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Credits:
Orchestrations by: Joel Rosenbaum, William Kidd, Michael McCuistion, Doug Timm, Jonathan Sacks, Richard
Bellis, Jimmy Bryant. Todd Yvega for Synclavier realizations early in the process and Ray Colcord for Opcode support.
Mixing Engineers: Tim Boyle, Dennis Sands, John Richards, James Hill, Rick Winquest, Murray McFadden, Larry
Forkner, Andy D'Addario, Toby Foster, Joel Stoner and Avi Kipper who prepped this entire collection for mastering.
A special thanks to dubbing mixers Eric Martel and Wayne Heitman for always making it sound better on the screen.
My gratitude to everyone at Warner Brothers, Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount Pictures,
Sony/TriStar/Columbia, Miramax, Gramercy, Savoy, TriMark, Morgan Creek, Rysher, Lorimar, Buena Vista Marketing,
Kaleidoscope Films, Intralink Film Graphic Design, BloomFilm, Tony Silver, NBC Music, Cimmarron/Bacon/OÍBrien,
Aspect Ratio, McClatchy Films, Creative Domain, New Wave and Studio City.
Equipment supplied by APPLE COMPUTERS, DIGIDESIGN, OPCODE, GLYPH TECHNOLOGIES, ROLAND,
EMU, AKAI, KORG, EUPHONIX, TASCAM, YAMAHA, SOUNDCRAFT, MACKIE, GENELEC, LEXICON, SONY AND
PANASONIC, T.C. ELECTRONICS, DMT, and APOGEE.
all tracks composed & performed by John Beal, except tracks 1.30 and 2.19 composed by Jerry Goldsmith,
track 1.26 composed by Tangerine Dream and track 2.28 by Beal/Leoncavallo
all music published by Opus Pocus Music [ASCAP]
except tracks 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 1.13, 1.18, 1.19, 1.22, 1.29, 2.16 published by Famous Music
tracks 1.1, 1.9, 2.3 by Warner-Chappell Music
track 2.29 by Rysher/Warner-Chappell Music
tracks 2.2, 2.33 published by Disney Music
track 1.30 published by Goldsmith/Elcajo Music
track 2.19 published by Carolco/Elcajo Music
track 1.26 published by Tangerine Dream
tracks 2.25 published by MCA Music
tracks 1.15, 2.22 published by U/A Music
track 1.34 published by Spectacular Music (NBC)
track 2.28 published by Opus Pocus Music/PD Southern Library
Executive Producer for SONIC IMAGES RECORDS: Brad Pressman
Produced for SONIC IMAGES RECORDS by Ford A. Thaxton
Mastered by Bob Fisher at Digitial Domain.
Design by Wolfgang Fenchel
Thankyous:
The musicians around the world who performed here are too numerous to name. You know who you are, and you
know how much I love you. Without you, my music is just ink on a page.... without passion, without fire, without love.
To the composers whose work I am hired to emulate, I am awed by what you create and am blessed to have the
opportunity to study your work. I hope you always feel I have treated your inspiration with respect and dignity.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Now, my dear Karen, who soared to an-other life on March 16, 1998.
You embraced me with family and shared my dreams.
You are the heart and soul of this album.
You suffered with me through every cue here,
listening, counseling and supporting.
THIS IS FOR YOU!
_______________________________________________________
Reviews:
In recent years, the difficult art of composing music for trailers has been getting more and more recognition and
the master in the field is undoubtedly John Beal, who has written music for more than 500 trailers, which includes
campaigns for an amazing amount of big box office successes... This is a truly unique album - a very, very
entertaining listening experience. Skillfully produced, the album constantly shifts in mood and genre, action is
followed by comedy, followed by horror, followed by epic adventure. It's all done with a twinkle in the eye with a
lot of humurously entitled cues... It's amazing to notice John Beal's eclectism, there is virtually no musical genre
he doesn't control - there is jazz, synthesizer minimalism, heavy metal, atonal orchestral writing, melodic
romanticism - everything! A lot of the cues on this album have an instant originality. I am particularly enthusiastic
about the horror trailers included: DEADLY BLESSING, including the kind of frantic choral writing which makes
me sweat abundantly, and DISTURBING BEHAVIOUR, with a great, energetic orchestral finale. I can't wait to get
the chance to hear John Beal's original scores for horror films THE FUNHOUSE and TERROR IN THE AISLES,
soon to be available on two promo CDs. All in all, COMING SOON! THE JOHN BEAL TRAILER PROJECT is a very
unusual album with a lot of thoroughly fun listening experiences. Be aware of the fact that this isn't an ordinary
film music album and you'll have more than two hours of energetic music entertainment which pushes a lot of
buttons.
Mikael Carlsson
MOVIESCORE ONLINE
November 6, 1998
Coming Soon: John Beal Trailer Project: (John Beal) For almost all fans of modern film music, trailers have
become a source of double pleasure; not only do we get to see a preview of the new film to be released, but we
also get to hear the use of some great (and sometimes frustratingly unknown) music in the trailers. Only a fraction
of today's trailers are treated with an original score of their own. Considering the quickly bloating prices of
licencing fees --some of which in the hundreds of thousands of dollars-- it is no surprise that film producers are
turning to artists like John Beal to produce quality original music for these frantic 2-minute creations. As these
producers also are leaning further towards largely orchestral original trailer scores (with a 90-piece orchestra
or more), new challenges are placed on the shoulders of Beal and other trailer artists. For John Beal, however,
the challenge of completing he best quality trailer in this lightening speed environment is just part of the fun.
This album, which compiles a MASSIVE amount of Beal's compositions, is perhaps one of the most creatively
ingenious 2-CD sets to be released in a long time. Especially for young musicians like myself, it is enjoyable
to hear a CD that includes tidbits from dozens and dozens of motifs... almost as to induce a mood swing every
two minutes. It is difficult to compare this album to any other that I've heard in a while (it is even different than
any composer promo I've heard before), and it is therefore the most interesting release of the year. To my
knowledge, it's also the first commercial release to ever include strictly trailer music.
Almost 80 selections are available on this 2-CD set. With each film music fan having a distinct taste in his or her
collection, it will likely be impossible for a person to enjoy every track on this CD. Just as I love the powerful,
orchestrally driven trailers, I wouldn't miss the electric guitars that blast away for teenage, action-hero trailers.
More important than judging each of the pieces separately is the ealization of Beal's superb and remarkable
talents. For a composer to create such material under such stressful conditions --and, not to mention, fulfill the
sometimes bizarre requests of the film producers. In these regards, The John Beal Trailer Project serves more
as a useful resource and fascinating volume of the film music industry rather than a typical singular score.
Personally, though, there are tracks that, of course, appeal more to my tastes than others. The most enjoyable
selections are those that mimic or (come frighteningly close to) plagiarize existing works by famous composers.
This happens when film producers approach Beal with sound samples from, for instance, The Rocketeer or JFK
and say, "we want something like this." Or, to Beal's credit, he sometimes seems to work very small parts of
famous scores into his original works to satisfy the mood needed in the trailer. These, although they surprised
me upon first listen (i.e... are these legal? Of course, I'd assume they are...), are a few blatant and fun
"interpolations and recreations" of existing works that I heard (there are likely many more, but these caught
my attention):
Some of Beal's adaptations include re-recordings of original compositions for varied trailer lengths (the two
Goldsmith pieces, for instance), and many of the adaptions from the above contain an edge of Beal humor as
well. This may make traditional score fans nuts, but knowing how film producers work these days, it can be
loads of fun. As for the integrity of the albums as a whole, there are a few really noteworthy tracks (and
sequences) that I found enjoyable, topped by the tracks between, and including, Flight of the Intruder and The
Hunt for Red October on the first disc. There are other gems mixed within, and are certainly worth dubbing into a
collection of your own. Others, of course, I found intolerable (due usually to their rock/disco/metal motif), but
the beauty of this album lies in the fact that you can always be certain that there's another good selection to fast
forward to. Overall, it will likely provide an interesting and, for those of you who know all the interpolated themes,
a fun listening experience. Bravo to Beal for his talented contribution to our genre of music!
Christian Clemmensen
FILMTRACKS MODERN SOUNDTRACK REVIEWS
November 1998
One word: range. Coming Soon! is an astounding compilation of original music written specifically for trailers that
spans every major genre of film music composition: drama, romance, comedy, action, adventure, suspense, and
horror. This album has cues in almost every style imaginable: from orchestral epic to contemporary synth, from
classic opera to 70's disco. If one ever wanted to find a film music sampler that covers the gamut, this would be it.
The amazing thing is that it is all composed by only one man, not 50 different artists that have spent years honing
one particular style. John Beal is a musical chameleon who can mimic just about any color, style, genre, rhythm,
and tune that he is asked to perform... That Beal can accomplish this demand for imitation without falling into
unoriginal cliché hell is a credit to his resourcefulness.
One striking aspect of this album is that every track is demanding and salient... Most of the cues are boldly
melodious, with a power that reminds me of Zimmer's action music or Edelman's epic scores... The John Beal
Trailer Project is a groundbreaking, creative representation of the best in film music. Beal is certainly a talent
who deserves to be given more than two minutes per job to develop a concept. I look forward to more coming
attractions, both in trailers and features, from this very versatile composer. Rating: ****
Helen San
CINEMUSIC
December 1998
John Beal is THE composer when it comes to scoring theatrical previews without using already exisiting music
from other movies. So far, Mr. Beal has supplied over 500 trailers with his music -- enough to pick the 69 best
and release them on a double CD set. For all those who have been looking for these outstanding cues from
countless movie trailers or are simply looking for cool music for their home videos (don't forget the copyright!),
a dream has come true; for the mainstream listener this CD, however, could turn out to be hard to digest,
because, as is explained in the informative booklet, there are so many countless changes of mood and pace as
well as style (including rip-offs) in the various cuts that last between 30 seconds and three minutes. This can be
quite strenuous on the listener. However: Mr. Beal has tried to pick the most melodic trailers, and some are
veritable acoustic fireworks, such as the action-oriented music for Hunt for Red October, Eye for an Eye, and
Species Too. But even the emotional trailers aim to please. The strings soar, or a female voice starts a brief
song. Add a few rock titles or experimental cues a la Nine Inch Nails. Most cues were created on a synthesizer
or sampler, the more emotional ones are occasionally orchestral; these changes, however, don't alter the overall
feeling. A few demos, such as Cutthroat Island (that ended up being scored with the music of Army of Darkness)
and Ocean Song are musically unacceptable, but with a length of over two hours, those few minutes are
negligible. The sound is first rate; only Deadly Blessing, due to its age, sounds a bit muffled. Arguably the best
release from Sonic Images so far. Music ****, Sound ****1/2, Packaging ***
LIMITED EDITION ONLINE
December 1998
This is probably the most unusual compilation CD ever put together. It does indeedy feature about 2 hours of film
trailer music, for the same price you'd normally pay for a 1-CD set. (wait, that wouldn't be a set, would it? oh
nevermind) In fact, just looking at sheer numbers, you could pay the same for this as for one of those little half-
hour Varese releases. It's supposed to be fairly hard to find in stores, due to a limited distrubution due to few
stores carrying it, due to them not realizing there are more of us out here then they think, due to the spreading
love of film music, due to all the great composers out there.
I didn't have any problems finding a copy, in fact it was at the first store I looked, for only about a buck more
than Sonic Images lists it. Forwhat it is, it's extremely well put-together and a very interesting package.
Every possible musical style you could imagine is represented on here. Action, romance, drama, pretty much
everything that fuels the movies. The fact that the same composer wrote all these cues (well, ALMOST all) is just
one of the astounding things. There's Broke Arrow, in Zimmer's action style, and Con Theory, in a kind of ambient
techno mode with voice samples, and Deadly Blessing, which is an Omen-style full goth choral track. For songs,
there's "I'll Always Fall in Love with Love", which is a lovely Enyatic bit, and "Skatetown USA" which is a DISCO
tune that apparently became a hit. This is one of those cases where there's truly something for everyone.
Now, with all that variety, there is a price. The price here is that some of the tracks aren't all that, well, original. I
don't hold this against Beal, however... From what I've heard of the conditions under which he scores, he'll be
handed a reel of film and a minute of "Broken Arrow" and be told to write something like Zimmer would. Oh, and
please have it ready in the morning. What can you do?
If you're not easily annoyed by this, it's actually rather fun listening to it and playing guess-the-temp-track. Some
of them are completely obvious - "The Pagemaster" probably being the worst, its first 15 seconds or so being
note-for-note from The Flying Circus in The Rocketeer. (one Horner film for another) Others are more subtle, like
"Three Blind Elfman" which is something of an overall homage to Danny E's earlier quirky comic style, from
Beetlejuice and Pee Wee's Playhouse. The most interesting thing is that it doesn't really detract from the
listenability much. Indeed, one could find this one of its most appealing aspects, a musical easter-egg hunt for
those whose score collections are bigger than common sense would usually dictate.
(and I am poking a little fun... I would say far more tracks are original material than those that borrow)
It is also a given that there're going to be tracks you like and tracks you don't, and they'll probably vary for
everyone. I like the period pieces, the Elfman-inspireds, and some of the quirkier stuff. Others are going to
prefer the straight action music, or the quieter synthy stuff. (there's, unfortunately, a lot of synth in here, but
also a lot of real instruments.) It's worth mentioning, however, that there is a LOT of good material on here, such
as the Steel Magnolias trailer, which I believe has been reused in several other trailers (like The Evening Star)
and has been a piece I've always wanted to track down.
All in all, my recommendation is: give it a shot. It only costs about $15 or so, and you get 2 hours of music. There
has to be something in there you'll like. Beal has a job that few would want, and is very, very good at it. I may not
pull this down and listen to it daily, but I'm glad to have it in my collection.
John Blalock
SCORELAND SOUNDTRACK REVIEWS
January 1999
This double CD release contains tons and tons of trailer music composed by composer John Beal over many
years. I must say the first track, "Black Beauty" is my favorite of the whole release. It bears a close
resemblance to Edelman's "Gettysburg." Another nice piece is "For Sir Charlie" which is Horner's Rocketeer
theme for all intents and purposes. Other notable tracks are "Alaska," "Ham's Prologue & Epilogue," "Miracle on
34th Street," "I Always Fall in Love with Love," "Pagemaster Trail," "Basic Instinct Theme," and "Ocean Song."
Sonic Images never fails to produce high quality sound as well as appealing packaging. Coming Soon! continues
that tradition.
Christopher Coleman
TRACKSOUNDS
July 19, 1999
In recent years, many people become obessed with movie trailer music, whether it is score or song. Some people
even wrote to me and complained about a song that he or she her in a trailer is not in the sountrack! I don't know
about other people but I will tell you why I want to know what music (not songs) is used for some trailers: I always
thonght that all trailer "scores" are taken from scores of other movies. When I hear a piece of good trailer music, I
want to know which movie it is from so that I can buy that particular score. I got Come See The Paradise (Randy
Edelman) and Rudy (Jerry Goldsmith) because I heard them in trailers. But of course I was wrong. Some trailer
music is in fact original compositions. And John Beal is being one of the few trailer music composers.
This release features more than 60 trailer music composed by John Beal. I was very excited when I first heard
about this release because I was hoping I would find many great trailer music that I have heard, especially those
symphonic trailer music. The album contains a great variety of music from start to finish. Jazz, disco,
symphonic cues, new age, rock, horror, bombastic, quiet, you name it. It is definitely different than listening to a
score or compilation album. It is very intereting because you got many many different kinds of motifs and
themes back to back.
If this release is not a 2CD set for the price of one, I would give it a three star instead of four. I encourage you to
give this release a try. Rating: ****
Yu Lui
FILM MUSIC MAGIC
August 3, 1999
Few know that the movie studios have had to turn to composer John Beal to create specifically designed music
for the coming attractions of their movies. Since 1984, Mr. Beal has been the industry leader in creating these
music cues of which he’s contributed to over five hundred movies & t.v. shows. This double CD package has 69
cuts, running from 30 seconds to around 4 minutes in length. The music is remarkably created and is a real
smorgasbord of films from the past fifteen years. There’s something for everybody as you have; tender and
innocence in BLACK BEAUTY, PAGEMASTER, the light comedy of POLICE ACADEMY, THE MASK, the drama of
SCHOOL TIES, CASULTIES OF WAR, IN THE LINE OF FIRE, the fantastic INDEPENDENCE DAY, SPECIES II
and suspense and terror in cuts like CONSPIRACY THEORY, DEADLY BLESSING and DISTRUBING BEHAVIOR.
For those of you with a good ear, youíll pick up many familiar themes from the shows the songs represent. This is
a certainly a unique collection of songs and one I would recommend.
Terry Wickham
Fears Magazine
January 2000
Rating: ***
After years of toiling unnoticed in Hollywood, John Beal is suddenly big news. The funny thing is that virtually
everyone who has ever sat in a cinema will have heard his music at some time or another, but 99% of those
people will have known nothing about it. Why? Because John Beal is the world's leading provider of music for
theatrical teasers and trailers, those tantalising three-minute tasters that tempt unsuspecting viewers back into
the multiplexes with promises of swash and buckle, action aplenty, and tears of joy and despair. This mammoth
double-CD release from Sonic Images brings together music from nearly 70 original trailers, and includes pieces
from many well-known movies such as Conspiracy Theory, Eraser, Ghost, In The Line Of Fire, I Know What You
Did Last Summer, The Mask and Species II.
Let me say now that John Beal is quite obviously a very talented composer and arranger, with a broad
compositional style that ranges from full orchestral themes to urban electronica, hip-hop, jazz and rock. My
concerns lie with the fact that some of the trailers included here come so close to sounding like existing scores
they border on *genuine* plagiarism - and I'm not talking about nicking a couple of notes or a bar from another
score. Tweaking a single note at the end of a melodic line does not an original composition make, and bearing that
in mind I feel I have to question the thinking behind releasing this CD as a compilation of "original" work by Beal.
However, let me stress also that this is not necessarily John Beal's fault. He freely admits in the excellent liner
notes that, nine times out of ten, the studio marketing and publicity executives specifically ask him to mimic the
style of a certain composer as closely as possible without being thrown in jail - which is exactly what he does. In
fact, he's made a career out of it. To give Beal his due, though, he does say of the composers he is been asked to
emulate "I hope you always feel I have treated your inspiration with respect and dignity".
Despite all of the above, some of the cues are excellent, and on the whole the CD makes for an enjoyable couple
of hour's listening. In fact, it's actually quite fun trying to work out which scores Beal is mimicking as you listen
through them all! Some of the more famous ones I spotted include "Black Beauty Trailer" (Cliffhanger); "For Sir
Charlie" (The Rocketeer), "Three Blind Elfmen" (Beetlejuice), "Last Dogman" (Dances With Wolves), "Miracle
Trailer" (Home Alone), "Manhattan Night" (Nixon), "Pagemaster Trail" (Hook), "Species Too" (which lifts the
opening flourish from Close Encounters), "Somebody Stop Me" (Pee-Wee's Big Adventure) and "Ocean Song"
(Titanic). The totally original music is good as well. My own personal highlights are the jazzy textures in "Pseudo
Cool World", the frantic stringwork and Omen-style choral elements in "Blessed Dead", the lovely ethereal vocal
work by Susan Boyd in "I'll Always Fall In Love With Love", the noble sounding trumpet fanfare at the beginning of
"Schooltie", and the lush "Karen's Love Theme", which has been included as a tribute to Beal's wife who died
during 1998. It's also nice to finally have Jerry Goldsmith's rousing original trailer music from Judge Dredd
available on CD, sitting snugly alongside that perennial disco classic, "Skatetown USA".
As an example of what John Beal has been spending the last fifteen years of his life doing, Coming Soon is an
impressive collection. However, those wanting so hear the REAL musical voice of John Beal would do well to
check out one or two of the other original scores being released through Intrada in the wake of this CD - The
Funhouse, Zork: Grand Inquisitor and Terror in the Aisles.
Jonathan Broxton
MOVIE MUSIC UK
February 2000
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