The Overlooked And Underrated

[Koray Savas 2,251]

We all have our favorites, most are pretty well known. If you're a fan of something or someone you are typically familiar with everything they have to offer, but say you only have a passing interest in a composer... some real gems may go overlooked.

This thread is for recommending those underrated favorites that no one ever talks about or even seems to have heard of.

One such score is Alex and Jake Parker's The Life Of David Gale. It's quite a decent film too with good performances from Spacey, Winslet, and Linney. Some may recognize this bit, as it's been used in a few trailers.

Couldn't find a standalone video, but that's the theme in its full glory. Whole score is a lovely package.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Always. No one likes this score except me and two other people.

[Incanus 5,713]

Always. No one likes this score except me and two other people.

Who is the third? I demand to know!

[Romão 2,274]

I love Always. I know Miguel and Peio love it too

[Incanus 5,713]

Hey there are more of us than I knew.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Yeah but Always is a score we're all familiar with. You guys have any favorites by people, or rather particular scores by people, that I would have never heard of? If it wasn't for this board I wouldn't have discovered Abel K. If it wasn't for FSM, I wouldn't have discovered Chris Young's Haunted Summer, etc.

His Creation score is one that I feel like is overlooked a lot. Such a great one, that is.

[Wojo 2,453]

Yeah but Always is a score we're all familiar with.

Not me.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Well you don't need to be

[Romão 2,274]

Ran, by Toru Takemitsu and The Bible by Toshiro Mayuzumi are two of my absolute all time favorite scores

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I remember you recommending The Bible awhile back. Didn't you also like Danna's Nativity Story? Will look into it.

I second Ran.

[Brónach 1,301]

I love Ran and Creation.

[KK 3,307]

The Gospel of John - Jeff Danna

Lesbian Vampire Killers - Debbie Wiseman

Couples Retreat - A.R. Rahaman

Pope Joan - Marcel Barsotti

La Herencia Valdemar I and II - (2 scores) - Arnau Bataller

Flowers of War - Qigang Chen

Those are some of the recent ones that come to mind.

[Score_Fan 36]

Dennis the Menace- Jerry Goldsmith

[Incanus 5,713]

Hamlet by Patrick Doyle

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I assume many people have never heard the music for Disney parks like EPCOT Center. Just listen to Bruce Broughton's music for the Universe of Energy or Le Visionarium at Disneyland Paris. This is spectacular symphonic music.

[Matt C 452]

Fernando Velazquez's music seems pretty much overlooked here. Love El Mal Ajeno and Shiver... both atmospheric but wonderfully composed scores.

[Brónach 1,301]

[media=]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocsiEQ1sljA

[Jair Crawford 1]

I Passed For White (1960) - Main Theme - John Williams

[Naïve Old Fart 9,498]

Almost anything by Goldsmith in the mid-80s, espicially "Link", "Poltergeist II", "Extreme Prejudice", and "Rent-A-Cop",

"The Accidental Toutist" (come on,dudes, show "TAT" that you care!!).

"Earthquake", coming as it does, right before "TTI", and after "TPA". It's quirky jazz personified,

"The River" - the JW's best score of 1984 (yes, really!).

"Ryan's Daughter"; amost anything by Cliff Martinez, especially "Solaris", and "Traffic".

[KK 3,307]

Sommersby (Danny Elfman)

[Admiral Holdo 16]

Angels In America

Road To Perdition

Howard The Duck

Goldeneye (mostly among the older set)

[gkgyver 1,645]

Amongst John Williams' big scores, The Lost World is underrated as hell. Probably because of its big brother, JP.

[Faleel 5,340]

I love TLW.

[gkgyver 1,645]

It surely is seldomly mentioned.

I would like a re-release of the OST, without that incredibly annoying fold-out.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,498]

_{It's also a better score, in every respect.}

[Faleel 5,340]

It surely is seldomly mentioned.

I would like a re-release of the OST, without that incredibly annoying microedit in Rescuing Sarah or that stupid fold-out.

Fixed.

[Score_Fan 36]

Goldeneye (mostly among the older set)

I do quite enjoy Goldeneye- but not all of it. The overture, fatal weakness, run shoot & jump, and others are great. But its cues like Ladies First! that make me wonder what the hell Serra was thinking.

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

[media=]

that.

[Brónach 1,301]

Hehe yeah Roque Baños has good stuff and Alatriste is amazing. Fernando Velázquez already mentioned up there. We should go in order and bring up the goodies for others to listen to. This is a great thread.

Something I just thought about:

[media=]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TerKgrAFQ5k

[Jonesy 55]

Kinect: Star Wars (Gordy Haab & Kyle Newmaster)

http://soundcloud.com/zachcw3pr

It's an elegant tribute to John Williams and his prequels.

[Richard Penna 3,671]

It surely is seldomly mentioned.

I would like a re-release of the OST, without that incredibly annoying microedit in Rescuing Sarah or that stupid fold-out.

Fixed.

Funnily enough, the full version of that cue is the only unreleased bit I actively want.

Anyway.... here are some of my more obscure favourites:

The Wildest Dream by Joel Douek. Some beautiful string work.

Sanctum by David Hirschfelder. Wonderfully atmospheric and a good set of themes. His ambient material is far more interesting to me than JW's. (also, despite being a 3D vehicle, I thought the film wasn't bad)

Tristan & Isolde by Anne Dudley - a wonderful summer score with a superb love theme.

A Child's Game by Christopher Young. Surprisingly melodic demo score for the film Hide and Seek

The Tower by Christopher Young. One of Intrada's signature editions. Beautiful piano/strings chamber score.

[gkgyver 1,645]

Goldeneye (mostly among the older set)

I do quite enjoy Goldeneye- but not all of it. The overture, fatal weakness, run shoot & jump, and others are great. But its cues like Ladies First! that make me wonder what the hell Serra was thinking.

You know what?

Ever since my Skyfall dissapointment, I gave GoldenEye another chance, and I quite like it. Works well in the film - which Skyfall to me did not - and has a clear line - which Skyfall to me does not.

[Score_Fan 36]

Goldeneye (mostly among the older set)

I do quite enjoy Goldeneye- but not all of it. The overture, fatal weakness, run shoot & jump, and others are great. But its cues like Ladies First! that make me wonder what the hell Serra was thinking.

You know what?

Ever since my Skyfall dissapointment, I gave GoldenEye another chance, and I quite like it. Works well in the film - which Skyfall to me did not - and has a clear line - which Skyfall to me does not.

I disagree on your stance to Skyfall, but I agree on Goldeneye. In all seriousness, the only two cues I'm repulsed by are the end credits track,a nd Ladies First. everything else is listenable, and I hope that the unreleased cues make it out one day (specially the Train Cue).

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Goldeneye (mostly among the older set)

I do quite enjoy Goldeneye- but not all of it. The overture, fatal weakness, run shoot & jump, and others are great. But its cues like Ladies First! that make me wonder what the hell Serra was thinking.

You know what?

Ever since my Skyfall dissapointment, I gave GoldenEye another chance, and I quite like it. Works well in the film - which Skyfall to me did not - and has a clear line - which Skyfall to me does not.

Wow.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Flesh + Blood by Basil Poledouris

[Brónach 1,301]

How is that underrated??? I haven't come across anyone who dislikes it, and it has come up here several times.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Never seen it mentioned except when Intrada released it a year ago or so.

[Brónach 1,301]

It's a classic!

[BloodBoal 7,538]

An overlooked classic!

[Brónach 1,301]

Not by me. But I always thought it was well known among the film score crowd.

[gkgyver 1,645]

Goldeneye (mostly among the older set)

I do quite enjoy Goldeneye- but not all of it. The overture, fatal weakness, run shoot & jump, and others are great. But its cues like Ladies First! that make me wonder what the hell Serra was thinking.

You know what?

Ever since my Skyfall dissapointment, I gave GoldenEye another chance, and I quite like it. Works well in the film - which Skyfall to me did not - and has a clear line - which Skyfall to me does not.

Wow.

I know, I was almost disgusted by myself.

"The Experience Of Love" still makes me want to puke though. I find GoldenEye has at least some panache.

[Trent B 337]

These are ones I personally feel are under-rated...

Star Trek III The Search For Spock

Star Trek IV The Voyage Home

Star Trek Generations

Superman Returns

Fantastic 4 Rise Of The Silver Surfer

Star Wars Episode II Attack Of The Clones

[wanner251 17]

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer - Tom Tykwer

Watership Down - Angela Morley

Interview with the Vampire - Elliot Goldenthal

The 'Burbs - Jerry Goldsmith

The Secret of N.I.M.H. - Goldsmith again

Clue - John Morris

Clash of the Titans - Laurence Rosenthal

Pleasantville - Randy Newman

Tron - Wendy Carlos

The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Alan Menken

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Clue is awesome.

[scallenger 481]

I think some music from Bill Brown is pretty underrated. I still believe he helped pave the way for quality music for gaming just like Giacchino did, and may have been just as influential. In 1998 he did the PC game score for the game Trespasser- The Lost World: Jurassic Park. While it's entirely an original work with no use of Williams themes, it definitely stands on it's own in terms of creating a wonderful atmosphere for the game with just a touch of Williams flair here and there.

(download complete soundtrack here, which had permission from Bill).

He then again struck gold, imo, with the PC game for Timeline (an adaptation of the Crichton novel, no relation to the film version), in 2000. It has an infectious main theme that pops up throughout the score, which is wonderful from start to finish with action, suspense, and wonder. Compare it to the two film versions of the same source material, and this score is easily the most fun of them to me, and was also the first one (the film came out in 2003).

[media=]

(download complete soundtrack here, which had permission from Bill).

In an interview I had slight involvement with, he had two particular bits of interest for people here (the entire exclusive interview can be read here):

When you were composing, how much contact did you have with the Trespasser team? (Such as Spielberg, or just the project lead)

I worked closely with the developers (at DreamWorks Interactive) on Trespasser for months, from the demos all the way to completing the project, and we all became good friends in the process.. As a matter of fact, we just kept working - starting "Clive Barker's Undying" after completing Trespasser. (check out the photo from one of the Undying sessions with Brady Bell, John Galvin and Clive Barker) And at one point during the process, in regard to the score for Trespasser, Spielberg was nice enough to comment on "how impressive this relatively unknown composer puts music together".. which was great to hear. I sent he and his family a bunch of CDs of the score when we finished the project. It was an honor just to be working on the franchise in any form really.

...

The soundtrack you made for Timeline is as good or better than Trespasser's - some would say good enough that many people would listen to it today if the game itself were more remembered. Do you remember what inspiration was used for composing it, what are your thoughts about it after all this time?

The music I wrote for Timeline was inspired by Michael Crichton's novel first.. I think that was the biggest inspiration for me, along with the being a part of the development team for the game of course. The game was finished far before the Timeline film was released so I had no idea at the time they would be choosing Jerry Goldsmith to score it, and that Brian Tyler would take over and write a new score for the film eventually.. None of that was even on my radar when I wrote the music for the game. I was just having fun writing what I felt was organic to that story. I still enjoy listening to that score as well every once in a great while.. It was a lot of fun to work on.

One of his best scores that must be mentioned, however, is for Lineage 2: Chaotic Chronicle, one that I am getting into again.

He even tackled Lord of the Rings in the game Lord of the Rings: Battle For Middle Earth.

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F95HnDcQ4

And many others. He has scored a small number of films and even the television show CSI: NY.

Perhaps his name has never been that big because none of his projects have ever made it BIG. But he really has made some wonderful music that I put in circulation as much as anything else I listen to. Definitely worth checking him out. For more about him and his music, and many clips and full tracks:

http://billbrownmusic.com/

Oh, and I do agree CLUE is an awesome score, as mentioned above. I also have to mention David Shire's RETURN TO OZ, since it is a score that I still wish to see reissued and expanded that deserves far more attention than it has gotten most the years.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Chaac is correct. Flesh + Blood is a very well regarded score.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Ali is scored by Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke.

[scallenger 481]

Ah, you are right. On his credits page now I notice it has an asterisk next to that title. He did additional music for that particular film, but not the whole thing, as well as the other films I mentioned.

I have one more recommendation for underrated scores. I find this particular score lovely and quite unknown. It's called The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, by Colin Towns. Here is a selection of a couple tracks from it I found. It's a gorgeous score at times. It's available on CD overseas, but I really hope an expanded version of this sees the light of day, too. The film features some very good moments that were omitted.

[Quintus 5,399]

Yep, I remember it well.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Any fans of Alberto Iglesias here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0RX28ZJLrI