Pelzter

Does anyone else find the main theme just as close to the first five notes of the Blue Fairy Theme from A.I. as is it to Angela's Ashes and Presumed Innocent? In terms of note progression, I think that theme is the closest to The Book Thief main melody. Overall, I find the score pleasing but relatively anonymous. And my guess is, it will swell predictably, and with too much schmaltz, in the film. We tend to bash Jablonsky and Zimmer for their lack of subtlety - but The Book Thief does not exactly thread lightly either.

That is how I feel about WAR HORSE. A lovely, occasionally gorgeous listen on album - but very badly placed in the film. Grand, sweeping strings tell us how to feel within the first couple of minutes - before we've had a chance to get to know any of the characters. And if it was just landscape scoring, that would be fine, but the birth of the horse right at the beginning is so heavily scored, that it actually distracts from the narrative. That is a fundamental flaw, IMO.

NIXON is awesome - a fantastic score, which somehow escapes the fundamental silliness that could have come from giving that character and that film such a overly operatic and hyper emotional musical treatment.

I generally agree. Williams did this kind of writing gorgeously in Schindler's List, because the quality of that score and every single cue is so overwhelmingly superior to any other drama score he has ever written, in my opinion. Thus, the choral lament of "Immolation" or the stark violin of Auschwitz are so gut wrenching, because they are pure emotion; as a listener, one does not feel manipulated or forcefully "made to feel" a certain way - as The Death of Topthorn, and many other cues, like the funeral cue for Anakin's mother in Attack of the Clones does to a much larger extent. I have to say, however, that the crescendo at 2:30 in Topthorn is very powerful - and definitely elevates that track beyond competent but token Williams despair. Again, in my opinion.

I love the 'syrupy sweep' of WAR HORSE too, although I wouldn't use that term, exactly. To me, much of that score falls in a more "English", pastoral mode (Vaughan Williams-style) with elements of Americana. But yeah, I get what you mean. I love the syrupy sweep of War Horse as well! And it is definitely Ralph Vaughan Williams inspired - but it feel it gets more syrupy because of the condensed format of the film score. "Dartmoor, 1912" runs three minutes, where as a piece like Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, runs 18 minutes - leaving a lot more room for subtlety and complexity, while still maintaining the sweeping strokes and lofty pastoral quality what Vaughan Williams does so perfectly.

Sounds quite lovely, sort of halfway between Jane Eyre and Presumed Innocent, with a lot of A.I. style writing in it as well. The running obstinato is certainly familiar, and the score does seem to a large degree to be a patchwork of familiar Williams ideas and techniques for light drama; quite different from the syrupy sweep of War Horse.

I think the Crystal Skull theme is by far the most interesting thematic idea in Crystal Skull, and kicks Mutts Theme halfway across the world. I love it being crystal clear, it makes the electronic/synthesizer sound of it that much more compelling, as it reverberates through the sound stage with fantastic clarity. I also love the way it is used throughout the film, both in straight theme form, or just as synch/alien-like backing, like in Orellanas Cradle. And the horn rendition later in the same cue is absolutely breathtakingly scary, beautiful and mysterious, all at once. Bravo. -- Pelzter, who think the plot of the film would have worked better 20 years ago, if only because it would have been scarier and more menacing. The menacing parts of the Crystal Skull, as a movie, are also by far the best. And I've also come to enjoy the "creepy exploration" cues of the score tremendously, which I think are every bit as good as (and very much in tune with) the first two films'. Once again, all the score material surrounding the graveyard and Orellana tomb explorations are fantastic, and work even better in the film than on the album.

Williams' version of the theme seems more tragic and heartbreaking, where as the original Jewish folksong is more romantic and optimistic. But it definitely seems like a temp-cue situation; much like King's Row in Star Wars.

That russian statement from the opening of the film is almost identical to one of the main themes from Blazing Angels II, for the next-gen game consoles. Released in the fall of 2007,the game theme seems to have been written just before Williams wrote his variant for Crystal Skull. So, compelling as the cue may be, it's not very original. --Pelzter.

In that case, it's ironic, since the piece they used are significantly LESS forceful than the original cue.

Why did I see that one coming? Come on people, don't respond if you don't have anything intelligent to say.

The album version seemed to perfectly match the image in the film of Indy picking up the hat, and this edit is now actually the only thing which irritates me about the score in the movie, especially since it is one of if not the best Indy March statement on the album. The film version, tracked in from earlier, is far too slow and does not match the images at all. Anyone know why this was done? And don't just say "Because Lucas and Burtt are dumb-asses," something a little more constructive. PS: And would there be a way to, using some audio software, to reinstate this snippet into the films 5.1 soundtrack?

Exactly... The Sith Legends motif is arguably the most interesting musical idea in Revenge of the Sith, and the same could be said for both main and secondary skull theme I especially love when the theme is used at the door opening scene in the temple. It seems to exactly convey some of the otherwise cloudy backstory of Akator, the skulls and their fate. Like an elegy, but also with a sense of history and mystery.

Ever since I heard the Crystal Skull theme, I've been fascinated with the solumn and gloomy B-section. Its tone and minor key harmonic progressions somehow seem to tell me something of what happened at Akator in the large time gab between the aliens teaching the tribe all these advanced technologies, and when the skull was taken by Orellana; a period of several thousand years. The music seems to suggest an almost elegiac somberness, of something going wrong or happening in that time. Maybe something happened to the aliens, killing them off? I don't know, I'm just relaying what that particular piece of score seems to tell me. Thoughts on this? Pelzter

Interestingly, the fantastic, classic Williams motif in Entering the Base is very similar to the main theme from the 360/PS3 WWII game Blazing Angels. Incidentally, I've often thought that the score from that game was very much in Williams' style, not onlike Giacchino's earlier Medal of Honor scores. And while the album version of Jungle Chase was a very good cue, the complete version is absolutely fantastic, and a classic Williams action cue. Especially the blaring trumpets and militaristic action motif towards the end bring to mind the energy of Raiders. This is much much better than the vast majority of action cues composed for the SW prequels.

Any links or otherwise to the ripped music?

It may be a cliché, but my favorite Goldsmith score is definitely Basic Instinct. It's both chillingly beautiful and fascinatingly complex, perfectly embodying both the action on screen and the psychological subtext.

My bad. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Indiana-Jones-Comp...8503&sr=1-2 Let see if this works...

Anybody seen this yet? Sorry if it's been discussed for the last 12 hours... http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/images/B001G562Z The set picture, I mean...

Doldinger's original orchestral score is quite amazing. The original Ivory Tower cue is certainly the best piece of score in 1984. http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=W-yS-qu-6AA

The Childlike Princess is certainly very similar to Anakin's Theme, yes.

I think Whirl has more personality than Jungle Chase, which, also plenty exciting and filled with great Williams orchestration, seems very close to both some of the bombastic star wars prequel writing and Desert Chase, at times.

I personally disagree with the Filmtracks' score review for Indy 4, which states that the action writing of the new score fails to create a personality of its own. I think it is just as much a part of this particular story as Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra was for Last Crusade or Desert Chase for Raiders. While Williams certainly didn't reinvent himself for Crystal Skull, I feel it is the superb and very natural integration of the Mutt motif throughout both A Whirl Through Academe and Jungle Chase, which makes these sequences unique to the story and feel of Crystal Skull, while still being Indy-like in general. Overall, I feel that Mutt's musical integration in the film is excellent, especially around Indy's theme. I'm especially smitten with the Whirl cue, which I think has the action energy, and sense of fun unrivaled in a Williams score since The Phantom Menace - and seems to belong somewhere in the late 80s altogether. In other words, the action does not seem to me as much of an autopilot - if still very much competent - effort as much of the new star wars action writing. I also might add, that the Whirl cue has a fantastic, fast action motif which helps it to further rise about the rather often-used Williams action writing style of fast-faced strings, percussion and brass blasts.

I hear it in the first two notes, but otherwise little more than a similarity of tone and mood. Han Solo and the Princess sounds like a Golden Age film theme to me, of which Mancini himself wrote several, most notably Moon River. And even the first two notes Williams has himself used countless of other times to start melodies with. --Pelzter

Mine is definitely The Dark Side Beckons, which is the single greatest choral melody I have ever heard by anyone, period. A close second is the Immolation cue from Schindler's List, which is incredibly beautiful and utterly terrifying at the same time. Thoughts?