WILD GEESE II
C6022
Caldera Records is proud to present the original score for the motion picture “Wild Geese II” from 1985, directed by Peter Hunt. The film is loosely connected to “The Wild Geese” from 1978, starring Richard Burton, Richard Harris and Hardy Kruger. Unfortunately, Burton passed away shortly before the filming of the sequel began and some sections of the screenplay had to be re-written. The story revolves around top level Nazi Rudolph Hess (Laurence Olivier) who has important intel on prominent political figures. Ruthless TV executives Michael and Kathy Lukas (John Terry and Barbara Carrera) want to get him out of his Spandau prison to appear on live television. Faulkner declines their offer to lead such a mission, but recommends Lebanese American soldier turned mercenary Haddad (Scott Glenn) as a substitute who agrees to take on the mission that soon turns into a nightmare for everyone involved.
The music was composed by Roy Budd (“Get Carter”) who had already written the music for “The Wild Geese”. Budd had to create new musical material for the sequel and delivered a more contemporary direction for underscoring the mission. Besides the funky action music which is the obvious main draw of the score, there are plenty of other great moments in the score, such as a catchy main title march and the soulful ballad “Say You’ll Be Mine”, sung by Peter Hoffmann and dedicated to Budd’s wife Sylvia Budd who served as co-producer of this album. This release of “Wild Geese II” fills an important hole in Roy Budd’s discography. A soundtrack was originally released on LP by CBS Records, but it had no legitimate CD release since then. The score was carefully restored and mastered from the original tapes. Recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, the music sounds as fresh as if it was recorded today and stands as one of Budd’s very best works.
The 22nd CD-release of Caldera Records features a detailed booklet-text by Gergely Hubai and an elegant artwork by Luis Miguel Rojas, excerpts from the handwritten score, a detailed biography of the composer, as well as an exclusive audio commentary by the composer’s wife, Sylvia Budd. The CD was produced by Stephan Eicke, John Elborg, and Sylvia Budd.
Music Composed, Orchestrated and Conducted by Roy Budd
Recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra
Album Produced by Stephan Eicke
Executive Producers for Caldera Records: John Elborg, Stephan Eicke, Sylvia Budd
Wild Geese II
1. Main Title (4:35)
2. Cat and Mouse in Berlin (3:35)
3. Solitary Confinement (3:46)
4. Moving Around Spandau (3:16)
5. The Wall (1:50)
6. The Romance Begins (2:36)
7. Plot and Deceit (2:22)
8. Attempt to Free Hess (8:31)
9. Escape (1:37)
10. End Titles (2:46)
11. Say You’ll Be Mine (4:45)
Performed by Peter Hoffmann
Bonus:
12. Audio Commentary by Sylvia Budd (5:14)
Listen to a 4 min clip here:
SoundCloud
Buy the CD here:
Screen Archives (USA)
Music Box Records (France)
Soundtrack Corner (Germany)
Rosebud Banda Sonora (Spain)
Reviews:
“When a independent label such as Caldera Records get the chance to release a score to a film, like “WILD GEESE II” by well-known late great composer Roy Budd… you better believe that is a very great release. I am thrilled it’s here and being able to share the news with you, it’s classic 80′s sound, just what you would imagine it would be… though it goes a little further in it’s power and intrigue. BRAVO!” JMHDigital.com
“With groovy 70′s jazz, Roy Budd does something new with war movie music. The main title sets the tone and is totally exhilarating. The rest of the score is very rhythmic and portrays some bravery that will delight your ears. Too bad the score is so short. This is great film music that we don’t hear anymore.”
Underscores.fr
“The composer keeps the action of the previous film in a score with remarkable main theme. It is a vintage score (…) – and it is wonderful.”
MundoBSO.com
“At last WILD GEESE 2 has been issued on to compact disc, not only is this a fantastic action score, but it is issued on a label that I have much admiration for, CALDERA. The productions values on the release are amazing, the sound is so clear and full, so crisp and fresh, another big pat on the back for CALDERA and another thank you for bringing us this wonderful score.”
John Mansell
Many thanks for finally issuing this great Budd score on CD! Some 20 years ago I bought the LP and some time later – since no record comany cared to issue a CD – the bootleg by Wild Records, which left out the Hoffmann song. Having watched the film several times I realised that some music was missing on the LP, the bootleg, and this official edition. Since you write above that you’ve had access to the master tapes I was wondering why you didn’t include the about 10 missing minutes of music.
We had planned to use Roy Budd’s original tapes. However, they were damaged by a flood and were unusable. We therefore asked Sony/EMI whether they can supply the tapes in their archive which they kindly did. They certainly didn’t have to since the mechanical rights lie with Roy Budd’s estate and Sony has had nothing to gain from our release whatsoever.
Unfortunately, the only tapes Sony had were the tapes used for the LP which indeed doesn’t represent the complete score but which is missing ~10 minutes.
Hi
Do the original session recordings for The Wild Geese exist anywhere and is there any chance of the actual COMPLETE score being released?
The album which was released was, although full of great music, very repetitive and almost criminally incomplete considering the abundance of great cues recorded and used in the film?
Please see our message in the comments section for WILD GEESE II.
When will Wild Geese ll be back in stock with your network of retailers?
Thank you.