OUR MOTHER'S HOUSE/ 25TH HOUR, The

FSM reissues two classic MGM Records albums on one CD, Our Mother's House and The 25th Hour, both from 1967 and composed by Georges Delerue.

Georges Delerue (1925-1992) was a gifted melodist and dramatist whose music accompanied the best films of the French new wave: Shoot the Piano Player, Contempt, Jules and Jim, The Soft Skin, Two English Girls, Day for Night, Love on the Run and The Last Metro, most directed by Francois Truffaut. While he was recognized for the gentle, lyrical quality of his scores (such as the Oscar-winning A Little Romance), Delerue tackled every sort of genre in more than 300 films, including epics, crime thrillers, romances and political dramas.

Our Mother's House was an offbeat drama directed by Jack Clayton about seven English children who decide to raise themselves after their mother passes away. It works well enough -- until the arrival of their no-good father (Dirk Bogarde). Delerue's lovely, melodic scoring made headlines 17 years later when it influenced Quincy Jones's music for The Color Purple. How similar is it? For years Our Mother's House was notoriously difficult to hear, the LP having been released only in Canada -- now, you be the judge!

The second half of the program is Delerue's equally melodic but much different score for the Eastern European Holocaust saga The 25th Hour, starring Anthony Quinn as a Romanian farmer mistaken for a Jew and cast about Europe for the better part of a decade. Delerue provided a simple, heartfelt theme for cimbalom and eerie, dirge-like music for a continent gone mad -- in the 25th hour of humanity.

FSM's premiere CD features both album programs newly remastered from the best possible stereo sources. The packaging includes the original album notes as well as new commentary.
* Excerpt from FILM SCORE MONTHLY

Our Mother's House
Solo Piano: Peter Katin

Main Title -- Our Mother's House 3:42
The Garden 3:34
Mother Will Always Be Here 3:23
Recess 1:34
Gertie Is Punished 3:53
Charlie 1:31
The Children 1:42
Charlie Arrives Home 2:20
The Boat Race 1:20
The Party 1:30
Charlie Burns Mother's Pictures 3:43
The Children Leave Our Mother's House 2:35
Total Time: 31:18

The 25th Hour

Opening 2:30
In the Church 1:56
Johann & Suzanna 2:50
Deportation of the Jews' 2:46
Suzanna at the Minister's House 1:38
Johann in the Wheat Field 2:20
Arrival of the Germans 1:06
Johann in Budapest 1:42
The Train Stops 0:51
Gathering of the Flowers 1:59
Arrival of the Russians 2:57
Death of Traian 2:15
Johann on the Platform 0:57
Johann and Suzanna Reunited 1:17
Total Time: 27:31

Total Disc Time: 58:49