1979

In 1979 I was 10-years old and my family had just moved to Dallas, within walking distance of now famous Greenville Ave (Lower Greenville) up from Corsicana, about an hour South. I remember riding my bike with my brother, the gay couple who lived next door always working on their bright orange BMW, eating figs off the tree from the old lady's house behind us, playing endlessly with Star Wars and G.I. Joe figures, and watching Monday Night Specials on our 12" black and white television. Endless summer nights in Dallas, watching a lifetime of movies.

And just like that pivotal scene in Ratatouille where the critic is transported back to his childhood instantly upon his first bite of an unlikely dish to serve, so it was with me when I put in No Escape - Music from the Planet of the Apes. I was pulled back to 1979, watching that black & white television with my brother as music long-since forgotten filled the air.

I've been listening to a lot of Flight and while I'm enjoying it immensely (it is just as good as anything else I've listened to so far, made moreso by including a lot of my favorite scores) I wanted to be challenged this morning on my drive in, so I chose No Escape knowing it would be a difficult listen.

What a complex album! I imagine you'd have to be pretty well versed in each of those films' scores in order to pull of a mix of this complexity, but once I was past the cleverly inserted surprise 'intro' I failed to recognize once again the discrete track changes through the transitions until I was on track five. For something as awkward-sounding as these short, almost staccato pieces to be glued together so effortlessly is a credit to your talent. Although based on my second paragraph I am obviously too biased to make a judgment call on its content by recommending it to others, I'm excited to hear the finale to see if you tie it together the same way you opened it (I'm on Track 23 currently).

Thank you for igniting those memories, thank you for the music.



I finished the album, and in hearing the end of what I now know is No Escape I said aloud in the Bank of American drive-thru, "That's the finale!" Just brilliant! I'll leave the rest of my comment on your post.