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"New York, 1969 (From "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny"/Trailer Version)" might be the clunkiest Williams album track title we've ever gotten. I haven't even listened to the track yet, but going off the title alone combined with the minute of action music in that one clip that was hard to hear, I'm ready to call this score a complete disaster. Very disappointing effort from the Maestro! /s

Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)

God, no. No offense to leeallen, but to me, tatooing your favourite artists on your body is too extreme. Then again, I have no interest in tatooing my body with anything in the first place.

You're welcome. It was an enjoyable task ... so much so I made a few more.

"Do you know why all the dead composers don't hear my 'they're all dead' jokes?" "No, why?" "Because they're all dead!"

He’s no longer in a Leicester car park so better than he was… as for the score, it’s pretty great for the most part but is given short shrift on disc with lots of dialogue. It could use a more comprehensive release.

Because it's perfect? Because there is actually a balance between what is scored and what isn't? Because it lets the audience hear the world the way the characters do? I think those are all pretty good explanations.

"The Sunset Song"

The Naxos is alright, but in the end it still made me go back to the first version I heard: Rattle & Hampson with Birmingham, nicely coupled with the 1st symphony: Although I just realised that I also have a recording by Litton, Terfel, and Bournemouth. I think I've only listened to it once or twice, and the only memory I have of it is that I believe I though it was good. I'll give it another try, maybe I just never went back to it because I'd completely forgotten that I have it. It's coupled with the Mathieson-arranged suite from Henry V. Singing Belshazzar would be a dream come true for me, but it's scale is totally out of scope for our choir. Currently we're 22 active singers, which is great for some works, but probably to small even for a piano & choir transcription of the massive Walton epic.

I think, it doesn't work like that. Like for the score the concept here was not "Take something from 40 years ago" but "Take something timeless". That is why Williams Star Wars music including Cantina Band will stand the test of time and Britell's Andor score won't.

This may have been mentioned before, but I had no idea the Dial of Destiny was based on an actual artifact: This is very interesting stuff

John Williams - Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Totally this - love the enthusiasm and the massive orchestral forces that Barton and Haab unleash. I absolutely know I should love this but just struggle to connect. Instead, when I go to listen to some Jedi Survivor, I randomly see the below appear and when I play those 5 minutes they are just so much more specific, thematic, defined, dynamic: I see I still have that edit quirk where anything I post is a random Zimmer/Dolan thing. Awesome

the scene is just better like this

Listened to the Litton, and it's very good as well (can't find a complete playlist on YouTube): Both more intense and more reserved in different parts compared to the Rattle. Terfel has a clearer voice than Hampson, but overall Rattle still seems to have the more rounded approach and ultimately more drama and impact. This seems like a good second version if you already have the Rattle. Interesting detail: My version has the same cover, except that the secondary works differ - mine has Crown Imperialand the above mentioned Henry V suite (sans choir, unfortunately, but with the battle music; the latter is nice to have, but because of the choir I still prefer the Davis version - or Marriner with Plummer if you want the long version). Bought for 2 quid at Music & Video Exchange near Notting Hill Gate. Yes, and we've done that (though it's usually littered with artistic compromises, especially when it's not our own project). But I imagine that for the Walton, you'd have to combine two *large* choirs, plus a large orchestra. If anything, we could provide support for an existing project as a third choir.

That's great, thanks. Now all one needs to do is to transpose some of the fonts of the existing four volumes (well, 5 if you count the unofficial Sobel one) onto that cover. You know, sorta like this -- only with transparent backgrounds for the logos, and obviously change 'one' with 'six' and the composer name, and to make it an even square resolution (not 500x530 like this). Alas, this is where my feeble Photoshop skills stop.

As others have said before, it would no doubt have had a ROSEWOOD twang, perhaps coupled with some of his other Americana leanings. But I'm content with the wonderful score we got, Delerue rip or not. I also think the film is MUCH better than what its reputation suggests. Sentimental at times, yes, but also with a visceral rawness at times that doesn't get enough credit. Not really interested in stage versions or film remakes.

Yes, maybe it is just my childhood nostalgia. The movie does not really have big action or humor, but it is so poetic. And I like that. And Jimmy Webb's score including the songs is gorgeous.

Damn! I missed that! Thanks Eagle Eye!

I feel both Fallen Order and Survivor are scores that require several listens to fully appreciate the complex thematic writing, but it's true that it can get a bit exhausting, since both scores amount to about 7 hours, and without the context of the games, some tracks feel a bit "boring" or less interesting. But there's some really great stuff hidden in there. I stumbled upon this score by chance and was pleasantly surprised by it. I've never heard of Dario Vero, but his score for this animated film reminded me a bit of James Newton Howard's efforts for children/fantasy films, even if not on the same level. The album presentation it's perhaps a bit too long, and is damaged by some shorter, mickey-mousing cues, but there are also some strong orchestral and choral passages and there are some great motifs developed through. It's nothing too revolutionary but it works surprisingly well and was a nice little discovery which I recommend to anyone that is a fan of fantasy / orchestral music, with some great presence of female vocals in the main theme. The suite at the end is a great summary of some of best ideas of the score.

JW: "And then Hans shouted at me: 'And still people praise your brillant two note theme. Do you know, how many themes I wrote for movies, that just consist of two notes? Hundreds!!! And nobody cares! And the worst thing about this: YOURS IS NOT EVEN JUST A TWO NOTE THEME!!! It is much more complex. But nobody cares!' I just responded 'Don't be so Salieri'."

As @Jurassic Shark suggested, the Naxos one is a good price and is a very fine recording. I also have it on Chandos with the RSNO conducted by Gibson which is also excellent. Our choir master at school wanted to do this but, despite our school choir being really pretty good, it was just a bit too challenging unfortunately so after a couple of run throughs we had to abandon the idea alas. A friend of mine was in our local youth orchestra and they did Walton's Symphony 1 and he said it was one the most difficult things he'd ever played. The choir had the same issue with Bernstein's Chichester Psalms - those syncopated rhythms are difficult when you're used to more trad choral music.

Skull is interestingly based on several hoaxes joined together. What a frustrating movie. imo, "there's a city and there's a bunch of guys with no development who try to kill the heroes and then everything blows up and it lasts ten minutes" isn't really engaging,. and the place is in the title. and what is the point of taking the skull to Cuzcotopia if Cuzcotopia doesn't matter? Shouldn't the second half of the movie take place there with characters from there? It's really weirdly done in hindsight. the script is still too trapped in Darabont's script. you may not even need the soviets or the fbi at all (although the fbi could be fun if it were actually used. 1957 is a little late but Indy is an academic with criminal activities who fought nazis and went in weird trips he's a prime target. you could also have him spend the entire movie outside the USA because of this, but you know we can't have that). "the aliens are here to study us" is, granted, spielbergian and "the aliens are archeologists" is fun but it's just vaguely added after the fact once you realize how empty the whole thing is. it's just not part of the movie.

To avoid the woke mob, it should probably be retitled "Non-binary Sunset"

Alright,read the 3 pages and to summarise the movie is mediocre but JW's score is great and mixed loud. Sounds good enough to me.

On principle, I never watch YouTube videos where the thumbnail has the youtuber making some stupid ass face like that. That’s how you identify people who just make contrarian opinions for clicks, and they shouldn’t be rewarded. It hasn’t steered me wrong thus far.

*revised

Naturally, different people will gauge the quality of recent Simpsons differently. What matters, though (at least to people like me) is that you don’t toss out a blanket dismissal about a show if you haven’t watched it for nearly half its run. For whatever reason, The Simpsons has become the poster child for this kind of sheeple behavior. I can’t think of another show that endures this kind of mistreatment. This kind of thoughtless, assumptive stereotyping is one of the laziest, stupidest, and most irritating things about our culture.

I love the 1985 film. I have zero interest in this.

Here, I fixed your typical-idiot-naysayer-Simpsons-should-have-ended-ages-ago comment.

Barry 4x07 a nice meal Man, the writing is REALLY lazy here! Just last week they had a whole scene where Gene had to give Leo his new phone number because (obviously) his one from 8 years ago doesn't work any more. Then in this episode, Sally just call his old number anyway and gets Gene on the phone. WTF!? And she has another hallucination? These better be explained next week, because right now I really am not feeling it and am just left confused and annoyed by them. The Hank/Fuches stuff really worked, though! I loved Hank's pleasure with the FUBAKs, the scene where he gets their head, and of course the rocket scene an ensuing chase. All great, classic Barry! Fuches and his men trying to assuage his new wife and stepdaughter was funny too. Jim and the DA coming to think that Gene was working with the Chechens and is the one who hired Barry to kill Janice was an interesting twist. I am curious how that will end for Gene. Barry was sidelined for most of the episode again, only really escaping form the tape (how did Jim fuck that up so badly?) and then getting the call from Hank that he has Sally and John. Finale next week!

@ThorI haven't seen any covers for the new Young Indy stuff but I came across some of the Struzan artwork for the series in decent resolution, here's Trenches of Hell if it'd be of any use.

It's a good scene! I love the shot of the boob singer

Same here. Fell asleep I think, or stopped it. I will give it too another try because I love hand-drawn animation.

The Color Purple is arguably Spielberg’s greatest film. It’s a true masterpiece and proof that he isn’t just a one-trick pony; Spielberg is capable of providing more than spectacle or sentimentality.

I was talking about the previous releases. The Silva Legend was I think still widely available when I got it, whereas when I bought the Japenese Varese/Volcano Lionheart (which contains almost everything on the two individual Varese releases) was very obscure, and I remember people complaining about the Vareses being hard to find even back then. So I figured the initial demand for Lionheart must probably have been much higher than that for Legend.

You know, I would have written you your own concerti if you'd just sent me some cookies.

What about this? ("they're all dead" jokes not allowed).

Probably not, but I doubt Hogwood would get such a treatment.

Oh yes. There was a big ASMF from Universal a few years ago, but that was only a selection. There's six Hogwood boxes of around 20 CDs each that recently went OOP.

All the Indiana Jones artifacts are based on real/supposedly real artifacts or types of artifacts.

Most of us probably just thought of "The Princess Appears" as one composition back then, not really thinking about how that track covers two different scenes, that have an underscored scene in between them in the film.

Williams titled the cue "Lost R2", it was [3M2]. That initial version was never recorded; [3M2 Rev] (minor modifications) was recorded instead, and then it was rewritten with the force theme as [3M2 New]. But it was called "Lost R2" both times it was recorded. The track on the original soundtrack album titled "The Princess Appears" contains two cues inside it - [3M1 Rev] The Princess Appears and [3M2 New] Lost R2. The name "Binary Sunset" was invented for the 1997 2-CD set; The track "The Hologram / Binary Sunset" contains [3M1 Rev] followed by [3M2 New], while the track "Binary Sunset (Alternate)" contains [3M2 Rev].

It's a fun little tenth anniversary piece. Shore was writing the Tauriel and Kili material almost ten years ago to the day on May 19th 2013. He started writing the score proper on May 28th 2013, beginning with the entrance to the Woodland Realm.

I mean I get why they go with him but it’s depressing he gets work when they could be calling Joel McNeely. Shadows of the Empire is so good…

There's always a difference between hearing it from "within" the orchestra (or on the podium) and from the audience. Reverb and instrumental balance can vary a lot. A conductor will often have an assistant check the acoustics from further back during an on-location rehearsal, or let the musicians perform on their own at key points to check for him-/herself if no assistant is available. I would make sense for Williams to check how the audience hears his orchestrations and perhaps make some tweaks.

I think it works very well. It's not until after the original SW that wall to wall scoring became the norm, both for all later SW films and for other action/adventure fare. Especially in the 70s, spotting was much more specific in where and where not to put music, and it could have a huge effect on the impact of the score when it appeared. Just think of Goldsmith's Coma, which has no score and hardly any incidental music in its first half and then goes all out with horror mode Goldsmith. The Yavin battle is still the best of all SW battles, and I think the unscored sections add to that. It's not all fighting and chaos, there's also some genuine tension there. And the climax gets an extra boost not just the music narrates it so well, but also because it provides a strong contrast to what comes before.

Yeah, because in the 70s they had actual spotting sessions. Nowadays the director and the composer watch the film together and then decide within ten seconds that the entire film must be crammed with mediocre, non-thematic droning.