THE SAND PEBBLES (2CD - REISSUE)

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CD 1 01. Overture (Original Version) (2:53) 02. Main Title (2:56) 03. Getting Acquainted (3:52) 04. The San Pablo (1:02) 05. Hello, Engine (1:24) 06. Trial Run – Part I (0:24) 07. Trial Run – Part II (0:22) 08. Death Of A Coolie (0:57) 09. Maily Appears (1:07) 10. The Student (0:40) 11. Repel Boarders (2:39) 12. Chang-Sha Dock (2:04) 13. Death Of A Thousand Cuts (4:07) 14. Not In Vain (0:59) 15. Chang-Sha (Entr’acte) (1:02) 16. Overture (2:17) 17. Unfriendly Welcome (0:53) 18. My Secret (4:00) 19. Jake And Shirley (4:22) 20. A Matter Of Ideals (2:01) 21. The Wedding (6:10) 22. Coolies Jump Ship (1:50) 23. Restless Months (4:35) 24. Frenchie’s Death (2:18) 25. Maily’s Abduction (2:49) 26. Worried Captain (0:33) 27. Final Mission/Commence Firing (6:11) 28. Fire Aft! (2:13) 29. Almost Home–Part I (1:46) 30. Night Mission (0:34) 31. The Sniper (0:58) 32. End Title (Almost Home–Part II) (0:59) 33. Cast Credits (Almost Home–Part III) (0:38) 34. And We Were Lovers (Exit Music) (2:39) CD 1 Total Time: 76:28

CD 2 THE EXTRAS – ALTERNATES 01. Trial Run–Part I (Alternate) (0:25) 02. Trial Run–Part II (Alternate) (0:25) 03. A Crushing Affair (Music & Effects) (1:35) 04. Unfriendly Welcome (Alternate) (0:48) 05. Jake And Shirley (Alternate Ending) (0:40) 06. Restless Months (Alternate) (4:37) 07. Final Mission (Unedited) (3:36) 08. Commence Firing (Alternate) (2:14) 09. Final Mission/Commence Firing (Alternate–Assembled) (6:10) 10. Almost Home (Edited Version) (3:01) 11. Chinese Love Theme (2:27) Total Alternates Time: 26:56 THE EXTRAS – SOURCE MUSIC 12. Toot Toot Tootsie (2:03) 13. Five Foot Two (1:25) 14. Stumbling (1:48) 15. Sleepy Time Gal (3:25) 16. I’ll See You In My Dreams (1:59) 17. Linger Awhile (1:59) Source Music Time: 17:39 CD 2 Total Time: 39:50

Tech Talk From The Co-Producer…

Like most people, the first thing that comes to my mind about September, 2001 is 9/11. I’m fortunate that right behind that come thoughts of Jerry Goldsmith and Robert Wise, both of whom were part of my day-to-day business at that moment in time.

As the tragedy unfolded we were in the midst of preparing for a September 21 Hollywood Bowl concert at which twenty minutes of Star Trek: The Motion Picture would be performed live to picture. A few nights earlier, Bob Wise was attending a 60th anniversary screening of Citizen Kane, which he’d edited, while I was nearby at the Bowl tech rehearsal, charged by Jerry with making sure all was as it should be (talk about responsibility). In addition to work on the music itself, which involved procuring an incredible variety of percussion and the famous “blaster beam,” details were also being finalized for bringing Mssrs. Wise and Goldsmith, their wives and some of our Star Trek production team together in the best boxes in the house. Despite the concert’s sci-fi emphasis (Goldsmith’s Planet of the Apes, Alien and Star Trek V were also on the program), the first thought I had when I saw the two geniuses together in public was, to my own surprise, “My God, 35 years ago these guys made The Sand Pebbles.” Throughout the evening, that title was mentioned countless times by fans and colleagues who stopped by to experience this historic reunion.

Only ten days after the events that changed the world, the subject of anti-American sentiment was particularly resonant. So too was the theme of mankind’s propagation of war … as we found out four nights later at a 50th anniversary screening of Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still (Bernard Herrmann’s theme had also been played at the Bowl concert). While Robert Wise was never known for a particular visual stamp, a common thread running through his films is an unflinchingly merciless tackling of tough issues. The Sand Pebbles, his favorite of his forty films, is perhaps the definitive expression of that.

Goldsmith’s music is equally unflinching—we feel the “Death of a Thousand Cuts” rather than just listen to a cue with that title … and his two love themes manage to carry longing and foreboding within their beautiful melodies. This common ability to get to the heart of the matter is what makes the Wise/Goldsmith collaboration so ideal and unique. Even though they only made one other film together (yielding, of course, one of cinema’s most loved and recognized scores), they remained close friends over the years because they shared a way of looking at the world that transcended their professional work. Their first collaboration captured it so perfectly that there was nothing else to say until they together breached the final frontier over a decade later.

I’ve been honored to be associated with both of these films and scores. Shortly after assembling the first expanded edition soundtrack of The Sand Pebbles, I worked on the special features for the first DVD release of the film, done while Robert Wise Productions was based at Paramount for the “Director’s Edition” of Star Trek. This included a commentary with Bob Wise and some of the actors (sadly, Jerry had a toothache and couldn’t participate). Then, after both men had left us, came the Blu-Ray release for which I conformed the music for an isolated score track that wrapped around a new commentary featuring this album’s producer, Nick Redman, leading Jon Burlingame and Lem Dobbs through a discussion of the film’s production and legacy with, of course, an emphasis on the music. We even got to kick off the track with Jerry himself, excerpting the audio from my interview with him done for the Star Trek project.

That seemed like a fitting capper but I’m delighted that there was one more to come in the form of the enclosed full restoration of the score for The Sand Pebbles. The process began with recalling the 2? 24-track protection masters made from the original 35mm multi-track magnetic elements in the 1990s. Retransferred at 96k/24 bit resolution, this facilitated the repair of each separate track of audio and the finessing of balance, equalization and stereo steering to bring out the dynamic brilliance of the Fox scoring stage and the studio orchestra’s consummate performance under the exacting baton of Lionel Newman. The original ¼? 1966 album master thankfully provided a stereo version of the cue “Repel Boarders,” which survived in the Fox material only as a monaural dub. Previously unreleased cues fill out the first-ever complete presentation of the score on Disc 1, while a second disc features album versions, alternates and six pieces of period source music recorded for the film. It is indeed the definitive version of The Sand Pebbles, and I have no doubt that both Bob and Jerry are smiling. Listeners will certainly do the same, even as the music takes us on a journey into deeper thoughts.

—Mike Matessino