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Here's a story Conrad Pope told several years ago:

Columbus discovered Middle Earth, too?

Davis said the following in an inteview for Soundtrack.net regarding scoring the film: So it may just be as simple and mundane as Williams and Davis having the same agent who brought Davis up to Williams in conversation and Williams just went "okay" and that got pinned down as a personal recommendation from Williams.

Personally, I like JURASSIC PARK III's score. What we got, at the very least, was not a JW clone.

Thanks for inspiring me to change my member title!

Man, the Scherzo is so good!

R.I.P., Mr. Wannberg. Although your contribution to film music will go largely unnoticed by the general public, serious fans of the genre will always be in your debt. Thank you.

OK just to drag it up one more time: I also like how Yates handled a lot of OotP with those montages, but the Room of Requirements particularly doesn't sit right with me because of the staging and set design. In the book, it's a welcoming room with bookcases, pillows, helping tools, Harry is a good teacher who makes the students practice in pairs and goes around to help where necessary, even stopping Fred&George from picking on the most unlikeable one. But in the movie, it's an empty hall of metal and mirrors to direct the gaze onto the students, who line up to directly watch the two practicing ones, or stand in a line to take turns attacking the dummy, putting a lot of pressure on the ones who are currently up. Fits perfectly into Yates' trend of making sure absolutely nothing happens in the frame outside of the one thing he wants to focus on, anyone else should just stand there and do nothing to make for an OK shot with zero life, but also it completely ruins that comfortable home-away-from-Hogwarts feeling the room and these practices had in the book, I wouldn't want to attend the meetings as shown in that montage. But it saved on set design budget and blocking time so who gives a toss. Very much put off by how the guy over-and misuses "great" and "genius" but the comparisons are done well.

If someone could persuade NBC and Universal to release all the recordings of the 4 pieces on a definitive album and with fillers as his 90th Anniversary Celebration approaches. They NBC could do a news piece on his 90th too.

I will be most interested to hear his own musical voice as he goes along. He’s clearly VERY adept at sounding like his mentor. Although I can’t complain if he continues to sound like this.If we have a couple dozen zimmer clones in the industry, why can’t we have at least one Powell clone? 😜

Recent pictures of our adorable cats

Just got news that one of John Williams’ key collaborators, music editor Ken Wannberg, has passed away. RIP Kenny

It's a great score! Wish that Davis would have gotten more opportunities to shine in Hollywood movies, he would have kicked ass.

News of the world I quite enjoyed. From a few interviews with JNH he said how excited he was to be doing a western (again) but was wary of needing to do a score full of “low tones” and drones for Greengrass. I think he tried to split the difference as best he could. Ultimately I’m surprised that any melody and folksy-ness made it into the final score at all. Costner is a different director than Greengrass. But who knows. He hasn’t directed a film in 20 years or so. So maybe modern scoring trends may hold sway. We’ll get a three hour contemporary western score that’s just a fiddle baaaarley scratching out two solemn notes backed by a single detuned saloon piano plunking out one note. But I’d like to remain optimistic.

He should get Clint Eastwood to do the score.

Arrow Films have put out a bunch I bluray. Don't ask me the titles 😅 I've just discovered Edwige Fenech and Paola Sonatore. Fantastica!

Dances is the only movie he directed I've seen. Isn't The Postman supposed to be a notorious stinker? 8% on RT and won the Golden Razzie that year lol

Me too, I'm a big fan of Davis' score. I'm rather surprised to see a largely negative outlook of it in this thread - I've mostly read positive comments before; Davis reuses Williams' themes nicely and came up with a couple of new ones, with some superb action set pieces. Hardly a pinnacle of scoring but it does the job well. I've been waiting for an expansion for a long time and I've been very much hoping that the appetite to continue with franchise scores doesn't dry up just because John Williams didn't do them.

Spider-Man No Way Home by Michael Giacchino I didn't care about the score when I first heard it, but now that I watched the movie, I decided to revisit it. And you know what? I really liked it this time! Thanks to @Jay's OST breakdown, I could appreciate the score more than I had the last time. It's still not as good as Homecoming and specially Far from Home (which is in my top 10 Gia scores), but it has a lot of great moments. I specially liked the Cure theme.

I know that that's what you said earlier. But I saw the 2 times over the last few days. And that moment starts from 00:06 on from Arc Reactor. The first 6 seconds aren't used

*batteries not included (Intrada) by James Horner One of my favourite Horner, swing and fun as hell!

The most striking line to me is ROTJ/Robin Hood. Granted, when ROTJ came out, I was 4 years old and wouldn't consciously be aware of film music until 10 years later. But ever since I started listening to and collecting film music in 1994, The Adventures of Robin Hood has been "old", one of the very early masterpieces of the art form, while ROTJ used to be one of Williams's later scores. It's obviously not that anymore, but it still doesn't feel like an "old" score, or like it belongs to a long gone, historic era.

Soundwise Telarc rarely disappoints. From Sorcery To Science and The City are the highlights on this CD. Great recording by the people who brought you Elliot Goldenthal's Vietnam Oratorio. 20th Century music where steel pans play a crucial role. Requiem (for Strings) sounds amazing. Another very good sounding recording ... and on Super Audio CD! Also featuring Requiem for strings.

De gustibus non est disputandum my friends.

Jack Dee was chairman and Tony Hawks, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden were the other panellists. ISIHAC, Just A Minute, The Unbelievable Truth ... am quite fond of a Radio 4 panel show, it must be said.

Wild Wild Rest Little Mess Sunshine The Colon of Money

The closest collaborators interviewed for the book confirmed this. I have over 150 interviews with Horner organized by keyword so it is easy for me to find the information for you: https://www.classicfm.com/composers/horner/news/lord-of-the-rings/ https://audioboom.com/posts/3307396-james-horner-my-lord-of-the-rings-soundtrack-would-have-been-quite-different

I suppose those are good comparisons...

Wojciech Kilar himself claimed in a couple of interviews around 1999-2000 that he was approached to score The Lord of the Rings. And that he was relieved it didn't pan out. Here is a translated quote from one of them (from one of Poland's biggest newspapers): I remember reading an interview in another Polish magazine Film where he said the similar thing. Horner was probably asked due to his connection to Chris Colombus. It makes sense. Karol

First Neil Young, now Joni Mitchell ... Who will be next?

I posted this sort of thing about relative distances back in 2019, here it is updated: Puts things into perspective... btw. this year the Vienna Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic both turn 180 (both founded 1842). Williams is exactly half as old.

@JayGo in order:) 2,3, and 4 Start with the OSTs I’d say. Number 2 I think is Powell’s strongest in the series. The finale starting with “The Boat and the Geysers” on to the end is terrific Powell scoring. Lots of that fun syncopated waltz-like rhythm. It’s been a while since I’ve listened to 3. I’d say it’s about the same level as two with a handful of fun new themes. The end credit suite was one i listened to frequently on that one. I think I’ve only listened to 4 twice. It’s a bit more frenetic. But still fun. Also, If you haven’t heard it, Mars Needs Moms is another great JP score that came after the first HTTYD. Maintains a great narrative and isn’t quite as “cartoony” sounding as some of his other animation scores if that appeals to you. Powell just has a blast and is full of such joy in these scores.I’ve been listening to Horton Hears a Who the last couple days and I’m just blown away by the sheer inventiveness of that score.

Field of Dreams Karol

Very good point. With Powell taking less projects (which, in itself, is a good thing… the quality has skyrocketed), I don’t really mind if Sener continues to imitate him. More Powell = happiness. It’ll merely be a bonus if Sener turns out to have his own singular voice. Hoping so.

Bruder! Mein Bruder! Siegmund! Ha!

Cuaron was easily the standout director of the series. Him not returning for Deathly Hallows, and bringing Williams with him, is one of the great missed opportunities.

BRAVE STUDIO EXECUTIVE SAVES THE FILM YET AGAIN FROM THE GREATEST MENACE --- FILM MUSIC! Karol

I say Hook announced in February.

They must have been... flooded with orders!

Ugh! Jesus Christ. What an ass and what a daft "review". This guy might know his stuff but is this seriously a review or just a guy reading track names on albums that clearly he hasn't listened to? I mean, all he is doing is criticizing the timings of pieces and has no additional arguments based on listening to support his claim that Williams isn't a charismatic conductor. BTW, picking on The Planets alone doesn't support the argument. Every conductor has their off days... every single one! And then after each album, he has to either undermine pops recordings or film music as a whole. Oh, and don't you just love it when he thinks he's singing "The Mission Theme" but sings "Meet The Press" instead? This clown hasn't listened to any of these recordings. How can you review a set and criticize a conductor WITHOUT listening? Yes, what an ass! -Erik-

Ahhh this sounds terrific. Biggest surprise (and I don't know why, it's not like I don't the film) is The Decision. I definitely recognized it but it was never a track that I said "Why don't we have this?" And now we do. Dinner's Ready is wonderful. All of the Big Band stuff is. Really the mix is pretty amazing I think. Either that or it's a new toy and I'm just really paying attention. I was a little disappointed that the otherwise excellent notes don't talk about any of the alternates or the differences in the album edits. (There is a brief mention of the alternate Deciding to Build the field.) This and Always are nice to listen to back to back and are both terrific releases from the past 12 months. Thanks as ever LLL.

I can hear that lovely delicate Double Trouble rendition for harp and celeste just looking at this gif *contented sigh*

Yes, late 70s and early 80s was when his legend status was cemented, I think. When I got into him in the early 90s, he was already considered GOAT by many.

I thought of McCreary too but I wonder if Williams was actually still at a higher stature even pre-Jaws. I mean those Irwin Allen movies were big gigs and he already had 9 Oscar nominations for score including the Fiddler win pre-Jaws...three of those were original noms, plus song for Cinderella Liberty. Maybe Thomas Newman in the 90s or Desplat in the 00s is an appropriate framing. He was definitely a guy, just not THE guy, but quickly skyrocketed into his own league. I've also wondered when John Williams began to be perceived as a "legend," not in retrospect but at the time. Because when I became a fan around 1999-2001, that was definitely already a popular belief that he was the GOAT, but I wonder around what point did that become so widespread. Not to suggest that he was ever unrecognized in his time, I know superfans would say "He was a legend as soon as Star Wars premiered" but there had to have been shifts. I feel like around 1982-4 would have been one with E.T. being #1 and now having four Oscars, the entire Star Wars trilogy completed, starting up with the Boston Pops, and got that first Olympics commission, plus popular scores like Superman and Raiders...that had to be a moment where people were noticing he was serious business. And then maybe late 80s up to 1993, the deal was sealed? He turned 60, those first iconic scores were becoming a decade+ old, JP and Schindler were new behemoths, he wins a fifth Oscar, and the end of his Boston Pops tenure, plus even more great scores and popular films in rearview.

And I think it's somehow better that it happened around that time, bringing together all that life and experience by the time he's given those big assignments. Actually, with the release of Fiddler, I'm realizing just how important that score was for his career. It was the highest-grossing film of 1971 and received the most Academy Award nominations of any film that year. And that was when Williams was 39, still around the start of middle age. So still a lot of life and experience went into that, and clearly it showed.

She is now 4 months old

Let me resurrect this thread. Last month we lost our Boston Terrier Angel to cancer. So this Saturday I drove 500 miles.round trip to Texas and back to pick up our newest member of the family. Her name is Helen. She's a 3 month old red Boston Terrier.

FYC, promo CD? @thx99 is the guy you need! I owe him all this aspect of my discography. An essential contributor!