hen it comes to either science-fiction music or movies, singer Frankie Avalon certainly isn't the first name that springs to mind. Yet not too surprisingly—since he also starred in the film—it's his voice that launches a new CD devoted to the famous 1961 motion picture Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The latest installment in Film Score Monthly magazine's ongoing "Silver Age Classics" soundtrack series, this wonderful album presents nearly every note heard in the electrifying undersea adventure.
The movie's music—primarily penned by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter—starts slowly, but before too long advances at a pell-mell pace. Following Avalon's performance on "Main Title/The Super Sub," "Dive" utilizes soft woodwinds and violins to accentuate the underwater elegance of the Seaview submarine. Immediately thereafter, compositions like "Brave Volunteers/Cable Search/Dangerous Grounds/The Squid Attacks," "Fire in Red/Fresh Air/The Ghost Ship" and "Enemy Torpedoes/The Monster Attacks" perk up the proceedings with stirring percussion, blaring horns and an ever-present, undulating harp. Cuts such as "Raw Nerves" and "Alvarez's Resignation/Minefield Explosions/All Back—Dead Slow" provide brief, tension-filled pauses in the tuneful tumult, while the score wraps up with the suspenseful and satisfying "Fatal Dose/Alvarez Acts/Successful Mission."
Subsequent to the 13 main melodies, the disc also showcases nearly six minutes of "bonus material" comprised of temporary and alternate versions of the "Main Title"—including one rendition with vocalist Bill Lee instead of Avalon—and a damaged cue labeled "Nervous Hysteria." The 16-page booklet accompanying the album features revealing liner notes from Film Score Monthly senior editor Jeff Bond, along with more than a dozen stills from the motion picture.
Underwater musical overachiever
Most SF fans nowadays are probably more familiar with the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea TV series than the movie which actually spawned the show. That's a shame, not so much because the film is particularly exceptional (it's not, although it is awfully exciting), but rather due to the picture's invigorating and influential soundtrack. Whether augmenting encounters with giant cephalopods or ingeniously complementing images of a fiery Van Allen radiation belt, the music truly captures the exhilaration, energy and emotion of the action-packed adventure.
The opening theme—written by Russell Faith, who had also authored Avalon's Top 10 hit "Bobby Sox to Stockings" a few years earlier—kicks off the recording in style, introducing a romantic, inspiring motif that Sawtell and Shefter cleverly incorporate into such ensuing cuts as "Lucky Man/Under the Ice." Spirited sequences like "Ice Block Collision/The Red Sea/The Survivor" and "To New York/Nelson's Decision" are significantly more forceful, spotlighting rousing trumpets and bold percussion. At the same time, the expressive orchestration of "Dive," which contains a rich combination of slithering strings and warm bassoons, clarinets and oboes, has—as Jeff Bond keenly points out in his commentary—over time "become a standard for scoring vessels in space as well as at sea."
Working alone, Sawtell later went on to compose the memorable (though altogether dissimilar) theme for the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea television program. That brief melody wonderfully sums up the essence of the TV series, but can't possibly encapsulate the complex pleasures, passions and pressures conveyed by this gripping score. The movie may not be as fondly recalled as its small-screen spinoff, but this album confirms that, at least musically, the original Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a journey worth remembering.
