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Howard Shore's theme has very much a TV series main title theme, meaning that it appears as a curtain opener and not in the underscore. It is such a brief tantalizing snippet with little time to develop but really makes me wish that he had actually scored the entire series. Hearing sort of proto-versions and explorations of many of his themes would have been fantastic. Shore's theme really feels like a small snippet that doesn't have much time to breathe or develop. Sadly. On the other hand I found McCreary's Galadriel theme cloying and try-hard from the first listen unfortunately. Not his finest tune by any means. But I leave you to discuss this music in peace. I have nothing especially glowing to say about it so I stop now.

Damn I have become truly allergic to modern film scoring stylings. I can't get into this music at all. Bear McCreary has always been very hit-or-miss for me and this is unfortunately a miss. Having Howard Shore's Middle-Earth scores for comparison doesn't really help but even judged on its own this isn't my cup of tea at all.

JWFan has partnered with the LA Philharmonic and Allied Marketing to give away two tickets to see the "Maestro of the Movies: Celebrating John Williams at 90" concert with at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday, September 4th, 2022! To enter, visit JWFan's social media accounts! https://www.instagram.com/p/Chb9rYHIQhC/ https://www.facebook.com/JWFan/posts/pfbid0uimqpthZYckh1fSwCazfi17u49E1rbJRMRduzke5hRdRZ8DfUXktLFjdrtowupQXl ENTER TO WIN! Tag a friend you'd bring with you in the comments for a chance to win a pair of tickets to Maestro of the Movies at the Hollywood Bowl on September 4th! This annual event celebrates John Williams, Hollywood's most influential composer, at 90. Don't miss the chance to hear the scores of blockbusters such as Jaws, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Indiana Jones performed live by the LA Phil. We'll pick a winner on Thursday, August 25th, 2022! Didn’t win? Head to https://bit.ly/Allied_Maestro to buy tickets today! More About The Show: Maestro of the Movies: Celebrating John Williams at 90 (September 2 -4) You know a John Williams score the moment you hear it—and if you’re a fan of blockbusters, you’ve heard quite a few. Jaws, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones: He scored them all and so many more. On three nights at the Bowl, the LA Phil will perform some of his biggest movie hits, including selections performed with film clips.

Okay, ignore all the advice we're giving you that solves all your problems and whine about nothing then.

I don't like grain. It's rough and coarse and it gets everywhere.

https://www.berkshireeagle.com/opinion/columnists/inside-story-of-how-john-williams-was-secretly-chosen-boston-pops-conductor/article_2cf34792-1e4e-11ed-be95-1fb1e514d289.html

Well, in classic Tolkien Gateway tradition, I'm making a tracklist with all the themes timestamped. Which, as you might guess, would spoil some stuff. Should I make it a separate topic, or is there a way to hide text?

If Lucasfilms team did Rings Of Power: "Music in Lord Of The Rings is just absolutely essentially identified with Howard Shore -- I mean, bow down-but we're going in a whole other direction. We needed an entirely new vocabulary. We're making a new visual vocabulary, a storytelling vocabulary; a new casting vocabulary, all these things. We're going to make a new musical vocabulary," the showrunner explained. "Bear Mccreary was not only available but interested. Bear is just one of the premiere composers of the moment right now. He's just on fire, and he's inspired." Bear Mccreary: When I started up on this project, we weren't sure that we were going to be allowed to use the Howard Shore themes. Patrick [McKay] was saying to me, "I think we need to score the show as if we're not going to be able to use them." Howard Shore watched the whole show, and he granted permission for his themes to be used in episode six

KOTCS is a way over-hated flick. It's not that bad.

gotta recoup the vast amount of money they’ve sunk into this shit somehow!

For the 4K they did a fresh OCN scan and colour graded the film from scratch. Whatever Kaminski was thinking when he supervised the DI in 2008, he ruined his own photography. The most laughable part is they were trying to replicate Slocombe's work with the colour grade. I recall this film was Kaminski's first DI... and boy, it shows. The 4K version looks far closer to the original trilogy and probably reflects what Kaminski actually shot, before he tinkered with it digitally. All his trademarks still rear their head though – glossy filters, smoky interiors, excessive backlighting, etc. A far cry from Slocombe's grounded photography. Here's hoping Indy 5 is a bit more faithful to the original trilogy.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Edward Shearmur. Pretty much everything I have heard of this guy is really good, this one being one of his best. What I can't understand is why wasn't he involved with any of the SW projects as his wife was an executive on many of the Disney era movies (before her sad passing)? Such a perfect guy for the job. This sequence is brilliant: Karol

Searching for Bobby Fischer (LLL) by James Horner A lovely score full of "Hornerism" like I love

Before you invest in anything I would strongly recommend asking yourself why you want a VPN in the first place. If it's only to access some websites from other regions of the world then just about any VPN will work, I've personally used TunnelBear for their free location browsing when I've needed to. If it's because you want some additional privacy or anonymity online I would recommend stopping and doing a bit more research into what you're getting yourself into. VPNs are not anonymous. Many VPN providers will claim to not make logs or to not record IP addresses, but you have no way of verifying these claims. All you have is their word. Just last year, ProtonMail (the same company of ProtonVPN), what was once a highly respected privacy email provider, was caught logging IP addresses for the French government to get someone arrested: The reality is that most VPNs don't really offer that much protection, and really just charge you money in order to slow your internet down. Especially when you get into accounts and stuff, if you sign into an account without a VPN (such as your Google account, or the JWFAN account you posted this with), and then you sign into the same account with a new IP address from a VPN, it will be obvious to any outside observer that it's still you signing in. For all these reasons, I wouldn't really recommend a VPN for privacy reasons at all. But if you are still hellbent on paying for the illusion of privacy you could try out this: But if that's what you're looking for you're probably better off going with the Tor network

On my second listen of the album, I like it! There are some solid themes and overall lush orchestrations. The jaunty pirate stuff is fun. So far, nothing puts me to sleep or sounds like generic TV show music. This is the most I've liked any McCreary music since BSG.

Yes. I haven't much VPN experience myself - took me years to settle on one, mainly for Netflix and BBC, and I ended up with Getflix, which at some point stopped working (at least for Netflix). Haven't used it for much else, but general consensus is that free VPNs are privacy hell.

That is exactly how the film has always looked. The official Blu-ray/4K SE sets all use heavy DNR to make them look clean and crisp, while also removing detail. As others have said if you want to emulate that fake digital look of the official releases, there are DNR versions available, the most recent of which was rendered by yours truly.

Hearing Shore's main title makes me wonder what a generic Star Wars show main title from JW would sound like. His Kenobi theme is very specific to the character at that point in his life. Shore's main title sounds like "here's 90 seconds of LOTR sounding music". I want the JW SW equivalent of that. I don't love Shore's main title right now, but I think it is an interesting piece evoking all things LOTR in a single, short, undeveloped cue. Edit: the closest we have is the Galaxy's Edge theme which has a kind of generic SW adventure sound.

It holds that the piece should exhibit strong Elven shadings: it’s a Paean to Elvendom at its height! But it contains antecedents to most of Shore’s Middle Earth music: the “Dwarven” fifths, the “Hobbit” scale, the modal colouring associated with mankind, the Ring’s halfstep. Just about the only thing missing is the “nature” progression. Now I’m just left hoping McCreary would incorporate this theme into the underscore in Season Two, while Shore is hopefully scoring Rohirrim.

Cross-posting my impression of the Shore track as I posted in the wrong subforum! The first track by Howard Shore definitely sounds like his Hobbit music, very ethereal and Elfish mixed with some more Dwarfish stuff. Not bad, but very brief. It's almost like an extended fanfare more than anything else. Not very developed, but perfectly A-Ok. Sounds like something he might have written but left out of the Hobbit. Listening to the rest of the score now. The textures are all reminiscent of Shore's LOTR music. I just wish there were stronger melodic hooks that grab me.

I disagree, in some places it sounds like Shore, especially the themes fit very well in the LOTR world. In some places it's more modern, but that's not a bad thing! I love the album already, although I must honestly say that the first half (and especially the theme tracks) is much better than the second, which seems a bit weak and dull.

About half way through my first listening. I enjoy it. It’s really great. It sounds nothing like Shore. And that’s ok. It’s more “nimble” if that makes sense. Lighter/fleeter. A moment or two actually remind me of Powell in it’s use of percussion and world instruments. It’s a terrific fantasy score that will probably be among the best of the 2020s. Sure I miss that heavy sustained “breathing quality” and the dark hues of Shores orchestrations for Tolkiens world. Shore wrote a long-forgotten ancient opera of sorts and completely succeeded. This is very much high-quality contemporary film music. It isn’t the “sound of middle earth” to me yet. But It’ll grow on me. Damning with faint praise? Perhaps. Divorce it from the show if need be. But it’s well done

So compared to a unified master tracklist, the digital release has 5 missing tracks. The amazon release has 1 full exclusive and 3 missing tracks. The CD has 3 full exclusives and 4 missing tracks. The LP thankfully has no exclusives and 21 missing tracks. If you want everything available, you need the CD and the amazon release. If you want everything except 1 track in better than mp3 quality, you need the CD, the digital and the amazon.

So there are already 4 different editions for this soundtrack: the standard digital release, the Amazon digital release and the two Mondo releases on CD and vinyls and none of these releases have the same tracklist. Here's a quick spreadsheet we've just made with @Holko that makes it a bit easier to understand: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pc2505rCFwq0W2rHfmsdaPdyQy4WPVrAbv2NXfrlgHM/edit?usp=sharing

*Renames thread title to: The Weather Channel*

This is the closest the score gets to an actual thematic reference

Well, listened to the first 8 tracks. Sad to say the Shore piece felt among the weaker half... but happy to say the stronger half is really strong! Memorable and motivating, if I divorce it from the show which I don't care about, and from Tolkien's world which I don't think tracks like Númenor fit into well at all, this might end up a kickass collection of music I'll really like.

He put a lot of work, time and passion into the music. And after listening to it, I can clearly hear that. https://variety.com/2022/artisans/news/lord-of-the-rings-rings-of-power-score-bear-mcreary-soundtrack-1235345372/ “I’m trying to honor the legacy of what Howard Shore created, and to do so by using those epic colors, and crafting 15 new themes that can be added to the pantheon of memorable melodies that started with Shore’s films,” he says. He spent two months just writing themes, based primarily on reading the scripts. “Each of the themes had an A section, a B section, an intro, a development,” he explains. “It was like writing a symphony. I planned all this out so that when I could dive into the footage, I would have the pieces I needed in place.” The choral material was carefully prepared. “Every cue with text is either drawn from the books or crafted in close consultation with our language experts,” the composer says. “The context of what is being said, and the language in which it is being said, matches what you are watching. There is a lot of choir. It is not an ingredient. It’s not frosting, it’s the cake.” The texts are in two Elvish languages, Sindarin and Quenya; the Dwarvish language Khuzdûl; Black Speech, the language of Sauron, creator of the rings; and Adûnaic, the language of the people of Númenor.

Totally agree, he'd be a perfect fit for Star Wars (added to the usual favourites of composers like Joel McNeely, Bruce Broughton etc.) and Monte Cristo is indeed a terrific score, one of those strong 90s (ish) swashbuckling efforts that sits alongside David Arnold's Musketeer or HGW's Man in the Iron Mask (recent charity purchase and much better than expected). Aside from the obvious recommendation of Sky Captain, Shearmur's scores for Johnny English (ES for Bond!), K-Pax (surprisingly good synth infused effort that reminds me of Thomas Newman in a non-specific way) and Reign of Fire (which has some brilliant, dark but OTT action music in it). I'd have to give it another listen but I seem to recall his much less well known effort for Jakob the Liar being excellent too.

It's also on Amazon music, but I can't see it on any of my other usual retailers (7Digital, Qobuz)

Good initiative, I've just been working on Númenor! Here's my Main Titles, anyway And guess what, I was almost done with Númenor, but struggled to figure out if it suddenly went to E, until I saw your transcription and realised Bear is using the same Db-Dbm-Ab progression as in Galadriel! Thank you for solving that puzzle!

I'd disagree - Shore's theme is nice and effective but McCreary's work is just beautiful and for me completely overshadows Shore's 90 seconds.

I don’t care for the look of the film, but the set photography is splendid. I highly recommend this book for an appreciation of setups which didn’t work in motion, yet yielded stills that are are lovely to look at.

Please correct any errors we make! @MonoverantusPlease post your transcriptions here too so we have a single place to go! A quick transcription of Shore's theme. Does anyone see any mistakes or would notate anything differently? I'm pretty unsure about the 2/4 time signature right now, but it looks and feels better than 4/4!

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It took me a long time and one expansion to fully appreciate the score. It’s not action music you listen to in your car. Nor is it sweet and tender like E.T. If ever there were an End Title crescendo that is earned it’s Close Encounters. But it’s so, so worth the journey.

I still wouldn’t be shocked if it was the GoT theme again. None of the review copies had the opening titles and neither have the premier.

I assume In The Beginning covers a sort of intro with a quick recap of Valinor and the Darkening of Valinor with the stealing of light? In this case, not knowing the actual footage, it would be clever IF McCreary used Galadriel's theme for the trees of the Valar, since their light was allegedly crafted after Galadriel's hair.

Quest for Peace's Main Title is based on an alternate early Main Title for Superman the Movie. I'm probably telling you things you already know, but IV has new themes written by Williams, adapted by Courage. A new love theme for Lacey the new love interest, a childlike theme for a boy named Jeremy in the film that presage's Childhood from Hook, and the bad guy Nuclear Man Theme. DEFINITELY check it out and probably ignore the film. There is a LOT of material that was not used in the film, so highly recommended.

thanks for the numenor! I just saw that and realized that I was completely wrong with the chords and the melody in bar 10 (mark d)!

Only Murders In The Building 2x09 Sparring Partners Good stuff all around this week, but boy it feels like there is a LOT of open questions and loose ends to wrap up next week! It was good to see Shirley Maclaine again and I should have seen it coming that she was lying the first time and she's really Rose Cooper - d'oh! The real painting underneath the other one was sweet. It was also sweet that Oliver and Teddy agreed to keep Will's real parentage from him. It was nice to see Cara Delevingne again, she's really been a good character who fit in well with the rest of the this season and I don't really get why they've underused her so much. Hopefully she has a bigger role in next week's finale, though you have to wonder if she planted evidence or did something in the secret passage when she was in Mabel's bathroom... Speaking of Mabel, I really liked her scenes with Michael Rapaport! She was extremely sexy in her boxing getup, and the verbal sparring they were doing was nicely juxtaposed with the actual sparring. The revelations about him, Oklahoma, Cinda Canning, and Becky Butler were pretty crazy and unpredictable! I think what's happening is: Really looking forward to the finale! Agreed all around! Totally agreed. I hope she plays a big role in the finale and comes back in season 3 (with more to do) Oh man, I can't imagine Bunny is related to the Poppy/Becky stuff at all, but I suppose it's possible! Do you think we'll finally see Paul Rudd next week? If not, I guess his role was cut?

It's been crazy mild here, in the 70s and low 80s (F), for a week now. A Canadian air mass apparently. @Bespin must have eaten a burrito.

Hey @Doug Adams, any progress getting the publisher to move forward with finally publishing this book, or the silent movie book?

He always comes across like a really great guy. It's funny because Saul/Jimmy is so full of himself that I almost get taken aback by the extraordinary humility and class of Bob Odenkirk. He should be immensely proud as the series is a wonderful achievement. It is probably the greatest compliment to a prequel when you don't even think of it as such. When the first season started I was still in the mindset of "connecting dots and references" and wasn't sure what it was supposed to be in relation to Breaking Bad. It was a straight up prequel for me at that point. But the writting and execution made me watch it regardless. Eventually, once I realised this is supposed to be its own creature, I fell in love with the series. I do enjoy the references to BB but they are only a bonus for me, a fun easter egg, and not the main course. I love BCS entirely on its own terms and for its original material. I see some people not being happy about the time jump and the lack of clearer transition from Jimmy to Saul. While I am able to understand this to certain extent, this is actually good. I myself get everything to is from the remainder of the show to piece together the full picture. As Nicholas Meyer once said, art thrives on things being left out and/or unsaid. I do find a story to explains itself constantly exceptionally boring. I want to participate and have some bit to do as an audience. Not necessarily in terms of plot puzzles, although that can also work, but more in terms of characterisation and ambiguity. It's cool when you can fill in some of the gaps with your own ideas and it feels very rewarding to be a part of it and see what other people around the world come up with based on their experiences and backgrounds. This is the greatest thing about art. Thanks to Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould I feel treated like an adult. Karol

Have you heard John McEwen's Scottish themed works? The Solway Symphony, the Scottish Rhapsody, and a few others. Very much in the late Romantic Straussian style, so not my wheelhouse necessarily, but I find things to enjoy in them

There was a CCTV camera right near the dumpster that Jimmy was hiding in, which is revealed in the shot looking down while the cops surround it with their guns drawn. I took that to mean that as soon as they located his car and house they were able to track him through the CCTV. The idea of them doing that in real-time is admittedly a bit far-fetched, especially for 2010, but not completely unbelievable. Great finale. I’d say better than BB, and in many ways righted some of the moral “wrongs” of that finale (like Walt going out almost heroically) - I was relieved but not surprised that the show far more concerned with legal drama and consequences ultimately ended with a courtroom and justice being done. Look forward to thinking it over more in the coming days.

One of your problems is that viewers have to connect the dots between Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, but you also wish they’d made viewers connect the dots between Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad?

Its gonna sound like 2022/2023 JW