Who is Vince DiCola? Vince DiCola is the man responsible behind the composition and performance of the incidental music in the 1986 animated movie, "Transformers : The Movie". He also wrote a few songs for Rocky IV, released an indie album and seem-ably not much else.
What is "Artistic Transformations"? Recently Vince sat down and re-composed some key tracks from the "Transformers : The Movie" soundtrack for solo piano. These tracks were originally performed using a ton of pumping electronic keyboards, drums and guitars. "Artistic Transformations" was released at the annual Transformers fan love-in, "Botcon" in 2001, along with two other CDs: the full original score to "Transformers : The Movie", and a collection of rare tracks and demos.
For the Transformers-uninitiated, "Artistic Transformations" is by far the best CD of the trio. I believe the other two CDs are a little too hard-core fan for others to enjoy. Demos are as demos are (although the introductions from Vince are interesting), and there are many repeating themes throughout the "Transformers : The Movie" score, and thus, a full CD of the entire score can get a little tedious. I could only think to compare the original soundtrack to 80's computer game music.
I love this CD, however my opinion is likely biased by a few key points. The nerd and obscurity factor of the whole thing. The fact I'm very familiar with the tracks to begin with, so hearing reworkings is interesting for me, but possibly not others. I'm also a massive fan of hearing "live acoustic" versions of electronic music, and this is one of the most extreme cases of such a re-working that I've heard. And, I hold extra love for complicated music on instruments I want to be able to play, but cannot, and piano is one of these.
Not that enjoying the movie will necessarily mean you'll enjoy this CD. Friends of mine who love the movie find the CD a little dull. For those hearing the music fresh, I'm still confident it would be enjoyed, particularly fans of solo piano music, and fans of percussion style piano playing (hammering the keys for that extra rhythm punch). Vince is a very accomplished player, I believe all the tracks are solo with no overdubs, and has that magic ability that always blows me away, to play the thumping rhythm and plinking melody at the same time.
To add to the obscurity this CD is only available (as far as I know) via the Botcon website, and they don't even have online credit card facilities. Snail mail money order only.
Why should you go to so much effort to get this CD? I know I can't convince you...
yes, yes and yes
Hi there I have been longing for the single track
that did not appear on the movie sountrack.
I was so dissapointed because this particular track
was in my opinion the bread and butter of the whole film.
The track that I am refereing to was the first track
when unicron was first introduced "chewing up plantes etc.. before the movie title appears
could someone tell me the title of that song or its composer I would pray to god that you have a long life
please please help me Vince
your sincerely
jeru
Hi! Does anyone have any more info (or know where i can get some) on Vince DiCola? This man is a musical genius and an undercelebrated composer, thus i can't find any of his other work. Any help would be warmly received.
Cinnamonjohn.
Well, what happened with the Transformers: The Movie soundtrack is that the songs put on it in 1986 were placed on there because they are 3-5 minutes in length. The Unicron theme is actually much shorter than that, so my guess is they didn't really feel it qualified as full length song material. Never fear, though. There was an album released with the score from the movie....seperate from the rock songs. The album is a BotCon exclusive, but you will find it mentioned all across the web. The URL for BotCon is www.botcon.com Sometimes, they have the CD posted on eBay.