Alex North's Unused Score for 2001: A Space Odyssey

Stanley Kubrick hired Alex North to create the score for his film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, but somewhere along the way things changed. Well into North's work, he received notice from Kubrick that he didn't need to continue working on the score, to which he assumed that enough music had been provided. Rather, Kubrick had decided to leave the temporary score intact and not use any of North's contributions. North was reportedly, and understandably, heartbroken when he discovered the fate of his work at the 1968 premiere of the film, while he watched it. Indeed, Kubrick NEVER spoke a word of the score's rejection to North, he found out with the rest of the world as they became refamiliarized with the Blue Danube.

North's unused score eventually received a premiere recording and was made available on CD in 1993 as conducted by Jerry Goldsmith. This finally answered the question whether Kubrick made the right decision, and in my opinion that is a firm YES! That said, North's work is still an interesting footnote in film and music history, if nothing more than being the other music for 2001, though it's also worth noting that North had what was recorded for his score recorded.

In 2007, Intrada Records, a label dedicated to film score releases, gained the rights to issue the surviving mono tapes of North's 1968 recordings of the score, and an oddly limited issue of 3000 copies were pressed with no digital release or later reissue. While I don't think this score is remotely as good as the compilation score Kubrick assembled, I do think it's important to hear these pieces and their original recordings, so today I'm posting a very high quality rip of the Intrada release with scans of the packaging and liner notes included. To note, this is not my rip nor do I know who did the work, so a big thank you to the anonymous individual responsible for their hard work.

Alex North's Unused Score For 2001: A Space Odyssey (Intrada Release)

more text about the death of video stores, porn rentals and No Age

Back in January I wrote about my joy in seeing Blockbuster Video's once-stranglehold on the video rental market finally eroding so significantly that their corporate structure was in jeopardy. Since then, I still find Blockbusters in one area or another, but they are mostly gone throughout my home state. Unfortunately, the failure of Blockbuster has led to another popular video chain losing it's foothold in the market, and this one is a shame because it was different.

The chain in question would be Movie Gallery as well as it's sister chain, Hollywood Video. The two chains weren't always related, but Hollywood Video found themselves purchased by Movie Gallery's parent company a few years ago and a great majority of their stores shut down. No great loss in regards to Hollywood Video, a chain of stores practically identical to Blockbuster with their large archive of popular movies and video games, but Movie Gallery is a different story. Their selection was never amazing, focusing primarily on newer video and game releases, but they did have one thing most major video rental chains would never dare to carry: PORN!

Unlike Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, most Movie Gallery's had a back room with porn videos for rental and purchase as well as current adult magazines. This never seemed to hurt their reputation, especially as in recent years I saw them expanding throughout my home state.

Now, it's not as though I view a lot of adult material, although I'm sure you're doubting that statement as you read this, but I do believe it's important that consenting individuals should be able to access the content they want to without the prudes of the nation deciding what they should be looking at. I suppose the availability of online pornography and mail-order rental ala Netflix (whom don't rent porn to the best of my knowledge, although several of their contemporaries do) make the accessibility of adult content at regular video rental shops far less necessary than it previously was, but it's still a shame as many consumers don't like to wait for their content, especially something as personal as adult content. On top of that, I'm sure those who frequent adult websites will agree that watching someone "schtuping" someone else on your computer screen isn't the preferred method of observing such details. Yes, one can convert those videos they've downloaded into a DVD or such format, but there goes the immediate element again.

With all of this said, I bid a sad farewell to Movie Gallery for the foreseeable future, although it wasn't the only show in town. Family Video is still around, a chain whose name I always thought was funny since it also rents adult videos, but hey, adults are part of the family too, right? And not all the Mom and Pop shops have shut down, although I'm certain they will never make a comeback to their status in the eighties.

As for those expecting music in today's post, this is something I saw on Pitchfork yesterday that I thought was worth posting here. If you're not familiar with No Age, they're a kind-of noise punk duo that use samples occasionally in their performances. I really like them and their records, and if you're not familiar with them I suggest you check out their excellent album Nouns which is available on Amazon, iTunes and in many retail stores as they are on Sub Pop Records which is part owned by Warner Brothers.

That said, No Age recently contributed the score to a short independent film, Aanteni, and now they've made a live recording of their performance available to download for free from their website. That recording is nice but it isn't the clearest way to hear the score, so keeping with the theme of so-called adult content, the film, which is often labeled NSFW (not suitable for work, just in case you're not familiar with the acronym), although this is due to some female nudity which, if I remember correctly, isn't terribly clear to begin with, is available for online viewing. There was nothing sexual I remember about the film so if you're not into that sort of thing but would like to check it out I'm certain your sensibilities won't be offended. Links to the specific sites are below. Enjoy!

No Age's website, with the score for download

Aanteni, at NOWNESS, for your viewing pleasure


If I may say, you should really check Aanteni out, especially if you like abstract film-making or have a soft spot for Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The Shining OST

Everyone who knows me knows I don't care for sports. That's not to say I'm against sports, they've simply never been a major interest of mine. That said, Thanksgiving is one of those days where sports are unavoidable with every family unit I've participated in, and the only options are suffering through them or entering a tryptophan-induced coma. I chose the coma, but I woke in time to speak with my relatives about each others' lives. I spent a lot of time talking with my future cousin-in-law about audio recording techniques, a topic I can keep up with him just fine on, and video production as well as photography, fields I appreciate greatly but he is light years ahead of me on. Luckily, we got back to common ground when he mentioned having been to recent screenings of Dr. Strangelove and The Shining at his college, and in full theatrical presentation no less! We started fawning over Kubrick's works immediately only to have another future cousin-in-law note she had never seen The Shining. Minutes later, my future father-in-law (lot of future in-laws at Thanksgiving this year!) cued up a wonderful hi-def and widescreen (!) cut of the film from the DVR on his ridiculously high-end television and we all followed that opening shot of the little yellow bug on it's trip through the mountains. How's that for Thanksgiving Day proceedings?

One comment everyone I know makes about The Shining is how creepy the music throughout it is. It truly builds the mood of the film and, like Kubrick's 2001, features a substantial amount of pre-existing selections as opposed to a completely new score, although a new score was recorded for The Shining and parts of it do feature throughout the film. Credit for that score goes to Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind, and they know exactly how to scare the bejeezus out of the viewer. Their contributions, along with the rest of the film's score, are wonderfully haunting and a joy to absorb, but due to copyright issues the film's soundtrack has not been available since 1980. Thankfully, with all credit due to the endlessly resourceful device that is the internet (to be more specific, thank you coupler!), I was able to find a high quality rip of the soundtrack from a German pressing of the album and further indulged my want for that endlessly creepy vibe.

So, it is with great pleasure that I share the long-unavailable soundtrack for The Shining with you today. Again, this rip is taken from a German pressing of the vinyl and sounds mighty good, despite the obvious surface noise, but at near thirty years unavailable, beggars such as myself can't be choosers. This is my way of saying thanks, by sharing my enjoyment, and I hope you enjoy it too. Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!


The Shining OST

01 Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind - The Shining (Main Title)
02 Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind - Rocky Mountains
03 György Ligeti - Lontano
04 Béla Bartok - Music For Strings, Percussion and Celesta
05 Krzysztof Penderecki - Utrenja
06 Krzysztof Penderecki - The Awakening Of Jacob
07 Krzysztof Penderecki - De Natura Sonoris No. 2
08 Henry Hall and The Gleneagles Hotel Band - Home


PS - In case you want more, Wendy Carlos has released much of her and Rachel Elkind's score for The Shining as part of her Rediscovering Lost Scores series of releases. You can get that and many of Wendy's other works at her official site.