Hans Zimmer Appreciation Thread

[Jill Sandwich 11,164]

What would you prefer for him, top-billing??

[Mr. Breathmask 624]

Behave now, you lot.

[Hitch 60]

Stick to your chapters, moderator

What would you prefer for him, top-billing??

He's hardly in the same league as Grace Kelly

[Jill Sandwich 11,164]

Not as icy, either.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

I say we make a thread for just and only Drax and Hitch to go about on their random post chains that interfere with the thread.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

They already have the Star Trek quote thread. We should just maroon them there for all eternity. Buried alive. Buried alive.

[Ollie 1,375]

Khaaaaaannnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jill Sandwich 11,164]

Admiral Kora... never bothered to check on our progress.

[Delorean90 47]

I for one am hankering for some more real discussion. Bryant? Koray?

[Bryant Burnette 790]

I'll have to get back to you on that -- working 72 hours over the last six days has pretty much robbed me of whatever intelligence I might have had.

Put another way, the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the uh, something.

[Delorean90 47]

Ha! I hear that. In the meantime, I look forward to your next post.

[Jill Sandwich 11,164]

I'll have to get back to you on that -- working 72 hours over the last six days has pretty much robbed me of whatever intelligence I might have had.

But watch out... here comes Kora. He'll do it for you in six minutes!

[Koray Savas 2,260]

Say, Koray, have you checked your PMs?

I completely forgot about it! Thanks for the reminder.

[Melange 448]

Hans Zimmer Appreciation Thread

The only Zimmers scores I own, are The Power of One and K2 (although the U.S version used a different composer)

The former (Power of One), is a long favourite of mine and of my family. An immensly powerful and touching score.

The later (K2), I owned on cassette tape for ages before getting my first CDs.

I got Gladiator later on of course. But these two early Zimmer scores are ones I enjoy a lot.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why that Pirates of the Carribean score is so loved though.

Most of the music I hear played from it sounds like an endless variation of his "The Battle" from Gladiator

[Koray Savas 2,260]

The Power Of One is a great score. Zimmer is a master of African vocals. His long time collaboration with Lebo M is a fantastic one.

[Jill Sandwich 11,164]

The Power Of One is a great score. Zimmer is a master of African vocals. His long time collaboration with Lebo M is a fantastic one.

Yet Jerry did it so much better in Congo.

[Hitch 60]

That much is certain

[Luke Skywalker 2,383]

uhhh...Could it be possible that its Lebo M the main responsible of that music?

[Koray Savas 2,260]

Yes it is, as he composed the Spirit Of Africa tracks, not Goldsmith. Don't make me pull out the CD to prove it to you. Congo is a great score, Drax, but Goldsmith is in no way a master of utilizing African vocals. What other scores of his contain them?

A World Apart

The Power Of One

The Lion King

Millennium: Tribal Wisdom And The Modern World

Endurance

The Thin Red Line

Tears Of The Sun

All exceptional scores by Zimmer, except for Endurance, which he produced for Powell.

[Luke Skywalker 2,383]

Yes it is, as he composed the Spirit Of Africa tracks, not Goldsmith. Don't make me pull out the CD to prove it to you. Congo is a great score, Drax, but Goldsmith is in no way a master of utilizing African vocals. What other scores of his contain them?

I see you deliberately ommited any mention of Zimmer.

I mean that it seems to be Lebo M Music when his name is in any score

[Koray Savas 2,260]

It is Lebo M's music. He writes his own lyrics and arranges his own vocals, Hans doesn't do that. But Hans utilizes the vocals in his scores perfectly. I can't think of anyone else that integrates vocals into their music better. He does well not just with African vocals, his work with Lisa Gerrard is great too.

[Luke Skywalker 2,383]

Lisa gerrad composed music as well as vocals too...

[Koray Savas 2,260]

Actually she didn't, but that's besides the point. I'm not talking about who composes what, I'm talking about how Hans uses the vocals in his music.

Gerrard doesn't write lyrics, she does vocal expressions. Hans gave her credit on Gladiator because he felt her input was so influential and vital to its success.

[Luke Skywalker 2,383]

are you telling me that there is not a sole track composed entitley by lisa gerrand on gladiator? i thought i had read that.

And i think the film Ali is score by her...alone.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

Ali is by her and Pieter Bourke

I never said she doesn't write music, she composed music for Ali, Whale Rider, The Insider, Heat, Layer Cake, and A Thousand Roads.

But for instances with Hans Zimmer, she doesn't write music, she just provides the vocals.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

Anyone else excited for some awesome Kung Fu Panda later this summer? Can't wait for the Hans/Powell combo score.

[Morlock 12]

I wasn't, until I saw the recent press release about it. Now I am.

[indy4 160]

Anyone else excited for some awesome Kung Fu Panda later this summer? Can't wait for the Hans/Powell combo score.

In terms of film, I'm sick to death of computer animated animal films (with the exception of Pixar films). They got old after Shrek.

For the score, I'm pretty excited. I love Powell's work on Shrek, I love Zimmer's work on The Lion King, I think they could make wonders together.

[Delorean90 47]

It could indeed be a very nice score. It has lots of potential for fun, with the Oriental side, the comedy, and the action that are inherent, they could really make an enjoyable one. Of course, I can think of another recent team-up with loads of potential, and that score didn't come close to it...

EDIT: Oh, and while I certainly enjoy computer animated films, I am very much looking forward to seeing Disney's return to 2D animation (will it still be hand-drawn? I would hope so, as digital animation is very difficult to keep from looking cheap).

[Bryant Burnette 790]

Kung Fu Panda looks like crap to me. However, it looks like crap in precisely the same way that Surf's Up looked like crap last summer, and I ended up loving that movie. So I have every intention of giving this one a chance, too.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

Anyone here pick up the Kung Fu Panda score besides me?

[indy4 160]

I'm going to the CD store tommorow I think, and I'll consider. There are a couple others that might take a higher priority.

[publicist 4,650]

Yes it is, as he composed the Spirit Of Africa tracks, not Goldsmith. Don't make me pull out the CD to prove it to you. Congo is a great score, Drax, but Goldsmith is in no way a master of utilizing African vocals. What other scores of his contain them?

That's bullocks. Goldsmith wrote the damn TUNE, for god's sake. Lebo M was hired on the heels of 'Lion King' to make this very tune commercially more viable (alas, to no avail).

The other Africa-score without Lebo M's participation is 'Ghost and the Darkness' and that shows that Goldsmith could very well handle this by himself.

[indy4 160]

Just bought Kung Fu Panda, and I'm loving it so far.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 12,383]

Kung Fu Panda?

Oh dear....

[Koray Savas 2,260]

The score is full of awesomeness.

[Luke Skywalker 2,383]

Awesomeness as in Michael Bay?

Then i think that i pass of this Mediaventurish work

[Koray Savas 2,260]

What does this have to do with Michael Bay?

Media Ventures doesn't exist anymore, and John Powell isn't even a part of Zimmer's ensemble anymore. Get your insults right!

[David Coscina 4]

I really like "A Hard Teacher" from Last Samurai. It's actually got some development of a singular idea in that track. Good one Hans!

[Koray Savas 2,260]

Red Warrior is a good track also.

[Neimoidian 15]

Red Warrior is a good track also.

This one is on of my favourite from Hans.

About Kung Fu Panda - I listened to it, it has plenty nice moments, but there are also some weaker, unsatisfactory ones.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

I like The Dark Knight score.

[Neimoidian 15]

I don't like Dark Knight music (sfx to be more precise) which is presented on an album. I am still looking forward to the movie and I suppose the score will work all right within the context.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

I learned a couple things about Hans a few days ago.

Elmer Bernstein sent him a letter after Pearl Harbor came out saying great job and that he loved the score.

Klaus Badelt was a cover-up for The Curse Of The Black Pearl because he agreed to not work on anything else while he was doing The Last Sumarai. So, in fact, the entire score is by Hans Zimmer.

[indy4 160]

Hmm, interesting.

That reminds me, I was thinking about getting Pearl Harbor the other day.

[Morlock 12]

So, in fact, the entire score is by Hans Zimmer.

This is not true. Zimmer himself has said that he could not be credited because of his commitment to TLS, but also that he composed the themes. The 15 orchestrators, lead by Klaus Badelt, did in fact compose everything except for the 6 or 8 minutes fo themes Zimmer wrote.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

''I wrote the tunes for the first film [even though protégé Klaus Badelt was credited with writing the score]. I didn't want anybody to know I was working on Pirates of the Caribbean because I was also working on The Last Samurai. The day Pirates comes out, Tom Cruise is walking past me and goes, 'Great job on Pirates!' So much for keeping it a secret.''

This little bit about The Last Samurai was also interesting:

''I'm dealing with a culture I have no clue about. I kept endlessly researching Japanese music, and the more I researched it, the more I realized I had no clue about it. I went to Japan to sort of test-drive it — to see if I got it wrong. I played it to a whole bunch of people and they came up to me and said, 'How do you know so much about Japanese music?' So, I should worry maybe a little less.''

[Neimoidian 15]

''I wrote the tunes for the first film [even though protégé Klaus Badelt was credited with writing the score]. I didn't want anybody to know I was working on Pirates of the Caribbean because I was also working on The Last Samurai. The day Pirates comes out, Tom Cruise is walking past me and goes, 'Great job on Pirates!' So much for keeping it a secret.''

From what is in here, it doesn't tell that he wrote the whole score, but rather the main melodies, the themes... While PotC sounds like a rehash of previous Hans's and Gregson-Williams' ideas, it also has some very distinct Badelt "sounds".

[Koray Savas 2,260]

It's not exactly clear, but to me it sounds like he did it all. It doesn't say anywhere "themes" or "melodies", just "tunes."

[Morlock 12]

I think that is selective hearing. It is quite obvious to me that by tunes he means themes. I mean, they mean the same thing, in essence. If anything, "themes" means more music than "tunes". I believe that in his soudntrack.net Podcast last year he clarified that the tunes are all his, and that the score is largely based on those tunes, but never that he did more than the few minutes released on the PoTC bonus CD.