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"Swimming" is certainly one of the best long lyrical/fantasy cues in the last 10 years. The score may be slight as a whole but has some really good craft behind it.

And it's not as simplistic as some of his action scores from the same time. I remember thinking of 'First Blood' when i fearst heard the wooden percussion in 'The Ravine'. If you watch the film, you just know why Goldsmith was one of the most, accomplished FILM composers for such a long time...how he characterizes the might of mother nature is letter-perfect.

No, if they have sufficient rehearsal time they can be splendid....just listen to Rozsa's 'Private Life of Sherlock Holmes' or the upcoming 'El Cid'. Silva's 'budget' recordings done on a shoestring are another matter, although it doesn't seem to matter with more regular buyers.

Is the sound quality significantly better than the old LP rip?

That it did. But i throw a theory in the ring: Composers like Williams (doing almost exclusively Spielberg films) and Horner (almost exclusively small character dramas) are not doing more because the working conditions and the style of movies and music which is required for them are just not their thing anymore. I hardly think Horner doesn't get enough offers, he just chooses not doing them because he couldn't care less about churning out 90 minutes of music for 'Journey to the Center of Earth' or 'The Mummy III' or whatever. Just like what happened to Barry and Bernstein in the 90s has now reached the 'younger' generation. The only reason Goldsmith bothered before he passed away was his nature being a workhorse. I don't think he really was keen on some of the stuff he was doing then ('Along came a Spider', anyone?).

I kind of liked the movie when i was under 20, but then i started to see the the more ham-fisted elements of the dramaturgy. The photography and the battle scenes are aces, though. Horner's score is rightly praised for the fact that it breathed new life into the way this kind of dramatic spectacle was scored, but suffers from an overall saminess. With 'Legends of the Fall', it really started the unfortunate trend of Horner writing one or two central themes, using them over and over again without much variation. 'The Secret Wedding' is a masterpiece of pastoral beauty.

I find it too simple, somehow. It pushes all the right buttons in the film, but as pure music, i much prefer the adagios he cooked up after 'Angela's Ashes'. But neither 'Nixon' nor 'JFK' are the most thankful assignments for a composer. In both cases the music was pretty much hacked up and while i prefer the more ambigious soundscapes of 'Nixon', neither of these scores has anything approaching the stylistic uniqueness it takes to really 'form' those overlong movies with their cluttered structure. Is there any president left Stone wants to take apart? It's functional suspense music with a beat...as gazillions of trailers thankfully will attest. Just no music i'd like to listen to privately.

For my european ears, loss and hope it ain't what the crystalline trumpet solo and the following string exclamatio in the 'Prologue' offer, more like unabashed patriotism without vengeance. I'll have to confess that i find neither the 'Motorcade' nor 'The Conspirators' stirring stuff, compositionally. 'Arlington' is a nice somber piece but far from remarkable by Williams standards. He did this stuff better in later years, it least to my hearing. No Alex, i stand by my views. JFK symbolizes Stone completely losing his balance as a responsible filmmaker and the music reflects that. 'Nixon' has moments of great fragility, as in the piano theme which accompanies Hopkins reflective speech at the end of the movie. It's miles more ambigious than anything in JFK.

And i found it a serious improvement, with Williams obviously scoring the tragedy of a nation instead whitewashing a historical figure with mind-blowing kitschy patriotism without any infusion of reflective cognizance, which murdered JFK for me. Even if he was scoring the myth, in connection with the hysterical conspiration by Stone stuff the movie seemed somewhat goofy. 'Nixon', on the other hand, is far less direct in it's depiction of the presidential figure...and i don't mean the Darth-Vaderish stuff, which wasn't played in the movie anyway, but all of the more reflective moments.

Routine from a master can still be good, very much so. The rest of your blatherings just unveils your helplessness to articulate anything of substance about the subject at hand...apart from dragging this particular score in the mud at every opportunity, of course. Just as i said, it makes one think the composer did something far more atrocious than just compose a film score you don't like.

Well, who cares? It's a routine score which is miles beyond any 'atrocius' label some people desperately want to burden it with. The dramaturgical application is fine and how anyone can listen to a highly accomplished piece like 'Repairs' and doesn't hear it's good, thought-out stuff really has no clue. You may not like the fact that the action music is same-old, same-old for Goldsmith or some of the electronics don't sound too good or even the old enterprise rhythm, but it defies any logic to badmouth every second of this 70-minute-score in a way that implies Goldsmith did something nasty with your dog or something.

Now even the placement is horrible, not just the music? I guess it's time for you to enjoy the 'Clockwork Orange' treatment. Matches in the eyelids and 'Nemesis' 20 times a day. This should finally bring out all the love you feel for it deep inside.

Yes, we shall promote tolerance of musical taste in the next Civil Rights bill. If that's a try at sarcasm, it missed. The point is that a lot of this childish name-calling and naysaying of everything related to everything vaguely connected to Hans Zimmer is just as pathetic as a 300-pound man trying to win Washington's Birthday Marathon. It's plain ignorant and betrays the lack of knowledge about a healthy dose of this stuff which actually is good enough for what it is, i. e. 'Paycheck', some of the 'Bourne' scores, 'Da Vinci Code', parts of 'Hannibal', parts of 'PtC III', 'Kingdom of Heaven'...hell, even 'K2' is an interesting listen.

Beautifully put. No. Just the usual intolerant BS. I always thought that 'Final Conflict' is a beautiful 'would-be'-prelude to a grand Goldsmith opus á la 'Lord of the Rings'. Unfortunately, operatic proportions were the last thing films like 'Chain Reaction' or 'Along came a Spider' needed and that's pretty much Goldsmith's later career (with a few exceptions). Maybe if he would've done some computer games, but alas, it wasn't to be. Ironically, the Rivendell material from Howard Shore seems to quote 'Final Conflict' almost verbatim, at least the rising/falling string figure.

The score is a continuation of 'Batman Begins', in some ways better, although that will be hard to swallow for filmmusic enthusiasts, since this time, the sound design has taken center. This is actually not altogether uninteresting, since it now is pure atmosphere without a lilting Newton Howard romantic theme or 'Molossus' like tracks. This time, it's Nine-Inch-Nails all the way through, with brass clusters and somber string backing. It's as far removed from traditional film scoring as you can get, but fans of electronic music should have something here. I'll warn every hardcore Williams fan though.

Universal Pictures proudly presents: "There are no wires, ma'am!"

3 stars. Serviceable but without much substance. Howard improved considerably in the late 90s, although his action music still reeks of toned-down Goldsmith.

Well, at least you don't see the machinery operating the rubber shark as in 'Jaws - The Revenge'. I recently acquired a four-disc-set with all the JAWS-movies and the last two are really somewhat special. A wonderful image of the fibre glass terror of 'Jaws - The Revenge'!

I like this image best.

You can do no wrong if you like epic Rozsa. Although the old short stereo CD should do as well...all essential themes are on it. There's a typical grand ominous theme opening the score, but for me the selling point, as almost always with Rozsa, is the 'Love Theme' and another sweeping theme which follows. Try the Track 'River Pastorale'...it's gorgeous.

It's around 55 minutes long, as far as i remember. And whatever Tomlinson recorded with the LSO should sound miles better than the muffled CD. It sounds much fuller and crisper in the film. Maybe a job for Intrada?

Considering the competition, he certainly could be nominated, but let's be reasonable. This isn't a score which should get an award...'outstanding achievement', it ain't.

Odds and ends from cues which were cobbled together for the album release, a short playful tune for a scene in a village and some longer pieces utilizing the 'Love Theme', like when Dracula first courts Lucy. This may be the best missing bit, it's kind of etheral and mysterious.

All things considered, i really have a soft spot for 'Jaws -The Revenge'. The script is without doubt the most surrealistic, almost hallucinatory absurd thing ever filmed for a major production. The rubber shark looks terribly ragged and the finale, oh the finale really is in a class by itself. You see wires attached to the shark and the tracks he's operated on multiple times. Thanks Universal.

Was it, by any chance, a special screening for those with mental disabilities?