Yoda Longbottom

I didn't cast my vote. I don't like this fierce score. It has 3 tracks I like (1, 2 and 13!), but they are few and overborne by haze of unusually showy synthesizers by JW's standards. The score is uniquely bold themes-wise, but what I don't like is a way too "cheap/flat" way it sounds to my ears. But I agree, in the movie it works better than so-so. Overall, this score only proves what a versatile craftsman JW is and one can't deny he can score practically anything without botching up the whole thing.

Definitely agreed, Morn. The Land Before Time is one of the few Horner's scores that I can't enjoy very much. I don't like this score as much as it's being often classified as "excellent" or a "real forgotten treasure" in Horner's oeuvre (perhaps they knew why they put it out of mind). The score, to me, sounds much longer than it is and the song in the middle doesn't make much of a recreation. As sparse as the score is as to number of cues, all of them set out for a long journey never finding a resolution. It's a boring album, as it sounds to me, and in many regards the often-dismissed JUMANJI may turn out a more satisfying companion. Nevertheless, seeing a film to which it was composed might help appreciate it. But as a stand-alone listen, ...

I completely, wholeheartedly share your attitude to CDs and the way you treat them! Only Williams can touch my booklets and discs, (which neither my past-time girlfriend could (,which caused not-so-petty quarrels between us)). The scores I love to listen to most did I obtain in two copies at least (usually one new and one used one, plus I bought the golden print of Schindler's List a while ago which I think should outlive me easily. In fact, frankly, I so much love music that I think next to Love it's the only think to make me hate the knowing of the death that has to knock on my door one day (I'd better be off seeking door of rayon that cannot be knocked at that easily). It's such a shame we have to die as long as we have things to love to live for. 8O I heard long ago CDs' lifespan is limited down to some funny 15-20 years. I hope these were all lies.

If you like First Knight, then you could find both the bombastic The 13th Warrior and particularly The Ghost and the Darkness quite interesting as well (both are my favorite scores of Jerry). Main and Closing Credits in Basic Instinct are great no less (the rest of the score falls a bit below the high level of them though); The Omen is perfection at its best (Oscar winner, coincidentally). Alien is cool but outside of the DVD I don't know of any other chance to hear&get the score (aside from bootlegs of course). Legend is superb as is, overtly, Star Trek The Motion Picture. Also give a listen or two to Russia House. It's not a typical Goldsmith, and it's great all the more. I'd only suggest undergoing series of listens before obtaining Hollow Man and Congo. I have both of them but I don't like them as much as all those mentioned above. But my Jerry Goldsmith collection is very sparse and I've not heard much from him by far.

I expect a subtle score rather than action-packed likes of Lost World. There might have been some artifice in main hero's head with playfulness and jeer on the heels. And if Williams sees it about the same way, the score could reflect in in its overall subtlety. Just a thought.

Oops! K.M., I was not getting at you in my post that speaks of "those" Horner fans. It was a general statement. With all respect to you, I simply don't hear the similarity you do or the thing that can be called "similarity" doesn't strike me enough to realize there's any linkage to be heard. And so you're not crazy or something... We can hear things different, that's all.

I first saw it mentioned at filmtracks and I couldn't believe my eyes then. Myself having absolutely no musical education, I swear to you I started literally pouring cold water on my now-gone ability to hear and "understand" music since I never heard any similarity between these two scores. Thanks for mentioning that, Romantic! Some, possibly Horner or Zimmer fans, float here and there and shed tears over their Horner being unfairly bashed on many levels and hated for whatever and whatnot, but seems these devotees relish having great fun letting off steam by bashing the good work by Williams. I can't comprehend why this is happening at all. Music should bring joy rather than start fights...

I so much envy you the Pops Britannia - I've been trying to get it since 1999!!!!! :cry: :cry: :cry: Mine are: By JW: Schindler's List - the gold CD CE3K - collector's edition Rhino's Superman Temple of Doom - Japanese import (TOD is also the "shortest but most expensive" buy of mine) 3 versions of E.T. (only those original ones) Home Alone (hard to find in my land) Boston Pops - It Don't Mean a Thing, Unforgettable and The Green Album Boston Pops with Lockhart - American Classics (with America, the Dream Goes On) and Images - but only in mp3 but great sound!; grabbed from vinyl By Others: Danny Elfman - Black Beauty (CD) Basil Poledouris - Conan the Barbarian Jerry Goldsmith - The Omen Miklos Rozsa - Ben Hur compilation

Although I perchance respect all brands of music, I voted for classical with film music close second. I bought my first classical album in 1995, which was Sergey Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" excerpts with Philadelphia Orchestra under Riccardo Muti's baton. My first movie score was Seven Years in Tibet, which I bought in 1997.

You have a birthday today? Then there's no better reason to enjoy yourself as much as you can manage! If I had known before, to you I would have dedicated the song I played this morning to wake myself up completely before I went to work, which was "Mack the Knife" from JW/Boston Pops' compilation. (I hope you like this Swing CD a bit at least... ) I also share my birthday with a famous person; I was born the day, the month and even the same year Ewan McGregor was born. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, MORN!!!!!!

Quite acquiescing...

Sorry, no time to post over the weekend. That's the delay. Thanks for a cool nickname, Morn. I won't start digging myself a sepulcher for having overestimated the worth of Schindler's List score. I didn't do any wrong at that. I have come through some contemporary classical music analysis and certain parts in SL --although primarily a film score-- are regarded as a classical music (and some other scores have been mentioned there as well). I have my own sentiment to this, no need to copy and brag about anyone else's words, but I fully identify with those who else ennobled --among some other scores-- SL into a classical music realm. How on Earth can you automatically consider a film score a classic music? I need you give me a lesson then. I've so far thought film scores (and ballet music and others as you suggest) are PART of classical music provided they are themselves composed as a classical music, nothing gets achieved automatically. Have you ever heard (I believe you did) Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale or his Octet? Are you considering them a classical music? If you do, then I apologize for all I've said so far and you don't have to read on, a waste of time. Well, composers such as Hans Zimmer, Jan Hammer, David Newman, Wendy Carlos and even now-popular Howard Shore and many others they also do compose some of their scores in classical style, but a healthy number of what they did and done is not a classical music in its roots. Or, as myself being a Czech and cannot speak/read English very well, then find me a better word to denominate the style in which Mahler did his ninth and Williams his Schindler and then compare it to, say, The Rock or 48 Hours film scores and make me believe they belong into the same genre. If these film scores are considered classical music and anyone who tries to separate them from classical is thought an anal snob, then I don't belong in here but I won't shed a tear.... I usually don't for nothing.

Thanks for the level-headed post, Braveheart! Sorry, I hope I didn't make you feel angry about my post, Braveheart! I also didn't think you the fan who speaks so highly about Titanci score. It was somewhat a quale interjection of mine because in fact many people around me take for nothing but granted that the highest selling movie score must automatically mean it's the best deed in the realm of filmscoring. I intended to suggest I disagree so much about this conception. Well, I also have Titanic score on CD (...reddening...), even I have the back-to follow-up and must hand to Horner that he managed to make a best seller with "only" a "very good" score. Even James Horner can do pretty MUCH better than that (e.g. LotF, Braveheart) and oddly haven't been nodded at Oscars for neither of the two mentioned above. I don't mind him citing himself in a number of scores of late. It makes me save some money on purchasing his scores so I can get something else... Anyway, myself being a big fan of Williams', I have solid 10 scores by Horner. Legends of the Fall made me be more interested in what else he has to offer... Yoda L.:alien:

Since I no longer regard Schindler's List as a film score as I think it rightfully belongs to the classical music genre and should be transcribed into a concerto for violin or at least a string quartet, Angela's Ashes have thus become my finest Williams' film score to ever have. What I want to say is that Back to America track is the only "drawback" of this effort since a tad too much of Hornerism creeps in so in fact the only thing for which you, king mark, listen to Angela's Ashes seems not to be a 100% Williams'. Are you sure you listen to John Williams for pure John Williams' writing? :?:

How can anyone mention Titanic as being a, say, Horner's "masterpiece" as it would not have been the way it is hadn't it been for "launch/systems ready" Apollo 13's suite? All cool about Titanic comes straight from launching sequence music. Everyone does it but I suppose masterpieces are somewhat supposed to be original or innovative as much as possible. Wrong was I.

Legends of the Fall is incredibly great and touching and Aliens is a must have (either original or expanded). Very diverse of each other and very very good scores they are. I am not a Horner fan but I couldn't do without these two especially.

Although I haven't seen the movie, I bought the score and listened to it so many times that I could have whistled every single cue if only there had been at least a single good one. Outside of the closing track, this is on the whole the most disappointing score of Williams' career as it sounds to me. Not that there wouldn't have been themes to stumble upon all the way through. There are a few to be heard there. But I don't like the way Williams orchestrated it; at places it's a cross between the worst underscores of Goldenthal, Goldsmith, Doyle and Morricone. Along with "Earthquake", this is the rare example of the approach Williams --allegedly and very likely rightfully so-- chose to accompany a movie but failed to impress me on a stand-alone experience level. Saying I don't like it doesn't mean it is a bad work of John Williams. Some even prefer it over Schindler's List marking Sleepers as his finest score EVER!

I could try to order a copy for you if you want me to. I ordered mine 4 months ago (it's the Varčse's recording) and there were no problems getting it although it took some time for it to deliver. They also can obtain earthquake, The River, Presumed Innocent..., and all have been readily available at when I ordered them back in March... For safety's sake, first write me a note if you want any kind of help and I will inquire all I can for you since I know what it feels like longing and not getting music you like (e.g. my Minority Report hunger). Yoda L:alien:

Capping to Artificial Intelligence. Of course it's everyone's opinion and that's what's fair about this, and myself I prefer his "new-era" type of writing (most notably showcased in works like "Summon the Heroes", "Seven Years in Tibet", "Angela's Ashes", "The Phantom menace"?) His early style was what brought him to the wide attention, I'm alive to this, and I love these works of his no less than the newer ones, but his style of late (difficult to determine when the change did set in though; first time perhaps in CE3K) is closer to my sense preceptors. I can't explain why this is so and I don't cast about for whys, but that's the way it is (for the same reasons I perhaps prefer Prokofiev and Shostakovich over Mozart and Vivaldi as same as Williams and Herrmann over Zimmer and Steiner). I have a very narrow yet limited notion of what the beautiful in classical music is fixed in and what makes a certain work more listenable to me than another piece and it's perhaps the same case of unaffectable spontaneity due to which I enjoy brassy and string pieces a little more than the woodwind ones. The fact that the multi-strata writing Williams "re-invented" in his late works is so prominent ("Minority Report, AotC") is perhaps why John's writing may never be the same accessible for some select audience as it would be. It gets time to unbraid thematic techniques he uses lately but once you "understand" and see through, it's rewarding and asks for repeat listen. Glad he does it. Few do the same nowadays for perhaps fear of loosing audience. But it's due to be said that Williams would be no where as popular as he has been hadn't it been for his first-rate scores such as "Hook", "Raiders" or "Jurassic Park"? So, call it what you want, "mature" or any other way, I think John Williams is as best as a man at his age could be. Yoda L.:alien:

Without a doubt, the most important cues are pressed on CD, but still... ...I have proceeded from the assumption that those 65 minutes of music that appear on CD are not possibly the complete recorded score since the music, as I recall, accompanies upwards of 50% of the 180-minute movie's running time and I never had the feeling that any single cue was repeated too many times during the movie. So there nearly MUST be something that's missing from the CD release (some tracks sound as if altered for the album release). The workforce scene also sounded to me to be scored differently for the movie's needs as opposed to the cue's album version. But than again, it's been long since I saw the movie so I may be wrong about all of it.

David, the DVD is already available in France? Officially? When did it come out in your country? Just curious for I want it too and we still have no word on its release date in here! Thanks. Yoda L.:alien:

I voted for Rhino's Superman although I have special room for A New Hope in my heart as well as for the hopefully unabridged E.T. 2002's release. They are all great. I hope they'll release Schindler's List complete score on CD some time in the future. It's been years since I last saw the movie but I think those 65 minutes as presented on the disc are only an essence off the full score. Schindler's List is the most beautiful yet sad music I've ever heard in my life; as it would regard impressiveness, I place it right next to Dvorak's second cello concerto and Mahler's sixth symphony. For me, these 3 pieces belong among the best works ever written. (From my point of view I mean!!!) Yoda L.:alien:

There is a cool site I am sure many know of that I come in to see at intervals what music was used in which movie. They also have a complete list of classical music used in Minority Report movie. If you haven't yet, have a look at that at: http://home2.pacific.net.sg/~bchee/movies.html Yoda L.:alien:

I LOVE both movie and score so much that I cannot express it. I saw it first back when I was 10 and father told me he remembered I had cried while being walked off the theatre. I wanted to see that movie again but American movies were not the ?right? thing to show to people in our communist country so it only got 2 screenings in a whole year back at then when it premiered. I didn not understand music nor I had any notion of who John Williams was but I knew I wanted the music at home for what might have been a want to relive the emotions again. It took me another 10 years for this dream-wish to come true but once it came true I knew I have gotten the best music a man like me can only have. The music in E.T. is truly greatness in itself and makes the movie what it is. I cannot wait for the DVD release to appear in the Czech republic. I do not feel any ashamed for loving a movie for kids. It is for all kinds I dare say or it at least has an ability to enchant us all, regardless of age. Pardon me if I sound childish to any of you. But it is a work of my heart. Yoda L.:alien:

Where can I procure more music from "Ben Hur"? Except for the Silva Screen's 2-cd spanning compilation with Miklós Rózsa's music, which is what I have, I failed tracing the full Hur's movie score. You have it Morn? Help if you can, anytime. Thank you. (On Saturday I got B. Hermann's "Vertigo" (# VSD 5600) and it's nothing short of excellency.)