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


Ollie

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The theme in Dream Discared (which I reackon is Chyo's theme, her real theme, not of her more public alter ego of Sayuri) is one of my all time favorites. Took me quite a while to get an hold on it. It's the heart and sould of the whole score, I find

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41 minutes ago, crocodile said:

Traitor! Try harder! ;)

 

Seriously, the second one is better. I liked the first one but can't remember much of it (after 6 months of having the album). The second one clicked instantly.

 

Karol

I found it funny how my expectations of film score narrative worked against my immediate enjoyment of these albums. I tried to find thematic narrative arc but Young has compiled themes into suites comprising of several cues, which each represent one of the characters and thus the album is like a tone poem with individual movements which share only slight musical connections between them. But I might get over this slightly disconcerting feeling. ;) 

 

I found the first one to be more energetic and exciting while the second score does feature some nice themes it doesn't quite grasp me like the first, not at least now but with more listens things might well change.

 

40 minutes ago, Romão said:

The theme in Dream Discared (which I reackon is Chyo's theme, her real theme, not of her more public alter ego of Sayuri) is one of my all time favorites. Took me quite a while to get an hold on it. It's the heart and sould of the whole score, I find

Yes that is Chiyo's theme and it is indeed a personal favourite of mine as well. I remember noting the theme very early and I thought it was a great way of musically illustrating Chiyo's true personality beyond her geisha personality Sayuri in the film.

 

And I can't praise the Suite from Memoirs of Geisha for Cello and Orchestra enough. Such a well crafted reimagining of the central musical ideas into concert hall form. Williams is able to extend the development of the themes and give them a bit grander guise and shed the emotional restraint e.g. of the Chairman's Waltz in the most satisfying way, which might please those who always wished he would have let his themes soar in the actual score.

 

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1 hour ago, Incanus said:

I found it funny how my expectations of film score narrative worked against my immediate enjoyment of these albums. I tried to find thematic narrative arc but Young has compiled themes into suites comprising of several cues, which each represent one of the characters and thus the album is like a tone poem with individual movements which share only slight musical connections between them. But I might get over this slightly disconcerting feeling. ;) 

 

I found the first one to be more energetic and exciting while the second score does feature some nice themes it doesn't quite grasp me like the first, not at least now but with more listens things might well change.

 

I just enjoy them the way I would a symphonic tone poem. The way I would enjoy The Planets (which, I believe, was a model for those albums). The second one speaks to me more because it's probably bit gentler. The first score sounded bit too Western to my hears. 

 

Karol

 

 

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Ramin Djawadi - Warcraft

 

A very close cousin of his Pacific Rim score - in fact, you could swap tracks between the two of them and no one would notice.  The big difference is that there are no memorable themes here, unlike Pacific Rim which had some good ones.  So nothing to warrant returning to, here.

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9 hours ago, crocodile said:

Listening to some of my favourite bits from Bear McCreary's Battlestar Galactica:

 

4 hours ago, Romão said:

I'm a big fan of these as well:

 

 

And these:

 

(of which The Shape of Things to Come is of course a variation)

 

 

(again based on the Passacaglia)

 

 

 

...and of course this, which single handedly proves that McCreary is a genius:

 

 

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's/Whoever's Stone complete score by our lord and savior John Towner Williams

 

You can say, I suppose correctly, that it's largely Hook redux. But, man. This is the John Williams I love. This is the guy that does it better than anyone. I knew right from the start on that opening night November whatever of 2001, when the Warner Brothers logo came on the screen to the tune of Hedwig's Theme that this was going to be a classic Williams score. Every note is a masterpiece. There are countless one-off passages in this score that are compelling enough to carry an entire score! I love it.

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18 minutes ago, Nick Tatopoulos's Beret said:

arry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's/Whoever's Stone complete score by our lord and savior John Towner Williams

 

You can say, I suppose correctly, that it's largely Hook redux.

HP1PS/SS/WS >>> Hook

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Catch Me If You Can by John Williams: Another early 2000's small gem (from another red letter year 2002 with four scores) from the Maestro I hadn't revisited in a while. The light orchestral jazz bolstered by saxophone, vibraphone and double bass trio is terrific fun with three excellent themes around which most of this score is built. The "closing in" melody, a quick dash for saxophone and orchestra, might be something that most people remember about the 1960's styled main titles.

 

There is very much Mancini-esque tongue-in-cheek to it all, especially the sparkling The Float material which is mischievous and playful to the core and but this lightness is now and again balanced by the the supremely melancholy Father's theme. I think it actually is my favourite thing about this score, the longing of the smoky melody perfectly conveying the sorrow of the main character but on album and especially in the concert suite it receives such haunting quality that it's impossible not to be moved and Dan Higgins' saxophone further adds such gorgeous darker hues to it.

 

8 hours ago, crocodile said:

I just enjoy them the way I would a symphonic tone poem. The way I would enjoy The Planets (which, I believe, was a model for those albums). The second one speaks to me more because it's probably bit gentler. The first score sounded bit too Western to my hears. 

 

Karol

 

 

Yes the first score is definitely more Western in that it doesn't employ so much the ethnic instruments but e.g. the themes in the sequel are equally Western for the most part in style and form.

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There's a lot to like about Schickele's 'Silent Running' score - great eco sci-fi by Doug Trumbull - but Joan Baez's hippi-ish indicting 'protest' song takes the cake: set to images of men destroying humanity's last forest on Bruce Dern's space station it should turn even the most heinous BP CEO a greenpeace activist.

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Star Trek Beyond

 

I really liked what I heard in the film and actually thought Gia might have actually outdone himself. But my God this is thin!. Nice moments throughout the score, like islands of minor interest amongst a vast sea of "meh". Forget comparisons to The Motion Picture or The Wrath Of Khan, even compared to Insurrection or Generations there really isnt much there.

 

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

 

A score written for a film with a very similar sensibility to the one above. Big budget adaptation of a classic 60's TV show brought to you by Bad Robot.

The score however isnt just very effective in the film, it's a very good listen on it's own. It's summer blockbuster action, but with some meat on it's bones. There's some substance, and excitement. There's some actual tension in the music as it ebbs and flows throughout it's movements.

 

Joe Kraemer is Giacchino, or Giacchino as he should have been!

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4 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Joe Kraemer is Giacchino, or Giacchino as he should have been!

 

If only Kraemer could get those choice Hollywood assignments!  It seems as though he's back to toiling in obscurity after Rogue Nation was such a triumph.  Hopefully I'm wrong and a big announcement is around the corner...

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Well I'm sure he'll score M:I 6 since McQuarrie is returning to direct, but yes!  It's a dame shame he isn't getting more big gigs!  He should be scoring the next James Bond film, a Star Wars spinoff, and a superhereo movie or two!

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Let's start a letter-writing campaign to Lucasfilm to get Kraemer assigned to the Han Solo spinoff!

 

I enjoy Mothersbaugh's quirky comedy scores for what they are, but let's face it, he's not cut out for a big sci-fi action-adventure.

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John Williams - The BFG

 

My first listen in a week or more and I was a little surprised by how much I liked it; this score continues to grow on me with every listen!  I think this is one of the most thematically dense scores he's done in a while - there's rarely any significant amount of time that goes by without another theme comign in, and I think all the themes in this score are really great!

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Bear McCreary - 10 Cloverfield Lane

 

Yea, I listened to it again.  Really diggin' it!

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

Well I'm sure he'll score M:I 6 since McQuarrie is returning to direct, but yes!  It's a dame shame he isn't getting more big gigs!  He should be scoring the next James Bond film, a Star Wars spinoff, and a superhereo movie or two!

Amen!

 

Karol

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Taking a break from 2016 scores.... I wanted to "prepare" for the Jason Bourne OST dropping tomorrow (which I preordered on Amazon for some reason) by familiarizing myself with the previous scores (which I've never really listened to...)

 

John Powell - The Bourne Identity

 

Wow!  This was GREAT!  Loved the way he effortlessly flows between orchestral passages and cool percussion stuff.  Loved it!  Thank you spotify!

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10 minutes ago, Jay said:

the previous scores (which I've never really listened to...)

 

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Oh sorry, for some reason I've been thinking about the new one! :lol:

 

Wait till you get to the second one. These are the scores that defined a lot of Hollywood thriller music. So it's a good and bad.

 

Karol

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No.

 

Seen all the films many times, never was really drawn towards checking out the OSTs until now

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In this type of style of writing, this is the shit.

 

I haven't heard the new one but previous three developed their material and themes nicely over the years.

 

Karol

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John Powell - The Bourne Supremacy

 

Meh!  What happened?  The first score was great, but this one starts off slow, then stays slow, then just when it's getting good, the CD was over!  Is this a score greatly improved by a complete version or something?

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1 minute ago, Jay said:

John Powell - The Bourne Supremacy

 

Meh!  What happened?  The first score was great, but this one starts off slow, then stays slow, then just when it's getting good, the CD was over!  Is this a score greatly improved by a complete version or something?

 

Typically people point to this one as the best and a big improvement over Identity. I kinda agree with you though. (judged from the OST, I have no idea about the unreleased music)

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35 minutes ago, Jay said:

John Powell - The Bourne Supremacy

 

Meh!  What happened?  The first score was great, but this one starts off slow, then stays slow, then just when it's getting good, the CD was over!  Is this a score greatly improved by a complete version or something?

The first score is generally considered to be the weakest point...

 

Karol

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John Powell - The Bourne Ultimatum

 

Well, kinda.  Unfortunately, the OST wasn't on Spotify, so I had to listen to the Ultimatum tracks from this recent 3CD compilation:

 

 

I have no idea how different this re-recording sounds like the original, but I liked some stuff I heard here more than Supremacy.

 

Needless to say, I'll be tracking down the real OST, and listening to all three scores again!

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It is. Generally, the idea seems to be that the scores get more and more acoustic with each entry. The first score was originally conceived as pure electronica but they added some strings later when they could afford it. The second one balances them out in equal measures. And then, the third score is more organic sounding. And some of the themes that were used on synth in previous two scores get more orchestral treatment. It makes for a nice arc across three scores where Bourne becomes more... human.

 

Karol

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1 minute ago, crocodile said:

It is. Generally, the idea seems to be that the scores get more and more acoustic with each entry. The first score was originally conceived as pure electronica but they added some strings later when they could afford it. The second one balances them out in equal measures. And then, the third score is more organic sounding. And some of the themes that were used on synth in previous two scores get more orchestral treatment. It makes for a nice arc across three scores where Bourne becomes more... human.

 

Karol

 

Hey, that's pretty neat!

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I'm not sure how the third score fits into that pattern. But Powell said he became less ostinato-driven by the third score and that is why Greengrass ended up not using some of the material, Shame. The third album is on Youtube too (not that it's legal):

 

 

 

Karol

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29 minutes ago, crocodile said:

It is. Generally, the idea seems to be that the scores get more and more acoustic with each entry. The first score was originally conceived as pure electronica but they added some strings later when they could afford it.

 

Doesnt the first score also have some woodwinds, or were they sampled?

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Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (king mark expanded edit)

Thank God for the leaked music from this one. If all we had was the OST, we'd actually be fucked. I rarely feel that way.

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