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The Wolfman. This is the kind of score I was hoping Elfman would write more frequently later in his career. It would be a natural progression of his early fantasy works, but weightier and more grounded. Yes, there are some Kilar references but they are mostly relegated to the opening track. The remaining material is some of Elfman's finest writing in 21st century outside of his concert work. There's no silliness and it moves with purpose.
 
On a side note, I would be very interested to find out what was the role of Lindgren and Shearmur on this project. It sounds quite seamless to me.
 
Karol

It's slow-moving, majestic, repetitive and the melody is an earworm...pure Barry, so to speak, warts and all.

I was made aware of my own 'Raggedy Man' suite from years ago. It's so rarely on my menu, i took the chance and it's always an enchanting pleasure to revisit it. Written a year before 'Poltergeist' and 'The Secret of NIMH', it foreshadows both: the lullaby, the scherzo-esque impressionist touches, and occasionally the threatening Stravinsky terrors, mixed with a rural Waltons vibe.
 
This was sandwiched between the zionist historical epic 'Masada' and the horror opera that is 'The Final Conflict'. During a time when film composers gave you actually something to look forward to.
 
 

I was made aware of my own 'Raggedy Man' suite from years ago. It's so rarely on my menu, i took the chance and it's always an enchanting pleasure to revisit it. Written a year before 'Poltergeist' and 'The Secret of NIMH', it foreshadows both: the lullaby, the scherzo-esque impressionist touches, and occasionally the threatening Stravinsky terrors, mixed with a rural Waltons vibe.
 
This was sandwiched between the zionist historical epic 'Masada' and the horror opera that is 'The Final Conflict'. During a time when film composers gave you actually something to look forward to.
 
 

I was made aware of my own 'Raggedy Man' suite from years ago. It's so rarely on my menu, i took the chance and it's always an enchanting pleasure to revisit it. Written a year before 'Poltergeist' and 'The Secret of NIMH', it foreshadows both: the lullaby, the scherzo-esque impressionist touches, and occasionally the threatening Stravinsky terrors, mixed with a rural Waltons vibe.
 
This was sandwiched between the zionist historical epic 'Masada' and the horror opera that is 'The Final Conflict'. During a time when film composers gave you actually something to look forward to.
 
 

Argento's latest. Daft Punk was once rumoured to do this, Rebotini did it in the end. My favourite score of the year so far -- if interested, you can read my review here: http://celluloidtunes.no/occhiali-neri-arnaud-rebotini/

I was made aware of my own 'Raggedy Man' suite from years ago. It's so rarely on my menu, i took the chance and it's always an enchanting pleasure to revisit it. Written a year before 'Poltergeist' and 'The Secret of NIMH', it foreshadows both: the lullaby, the scherzo-esque impressionist touches, and occasionally the threatening Stravinsky terrors, mixed with a rural Waltons vibe.
 
This was sandwiched between the zionist historical epic 'Masada' and the horror opera that is 'The Final Conflict'. During a time when film composers gave you actually something to look forward to.
 
 

People are idiots. The score's a quickie and suits the B movie it accompanies just fine, but the occasional highlight ('Bail Out') belongs in any Best-of 90's Jerry compilation, as does the ball-swingin' main theme. The movie was a last-minute editing nightmare and Goldsmith had to finish the mess while writing 'First Knight', which explains the fleeting nature of most cues. But so what, 10-15 minutes of engaging cheese is nothing to sneer at, we have enough 120 minute epic overload.

I was made aware of my own 'Raggedy Man' suite from years ago. It's so rarely on my menu, i took the chance and it's always an enchanting pleasure to revisit it. Written a year before 'Poltergeist' and 'The Secret of NIMH', it foreshadows both: the lullaby, the scherzo-esque impressionist touches, and occasionally the threatening Stravinsky terrors, mixed with a rural Waltons vibe.
 
This was sandwiched between the zionist historical epic 'Masada' and the horror opera that is 'The Final Conflict'. During a time when film composers gave you actually something to look forward to.
 
 

Like i wrote in that other thread, it's another one of these baffling 'more is less' releases. 110 minutes of material that needs editorializing like a plant needs light. It's not enough to just whittle out tracks, you would need to edit tracks themselves. This is a good 45-50 minutes score.

Rio Conchos/The Artist Who Did Not Want to Paint (Intrada re-recording) by Jerry Goldsmith. Slowly working through my recent purchases that I did not yet have time to listen to. The Artist is a particularly subtle and lovely mini-score, perfect preamble to the more ornate Alex North masterpiece. Rio Conchos, on the other hand, I wasn't familiar at all and, yes, the recent release of the film version is still waiting for me on the shelf. Good stuff as well. The recording and performance are both excellent. Quite a superb disc, I must say.
 
Karol

Everything Everywhere All At Once
 
What a joyride! Just one of the most fun experiences I've had in the cinema in such a long time. It's an absolutely bonkers film that never eases up on its strangeness (unlike many lesser films that promise "weirdness"). And yet, it's quite emotional too. Michelle Yeoh is an absolute revelation and has such fantastic comedic timing. A career best performance, really highlighting her strength as an all-rounder. Hope she gets much deserved awards attention for this. 
 
Overall, it can be a lot, and the third act climax could probably shave off a good 10 minutes, but it holds together and strangely works really well. Easily the best film of 2022 so far.
 
Also, plenty of thoughtful, super clever references and easter eggs in there that are ripe for re-watching. 

Like i wrote in that other thread, it's another one of these baffling 'more is less' releases. 110 minutes of material that needs editorializing like a plant needs light. It's not enough to just whittle out tracks, you would need to edit tracks themselves. This is a good 45-50 minutes score.

Dude, it's you who makes these claims (repeatedly). It's not a damned if you/damned if you don't scenario for me, i always expect the MUSIC to come first and i expect a good editorialization that makes sense musically. I certainly never have criticized an effort to produce a good album that stands on its own.

Which sounds like its same-year counterpart 'The Fury' thin-ish and not at all apocalyptic. I don't know if both were recorded at Fox, but this problem lasted until the early 1980s (think of 'Masada'). Strangely enough, pristine recordings like TMP or Jaws 2 were possible, but they certainly were no industry standard.

For reasons of originality i chose the 10-minute opening sequence of 'The Long Goodbye', with Williams' theme undergoing several groovy mutations whenever Elliot Gould switches location.
 
 

It certainly is enough for franchise fans with few musical credentials. But it should raise eyebrows that a sizeable number of guys here who profess to know and admire Williams' composing abilities consider *this* stuff high quality.

It certainly is enough for franchise fans with few musical credentials. But it should raise eyebrows that a sizeable number of guys here who profess to know and admire Williams' composing abilities consider *this* stuff high quality.

It certainly is enough for franchise fans with few musical credentials. But it should raise eyebrows that a sizeable number of guys here who profess to know and admire Williams' composing abilities consider *this* stuff high quality.

Colourful orchestral adventure score (the kind which is scientifically impossible these days, as we are told in another thread). Gordon shoots his load in the Riddles overture, which is a compact suite of all the good stuff distributed more fleetingly throughout the 45 remaining minutes. In a recent podcast, Gordon offers fascinating insights how he taught himself composing, which makes his imposing brass writing all the more remarkable.

Yeah well, cues that he conceived obviously without having seen the film.
 
As i was pointing out, my beef is not that the themes are weak or the scores, but that the nature of the writing tends to be fragmented and heavily wedded to picture. I can't remember a Spielberg picture with so many dead spots that could be easily edited out without complaint. So it's probably a matter of modern editing and filmmaking in general.

That concert piece is eternally underrated by most fans. It's the most musically complicated - how JW weds and builds the disparate ideas into one piece moving towards a big resolution: that's great 'musical' writing, not the tons of murky underscore.

That concert piece is eternally underrated by most fans. It's the most musically complicated - how JW weds and builds the disparate ideas into one piece moving towards a big resolution: that's great 'musical' writing, not the tons of murky underscore.

Yeah well, cues that he conceived obviously without having seen the film.
 
As i was pointing out, my beef is not that the themes are weak or the scores, but that the nature of the writing tends to be fragmented and heavily wedded to picture. I can't remember a Spielberg picture with so many dead spots that could be easily edited out without complaint. So it's probably a matter of modern editing and filmmaking in general.

What i mean is exactly that: MUSIC with a capital M, that's written and conceived as real music, not just a wallpapery thing that wafts away in the background at the mercy of a hundred sound effects. I'm aware of all what you're talking about, but it sounds too apologetic to me, like an industry professional trying to sell me something that is of no particular use for a music fan.
 
 
Sounds like back in the 90's and early 2000's, when Ford Thaxton found an excuse for nearly everything with a non-sequitur like 'this will bring in the big monies, just accept it'. But why should i?
 
 
Again, i don't really see what you are advocating here: that you are a big fan of sound gadgets and expensive gear? My argument is and always have been that i listen to something released separately from the movie, so i'm rating its musical qualities. That's all there is to it.
 
I can talk about all this stuff, and it is known and debated for years, but do i gain better music from it?