Directed by Kristian St. With Jack Nitzsche, Ry Cooder, Milos Forman. The project was a collaboration between Nitzsche and underground filmmaker Robert Downey.
LINERNOTES FOR JACK NITZSCHE'S THE LONELY SURFER
ByRichie Unterberger
Of allthe musicians thathaveplayed important behind-the-scenes role in rock and pop, few had a moreeclectic and intriguing resume than Jack Nitzsche. He may be most famedfor his contributions to Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, working as anarrangeron some of Spector's greatest productions. He played keyboards onnumerousmid-1960s sessions by the Rolling Stones, and did choral arrangementsforthat group's 'You Can't Always Get What You Want.' He made memorablecontributionsto Neil Young recordings as producer, arranger, and keyboardist. Heco-wrotethe classic 'Needles and Pins.' He arranged and produced for everyonefromTim Buckley, Lou Christie, the Walker Brothers, and Marianne Faithfullto the Monkees, Lesley Gore, the Neville Brothers, and Graham Parker.Andhe was one of the most respected soundtrack composers of the latetwentiethcentury, working on the scores to Performance, One FlewOverthe Cuckoo's Nest, Blue Collar, An Officer and aGentleman,and The Crossing Guard.
Nitzsche was alsoarecordingartist, sporadically issuing albums and singles in the 1960s and early1970s. Those listeners who never bother to scan the fine print of albumsleeve credits are likely to know him only for his sole hit single,'TheLonely Surfer,' which peaked at #39 in September 1963. It is ironicthata man who played a crucial role in so many famous records was in onesensea one-hit wonder, his one hit being a rather small one at that.
Jack Nitzsche Cops
When Nitzschemoved to LosAngeles as a teenager in the mid-1950s, he was hoping to be a jazzsaxophonist,but ended up being hired by Sonny Bono to work as a copyist atSpecialtyRecords. He built up to his position as one of Spector's essentialright-handmen, enduring long hours and relatively low pay on those sessions withthe knowledge that the credits would get him work throughout theindustry.He also got a contract as a solo artist with the then-young Repriselabelin the early 1960s, releasing 'The Lonely Surfer' (which he co-wrotewithMarty Cooper) in August 1963, right when the wave of the surf musiccrazewas cresting.
Jack Nitzsche Documentary Summary
'The LonelySurfer' was notsurf music in the classic sense: no Chuck Berry-styled electricguitars,honking saxes, or crisp drum rolls were in sight. Instead, it wassomethinglike an appropriate soundtrack theme to a surf documentary, the low,reverberatingbass lines setting the mood for shots of building and ebbing waves,enhancedby soaring strings and Latin-influenced horns with an epic sweep. Itssuccesspaved the way for an album of the same name, complete with liner notesby Phil Spector.
Utilizingtop-levelsessionairessuch as Hal Blaine on drums, Tommy Tedesco and Ray Pohlman on guitars,Leon Russell on piano, and 'Dave' Gates (i.e. David Gates, later ofBread)on bass, Nitzsche crafted an all-instrumental LP of quality easylisteningpop. It was influenced by rock, perhaps, and to an even slighterdegree,maybe, by surf music (most audibly on the cover of Lee Hazlewood's'Baja').However, it was really a mix of sumptuous strings and horns, plangentbass,and some Latin American elements that on occasion made the ensemblesoundlike a marriage of mariachi and Spector.
The eclecticismandevocativemoods certainly foreshadowed Nitzsche's later career as an eminentsoundtrackcomposer. He gave imaginative, mildly eccentric treatments to a varietyof standards, including 'Stranger on the Shore' (which had been a #1hitthe previous year for Mr. Acker Bilk); 'Ebb Tide'; Elmer Bernstein's'TheMagnificent Seven'; and 'Mondo Cane (More),' which had just made theTopTen for Kai Winding. There was also a nod to Phil Spector with an odd,almost slow-motion interpretation of 'Da Doo Ron Ron.' And there were afew originals, such as 'Puerto Vallarta,' written, as 'The LonelySurfer'was, with Marty Cooper. Dig how the opening notes almost exactly mimicthe classic riff from 'Needles and Pins,' which Nitzsche had co-written(with Sonny Bono) and arranged for Jackie DeShannon earlier in 1963.
Nitzsche made afew otheralbumsand singles for Reprise, culminating in the orchestral St. GilesCripplegatein 1972, recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra. The LonelySurferwas a more innocuous signpost to a string of memorable achievementscoloredby his mastery of lush arrangements, from Buffalo Springfield's'Expectingto Fly' and Bob Lind's 'Elusive Butterfly' to Neil Young's 'A Man Needsa Maid.' It was a talent that died only when he did, at the age of 63,on August 25, 2000.-- Richie Unterberger