🎷 AotW: CTI David Matthews: Dune (CTI Records CTI 7-5005)

David Matthews: Dune

CTI Records CTI 7-5005
Released 1977

A1: Dune, Part I: Arrakis 6:03​

A2: Dune, Part II: Sandworms 5:03​

A3: Dune, Part III: Song Of The Bene Gesserit 2:50​

A4: Dune, Part IV: Muad'Dib 6:36​

B1: Space Oddity 6:05​

B2: Silent Running 3:16​

B3: Princess Leia's Theme (From Star Wars) 2:55​

B4: Main Theme From Star Wars 3:22​

Alto Saxophone – David Sanborn
Arranged By – David Matthews
Bass – Mark Egan
Bass Trombone – Dave Taylor
Concertmaster [String] – Sanford Allen
Consultant – Geoffrey Mandel
Design [Album Design] – Sib Chalawick
Drums – Andy Newmark, Steve Gadd
Engineer – David Palmer
Engineer [Assistant] – Joel Cohn
Flute, Piccolo Flute – Dave Tofani
Guitar – Eric Gale, Hiram Bullock
Keyboards – Cliff Carter
Liner Notes – David Matthews
Oboe, Clarinet – Lew Del Gatto
Percussion – Gordon Gottlieb, Sue Evans
Photography By – White Gate
Producer – Creed Taylor
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Grover Washington, Jr.
Trombone – Jerry Chamberlain*, Sam Burtis, Tom Malone, Wayne Andre
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Burt Collins, Jim Bossy, Joe Shepley, John Gatchell, Jon Faddis, Lew Soloff, Randy Brecker
Vocals – Googie Coppola

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Allegedly, arranger/composer David Matthews based side one of this album on Frank Herbert's novel Dune, and the album was pulled from release due to a lawsuit by the author as CTI did not get permission to use Dune (even though the only references to Dune were the album and song titles). The LP would see reissue in Japan in the 1980s, along with CD reissues. It is now available worldwide via streaming.​

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Side two features David Bowie's "Space Oddity," the movie theme from the film Silent Running, and two John Williams themes from the first Star Wars film.​

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Amazon product ASIN B06X9HLNVM

https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/dune-david-matthews/0886446335131dd

https://www.discogs.com/master/248445-David-Matthews-Dune

 

[Rudy]

David Matthews was the CTI house arranger once Creed Taylor and Don Sebesky/Bob James/etc. parted ways. This was an album to showcase his arranging talent. Only, they should have run it past the legal department first! Then again, business sense didn't apply to CTI after getting into distribution deals that bankrupted the label eventually.

 

[4mc]

It's not really accurate to blame the bankruptcy on the distribution network, yeah everyone does. The actual cause of the bankruptcy was Columbia/CBS calling in a loan that Taylor has secured with most of the CTI album masters. At the same time, Columbia picked off Hubert Laws, Bob James, executives like Dave Snyder and talent man Peter Paul. Esther Phillips left for Mercury after showing up in the CTI office with a baseball bat to demand her royalty check. Grover Washington Jr. had been exchanged to Motown as part of Creed's effort to escape the claws of Columbia and what was left was little more than David Matthews and some admin staff. Benson had been ripped from his CTI contract with 2x albums to go by Warner Brothers, which later had to pay-up.

Based on what I know of the books, the distribution deal was just used to offset the tax CTI would have had to pay on Dedato's Prelude album profits. Taylors mistake wasn't distribution per se, it was believing that Prelude was the start of a trend rather than a one off mega-hit.