"A Fistful of Soundtracks can be a blast to listen to. Duck, you sucka!"

We interrupt my work on a drawing of the three members of De La Soul for my currently-in-the-works, to-be-self-published book to bring you this special bulletin.

I don't know what Crutchfield is--the name sounds like a Syfy Original Movie(*) ripoff of Cloverfield--but I'd like to thank the site for a mostly positive review of the Fistful of Soundtracks channel that it posted a few weeks ago.

(*) Speaking of which, Battle of Los Angeles? Really, Syfy? Next time you run out of title ideas for your original movies, how about you take a cue from your own station tagline and imagine greater?

A mostly positive review of the Fistful of Soundtracks channel, posted by a Syfy Original Movie ripoff of Cloverfield

I've seen so many blogs with kind things to say about AFOS--and I always appreciate that--but they always get one or two tidbits about AFOS or me wrong. Crutchfield's review has none of that "every now and then it plays a random old movie trailer" bullshit. The reviewer actually did his homework and took the time to listen closely and note that "they aren't placed at random. If you hear the trailer for Big Trouble in Little China, you can be sure that the next selection will be from the soundtrack of that film." (However, for some odd reason, he never once uses the word "score" in his review to distinguish between "soundtrack" and "score.")

The reviewer wishes my channel had a better-quality bit rate and is probably wondering why it's just 32 kbps. Lengthy answer: I'm broke.

AFOS: "Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives" playlist

1. Michael Giacchino, "Roar!" (from Cloverfield), Little Jacket Music, Inc.
2. Akira Ifukube, "Godzilla Main Title" (from Godzilla), The Best of Godzilla 1954-1975, GNP/Crescendo
3. Akira Ifukube, "Four Monsters Attack Tokyo" (from Destroy All Monsters), The Best of Godzilla 1954-1975, GNP/Crescendo
4. Akira Ifukube, "Ending Title" (from Godzilla vs. Destoroyah), The Best of Godzilla 1984-1995, GNP/Crescendo
5. Takayuki Hattori, "Godzilla Roars/Godzilla's Theme: 2000 Millennium," Godzilla 2000: Millennium, GNP/Crescendo
6. Max Steiner, "Main Title," King Kong, Turner Classic Movies Music/Rhino Movie Music
7. The Radio Symphony Orchestra of Cracow, "Main Title" (from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms), Sci-Fi's Greatest Hits Vol. 3: The Uninvited, TVT
8. The Radio Symphony Orchestra of Cracow, "Main Title" (from Them!), Sci-Fi's Greatest Hits Vol. 3: The Uninvited, TVT
9. Jerry Goldsmith, "Parker's Death," Alien: Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Intrada
10. Alan Silvestri, "Main Title" (from Predator), Sci-Fi's Greatest Hits Vol. 3: The Uninvited, TVT
11. Dimitri Tiomkin, "Main Title" (from The Thing from Another World), The Thing from Another World/Take the High Ground!, Film Score Monthly
12. Ennio Morricone, "Humanity (Part II)," The Thing, Varèse Sarabande
13. Byeong Woo Lee, "Sudden Attack in Broad Daylight," The Host, Milan
14. Byeong Woo Lee, "Hyun Suh!," The Host, Milan
15. Mel Tormé, "Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives" (from Daffy Duck's Quackbusters), Mel Tormé at the Movies, Rhino
16. Jerry Goldsmith, "Gremlin Credits" (from Gremlins 2: The New Batch), Hollywood Soundstage: Big Movie Hits Volume 1, Varèse Sarabande

New AFOS episode: "Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives"

Just in time for Halloween is the next new episode of A Fistful of Soundtracks: The Series, which will consist of selections from scores to monster movies, including cues from Byeong Woo Lee's score to The Host and the iTunes single release of Michael Giacchino's "Roar!," the closing credits theme from Cloverfield.

Episode WEB98 begins streaming Monday, Oct. 13, at midnight.

Cloverfield "Roar" theme disappears from iTunes

Fans of either Cloverfield (which I haven't watched yet) or the music of composer Michael Giacchino have been looking forward to downloading the '50s monster movie-style "Roar," Giacchino's nearly 10-minute Cloverfield closing credits theme, ever since the iTunes Store announced that it would release the full-length 12-minute version of "Roar" for $1.99 on Tuesday, April 29. ("Roar" was made available only to American iTunes customers. Sorry, limeys.)

Apparently, the availability of "Roar" was short-lived. Even though "Roar" skyrocketed to #13 on the iTunes album sales chart, the iTunes Store removed the track after only a couple of days, without letting any of its customers know. It's as if "Roar" never existed.

On Wednesday night, I tried to buy "Roar," but the download was taking too long to finish. I thought maybe the iTunes Store was down at the moment, so I gave up on the download and quit iTunes to reopen it at a later time, hoping that the store would be up and running by then and the download would automatically resume.

When I reopened iTunes the next day, the download never resumed. I did a search for "Roar" in the store, but the track's gone. It no longer exists.

What the hell, iTunes?