Gérald Fried - Gerald Fried Melodramas: Twenty Plus Two / A Cold Wind In August (Original Score) (2026) [Hi-Res]

American composer Gerald Fried (1928–2023) was born in the Bronx, graduated from Juilliard as an oboe major, and became friends in his youth with Stanley Kubrick. When Kubrick shot his first short film, the boxing documentary DAY OF THE FIGHT, Fried had no film experience (there were no courses on film music at the time), so he spent months studying how film scores worked and then wrote the music, after which Kubrick sold the film to RKO Pathé. Fried scored four more Kubrick films, including THE KILLING and PATHS TO GLORY. After moving to Los Angeles in 1956, he worked on horror and crime pictures, and in the 1960s he moved into television: GILLIGAN’S ISLAND, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, STAR TREK. The high point of the 1970s was the score for ROOTS (1977), which he wrote after Quincy Jones fell behind schedule; both won Emmys.

On the eve of his move into television, in 1961, Fried scored two noirish urban dramas. TWENTY PLUS TWO (directed by Joseph M. Newman, starring David Janssen) is a detective story about a private eye searching for a 16-year-old girl who vanished 13 years earlier; through the murder of a Hollywood actor’s fan-club secretary and a trail leading through Tokyo, Chicago and South Dakota, he uncovers the true villains. A COLD WIND IN AUGUST (directed by Alexander Singer, starring Lola Albright) is a drama about an older former burlesque stripper and her passionate affair with the young son of her building’s superintendent, which collapses when he learns about her past. Both scores receive their first release on Dragon’s Domain Records as GERALD FRIED: MELODRAMAS, mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland, with liner notes by David Hirsch.

Tracklist:
1. Gérald Fried - Opening Titles and Murder (From "Twenty Plus Two")
2. Gérald Fried - Nicki (From "Twenty Plus Two")
3. Gérald Fried - Tom Alder / Suspicion / Linda's Tune (From "Twenty Plus Two")
4. Gérald Fried - Tom on the Go / Tom and Nicki / Plane Trip (From "Twenty Plus Two")
5. Gérald Fried - New York Arrival / Old Man (From "Twenty Plus Two")
6. Gérald Fried - Nicki's Photo / Another Plane Trip (From "Twenty Plus Two")
7. Gérald Fried - Restaurant Tables (From "Twenty Plus Two")
8. Gérald Fried - Tokyo Flashback (From "Twenty Plus Two")
9. Gérald Fried - Late Night Talk (From "Twenty Plus Two")
10. Gérald Fried - Tokyo Jazz / Good Morning (From "Twenty Plus Two")
11. Gérald Fried - I Want To Talk To You / Off To North Dakota (From "Twenty Plus Two")
12. Gérald Fried - Doris' Confession (From "Twenty Plus Two")
13. Gérald Fried - The End Of Leroy Dane / Closing Credits (From "Twenty Plus Two")
14. Gérald Fried - Opening Titles (From "A Cold Wind In August")
15. Gérald Fried - Footsie (From "A Cold Wind In August")
16. Gérald Fried - Ice Cream (From "A Cold Wind In August")
17. Gérald Fried - Radio Source (From "A Cold Wind In August")
18. Gérald Fried - Iris's Act (From "A Cold Wind In August")
19. Gérald Fried - Strip Club (From "A Cold Wind In August")
20. Gérald Fried - Finale (From "A Cold Wind In August")
21. Gérald Fried - Opening Titles (Vocal Version) (From "A Cold Wind In August")
22. Gérald Fried - Finale (Vocal Version) (From "A Cold Wind In August")