Gnome in Plaid

Hey... Ridley's words, not Doug's. But Scott definitely meant Howard Hanson. When Alien was released, Shore was still the SNL music director, had only scored one low-budget film, and (as far as I know) hadn't published any concert pieces yet.

Finally got around to seeing the film (I think if I waited any longer my linguistics major card would be revoked), and it was pretty good. The twist was a little obvious, but I probably wouldn't have picked up on it as quickly if I hadn't already seen I have to say I never would've expected to hear "Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis" name-dropped in a blockbuster, so it gets brownie points for that. Johannsson's score, though... I'm not getting the praise. If you're going to go the defamiliarizing drone route (which I actually think was a wise decision), commit to it. Go out and get Sunn O))) (any of O'Malley's projects, really), or Nadja, or 90s-vintage Dylan Carlson. Think the first antechamber scene is tense with Johansson's score? Try syncing it up to the first two tracks of "Monoliths and Dimensions."

Cool Runnings (Zimmer) - Zimmer's best score. It's a shame he doesn't write like this anymore... "Fun Hans" is a much better composer than "Serious Hans." Sahara (Mansell) - Awesome. Return of the Jedi (Williams) - The more I listen to this, the more I really think it's the best OT score. As good as ESB is, there's just so much variety in ROTJ... The shift from the bombast of the Imperial March to the unsettling calm of the Emperor's Theme... for all of the imposing grandiosity of Vader's theme, Williams lets you know very clearly where the real power resides.

I swear we've done this poll before... in fact I remember the pieces I posted to argue it should be Mansell:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/camille-paglia-believes-that-revenge-of-the-sith-is-our-generations-greatest-work-of-art Hehe.

The saddest cue in the history of film music?

You've never heard The Fountain? Dude...

Looks like we're not going to get a release of Ghost in the Shell, so I've been getting my Mansell fix elsewhere. Doom Stoker High-Rise Smokin' Aces The Fountain

Well, there are four possibilities: 1. Lakeshore's announcement that a physical CD would be released on March 31 was completely false. 2. Lakeshore's announcement that a physical CD would be released on March 31 was true, but the CD wasn't going to be pressed until after March 17, and production was stopped once Mansell's score was (partially? completely?) replaced. 3. Lakeshore's announcement that a physical CD would be released on March 31 was true, an album was pressed, but was pulled from distribution and written off as a loss after Balfe entered the scene. 4. Lakeshore's accouncement that a physical CD would be released on March 31 was partially true, but it was simply going to be available as an Amazon CD-R. 1 is unlikely - why would they have a press release for something not planned? Likewise, if 4 were the case, it likely would never have been listed at other retailers (Target and Barnes and Noble don't list CreateSpace CD-Rs except through third-party sellers). That leaves 3 and 4, which means either they were cutting it really close to begin with (like Curse of the Black Pearl timeline insanity) or somewhere there's a pile of Ghost in the Shell - Original Motion Picture Score CDs.

This is pretty neat. http://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/periods-genres/film-tv/harry-potter-fugue/

Early press releases from Lakeshore and product listings elsewhere said it was supposed to be a physical album release. I'm assuming the discs would have had to have been pressed more than a week in advance, so what will they do with the CDs?

Life (Ekstrand) - Oh goddamnit, why? Why do people responsible still put film dialogue on soundtrack albums? Stop doing that! Otherwise, not a bad score, even if it owes a lot to its predecessors, but not one that left much of an impression, either.

So... you're confirming it?

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Williams) - Haven't listened to much else since seeing the concert last weekend. If you want to know how to write an action score, study this until it's emblazoned on your brain. Behind Enemy Lines (Davis) - Not so much, at least the action parts. It's a schizophrenic mess of a score that has both some of the best cues of Davis' career, only to be immediately interrupted by electronic noise that would make even Holkenborg cringe. "Ustao" is breath-taking, though.

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say the music accompanying the opening panorama is Mansell, and the action sequences are Balfe. The synths at the beginning sound like Mansell's early work on π and The Hole, but the sampled percussion/buzzing strings that follow are pure RCP.

At least we've got Loving Vincent and The Spider to look forward to.

So apparently I somehow missed that Johannsson is scoring Aronofsky's next film (which sounds from the description somewhat reminiscent of A History of Violence). http://filmmusicreporter.com/2016/10/11/johann-johannsson-to-score-darren-aronofskys-next-movie/ Hard to believe it won't be Mansell.

There's definitely something weird going on. The Ghost in the Shell and Logan soundtracks were announced by Lakeshore at the same time, and both given March 31 physical release dates, and the Logan score was put on Spotify a week later. Meanwhile, we haven't so much as seen a tracklist for Ghost in the Shell, much less samples, and its Amazon product page has vanished, although there's all the ordinary pre-release information available for the "Inspired By" album. Mansell's Twitter also has no reference to the film or score.

It happened, but I don't think it was a "podcast," or at least it happened before that was a word. I can't find it, but I believe it was a printed interview around the time the Zorro sequel was released, and he made a number of really condescending remarks about Goldsmith, and John Barry as well.

My dad took an intro music history course as a freshman in college (this goes back to the 60s), and on the first day, the professor asked "Who are the three great 'B's' of Western music?" Without missing a beat, another freshman shouted out "Bach, Beethoven, and CHUCK BERRY!" RIP Grandfather of Rock and St. Louis Icon Chuck Berry - Blueberry Hill won't be the same.

And I was in attendance! Great performance last night!

0:53-1:27 The perfect culmination of all the Ring-related material. I wouldn't mind getting the chance to ask Jackson what the hell he was thinking dialing that out in the final cut.

Strauss' Alpine Symphony... dayum.

The Alamo (Burwell) - A largely overlooked but quite solid score, it's Burwell completely locked in for a surprisingly contemplative score that might be best described as "The Two Towers by way of Morricone."