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It has a few fun moments, but this is pretty comfortably my least favourite of the four (Thor) scores.

It won't be Strange. Though the references are fleeting, I can't see why anyone would think they were poorly handled musically. Plus he seems to be an Elfman fan in general. It'll be a clunky version of a Williams theme in Jurassic World. The 2016 comment is probably referring to Rogue One, which would make sense to reference. It would inspire a more...passionate response.

I'm a teacher. A few months ago, I told one of my students that his shirt was inside-out. He sang out loud Chris Young's black Spidey theme from Spider-Man 3. Apparently it was (is?) popular on TikTok.

I love this performance of the Grand Central chase cue from Carlito's Way. I wish Doyle and De Palma had worked together again.

Some of my favourite Doyle love themes.

I love Doyle. I at least like every score he's ever written. My favourite might be Indochine, which has a theme I can never get enough of. I imagine most people will respond by saying that Doyle has lost is way in recent years, but I'd counter that by saying that Cinderella and Murder on the Orient Express are two of the best scored Hollywood movies of recent times. Doyle's score for the latter tells Christie's story far better on album than Branagh did on film. And Cinderella is just a marvel of a score (and film!). Always present, always gently guiding the viewer along but never becoming cloying or insincere... I think it's magic.

I think this entire score is just brilliant.

The only Burton movies that aren't part comedy are probably Planet of the Apes and Big Eyes. I think his funniest film is Sleepy Hollow, actually. Anyway, there's nothing to get excited about here. I always hope for a comeback for Burton, but this is far too on-the-nose a choice of project for him.

That's an Illuminati theme. Could you pinpoint the Darkhold motif? I haven't recognised it yet.

You can listen to Elfman's cello concerto here! From 36:30! Gautier Capuçon & l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France jouent Elfman & Mahler à la Philharmonie de Paris

I thought Giacchino's use of his own Doctor Strange theme in NWH was really lacking. I liked the first use of it, but it lost its character afterwards. There was a Powell interview in which he was asked how he came to be involved with the project. In typical Powell fashion, he said, 'Because Danny Elfman was too busy' - or something to that effect. I'll try to find it.

I loved that goofy scene. 100% Raimi.

That would make sense. Pretty much all the Spider-Man themes stem from, well, the Spider-Man theme (bar Green Goblin's), and Catwoman and Penguin's themes obviously share musical DNA with the Batman theme, but even with the two overtures bookending the album, the Strange theme never really presents itself enough to make it clear.

I'm really getting into it, but I think my biggest issue is that in the busier cues I'm struggling to differentiate between Strange's new theme and Wanda's...they sound similar to me. I think the action music is fantastic, though - On the Run, Gargantos, Battle Time, the second half of Not a Monster.... I also love Buying Time, which feels like modern Elfman's take on Nightbreed. There's also all the monster movie madness near the end.... I feel the 'standard Elfman' criticisms are a tad unfair. He's not reinventing the wheel here, but the 60s psychedelic electric guitars in 'A Cup of Tea' and the almost Carpenter-like growling synths in 'Looking for Strange' and other cues, while not the most exciting to listen to, are quite distinct moments in Elfman's catalogue. Elfman's writing is far stronger, but I can't deny that I miss Giacchino's Strange theme and the instrumentation associated with him. Interestingly, I think they both succeed where the other didn't.

Related but also unrelated note (dunno how well known this is): Elfman was asked to score X-Men 3 but turned it down.

Guessing the three tracks are the WandaVision cue, the Xavier cue and the Illuminati fight.

I've made my peace with few CD releases, but not even being able to download this? Are they waiting until the hype dies down to maximise streams? Is there any precedent for this?

I think the score is a lot better in the film as is presented on album. That 'WandaVision' cue is really essential, and the Illuminati theme only appears once on album.

I just got back too. Thought the first half was off and absolutely loved the second half. Seemed like all of the Giacchino quotes bar the first one were cut? Really missed that version in 'Battle Time'. At the same time, Elfman quotes Silvestri's Captain America theme and the animated X-Men theme. There's a lovely tribute to the WandaVision theme (the 'WandaVision, Wa-WandaVision jingle, not Wanda's theme') before Elfman's theme takes over. The mix seemed pretty great to me. A lot of the action was inevitably buried, but the score was at the forefront of the mix several times, too. And yeah, I assumed that new theme was for Strange when it was for Chavez. Turns out there's another theme and it's for Strange. Progression-wise it seems very similar to Wanda's - need to spend more time with the album to unpick it all. Sam has apparently forgotten that 'A Simple Plan' exists or that Chris Young scored Spider-Man 3.... 'I couldn't make a movie without him.'

While I definitely do miss the Eastern influences of Giacchino's score, and that perfectly captured the mysticism of this part of the MCU, I do think Elfman better captures the psychedelic, odd tone of Ditko's other universes. The start of this track for example Giacchino's score never quite got weird enough.