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


Ollie

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1 hour ago, crocodile said:

This is single most entertaining new film score album to come out this year.

 

Karol

Yeah and one of the few recent OSTs I have bought all year. Powell is pretty synonymous with quality these days.

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37 minutes ago, Incanus said:

Yeah and one of the few recent OSTs I have bought all year. Powell is pretty synonymous with quality these days.

Between and Hubris I would say he owns 2018.

 

Karol

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2 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I'm currently listening to Beethoven.

 

 

That guy never amounted to anything in the film music world. He disappeared after his big hit Immortal Beloved. He had potential but I guess he has ended up scoring ditzy romantic comedies these days.

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3 minutes ago, Incanus said:

That guy never amounted to anything in the film music world. He disappeared after his big hit Immortal Beloved. He had potential but I guess he has ended up scoring ditzy romantic comedies these days.

 

I beg to differ. He wrote big action heavy film music already in 1813 - the problem is there were no-one around to make the film.

 

 

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Not that there has been much competition. It was a quiet year. All below with reservations (i found Solo solid but not much more)

 

+ First Man

+ (JNH) Red Sparrow, Nutcracker

+ Brothers Sisters

+ Solo

+ Black Panther

+ Suspiria

+ Love, Simon

+ Ocean's 8

 

a few i'm forgetting but it can't be that much.

 

 

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28 minutes ago, publicist said:

Not that there has been much competition. It was a quiet year. All below with reservations (i found Solo solid but not much more)

 

+ First Man

+ (JNH) Red Sparrow, Nutcracker

+ Brothers Sisters

+ Solo

+ Black Panther

+ Suspiria

+ Love, Simon

+ Ocean's 8

 

a few i'm forgetting but it can't be that much.

 

 

Christopher Gordon's Out of the Shadows was pretty good.

 

Karol

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You are absolutely right, i never should sell Gordon short.

PS: Filmmusicreporter guesses Oscar favourites. The Adés i'm interested in, the first Britell i am just listening to and would include also, some aren't even out yet.

 

The Frontrunners:

  1. Mary Poppins Returns – Marc Shaiman
  2. If Beale Street Could Talk – Nicholas Britell
  3. Black Panther – Ludwig Goransson
  4. First Man – Justin Hurwitz
  5. BlacKkKlansman – Terence Blanchard
  6. Isle of Dogs – Alexandre Desplat
  7. Colette – Thomas Ades

Runner-ups:

  1. Vice – Nicholas Britell
  2. Suspiria – Thom Yorke
  3. Green Book – Kris Bowers
  4. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Carter Burwell
  5. Mary Queen of Scots – Max Richter
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Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas by Harry Gregson-Williams: This one is bursting with larger than life swash-and-buckle and big hearted themes and moments making it one of the top HGW scores. Uncomplicated, well-written and highly entertaining and with a good dramatic arc and nigh perfect album presentation.

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6 hours ago, publicist said:

+ First Man

+ (JNH) Red Sparrow, Nutcracker

+ Brothers Sisters

+ Solo

+ Black Panther

+ Suspiria

+ Love, Simon

+ Ocean's 8

First Man feels like an Oscar winner, even though it may not be the best score.

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The new Brittel score is much better than his frustratingly impotent Moonlight. I'm curious about the Ades score as well, and if Richter's will be above his more middling film work. Otherwise, pub's list just about sums it up. It's been a rather lackluster year for film music.

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4 hours ago, KK said:

The new Brittel score is much better than his frustratingly impotent Moonlight

 

We are in agreement.  The orchestration and palette are much more interesting here.

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2 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

We are in agreement.  The orchestration and palette are much more interesting here.

You do realise these are completely different projects, right? Moonlight certainly wouldn't benefit from a more refined and complex score. Some films just don't.

 

Karol

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Just now, crocodile said:

You do realise these are completely different projects, right?

 

Karol

 

What?  I'm comparing If Beale Street to Moonlight and saying that the former is musically more interesting to me.

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1 minute ago, Disco Stu said:

 

What?  I'm comparing If Beale Street to Moonlight and saying that the former is musically more interesting to me.

Why would I compare The Book Thief to Stepmom?

 

Karol

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You're certainly allowed to find one more interesting than the other...

 

All I know is, I didn't find anything much to enjoy in the Moonlight score.  Battle of the Sexes and now If Beale Street, however, I've found to be much more enjoyable!

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12 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

You're certainly allowed to find one more interesting than the other...

I might be completely wrong here but you seem to imply Moonlight would have been a better score had it employed more, shall we say, refined palette and orchestration. But it wouldn't. The simplicity of it is exactly what makes it good because it emphasises the quietness and stillness of the picture. A more showy score would have probably hurt the film. Does it make a great listen? Hell, no. But that's not the point.

 

Karol

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10 hours ago, crocodile said:

You do realise these are completely different projects, right? Moonlight certainly wouldn't benefit from a more refined and complex score. Some films just don't.

 

Karol

 

No one's asking for Williams-style classicism. Nor is anyone questioning the idea of a minimalist/ambient approach to a film like Moonlight . It just happens to be that Britell's score is neither musically interesting nor very intelligent for that matter, within that medium itself. What little music there is derivative of Max Richter-temp with scattered 1-minute piano noodlings. Nah. Look to folks like Hanan Townshend for a more interesting take on this kind of thing.

 

The only reason it warrants any attention really is because it has a sonic palette that's distinct from your usual indie flare. And Lord knows we're all starved for something, anything...different. But I wouldn't mistake that for great artistic credibility. That it walked away with an Academy Award nomination is still beyond me.

 

Funny enough, I would argue that Beale Street comes from a similar sound anyway. Even here, I wouldn't call the approach very complex at all. At its core, it's minimalist, with chamber voices to give it a touch of classicism while manipulating certain contextual colours for ambience (all the processed jazzy improv riffs are a nice touch), much like Moonlight. It just happens to boast a much stronger personality and more confident musical direction.

 

Moonlight comes off as an uninspired jam sesh loosely scrapped together at the studio, drowned in reverb and then thrown against the film. Sure, it'll work. But don't let that fool you. Great music, or even great film music, it ain't.

 

 

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Was it nominated for an Oscar? I didn't know that. Bit odd but not surprising. I find to be very effective in the film and something about it's musical simplicity works well with this quiet film. As Herrmann once said, music correctly used doesn't need to be of high quality to serve its purpose. And in this rare instance I don't take it as an insult.

 

Missing your longer posts @KK. Such a rarity these days. But always insightful

 

 

Karol

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6 hours ago, crocodile said:

Missing your longer posts @KK. Such a rarity these days. But always insightful

 

 

Cheers mate. You just gotta get me riled up enough to get me out of my corner ;)

 

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2 hours ago, Fabulin said:

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Sooo praised around here. Edible. Pleasant. I like the main song)

One of John's most nuanced efforts.  A score that reveals more and more with repeated listens.  

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A History of Violence by Howard Shore: A strange post LotR soundtrack that really sounds like the Midwest USA of the film was actually Middle-earth. It strongly feels like big vestiges of the fantasy epic's sound and ideas were still going through the composer's mind when he scored this, from the noble horn main theme to the Ringwraith-y chase music. Despite of this it is thoughtfully constructed piece of music with just the right length album.

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Williams' Dracula - OST first.

I'm not overly impressed by the sound quality but I didn't expect much knowing it's just the original album master. It's about the same as Bespin's restoration, much much better than the previous CD release. Presentation's pretty good. Now for the real deal!

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So, Disc 1 of Dracula. Starts off with the standard expected stuff then suddenly you get Casting a Spell and the Visitation. And the sweet Give Me Your Loyalty! Other highlights include Grave Trampling and the Asylum, Van Helsing Confronts Dracula and Solution, and Waiting for Draula to the end. To Scarborough is quite the powerhouse, Death is a satisfying finale and End Titles is just a gorgeous composition. The sound quality is pretty good here, if not always great. The full Love Scene is fascinatingly different to Night Journeys!

Well I certainly don't regret getting this set. It will get a number of listens, both discs probably, then I'll probably take up Stu's mantle as isolator (which he abandoned for this score after seeing unforeseen edits and speed changes) in the second half of December, I'm intrigued to find out what matches what and how.

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