Under-Terrestrial

DAYS OF HEAVEN! Ennio Morricone (w/ Leo Kottke): In a nutshell, if you want the Ennio Morricone material as presented in the film, Disc #1, Tracks #14-30 are your bag, BUT: stick Disc #2 / Track #16 between Disc #1, Track #24-25. The last 20 seconds of Disc #2 / Track #16 appear in the film as Sam Shepard questions Brooke Adams for the first time. FSM must've missed that one. Also, in the film, three cues are repeated once. The original 1978 soundtrack (Disc #1, Tracks #1-13) showcase *most* of the major musical ideas in their fullest forms, thus making it the most pleasing presentation of the three programs [to me]. Attached are two screenshots of my breakdown: the in-film Ennio Morricone soundtrack, and all of the unused material: Also, these two tracks are my favorite renditions of the Aquarium riff and the love theme respectively :

If you're still curious nearly three year, I've done a deep dive! In a nutshell, if you want the Ennio Morricone material as presented in the film, Disc #1, Tracks #14-30 are your bag, BUT: stick Disc #2 / Track #16 between Disc #1, Track #24-25. The last 20 seconds of Disc #2 / Track #16 appear in the film as Sam Shepard questions Brooke Adams for the first time. FSM must've missed that one. Also, in the film, three cues are repeated once. The original 1978 soundtrack (Disc #1, Tracks #1-13) showcase *most* of the major musical ideas in their fullest forms, thus making it the most pleasing presentation of the three programs [to me]. Attached are two screenshots of my breakdown: the in-film Ennio Morricone soundtrack, and all of the unused material. Hope this is useful!! Also, these two tracks are my favorite renditions of the Aquarium riff and the love theme respectively :

No problem! Believe me, I was serving myself as much as anyone who stands to benefit. Glad to have the enigma at least wrestled with XD

I decided to investigate both officially-released albums for Fantastic Mr. Fox and try to extract an optimum, chronological listening experience from them (apologies if this has already been done in the cavernous depths of JWFan). Two notes: A) The mixing quality between the two albums was of secondary concern to me. B) I purposefully disregarded the recording sessions, which I believe can be found on YouTube. Starting off, I did my best to correlate the cross-pollenating tracks: Here is what I consider to be the best score presentation for the film: 01 --- AMERICAN EMPIRICAL PICTURES --- Original Soundtrack --- No Additional Music equivalent 02 --- MR. FOX IN THE FIELDS --- Original Soundtrack --- The Additional Music equivalent has a couple of extra bars that I suspect are looped. 03 --- BOGGIS, BUNCE, AND BEAN --- Original Soundtrack --- This track appears in full in MR. FOX IN THE FIELDS MEDLEY, in Additional Music, but I felt it needed its own track. 04 --- JIMMY SQUIRREL AND CO. --- Original Soundtrack --- The Additional Music equivalent has several extra bars that I am almost certain are looped. 05 --- TRAINS --- Additional Music --- The OST equivalent is missing 30 seconds! The Additional Music "alternates" have varied reverb or equalizer sound effects (NOT a fan). 06 --- PLAN B --- Additional Music --- No OST equivalent. I think this is a medley of selections from Mr. Fox's initial raid of the farmers. 07 --- WHACK BAT MAJORETTE --- Original Soundtrack --- The Additional Music equivalent marries this track with the OST version of JIMMY SQUIRREL AND CO. since they both use the same theme. This version has a small intro absent from the Additional Music equivalent. 08 --- BEAN'S SECRET CIDER CELLAR --- Original Soundtrack --- I can't make heads or tails of the Additional Music equivalent, which I believe is a bizarre medley of both Rat fight cues and THEN some. 09 --- THREE FARMERS --- Additional Music --- No OST equivalent. I know some of the material accompanying Mr. Fox losing his tail is in here, uncertain about the rest. 10 --- DIG! --- Additional Music --- No OST equivalent. I think this is an unused cue that was replaced with Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man", though I could be wrong. 11 --- KRISTOFFERSON'S THEME --- Original Soundtrack --- Additional Music equivalents have some applied reverb, and the OST version has a woodwind overlay in the second half that seals the deal. 12 --- JUST ANOTHER DEAD RAT IN A GARBAGE PAIL (BEHIND A CHINESE RESTAURANT) --- Original Soundtrack --- Same deal as BEAN'S SECRET CIDER CELLAR, except DEATH OF RAT is its own track in Additional Music. 13 --- GREAT HARROWSFORD SQUARE --- Original Soundtrack --- Additional Music equivalent leaves out the first 50-55 seconds, though it does have an extra whispered "Boggis, Bunce, Bean, one fat, one short, one lean!" with Jew's harp overlays. 14 --- SIDE CAR ESCAPE --- Additional Music --- No OST equivalent. This is an unused cue replaced by Georges Delerue's "Le Grand Ghoral" (I believe it can be heard in the credits). 15 --- STUNT EXPO 2004 --- Original Soundtrack --- The Additional Music equivalent, spanning two tracks, replaces the "la-la-las" with another quote of "B B & B", and has an extra "B B & B" overlay". 16 --- CANIS LUPIS --- Original Soundtrack --- To my ears, both Additional Music equivalents are indistinguishable from the OST version and each other (mixing notwithstanding). 17 --- MR. FOX'S PROMENADE --- Additional Music --- No OST equivalent. This is heard under the toast Mr. Fox gives to his family. 18 --- MR. FOX IN THE FIELDS MEDLEY --- Additional Music --- No OST equivalent except for the inclusion of BOGGIS, BUNCE, AND BEAN. The "Mr. Fox" and "Kristofferson" themes get intertwined, followed by the cue where Mr. Fox first spies the farmers' businesses in the distance. To me this acts as a good custom end credits suite. 19 --- LOOKING FOR CIDER --- Additional Music --- No OST equivalent. If anyone has intelligence on where this unused cue should go, I'm all ears. Until then I'm positioning it as a bonus track/end credits extension. I thought it might go under the scene where Mr. Fox, Kylie, and Kristofferson make their way into Bean's cider cellar, but when I tried playing it in sync with the sequence, it didn't fit. Lots of themes represented here.

Digging these samples! Giacchino in "childhood-memory" mode is always always always a good and wholesome thing to me . Also, I love that one of the pun track titles, "Brief Interviews With Fastidious Men" is a play on Krasinski's directorial debut ("Brief Interviews With Hideous Men") XD

Certainly not bereft of thought, but definitely rather muted in richness of feeling.

Yup, Jóhann Jóhannsson scored ARRIVAL, and Villeneuve used the existing recording of On The Nature Of Daylight to bookend the film (and I think Johannsson *may* have subtly referenced Daylight in his input, though I'm not sure).

SPACEMAN - Max Richter https://music.apple.com/nz/album/spaceman-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/1729872386 Based on the trailer for SPACEMAN (which seems like my kind of sci-fi), muted minimalism might suit this film just fine. But every time Hollywood employs Max Richter, I hope they'll seize on his gift for more outwardly expressive minimalism present in pieces like "On The Nature Of Daylight" and "November" that brought him so much attention. "Memory Is A Voyager" sticks out a bit in this album. I haven't seen a lot of Ricther-scored films (SHUTTER ISLAND and ARRIVAL don't count to me), so as of now AD ASTRA is still the closest I've come to loving a Richter score written exclusively for the given movie (and, as a lot of JWFan knows, even that isn't all Richter).

SPACEMAN - Max Richter https://music.apple.com/nz/album/spaceman-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/1729872386 Based on the trailer for SPACEMAN (which seems like my kind of sci-fi), muted minimalism might suit this film just fine. But every time Hollywood employs Max Richter, I hope they'll seize on his gift for more outwardly expressive minimalism present in pieces like "On The Nature Of Daylight" and "November" that brought him so much attention. "Memory Is A Voyager" sticks out a bit in this album. I haven't seen a lot of Ricther-scored films (SHUTTER ISLAND and ARRIVAL don't count to me), so as of now AD ASTRA is still the closest I've come to loving a Richter score written exclusively for the given movie (and, as a lot of JWFan knows, even that isn't all Richter).

DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS - Carter Burwell https://music.apple.com/nz/album/drive-away-dolls-music-from-the-motion-picture/1731277127 Theremin! A fun selection of comically-exaggerated caper material! Heartening to know that decades later, Burwell's voices is still fresh and very much his own.

This is the end credits music, which I'm guessing this YouTuber recorded off their phone in the theater. Levi + Glazer = Time To Get Your Freak On.

This is the end credits music, which I'm guessing this YouTuber recorded off their phone in the theater. First impression was and still is: Levi + Glazer = Time To Get Your Freak On.

And IF / Inside Out 2! (assuming he returned for that sequel).

It hasn't been given an official release date, but based on its 2022 announcement and 2023 production, Andrew Stanton's live-action IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE for Searchlight Pictures ought to release this year. I worship Stanton even when he misses, and this film reportedly draws inspiration from things like INTERSTELLAR and MAGNOLIA, which is nothing but good news to me. Hoping for a Thomas Newman reunion!!! (Also, this is from an original script from Colby Day, whose first produced screenplay, SPACEMAN, is releasing on Netflix on March 1st and seems to have potential!)

ORIGIN - Kris Bowers https://music.apple.com/nz/album/origin-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/1725771115 If only because there's still a deficit of high profile composers of color in the industry, I keep hoping I'll love a Kris Bowers score. The closest I've come is Bad Hair, which is a strong horror score, and the Origin samples have some lovely solo string bits here and there, but the harmonic direction of this music is just kind of okay to me (but maybe this is me being just another white guy holding a double standard for white vs. POC composers).