Doug Adams likes his life, he says so on his professional and personal blog and its obvious when you speak to him. Chances are if you appreciate the “Lord of the Rings” films’ soundtracks, you would like his life too. He will soon be the published author – instead of the hard working unpublished author he has been for several years – of the landmark “The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films,” which is an in-depth study of the Howard Shore magnum opus that accompanies Peter Jackson’s film trilogy.
Adams is no stranger to TheOneRing.net, appearing at several different installments of the One Ring Convention (known as ORC or ELF) where he previewed his progress on the book and enlarged the understanding of both casual and dedicated fans of the soundtracks.
Tonight marks the North American debut of the “Fellowship of the Ring,” film played with the score performed live and it seems tickets are still available.
Recently, as detailed on his blog themusicofthelordoftheringsfilms.blogspot.com Adams has been with Shore in Lucerne, Switzerland for live performances of the music of “The Fellowship of the Ring” with the film. He also went with Shore to the first great “Rings” composers Wagner’s museum in Tribschen. How did he fall into one of the coolest music-geek jobs imaginable?
Adams was writing for Film Score Monthly when the chance came to delve into the work Shore was doing on what promised to be the potentially epic “Lord of the Rings” films with Peter Jackson. He and Shore were acquainted from some previous journalistic endeavors, notably the Frank Oz directed film, “The Score.”
Shore mentioned the Rings saga to Adams but noting that “this one could be a little bit bigger than the usual project.” After a period of non-contact Adams received a rough version of the soundtrack (from Abby Roads studios no less) and an invitation from Shore to discuss the film further.
Adams was in Shore’s offices several times and it went from there as a ‘neat interesting idea’ that grew as the films and the overwhelming fan reaction grew. They watched the film together and kept revisiting possibilities and ideas. These discussions kept progressing until the idea morphed into the shape of the planned book, expected to be published in the last quarter of this year. It will likely set the high water mark for film score publications.
While many of the visual details are still in the works, it is certain that the book will come with a multi-media DVD. Saul Pincus is overseeing the video side of the DVD but Adams has been scouring Shore’s archives of audio and video selecting bits for both the text and sound presentation. Fans of the film will be fascinated to understand how the films developed and how the music formed simultaneous to it.
A lot of the book is finished and it is the DVD that is taking a lot of the polishing work at this point. It will contain recording studio sessions and a video documentary as well, all edited by Adams.
“I hope people like it. I know it is a specialized corner but people who love those films connected with the music. It feels like it’s honoring the music and highlighting things at the same time. If they enjoyed the film I think it augments that enjoyment.”
