Silva Screen Records will celebrate the hit new STARZ series Magic City with the Magic City original soundtrack.  The recording features songs by artists including Bo Diddley, Tito Puente, Frankie Avalon and an exclusive recording of “Tenderly” by Patti Austin.

The series is just taking off Stateside and is likely to appear on British TV screens later this year.   Set in Miami’s Miramar Playa Hotel leading into the new year of 1959, hotelier Ike Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) conjures up ways to finance his dream.  He has essentially sold his soul to the devil, mob boss Ben “The Butcher” Diamond (Danny Huston).  Ike’s wife Vera (Olga Kurylenko), a former showgirl, and his three children think he is an honorable man, but he just can’t break his pact with the most dangerous criminal in town. His life is a façade.

The alluring drama features an ensemble cast that also features Steven Strait (City Island), Christian Cooke (Cemetery Junction), Jessica Marais (Packed to the Rafters), Yul Vazquez (The A-Team, American Gangster), Dominik Garcia-Lorido (City Island), Kelly Lynch (Drugstore Cowboy, Charlie’s Angels) and Elena Satine (Just Go With It).  Along with Glazer, Geyer Kosinski (Changeling, The Astronaut Farmer) serves as executive producer.  Ed Bianchi (Deadwood) was co-executive producer and Dwayne Shattuck (Mad Men) was a producer on the series.

The soundtrack presents a great audio snapshot of the show and the era which it depicts.  Series creator Mitch Glazer had this to way about it:

“From Julie London’s purr to Bo Diddley’s muscular blues, from the Dance King of Havana, Beny Moré, to the Genius of Soul, Ray Charles, the soundtrack of Miami Beach 1959 was like the city itself – glamour and heat. Sun- kissed families swam and limboed by the hotel pool to sweet Frankie Avalon by day and hookers, hustlers and gamblers swayed in the same exact cabanas to wild Johnny Otis at night. My hometown was a world of opposites, of extremes: blasting sun or velvety tropical nights, the giddy kiddie pool or the dark caves of the hotel lounges. It was a fantasy built to dazzle tourists and a hard reality of mobsters and the CIA dumping bodies in Biscayne Bay.”

Tracklisting Magic City Soundtrack

1. Bo Diddley   – “I’m a Man” – Written by Ellas McDaniel & Koko Taylor

2. Patti Austin – “Tenderly” – Written by Walter Gross & Jack Lawrence

3. Frankie Avalon – “Venus” – Written by Edward H Marshall

4. The Diamonds – “The Stroll” – Written by Clyde Otis & Nancy Lee

5. Tito Puente – “Mambo Gallego” – Written by Tito Puente

6. Albert King – “Drowning On Dry Land” – Written by Maurice Gregory & Allen Jones

7. Johnny Otis – “Willie and The Hand Jive” – Written by Johnny Otis

8. Julie London – “Chances Are” – Written by Al Stillman & Robert Allen

9. Beny More – “Mi Chiquita Quiere Guarachar” - Written by Andres Diaz

10. Lee Morgan – “The Sidewinder” – Written by Lee Morgan

11. Ray Charles – “Moon over Miami” – Written by Joseph A Burke & Edgar Leslie

Magic City will be on sale digitally in the UK from 28/5/12

The only other British monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee was Queen Victoria, so the upcoming events over the Jubilee weekend will be quite spectacular.  A major event will be the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant: one of the largest ever floatillas assembled on the river.  It will take place in the afternoon of Sunday the 3rd of June, where all types of boats will be dressed to appear in all their finery in honour of Her Majesty.  Recalling King George I’s commission to George Frideric Handel in 1717 for a piece of music to be performed on a barge on a Thames, 11 British film composers will compose and perform a suite named “New Water Music”.  They will each conduct a chamber orchestra in turn, performing what will be the World Premier of the piece to a potential worldwide audience of over 1 billion people and Silva Screen will be releasing a studio recording of the same,  available both digitally and on CD, on the 28th of May.

Participating Composers

Anne Dudley (an Oscar-winner for THE FULL MONTY),Graham Fitkin (described by The Independent in 1998 as “one of the most important of our younger composers”), Howard Goodall (creator of the themes for BLACK ADDER, THE VICAR OF DIBLEY and MR. BEAN), Gavin Greenaway (conductor of over 50 film scores including GLADIATOR and THE DARK KNIGHT), Christopher Gunning (creator of the famous ‘Martini’ commercial and the theme from POIROT), Adrian Johnston (BRIDESHEAD REVISITED and BECOMING JANE), John Lunn (DOWNTON ABBEY), Julian Nott (WALLACE & GROMIT), Jocelyn Pook (EYES WIDE SHUT and BRICK LANE), Stephen Warbeck (an Oscar-winner for SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE) and Debbie Wiseman (THE PROMISE and LAND GIRLS).

To date the film franchise has grossed over $2 billion (£1.3 billion) worldwide and is estimated to grow to a further $700 million (£500 million) when Breaking Dawn: Part Two is released in November 2012.

Twilight, the first movie in the saga, saw the introduction of Bella and vampire/teen heart throb  Edward’s forbidden love for each other. Composed by Carter Burwell, the score showcases the fiery emotions involved in this expression of broken-hearted love. Thematically it is Burwell’s love theme for Bella and Edward which is the stands out in this first score, oozing sexual tension and capturing the beauty and pain of forbidden love.

New Moon followed in the footsteps of the hugely successful Twilight but is in no way overshadowed by it. The second film in the saga centres on a fight for Bella’s affections between Edward and new love rival Jacob the werewolf. If any one composer can nail romance on this scale it’s Alexandre Desplat. With the locations in the film getting further and wider apart from the town of Forks to Italy, it was only right to bring in the big guns, in the form of the London Symphony Orchestra, contributing swathes of luscious strings in all their symphonic finery. The composer clings to his own central love theme for New Moon, this time less introspective and more wide-eyed, with an urgency that foreshadows the power of Bella and Edward’s inevitable union.

Eclipse was the third in the saga to be released, bringing a new chapter onto the screen. This time Oscar-winning Howard Shore joins the legacy of accomplished composers to bring a whole new spin on the music. Shore’s darker side seems to be the vital ingredient musically and he brings to the table his vast experience in delivering blockbuster epics.  He carefully captures scenes filled with tension and seething with inner emotional turmoil ending in the inevitable bloodshed. The score’s lone piano theme resonates emotionally with Bella and Jacob and with love themes so central to the preceding scores, Shore’s own contribution is stripped down to a simple motif for what is initially a private engagement. The tone is wistful, the pair relaxing into their dynamic and embracing an uncertain future together. The theme itself is the basis of an original song by Shore, written with the group Metric. Called ‘Eclipse (All Yours)’, the track opened the original soundtrack album and was nominated for a 2010 Satellite Award. It is ‘Jacob Black’ though that is Shore’s crowning glory in this score.  Its plaintive and soulful rendering of a character at odds with his heart, longing for the love of a girl he simply cannot have leaving a haunting resonance.

Breaking Dawn: Part 1, is the fourth but not final film in the saga. It reunites the epic tale with Carter Burwell to produce yet another fantastic score which perfectly complements the melodrama as it is played out. With an abundance of possible inspiration including the wedding of year, the most anticipated love scene and wolves baying for the blood of an unborn child, Burwell had his work cut out for him. One of his longest scores to date,  the resulting 80 minutes encapsulates the exhilarating drama, full of intensity, but with an outer coating of dread.

Fortunately for everyone involved, the final closing film to the saga Breaking Dawn: Part 2 is in safe hands, as Carter Burwell returns to compose and close the final chapter.

Listen Here

To mark this day of love, Danny & the Champions of the World have released their latest album, Hearts & Arrows on vinyl, through Diverse Records.

The vinyl specialists are celebrating the launch with a spin of the new record at The Paradise in Kensal Green. The launch will also see Danny himself treating everyone to a live acoustic set. If you wish to attend the launch please RSVP to: paul@diversevinyl.com

The first 20 vinyl sold will also include an exclusive poster (only previously available on the Danny & The Champions of the World tour). To Pre-order yours click HERE.