ScoreKeeper here sadly reporting the loss of a monstrous force in movie music. Herman Stein passed away of congestive heart failure on March 15, 2007 at the age of 91. One of the premier composers of bone-chilling scores for horror and sci-fi films throughout the 1950’s and 60’s, his music will forever be paired with such monster movie classics as IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953), CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954), REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (1955), THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955), TARANTULA (1955), THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US (1956), and THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957) as well as episodic television scores for LOST IN SPACE (1965) and VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (1966). During the last several years there’s been a resurgence of Herman Stein’s film scores realized through a series of CDs on the Monstrous Movie Music label. New performances of many of his classic film scores have been recorded ensuring that his music will be preserved for all posterity. For more information on these new recordings visit Monstrous Movie Music (http://www.mmmrecordings.com/). THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON has long been my favorite Universal monster movie series. Every time the creature’s hand appeared from the depths of the murky water, the clashing chords of his diabolic fanfare would signal certain death for some unfortunate soul. Pure bliss. Thank you Herman for your magnificent music! You will sorely be missed. On behalf of Ain’t It Cool News I’d like to extend our condolences to Stein’s family during this difficult time. For more details you can check out this article from LA Times.

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