Press Release from Quartet:
Quartet Records and Paramount Pictures present a revised, greatly expanded edition of Dave Grusin’s delightful score for Warren Beatty’s classic HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1978), a remake of the 1941 Columbia Pictures film HERE COMES MR. JORDAN.
Co-directed by Beatty and Buck Henry, starring Beatty himself, along with Julie Christie, James Mason, Jack Warden, Dyan Cannon and Charles Grodin, the film was a huge box office success and received nine Oscar® nominations, including Best Picture and for Grusin’s original score. The film is about a Los Angeles Rams quarterback, who, accidentally taken away from his body by an overanxious angel before he was meant to die, returns to life in the body of a recently murdered millionaire.
“One of the joys of working on soundtracks for old scores is discovering music that was never used in the film. This was especially true in the case of HEAVEN CAN WAIT. While Dave Grusin spotted over 22 minutes of score for the film, the final cue sheet shows that only about 13 minutes were ultimately used.
“The decision to source this new album from new, hi-res transfers of the original 2″, 16-track recordings suddenly showed us that there was more music here than we knew about. A lot more: we discovered not just additional music and unused cues, but five times as much as we had anticipated based on the previous soundtrack release of this score.
“The recording timeline shows that Grusin recorded the bulk of his original score in late April 1978, followed by revisions and alternates in mid-to-late May, with one recorded reel dated June 9; the film was released on June 28. While some of these revisions made it into the final film, most were unused, with the filmmakers often opting for source material or musically editing previously used score cues.
“Given the brevity and variety of the cues, editing them all into score suites was impractical, though a few were combined. The resulting presentation, past the main score portion, feels more archival and fragmentary than a pure listening experience. Nonetheless, hearing how Grusin modified and reworked the cues—or what he originally intended—provides valuable insight into his creative process.” (Dan Goldwasser, producer)
Patiently and carefully remixed and mastered by Chris Malone, and meticulously produced by Dan Goldwasser, this 80-minute album includes a package with new liner notes by film music writer Jeff Bond discussing the film and the score.
