music Chris Neal 'Mike Mayfield' theme/additional orchestration by Ian Davidson Composer Chris Neal:

Transcription

1 music Chris Neal 'Mike Mayfield' theme/additional orchestration by Ian Davidson Composer Chris Neal: Chris Neal was very active during the 1980s as a composer for film and television, having begun with the electronic score for the computer thriller Crosstalk in He then moved through a diverse range of films, including the second world war Rebel, the mateship comedy Buddies, and telemovies such as Double Sculls and Archer. In 1985 and 1986 he worked with director George Ogilvie on the 1985 'issues' film Short Changed, and then on the 1986 The Place At The Coast. Around this time he also worked on David Baker s ill-fated Niel Lynne and the almost equally ill-fated Bullseye, with both films facing the same limited and erratic distribution as did Around The World in 80 Ways. (The work Neal did for the engaging 1983 Buddies also had a limited audience). This didn t necessarily reflect on the composer s work - the music in Around The World in 80 Ways is light and lively - but it does suggest the difficulties some films faced scoring space on theatrical screens in the 10BA years. Despite these issues, Neal continued as a prolific composer for film and television, and was no doubt happy that memories of his first feature film, the ill-fated Crosstalk, had been swept aside, though it was an early example of Australian feature film electronica. (The Place at the Coast also shows some then modern stylings in the underscore, though it was another ill-fated film domestically, which also got caught up in the Pepper distribution scandal, whereby a number of NSW Film Corporation films ended up with their international rights lost to a Panama-based company). Neal also did the score for The City's Edge, the NSWFC funded 1983 straight to tape noir outing which had been co-written by Robert Merritt and the film's director Ken Quinnell (and yet another caught up in the Pepper scandal). At time of writing, Neal had a brief wiki here. He also had his own website here. The site contained this biography:

2 Early years studying classical piano and music theory were followed by an intensive period of progressive jazz study and practise, inspired by the recordings of such great artists as Bill Evans, Bobby Timmons, Oscar Peterson et al. By the time of the new excitement delivered by the likes of Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly, it became obvious that eclecticism was the only way forward. The 1960's were alive with music. There were gigs around Sydney with my jazz piano trio (usually Tony (Toot) Simon on drums and John Butterworth on Bass)as well as the absolute joy of playing keys and guitars for many gigs with such well established rock bands as The Showmen and The Powerhouse, while the love of songwriting and composing grew... In 1968, the opportunity arose to assist legendary composer Peter Sculthorpe create the score for the Anglo/Australian movie The Age Of Consent, starring first-timer Helen Mirren. What a journey. What a gift. A bizarre, life-changing accident led to a few months in Vietnam entertaining US troops. The time spent "hanging out" in Saigon set up the next extraordinary chapter of this strangely fortunate life... Then followed the creation of the hippie, flower-power rock musical, Manchild, which toured Australian capital cities during 1971/72, creating several boxoffice records along the way. A focal point of the early '70s was the creation of the solo prog rock album Winds Of Isis. This epic instrumental outing developed a small, but committed following and remains in demand to this day. Another high point of the '70s was the development of an electronic score for Fritz Lang's silent classic, Metropolis. Live concerts featuring the soundtrack played live on the first commercially available microprocessor-based digital sequencer (The Roland MC-8)were presented around Sydney, while a film company sourced a high quality print to synchronise the music to. When the project was well into development, the word got out that Hollywood was working on a similar idea and the release did not go ahead. However, most of the music still exists in demo form. The commercial scene in Sydney was thriving in the '70s. Movies, TV, TVCs and records - it was all happening. Ads for clients such as : Sunbeam, Goldenia Tea, Levis, Gilbey's Gin, 2UE, 2GB and Home Journal filled in the weekly slots not used up by record production work for The Marshall Brothers Band, Bob Hudson, Maureen Elkner, The Radiators, to name a few...and there was even an extraordinary situation in which I found myself engineering for the great, sublime Stephane Grapelli... By the time the '80s arrived, a career in film scoring was well underway, with

3 many features, TV series, documentaries and kids dramas making up the slate. This remains the main focus today... In 1980, The Living Room suite of recording studios was setup at Chatswood on Sydney's North Shore. This became home to the creation of many scores and soundtracks for featurs films and television dramas for the next twenty years. In 2001, we moved to Avalon on the Northern Beaches and set up Springboard Studios, which is still home... (Below: Chris Neal)

4 The site also provided this TV and filmography up to 2010: (* Co-composed with Braedy Neal) 2010 CASTAWAY series Northway Prod 2008 BETWEEN IRAQ AND A HARD PLACE doco PrecisionPics 2006 THE SLEEPOVER CLUB 2 series Southern Star* 2005 MDA Eps 5 8 series ABC 2004 FOREIGN EXCHANGE series Sth Star/Magma* NOAH & SASKIA series ACTF/BBC* 2003 THE CROP feature Miracle Pics* 2001 THE CRASH ZONE 2 series ACTF/Disney 2000 FARSCAPE 2 series Jim Henson Co* 1999 FARSCAPE series Nine TV/Henson* TIME AND TIDE telemv ABC Prod 1998 THE CRASH ZONE series ACTF/Disney* MUMBO JUMBO telemv Artist Services 13 GANTRY ROW telemv Rob Bruning Prod

5 1997 PACIFIC DRIVE 2 series Village Roadshow* 1996 PACIFIC DRIVE series Village Roadshow* 1995 CORRELLI series ABC JOHNSON & FRIENDS 6 series Film Australia* 1994 HEARTLAND series Northway Prod* THE DAMNATION OF HARVEY MCHUGH series ABC GP 6 series ABC/Matt Carroll* LIFT OFF 3 series ACTF Prod* JOHNSON & FRIENDS 5 series Film Australia* 1993 LAW OF THE LAND series Roadshow Coote Carroll JACK BE NIMBLE feature Zee Films (NZ) GP 5 series ABC/Matt Carroll LIFT OFF 2 series ACTF Prod JOHNSON & FRIENDS 4 series Film Australia OF BLACK BEAUTY 4 series Pro Films (NZ) 1992 THE NOSTRADAMUS KID feature Simpson lemesurier LIFT OFF 1 series ACTF Prod OF BLACK BEAUTY 3 series Pro Films (NZ) BUTTERFLY ISLAND series Mediacast GP 4 series ABC/Matt Carroll JOHSON & FRIENDS 3 series Film Australia 1991 TURTLE BEACH feature Village Roadshow GP 3 series ABC/Matt Carroll JOHNSON & FRIENDS 2 series Film Australia OF BLACK BEAUTY 2 series Pro Films (NZ) 1990 JOHNSON & FRIENDS series Film Australia OF BLACK BEAUTY series Pro Films (NZ) THE PAPER MAN series Roadshow Coote Carroll TROUBLE IN PARADISE feature Regency Pictures 1989 SHADOW OF THE COBRA series View Films CELIA feature Seon Films THE BIG WISH telemv ACTF Prod 1988 EMERALD CITY feature Limelight Prod GRIEVOUS BODILY HARM feature Smiley Films MARY McKILLOP telemv Film Australia SOLDIER SETTLER telemv Film Australia PETER & POMPEY telemv ACTF Prod PRINCESS KATE telemv ACTF Prod BARRACUDA telemv Amalgamated Portman 1987 GROUND ZERO feature GZ Productions

6 THE SHIRALEE series SA Film Corp 1986 BULLSEYE feature PBL Prod THE PLACE AT THE COAST feature Daedalus Films ARMY WIVES series Village Roadshow 1985 NIEL LYNNE feature David Baker Films SHORT CHANGED feature Ross Matthews Prod AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 WAYS feature Palm Beach Pictures 5 TIMES DIZZY series Samson Films THE LONG WAY HOME telemv ABC DOUBLE SCULLS telemv Smiley Films ARCHER telemv Village Roadshow NATURAL CAUSES telemv ABC 1984 BUDDIES feature JD Prod REBEL feature P Emmanuel Prod BODYLINE series Kennedy Miller PALACE OF DREAMS series ABC CRIME OF THE DECADE telemv ABC TOP KID telemv ACTF Prod TARFLOWERS telemv ACTF Prod QUEST BEYOND TIME telemv ACTF Prod 1983 THE CITY'S EDGE feature CB Films 1981 CROSSTALK feature Walltowall Films