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Will Tasker

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Posts posted by Will Tasker

  1. Having "Anakin vs Obi-Wan" interrupted by that reprise of ESB material felt awful. Why couldn't he have composed something new?

    He was asked to put that in there and, quite frankly, continues to grate on me every time I listen to the album. A *lot* of people like it though; some people like the fact that the Imperial March theme is "completed".

  2. Lincoln is not the most exciting Williams score, but it's probably his most respectful. I enjoy its subtle precision.

    The Book Thief on the other hand I find lacking in complexity and largely a retread of Williams' older efforts, even if it is very superficially pretty. Not a bad score, as no such thing exists for Williams, but one of his less interesting efforts.

    Agreed on both counts. But as an addendum, I'd like to add that no matter how pedestrian The Book Thief would seem in Johnny's long list of music, its still far and away better than the overwhelming majority of other composers and songwriters.

  3. the omission of 'composed by' diminishes his work, many composers who use collaborators to aid them are credited just like that. (usually you never see the full credit with zimmer, elfman, giacchino...)

    And Williams supposedly orchestrated this score all by himself, or something like that was mentioned. They usually do not make emphasis on that.

    So it should have been 'music composed, orchestrated & conducted by John Williams'....

    Ugh. These posts make residence here very difficult at the moment. Just take a moment to listen to yourself, get some perspective in life. Yikes!

    I agree that the music by credit diminishes the maestro's work, in a way.

    But no, it doesn't. Unless you're a massive anal retentive prone to anxiety attacks over absolutely nothing.

    Oh thank God. I was keeping quiet this whole time but thinking the same thing.

  4. Really? I think I just walked into a Target the day it came out to get it

    For whatever reason, the Target versions had a sticker on the front saying something about the exclusive bonus track. When I went to Target, none of the albums had it for whatever reason. It wasn't until about 2010 that I was rummaging through a used music bin and found the album with the sticker for about $4.

  5. I think Disney will release more music down the road, they just want to charge us twice for it.

    This is my thinking as well. At this point, I'm just thankful there doesn't seem to be another "exclusive track" release ala Attack Of The Clones Conveyor Belt nonsense. It took me years to track down a proper copy.

  6. Why the anger? We already have similar non-Williams pieces in the Star Wars universe. Yes, it would be preferable had Williams written everything, but he passed on this piece. Move along.

    As for JJ's "narcissism," he has musical ability. Why can't he write pieces for his movies? Should we hate Clint Eastwood also?

    I have zero issue with collaboration or someone adding to the Star Wars musical universe. I really enjoy Kevin Kiner's output, for example. Ditto Joel McNeely's one entry into the lexicon.

    Abrams, however, has a long list of, shall we call it, self-satisfaction.

    I'm sure everyone here remembers the story about how Gene Roddenberry screwed composer (and later Williams arranger) Alexander Courage out of a lifetime of royalties with a handshake deal on the theme to Star Trek. This seems pretty much the same thing, if only done nicely. John Williams has more money than I will ever see in my life time and won't be crying poverty and all is right in that part of the world - but the fact that Abrams always has to stick his hand in someone else's pocket on every project just shows what a little shit he is. It would be one thing if he wrote source music as a laugh and put it in the film - but he knows he'll be making money on a Star Wars album until his dying day, and its not for the love of music but probably for the love of his own ego.

    Is there any other director in the world whos gotten more attention for creating absolutely nothing original?

  7. Now one question that arises from this is, is Maul's instrumental theme more important than the chant that is laid overtop? What I mean is, if someone was going to refer to Darth Maul's theme, would you think they meant the instrumental thing or the chant (I know some refer to the latter as the Sith chant, but still...).

    The question gets into whether we believe the composer's "untainted" version (instrumental) as being more important because it is what JW thought it should be, or whether what really matters in terms of how to interpret a character's theme is how it ends up in the final score. Obviously, I took the latter approach in writing this, but it would be interesting to hear others' thoughts. I'm all ears...

    I wish I could corroborate this better than an old memory - but I specifically remember a radio interview with John on NPR before The Phantom Menace came out. In it, he mentioned how Lucas had (what would be) Duel Of The Fates as an overarching theme used between all the prequel films and how it was going to be used. (Basically, I got the feeling it would be used ala Episode III's Yoda / Palpatine duel or some other major battle scene).

    To me, that means that "Darth Maul's Theme" is more of an instrumental version / motif for the Sith and not so much for the character exactly.

  8. While some people bemoan Williams's "simplified" musical approach as years went on - I can't tell you how many people I know who enjoy his work bemoan the ostinato-driven material of his more recent years - I always found it more interesting since it often functioned like Bernard Herrmann's concept of "cells" in music. One idea, played over and over obsessively - but then worked into Williams's own creative pattern.

    I'm not a musical person and struggle to even play chopsticks on the piano, but Williams was definitely changing his musical grammar to something that I'd say was more "primal" than "simplistic". The nervousness of the DotF ostinato threads in and out of the score as a reminder, sort of like a percolating idea just under the surface - which again reminds me of Herrmann's approach to music (within the Hitchcock vein and not the Welles) where agitation of the audience is key to what is going on psychologically.

    Great write-up in any case.

  9. No, Carnivale and Breaking Bad!

    I never got around to Carnivale (wanted to, most of my friends who loved Twin Peaks recommended it) but I am the lone person who just didn't care for Breaking Bad. Theres nothing wrong with it - I watched three seasons worth - but it just wasn't for "me"?

    And I dunno - Deadwood has some of the best acting I've ever seen on television, especially such a beautifully against-type role for Brad Dourif.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMAl2fCYgCQ

  10. Attack of the Clones is only a good score to morons and desperate JWFanners that will eat up anything Star Wars. I'm the latter. It really is a piece of crap, but at least I can admit that. Still, it's a guilty pleasure.

    I think both AOTC and KOTCS are very fine film scores with their own merits. They're both the product of a composer very much in control of his own art and I find a lot to enjoy in both of them. The problem with fans is of course the natural attitude to compare them to what preceded them in terms of legacy. Maybe both scores aren't on the same peak level of TESB, Raiders or Temple of Doom, but there is a lot to appreciate.

    I owe you a beer for this post.

  11. GHOST AND THE DARKNESS, AI, SODOM & GOMORRAH, WOLF TOTEM, Every Thing Will Be Fine , JURASSIC WORLD, MR. HOLMES, INDECENT PROPOSAL, OBSESSION, JUDGE DREDD, JOURNEY, ASSASSIN's CREED (Wintory), JAWS.

    In no particular order.

    A very good list. I'm big on Wolf Totem and Obsession is just a given.

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