Gollum Cat

I'd go again in a heartbeat if they do all three back to back in the US again like they did in Chicago several years ago.

You're absolutely right. I completely forgot.

I'm curious if anybody's got an edit of the FOTR CR that straightens things out, and you said yes. I (perhaps wrongly) assumed that there was a link for it, floating around somewhere, free for the asking like many things here.

Who's got it? @Signals?

Has anybody actually put together a true complete edit of Fellowship of the Ring, undoing the micro edits and all, superior to the actual CR release? I'm really sorry if this has been mentioned before. I dip in from time to time but don't have the memory that some here have.

I just picked this up the other day. It was the stupid 3D diorama that so captivated me as a 7 year old boy. I like to think that started my love for scores, but to be honest, I can't actually remember when that began. But I have a soft spot for dumb marketing stunts like that.

Where did 1:00 and following come from in the first clip? It sounds familiar, but also not something I've heard before. Same for 0:07 in the second clip, and 0:32 in the third? I can tell there's been some processing . . . I'd buy this in a heartbeat

The weird thing is that the opening for this trailer trailer feels so much more Shorey than does almost any of Bear's actual music for the series (which I generally really like).

Has anybody created a correctly-edited version of the Complete Recordings tracks? Or at least a spreadsheet of where the microedits / tracking / etc. goes / should go / be removed / etc.? I made one or two tiny edits to my own rips but wouldn't be opposed to a more correct version.

I remember listening briefly to a few tracks from the Complete Recordings and thinking them amazingly dull and boring. Who would want to listen to ten hours of this? I too ate crow eventually.

Wow, this is super interesting Chen. I appreciate you writing that out. So I guess then, for example, this means that the first 15-20 seconds of "Dernhelm in Battle" (what a great opening) is actually very purposefully tied to a specific theme? I really should break out my copy of Doug's book and read it page by page, cover to cover,listening to the Complete Score as I go . . .

@Chen G. - this is interesting. Your description of reminiscence themes is actually what I have had in my head before when it comes to leitmotif. What makes up this more mature technique you mention?

Any ideas when the score for Episodes 1 & 2 will drop? I guess probably Friday or Saturday . . . ?

I laughed way too hard at this. Praise Shore I work remotely.

Honestly, repeated listens. My first go-round was on my speakers which while they are good speakers, I am hard of hearing and so often listening to a score on my AirPods actually bears more fruit than my nice speakers. I was able to pick up a lot more nuance that way. Then once I realized the first major chunk was suites, and that actual score did kick in, that changed how I listened to the music. But other than that, just listening to it over and over, getting over the (very expected) disappointment that this wasn't Shore all over again. Once I got past that and started to think of it in its own right, I noticed certain things. Themes grew on me. I picked up on bits of orchestration or writing that I really enjoyed. Some things sound a bit too modern (beginning of "Find the Light"), other parts sound too overproduced (the Megan Richards' and Sophie Nomvete' parts), the choir is too small (Nolwa Mahtar), other parts are downright bizarre (folksy hobbit-stumping for Durin), but . . . The solo harp at the beginning of "The Promised King" is really lovely. "Númenor" is honestly kinda cool. So much of the choral work - especially in "Valinor," "In the Beginning," "A Plea to the Rocks," "Find the Light" - has such a incredible choral religious that Shore touched on (to my knowledge) only once, in "The Great River" (FOTR OST). "In the Beginning" is a solid musical journey - I played it for my wife and she could immediately visualize the entire story in her head based off the music (she's reading through the Silmarillion right now). The strings and pennywhistle work in "Nobody Goes Off Trail" and "Wise One" is just really beautiful and fresh. "Water and Flame" sounds so similar to the massive 17-minute musical passage that is the end of Desolation of Smaug / beginning of Battle of the Five Armies (I once edited together those lengthy passages, so I know - it is amazing). The opening of "Sundering Seas" is just massive. The wall of brass in "The Boat" is very reminiscent of the brass in Return of the King. "Where the Shadows Lie" is slow and contemplative and reminds me of "Gollum's Song." I'm curious to see what will come of the weekly score releases. I'd also really love to hear whatever version includes the bit from 0:13–0:25:

@Potter Scoring Project - I just discovered this. This is unbelievably cool and I am immediately downloading everything to listen to it. I just commented the other day about how, in light of how the Lord of the Rings scores were handled, the Harry Potter films were a missed opportunity the size of a truck, and I am so excited to see the immense amount of thought you folks are putting into this. I noticed on your site that you credit Doug Adams' book - and your own liner notes reflect a level of care and thought that reminds me of Doug/Shore's own work on the Lord of the Rings theme relationships and structures. Do you write about this anywhere? I would absolutely love to read about how Doug/Shore's approach to scoring has impacted your work on these films. I'll begin listening just as soon as I finish uploading the files to my Plex server . . . Bravo!

It feels very overproduced. All the character vocalizations feel too perfect like somehow they all took singing lessons. One observation - is it just me, or do the trailer music pieces actually sound more Shoreish than the actual score?

I consider Lord of the Rings the greatest score ever written, but I have to admit, Rings of Power is growing on me. I did not expect much coming into it and consider it a major missed opportunity that Bear did not proactively seek to build on Shore's world - legal hand-tying notwithstanding. (Side gripe: The Harry Potter franchise was also a missed opportunity the size of a truck.) Would've been great to honor the instrumentation/vocalization for each group of people. Would've been great to honor certain intervals and patterns. It's possible that Amazon ghosted Shore like they ghosted Peter Jackson. Who knows. (Doug's reaction/s or lack thereof seems to imply that more went on than meets the eye, but maybe that's just me reading into things.) While this score doesn't live up to the levels of Shore's work, it honestly does seem to me to be a very concerted effort in the right direction, complaints notwithstanding. There are portions of the score that are genuinely beautiful in their own right. I'm hoping that they do actually release weekly full-score albums for each episode. My listener experience improved quite a bit once I realized the first major chunk of the existing album was suites. The most bizarre thing to me so far is the use of what basically amounts to folksy hobbit-stumping music for . . . Durin???

You put the finger on one reason why I have such a problem with The Hobbit scores. I don't know if it's true or not, but they feel sync pointed to death.

Oh man, the first minute of Dernhelm in Battle is top quality.

Man this reminds me - I carefully edited together the ending music of DOS and the beginning of BOTFA into one 17 minute piece of music. It was amazing, even with the sound effects.

Was FOTR EE tinted to look like TTT and ROTK? Sorry if you explained all this. It's Monday morning where I'm at.

Interesting, so is there a "correct" or "preferred" version generally? First time I'm hearing of this somehow. I've only ever really lseen the EEs though (except ROTK TE in theaters).

What's wrong with the coloring?

Hey folks, has anybody edited a "common-sense complete" version of the Hobbit scores? A truly "complete every single note" version would be a super janky listening experience (I know this as I have listened to the film rips before, they have tons of micro-edits), but has anybody produced a "pretty good" nearly complete fanedit of the score combining official OST release + film music? I was doing this a couple years ago and got partway into DOS but life caught up with me and I never finished. Just curious if somebody has done it since then.