What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)

[crocodile 7,990]

 X-Men: Apocalypse by John Ottman. My review.

 

Karo

[crocodile 7,990]

By the way, found this end credit piece on Youtube. The new Jean Grey theme starts at 2:16.

 

 

Karol

[Incanus 5,713]

Hehe there is a very audible temp track influence at the end of Eric's Rebirth, Ottman giving Thomas Newman's Shawshank Redemption track from the score of the same name a new spin.

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

First he apes Zimmer's Time, then Zimmer's recent organ trend, now Newman's cool harmonies?  We could blame the editor for this temp-love, but that's still Ottman....

[KK 3,307]

Jean Grey theme?

 

[crocodile 7,990]

Interesting. But probably not intentional.

 

Karol

[KK 3,307]

1 hour ago, Incanus said:

Hehe there is a very audible temp track influence at the end of Eric's Rebirth, Ottman giving Thomas Newman's Shawshank Redemption track from the score of the same name a new spin.

 

 

Just checked that out...talk about subtle!

[crocodile 7,990]

I'm not usually into those kind of comparison games, but there is one cue in Ottman's career that bothered me.

 

 

I could swear it was supposed to be this:

 

 

24 minutes ago, KK said:

 

 

Just checked that out...talk about subtle!

If that is the scene I'm thinking about, then it actually might be intentional.

 

Karol

[KK 3,307]

Interesting.

 

I don't think I've heard enough of his work to judge, but I'm not a fan of Jack and the Giant Slayer. It always seemed like a patchwork of pastiche and strains of other composers.

[crocodile 7,990]

Because he's both an editor and composer on Singer's films, Ottman actually gets a very little time to write music. Probably less than most composers. And he apparently doesn't edit to music. But eventually they have to use certain pieces for the sake of previews. I guess it's conceivable that some things from other works creep in. If you think about it, it is absolutely inevitable.

 

Karol - who still can't hear Time in Xavier's theme.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

The Final Conflict: The Deluxe Edition 

 

From the oppressive opening horns, signifying that the Anti-Christ is now mature and powerful, to the epic choir signaling the coming of the Anti-Christ and the salvation of the world, this is a fantastic score, written on an gigantic canvas for a film that is a dull as ditchwater.

[Faleel 5,340]

A.I.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

6 hours ago, Stefancos said:

The Final Conflict: The Deluxe Edition 

 

From the oppressive opening horns, signifying that the Anti-Christ is now mature and powerful, to the epic choir signaling the coming of the Anti-Christ and the salvation of the world, this is a fantastic score, written on an gigantic canvas for a film that is a dull as ditchwater.

 

So who's the baddie and the goodie, the Anti-Christ or the Anti-Christ?

[nightscape94 965]

There's some very obvious Horner in the Superman Returns score too.

[Incanus 5,713]

7 hours ago, Shatner's Rug said:

 

So who's the baddie and the goodie, the Anti-Christ or the Anti-Christ?

Shouldn't there be some kind of Anti-Anti-Christ in the equation?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Jaws 2 complete score

Return of the Jedi 1997 SE version

Godzilla 1998

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure

[Sir Hilary Bray 235]

The Ipcress File

then, Temple of Doom.

 

both new to what passes as the collection

[Jay 37,322]

Temple of Doom is pretty good, eh?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

It's okay, I guess.

 

Casper OST (wish we had complete)

Apollo 13 complete

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Ahh so you're into complete scores now?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

You know I go both ways.

[Wojo 2,453]

I too like both types of music. County and western. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Uhh...the name of the place? Is...uhh...John Williams Fan Network! Here we are!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Justin, are you sure this is the place?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure. This is the place.

 

OSTs. The thread should read: "Tonight only! The OST's triumphant return!"

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

The Shawshank Redemption - Thomas Newman

 

What film music is all about.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Chicken wire??

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

War of the Worlds 
The Gladiator 

 

 

[Muad'Dib 1,801]

The great Basil

 

 

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

X-Men: Apocalypse - John Ottman

 

Echh... yeah.  Mostly what I feared it would be.  There are a few moments of subtlety that remind of what made X2 and some of Superman Returns so effective.  But mostly this is just... there.  And there are a really weird number of obvious temp bleed-throughs.  Newman, as has been mentioned.  That one is really unforgivable, even more than the Zimmer rip from his last entry.  I mean it is sheer thievery.  Undisguised.  And the Apocalypse material sounds like Ottman's own attempt at Yared's unused Troy.  And as is almost always the case, the album is just too long.

 

I don't know if I'll feel motivated to see this film, but maybe the music fares better in context.

 

My opinion on Ottman is perhaps colored by more than just musical impressions.  I recall a few years ago hearing him speak about certain of his peers and just in general with a really off-putting level of smarm.  But what he's writing isn't much more endearing, either way.

[ocelot 508]

John Williams Star Wars 7 TFA and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Captain Blood

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

On 5/24/2016 at 10:02 PM, TheWhiteRider said:

X-Men: Apocalypse - John Ottman

 

Echh... yeah.  Mostly what I feared it would be.  There are a few moments of subtlety that remind of what made X2 and some of Superman Returns so effective.  But mostly this is just... there.  And there are a really weird number of obvious temp bleed-throughs.  Newman, as has been mentioned.  That one is really unforgivable, even more than the Zimmer rip from his last entry.  I mean it is sheer thievery.  Undisguised.  And the Apocalypse material sounds like Ottman's own attempt at Yared's unused Troy.  And as is almost always the case, the album is just too long.

 

I don't know if I'll feel motivated to see this film, but maybe the music fares better in context.

 

My opinion on Ottman is perhaps colored by more than just musical impressions.  I recall a few years ago hearing him speak about certain of his peers and just in general with a really off-putting level of smarm.  But what he's writing isn't much more endearing, either way.

 

And now in response, listening to this excellent summary of the fine X2.

 

 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Harry Potter 1 complete score

[publicist 4,643]

 

MEDICINE MAN - Jerry Goldsmith

 

A fascinating mixture of bold and stale, this movie brought Goldsmith back into one of his natural habitats: a colourful ethnic landscape with a strong, wilful male presence and a dash of bigger-than-life forces at work.

 

Following a career nadir that included perplexing 80's nuggets like 'Criminal Law', 'Rent-a-Cop' and 'Not without my Daughter', the year 1992 was something like a phoenix rising from the ashes-return for the composer with this score and 'Basic Instinct' indicating that he still could rule the jungle, and while both contain strong synthesizer elements this is partly attributable to a more civilized manner of application: no more tormented Yamaha presets and fashionable pop gimmicks outmaneuvering the orchestral forces, Goldsmith had entered the arguably most conservative phase of his long and varied career - probably due to a whole lot of reasons, an increasingly conservative and commercial Hollywood film culture among them - that also highlighted an hitherto unknown lyricism which is probably a reason why a lot of film music fans have strong affinities for these years.

 

'Medicine Man' is first and foremost a work of strong themes but making it infinitely superior to the equally popular string molasses of John Barry it partly recalls are the finely calibrated checks and balances of cute ethnic amazonian rainforest elements with whistles, flutes, horns, drums and rattles, strictly western neo-romantic 'pop' writing with the splitted strings even recalling sugary 60's pop song accompaniments and several subordinated motifs and distinctive instrumental colors combined with such ingenious ease it's easy to overlook that 98% of film composers would probably be lost within those elements, let alone make a score of one piece out of them.

 

Aesthetically this poses a problem, though. A story that deals with a literal garden Eden, the rain forests that must be protected against brute, materialistic industrialists would probably be better served by an approach less insistent on incorporating overly synthetic elements for both the pictorial nature scenes and the evil bulldozers threatening them. It is the one drawback to Goldsmith's score that makes it come off as a bit too calculated commercial/superficial - at least in some scenes (the fake-ish pan flutes are a special nuisance).

 

But still, when all is said and done it's one of the best scores to combine romance and joy with a somber and suitably epic coating. When the final 8-minute track, 'A Meal and a Bath' has rolled by you may even feel one of those rare moments of elation to belong to the elusive group of film music fans that is able to appreciate these perfect summations of a musical work that can only grow in the land of movies. It's what film music used to be - and while we all know that all things change it's still nice to know that cues like this are there to return to. 

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

Congo 

I wish more scores had 33 minute albums.  

[Incanus 5,713]

23 minutes ago, Not Mr. Big said:

Congo 

I wish more scores had 33 minute albums.  

Oh don't you start!

 

And I have not heard the Medicine Man apart from watching the film and some quick sampling years ago which didn't really leave a mark. Perhaps I should finally take a full listen today.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

33 minutes is all most scores need anyhow.

[MedigoScan 324]

Pft

complete scores or nothing

 

I dont trust any album maker to give me all the tracks I want

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

On 25/05/2016 at 10:20 PM, publicist said:

 

MEDICINE MAN - Jerry Goldsmith

 

A fascinating mixture of bold and stale, this movie brought Goldsmith back into one of his natural habitats: a colourful ethnic landscape with a strong, wilful male presence and a dash of bigger-than-life forces at work.

 

Following a career nadir that included perplexing 80's nuggets like 'Criminal Law', 'Rent-a-Cop' and 'Not without my Daughter', the year 1992 was something like a phoenix rising from the ashes-return for the composer with this score and 'Basic Instinct' indicating that he still could rule the jungle, and while both contain strong synthesizer elements this is partly attributable to a more civilized manner of application: no more tormented Yamaha presets and fashionable pop gimmicks outmaneuvering the orchestral forces, Goldsmith had entered the arguably most conservative phase of his long and varied career - probably due to a whole lot of reasons, an increasingly conservative and commercial Hollywood film culture among them - that also highlighted an hitherto unknown lyricism which is probably a reason why a lot of film music fans have strong affinities for these years.

 

'Medicine Man' is first and foremost a work of strong themes but making it infinitely superior to the equally popular string molasses of John Barry it partly recalls are the finely calibrated checks and balances of cute ethnic amazonian rainforest elements with whistles, flutes, horns, drums and rattles, strictly western neo-romantic 'pop' writing with the splitted strings even recalling sugary 60's pop song accompaniments and several subordinated motifs and distinctive instrumental colors combined with such ingenious ease it's easy to overlook that 98% of film composers would probably be lost within those elements, let alone make a score of one piece out of them.

 

Aesthetically this poses a problem, though. A story that deals with a literal garden Eden, the rain forests that must be protected against brute, materialistic industrialists would probably be better served by an approach less insistent on incorporating overly synthetic elements for both the pictorial nature scenes and the evil bulldozers threatening them. It is the one drawback to Goldsmith's score that makes it come off as a bit too calculated commercial/superficial - at least in some scenes (the fake-ish pan flutes are a special nuisance).

 

But still, when all is said and done it's one of the best scores to combine romance and joy with a somber and suitably epic coating. When the final 8-minute track, 'A Meal and a Bath' has rolled by you may even feel one of those rare moments of elation to belong to the elusive group of film music fans that is able to appreciate these perfect summations of a musical work that can only grow in the land of movies. It's what film music used to be - and while we all know that all things change it's still nice to know that cues like this are there to return to. 

 

Nice review, but the emboldened paragraph is painfully overwrought to the point of purple prose, and most crucially it's in need of a full stop.

 

 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It's just Pub once again pissing on Jerry Goldsmiths grave!

 

The lack of mention of Total Recall amongst the scores that reenergized his career is also highly suspect.

[publicist 4,643]

'Star Trek V', 'The Burbs' and 'Russia House' are even better but that's not the point i was trying to make. After 1992, the regularity of clunkers shrunk rapidly or at least the real bad stuff made way for respectable mediocrity that sounded impressive (i. e. 'River Wild'). 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Jerry's return to relative respectability started with Total Recall though. Not the 5th Star Trek movie

[publicist 4,643]

I am less interested in the movies but the quality of the music. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Was Goldsmith at risk of becoming a B-list composer if he continued the path he was going in the late 80s?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yes!

[Incanus 5,713]

Mr. Baseball is the obvious watershed!

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Prince Batman OST

Batman Returns complete score

The Pagemaster complete score over and over again (another one of my favorites)

Live Binaural ASMR recording of Captain EO at Disneyland with a fantastic James Horner score

 

Note that all musicians are now deceased.

[publicist 4,643]

Alice Through the Looking Glass - Danny Elfman

 

It's too long (which album isn't these days) but also not as outright forgettable as a lot of other Elfman's lately. Still, the composer's chugging, bland string ostinato motions that plagued a lot of his recent blockbuster work still annoy. 

 

On the plus side, there is a sizeable amount of mellow, pictorial material with the composer's heart clearly in it - victorian England, or even New England, seems always to inspire a wistful sigh from film composers, especially those from Hollywood, see also James Horner's blissful moments in likewise innocuous scores like 'Casper', 'Jumanji' or 'Spiderwick Chronicles' - so cues like i. e. 'Hat Heartbreak', 'Hatter's Deathbed' (see, it's not just Williams denying poor moviegoers their little surprises), 'Finding the Family', 'Truth' and 'Goodbye Alice' conciliate while the more grandiose writing breathlessly stumbles from one overwrought crescendo to another without contributing much (a fate the movie probably shares).

 

The ratio is 50/50 so once you're past the tiring grandstanding there's actually a decent and sweet 45-minute fantasy album buried within that doesn't tell you much new about Elfman as a composer but is for once a nice addition to his discography instead of another useless film souvenir. Recommended with some slight reservations.

 

[Jay 37,322]

I read on FSM that Elfman did the album Goosebumps style; tracks 1-20 are his album program, and 21-27 are like bonus tracks for those who want more music.

 

What did you think of the Pink song, Pubs?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

25 minutes ago, Jay said:

I read on FSM that Elfman did the album Goosebumps style; tracks 1-20 are his album program, and 21-27 are like bonus tracks for those who want more music.

 

What did you think of the Pink song, Pubs?

I can confirm that.