chuck

I don't find Alien to be particularly scary. It's just mysterious. Nothing as scary as The Omen. Just saying.

And I for one tend to see both the film score as it was intended to be used on film and as its own separate merit. And I also tend to listen to rejected scores and compare them to their preferred counterpart.

And because Ridley Scott doesn't appreciate good music. Really, I think that he's just hired Goldsmith to score his films just so he could screw the man out of his dignity and respect. That's why even though I respect Ridley Scott for his contributions, I dislike him for what he did towards Goldsmith. But in regards to Goldsmith's Alien score, I rather much like and preferred his own original interpretation rather than the butchered and watered down score that you heard on film. It's very creepy and signals terror lurking in the dark.

Steiner is hit and miss for me. Some stuff is awesome, other scores just confuse me with a plethora of non-original themes all over the place. The Gone With the Wind overture has to be the best film music related encore pieces of all time. Even beats Supergirl. I find Alfred Newman's "How The West Was Won" overture to be the best film music overture ever composed.

I was about to post that example, LOL.

So basically, it's the composers fault...

Wow, this is one of the few orchestras I've watched in youtube that faithfully follow Elmer Bernstein's original concert suite rather than that of Erich Kunzel's more popular adaptation.

And FAR FROM HEAVEN & AGE OF INNOCENCE & THE BIRDMAN FROM ALCATRAZ & LOVE WITH A PROPER STRANGER & SUMMER AND SMOKE... Really you seem to be listening to a small bit from Elmer Bernstein cuz I may not be fond of Bernstein's jazzy score, but when he writes emotional scores, he brings them. p.s. Plus, DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS and his rejected scores from THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GUNN and A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT.... Trust me, I've heard a LOT of Bernstein over the years, and he's close to my Top 10, but he's simply not in the same ball park as Horner in terms of consistency regarding 'emotional cores'. I connect really well to some of his stuff, not so much other things. Yeah, Bernstein's well above the ball park in terms of versatility and melodification of emotional scores.

And FAR FROM HEAVEN & AGE OF INNOCENCE & THE BIRDMAN FROM ALCATRAZ & LOVE WITH A PROPER STRANGER & SUMMER AND SMOKE... Really you seem to be listening to a small bit from Elmer Bernstein cuz I may not be fond of Bernstein's jazzy score, but when he writes emotional scores, he brings them. p.s. Plus, DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS and his rejected scores from THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GUNN and A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT....

I'm sorry to say, but Elmer Bernstein got Jimmy and even Johnny beat by more than a mile in that regard.

I'm glad they're still using "Fanfare For Oscar" that Jerry Goldsmith composed for the Academy. I might've thought they discarded it.

Okay, but staying on topic, I wished Goldsmith and Bernstein are still alive and working.

You're right. In fact here's the whole picture:

Agreed. I miss that sonofabitch now more than I ever did. Welcome, friend, by the way. Great avatar! Where and when was the picture taken? Thanks, as to your question, I've been asked a lot from this site, lol. It's from a photoshoot, taken sometime in the late 90's I think.

I bought the album recently and was really impressed. It is definitely a powerhouse that reminded me how well suspence and action music was written in the past and how Goldsmith used so effectively the sparse textures and ghostly melodies to create uneasy atmosphere and gets your blood pumping with off-kilter rhythmic patterns and forceful brass. But the music lacks the nonstop inventiveness and breathtaking artistry that Reznor brings to the table. Indeed. And of course all those brassy fanfares and percussion and orchestra in general are so predictable, tired and old fashioned. Non-stop inventiveness and Reznor belong in a same sentence. Not Goldsmith. Oh please. Reznor deserves everything he has to be nominated. Goldsmith? If there's fairness in the world, he wouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentences as Oscar. (Well he has every right, since he composed the Fanfare For Oscar) but still....

I bought the album recently and was really impressed. It is definitely a powerhouse that reminded me how well suspence and action music was written in the past and how Goldsmith used so effectively the sparse textures and ghostly melodies to create uneasy atmosphere and gets your blood pumping with off-kilter rhythmic patterns and forceful brass. It's one of the more thunderous orchestrations to came out from Jerry Goldsmith. Ranks up there with Total Recall and The Wind and The Lion in terms of how powerful the percussion are. Have you tried listening to Lionheart? Yes all those scores are some of Goldsmith's best material in my opinion. Lionheart is such a tremendous score and the finale, King Richard, is definitely one of the most spirited and unabashedly victorious marches he has ever composed. Yeah, King Richard has some of my most favorite fanfare in movies. I wish Goldsmith made a concert suite with Lionheart. That would have been awesome.

Those are wrong. Hey, this is my own list. Make your own.

What a brilliant avatar picture, may I ask , where is it from?? That was from a photoshoot from the late 90's I think, where someone made a brilliant idea to gather some of the leading film composers of that time. Jerry and John was seated together (rather awesomely I might add) and behind them you could see the silhouettes of (from left) Elmer Bernstein, John Barry, Quincy Jones and Maurice Jarre. Jerry was talking to James Newton Howard while John isllaughing at a joke by Danny Elfman. Others that are part of that picture were: Hans Zimmer, Michael Kamen, Marvin Hamlisch, Bill Conti, Lalo Schifrin, Mark Isham, Elliott Goldenthal, Alan Menken, and Mark Isham. Are you positive? I'm 99% sure I read somewhere that the image was photoshopped.. And 1% says you're doubtful that it's photoshopped. John Williams is rolling over in his grave. I never judge scores based on how they sound. It's so superficial. Same goes with pictures. Don't judge them by how you see it. It would make them look cheap.

My own list: 1. John Williams 2. Jerry Goldsmith 3. Elmer Bernstein 4. Ennio Morricone 5. Bernard Herrmann 6. Hans Zimmer 7. The Beatles 8. Sherman Brothers 9. Randy Newman 10. Andre Previn

I bought the album recently and was really impressed. It is definitely a powerhouse that reminded me how well suspence and action music was written in the past and how Goldsmith used so effectively the sparse textures and ghostly melodies to create uneasy atmosphere and gets your blood pumping with off-kilter rhythmic patterns and forceful brass. It's one of the more thunderous orchestrations to came out from Jerry Goldsmith. Ranks up there with Total Recall and The Wind and The Lion in terms of how powerful the percussion are. Have you tried listening to Lionheart?

No he didn't bash Shore. He simply concentrated his hate towards the more veteran composer.

<------- Very likely Johnny asked Jerry in here and Jerry answered "You're the more big shot, why should you asked me?" and promptly turns away.

Me neither. It's very annoying. http://music-mix.ew....o/?iid=rcfooter Oh wow. That idiot that wrote that article clearly didn't know what he's talking about.

Here's a few clips of Bill Conti conducting several of his own scores and gets to talk a little about them. It's a real treat. This one you will hear some very familiar tunes from our dear maestro: