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

[crocodile 8,000]

Yes, and it is a really good score indeed.

Karol

[publicist 4,643]

Hook is also a score of interesting contrasts. It contains that opening dreamy, gentle music for the nostalgia of childhood, followed by the energetic and vibrantly dazzling music for the wonders of Neverland, the pomposity of the pirates, the wacky jollity of the Lost Boys, the warm and lyrical discovery music of childhood and a finally Williams pits elements of all that has gone before against each other in the Ultimate War and draws everything emotionally together with the Farewell to Neverland. The constant variety actually makes the score very strong as a whole and the themes tie everything together in a wonderful way.

What you describe above is a compedium of musical expressions he developed throughout the late 70's and 80's and HOOK is the highly uneven swansong to most of them - Williams never really solved HOOK, musically (who could blame him with the mess at hand?) but he did something out of it that is, essentially, a candy store for Williams fans.

[crocodile 8,000]

Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman: The Animated Series Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Not all at once, but over the last couple of days. It used to be such a kick-ass series musically. Nostalgic and old fashioned, but also strangely timeless. And I love all of them.

Ah well, at least LLL did Batman some justice!

Karol

[Incanus 5,714]

Indeed! Wonderful stuff Karol!

[Hlao-roo 389]

Hook is also a score of interesting contrasts. It contains that opening dreamy, gentle music for the nostalgia of childhood, followed by the energetic and vibrantly dazzling music for the wonders of Neverland, the pomposity of the pirates, the wacky jollity of the Lost Boys, the warm and lyrical discovery music of childhood and a finally Williams pits elements of all that has gone before against each other in the Ultimate War and draws everything emotionally together with the Farewell to Neverland. The constant variety actually makes the score very strong as a whole and the themes tie everything together in a wonderful way.

What you describe above is a compedium of musical expressions he developed throughout the late 70's and 80's and HOOK is the highly uneven swansong to most of them - Williams never really solved HOOK, musically (who could blame him with the mess at hand?) but he did something out of it that is, essentially, a candy store for Williams fans.

What would "solving" Hook look like to you? I thought Williams supplied a consistently sugary sweet score to a consistently sugary sweet film.

[publicist 4,643]

Like he did on TEMPLE OF DOOM, for instance: creating a unique musical imprint without major shifts in style and tone. HOOK is really all over the map, from ballets to olympic fanfares to Broadway style sing-alongs. Being sugary-sweet is just one of many things - a german magazine wrote in 1991 it sounds as if Spielberg wanted to hear all the scores for his older movies rolled into one.

[Richard Penna 3,683]

Vertical Limit by JNH.

Parts of this sound a little bit phoned in to me, although with some superb moments here and there. Unfortunately I don't find his theme that memorable, and the action music seems to lack something with its generic brass hits. It's serviceable, but not one I play often outside of 'Three Years Later'.

Also, The Tower by Christopher Young

A very reflective and introverted score - I can only listen to this when I'm in a positive mood, but it's amazing the emotion he gets out of the 'wandering' quality of the music, without there being a proper melody in there all the time. Similar to Ludovico Einaudi's music, it's perfect as background music for work because the overall atmosphere of the piece is what attracts.

[publicist 4,643]

Vertical Limit by JNH.

Parts of this sound a little bit phoned in to me, although with some superb moments here and there. Unfortunately I don't find his theme that memorable, and the action music seems to lack something with its generic brass hits. It's serviceable, but not one I play often outside of 'Three Years Later'.

There's at least one majestic moment in YOU WANNA DO THIS? which prompted me to get the album back then.

[Richard Penna 3,683]

Yeah that's another good cue, and also It's a Good Song.

I'm not really sure quite what doesn't click with me, but sometimes you hear a score, and none of the themes really make you properly 'psyched'.

[Hlao-roo 389]

Like he did on TEMPLE OF DOOM, for instance: creating a unique musical imprint without major shifts in style and tone. HOOK is really all over the map, from ballets to olympic fanfares to Broadway style sing-alongs. Being sugary-sweet is just one of many things - a german magazine wrote in 1991 it sounds as if Spielberg wanted to hear all the scores for his older movies rolled into one.

Fair enough. Except for a few obvious diversions (Grusin smooth jazz), the score seems pretty consistent with what Williams was writing at the time, and maybe I mistake Williams' intra-score stylistic continuity for inter-score cohesiveness. It's also one of the first Williams scores I sat down and listened to as an album, so perhaps it's all artificially congealed into a singular whole for me.

[The Psycho Pianist 216]

I have only just listened to Batman Begins (I've watched the movie before) which means I've listened to the Batman scores in completely the wrong order (TDK first, then TDKR then BB). Unfortunately I now realise and understand the complaints people have about the stagnation of material in the subsequent soundtracks - it seems Zimmer/Howard wrote almost all of the themes of the trilogy in the first film (with the exception of Bane/Joker/Catwoman). Even the Harvey Dent theme appears in Myotis, something which seems quite baffling considering there is no plot link including him between the first and second films. I also dislike how much of the material composed in BB is almost completely copied in sections from one film to the other (eg. the boy solo from Barbastella to Rise) - it is an issue that, being such a huge Zimmer fan, I really hope he will improve on in the future.

Still, you can't knock him for consistency

[Score_Fan 36]

TDKR - still love it

BTAS: V2 -

Now a newfound love; breaking bad.

[publicist 4,643]

Fair enough. Except for a few obvious diversions (Grusin smooth jazz), the score seems pretty consistent with what Williams was writing at the time, and maybe I mistake Williams' intra-score stylistic continuity for inter-score cohesiveness. It's also one of the first Williams scores I sat down and listened to as an album, so perhaps it's all artificially congealed into a singular whole for me.

Shake hands, it was my first Williams cd, too (it was enclosed in a big paper sheet imprinted with the film's artwork which i for whatever dumb reason threw away instantly). The memory of the first listen is long gone but i faintly remember that i loved the prologue, big fanfar-y stuff, the sweet granny Wendy music and the reflective chorus in GOODBYE NEVERLAND, but all the lost boy chase and banquet stuff i found intolerable old-fashioned - this was after having seen ESB!

[Incanus 5,714]

Superman by John Williams

Avatar by James Horner

[chuck 154]

The Mummy - Jerry Goldsmith

I've read that JG greatly disliked this film that he didn't return to scoring The Mummy Returns but damn if I'm not mesmerized by this, especially the love theme. In fact I couldn't find any JG love themes I didn't liked. And the Sand Volcano is top notch.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I think Goldsmith was just being pissy after working on a tight schedule out of a hotel or something. Both the score and the movie are good.

[Marc 767]

Ennio Morricone - U-turn

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

The Mummy - Jerry Goldsmith

I've read that JG greatly disliked this film that he didn't return to scoring The Mummy Returns but damn if I'm not mesmerized by this, especially the love theme. In fact I couldn't find any JG love themes I didn't liked. And the Sand Volcano is top notch.

I may be completely wrong, but when I saw the movie (which I disliked), I had the feeling that in the end Goldsmith just gave up on the movie and just wrote good music instead. It felt rather overscored to me, which is unusual for Goldsmith.

[publicist 4,643]

Yeah, the bone of contention seemed to be that Sommers forced Goldsmith to write 30 minutes more music or something back in London, a duty he didn't relish. Why the Jerry Goldsmith who apparently had no problem scoring DEEP RISING for the same director one year earlier now was taken by extreme surprise that THE MUMMY was crap - although much better crap than DEEP RISING - will remain a mystery.

[chuck 154]

Mulan - Jerry Goldsmith

[Richard Penna 3,683]

Yeah, the bone of contention seemed to be that Sommers forced Goldsmith to write 30 minutes more music or something back in London, a duty he didn't relish. Why the Jerry Goldsmith who apparently had no problem scoring DEEP RISING for the same director one year earlier now was taken by extreme surprise that THE MUMMY was crap - although much better crap than DEEP RISING - will remain a mystery.

I suspect that 30 minutes may be an overestimate, but yes, what I've read suggests that Sommers forced him to stay in a London hotel room for weeks to write more music than was originally agreed.

And that's on top of Goldsmith apparently not liking the movie, which I really don't understand - I think the film is loads of fun.

[chuck 154]

Yeah, the bone of contention seemed to be that Sommers forced Goldsmith to write 30 minutes more music or something back in London, a duty he didn't relish. Why the Jerry Goldsmith who apparently had no problem scoring DEEP RISING for the same director one year earlier now was taken by extreme surprise that THE MUMMY was crap - although much better crap than DEEP RISING - will remain a mystery.

I suspect that 30 minutes may be an overestimate, but yes, what I've read suggests that Sommers forced him to stay in a London hotel room for weeks to write more music than was originally agreed.

And that's on top of Goldsmith apparently not liking the movie, which I really don't understand - I think the film is loads of fun.

Probably because he got the feeling it's another ROTLA rip-off.

[Richard Penna 3,683]

Rip-off doesn't necessarily mean bad.

I wouldn't have blamed Goldsmith if we were talking about almost any other Sommers movie (I thought Van Helsing, Mummy Returns and G.I Joe were all rubbish), but I liked this one, and Goldsmith has scored his fair share of not-so-great movies. Always seemed an odd one for him to dislike so much.

[crocodile 8,000]

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows by Alexandre Desplat

Such a frustrating pair of scores. On one hand they are both a showcase of Desplat's talent and intelligence. There are nods to John Williams' style and some really cool passages sprinkled throughout both outings that stand above most current composers' abilities. On the other hand, so much dull unimaginative filler as well. The collection of cues never creates any whole, to be honest. And yet, I can't dismiss those works completely. At the very least they prove the composer can do quite a lot of different stuff. Which is a good thing for his resume, I guess.

Ironically, my favourite track from both scores would be this one:

Karol

[Faleel 5,345]

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

GREAT score, though I can see why he is called The Composer Eccentric, or The ADD Composer.

The main title has so much going on, its spanish flavored, its epic, the choir sometimes sounds native american, and some of the instruments sound like animals.

[Brónach 1,302]

One of the coolest scores ever, no doubt.

[crocodile 8,000]

Indeed.

The Golden Compass. Now this is true fantasy Desplat where no one forces him to be something else. I like that. A very rich score and at the same time completely, transparent and crystal clear. I takes some time to get the most out of it, but the effort is worth it.

Karol

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

Ironically, my favourite track from both scores would be this one:

Yes, wonderful song.

[JamieC 13]

Earlier today I listened to one of the great fantasy movie scores: George Auric's music for Jean Cocteau's adaptation of Beauty and the Beast.

[crocodile 8,000]

That's an awesome score! Is it the Naxos recording?

Karol

[Romão 2,274]

I had mentioned in the favorite Golden Age Scores thread. Beautiful stuff

[JamieC 13]

Auric's music is always very listenable, independent of the films composed for. Check out his music for some of the Ealing films. Really charming stuff. Yes indeed: it is the Naxos recording.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

GREAT score, though I can see why he is called The Composer Eccentric, or The ADD Composer.

The main title has so much going on, its spanish flavored, its epic, the choir sometimes sounds native american, and some of the instruments sound like animals.

It's a western score, all of those elements are appropriate.

[Faleel 5,345]

I never said they were not.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

But is he really ADD in that regard then? They all blend seamlessly. Morricone is possibly the definition of musical eccentricity, but his grasp on instrumentation and melody is insurmountable.

[Faleel 5,345]

I was referring to the fact that there are bits in the score, where he will have a trumpet/bugle solo in the center, and various clipped trumpet blasts from the far left and right, my ADD comment was NOT about the main title.

[Incanus 5,714]

The Village by James Newton Howard

Treasure Planet by James Newton Howard

Unbreakable by James Newton Howard

The Wolfman by Danny Elfman

A History of Violence by Howard Shore

[Faleel 5,345]

The Village by James Newton Howard

Treasure Planet by James Newton Howard

Unbreakable by James Newton Howard

Is it Howard day today?

The Patriot - John Williams

Awaiting a IncAnalysis.

[Incanus 5,714]

Yeah it kind of happened to be a Howard day today.

And I might do an analysis on the Patriot at some point in the future after the more pressing full analyses of Tintin, War Horse, The Witches of Eastwick and most of all Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (special thanks to BloodBoal for shoving that into my lap).

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Wow. Less than a month left for that one!

[Incanus 5,714]

Lady in the Water by James Newton Howard

Daryl's Secrets from the Witches of Eastwick

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Planting the Charges.

Literally, just that.

[chuck 154]

Twilight Zone: The Movie - Jerry Goldsmith. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and I think I heard bits of Gremlins in the end.

[Jay 37,346]

Indeed, but Twilight Zone came first and Gremlins is the ripoff

[ShowUStheHOOK 8]

I was listening to the Lalaland HOOK cd a few days ago.. STILL my favorite track from the score

[Incanus 5,714]

Spielberg/Williams Collaboration: John Williams and Boston Pops

Williams on Williams: John Williams and Boston Pops

Two quintessential Williams compilations full of his best themes from the films of Steven Spielberg. These two CDs were in large part responsible for introducing me to John Williams's work and contain fine performances and new wonderful arrangements by Williams of his own material. Highly recommended to any Williams fan and a fan of film music in general.

[Jay 37,346]

It's really too bad they never recorded a third one

[Incanus 5,714]

At this point that should be a double CD. There have been a couple of collaborations since JP and Schindler's List.

[Jay 37,346]

13, to be exact

[The Psycho Pianist 216]

I was listening to the Lalaland HOOK cd a few days ago.. STILL my favorite track from the score

[media=]

Remembering Childhood is my favourite by far, especially because of the final 3 or so minutes which are my favourite of any Williams score I've ever listened to. The orchestration is just perfect, there can be no improvement.