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I have to travel to Fresno for work every two weeks, and while the drive is arduous, it's made up for after discovering a vintage record store that has an embarrassment of John Williams original pressings. I don't think they know what treasures they have! I'm giddy and wanted to share with other Williams lovers!!

I would like to give Powell all awards there is, just to hear his speech. Hollywoods needs a little jab!

ABC Classic FM are doing a "Composer Countdown" this month and next. Each presenter on the station has been given the opportunity to present a program of the composer of their choice. Dan Golding, who presents the "Screen Sounds" program on Saturday nights chose to do a feature on the great Maestro himself. Not sure if it's accessible from outside of Australia, but if it is, then to those who are curious, enjoy! https://www.abc.net.au/classic/abc-classic-specials/presenter-favourite-dan-golding-john-williams/11103476

As part of of the ongoing series "Legacy Conversations", here's an exclusive interview with one of America’s most talented, lively and creative living conductors: Leonard Slatkin. https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2019/05/16/leonard-slatkin-podcast/ In this interview, Maestro Slatkin offers his own insightful comments about the music and the legacy of his dear friend John Williams. Hope you'll enjoy!

Sounds like a lame Dreamworks flick.

For anyone who isn't aware, Dan Golding is also a part of the Art of the Score podcast.

@Disco Stu @Faleel J.M. NEW KOJI KONDO MUSIC CONFIRMED FOR SMM2!!! I love that he's so respected, he even got a name drop in the direct. How often is a game composer mentioned in any promotional video?

Copland and Coffee this morning! Have a good day!

Part 2: https://www.soundtrackpodcast.com/podcasts/the-fellowship-of-the-ring-the-music-part-ii.htm

It's out. https://www.soundtrackpodcast.com/podcasts/the-fellowship-of-the-ring-the-music-part-ii.htm

I love that moment. It's always struck me as being surprisingly modern for Williams. Like something in the style of John Powell or Harry Gregson-Williams

After a lengthy period of intense research and discussion, scientists from institutes across the globe backed by multi-national corporations have arrived at the consensus that the best version of Rey's Theme is to be found in the final minute of "The Scavenger":

I’m hoping The Outlaw Josey Wales gets reissued at some point.

I know few here will care, but I am thrilled that StudioCanal has released this digitally, along with Rambo: First Blood Part II. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/rambo-iii/1461733807 It is available to stream and purchase at the usual places. Hopefully First Blood will follow too.

I listen to the music and find it limits my enjoyment if it ends too quickly. I don't approach the music from the same cerebral angle that you do (which I have no problem with, by the way). However if a short cue serves the film, that is all that matters, that is after all its sole purpose.

Do you sit there watching the seconds tick and get irritated if it's 1:50? Or are you looking for a satisfying amount of exploration and elaboration for the specific idea/motif/scene that is the subject of the track?

Philosopher's Stone has 4 tracks under 1 minute, 3 close to it from the 45 track main program. Average track length is 3 minutes. Chamber has 4 tracks under 1 minute and 1 close to it from the 47 track main program. Average track length is 2.9 minutes. Azkaban has 2 tracks under 1 minute and 5 close to it from the 41 track main program. Average track length is 2.6 minutes. Unacceptably and unbearably fragmented, I agree.

For Williams maybe "With Malice Toward None" (Piano Solo) (01:32) from Lincoln For Horner maybe Heading for Sador (00:55) from Battle Beyond The Stars

It's still amazing to me that the soundtrack collecting market was once so robust that a Jerry Fielding score could sell out "practically overnight"

Well here is a list of the titles in the Special Collection line to pick from http://www.intrada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4813 And here is the list of composers again and Jerry Fielding's LAWMAN fits the all 3 clues - early Special Collection (the 17th one), early 70s (1971), on the (second) list of composers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawman_(film) http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/22352/Lawman

A true "holy fuck this is a masterpiece" moment in Britten's Spring Symphony (27:34 - 28:03) https://youtu.be/dw-sW83vF4o?t=1654 Or here, in a video that will embed but is region restricted (4:36 - 5:08)

It probably has something to do with mods merging threads, that leads to old messages being reread, you anal cunts!

Some great stuff in there!

I’m curious to see how it has 4 unreleased tracks yet runs shorter than the Varèse version.

The album is now also available to order on Amazon.com. According to Amazon the album includes four previously unreleased tracks. Amazon.ca now also lists a vinyl release. Amazon briefly updated the artwork for the CD release:

Good stuff. When I read the thread title I thought you missed out on buying them, as where I'm from "lucked out" means "bad luck" or "missed opportunity" Oh the English language!

So you can hear some of the land's exterior background music through the construction walls now. I stuck around for perhaps 2 or 3 minutes. Seemed to be slow variations on the different melodies heard in the suite. General tone of wonderment. Sounded like it was probably not a Williams arrangement, though, and I'm not sure if there were any acoustic instruments; it was muffled by the wall.

It is a specific passage from Alan Silvestri's score to Captain America: The First Avenger; "This Is My Choice." One of the reasons I believe Alan Silvestri outdid himself with the score to Avengers: Endgame is not just the large scale sequences, but the intimate character moments as well, particularly this one. It completes the character's arc perfectly, both in terms of what is happening on-screen and score.

I hope they bring back the TNG LCARS and Tricorder/Phaser designs! Oh, how I've missed TNG!

The First Contact / DS9 uniforms were easily my favorite of every Starfleet uniform. Nothing beat those before or since to me.

Look how old you’ve become

A films based on a TV show? What a silly idea!

Jar Jar's theme is comin' back baby!

Dude, you have got to move on from these Straw Men examples. Just like your example of the Droid Army theme, no one in their right mind is suggesting he would include every minor theme and motif from all nine movies into one piece. Just the major themes and just some of those. It probably will not happen, but I it is not out of the question, given the saga-ending character of the film, that it does.

The Skull theme has three elements really (listen to the Call of the Crystal concert suite below), the repeating "Call of the Crystal" three-note pulse (0:00-0:17), the main melody which is an ominous McGuffin theme (very B-movie sci-fi feeling!) (0:18-1:14) and the third (1:21-2:26) which is a lyrical more wistful theme usually voiced by the woodwinds that seems to speak of the otherworldly beauty or eerie wonder or ancient civilization which also feels a lot like the Medallion theme that is connected and complemented to the Ark theme. McGuffin's have clearly their own musical language in Williams' ears.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence I always enjoy revisiting this Spielbergian anomaly. Pre-9/11 dark and disturbing, a relief in these Trumpian times, conceived by the late director of Eyes Wide Shut and according to audiences either a masterpiece or trash after an aging increasingly dull Steven Spielberg got his hands on it. I've recounted the tale of seeing it on opening day and the projector breaking down during the overlong climax which led to even more groaning from an unimpressed audience. My feelings haven't really changed about it with the passage of time. I've always been somewhere in the middle, agreeing with those who both love and hate it. It's just that type of experience. I think ultimately it's something that I can't take my eyes off for about two solid hours. But there's the rub, as a Steve Jobsian William Hurt tells his skepticle board of directors. For the second consecutive viewing of this movie, I've nodded off during the awkward climax where David is discovered under the ice. I think 'awkward' is a good word to describe this flick. The idea of a robot made in the form of a child is odd. The child will never eat (Beware spinach!), sleep, grow old or even "love" unless given a command. This is inherently creepy and so opposite of what a child is, one wonders what the people in this strange futuristic society were thinking. Several people do question what the point of a mecha child would be. Created by a man mourning the loss of his son as a first-of-its-kind experiment for childless couples in this weird tomorrowland, well, the concept is still pretty hard to swallow. Now, sex worker robots I absolutely buy. The impression I got when I first saw A.I. was that it was going to be an anthology movie about different robots. The first story about David seems to have a clear beginning, middle and end, then Jude Law becomes the focus. This never happened, however. It doesn't take long for them to meet up after David is realistically and relatably made homeless and left to fend for himself in a dark and disturbing universe that, like Minority Report, seemed to rather accurately anticipate the post-9/11 world excepting smartphones. I think David was cast too old. Monica and her husband in their soulless posh home don't really come off as Spielbergian at all. In fact, the actress playing Monica is perhaps the worst in any Spielberg production. This leads to a lot of awkwardness and a near-impossibility of watching this movie with anyone else around when the young Norman Batesian Osment is obsessing over being reunited with Mother. It is more creepy than anything. I find Jude Law with receding hairline and leather jacket more charming. Despite being another weird robotic creation, he has a clearer understanding of the world and his place in it, charisma and a more interesting arc. His programmed loving nature and desire for self-preservation makes him indebted and caring towards the boy robot. Sadly, the focus returns to David in the overlong sleep-inducing climax. I get it. The future mecha's closest link to humans is David, a robo boy designed to love and dream. Then the message perhaps is that the essence of humanity will be preserved by our technology, or what we leave behind. While I do certainly believe this may be an accurate prediction, things get a bit too damn--yep, I'm going to say it--schmaltzy. The visuals are stunning. John Williams delivers the goods on his end. The score is effectively eerie, brooding and heartfelt, just skip the song. Jude Law steals the show, but there are memorable appearances by Brendan Gleeson as a trashy ringleader, Hurt as a depressed industrialist and the teddy bear.

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The Wagner episode was a disappointment. It was unfocused and spent too much time just summarizing the plots of operas instead of zeroing in on specific leitmotif examples to illustrate why it was so influential on film scoring. Looking forward to the LOTR episodes, though.

Any previous album of Ghostbusters has been superceded by this: It's all you need.

I find it interesting how polarizing this piece continues to be!

I don't know what's wrong with some of you rating it "meh" This piece is like the essence of JW concentrated into one cue

Ever the glass half empty...

There's some good themepark music though. My fav must be this little Goldsmith gem:

Yes, Powell does a sensational job blending his themes into Williams', both the vintage (Luke/Rebel fanfare/DS Motif) and the new (Han's A Theme and Han Searching). Impressively, despite many of these themes being written four decades apart, it never feels like an anachronism (is that a credit to Powell's modern sensibilities or Williams' timeless writing, I wonder?) Either way, it's super impressive how Powell seamlessly blends all these themes together. We've seen so many examples of disjointed, "jerky" attempts at adapting Williams' themes by other composers over the years, it's bloody refreshing to have a modern composer finally nail the task.

lol

Isn't Flag Parade diegetic? Honestly the Imperial March thing is fine in the movie. It's not really anything I thought twice about, it's sort of a background gag.

I think "Flying with Chewie" is quickly becoming a contender for my favorite score cue of Disney Star Wars. Like my other favorite "Farewell and the Trip" it feels like it has a beginning, middle, and end, plenty of scope with an emotional center and melodic flow, dramatically effective, but unlike that one it's also got all that rousing Star Wars-y action stuff, all original thematic material, and the Chewie's theme statement is beautifully, unabashedly non-Williams and brings something new to the table without turning its back on the franchise's heart-on-sleeve lyricism. It also has probably the most satisfying version of Han's theme, sounds great releasing the tension. I had some worries that either Williams or Powell would drop the ball and we'd get a theme that was too good, not good enough, overused, underused. Everyone's mileage will vary but it feels just about right to me. Testament to Powell's skill and taste that he could take Williams's material and seamlessly craft a whole little world around it. There's no real doubt to me that Powell could have written his own damn theme and it would have been just fine, but man, a Han Solo theme by John Williams exists now and it's a lot of fun and so is this score. Got pretty lucky.

The Marauder music was fucking awesome, if that's who you mean.