldwasser. You’ll hear stories about the creation of the film, discussion of the wide array of...

One fateful evening, your humble hosts Yavar, David, and Clark gathered together to record a new installment of The Goldsmith Odyssey, focusing on the Playhouse 90 drama “Project Immortality”. The episode is a character-driven story with just a splash of sci-fi intrigue, starring Lee J. Cobb as a dying scientist who has agreed to let a team of researchers attempt to reproduce his brain using an advanced computer program. The accompanying Jerry Goldsmith score is frequently somber and...

What's that mysterious sound coming from the room upstairs? Could it be the ghost of a murdered composer, playing a distinctly Goldsmithian melody on the piano? Mercifully, no. Upon closer inspection, it was just an audio clip featured in the latest installment of The Goldsmith Odyssey, which focuses on the Ida Lupino-directed Thriller episode "What Beckoning Ghost?" Your humble hosts David, Yavar, and Clark are joined by two special guests: director Amin Maltaqa and composer Panu Aaltio,...

While we've been honored to have both composers and directors appear on The Goldsmith Odyssey, it was a particular treat to welcome our first director-composer team to the program: filmmaker Amin Maltaqa and composer Panu Aaltio, whose new film 5000 Blankets is playing in theaters December 12 & 13 (and will be streamable in the months ahead). In this Odyssey Interview, Amin and Panu tell your humble hosts Yavar, David, and Clark about their deep and abiding film music fandom, their love...

On the record, off the QT, and not even remotely hush hush: it's a new Soundtrack Spotlight! Yavar is joined by liner notes writer and film music journalist Tim Greiving for a conversation about Varese Sarabande's new Deluxe Edition of Jerry Goldsmith's Oscar-nominated score for L.A. Confidential. You'll hear about how this score represents the culmination of Goldsmith's noir-themed work, why Tim didn't connect with the film, Tim's approach to the liner notes, the balance between source music...

Want to hear some great Jerry Goldsmith stories? You could pay a major corporation to remember them for you wholesale... or you could listen to one of Jerry's most important collaborators remember them for free. In this Odyssey Interview, your humble hosts David, Jens, Yavar, and Clark are joined by a very special guest: legendary filmmaker Paul Verhoeven. Over the course of this conversation, you'll hear Paul talk about the pleasure of hearing Jerry's memorable music for Total Recall, the...

One of Jerry's longest scores gets an appropriately substantial Soundtrack Spotlight! In celebration of Intrada's new two disc complete release of Jerry's alternately suspenseful, cerebral, and thrilling score for Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man, your humble hosts Yavar, David, Clark, and Jens are pleased to welcome a quintet of special guests. Douglass Fake and Roger Feigelson of Intrada Records share details of how this album was assembled. Liner notes writer and film music historian Jeff Bond...

Good evening, and welcome to Odyssey World News. Our top story tonight: in September of 2022, Jerry Goldsmith's iconic score for Rudy was performed live-to-picture by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Justin Freer. We sent two of our reporters, Jens Dietrich and W. David Lichty, to produce our very first Field Report. They had the opportunity to talk with Freer, who spoke at length about his love of Goldsmith, the process of preparing for a live-to-picture performance,...

Confession: we meant to record this episode back in April, but failed to do so. If this were happening to some other show, a lesser podcast perhaps, your humble hosts David, Yavar, and Clark suppose they might find this amusing. One expects ordinary podcasts to fail, to be betrayed by their own incompetence. We suppose we might even find a grotesque humor in our predicament if our failure were due to any lack of logic or skill on our part. But to be betrayed by this clumsy intrusion of...