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What are your favorite "obscure" scores?


Manakin Skywalker

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This is a question I've been meaning to ask for a while. What are your favorite obscure scores? Meaning, what are under-rated scores that you enjoy that almost nobody but you seems to like or even know exist? For example, one of my favorite scores is John Debney's Zathura.

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The topic is too wide for me. Every year, a lot of great soundtracks score highly on my list that would probably be labelled 'obscure' by most people because they're not from the US, and they're not blockbusters. But I'd need some more parameters than just 'obscure' to be able give any meaningul reply. For example, my favourite score of 2018 was a retro synthwave score called VIDEOMANNEN (VIDEOMAN) by Robert Parker and Waveshaper. Probably obscure to most.

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1 hour ago, Romão said:

The Bible, by Toshiro Mayuzumi. Absolutely incredible score and in my view, the best biblical epic score ever written:

 

 

 

Is there a little Rozsa quote at the very end there?

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Celeste by Lena Raine

 

Wet Hot American Summer by Craig Wedren & Theodore Shapiro

 

Alcatraz by Chris Tilton and Andrea Datzman

 

Ferris Bueller's Day Off by Ira Newborn

 

Now You See Me 1 & 2 by Brian Tyler

 

 

 

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Wing Commander - 1999 (Arnold/Kiner).

 

March 2019 would be the 20th anniversary. Sonic Images released the score back then only a little over 37 minutes. The score heard in the film is about 70 minutes.

 

A bombastic score but I am hoping LLL or Intrada would consider an expanded CD.

 

 

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1 hour ago, shockwave said:

Wing Commander - 1999 (Arnold/Kiner).

 

March 2019 would be the 20th anniversary. Sonic Images released the score back then only a little over 37 minutes. The score heard in the film is about 70 minutes.

 

A bombastic score but I am hoping LLL or Intrada would consider an expanded CD. 

  

 

 

Ah yes that's another of mine!

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We apparently have a different definition of 'obscure', because most of the titles mentioned in this thread are fairly familiar, especially to film score fans.

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I still think of Pino Donaggio and his scores as obscure. His Brian De Palma work is damn good stuff.

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1 hour ago, Thor said:

We apparently have a different definition of 'obscure', because most of the titles mentioned in this thread are fairly familiar, especially to film score fans.

 

I'm sorry but Wet Hot American Summer is an incredibly obscure score.

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2 hours ago, Thor said:

We apparently have a different definition of 'obscure', because most of the titles mentioned in this thread are fairly familiar, especially to film score fans.

"Underrated" was more the word I was trying to think of when I wrote the title.

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22 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

"Underrated" was more the word I was trying to think of when I wrote the title.

 

I see. Well, I can think of hundreds, if not thousands of great, underrated scores. Wouldn't really know where to begin. Anything particular style you had in mind?

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7 hours ago, Thor said:

 

I see. Well, I can think of hundreds, if not thousands of great, underrated scores. Wouldn't really know where to begin. Anything particular style you had in mind?

 

Just choose your favourite, goddammit! :)

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"Obscure" can have various worthwhile interpretations, of course. Obscure composers, hardly known scores by well-known composers, rather well-known scores that still nobody ever talks about. And due do the nature of their obscurity, I'm sure I have some favourites that don't even come to mind right now.

 

Two prime candidates though:

 

Elmer Bernstein's The Hallelujah Trail:

 

 

A musical, a comedy, and a western score at the same time, with each song serving as a leitmotif (and a few more that aren't songs), at times combined contrapuntally. Sadly, the original recording was lost to water, and all that survives is the album arrangement, which lacks some of the best moments and works more as a (good) song album with a few instrumentals than a representation of the score's full scope. One of my prime candidates for a new recording (beyond the lovely concert ouverture conducted by James Sedaris).

 

Philippe Sarde's Pirates:

 

 

A wonderful pirate/comedy score, with a strong Spanish influence and one of the best mystery themes I've heard.

 

Both are wonderful and underrated films, too, with excellent casts (Lancaster in Hallelujah Trail and Matthau in Pirates are brilliant) and a great sense of humour, even if both falter a bit in their second half. Polanski's film is still the last good pirate film I've seen, retaining a strong romantic swashbuckler flair through all its comedy antics. In fact, when I recently watched it again, I was surprised how many similarities to the Monkey Island games it has; I'm pretty sure Gilbert and/or Schafer must have seen and liked it.

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Another one... Stephen Endelman's The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain:

 

 

 

Another comedy score (do I see a pattern?) with its share of epic, Morricone-esque moments. Another wonderful film, too - with Colm Meaney as a Welshman.

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I too have a hard time deciding what is considered "obscure". I guess it differs from person to person. These are some of my favorites I don't see get mentioned often;

 

"Valhalla" by Ron Goodwin (1986)

"Fortunella" by Nino Rota (1958)

"Himalaya - l'enfance d'un chef" by Bruno Coulais (1999)

"Bébé(s)" by Bruno Coulais (2010)

"Flåklypa Grand Prix" by Bent Fabricius-Bjerre (1975)

"Hannibal & Jerry" by Thomas Hass (the songs excluded) (1997)
"Stato interessante" by Ennio Morricone (1977)

 

There are plenty of others, but I'm unsure how "obscure" they are (some of them were Oscar-nominated, after all). Like "Avalon" (Randy Newman), "The Secret Garden" (Zbigniew Prisoner), "Les triplettes de Belleville" (Benoît Charest), "Sunshine" (Maurice Jarre), "Nebraska" (Mark Orton), "Far from the Madding Crowd" (Craig Armstrong), "Mr. Bean's Holiday" (Howard Goodall), "In Bruges" (Carter Burwell), or the television scores for "Poirot" (Christopher Gunning), "Midsomer Murders" (Jim Parker) and "30 Rock" (Jeff Richmond).

Okay, I might have included some quite known scores. 😅 They're all worth a listen, anyway, I guess.

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9 minutes ago, Once said:

"30 Rock" (Jeff Richmond).

 

His scores for Kimmy Schmidt are good too, and almost every episode gives him a minute or two in the end credits to showcase his material

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13 hours ago, Once said:

I too have a hard time deciding what is considered "obscure". I guess it differs from person to person. These are some of my favorites I don't see get mentioned often;

 

"Valhalla" by Ron Goodwin (1986)

"Fortunella" by Nino Rota (1958)

"Himalaya - l'enfance d'un chef" by Bruno Coulais (1999)

"Bébé(s)" by Bruno Coulais (2010)

"Flåklypa Grand Prix" by Bent Fabricius-Bjerre (1975)

"Hannibal & Jerry" by Thomas Hass (the songs excluded) (1997)
"Stato interessante" by Ennio Morricone (1977)

 

There are plenty of others, but I'm unsure how "obscure" they are (some of them were Oscar-nominated, after all). Like "Avalon" (Randy Newman), "The Secret Garden" (Zbigniew Prisoner), "Les triplettes de Belleville" (Benoît Charest), "Sunshine" (Maurice Jarre), "Nebraska" (Mark Orton), "Far from the Madding Crowd" (Craig Armstrong), "Mr. Bean's Holiday" (Howard Goodall), "In Bruges" (Carter Burwell), or the television scores for "Poirot" (Christopher Gunning), "Midsomer Murders" (Jim Parker) and "30 Rock" (Jeff Richmond).

Okay, I might have included some quite known scores. 😅 They're all worth a listen, anyway, I guess.

 

Two tumbs up for Flåklypa!

 

I love Ron Goodwin's war scores, but I can't remember if I've checked out his score to Valhalla. Does it have an official release?

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On 2/8/2019 at 1:00 PM, Jurassic Shark said:

I love Ron Goodwin's war scores, but I can't remember if I've checked out his score to Valhalla. Does it have an official release?

Yes, but I think it's out of print. Fair warning; the score contains too much mickey mousing, but the themes are great.

 

On 2/8/2019 at 8:40 PM, TheUlyssesian said:

Not obscure to anyone who has seen the godfather! 😉

Haha, true. But while it's fun to hear the Godfather waltz (edit: the love theme!) arranged in many different ways (like this silly arrangement) Fortunella is much more than just that theme.

 

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2 hours ago, Once said:

Yes, but I think it's out of print. Fair warning; the score contains too much mickey mousing, but the themes are great.

 

Haha, true. But while it's fun to here the Godfather waltz arranged in many different ways (like this silly arrangement) Fortunella is much more than just that theme.

 

2

 

You mean the love theme! The Godfather Waltz is the main theme.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...
On 2/8/2019 at 9:59 PM, Once said:

Yes, but I think it's out of print. Fair warning; the score contains too much mickey mousing, but the themes are great.

 

 

There's now a new CD release, and it's also available on Spotify!

 

https://open.spotify.com/album/66IEpy8y1dAF1PRm8bquUG?si=qbVs6VDDTi-MgpqdrGRRug

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24 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

Angel's Egg by Yoshihiro Kanno

 

The score is fine, but I checked out the film two years ago after a recommendation from a friend of mine. Well, I'm afraid it didn't do much for me, although I can understand why it has received so much kudos over the years.

 

As for the topic at hand, I'll just have to say what I said earlier in the thread -- my head implodes without any proper parameters to work from. 50% of my entire collection would probably fall into the 'obscure' or 'underrated' category.

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Quite an obscure one, and no soundtrack has ever been released (nor likely ever will):

 

Twice_Upon_a_Time_(1983)_poster.jpg

 

Music by Ken Melville and Dawn Atkinson (whomever they are)

 

Edit: okay, on searching I found that Dawn Atkinson is a music producer and is credited with composition, orchestration and conducting on TUAT: http://www.dawnatkinson.com/film.html

 

From the bio page: "She was the second woman ever to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra (at age 28) for the score of a George Lucas animated feature, Twice Upon A Time, a film for which she also co-produced songs for Bruce Hornsby and Michael McDonald."

 

Ken Melville seems to have done at least one game score:

 

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ken-melville-mn0003416761/credits?1586959609836

 

This is a terrific score and needs to be released! I wonder if Disney has the elements from the Lucasfilm archives?

 

Does anyone have the ear of a certain Mike Matessino?

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