JACK THE GIANT KILLER

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CD 1 01. Main Title (3:20) 02. The Present (6:41) 03. The Giant (6:44) 04. Jack Kills Giant (3:06) 05. Garna's Report (2:17) 06. The Lady Constance (4:04) 07. The Sea Voyage (3:29) 08. The Wind Witch (6:50) 09. Elaine Transforms (4:55) 10. The Mirror (1:17) 11. Jack and Peter Rescued (0:54) CD 1 Time: 44:06

CD 2 01. The Imp and Ghostly Warriors (10:25) 02. Evil Elaine (3:24) 03. Witches' Drink (3:31) 04. Transformation (2:02) 05. Monsters Fight and The Way Home (18:00) CD 2 Time: 37:38

Tech Talk From The Producer…

This CD marks the world premiere release of the colorful and exciting score for Jack The Giant Killer, composed by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter. The master tapes for the album come from a variety of sources, including excellent condition mono transfers from ¼” tapes, additional cues stored on acetate discs, and separate choral overlays kept on ¼” reels as well. The complete score has been preserved, including most (though not all) of the choral overlays. Missing in action were a pair of overlays for the latter portion of “The Wind Witch,” albeit those for the earlier portion of the cue were available and appear as intended. Though we have attempted to minimize changes in the EQ and dynamics of the source material, listeners will note a few myriad noises may still exist that could not be fully removed without compromising the integrity of the master elements. Happily, the overall audio quality of the source material was excellent.

The music in the film literally runs wall-to-wall. In fact, it runs roughly 81 minutes of the film’s total 94-minute running time. Many of the shorter cues were edited together during post-production, resulting in some very long musical sequences playing throughout several scene changes without pause. Since the individual cues making up these longer sequences were composed with the intent of being assembled as such in the finished film, we have largely duplicated those assemblies – making for some very lengthy tracks. In one instance, however, this approach just would not prove to be musical.

For the beautifully melodic, Steiner-esque music that plays during “The Sea Voyage,” Sawtell & Shefter wrote a complete piece, which includes a strong beginning that slowly melts into a contrasting middle section, then finally returns to a rich quote of the opening material. It was scored and recorded as a complete piece of music. However, in the film, this sequence was interrupted with a sudden edit into the storm sequence that ensues. The entire finish to the cue was simply deleted. The edit into the storm portion of the cue as it appears in the film is largely masked, courtesy the distractions of sound effects and visuals. We did not make any attempt to recreate this one decidedly non-musical edit and elected instead to present the entire cue as originally written and recorded.

Listen now to one of the most animated and exciting film scores to come from the sixties, penned by a pair remarkable composers. Get ready for adventure and enjoy!

—Douglass Fake