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


Ollie

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2017 - Onna Joushu Naotora - Yoko Kanno 

 

This Japanese TV series produced an absolutely wonderful score that I stumbled upon earlier this week. I'd never heard anything by Kanno before, but now I'm dying to check out more of her work. This one is a beautiful blend of impressionism, Asian colors, and classic Williams-y fanfares. Kanno writes and orchestrates with such beautiful precision; at many times it really does feel like it could be Williams writing the music. Obviously I can't list every good moment, but here is one of my favorites. So Williams-y!!

 

 

Notably, Kanno is female -- I haven't really listened to much by a female composer before so this was interesting to discover! Beauty and the Beast might still edge it out as my favorite 2017 score thus far, but this comes awfully close. 

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4 hours ago, Will said:

2017 - Onna Joushu Naotora - Yoko Kanno 

 

This Japanese TV series produced an absolutely wonderful score that I stumbled upon earlier this week. I'd never heard anything by Kanno before, but now I'm dying to check out more of her work. This one is a beautiful blend of impressionism, Asian colors, and classic Williams-y fanfares. Kanno writes and orchestrates with such beautiful precision; at many times it really does feel like it could be Williams writing the music. Obviously I can't list every good moment, but here is one of my favorites. So Williams-y!!

 

 

Notably, Kanno is female -- I haven't really listened to much by a female composer before so this was interesting to discover! Beauty and the Beast might still edge it out as my favorite 2017 score thus far, but this comes awfully close. 

This reminds me of the below comic from mid-2000's.

merussellyokokanno.gif

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The Meyerowitz Stories - Randy Newman

 

Ha, turns out this score is only 24 minutes long (including a few alternates and a demo!).  Well, if you're interested (and I am) in 20 minutes of Randy noodling around on the piano I highly recommend...that you pirate this album! :P 

 

Watching the movie tonight.  It came out on Netflix today.

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I'm listening to selections from the A.I. complete score. The whole shebang is a tough listen for me. The first disc especially is a real slog. But there's a lot of great stuff in there.

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:music: Stepmom. I can take or leave the entire score album, there are probably large stretches of material not that remarkable. But, boy, isn't this theme just gorgeous?

 

 

Wanted to post the end credit version, with more elaborate guitar solos but it doesn't seem to be available.

 

Karol

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The new Intrada release of Honey, I Blew Up the Kid by Bruce Broughton.  Cartoonish in the extreme, but what incredible detail in the composition and the orchestra's performance is absolutely top-notch!  It certainly won't be my favorite Broughton score, but it definitely adds to my appreciation of him and his work.

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Hidalgo by James Newton Howard. I find it to be a really enjoyable JNH work. And also very much overlooked. It's an interesting blend of western genre and some ethnic touches. The lean and to the point album release is an easy and non-demanding recommendation.

 

 

Another JNH effort on my playlist today is his solid Fantasy Beasts and Where to Find Them from last year. I am particularly fond of this theme:

 

 

Karol

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16 hours ago, crocodile said:

:music: Stepmom. I can take or leave the entire score album, there are probably large stretches of material not that remarkable. But, boy, isn't this theme just gorgeous?

 

 

Wanted to post the end credit version, with more elaborate guitar solos but it doesn't seem to be available.

 

Karol

 

It's lovely and worth the price of the cd alone. And what a perfect time to listen to it

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On 10/14/2017 at 7:06 AM, The Doctor said:

I'm listening to selections from the A.I. complete score. The whole shebang is a tough listen for me. The first disc especially is a real slog. But there's a lot of great stuff in there.

 

I love that score so much, but I can't just listen to it whilly nilly either; I need to be in the right mood for the emotional investment it is.

 

I can listen to Journey to Rouge City or Mecha World any time though, timeless brilliance right there.

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Gagarin: First in Space. The launch cue is a particular favourite of mine.

 

Lady in the Water. I want to marry the instrumentation in this. It's so cute.

 

The Ghost and the Darkness. Assghdfg.

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War Horse by John Williams: Such a lovely lovely score. Williams wrote an unusually tight knit collection of themes for this score, most of them somehow connected to the main protagonist Joey in some way (reminds me of the following Lincoln in this approach). It is British and Celtic music vernacular channeled through an American composer and Williams really relishes the chance to score the British countryside in all its bucolic splendour  but doesn't stop there and takes the listener on a very beautifully built musical story on the album from the sunny, lyrical and playful opening chapter to the steely and mournful sounds of the First World War in the middle portion and then back again to sweet and warm musical colours of England and home during the last third of the disc, ending in the (yes I have said it many times and will continue to do so) gorgeous Homecoming, which has the character of a full-fledged multi-themed concert suite in the spirit of Delius and Vaughan Williams rather than a mere film cue.

 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey by Howard Shore: I have fondness for this first score of the Hobbit trilogy. It has such colour to it and it balances the old and new very well in my opinion, slowly building from the familiar Shire material into a more adventurous score full of new things. Shore quotes the old material very aptly on the album but clearly relies more on the new themes to carry the musical narrative.

 

Oh and My Dear Frodo is one brilliant overture to transport you back into Middle-earth and introduce some of the main thematic material of the score/trilogy.

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2 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

This is really goooooood

 

 

 

I hadn't gotten around to this score yet, but this is actually kind of disappointing.  It's awfully generic.  This is what caused Davis to lose me somewhat with the Matrix sequels, treading a bit more into familiar blockbuster symphonics.

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10 minutes ago, TheGreyPilgrim said:

 

I hadn't gotten around to this score yet, but this is actually kind of disappointing.  It's awfully generic.  This is what caused Davis to lose me somewhat with the Matrix sequels, treading a bit more into familiar blockbuster symphonics.

I wouldn't call it generic ultimately (I'm not really familiar with Davis' voice, though), but I know what you mean by the more traditional, familiar sound. Makes me wonder, though, if he can do that style why he doesn't get many projects in the business. Maybe he does, and declines them?

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6 hours ago, TheGreyPilgrim said:

 

I hadn't gotten around to this score yet, but this is actually kind of disappointing.  It's awfully generic.  This is what caused Davis to lose me somewhat with the Matrix sequels, treading a bit more into familiar blockbuster symphonics.

 

It doesn’t come near the best of his Matrix work and perhaps I’m just happy to hear his compositional voice at all in a new score, but it sounds great to me

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Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (LLL release) by Edward Shearmur: This is really terrific and keeps getting better with each listen. Subtle it ain't but that certainly wasn't the aim here and the score breezes past with heroic anthems, swooning love themes and darkly delicious villain material. And there is such clear craft and skill at work which makes me a bit sad that the talented Mr. Shearmur hasn't been hired more frequently for major films as he certainly has the chops and versatility.

 

Papillon (Quartet Records release) by Jerry Goldsmith: A masterpiece of lyricism and sharp psychological writing running gamut of emotional spectrum and now done full justice by the new release by Quartet Records which is the definitive version of this score for me.

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Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (LLL) by Shearmur.  First time hearing this one.  I threw this one in the cart when I bought E.T., thinking "why the hell not".  The first time through I enjoyed it, but it caught me more on the second run through.  Nicely composed with some scattered themes, though, outside the main Sky Captain theme, I didn't feel they were used enough.  Fun score, will definitely come back to it soon after I let it stew in my brain for a while.

 

Independence Day (LLL) by Arnold.  One of my favorite scores now,  and after only listening to it for the first time last year.  After Sky Captain I was really in the mood to listen to it again.  Amazing piece of writing, brilliant leitmotif-driven score with several memorable themes, nicely orchestrated by Dodd.  Say what you will about the movie, and I am not exactly a fan either, it certainly provided a good structure to write a great score.

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Agatha Christie's Poirot by Christopher Gunning

 

Tale of a Forest by Panu Aaltio

 

Abzû by Austin Wintory

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They are all lovely and yes Aaltio's work on this and the sequel Tale of a Lake is quite accomplished and comes highly recommended. He even knows that the woodwinds are part of an orchestra. ;)

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What I like about his scores, especially the sequel you mentioned, is that they form a fairly coherent experience. Unlike some George Fenton albums.

 

Karol

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