Tom Guernsey

I kinda felt the same way... it's amazing how something that basically sounds like a Star Wars score just isn't really that memorable. I have enjoyed his other SW video scores when they are there, but they don't linger. I mean, it's still well wrought music but never quite turns into memorable.

Agreed. I thought it was a fantastic score. Fizzing with energy and very accessible.

It's the 2018 version... but I think it must be an old recording. Surprising as I have plenty of old classical recordings which sound terrific, but wouldn't be surprised if they used a cheap and cheerful version. Probably didn't have the masters for it, but included for completeness. Surprising there's no credit for conductor or orchestra as far as I can see.

Die Hard (Michael Kamen) - Despite its fan favourite status, I still don't find myself drawn to it as much as many of his other efforts. Also, was surprised to hear how ropey the sound is on the Beethoven 9 excerpt at the end. Sure I never noticed this before. I may have missed it in the liner notes, but I assume its an old recording (it sounds much worse than the main body of the score). Battle Beyond the Stars (James Horner) - Gotta love his proto-Star Trek II score, mixed with liberal doses of Goldsmith's own ST:TMP score, but the main themes are surprisingly fine. I actually noticed the film was on Amazon Prime the other day and started watching it. I rather assumed it would be super hammy with dreadful effects but actually found it surprisingly watchable, with some excellent model effects and acting no worse than any number of period sci-fi movies. Although strange seeing Richard Thomas about a third of the way from John-Boy Walton to Frank Gaad...

Yes! But reassemble each album into a playlist so I can listen to the whole thing as programmed too.

I've always been a big fan of Dark City, which is on @Thor's list. I remember seeing it at the cinema and missing the first five minutes so missed a lot of the explanatory narration which, on reflection, made it a much more enjoyable experience as there was much more mystery about what was going on. Still a good movie even if you do see the opening! I enjoy Nate and Hayes but that was one where I did find the material got a bit repetitive by the end. A good theme, but it seems to appear every 5 seconds*. Gave Merlin a spin yesterday. The main theme reminded me of something but I can't remember what, probably The Dark Crystal! I do enjoy The Dark Crystal more than Thor, guess it's a fan favourite for a reason I guess, just a shame the original film tracks version is basically the music stems from the film and so sound often cuts off abruptly. Having said that, the the original album presents all the major material effectively and there's not much of particular note missing. Great LSO performance too. *possibly exaggerated for effect ;-)

I really enjoyed the score and quite liked the films, the song Remember Me feels more poignant once you've seen the film. I first heard Fiesta con de la Cruz at the Giacchino 50th birthday concert so I'll always remember that and enjoy that track just a little more!

I'll give it another listen! Guess I should state that I really do love most of his work, so I'm not coming from a negative Giacchino position (I liked him before he was famous - Medal of Honor and all that ;-) but it was that period when his writing became broader and more heavy handed (parts of his Star Trek scores suffer from this) which I didn't always enjoy as much.

Maybe I shouldn't have narrowed it down to the year, but that time I felt he had a slightly lower hit rate. I would have to concede that Jupiter Ascending and Inside Out are both great. However, I found Tomorrowland somewhat disappointing overall. I've listened to it plentiful times but still can't really remember anything about it,

Didn't expect the hunts from Western Saga (TV library music I think?) and Marnie by Bernard Herrmann to be so similar, but you can definitely hear how his style developed from the TV writing to Marnie.

I didn't really enjoy either of the Jurassic World movies that much (sure that's a consequence of having enjoyed the original JP so much... and it being my first ever film score), but preferred Fallen Kingdom over the first one, movie and score. I think the first Jurassic World was one of those years where Giacchino wrote a number of high profile scores and it sounded like he was spread a bit thin. Also, it featured a repeating trumpet figure which started to appear in a number of his scores, which I never cared for and the themes got increasingly clunky, which was quite a disappointment after the great melodies for Pixar and Medal of Hono(u)r. I've grown to appreciate them more than I did at the time but they are still quite loud and lack the craft of Williams or Don Davis. Speaking of which, I would still rate Davis' effort as the best non-Williams JP score. His new themes mix pretty effectively with the originals and the way he uses the original themes takes them in new directions that Williams probably would never have done, but blended well with Davis' own compositional thumbprints (but not sounding like an imitation of the Matrix). Indeed, I'd say it set the tone for Solo as to how effectively Williams' material could be taken in new directions, effectively blending the styles of both (OK maybe Alexander Courage did it first on Superman IV...?!) . Definitely hankering for an expansion of JPIII still, fingers remain crossed. Oh and I still maintain that JPIII would have been better told from the point of view of the kid stuck on the island... at least until his parents etc. show up to rescue him/get eaten.

Kinda looking forward to this... maybe we'll learn how to train someone else's dragon this time.

I voted for the original Planet of the Apes hunt, but the Final Conflict is definitely a very close contender. The equivalent Elfman cue from the POTA remake is pretty great too. Not sure anyone has mentioned the hunt from Escape from the Planet of the Apes. You can hear the pedigree of the original, although parts of it have a slight Morricone vibe with the guitars. Overall much more low key, though, without the visceral energy of the original. The Hunt from Rebel Without a Cause, is pretty unmistakably Rosenman. I think it would be safe to say that the hunt from Morse by Barrington Pheloung is the understated... thinking this would be a more methodically driven hunt using detective work rather than a chase! On the recommendation of @Brundlefly I gave the Corigliano Fox Hunt from Revolution a spin, that is indeed a very fine cue. Exactly what you imagine a fox hunt track to sound like. Great score generally.

As I mentioned, I’d recommend Hamlet as one of his finest scores. There’s a very fine recording of it on Naxos conducted by Dimitry Yablonsky which is the first (and I think only) recording of the full score. For a wider sampling there are several albums on Chandos in fine sound and performance that contain extended suites from a good number of his scores. An alternative would be the 4CD selection of film music and jazz suites in Brilliant Classics which I got for only a few pounds.

I never really got into the Zimmer scores (and I do enjoy a lot of his work but these just seemed quite blah). The Elfman original is one of the cornerstones of my collection and will always be a favourite, but my appreciation for the greater depth of Batman Returns has only increased with time and the complete release. While it's not one of the questions, I would probably put Shirley Walker's theme from Mask of the the Phantasm as my favourite Batman theme (even above Elfman's) though. Something about its mysterious, gothic grandeur which I think fits the character most effectively.

I know, hence I ordered the tracks so that it was clear which were just called The Hunt, but I thought it would be interesting to expand it as it seemed silly to preclude a track just because, John Barry and JNH (for example) decided to include the name of the thing being hunted in the track title. Plus they are fine cues. Today's exciting hunts (as it were), Scarlett by John Morris. Oh OK, he clarifies that it's a fox hunt... but I'm glad I gave it a spin. Great score generally. Next up, The Hunt (name purity) from Running Free by Nicola Piovani... although not sure if he wrote this as it's a percussion track performed by Mickey Hart and Planet Drum. I recall the rest of Piovani's more trad orchestral score being pretty good. Next up, The Elephant Hunt by Malcolm Arnold from Roots of Heaven. Kinda reminds me of other composers somehow, but not sure why... maybe a little Herrmann and Waxman, but pretty superficial. Wow... the Buffalo Hunt from Rosenthal's The Return of a Man Called Horse is terrific.

I think I might have taken this research a bit too far... only tracks that are "The Hunt" or "The [something] Hunt" or "The Hunt [for something/someone] (hopefully!). Not listened to it all yet, but the track from John Scott's Wicker Tree is terrific, as is the one from Twister... and Endelman's The Hunt for Murrel's Map from Tom and Huck is surprisingly fine, darker than expected. Surprising number of Buffalo Hunts...

Or if it's (inexplicably) unavailable in your country, upload a lower res pic into Google and if there's a higher res version around, it'll find it.

Damn composers using hieroglyphs... Finally got to listen to it today. Lots of fine stuff there. But needs further listening to fully unpack. But most enjoyable, broad and tuneful orchestra writing. Nice.

Double thumbs up. It’s a great score. I’m quite disappointed to not be able to find anything else by him other than those two scores. Unless I’m missing something?!

Well it’s not Jerry Dobson who signed my copy of Night Crossing. Although he did have a suspicious ponytail.

Agreed. He knows exactly how to get that lustrous sound and energetic flair from the music. His recording of Korngold’s symphony is superb (although much more angular and modern sounding than his film music).

His film music is far from his best work for sure although his score to Hamlet is superb. I’m guessing one he may have cared more about than the propaganda movies he had to score. Although to get back on topic, I thought Bach was usually considered the greatest composer who ever lived. Or Beethoven. Although I listen to more Shostakovich far more...

D'oh, you're quite right, sorry I misread the thread of the, erm, thread. Funnily enough, I listened to the Gamba Citizen Kane yesterday and thought it was very fine indeed but have the McNeely one on my (almost moronically long) upcoming music playlist. Having listened to the McNeely one for years, I recall finding the Gamba one much more satisfying, but I can't remember why. Then again, Matthew Sweet played a selection from the McNeely album on Sound of Cinema on BBC Radio 3 the other week on his Orson Welles show and I thought it sounded great. I shall have to check out Miss Marple...

Or the Shadow, of course, but those are probably decent references. Plus I'd add the 13th Warrior to those. Maybe even the later Rambo scores for the muscular action music. An 80s/90s Marvel universe with scoring duties shared between Jerry, Basil, Danny Elfman, David Arnold, maybe James Horner and perhaps a few outliers for the quirkier entries would have been pretty damn great.