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John Debney Thread


Panthera

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Some (Morlock) say that the piratical cues in Hook are better than anything in Cutthroat Island. I'm not so sure about that.
Perhaps. It's a matter of personal taste, I suppose. But Cutthroat Island has MORE excellent pirate music than Hook. ;)
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Like I said before: Cutthroat Island can compete with the better John Williams scores. I will not say it IS better - I'll let that up to yourself to decide - but it sure is close.

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  • 3 months later...

what are people's general opinion's of debney? i have been collecting soundtracks for years now, and one of my absolute faves is cutthroat island. such an awesome main theme, and non stop action music. when i read other websites/forums regarding him, people seem to dismiss him for his "lack of a unique sound." There are many composers who are lacking a unique sound, but I don't hear them crucified for this as much as debney. it seems as people say, "hes a good/great composer but........, he lacks a unique sound." how many modern film composers have a unique sound that people instantly recognize besides williams, zimmer, elfman, horner. I don't hear a beltrami sound, or a desplat sound, or a giacchino sound, and I dont hear a powell sound besides electronics mixed with orchestra. I think debney's an amazing composer, and one of the few good ones left in this hans zimmer inspired batch of new composers.

anyone else sort of agree with me??

oh yes by the way i am new here. after much deliberation and browsing various sites, i decided to join this one.

cheers

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i read other websites/forums regarding him, people seem to dismiss him for his "lack of a unique sound." There are many composers who are lacking a unique sound, but I don't hear them crucified for this as much as debney.
a giacchino sound

Stick here for a few days, and you see a new meaning of crucifixion regarding Giacchino :blink:

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how many modern film composers have a unique sound that people instantly recognize besides williams, zimmer, elfman, horner. I don't hear a beltrami sound, or a desplat sound, or a giacchino sound, and I dont hear a powell sound besides electronics mixed with orchestra.

I think all of the composers you mentioned there have a 'sound'. Maybe it isn't as blatant and instantly recognisable as Williams, Horner, Zimmer etc, but I've noticed orchestrations and quirks in all of them that at least give a good clue, moreso with Powell particularly. I think he sometimes has problems escaping from his Americana sound (which is why I was shocked when I found out he's English).

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what are people's general opinion's of debney? i have been collecting soundtracks for years now, and one of my absolute faves is cutthroat island. such an awesome main theme, and non stop action music. when i read other websites/forums regarding him, people seem to dismiss him for his "lack of a unique sound." There are many composers who are lacking a unique sound, but I don't hear them crucified for this as much as debney. it seems as people say, "hes a good/great composer but........, he lacks a unique sound." how many modern film composers have a unique sound that people instantly recognize besides williams, zimmer, elfman, horner. I don't hear a beltrami sound, or a desplat sound, or a giacchino sound, and I dont hear a powell sound besides electronics mixed with orchestra. I think debney's an amazing composer, and one of the few good ones left in this hans zimmer inspired batch of new composers.

anyone else sort of agree with me??

oh yes by the way i am new here. after much deliberation and browsing various sites, i decided to join this one.

cheers

I only have three of his soundtracks (just ordered a fourth), but I love them all except for Spy Kids II. God, I wish Hocus Pocus was released officially!!

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i read other websites/forums regarding him, people seem to dismiss him for his "lack of a unique sound." There are many composers who are lacking a unique sound, but I don't hear them crucified for this as much as debney.
a giacchino sound

Stick here for a few days, and you see a new meaning of crucifixion regarding Giacchino :D

well I like giacchino. I really enjoy his pixar scores. but I just don't see all the fuss about him. I kind of feel as though he hasn't written enough music, and hasn't been around long enough for people to be jumping the gun and calling him the next williams.

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John Debney is a GREAT composer, even if it's only for Cutthroat Island. That oen deserves to be mentioned along with the other great adventure movie scores. Then he also scored Lair, which is pretty darn good as well.

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John Debney is a GREAT composer, even if it's only for Cutthroat Island. That oen deserves to be mentioned along with the other great adventure movie scores. Then he also scored Lair, which is pretty darn good as well.

Making one great score doesnt make one a great composer...

I'm not saying he cant write great music, though.

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Here we go with the comparisons again...

No question in my view that Cutthroat is better than some Williams scores. Problem with Debney I think is that yes, he's got himself typecast doing comedies. I think Cutthroat shows (even more so with the small amount of time he probably had) that given the right material, he can produce an amazing score.

Should it be compared to Hook? Well Hook is a kids' movie, and although I haven't seen Cutthroat, I'm guessing that it isn't. Therefore had JW done a score like Cutthroat, I'm sure we would have got a stunning score, but better than Debney's who I believe gave us just that? I don't believe we are at all in the position to judge that. Debney's themes are strong, orchestration is complex, and the final battle cue is one hell of a ride. What more is there that we expect from Williams?

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Very sensible, richuk, and I agree. It's by no means a given that Williams would compose a better score than anyone else on a particular film, as some here seem to believe.

Ray Barnsbury - who really needs to listen to Cutthroat Island again

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I agree with richuk. John Debney can write great music if presented with the right material. I really wished he wouldn't do so many boring comedies; it's in the action/adventure genre where he can really shine. I want another Cutthroat Island. I think Lair is the second best thing to Cutthroat Island, so I'm quite happy with that one. But I say: Bring on more John Debney adventure scores!

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I really like his music.

Cutthroat Island

Passion of the Christ

White Fang II, which is probably the first Debney score I heard

Lair

Evan Almighty, which I liked

Snow Dogs was a comedy, but I liked it for its adventure music.

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I only have three of his soundtracks (just ordered a fourth), but I love them all except for Spy Kids II. God, I wish Hocus Pocus was released officially!!

Which ones?

I only had Cutthroat Island, Scorpion King and Zathura. The latter two were okay---I ended up selling them. Cutthroat,however will be in my collection for a long time to come, I'd imagine. :o

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I only have three of his soundtracks (just ordered a fourth), but I love them all except for Spy Kids II. God, I wish Hocus Pocus was released officially!!

Which ones?

I only had Cutthroat Island, Scorpion King and Zathura. The latter two were okay---I ended up selling them. Cutthroat,however will be in my collection for a long time to come, I'd image. :o

Cutthroat Island, Elf, Spy Kids II, and I ordered Bruce Almighty but it hasn't arrived yet.

I recomend Elf to anybody who likes Christmas music, it's a great album.

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I remember liking the music to Elf in the film but I'm not sure how often I'd listen to it. Certainly a memorable "holiday score", though.

I thought Bruce Almight had a bunch of songs on it? I'm curious about Evan Almighty though...

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There's a promo, I believe, with more of the Bruce Almighty score, which is pleasant Debney at his most comfortable. Evan Almighty is a more expansive and epic-sounding score.

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Yes, there's a promo with approx 25 minutes of score, 16 minutes of which is on the OST.

I find Evan Almighty alternates between some expansive 'slapstick' material, with some quieter, sensitive music, building up the the action sequences at the end. I haven't seen the film, but I'm guessing that Debney gave it a far better score than it deserved.

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  • 5 years later...

Per John Debney's Facebook (apparently, I can't friend him to verify)

Two releases coming soon of two of my previous scores. More details soon....

Guesses?

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  • 3 years later...

I'm looking to expand a bit my music collection and John Debney's recent work on The Jungle Book (in combination with his ever-awesome Cutthroat Island and Lair) make me wonder what other similarly good scores he's written. Any recommendations?

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My first Debney score was Iron Man 2 which I found very decent. Was also very impressed by his Liar Liar (the only positive thing about that movie). His Back to the Future re-recordings sound way more passionate than some of the original recordings too.

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I have to say his segment of Sin City was pretty cool.

 

Predators is not bad. But then, it really feels like an Alan Silvestri score.

 

Stonehearst Asylum is decent too.

 

The Passion of the Christ might sound a bit too 2000's by now but check out the symphony version. It might be his best work.

 

Karol

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2 hours ago, Pieter_Boelen said:

I'm looking to expand a bit my music collection and John Debney's recent work on The Jungle Book (in combination with his ever-awesome Cutthroat Island and Lair) make me wonder what other similarly good scores he's written. Any recommendations?

 

Liar Liar.

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Thanks for the comments! I'll definitely have to check out Liar Liar then.

 

Forgot to mention earlier: Hocus Pocus and White Fang 2 - Myth of the White Wolf are both also quite a lot of fun.

 

For some reason, I have "Aliens in the Attic" and "Meet Dave" on my hard drive, but I don't know why.

Are there any worthwhile tracks on those? :unsure:

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6 minutes ago, Pieter_Boelen said:

Sponge Bob indeed has some fun pirate stuff.

Shame that it doesn't quite live up to Cutthroat Island.

Well it is a Sponge Bob movie after all.

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9 hours ago, Incanus said:

Well it is a Sponge Bob movie after all.

Yep. It's perfectly understandable and it is much better music than I'd expect for something like SpongeBob.

And Cutthroat Island is also a pretty damn high standard. Especially for me! :D

 

6 hours ago, crocodile said:

He's doing the new Ice Age (after 3 John Powell scores). I'm actually quite curious.

It seems Debney is actually getting some interesting jobs lately.

Here's to hoping that will lead to some more proper good scores by him!

He's quite capable of delivering awesomeness.

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