Anybody else remember Film Score Monthly?

It’s a film score magazine that’s existed in many forms over the years. It was begun basically as a pamphlet; then it was expanded into a black-and-white print magazine; then it went glossy. Finally, like everything else, it went online.

The magazine was founded by Lukas Kendall in June 1990, when he was still a student at Amherst. After he graduated, Lukas relocated to Los Angeles, and FSM really upped its game. Many of the great living film composers were friends of the magazine and granted interviews over the years, and a number of the writers, now authorities in the field, have gone on to other things.

I stumbled across this back-issue from April 1994 (the black-and-white cover days), for which I provided two CD reviews. One of them is for a release appropriate to the season, so I am sharing it here. Maybe I was a little hard on the content. For broadcast purposes, it’s given me moderate enjoyment in small doses, but on a scale of 1 to 5, I think 2 is probably about right. Maybe I’d give it a 3 now, though the running time is ridiculously short. People who were familiar with the original record were going to buy it anyway.

I know I received at least one letter from a disgruntled Hans J. Salter fan. And I mean a physical letter, since this was before everyone lived on the internet.

At a point, FSM expanded into producing its own film score CDs, 250 limited edition discs of diverse fare from the ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s & ‘70s, for which I will be forever grateful. Many of these are now available only on the collector’s market at astronomical prices, but you can still pick up some of the titles for around $15-$20. Good luck getting the rest!

I hasten to point out, Film Score Monthly still exists, as a website. I haven’t really followed it for some time now, but I know “Picture Perfect” has been mentioned on its message board.

Back issues of the print incarnation of the magazine are archived online to read free of charge.

https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/fsmonline/backissues_print.cfm?

Here’s the current digital issue:

https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/daily/index.cfm

Lukas now has his own blog, full of interesting and often nostalgic observations on film, music, pop culture, and fandom. You can check it out here:

https://www.lukaskendall.com/blog

Some affordable FSM CDs still available from Screen Archives Entertainment:

https://www1.screenarchives.com/display_results.cfm/category/317/Film-Score-Monthly/

Listen to Dick Jacobs’ atmospheric (and campy) “Themes from Classic Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films” here: