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Twenty years ago today, Howard Shore took to the podium in front of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra at Wellington Town Hall for the first Fellowship of the Ring recording session.

Every time you guys tease it, it gets pushed back 2 months. Stop it!

Balin's Tomb (m91) was the first piece recorded. On the CR, it can be heard from 1:13-3:01 in the track of the same name. Also recorded on this day - Gollum (m88) and Orc Attack (m93, appears immediately after Balin's Tomb in the CR track of the same name).

It's a nice set!

I was hoping for a better visual representation of this, but the forum’s polling software doesn’t report that way. I think for it to report the way I wanted it to report, I’d have had to make a separate poll for each movie with a “watched” and “have not watched” option for each, which is ludicrous. Once this has been up for a while I’ll move the results into a Google sheet and share some sort of better representation of the data. I’ll even add data for Thor

An exciting period to look into is the time between 1956 and 1962 when young John Williams was personally involved in many session recordings as a pianist, conductor, arranger or co-arranger. Based on your discography you can already count more than 60 albums and 20 singles he was part of during these years! And there are more to be added... So here is another album, just released one month ago: Artist: Jerry Goldsmith Album: Face of Fugitive Featuring John Williams (piano); Intrada Special Collection ISC 466 Recorded December 1958 Released March 23, 2021

5th episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was great. That was exactly the kind of episode that I always wanted to see in The Mandalorian. An episode not focussed on fighting action but letting the protagonists take some time off and think about their motivations and let them reflect on what happened and get aware of their own development.

At least it's hard to miss yours now.

@Tom Guernsey pointed out that London Music Works sounds (at least partially) like a synthetic orchestra. I'm inclined to agree.

Mutt swinging in the vines with those horrible CGI monkeys was just atrocious. Can't believe a filmmaker like Spielberg kept that scene in the final cut.

Hey folks! I've made a few updates to The Music of The Mandalorian in the past few weeks, including the addition of revised write-ups for Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. I have also made a few small discoveries regarding unreleased music in Season 2 (a recent rewatch of Chapter 9 indicates that there's way more missing music than I initially estimated), meaning that the post detailing the amount of music in each episode is in need of an update, which will happen once I've gone over all the chapters again. Don't forget about the isolated score videos and thematic catalogue, which have been up for a few months now! I'm still reviewing the remainder of the write-ups and revising some timestamps, and while I didn't chip away as much as I thought I would over Easter, I'm sure the unfortunate circumstances in my province will keep me homebound for a good long while now, so this will be a good thing to fall back on when I have extra time on my hands. Also, I was reading back on this thread and found a question I wasn't able to answer previously that I can now: Most of the recaps are edits of tracked music with a few loose inserts (strings building up as the recap ends, etc). In some cases, however, there is between 30 seconds to a minute of music that isn't heard anywhere else. This includes the recorder in Chapter 2's recap, unique electronics in Chapter 4, some action-y synth in Chapter 5, and a hopeful string opening to Chapter 9's recap of Season 1, among others. I've added what each recap cue is comprised of to the write-ups. Also, @CGCJ I recently noticed that your spreadsheet has a page marked "Series 1 (Unsorted)" that lists a Chapter 3 cue as Not Forgotten. I'm almost certain this is the missing music from when Mando spots Baby Yoda's favourite trinket on the dashboard, turns off the Crest's engines and decides to go back for him. The timing seems to line up as far as I can tell. It comes after Mando's Back (also unreleased) in sequence. Just wanted to double check as I had noticed this the last time I opened the spreadsheet to figure out which cue was which. Thanks for putting the document together- it's really helped me to stay organized! Anyways, I'll post about any more updates here as they happen. If you're a fan of the show and score or know someone who is, you're welcome to take a look and spread the news to anyone who might be interested. Feedback is always welcome! Thanks and cheers!

Absolutely agreed. This is also stuff they hardly do in the films, but I wish they would do more. I think character driven things like this are incredibly underrated and heavily overlooked in the world of mainstream blockbusters. But a lot of it is probably driven by the crowd who think things like this are boring when people aren't punching the hell out of each other.

You know I'm just having a laugh😄

Yup. Deal with it. Except for Nirvana, I actually also like all of the bands/artists you mentioned — to one degree or another.

Is that Empire of the Sun?

Yes, sorry, that comment could be misunderstood. I'm not talking about the sound quality (which is absolutely fine), but the lack of dynamic between slow and upbeat, calm and action. Disc 1 is basically 5th gear from beginning to end.

Well, there are also good Yamahas. I had a grand piano which was a Yamaha. But the best is to try out the piano in the store.

I used a bootleg that appeared a few years ago on the place that worshipped the Japanese RPG and claims to be "complete" (I'm not an Indy music expert, so I don't know if this is accurate). But the Concord set seems to be missing just some inserts in cues and about 12 missing cues, some of them being source music. A few of them definetly should've been included (12m2 The Penitent Man Will Pass is great), but otherwise what we have so far is enough for a satisfying experience. Despite that, it would be great if this and the other Indies receive a Matessino definitive edition.

Today's piano selection. Williams playing an out-of-tune honkytonk piano in this cue from Waxman's HEMINGWAY'S ADVENTURES OF YOUNG MAN (1962):

Politics aside, this is a tough picture: (Only shows a blank space for me right now, but Twitter is having issues today, so perhaps it'll show up in a bit… if not, here's the link: https://twitter.com/PAImages/status/1383423559884689410)

Well, now I'm confused. I thought you were talking about a plastic jewel case. Are you talking about the outer cardboard box?

A brilliant red Barchetta from a better vanished time

Eventually, Dom and The Gang will have to race to secure the last gas cars in California before the government seizes them.

I LOVE my Schimmel!

I'm not complaining that they don't sound neutral, although I think they generally sound very natural and clear, with a nice boost in particularly bassy moments. But many of those boosts are way beyond the clipping point. I've always been under the impression that these recordings are highly regarded for their sound quality, but the overamplified bits are very much at odds with that.

My Trading Post can confirm that😞

Btw I.just took a peek to see what FSM is saying about INDY. Some nut job is ranting about transgender characters being in it...( Tin Man in disguise?😅) Nice to see the board there has settled into an era of comity and intellectual rigor since I left. 😎 Better than DOOM, at least.

Book Thief is the only one of the first group I still haven't seen. Patriot, I am pretty sure I watched a couple times on cable but not sure it was ever beginning to end. I remember enough about it that I counted it. Like most of us, I've seen less and less the further back it goes. At this point most of the remaining films I would only watch specifically to see every John Williams scored movie, which is something I'd like to finish one day. Probably most interested in Black Sunday of my misses. Morbidly curious about Heartbeeps.

I voted. Percentages look funny in the results, like it's dividing the votes by the wrong total...is anyone else seeing super low percentages?

Brutal couple of years, huh, Shorty? First Marion, then Mutt.

Whatever they want to call it, I don't like thinking of Middle-Earth as a "franchise" either. In fact in general I think the term is unfortunate when describing works of art considering the word was previously more associated with owning a McDonalds.

I'll join in the chorus of love for this film and score. Neither one was amazing or brilliant or anything, like Holmes stuff can be at its best. But quite a delightful and fun romp. I would happily invite any sequels Netflix wants to fund (I think there are four other books in the series which could be adapted). My quibbles with characterization probably lie more with the source novels than the filmmakers or actors, but I will say that Sherlock was a bit too *nice* in this (while I liked Cavill quite a bit in the role, he just comes off a bit too "normal" and well-adjusted, lacking Sherlock's familiar issues and quirks), and Mycroft was too much of an asshole. Yavar

A replacement case is just an empty case, it wouldn't have anything to do with the title it came from being in stock or not Before the summer... I hope they release something you want to buy before June 21st!

I really hope Broadbent returns

Yay! my copy just arrived super fast from Quartet along with 3 other goodies...

It is very promising! One of the biggest disappointments of KOTCS for me was the underwhelming characters written for actors Ray Winstone and ESPECIALLY John Hurt.

Bespin, I am collector of John Williams records and a big fan of your website! Actually, it`s amazing to see how many albums are connected to maestro John Williams. It must have been a lot work to add them! Therefore, I would like to support you and will let you know another albums in the near future. Here is the first one: Artist: Carmen McRae Album: Carmen For Cool Ones Featuring John T. Williams (piano) on tracks "Any old time", "What`s new?", "Without a word of warning", "The night we call it a day"; Decca DL 8738 Recorded in Los Angeles, December 5, 16, 1957 and April 21, 1958 Released in 1958 Reissued in 2012, Fresh Sound Records

I think he's a good man.

I randomly bumped into him once at Nordstrom store a few blocks from where I live. He was literally looking through a rack of flannel shirts. It was so surreal and out of context I couldn't connect the dots till later!

Be that as it may, the music was wonderfully used in the film

Joan was perhaps a bit mumsy compared to Liz's unapologetic sultriness. Both the De Havilands had a matronly squarishness about them that made them both a bit outdated by the newly developing edginess of the 1950s.

Who says she "demanded" it? She was there, she played along (because she's a fan), and unlike in the amplified open air premiere of the album, she blended seamlessly with the violin section. It's natural to credit her on the album because she was indeed playing in the track. PS: I much prefer my own title for track 4 (on my Blu rip): "Guten Tag" and Introducing Anne-Sophie Mutter

Well, decided to listen to this score after looking through this topic and seeing many here give praise to it. Jon Batiste should have done the whole score, without a doubt. I'm sure he could have made some heartwarming orchestral / jazz pieces that would have worked brilliantly. I'm in agreement with @TheUlyssesian that Thomas Newman has danced circles around the Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score before it was even written (if you can call loading in a bunch of Logic instruments and playing basic harmonies and looping melodies written). "Pursuit/Terry's World" is the only Reznor/Ross cue worth a damn. Where it mixes the Jazz style, and beautifully/seamlessly mixes it into a similar sounding synth piece. The rest is the same simplistic, pleasant, ambient piano and synth that people like Hans Zimmer or RCP composers in general, Thomas Newman, and various video game composers have done again, and again, and again, often doing it better. It's not impressive, it's not revolutionary, it's not interesting to listen to, it's not special, it's typical. It's the new generic. The fact that these type of scores that work fine in the film get awards as often as they do, is a testament to how low people's standards for music have gotten. This is a score I and many other amateur composers could have written within a month at most, if I spent a day on each cue. "Well it worked really well in the film." Sometimes silence works really well in films. Doesn't mean we should praise the music for not existing. A more melodic score for this movie probably would have worked as well, would have had more effort and skill put into it, and would've been a more rich listening experience in film and outside of the film. These 2 composers were chosen because they're associated with a lot of really good movies, and many audiences, critics, and directors follow a very simplistic logic for film music. If the movie sucks, the music sucks because it emphasized crap writing. If the movie is great, then the music was great and fit the film perfectly.

@La La Land Records Are there any plans to include more video announcements similar to the one for Far and Away and Superman:TM? That was a nice added touch to two spectacular releases!

I relistened to Elfman's Justice League score in full a few days ago. If I'm honest, it's not as bad as people make it out to be (and even then I think most just dislike it because it doesn't use most of Zimmer's themes). It's actually quite good IMO. There's a lot of stuff that works. Steppenwolf's theme is amazing, the usage of the 89 Batman theme are great, Flash's theme is great, the orchestral version of the Wonder Woman theme is really good etc. It's a pretty decent score. I think it has a lot more going on musically than Holkenborg's score for the Snyder cut and is ultimately a better listen.

It appears JW is quite fond of that concert suite and it's easy to understand why. It really has the flow of a great symphonic tone poem in the tradition of Richard Strauss. As it is, it's a great summation of the score's main thematic elements retained from the film's climax. I too initially was never fond of the excision of the flying theme, but I see that my judgement is mostly based on my memory of how the music goes in the film. Here, Williams plays with tension and release, both musically and emotionally, so that when the Flying theme kicks in before the coda, it sounds really as the final release of that tension and the true apotheosis. It's really the definition of great adaptation of a film cue for the pure listening experience in the concert hall (anyone who listened to this live, possibly performed by a great orchestra, knows well how transformative the experience is). Sure, the full 15-minute sequence as written and recorded originally for the film sounds magnificent as a piece of pure music and perhaps future scholar conductors will retain that original film version for concert performances, but, seen from the composer's perspective, I can understand the choices he made for the published concert suite.