Yu Xihong's Shaw Bros Library I-L

Invincible Shaolin
Iron Bodyguard
Kid From Kwangtung
Kid With the Golden Arm
Killer Clans
Killer Constable
King Boxer
Kungfu Instructor
Legend of the Bat
Legend of the Fox
Legendary Weapons of China
Life Gamble

Might be all "M" next time...

-Crime and Place for Everything-

You already know what mix this is! I'm not even gonna hype it up because it speaks for itself.

Crime and Place for Everything...


Mirror

01. I Jin Hen - Cliffhanger
02. John Williams - Poseidon Adventure Title
03. Keith Mansfield - Hot Cargo
04. Franco Micalizzi - Ferro E Fuoco
05. Bruno Nicolai - Invasamento
06. Morton Stevens - Chase
07. Alberto Bembo and Blue Marvin - Kamasutra
08. Vladimir Cosma - Vengeance De Kumare
09. Bill Conti - Conquest
10. Franco Micalizzi - Affanno
11. Gianni Ferrio - Fuoco
12. Mikis Theodorakis - Meeting in the Park
13. Reg Tilsley - Counterspy Link I
14. Freedom Power - Freedom Power
15. John Cacavas - Suspense Approach and Landing
16. Luciano Michelini - Outtake No7
17. Francis Lai - Destination Le Havre
18. Brian Bennett - Fast and Furious
19. William Kraft - Grand Central
20. Georges Garvarentz - Diamond Robbery
21. Jack Trombey - Big Project
22. Reg Tilsley - Gun Runner
23. Masamichi Amano - The Inversion
24. Mandingo Orchestra - Kiss of Death
25. Kenneth Essex - Conveyors
26. The Blackbyrds - Riot
27. Franco Micalizzi - Crime on the Move
28. Gianni Ferrio - Oltre Il Confinei
29. Georges Garvarentz - Un Juge Un Flic
30. Bill Conti - Going the Distance
31. Joe Harnell - Incredible Hulk Title
32. Franco Micalizzi - Hospital Sequence
33. Ennio Morricone - Revolver

Even Cap'n Jack Sparrow could bop to "Big Project."

Instrumental Series Vol.5 Smooth Groove

So what happened to volumes 3 and 4? Well, they're not quite ready yet so I moved ahead to this one. I made this mix about a year ago but after moving all the files around and transferring to an external HDD I lost the track list so I had to go dig them up again and see what fit and what didn't. I think there's only like 3 tracks that weren't on the original. This is for the "grown and sexy" and I really don't like that phrase because it's so cliche. I prefer "sophisticated"...

Anyway, I tried to avoid putting R&B on here... 1) because I don't (didn't really) listen to it so I'm not a good authority on that and 2) because if done right, rap can be just as smooth. I did make a few exceptions though. It took me many years to find the beat for "The World is Filled." I got such a rush when I finally found it.

Instrumental Series Vol.5: Smooth Groove

01. Outkast - Liberation
02. LL Cool J - Luv U Better
03. Common - They Say
04. Biggie - The World is Filled
05. Amerie - Why Don't We Fall in Love
06. Nas - It Wasn't You
07. Lloyd Banks - I'm So Fly
08. Beanie Sigel - Don't Stop
09. 2Pac - Wonder if Heaven Got a Ghetto
10. Bobby Valentino - Slow Down
11. Bone Thugs - Murda Mo
12. Busta Rhymes - New York Shit
13. Jin - I Got a Love
14. Cassidy - So Long
15. Jay-Z - Girls Girls Girls
16. Lupe Fiasco - Kick Push
17. Puff Daddy - Been Around the World
18. TI - Why You Wanna
19. DJ Cruz - Loveland
20. Nas - We Will Survive
21. Snoop Dogg - Beautiful
22. Jay-Z - Excuse Me Miss
23. Erykah Badu - Back in the Day
24. Raekwon - Rainy Dayz Remix
25. Little Brother - Lovin' It
26. Ahmad - Back in the Day Remix

At the moment, I'm working on three editions, "The Near East Edition" (vol.4), Rocafella (vol.3), and the "Philly Underground" (vol.6 double disc gutter edition).

Yu Xihong's Shaw Bros Library D-I

Halfway there...

Death Duel
Delightful Forest
Dirty Ho
Disciples of Shaolin
Disciples of the 36th Chamber
Drug Addicts
Duel of Fists
Duel of the Century
Fighting Fool
Fist of the While Lotus
Flag of Iron
Flying Guillotine
Gang Master
Godfather From Canton
Heaven and Hell
Heaven Sword Dragon Sabre
Heroes of the East
Heroes Two
House of Traps
Human Lanterns
Invincible Shaolin

I-M next...

-A Turn for the Worst-

I've been holding out on this one for a while. I've probably dedicated more attention to this mix than any other because I wanted it just right. I got started on it right after 59th & Easy Street so this is the true 3rd volume. Anyway, A Turn for the Worst is uneasy listening... music that you would be hard pressed to find in a library style comp. We've all heard those "halloween" style comps, well this isn't that. It's meant to be more sophisticated... not "it's right behind you" music.

It's hard to choose 5 favorites when I so carefully managed to pick 39 tracks in all. "Mad Max Title" is like gold in Shaw Bros movies. I was in the dorm sleep one day with my TV blasting and I heard the "Shaw Bros" cue on regular TV. I jumped up out of the bed excitedly, but was shocked to find that it wasn't Shaw... it was just Mad Max. Within minutes I had ordered the soundtrack. This was back in 04. That helped spark my interest in IDing cues perhaps from other movies. "Ritorno Di Suoni" has a very subtle creepiness to it. There is a another track on the same OST that sounds like devil himself was laying seige to humanity. It was creepy too, but it was over the top. But this one sounds like a music for an evil genius. "Rite De La Terre" is my namesake's theme from Avenging Eagle. Besides being overly dramatic and uneasy at the same time, it has an asian twist to it. To my surprise it was actually the theme song of a children's TV show called "Time Slip." I could have sworn it was originally scored for Avenging Eagle. I'm also, upset that the quality is lackluster but I take what I can get.

"Kongre" sounds just like some tunes from this old PS1 game that had extraordinary music for a game (Vagrant Story - Hitoshi Sakimoto). To this day, I haven't heard any other game OST up to par. Piccioni's Kongre has a similar sound but it's much better. It's how Vagrant Story could sound if it was redone or remastered... beautifully evil. And last "Violent Payoff (Version 2)" is a fave because it has such an unusual sound. I like that it sounds like all hell just broke loose and then went on about its business. Oh and it's definitely another Shaw Bros cue.

A Turn for the Worst...

01. Sei Ran Hen - Warlord of Corruption
02. Ennio Morricone - Waiting at the Border
03. Susumu Hirasawa - Monster
04. Eric Towren - Eruption
05. Akira Ifukube - Godzilla vs King Ghidora
06. Chumei Watanabe - Sharivan Crash
07. Brian May - Mad Max Title
08. Duel of the Century Intro
09. Masamichi Amano - Phantom Night's Ambition
10. Jim Johnston - Schizophrenic
11. Jun Sunoue - Event Strain
12. Eric Towren - Sinestre
13. Oliver Nelson - It Was You, It Was You
14. Jack Trombey - Spinechiller
15. Vasori - En Pensant A Kafka
16. Hitoshi Sakimoto - Seiin Kishidan
17. Ivor Slaney - Perception in Rhythm
18. Ennio Morricone - Ritorno Di Suoni
19. Takahito Eguchi - Confusion
20. Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra - SFZ OVA Opening
21. Reg Tilsley - Ferocity Fanfare
22. Riz Ortolani - Ossessione
23. Sei Ran Hen - The Evil Dynasty
24. Shunsuke Kikuchi - Unknown DBZ BGM
25. Don Harper - Sinister Stranger
26. Ennio Morricone - Silhouette of Doom
27. Piero Piccioni - Kongre
28. Hitoshi Sakimoto - Chika Bochi
29. Jack Trombey - Red Sequence
30. Bruno Nicolai - Atmosfera Angosciosa
31. Ennio Morricone - Frequenza
32. Ichirou Mizuki - Tokkei Winspector Link
33. Edouard Michael - Rite De La Terre
34. Reg Tilsley - Violent Payoff (Version 2)
35. Hitoshi Sakimoto - Kaigan
36. Setsuo Yamamoto - Despair
37. Riz Ortolani - Adulteress Punishment
38. Motoi Sakuraba - The Ultimate Terror
39. Macabre Outro

The action mix is taking longer than expected to finish. That only means that it'll be better than you expected. Keep an eye out.

Yu Xihong's Shaw Bros Library A-D

Another 87. Some of the Avenging Eagle cues sound like they were done in the style of "Star Wars." The Brave Archer "themes" were done in the style of "Where Eagles Dare." It's a shame that the incidental stuff isn't really out there. Most of what is... is the funky, goofy, kitsch, band type stuff.

12 Gold Medallions
A Deadly Secret
Abbott of Shaolin
Anonymous Heroes
Avenging Eagle
Bastard Swordsman
Blood Brothers
Boxer From Shantung
Boxer Rebellion
Brave Archer
Brave Archer 2
Brave Archer 3
Challenge of the Masters
Chinatown Kid
Clan of Amazons
Clans of Intrigue
Crippled Avengers
Daredevils

Look for D-H in a few days.

Yu Xihong's Shaw Bros Library No. 0-10

For the past year and a half I've been compiling Shaw Bros music and cues. Like I said in the last post, even as a child I really had a thing for movie music. I've been watching Shaw Bros since I was in the womb. As time goes on, this music is finally starting to get some of the recognition it deserves. I would never have dreamed that I could have found this stuff. In all, I have about 1.25GB worth so it'll be uploaded in a number of posts. Who would have thought the whole first post would be just numbers? Aside from that, originally I thought Shaw was exclusively De Wolfe but I've found that they would use pretty much whatever sounds good. They've lifted cues from spaghetti westerns, poliziotteschis, 007, american action films, giallos, UK and japanese tv series' and who knows how many other places.

I was listening to any and everything that fell under those categories and I became obsessed. That's also how I got into library besides instrumentals. So I'm not so caught on IDing cues. It's funny that I can look back and see how much "greatness" I've missed because I paid no attention to how good it sounded, I just knew it wasn't a familiar Shaw Bros tune. I'm not listing individual tracks because there are so many. This first part is 87 files alone... so I'll just list the movies. Also, I paid the ID3TAGs no mind. If you really want to know who a certain track is by I may be able to find out. They are strictly listed by filename.

2 Champions of Shaolin
3 Evil Masters
4 Riders
5 Element Ninjas
5 Shaolin Masters
5 Superfighters
5 Venoms
7 Man Army
8 Diagram Polefighter
10 Tigers of Kwangtung

Keep in mind that the quality varies alot. Some of these are original rips, some are streaming rips, some have sounds, and some sound like crap (my earliest ones). With all of that being said, enjoy and feel free to discuss and or contribute tips as to where I can find more. BTW, Yu Xihong (Ironboat) is a name I've used on a number of Shaw Bros/music forums over the years.

-Underscoreology-

Now, this is the real deal... what library music is all about... the incidentals and the underscores. Even as a child I cared more about TV and movie music than any child should have and now it has become a full addiction. I have more or less given up on "normal music." Daydreams are so much better with library. This is thee drama comp. I get my best ideas when I listen to this stuff and it really helps clear my head if I'm troubled. It is mostly library but I've included any and everything else that seemed appropriate (spaghetti westerns, mobster movies, videogame rpgs, anime, poliziotteschi, and giallo). I know drama.

It bothers me that soundtracks have become a lost art. Nowadays the only things that get adequate music treatment are games and anime. I gave up anime about 7 years ago but it has always had undeniably good music. Watch TV or any new movie and the soundtrack is sub-par and or uninteresting (I remember Rush Hour 2 having a really good score). A soundtrack is actually just a bunch of songs. The proper term would actually be "score." IMO, now and then is the difference between library and production music. Those who don't know any better would hear some of this music and think, "Wow this is amazing, what is it from? What? A game? A cartoon? A full scale orchestra just for that?" It would seem that priorities are backwards.

Underscoreology...Beautiful Music 101.

01. Ennio Morricone - Once Upon a Time in America
02. Berto Pisano - Luci Sulla Baia
03. William Kraft - Carlito and Gail
04. Oliver Nelson - The Walk to Court
05. Masamichi Amano - Big Fire Appears
06. Piero Piccioni - Eros
07. Carlo Rustichelli - L'arresto
08. Armando Trovaioli - Disperazione Di Ricordo
09. Patrick Doyle - You Belong to Me Now
10. Gianni Ferrio - Crescendo Trionfale
11. Noriyuki Asakura - Fallen Angel
12. Hitoshi Sakimoto - Chika Kyoukai
13. Reg Tilsley - Extortion I
14. Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra - Big Group Parading Around
15. Stanley Black - Promised Land
16. Reijiro Koroku - War Council
17. Masamichi Amano - GRVII
18. Carlo Rustichelli - Ore Romantiche
19. Riz Ortolani - Dolcissimo Sogno
20. Henry Mancini - Michael's Theme
21. Motoi Sakuraba - Mysterious Dreams
22. Morton Stevens - The Long Wait
23. Reijiro Koroku - Troops Dispatch
24. Masamichi Amano - Dr. Shizuma's Compensation
25. I Jin Hen - Kayura
26. Brian Bennett - High Security
27. Piero Piccioni - Memories
28. Titian - Nazi Fascisti
29. Ennio Morricone - Death Theme
30. John Barry - Soviet Capsule
31. Masamichi Amano - Shizuma's 10th Year Balance Sheet
32. Hitoshi Sakimoto - Staff Roll

And to complement drama, my action mix is well on its way.