The John Beal Trailer Project: Coming Soon!

Composer: John Beal
Lable (Release Year): Sonic Images (1998)
Availability: ****
Rating: ****

In recent years, many people become obessed with movie trailer music, whether it is score or song. Some people even wrote to me and complained about a song that he or she her in a trailer is not in the sountrack! I don't know about other people but I will tell you why I want to know what music (not songs) is used for some trailers: I always thonght that all trailer "scores" are taken from scores of other movies. When I hear a piece of good trailer music, I want to know which movie it is from so that I can buy that particular score. I got Come See The Paradise(Randy Edelman) and Rudy(Jerry Goldsmith) because I heard them in trailers. But of course I was wrong. Some trailer music are in fact original compositions. And John Beal is being one of the few trailer music composers.

This release features more than 60 trailer music composed by John Beal. I was very excited when I first heard about this release because I was hoping I would find many great trailer music that I have heard, especially those symphonic trailer music. I am kind of disappointed because symphonic cues are not a major portion of the release. The album contains a great variety of music from start to finish. Jazz, disco, symphonic cues, new age, rock, horror, bombastic, quiet, you name it. It is definitely different than listening to a score or compilation album. It is very "intereting" to listen to it but it is not as enjoyable as listening to a score or compilation album. It is interesting because you got many many different kinds of motifs and themes back to back. It is not as enjoyable because the music varies too much.

Although it said that all tracks are composed by John Beal except four tracks, many tracks are variations of works of other great film composers. Some of them are ridiculously blatant that I can tell it is NOT totally by John Beal right away.

  • Track 1.1: "Black Beauty Trailer " - Cliffhanger (Trevor Jones) at the end.
  • Track 1.4: "Alaska Trailer" - Very good one but....
  • Track 1.8: "For Sir Charlie" - The Rocketeer (James Horner)
  • Track 1.12: "The Cutthroat" - The Princess Bride (Mark Knopfler) according to filmtracsk.com
  • Track 1.14: "Blessed Dead" - The Omen (Jerry Goldsmith) or Needful Things (Patrick Doyle)
  • Track 1.21: "Three Blind Elfmen" - Beetlejuice (Danny Elfman)
  • Track 2.1: "Magic of the Theater/Strawberry & Chocolate" - sounds very James Newton Howard at the beginning.
  • Track 2.3: "Invisible Memoirs" Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Alan Silvestri) at the beginning.
  • Track 2.5: "Miracle Trailer" - Edward Scissorhands (Danny Elfman) then Home Alone (John Williams)
  • Track 2.6: "Woody's Manhattan" - I KNOW I've heard it (probably from one of my Boston Pops CDs). Can't name it though.
  • Track 2.7: "Manhattan Night" - Nixon (John Williams)
  • Track 2.11: "Pagemaster Trail" - The Rocketeer (James Horner) then Hook (John Williams) then Far and Away (John Williams) then something else... (I surrender)
  • Track 2.14: "Lyle/Ennio/I'm not Hoffa" - The Untouchables (Ennio Morricone)
  • Track 2.16: "SchoolTie" - Toy Soldiers (Robert Folk)
  • Track 2.22: "Species Too" - Close Encounters of the Third Kind (John Williams) at the beginning.
  • Track 2.23: "Sweet Magnolias" - Terms of Endearment (Michael Gore)
  • Track 2.27: "Somebody Stop Me" - Beetlejuice (Danny Elfman)
  • Track 2.29: "Three Wishes Teaser" - Prince of Tides (James Newton Howard)
  • Track 2.30: "Ocean Song" - Titanic (James Horner) or "Book of Days" (Enya)
    If you live in the US and watched "Merlin" on NBC, remember those commercial break music? I am pretty sure this is it.
  • Track 2.32: "Under Siege Too" - JFK (John Williams)

There maybe more but I just don't know. They are kind of disturbing the first few times I heard them but now I find them quite interesting. Also, Mr. Beal only gave credits to Robert Folk and James Newton Howard specifically. Why doesn't he give credit to other composers? I am kind of angry about that.

Moreover, the synthesizer sounds are two heavy on many tracks. Some of the demos sound just like midi music. I think I had a little headache after finished listening to both CDs. I listened to a Hans Zimmer score afterward. I felt so much better and I know why I like Zimmer so much. If this release is not a 2CD set for the price of one, I would give it a three star instead of four. Although my comments sound a little negative, I still encourage you to give this release a try since it does contains a lot of good themes and motifs.

  • On-line Purchasing Option: Music Boulevard


      • Track Listing: (Disc 1)
    1. Black Beauty Trailer (Black Beauty) (1:20)
    2. Angel - Almost (Almost an Angel) (2:19)
    3. Beautician & the Beast (Beautician & the Beast) (2:14)
    4. Alaska Trailer (Alaska) (1:57)
    5. Black Rain Trailer (Black Rain) (1:32)
    6. Broke Arrow (Trailer demo for an action picture) (2:21)
    7. Casualties of War (Casualties of War) (2:06)
    8. For Sir Charlie (Chaplin) (1:59)
    9. Beal's Con Theory (Conspiracy Theory) (2:21)
    10. Pseudo Cool World (Trailer demo for a quirky animated film) (1:44)
    11. Courage March (Trailer demo for a film about a war hero) (1:03)
    12. The Cutthroat (Trailer demo for a pirate film with acknowledgement to Joe Lo Duca) (1:17)
    13. Dead Again (Dead Again) (2:08)
    14. Blessed Dead (Deadly Blessing) (2:16)
    15. Nothing to Lose (Disturbing Behavior) (1:40)
    16. Erased (Eraser - international trailer) (1:34)
    17. Eye to Eye (Trailer demo for a revenge film) (2:00)
    18. Intruder (Flight of the Intruder) (2:21)
    19. Ghost Trail (Ghost) (2:04)
    20. Ham's Prologue & Epilogue (Home video special "Making Of" trailer) (3:01)
    21. Three Blind Elfmen (Heathers) (1:51)
    22. The Hunt (The Hunt for Red October) (1:39)
    23. I Know What (I Know What You Did Last Summer) (0:34)
    24. In the Line (In the Line of Fire) (2:25)
    25. Independence 2 (TV spot demo for a film about American saving Earth) (1:06)
    26. Dead Solid Perfect (Intersection) (1:51)
    27. Sarah & Jack (Jack & Sarah) (2:15)
    28. Hollywood Latin (Trailer demo for a film about a guy trying to make it in Hollywood) (2:25)
    29. Jen 8 (Jennifer 8) (1:02)
    30. Judge Dredd Teaser (Re-recording of the music used in multiple trailer campaigns) (0:55)
    31. Last Man (Last Man Standing) (1:02)
    32. Last Dogman (Trailer demo for an action adventure film) (1:41)
    33. Tate Jazz (Trailer demo for a film about a mom & her very intellectual son) (2:24)
    34. Deadly Sin (TV spot for Love Lies & Murder) (0:34)
      Total Time: 62:04

      Track Listing: (Disc 2)
    1. Magic of the Theater/Strawberry & Chocolate (A cue from the Hamlet home video trailer segues to Strawberry & Chocolate) (2:20)
    2. Medicine Man Trailer (Medicine Man) (1:49)
    3. Invisible Memoirs (Memoirs of an Invisible Man) (1:54)
    4. Morph Men (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) (1:47)
    5. Miracle Trailer (Miracle on 34th Street) (2:50)
    6. Woody's Manhattan (Trailer demo for a romantic comedy) (1:50)
    7. Manhattan Night (Trailer demo for an urban drama) (2:05)
    8. Noises Offstage (Noises Off) (1:35)
    9. Nothing Much (Nothing in Common) (1:27)
    10. I'll Always Fall in Love with Love (Demo for a coming of age film, sung by Susan Boyd) (1:57)
    11. Pagemaster Trail (Pagemaster) (2:17)
    12. Passed (Passed Away) (1:21)
    13. Academy March (Police Academy) (2:20)
    14. Lyle/Ennio/I'm Not Hoffa (Quiz Show trailer music and the unused demo ending) (2:30)
    15. Stunt Person (Trailer demo for a period comedy about a health spa) (0:31)
    16. School Tie (School Ties with thanks to Robert Folk for the beginning inspiration) (2:11)
    17. Unmarried White Woman (Demo for a film about women seeking roommates) (2:21)
    18. SkateTown USA Trailer/End Title (The trailer sung by Carolyn Dennis became the end title song and a big hit in the discos) (3:45)
    19. Basic Instinct Theme (Re-recording of cue used for many trailer campaigns) (2:21)
    20. Solo's Solo (Solo) (1:57)
    21. Two Billion $ Off Switch (TV campaign for Solo) (1:01)
    22. Species Too (Species II) (2:10)
    23. Sweet Magnolia (Steel Magnolias TV) (1:25)
    24. SuperCop Promo (SuperCop) (1:00)
    25. Karen's Love Theme (Included by request) (1:04)
    26. The Grift (The Grifters) (1:58)
    27. Somebody Stop Me (The Mask) (1:51)
    28. If They Come at You (Demo for a film trailer about the Al Capone era includes famous Pagliacci opera solo) (3:00)
    29. Three Wishes Teaser (Three Wishes with grateful thanks to barbra for letting us get so close to JNH's beautiful score) (2:41)
    30. Ocean Song (Demo for a film trailer about a shipboard romance) (1:23)
    31. Starnever/True Lies Overlay (Original unused portion of trailer crosses to original piece) (1:37)
    32. Under Siege Too (Under Siege II) (1:41)
    33. It's Warshawski! (V.I. Warshawski) (1:39)
    34. Beal's Volcanic (Volcano) (0:56)
    35. White Out (Originally written for another trailer, used for White Water Summer instead) (1:20)
      Total Time: 67:02

    All tracks composed by John Beal, except tracks 1.30 and 2.19 composed by Jerry Goldsmith, track 1.26 composed by Tangerine Dream and track 2.28 by Beal/Leoncavallo




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