Sir George Martin produced Beatles albums everyone has listened to thousands of times…and the one side probably nobody listened to twice. Yes, there's the "Yellow Submarine" soundtrack album….one side full of Beatles songs, the other...George's incidental music for the movie.
Naturally, this blog goes a step further into the obscure, and not only promotes George the soundtrack composer, but offers material from a movie so obscure it's never been released on DVD in America.
"Calculated Risk" (1962) is a tedious "caper" movie. An aging loser gets out of jail and gets up a gang to dig into a bank vault. The 70 minutes (which seem more like 90) involve gathering the gang, arguing a lot, and digging in the tunnel. These stupid movies have only two endings (they get away with it, or they don't) so the interest has to be in character conflict, fascinating technique in executing the plan, and breathtaking suspense. The film fails on all three counts, and only comes to life when Dilys Watling is around…which isn't often enough.
At the time of this film, George Martin already had a reputation in the music field. In 1960 and 1961 he produced albums for Peter Sellers, Flanders & Swann, and the "Beyond the Fringe" comedy group. He also knocked off "Time Beat," an electronic single he released under the name "Ray Cathode." In 1962 he produced Charlie Drake's hit single"My Boomerang Won't Come Back" and in 1963, Rolf Harris' "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport."He was so busy he either had no time for a full soundtrack, or the producers had no money for it. George contributes music for the opening and the climactic ending and closing credits, and that's what you get here, peeled by Ill Folks from the actual film.
Through the 60's, Martin produced music for not only The Beatles, but also Billy J. Kramer, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Shirley Bassey and Cilla Black. His biggest soundtrack credit is the score for the James Bond film "Live and Let Die" (theme song written by Paul McCartney). Today, trying to make money in the music business is a "Calculated Risk." Just ask the musicians paying just to play in a local club, or giving the music away on low-royalty sites like Spotty Pie and eekMusic and FoolTube. Pssst…giving away the music, letting people steal it on the Internet, and selling t-shirts at your gigs instead…DOES NOT WORK!
CALCULATED RISK Instand download or listen on line. No capcha code crapola, no extortion about a "premium account"
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