Ken Wannberg is living proof that behind every great composer there is a musician of equally impressive talent. To many people well versed in film music, Wannberg's credits as Music Editor, especially for John Williams, are well known. However, few are aware of his remarkable resume of film scores, which includes the two on this album.
Wannberg's career as a music editor began in 1959 while working under Bernard Hermann on JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH. He continued in this capacity, eventually joining up with John Williams in the 1970's. His continuing association with John Williams brought Wannberg onto such megahits as the STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES trilogies, but he still had time left to take on other projects personally. MOTHER LODE, the second score on this album, was recorded in 1982,followed 2 years later by THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT, which started out as a project John Carpenter was writing for himself. Along with the script for BLACK MOON RISING, Carpenter sold the rights to New World Pictures when other commitments prevented him from personally completing the projects. Under the directorial helm of Stewart Raffill, THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT emerged as an exciting science fiction adventure.
The film begins in 1943 when two Navy buddies, David (Michael Pare) and Jimmy (Bobby DiCicco) participate in a top secret experiment in the Philadelphia Naval Yards to make ships invisible to enemy radar. (The "Main Theme" used hereon the album is actually a variation of the "End Title"). The film begins with a short prologue utilizing Ken Wannberg's theme for the experiment and is then interpolated within the theme as the sailors are transported to their ship, the Eldridge. As the test is initiated ("The Experiment Begins/Time Slip"), the composer incorporated into the orchestra score some simple electronic sounds to represent the impact of science onto the human drama.
Havoc breaks loose aboard the Eldridge when something goes awry. Panicking, David and Jimmy jump overboard, but instead of landing in the water, they find themselves falling through a vortex, eventually arriving in the Nevada desert. Fleeing an Army helicopter, the 2 buddies miss a search party looking for a town that has vanished. In its place, the team discovers a mysterious object ("The Eldridge Remains") and whirlpoollike storm front forming on the horizon. David and Jimmy eventually wander into a truck stop where the approaching vortex causes lightning to emerge from Jimmy's arm, destroying a video game. Escaping from an angry mob, the duo kidnap Allison Hayes (Nancy Allen) and force her to drive them away. From the young woman they learn that they have been transported to 1984.
Meanwhile, at a nearby Army base, the science team discovers another power source inside the vortex is keeping their experiment active.Longstreet, the doctor in charge, also discovers that the object found in the desert is a mast from the Eldridge. A search for 2 men seen leaving the desert area is initiated, but before long David, Jimmy and Allison are involved in a car wreck when Jimmy's proximity to power lines draws lightning into the car. With Jimmy now in a hospital bed, dying, Longstreet is unable to believe David's fantastic story until Jimmy vanishes in a blaze of lightning ("The Vortex Sucks/David's Escape"). When the Army arrives, David flees to Los Angeles with Allison's help. In an attempt to learn more about the vortex, the science team sends a rocketmounted camera into the vortex, seeing both the town and the Eldridge!
David wants to tell Jimmy's wife, Pamela (Louise Latham) of her husband's fate and drives out to the family ranch with Allison. There they discover Jimmy (Ralph Manza) alive, 40 years older, and mentally broken by everyone's disbelief in his story. Pamela tells David of the Eldridge's return with sailors injured ("David Confronts His Past"), but his fate remains a mystery. As David and Allison leave, they run headlong into the Army, who pursue them into the vineyards ("The Chase").
David decides to go back to Nevada to find his answers, and the young couple hide in the back of a horse trailer. When a roadblock threatens their plans, they steal the driver's pickup truck and crash the barriers. Arriving at Longstreet's house, the couple kidnap the doctor's assistant and force him to take them onto the base ("Storming the Compound"). Once in the command center, David learns the whole truth of how the 1943 and 1984 vortexes are both interlinked and that he must go back in time and shut down the Eldridge's generator ("David's Decision/The Fate of the Vortex"). Donning a special suit, David is launched into the whirlpool and arrives back on the Eldridge where he smashes the experiment. Bidding farewell to Jimmy, David jumps back over the railing as the rescue crews move in to discover the horrible aftermath.
Back in 1984, after the vortex has been closed, Allison drives out to the test site looking for David ("David's Choice/End Title").
MOTHER LODE is another adventure film that features two lovers placed in danger. Charlton Heston stars and directed this film, written by his son, Fraser Clarke Heston. The actor plays Silas McGee, a Scotsman who has invested years of his life in the pursuit of gold in the Cassia Mountains of British Columbia. As Silas digs, his homicidal brother Ian (Heston in a dual role) prowls the forest, playing laments on his bagpipes. Into their world arrive a pilot called Dupre (Nick Mancuso), and his girlfriend Andrea (Kim Basinger). They are searching for a missing friend who had set out into the Canadian wilderness in search of the legendary mother lode of gold. When the seaplane capsizes in a lake, the couple become the unwilling guests of the hostile miner. Eventually, gold fever brings the men into a life or death conflict.
Liner Notes By Scott Davis
