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The Force Awakens - Score Reactions from Reviews, etc


Lewya

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From the Jedi Council Boards. Some posivity.

I've been listening to the OST on Youtube on and off these past few days

Wow. My opinion has totally changed from "I'm disappointed" to "I'm underwhelmed" to "I'm impressed" to "I love this!"

It's a grower!

This seems to be the most common listening experience - mine too.

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That's my experience with most Williams scores with the exception of the ones I was already familiar with when I started collecting (ie the big ones) and a few others. A new score is always not exactly what I was expecting - how could it be? And it takes time before it feels like it truly belongs in Williams' canon. Of course, every score belongs in that canon, but it takes time for a new score or work to feel like it belongs in the Williams' library of my mind.

New scores often initially feel like unwanted and obtrusive intruders. The same goes for new works by a lot of other musicians. What I've come to realize is that a Williams' score always grows on me as its melodies, harmonies, and other little intricacies cement themselves in my mind. I might not grow to love every piece of course, but there are always pieces or sections of pieces that eventually give me much more pleasure than my first listen indicated. The first few listens might not do much for me (there are exceptions), but at some point during a later listen, a little light goes off in mind, and suddenly I can't wait to listen to that piece again and again and again. A real sense of expectancy and excitement precedes each subsequent listen.

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I had the opposite experience with The Book Thief. When I first heard it, I thought it was one of Williams' most beautiful scores, and, a week later, I had grown tired of it and haven't listened to it much since.

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It's the Goldsmith character theme if he did Star Wars.

Jerry Goldsmith is better then everything!

The more Williams matures as an artist, the more he becomes like Goldsmith. I think it's telling!

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I know this is extremely unpopular to say around here, but I think it might have been a bit interesting if we saw someone else compose TFA.
Read with caution: Maybe they should have gotten Hanz Zimmer to do it. I know he doesn't write all the score of his music, but much of his soundtrack is just really good.

I hate Reddit...

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1 hour ago, mrbellamy said:

 

Is it me or does Poe's theme actually have a little bit of Zimmer in there?

 

(please be gentle....)

 

Where can I listen to Poe's theme?

 

 

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I don't hear anything particularly Zimmer-ish about it. Perhaps it's the harmonies? If you extract them, they can eventually be extended into a typical piece of Zimmer-ish "epic sad awesome battle warrior" trailer music, but that's not saying much.

 

(please be gentle...)

 

 

 

 

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43 minutes ago, Taikomochi said:

And at least one more unreleased rendition during the X-Wing/resistance music.  I'm not sure if there are more.

Isn't that on the FYC?

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Variety put up a photo-article, "21 Reasons Why The Force Awakens Totally Rocks", and they gave another nice shoutout at Williams and his score for TFA:

 

Quote

 

8. The music makes the movie … again.

Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher also reprise their original roles as sibling star-warriors, but the most indispensable encore here comes from composer John Williams, the man responsible for giving George Lucas' space opera its grandeur and scope. Now 83, the five-time Oscar winner even declined working on Steven Spielberg's "Bridge of Spies" in order to revisit the Jedi universe, writing new themes for Rey and Kylo Ren, while musically reinforcing the links to the series' legacy. Consider the impact aboard the Millennium Falcon, when a would-be moment of suspense reveals the entrance of Han Solo and Chewbacca: The music slyly underscores that surprise by invoking the familiar "Star Wars" anthem. (Fun fact: Han Solo has never had his own music.)

 

 

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It's so weird to me to read other people saying they want a different composer to score Ep 8 or that they don't like TFA's score. I wonder if JW's style is just too out of step with modern film scores that most audiences hear these days or what. I love TFA's score and even with some faults, it really delivers on that Star Wars sound. I can't imagine anyone doing a better job than JW.

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It is depressing that I am reading/watching/listening to extended spoiler reviews of The Force Awakens and I agree with pretty much everything they say except for the opinion that the score is below par with the exception of old themes.

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Yeah, I really don't know what to make of it.  As I've noted elsewhere, I thought the score worked great in imax, but found it often inaudible in a normal theater.  I wonder is this utterly brilliant score will ever get the proper recognition it deserves.

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20 hours ago, artguy360 said:

It's so weird to me to read other people saying they want a different composer to score Ep 8 or that they don't like TFA's score. I wonder if JW's style is just too out of step with modern film scores that most audiences hear these days or what. I love TFA's score and even with some faults, it really delivers on that Star Wars sound. I can't imagine anyone doing a better job than JW.

 

I've seen a lot of random "there are no hummable themes" comments, but this one surely takes the cake:

 

"My biggest beef with the score is that they didnt use the theme from the trailers...not even on the damn soundtrack."

 

 

:huh:

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Yeah, I have seen that a lot.  I posted about the FYC on one of the Star Wars leak subreddits, and got a handful of messages just asking if the FYC had the trailer music on it.  C'mon guys, on the FYC?

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3 hours ago, MikeH said:

 

I've seen a lot of random "there are no hummable themes" comments, but this one surely takes the cake:

 

"My biggest beef with the score is that they didnt use the theme from the trailers...not even on the damn soundtrack."

 

 

:huh:

It's just absolutely disgusting. I thought YouTube was a terrible place for comments but sometimes I actually weep at these comments.

 

tfa.JPG

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2 hours ago, Taikomochi said:

http://filmtracks.com/titles/force_awakens.html

 

And with that, it's pretty much unanimous between Southall, Broxton, and Clemmensen that TFA is a masterwork.

I actually agree with nearly every word of this review, particularly the rebuttals to some of the more common complaints about the score.  Some nice in-depth thematic analysis too (not just an entire review complimenting and congratulating Williams, which it also does).

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I kid ofcoursee!

This part is presumptuous though.

 

After a busy 2005 that featured a somewhat discombobulated Revenge of the Sith score, Williams slipped into semi-retirement, returning only occasionally for feature projects of his choice as his health allowed.

 

There has never been a shred of evidence to suggest health issues prevented Williams from taking on assignments.

Not untill this year.

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With grosses like that, who cares how derivative the idea has become or how much you have to spend on crew specialists to combat the combined weight gain of original actors Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Anthony Daniels?

 

Jesus Christian, take it easy dude.

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I think the review is fine once he gets to the music.  I've alwas liked him.

 

Anthony Daniels has always been trim enough to fit into the C-3PO suit - he even discussed this in a recent interview.  I know Hamill and Fisher were on regimens (seems kind of silly since

Spoiler

Hamill was only in the movie for thirty seconds

)

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3 minutes ago, Taikomochi said:

I think in terms of thoroughness and quality of musical observation, Clemmensen is the best reviewer out there for film scores.  He just can't help himself from saying weird/asshole things now and then.

And he does overwrite his paragraphs to the point of unreadability.

 

Karol

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I'm glad Clemmensen gave TFA a positive review. But yeah, I sort of wish people stopped speculating about Williams' health and how it affects his assignments. If I were Williams I would grow really tired of it all. Let the man compose!

 

On 29/12/2015 at 9:20 AM, RPurton said:

It's just absolutely disgusting. I thought YouTube was a terrible place for comments but sometimes I actually weep at these comments.

 

tfa.JPG

 

I just saw this as well:

 

V5og8m3.png

 

Look out Shawn Murphy! Hatted Sandwich and his artificial reverb know how to improve the score better than you ever did!

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