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Define a John Williams "dust collector" and your listening habits


Unlucky Bastard

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Lots of stuff. Star Wars, Jaws, Indiana Jones...

For Williams, it was all downhill after Cinderella Liberty, with the occasional return to form, namely Nixon and Munich.

Actually, Koray Solemn would agree with the latter (Munich).

I love Star Wars (1977) but only on vinyl.

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People actually listen to film music for enjoyment? :huh:

I thought it was more of a status symbol thing. As in, I have so much disposable income that I line my shelves with plastic discs comprising background instrumental music no normal person actually pays any attention to.

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Lots of stuff. Star Wars, Jaws, Indiana Jones...

For Williams, it was all downhill after Cinderella Liberty, with the occasional return to form, namely Nixon and Munich.

Actually, Koray Solemn would agree with the latter (Munich).

I love Star Wars (1977) but only on vinyl.

I have it on vinyl too (hand-me-down), as well as Superman: The Movie. I prefer the CDs, personally.

I had Raiders as well but lent it out and never got it back.

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Okay, my dust-collectors are Stepmom, Sabrina, Sleepers, Catch Me If You Can...

I only have The River on vinyl, think I'd probably listen to it more often if I copied it to CD or MP3.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Williams has the great advantage that he at least writes one or two keepers per score...the concert stuff. Minus these, scores like STEPMOM, CMIYC, AMISTAD and several others wouldn't make the cut.

Definitely. That was a trademark of Jerry's, too—he could put a score on autopilot better than anyone, and yet there was nearly always at least one or two tracks that rose above the rest, demonstrating that he had a solid grasp of the movie's central dramatic purpose.

What I meant was, that he only gave Presumed Innocent 5 stars because it was so far removed from Williams' usual comfort zone. Other than that, the score isn't really anything special.

Whatever, dude.

ok, when people start putting TESB ,Star Wars, E.T..on the list this thread loses credibility

Why? I think there needs to be a distinction made here. Calling a score one of your "dust collectors" doesn't mean you don't think it's a worthy effort, or even one of Williams' greater works. It just means you don't make a conscious effort to listen to it as often as you used to (if you ever really paid much attention to it at all). It shouldn't be taken as a denigration toward the score. The River is a great example: it's a beautiful score. Do I listen to it on a regular basis? No. It collects its fair share of dust, aside from occasional appearances on the shuffle setting. Doesn't mean I think any less of the music, though.

I'm also one who doesn't listen to the SW OT scores much these days. I love them, I know every measure by heart, TESB's still on my top-ten list . . . but they just don't hold my attention like they once did. I would say that I might know them too well, but that would be true of Superman, E.T., Raiders, and the like as well, and I still give those regular play.

This thread has great credibility, because it offers a metric for measuring an aspect of our perspectives on JW's scores we haven't much considered before.

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My dust collectors are pretty much everything pre-Star Wars (except Jaws and Midway), Sabrina, Sleepers, Rosewood, Seven Years in Tibet, Stepmom, Lincoln, and The Book Thief - I still listen to these, but they all definitely see significantly less play than the rest.

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The only thing holding back The River for me is its short length. Other than that, it's a hidden gem.

Vice versa, that's one of the reasons why it's on constant rotation over here. PERFECT length! Underrated score too, although it took a while for me to warm to it.

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BOTFOJ...i pity you...

no need. You hear greatness where none exists. I pity you.
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I mean, even I enjoy JFK and Nixon and I prefer the AMBLIN Logo to the entire score to Schindler's List. If there's nothing wrong with me, maybe there's something wrong with the universe.

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The 90's are probably my favorite JW decade, and mainly due to scores like Nixon, Sleepers and Seven Years in Tibet

ugh.
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BOTFOJ...i pity you...

no need. You hear greatness where none exists. I pity you.

The have eyes but they cannot see. BOTFOJ, love or hate the movie, does such great job of translating important landmarks in american history into music and on top you have some of Williams' more creative atonal ventures (it's THE SHOOTING OF WILSON on the MCA, i think) to describe the chaos abroad, it's beyond me how one can consider this score as less-than-stellar.

(though i never would expect you, of all people, offering a measured opinion of it)

1989 was a watershed for war movie scores: GLORY, BOTOF, CASUALTIES OF WAR, and all have hands-down brilliant music.

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BOTFOJ...i pity you...

no need. You hear greatness where none exists. I pity you.

The have eyes but they cannot see. BOTFOJ, love or hate the movie, does such great job of translating important landmarks in american history into music and on top you have some of Williams' more creative atonal ventures (it's THE SHOOTING OF WILSON on the MCA, i think) to describe the chaos abroad, it's beyond me how one can consider this score as less-than-stellar.

Absolutely. It may be a dust-collector for some (meaning they don't listen to it that often), but it's a phenomenal historical work.

1989 was a watershed for war movie scores: GLORY, BOTOF, CASUALTIES OF WAR, and all have hands-down brilliant music.

Yes, yes, and yes.

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I've listened to Sabrina twice.

Do you have the dates and the places? With whom were you?

Don't say it was with Colonel Mustard in the Library?

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