HAMMER TIME
I wonder if you could answer a question about a record that should exist but doesn’t. I am a huge fan – and collector – of Julie Driscoll. I have everything she released on 7” and LP. There is one thing that I really want but from what I can see it was never released. This is the themesong to the 1969 science fiction film, Moon Zero Two. Do you have any idea why it was not released or why there wasn’t a soundtrack LP to go with the film?
Martin Vine via email
On release in October 1969, Moon Zero Two was billed as “the first moon western”. Filmed in the UK at a cost of £500,000 by Hammer, it was not a commercial success. The theme-song was written by legendary trumpeter and bandleader Don Ellis and, as you correctly state, featured Julie Driscoll on vocals. Ellis went on to score The French Connection.
To put you out of your misery, though there was no soundtrack album or even a 7”, the track Moon Zero Two appeared on GDI’S The Hammer Film Music Collection Volume 1 (GDICD 002, 1998, £12). GDI was set up by Gary Wilson to release classic soundtrack material with a focus on Hammer. In an interview with the excellent Movie Music International Wordpress site run by JONMAN 42000, in May 2013 he cast some light on how this came about and provided a tidbit about Moon Zero Two...
Q: How did you manage to persuade Hammer to release the music into his care, as many record companies had tried and failed?
A: It was a pure fluke, an accident, or maybe fate if you like. I was at Hammer’s offices to discuss another project that I was toying with and was talking to Roy Skeggs whom I knew very well anyway. I noticed a big pile of boxes in one of the offices that were just dumped by the look of it and were not labelled. Being the curious person I am, I asked Roy what they were, to which he replied, “Oh, they are just some of the music tapes to a few of the Hammer movies.” I sort of held my breath for a moment because I could not believe my luck and was amazed that this stuff was just lying in old boxes in an office literally rotting away. A lot of the tapes were not labelled so it was a bit of a mammoth job sifting through them all, matching music to videos. Obviously I was familiar with things like Dracula and lots of other James Bernard material but when it came to other items it took quite a time to sort them all out. A few were in very poor condition, but things like Twins Of Evil, Countess Dracula, Crescendo and Demons Of The Mind were in very good condition considering the way the tapes had been stored. It was a difficult but also a rewarding find, music that I had been told had been lost.
Q: Talking of songs, on the first Hammer Collection CD, you included the song from Moon Zero Two. Why did you include this? After all, the movie did bomb big time for the studio.
A: I know, the film was a disaster for Hammer, but nowadays it’s something of a cult movie. The score by the trumpet player Don Ellis was a departure for Hammer but the song is great – I know at times it’s irritating to listen to but maybe that’s the appeal of it. Hopefully we will be releasing the full score on CD in the future.
Sadly, Moon Zero Two has, to date, not been released on CD or vinyl but we live in hope.