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Have John Powell and Harry Gregson-Williams ever surpassed Chicken Run?


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2 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Yes, it's not even close to my favorite from either.

Could you list 5 please? I would like to hear more good Gregson-Williams, I have only heard CR and his two Narnia's.

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1 minute ago, Falafel said:

Could you list 5 please? I would like to hear more good Gregson-Williams.

 

I guess I really just meant Powell.  HGW is a non-entity to me

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2 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

I guess I really just meant Powell.  HGW is a non-entity to me

 

List your favorite Powell scores then!

 

4 minutes ago, Falafel said:

Could you list 5 please? I would like to hear more good Gregson-Williams, I have only heard CR and his two Narnia's.

 

Sinbad is my favorite HGW score, besides Chicken Run.

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9 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Yes, it's not even close to my favorite from either.

 

EDIT: At Fal's behest, I'll clarify I don't know or give a crap about HGW's career.  I really just mean Powell.

 

This sounds personal... what did HGW do to you?!?

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HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2

PAN

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY

 

So, yes. As for HGW, not as familiar with his work aside from the two Narnia scores.

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1 hour ago, Falafel said:

Yeah, Prince Caspian is pretty crappy ;)

 

Never saw nor heard it after the garbage first one, a’thank you very much.

 

Old BBC versions for me!  Now and always!  Great music for those too, within the extreme budget limitations.

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I wouldn't call the first one garbage, but PRINCE CASPIAN is virtually the first one (not kidding—IIRC it felt predominantly comprised of copy-pasted bits from the first score) all over again, plus only a couple new themes. I can remember feeling extremely let-down when that score was released, and this is coming from someone who actually enjoyed the first one.

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8 hours ago, Falafel said:

Could you list 5 please? I would like to hear more good Gregson-Williams, I have only heard CR and his two Narnia's.

Also check out Kingdom of Heaven and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. 

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I have a sad gut feeling telling me The Meg will just be a series of jump scare stingers deprived of any fun or personality that'll leave us questioning why on earth this got an album release. Marco Beltrami's The Shallows was boring, so I have no reason to expect HGW will provide any differently.

 

I'd love to be wrong though. Something at least as fun as Trevor Rabin's Deep Blue Sea is all I ask!

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His world-music stuf is expertly done but hardly something i spend much time with. He's really a better Balfe now, making sure the filmmakers get exactly what they want without infusing much musical personality.

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This thread is crazy, we're in the bizarro world.

 

TLTWATW is a lovely score, one of the better fantasy scores after Shore's Lord of the Rings. 

 

@Jurassic Shark How to Train Your Dragon 1 & 2 are both better than Chicken Run.

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8 hours ago, Loert said:

The real question is:

Will John Powell ever surpass How To Train Your Dragon?

;)

 

The real answer is: yes, he already did (with the help of HGW). :)

 

2 hours ago, Arpy said:

 

@Jurassic Shark How to Train Your Dragon 1 & 2 are both better than Chicken Run.

 

I respectfully disagree.

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Please elaborate then as to what makes Chicken Run so special, worth being put above HTTYD and such. 

If you're ever going to throw us this nonsense thread, at least explain your absurd position.

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Chicken Run is nothing to sneer at, but a bit rough around the edges. Powell writes more smoothly nowadays, but often becomes too loud and frenetic (probably to cut through the sound mix) which is not that much of a problem in CR.

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Chicken Run is a score with great main themes, great build up towards the end and great action music. It's a quite coherent score and not all over the place and changing direction every 5 seconds like Powell's Solo, which I frankly find difficult to enjoy on its own in complete album form.

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While Solo warrants criticism for blockbuster overwriting in its loud cues, there are at least as many coherent pieces in there as in Chicken Run. It certainly doesn't change direction very often: when it hammers you, it just keeps doing that for three minutes.

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"Changing direction" wasn't quite the correct description to use - I meant that sometimes he's hopping too quickly from one idea to the next, to the next, to the next... It probably works well in the film (don't remember) but on album it doesn't hold up well to me.

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It's called not being boring.

 

IN MY OPINION, HE NEEDS TO BE LOUDER!!!!! SOLO WAS TOO SUBTLE! I HAD TO TURN UP THE SPEAKERS SO LOUD THEY BURST INTO FLAMES! I COULD BARELY HEAR THE DAMN COOL PERCUSSION. 

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I always guffaw when people say "Powell's too loud!". It sounds so wimpy and meek. Like the moment Powell does action music, they start shivering like scared little mice!

You know what I do, man? I turn that volume up! I blast that goodness! It's nutritious for the ears! It's more invigorating than any amount of caffeine! I like it loud, and J. Powell supplies! Mmmm-hm! I'm a tough dude, I can devour that noise like a steak cooked medium well!

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1 hour ago, kaseykockroach said:

I always guffaw when people say "Powell's too loud!". It sounds so wimpy and meek. Like the moment Powell does action music, they start shivering like scared little mice!

You know what I do, man? I turn that volume up! I blast that goodness! It's nutritious for the ears! It's more invigorating than any amount of caffeine! I like it loud, and J. Powell supplies! Mmmm-hm! I'm a tough dude, I can devour that noise like a steak cooked medium well!

 

I prefer my steaks cooked maximum well.

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Gregson-William's Narnia scores are good, though the main theme is pretty generic in a "Trevor Rabin power anthem" sort of way.  I like the overall style of it most of all, with the electric violin solos and weird songs.  Also, the Prince Caspian theme is genuinely awesome.

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On 7/21/2018 at 3:55 PM, Falafel said:

Could you list 5 please? I would like to hear more good Gregson-Williams, I have only heard CR and his two Narnia's.

Depends on what style of music you’re looking for. Harry’s best work, in my opinion, was for Tony Scott.

 

For more traditional approach, check out Kingdom Of Heaven (Prince Caspian was heavily temped with this), Veronica Guerin, and Life In A Day. 

 

For more animation works, Antz, Arthur Christmas, and the Shrek scores are good places to start. 

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Narnia 1, KoH, The Martian and Shrek are my favourite HGW besides Chicken Run. Chicken is probably my long-standing favourite, although it's mostly for the action material and the wonderful themes. I don't listen to the underscore material much.

 

In fact, for the first three I have the complete scores rather than OSTs in my playlist. That's highly unusual for any composer.

 

Powell, yep he's easily surpassed it, but only because he's done more mega-profile scores lately. I think Solo qualifies.

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Both of these guys have topped Chicken Run several times.

 

Harry Gregson-Williams

- Kingdom of Heaven

- The Martian

- Prince Caspian (yeah, I said it!)

 

John Powell

- How to Train Your Dragon 1-2

- Bourne 1-3

- Solo

- Mr. & Mrs. Smith

- Agent Cody Banks

- Kung Fu Panda 1-2

- Ferdinand

- The Italian Job

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