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How would you rate "Black Sunday"?


Josh500

Black Sunday   

40 members have voted

  1. 1. How would you rate John Williams's score?

    • 5 stars
      5
    • 4,5 stars
      2
    • 4 stars
      12
    • 3,5 stars
      10
    • 3 stars
      5
    • 2,5 stars
      2
    • 2 stars
      0
    • 1,5 stars
      0
    • 1 star
      0
    • I don't know this score.
      4


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What are the highlight of this score? What do you like or dislike about this? 

 

Gotta admit, I own this score, but I have never listened to it so far.

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Just now, crocodile said:

Solid four stars. Very unique score in Williams' ouvere.

 

 

Which tracks or cues are the highlights, in your opinion? 

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A solid 3. Love the fugue stuff, and some of the somber thriller tracks, but otherwise, it's not a score that does much for me. I think it was better represented in the old 90s Silva suite. But I obviously have the FSM nonetheless.

 

The film is mediocre, at best, but with some tenative potential.

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It’s one of my favorite Williams scores. While not very similar directly, I find it written in a similar vein to Images. Dark, thrilling, suspense with a touch of melody. 

 

I’m not too familiar with the breakdown of the FSM release. I discovered the bootleg years ago when I first started listening to scores, and mostly listened to that. 

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Williams at his most Goldsmithian, jagged rhythms abound. 

The best cues, relatively speaking:

Commando Raid 5:30

It Was Good/Dahlia Arrives/The Unloading 3:11

Preparations 2:42

The Blimp and the Bomb 3:12

Air Chase (Part 1) 1:12

Air Chase (Parts 2 and 3)/The Blimp Hits 7:19

The Explosion 2:36

End Title 2:15

 

Thor is right, the old Prague recording by William Motzing combines all the bet stuff in a 15-minute suite.

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8 minutes ago, Bryant Burnette said:

 

Why in Christ's name did you create a poll about it, then?

 

To find out what people think of this score and how they rate it? 

 

What else? What kind of dumb question is that? 😂 

5 hours ago, publicist said:

Williams at his most Goldsmithian, jagged rhythms abound. 

The best cues, relatively speaking:

Commando Raid 5:30

It Was Good/Dahlia Arrives/The Unloading 3:11

Preparations 2:42

The Blimp and the Bomb 3:12

Air Chase (Part 1) 1:12

Air Chase (Parts 2 and 3)/The Blimp Hits 7:19

The Explosion 2:36

End Title 2:15

 

Thor is right, the old Prague recording by William Motzing combines all the bet stuff in a 15-minute suite.

 

Very helpful, thanks! 

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It's actually nice to have JW score in your collection that you have never listened to. When you finally DO listen to it, it's like getting a brand-new John Williams score... :D

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14 hours ago, Thor said:

I think it was better represented in the old 90s Silva suite. But I obviously have the FSM nonetheless.

 

The suite is indeed good, but it's too bad the playing is sloppy in places.

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22 hours ago, Bespin said:

The fact that the CD has been produced and mixed by Mike Matessino adds those extra little stars needed to pass the test. :)

 

This is now an essential in our collections.

 

The presentation is flawed, though, as they couldn't find good masters for all of the cues, and one cue had to be partially remade.

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1 hour ago, Brundlefly said:

Why obviously? It's a complete score release.

 

But it's also the only album specifically dedicated to that score, and as a title completist, I need to have it. 'Complete' is an unfortunate side-effect.

 

Someone said this was an 'essential' JW album. I don't consider it that at all. Mostly for JW collectors.

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  • 2 months later...

4,5 stars. I really love this suspenseful side of JW. While at the time some critics apparently claimed that Johnny had just copied his shark motif-idea for this film by having essentially a similar terrorist-ostinato  figure feature prominently and repeatedly,  the score has a lot more going on than just that. The doom-laden, ominous and fateful atmosphere of the whole thing is just delicious.

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A solid 3, from me. 

I suspect that the most significant thing about BLACK SUNDAY, is where it sits in JW's oeuvre, it being the score right before that score. From relistening to the FSM, its clear that very few people had any idea of what was to happen next...

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3.5 stars sounds about right. It is good, maybe even very good, but hardly great. I don't really listen to it. Especially Close Encounters, but also Star Wars from the same year are vastly superior.

 

Maybe I would like it more if I had seen the film, who knows - but after a few listens it falls somewhere among the middle of Williams output. Not top 30 of all time material for him.

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13 hours ago, kaseykockroach said:

Not as interesting or as terrifying as Black Friday.

 

#When black Friday comes 

   I stand down by the door

   And catch the grey men

   When they dive from the fourteenth

   Floor #

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On 7/19/2018 at 2:17 PM, Bespin said:

It's always what I loved about John Williams, he provides the right score that fit to the movie, always.

 

No, not always. JOHN GOLDFARB and 1941 are examples of Williams adding to the overkill of the film's aesthetic, instead of restraining it somewhat for better efficiency in the delivery of jokes or action. You could say the same about the John Adams speech scene in AMISTAD. "Lack of restraint" is sometimes Williams' achilles heel.

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  • 1 year later...

This is such a marvellous score, and such great sound. Like Poseidon I always lamented that there was never an album back in the day. I'm battling to whittle this score down to an LP acceptable 40 mins. Just too many highlights to miss out on! Whomever's idea it was to recreate the end credits edit was pure genius!

It gets a solid 4,5 from me.

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