Super 8 by Michael Giacchino

[Brónach 1,302]

Giacchino's Lost TV scores are mediocre at best, with an occasional up lifting piece.

Mediocre as film scores or mediocre as music?

Because as film score it kicked major ass most of the time. It was spot on. It enhanced the mystery, the humor, the drama, everything, as it was composed from the same perspective as the audience, and it had a sense of humor. What the hell, it made work a lot of mediocre moments. I've come to appreciate the action/suspense cues the most.

[Taikomochi 1,136]

Giacchino has LOST, and if anyone thinks there's no soul in the music for that show, they seriously need to reconsider what they're saying. (Not particularly at you, Quint).

Few composers have such a blank canvas to go all out on, and Giacchino struck it out of the park. No themes, no development, no warmth, no nuance? Everything composed for this show contradicts that.

Exactly. Every note of Lost has emotional depth.

As for "Carl goes up" really working, every cue in Up really works. I would've picked "The Ellie Badge" as the best example though.

[Ollie 1,059]

Giacchino has already surpassed JNH. And based on JNH's recent output, he's left him far behind. All Howard can see is a cloud of dust on the horizon.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Giacchino's Lost TV scores are mediocre at best, with an occasional up lifting piece.

Mediocre as film scores or mediocre as music?

Because as film score it kicked major ass most of the time. It was spot on. It enhanced the mystery, the humor, the drama, everything, as it was composed from the same perspective as the audience, and it had a sense of humor. What the hell, it made work a lot of mediocre moments. I've come to appreciate the action/suspense cues the most.

glad you can settle for less.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Is mediocre what we're calling utterly brilliant and unique these days?

[Ollie 1,059]

Apparently.

[Red 75]

For me, LOST is his magnum opus, at least at this stage in his career. I imagine it will be hard for him to top it, though it's a little unfair of a comparison since it is a TV score and is therefore much, much longer and developed than a single film score is.

Up is my favorite film score of his, bar none.

[Hlao-roo 389]

Giacchino's got big shoes to fill, big shoes to fill. That we expect more of him should be regarded as a compliment.

[ashinyobject 0]

Great score!

I wish there was more brass to give it more depth.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

50% of life is presentation. This where Giacchino and that lame ass recording engineer of his fail. His ideas are superb...they just can't shine because either the recording or orchestration or both are shit.

[publicist 4,643]

50% of life is presentation. This where Giacchino and that lame ass recording engineer of his fail. His ideas are superb...they just can't shine because either the recording or orchestration or both are shit.

Kind of like Randy Edelman.

[Quintus 5,399]

Giacchino badly needs skilful collaboration, and there's absolutely no shame in that.

Wrong. Would John Williams have ever done that? Would John Williams have said, "Hey, I can't produce genius scores on my own! I'm going to call up Jerry, call up Elmer, ask them to polish up my music for me!"

Giacchino will never be the next Williams because he doesn't want to be The Man. He doesn't want to the impose his will on every aspect of the compositional and recording process. He disappears in crunch time because he just doesn't have the killer instinct Williams has always had as an artist.

There we go again with that John Williams comparison. I realise it's the natural thing to do here, but please, keep me out of it on this one.

Besides, in this instance your examples shoot too high. Instead of Bernstein and Jerry I'd have said Neufeld and Pope.

Anyway, the only certainty in this whole discussion is that Gia is the composer who divides this forum most. Which is far preferable to it being Hans Zimmer.

[crocodile 8,006]

I think that if there is a single cue in his film (not video game) career that really works, it would be this one:

Without a doubt! I really like how "Labor of Love" from Star Trek works as well.

I would choose Roar or some stuff from Ratatouille over that cue.

And of course the Úbeda Lost suite. That sound, man.

I mean the music as heard within the context of the film. End credits and suites don't count here.

Karol

[TownerFan 4,983]

Giacchino has really strong dramatic sensibilities and seems to know well how to underline emotions within a traditional storytelling framework and enhance the pivotal moments of the film with exacting precision. In this sense, Lost and all of his Pixar scores (especially Ratatouille) are very remarkable. He showed a very good understanding of the classical Hollywood film scoring method.

His scores to big blockbusters (M:i:III, Star Trek, Speed Racer) instead seem a bit more "forced", suffering some of the symptoms of modern blockbusters film scoring (i.e. an overall tendence to be noisy and loud just for the sake of it at the expense of a more nuanced musical expressivity).

On a purely musical level (in terms of harmonic, contrapuntal and orchestrational level) he still has a long road ahead himself before we can put him near the great Maestros like Goldsmith, Williams, Bernstein or Barry. However, I guess he knows this very well and would never put himself in that league. He seems to strive for a constant improvement of his skills.

[Quintus 5,399]

Absolutely. I think the 'problem' (it's not really a problem at all) I've got with Gia is I can't help but compare his (early) career with a guy like James Horner. I mean, the latter burst onto the scene supremely well - he immediately seemed very, very capable and for a while there he was comparable with the big boys. He was a cocksure composer, he knew he was impressive. I can't say the same about Gia.

That's the difference.

Then again, I guess it's just as subjective as everything else.

[publicist 4,643]

Absolutely. I think the 'problem' (it's not really a problem at all) I've got with Gia is I can't help but compare his (early) career with a guy like James Horner. I mean, the latter burst onto the scene supremely well - he immediately seemed very, very capable and for a while there he was comparable with the big boys. He was a cocksure composer, he new he was impressive. I can't say the same about Gia.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

Yeah, but look how he turned out.

[Quintus 5,399]

A lazy washed-up whiner!

[Jay 37,352]

Saw this tidbit on the score:

What's in that tintinnabular tune?

There is a lot going on visually in "Super 8," but it's hard not to notice the sweeping, magical tinkling of the film's score. So what instruments are you hearing? We asked Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino to explain which instruments make up the distinct effect.

"[There is] a celesta, which is kind of a bell piano, a very short piano with bells," Giacchino revealed at the film's premiere last week. "You play it like you would a piano, but with bells. A Hammond organ was a big part of the score as well, which is interesting because you normally only hear those in church or in blues songs," he added. "We used it with the [103-piece] orchestra, which was really fun. There was guitar actually, but done in a very ethereal way, you would never know it was a guitar."

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1665609/super-8.jhtml

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Is mediocre what we're calling utterly brilliant and unique these days?

you being a zimmer disciple means you have no idea what brilliant is.

MG has a long way to go to Brilliant, he might even get there. But he needs his own sound.

He'll never be anywhere as good as John Williams. But he is as good as Hanz Zimmer and his lackeys

[Ollie 1,059]

He's miles ahead of Zimmer.

And he has his own sound.

[Bellosh 3,418]

holy smokes, I need that "finale" cue. Soooooooooo good. I want to see it again just so I can hear it.

[crocodile 8,006]

A lazy washed-up whiner!

I don't know about that. He's pretty good recently. And I'm not talking about Avatar.

Karol

[Koray Savas 2,251]

He's miles ahead of Zimmer.

And he has his own sound.

It baffles me that Joey can't hear this.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

John Williams's Output Over the first 14 years of his film score career:

Daddy-O

Because They're Young

I Passed for White

The Secret Ways

Bachelor Flat

Diamond Head

Gidget Goes to Rome

The Killers

None But The Brave

The Rare Breed

John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!

Valley of the Dolls

A Guide for the Married Man

Fitzwilly

How to Steal a Million

Heidi

The Reivers

Goodbye Mr. Chips

Storia di una donna

Jane Eyre

Fiddler on the Roof

Images

The Poseidon Adventure

The Cowboys

Michael Giacchino's Output Over the first 14 years of his film score career:

Legal Deceit

My Brother the Pig

The Trouble With Lou

Sin

The Incredibles

Sky High

The Family Stone

Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

Mission Impossible III

Ratatouille

Cloverfield

Speed Racer

Star Trek

Up

Land of the Lost

Earth Days

Let Me In

Quite frankly my dears, I think some of you don't know what you're talking about.

[David Coscina 3]

My conclusion is this: does Giacchino orchestrate his own music? If he does; he shouldn't. If he doesn't; perhaps he should keep looking. Keep collaborating till he finds a capable, equally enthusiastic partner.

Up to a point, he's got the melodies, he's got the ideas. But something about his 'sound' is lacking. It lacks flow; it lacks nuance; there's too many 'gaps'. There's no spark. It lacks magic.

Up stands out to me as his one score (I've heard) with some semblance of a soul.

Giacchino badly needs skilful collaboration, and there's absolutely no shame in that.

Those gaps are more endemic to the writing, not the arranging. His ideas are shorter than say Williams or Horner but from what I've heard from Super 8, it looks like he may have found a happy medium between those shorter melodic ideas and harmonic variation of them. I like what I've heard thus far. I like his LOST material in the show context but could never warm to it as pure listening. I like parts of his Let Me In quite a bit and The Incredibles and Ratatouille are faves of mine.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

John Williams's Output Over the first 14 years of his film score career:

Daddy-O

Because They're Young

I Passed for White

The Secret Ways

Bachelor Flat

Diamond Head

Gidget Goes to Rome

The Killers

None But The Brave

The Rare Breed

John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!

Valley of the Dolls

A Guide for the Married Man

Fitzwilly

How to Steal a Million

Heidi

The Reivers

Goodbye Mr. Chips

Storia di una donna

Jane Eyre

Fiddler on the Roof

Images

The Poseidon Adventure

The Cowboys

Michael Giacchino's Output Over the first 14 years of his film score career:

Legal Deceit

My Brother the Pig

The Trouble With Lou

Sin

The Incredibles

Sky High

The Family Stone

Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

Mission Impossible III

Ratatouille

Cloverfield (NOT A SCORE)

Speed Racer

Star Trek

Up

Land of the Lost

Earth Days

Let Me In

Quite frankly my dears, I think some of you don't know what you're talking about.

you're comparing apples and oranges. MG began his career when the blockbuster film was an accepted entity.

JOHN WILLIAMS CREATED THE BLOCKBUSTER.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

John Williams's Output Over the first 14 years of his film score career:

Daddy-O

Because They're Young

I Passed for White

The Secret Ways

Bachelor Flat

Diamond Head

Gidget Goes to Rome

The Killers

None But The Brave

The Rare Breed

John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!

Valley of the Dolls

A Guide for the Married Man

Fitzwilly

How to Steal a Million

Heidi

The Reivers

Goodbye Mr. Chips

Storia di una donna

Jane Eyre

Fiddler on the Roof

Images

The Poseidon Adventure

The Cowboys

Michael Giacchino's Output Over the first 14 years of his film score career:

Legal Deceit

My Brother the Pig

The Trouble With Lou

Sin

The Incredibles

Sky High

The Family Stone

Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

Mission Impossible III

Ratatouille

Cloverfield (NOT A SCORE)

Speed Racer

Star Trek

Up

Land of the Lost

Earth Days

Let Me In

Quite frankly my dears, I think some of you don't know what you're talking about.

FALL BACK! FALL BACK! FALL BACK! RETREAT! WATSON! GRAB YOUR GEAR! JOHNSON COME UP WITH AN EXCUSE!

Fixed that for ya.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

also at the same point in their careers at the age of 43 Williams wrote Jaws,

what has MG wrote at age 43 that equates to Jaws?

Granted MG has wrote some good stuff, but nothing he's written approaches the brilliance of Jaws.

also what you edited in my prior post is weak, even for you.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

also at the same point in their careers at the age of 43 Williams wrote Jaws,

what has MG wrote at age 43 that equates to Jaws?

Granted MG has wrote some good stuff, but nothing he's written approaches the brilliance of Jaws.

also what you edited in my prior post is weak, even for you.

I'm not saying the two are anywhere near equal. The only person who could equal Williams in my book is one man by the name Jerry.

And it's simply too early to say whether Michael Giacchino will or will not be able to approach, match, or surpass them. He still has a good 40 years of music writing left in him if he so chooses. The first 14 years of anyone's career is hardly indicative of their next 40. I can't fathom being alive when in 1972 and saying John Williams will be the greatest composer of our time (or not) with any credibility. The best I could do is say "He's done some interesting work so far, if hones his talents and skill and gets lucky he may become great."

[Quintus 5,399]

My conclusion is this: does Giacchino orchestrate his own music? If he does; he shouldn't. If he doesn't; perhaps he should keep looking. Keep collaborating till he finds a capable, equally enthusiastic partner.

Up to a point, he's got the melodies, he's got the ideas. But something about his 'sound' is lacking. It lacks flow; it lacks nuance; there's too many 'gaps'. There's no spark. It lacks magic.

Up stands out to me as his one score (I've heard) with some semblance of a soul.

Giacchino badly needs skilful collaboration, and there's absolutely no shame in that.

Those gaps are more endemic to the writing, not the arranging. His ideas are shorter than say Williams or Horner but from what I've heard from Super 8, it looks like he may have found a happy medium between those shorter melodic ideas and harmonic variation of them. I like what I've heard thus far. I like his LOST material in the show context but could never warm to it as pure listening. I like parts of his Let Me In quite a bit and The Incredibles and Ratatouille are faves of mine.

I'm actually REALLY looking forward to hearing the Super 8 score (within the movie). Unfortunately I have no choice but to wait till August the bloody 5th before I can.

I know I can just get the score and listen to it that way, but it's usually better for me if I don't do it that way.

The extremely positive word of mouth here regarding the score is indeed very encouraging, so hopefully the patience will pay off.

John Williams's Output Over the first 14 years of his film score career:

Daddy-O

Because They're Young

I Passed for White

The Secret Ways

Bachelor Flat

Diamond Head

Gidget Goes to Rome

The Killers

None But The Brave

The Rare Breed

John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!

Valley of the Dolls

A Guide for the Married Man

Fitzwilly

How to Steal a Million

Heidi

The Reivers

Goodbye Mr. Chips

Storia di una donna

Jane Eyre

Fiddler on the Roof

Images

The Poseidon Adventure

The Cowboys

Michael Giacchino's Output Over the first 14 years of his film score career:

Legal Deceit

My Brother the Pig

The Trouble With Lou

Sin

The Incredibles

Sky High

The Family Stone

Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

Mission Impossible III

Ratatouille

Cloverfield

Speed Racer

Star Trek

Up

Land of the Lost

Earth Days

Let Me In

Quite frankly my dears, I think some of you don't know what you're talking about.

Enough with the Williams comparisons you brainless fool! Your post reads like a tabloid vs. list.

[crocodile 8,006]

We have to remember we live in the times when so-called "developed long ideas" are generally regarded as a big no-no in film music. Even big guns like Williams tend to be more subtle these days. What I'm trying to say is that we cannot expect Giacchino to vary from the trend too much. I'm sure he'd like to.

Karol

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

It's not even about Giacchino and Williams. Look, most of us don't know where we will be in the next 10 years, let alone using astrology, chicken bones, and voodoo to be able to determine the cultural impact of a composer on Hollywood scoring and music 30 or 40 years from now.

[Bellosh 3,418]

I've always loved the song "Don't Bring Me Down" -- but holy shit is the bass so good in that song.

[Hlao-roo 389]

John Williams's Output Over the first 14 years of his film score career:

Daddy-O

Because They're Young

I Passed for White

The Secret Ways

Bachelor Flat

Diamond Head

Gidget Goes to Rome

The Killers

None But The Brave

The Rare Breed

John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!

Valley of the Dolls

A Guide for the Married Man

Fitzwilly

How to Steal a Million

Heidi

The Reivers

Goodbye Mr. Chips

Storia di una donna

Jane Eyre

Fiddler on the Roof

Images

The Poseidon Adventure

The Cowboys

Michael Giacchino's Output Over the first 14 years of his film score career:

Legal Deceit

My Brother the Pig

The Trouble With Lou

Sin

The Incredibles

Sky High

The Family Stone

Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

Mission Impossible III

Ratatouille

Cloverfield

Speed Racer

Star Trek

Up

Land of the Lost

Earth Days

Let Me In

Quite frankly my dears, I think some of you don't know what you're talking about.

Really, you're going with career trajectory as proof of Giacchino's awesomeness?

Williams rose to stardom in a workmanlike manner, paying his dues in Hollywood as an orchestrator and arranger, and honing his skills on smaller, throwaway projects.

Giacchino's connections enabled him to claim instant A-list status. Hooray for him -- but, as the great philosopher Dan Gilbert once said, "There are NO SHORTCUTS. NONE."

Joey's right: when it's all said and done, Giacchino may well end up having worked on proportionally more blockbuster films, but remember this: Williams created the blockbuster, motherf--ker.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

John Williams's Output Over the first 14 years of his film score career:

Daddy-O

Because They're Young

I Passed for White

The Secret Ways

Bachelor Flat

Diamond Head

Gidget Goes to Rome

The Killers

None But The Brave

The Rare Breed

John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!

Valley of the Dolls

A Guide for the Married Man

Fitzwilly

How to Steal a Million

Heidi

The Reivers

Goodbye Mr. Chips

Storia di una donna

Jane Eyre

Fiddler on the Roof

Images

The Poseidon Adventure

The Cowboys

Michael Giacchino's Output Over the first 14 years of his film score career:

Legal Deceit

My Brother the Pig

The Trouble With Lou

Sin

The Incredibles

Sky High

The Family Stone

Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

Mission Impossible III

Ratatouille

Cloverfield

Speed Racer

Star Trek

Up

Land of the Lost

Earth Days

Let Me In

Quite frankly my dears, I think some of you don't know what you're talking about.

Really, you're going with career trajectory as proof of Giacchino's awesomeness?

Williams rose to stardom in a workmanlike manner, paying his dues in Hollywood as an orchestrator and arranger, and honing his skills on smaller, throwaway projects.

Giacchino's connections enabled him to claim instant A-list status. Hooray for him -- but, as the great philosopher Dan Gilbert once said, "There are NO SHORTCUTS. NONE."

Joey's right: when it's all said and done, Giacchino may well end up having worked on proportionally more blockbuster films, but remember this: Williams created the blockbuster, motherf--ker.

I never stated Giacchino is awesome or not. I'm merely saying you're probably some fan sitting behind his computer pretending he can predict from 14 years of career history what's going to happen over the next 30-40 years.

Your post was a waste of your time and effort, because you are fighting a battle that doesn't exist. Good job. And I just wasted that much more time reading it. *sigh*

[Max Rebo 0]

It seems like Gia struggles to do what John or even Goldsmith did with ease. I was waiting to hear a simple but beautiful lullaby-ish cue such as "ET and Me, Marions theme, The Face of Pan, yodas theme" or Goldsmiths "'Mary Anne's Theme" or the B theme from either 'Gremlins or even Supergirl", even Horner's Krull love theme. Everytime I watch a film that John has scored, new or old, there's always that moment when I say " this guy has done it again", he rarely ceases to amaze me. There was a moment in S8 that I felt would have been a perfect opportunity to compose a beautiful melody but it ended up being just ok, pretty much forgettable and I felt that it would have been much more effective if it were scored by one of the greats. Or maybe if Gia hadn't scored like what, 50 other films this year. Maybe if he would just say no to a project occasionally and stop acting like a kid in a candy store he can give us 'The' score we have all been waiting for. I expected Super 8 to be that score but for me it wasn't (I'll still admit the final cue was one of the best finales I've heard in a long time......a long time). I'm looking forward to the academy awards this year, when Gia is nominated for either Cars 2 or Super 8 but John wins for War Horse or TinTin. It would be equivalent to Williams saying " when 100 years old you reach, score as good you'll not"!

[Wojo 2,453]

Do I have to compare a Michael Gia of today to a John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith at the top of their game in order to enjoy any of his albums?

I didn't read the fine print before I bought them. Maybe I should return them to the record store?

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

Do I have to compare a Michael Gia of today to a John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith at the top of their game in order to enjoy any of his albums?

I didn't read the fine print before I bought them. Maybe I should return them to the record store?

You didn't know that? It's how life works man!

In fact I'm sure I'll be able to judge whether or not my kid will be a good or bad one by the first ultrasound.

"Well Doc, he clearly doesn't look like he could come up with general relativity in this image here. I mean, Einstein at the top of his game had crazy hair. This damned thing is balder than Jean Luc Picard."

[Quintus 5,399]

Do I have to compare a Michael Gia of today to a John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith at the top of their game in order to enjoy any of his albums?

Only if you're a sandwich short of a picnic.

[Alejandro 26]

Giacchino > God

Giacchino is the new Zimmer! In Koray's world

LOL I'll take Koray obsessing about Giacchino over him obsessing about Zimmer any day!! Let's just delude ourselves that the latter never happened.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Do I have to compare a Michael Gia of today to a John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith at the top of their game in order to enjoy any of his albums?

Only if you're a sandwich short of a picnic.

Or a complete wristwatch.

[Jay 37,352]

The fact that the cover art and tracklisting hasn't been added to Varese's site yet, even though all the other June 28th titles have had that information for a while now - makes me wonder if the release will end up being pushed back?

For those of you who want to incessantly check for updates, the address is here:

http://www.varesesarabande.com/servlet/the-802/Super-8/Detail

[Jonesy 55]

The fact that the cover art and tracklisting hasn't been added to Varese's site yet, even though all the other June 28th titles have had that information for a while now - makes me wonder if the release will end up being pushed back?

For those of you who want to incessantly check for updates, the address is here:

http://www.varesesar.../Super-8/Detail

I made my own cover art a few weeks ago

[DracStarFan 0]

Am I the only one who heard a VERY (as I suspected it would be all along) Williams-esque score throughout SUPER 8? From the beginning of the movie, I was thinking, Wow, I could swear John Williams wrote this score...I'm hearing tropes galore. I guess it's very safe to say that the soundtrack/score is (as the film is a pastiche/homage to Steven Spielberg circa 1970s-1980s) a pastiche/homage/tribute to the First Golden age of John Willams circa 1970s-1982. It'll be interesting to hear samples of what that score sounds like when it gets released. The movie was a complete success as a tribute to Spielberg...but, unfortunately, wasn't a very memorable Sci-Fi Thriller/'70s-style movie. J.J. Abrams' decision to represent all of the different aspects of Spielberg - JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, 1941, ET, THE GOONIES, JURASSIC PARK - made the end result too "tame" for me, since he wanted the film to have a very sweet, feel-good ending; rather than a disturbing, jolting, heart-pounding conclusion. I was looking for something more JAWS/HALLOWEEN/ALIEN/JURASSIC PARK than GOONIES/CLOSE ENCOUNTERS/ET. I think if the film hadn't been marketed (in the "teaser") as a Sci-Fi/Area 51/Horror film last year, I wouldn't have been as half-disappointed as I was while watching it.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

I know the love theme is getting all the love, no pun intended.. But that darker monster/mystery theme is sinister, sad, beautiful, menacing, all in one.

[QMM 4]

Terrible quality, but still...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PySnxFYiXs

[Jonesy 55]

I love it

[crocodile 8,006]

From what I hear it can be one of his better works.

Now... where is that CD, dammit?!?

Karol

[Brónach 1,302]

I'm making a serious effort here to not listen to that.