Varèse Sarabande release their latest CD Club title, Fimucité 6: Universal Pictures 100th Anniversary Gala. The 2-CD limited edition set (3000 units) features live concert performances of celebrated films from the history of Universal Pictures including music from horror favourites Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolfman and The Mummy, award-winning films including A Beautiful Mind,, E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, Fried Green Tomatoes and On Golden Pond, and family fare like The Lorax and An American Tail...

In 2012 the Fimucité festival in Tenerife, Spain. was selected as the location for the official Universal Pictures 100th Anniversary concert celebrating the studio’s illustrious history of great film music. This 2-disc collection represents an audio recording of this celebration.

The album contains 27 tracks (1 hr, 55 min, 31 sec) that recreates some of Universal Pictures's most notable movie scores. For the most part it does what you'd expect, picking out the most well known themes for the movies selected - although it was strange that Back to the Future III was chosen rather than the original Back to the Future theme.

I couldn't quite work out, considering that this was supposed to be a recording of a live event, why some of the tracks had applause at the end and others sounded as though they had been recorded in a studio.

This is an event that would have been spectacular to have attended, and for those that did, this is a wonderful souvenir of the evening. Likewise, for general soundtrack buffs, the recordings are close enough (on the whole) to the originals to make this an interesting addition to your collection.

Track listing:

Disc One

01. Universal Pictures Fanfare (Jerry Goldsmith, Arranged by Brian Tyler)
02. Frankenstein: Main Title (Bernhard Kaun)
03. Dracula: End Titles (John Williams)
04. The Wolfman: Wolf Suite (Danny Elfman)
05. The Mummy: The Sand Volcano (Jerry Goldsmith)
06. Cape Fear: Main Title (Bernard Herrmann)
07. To Kill A Mockingbird: Main Title (Elmer Bernstein)
08. Field of Dreams: The Place Where Dreams Come True (James Horner)
09. Airport: Main Title (Alfred Newman)
10. An American Tail: Flying Away and End Credits (James Horner)
11. Far and Away: The Land Race (John Williams)

Disc Two

01. On Golden Pond: Main Title (Dave Grusin)
02. Fried Green Tomatoes: Ghost Train (Main Title) (Thomas Newman)
03. Love Actually: Glasgow Love Theme / PM's Love Theme (Craig Armstrong)
04. A Beautiful Mind: A Kaleidoscope Of Mathematics (James Horner)
05. Meet Joe Black: That Next Place (Thomas Newman)
06. The Lorax: Ted, Audrey And The Trees (John Powell)
07. Backdraft: Show Me Your Firetruck (Hans Zimmer)
08. Back To The Future III: End Credits (Alan Silvestri)
09. Conan The Barbarian: Riddle Of Steel / Riders Of Doom (Basil Poledouris)
10. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial: Over The Moon (John Williams)

Bonus Tracks:

11. Spartacus: Main Title (Alex North)
12. Jaws: Main Title (John Williams)
13. Out of Africa: Flight Over Africa (John Barry)
14. Schindler’s List: Theme (John Williams)
15. King Kong: Climbing The Empire State Building (James Newton Howard)
16. Jurassic Park: Theme (John Williams)

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Darren Rea