Tom Guernsey
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Posts posted by Tom Guernsey
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Officially Christmas soundtrack season at Chez Tom (and I generally profess not to like Christmas much, but there are so many great scores to choose from...):
Home Alone & Home Alone 2 (JW) - I would have to almost agree that if you have the sequel, you have pretty much the entire original plus lots of terrific "big city" JW does Leonard Bernstein/George Gershwin stuff on top. Plus Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas which is probably hands down my favourite Christmas song that isn't religious (notwithstanding the pretty meh lyrics). I don't think I'd have any hesitation in picking Home Alone 2 as my favourite Christmas score, just so many great moments and terrific tunes, heartwarming without being too cloying (at least to the extent possible with a Christmas score).
The Snowman (Howard Blake) - I realised that I didn't own this, mistakenly thinking that it was a narration only soundtrack (which would make it the only score with dialogue on the album but not in the film) however the album presents the score with (Bernard Cribbins, lovely choice) and without narration. Some lovely melodic content outside of Walking in the Air, although I forgot how much it mimics the on-screen action so closely on occasion, so some passages are a bit stop-start but when it gets going, it really is wonderful. Walking in the Air is one of those songs that I think most people have heard too many times to actually enjoy much but it's really quite lovely and surprisingly melancholy considering, even if the not-Aled Jones boy soprano sings it with just a little bit too much over-enunciated church choir diction.
Elf (John Debney) - One of those scores that's pretty much exactly how you imagine it to be, but no worse for that, plus it riffs on the much-used Thor swinging his hammer melody from the final movement of Sibelius' 5th Symphony. See also, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (Rachel Portman) who uses the same basis for the song As Long as There's Christmas. There's a score that deserves more than the handful of minutes it gets on album, but I doubt there's much interest from either Disney or labels... shame, it's a delightful score, even if it never reaches the heights of Alan Menken.
Santa Claus: The Movie (Henry Mancini) - Mixed feelings on this one. Some of it is super, the Making Toys cue is great fun and the whole thing has lots of typically memorable Mancini tunes. That being said, some of it has more cheese than a wheel of stilton on a cheese board that is formed into tiles on the roof of a cheddar factory. Especially Thank You, Santa, a song which makes me want to rip my ears off.
Several of the Christmas Carol scores that were mentioned in my other thread on the subject, the Alan Menken one never fails to put me in the Christmas spirit. The animated score by Julian Nott is lovely, although I'm not sure it's as memorable as I remembered. If that makes sense. Some nice versions of carols and surprisingly good songs performed by Charlotte Church and Kate Winslett (which were apparently quite big hits at the time). I enjoyed the Nick Bicât score, as recommended in the other thread, although not sure it stuck with me that much.
Next up... the Santa Clauses. Michael Convertino does Mendelssohn and George S Clinton does Wagner. Really. But first... Spartacus (Alex North), the full length mono score. Very festive. Erm... but hey, it's brilliant.
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It doesn't sound bad, but compared to the rest of the Trek scores it's a bit disappointing. As one of my favourite scores (Horner's action writing was rarely better), I'd buy pretty much any new version, but maybe they've reached the theoretical maximum quality that can be extracted from what is available, in which case, fair enough, I'll thoroughly enjoy what we already have.
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31 minutes ago, Kühni said:
I saved some 200+ of your reviews back in October, 2003.
Haha cool. Hope they are occasionally interesting!
21 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:Chicken Run, please!
It’s a great score even though I think Julian Nott was robbed of the opportunity to get a big break in Hollywood....
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I gave it another listen last week with the news of it being more widely released (got it early as a contributor to the Kickstarter) and really enjoyed it. I always used to prefer King of Kings over Ben-Hur although not sure that opinion remains the case but it’s still a fine score and the performance and recording are typically top notch. Well worth the investment as an excellent companion to the original album.
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6 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:
I had nothing to do with this.
Oops sorry! The excitement clearly gave me a rush of blood to the head!
@Kühni?! Thanks!
- Jurassic Shark and Kühni
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1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:
Modest as always!
Haha I try. Where did you find this?! The site died ages ago!
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4 hours ago, Kühni said:
How about a review from back when this first came out? Courtesy of @Tom Guernsey (if this is a no-no and brings back 2001 memories, please let me know):
Of the various names bandied about as composer for Fellowship of the Ring, it was perhaps the thought of Wojiech Kilar tackling Tolkien that sounded most promising and probably the thought of James Horner the least. Maybe fifteen years ago, Horner would have been a great choice, but based on recent efforts, I rather feel it would have been another warmed over effort. Howard Shore has written an eclectic mix of scores from the often unbearable writing for David Cronenberg to the warmed over Marc Shaiman of Mrs Doubtfire to his best efforts such as the thrilling Dogma, the chilling Silence of the Lambs and the playful, but quirky Ed Wood. However, nothing has been in the same league in terms of scope as Fellowship of the Ring. He is not a composer accustomed to tackling what would traditional be regarded as epic material only worthy of a John Williams score and the fact that Fellowship of the Ring is such a triumph is quite possibly because it is something new and he poured everything into it.
Some may remember Leonard Rosenman's superb score to Ralph Bakshi's animated version of the first half of Lord of the Rings and while that contained its share of hair raising choral passages, nothing reaches the Wagnerian drama of Shore's effort. From the opening choral majesty of The Prophecy to the nerve tingling drama of The Treason of Isengard and A Knife in the Dark, one cannot fail to be thrilled. Many reviewers have commented how the choral music functions in the way Williams' Duel of the Fates does in The Phantom Menace. While Duel of the Fates is an absolutely outstanding concert piece, its appearances in the film and on the soundtrack albums didn't really drive the fabric of the underscore as a whole, whereas here Shore's choral music is absolutely integral. The orchestra(s) are obviously still important and taught brass writing is present in abundance, notable in Flight to the Ford. The pastoral string and woodwind writing is also rich and very calming.
The choir is not only a precursor of dread, but also of awe. Many Meetings has a quasi heavenly sound that still resolutely avoids being in any way insipid. It also show cases the score's dominant theme, an almost hymnal melody that brings to mind (by way of comparison) a non-Celtic Braveheart that works extremely well in supplying a quieter form of grandeur. Shore even works in some more jaunty material; Concerning Hobbits and parts of The Black Rider have a folksy quality that transcends the simplicity of the Hobbits into the complex story and musical tapestry. I know that the thought of folksy in amongst the striking drama doesn't sound promising, but it works surprisingly well.
If the thought of folksy doesn't upset someone, then the thought of Enya quite possibly might. I never realised how popular she was across the Pond, but she has almost become the sole selling point of the album. Her contributions actually mesh well with Shore's score, or as well as they can do and May it Be certainly doesn't spoil the finale (it could be worse, it could be Celine Dion). Anyone familiar with Enya won't find much new in her writing, but anything too striking would have worked against Shore's efforts so they end up being pleasant diversions in proceedings rather than huge jumps in musical narrative.
There is more effort required on the part of the listener than more "traditional" epic scores and certainly a repeat listen or five is needed to pick up on all the melodic fragments. There are moments of instant impact, but one must listen to it several times to appreciate both the less obvious moments as well as the score as a whole. I doubt that many composers could have written anything better - although a couple of moments slightly suggest Elliot Goldenthal and given his work on Titus he might have written a superb score. However, it undoubtably stands as the pinnacle of Shore's career to date. In this instance, I suspect a double CD of more or less the complete score would be most welcome and failing that, there's always the next part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and I for one can't wait.
Rating ~ *****
Man that is a less terrible review than I would have imagined. Think I like James Horner more now but still...
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Rim of the World, Professor and the Madman, God of War.
Honourable mentions: Animal Crackers, Godzilla and Happy Death Day
I don't really enjoy horror scores as much so there's a number I've not checked out but probably should!
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7 hours ago, Disco Stu said:
This one is the best one! I bought this back when it was just Bicat selling CD-Rs of it on his personal website.
I have it on my upcoming playlist and looking forward to it! It's the only score by him I have... any others available/worth checking out? (At the risk of derailing by, admittedly not super popular, thread!).
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4 minutes ago, Thor said:
The Waxman is my favourite of all of these. I'm very thankful we have the gorgeous LEGENDS OF HOLLYWOOD suite.
Having just listened to it while writing my original post, it really is delightful, although of the older scores I think I enjoyed the Addinsell marginally more, but both are super. Although as a sucker for cheese and schmaltz, the Menken and Goodman ones get the most play this time of year...
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1 minute ago, Not Mr. Big said:
Ah, the always unhelpful "This video is not available" from YouTube! May I enquire what it was?!
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33 minutes ago, Jay said:
Sounds about right
I think I enjoyed his score to Gigli more, not that I can remember much about that one... I think he definitely works best on a broader canvas than romantic comedies!
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Having pondered which stories get remade the most frequently, my conclusion (based on nothing more than my ridiculous iTunes library of soundtracks) is that A Christmas Carol has got to be up there. In terms of movies or musicals that are versions of A Christmas Carol, to a greater or lesser extent, I counted...
A Christmas Carol: The Musical (Alan Menken) - I have both the TV movie version (with Kelsey Grammer) and the original cast recording. While familiarity is probably a factor, I return to the TV movie version more often, but any fan of Menken should run to their nearest online retailer and acquire one or other version. It really is terrific.
A Christmas Carol (Alan Silvestri) - A bit bombastic at times, but typically tuneful Silvestri and I like the mixture of sly to outright references to Christmas carols in his main themes.
A Christmas Carol: The Movie (Julian Nott) - Somewhat more gentle than some of the others, but an utterly delightful score from Wallace and Gromit's regular composer. Some terrific songs too.
The Muppet Christmas Carol (Miles Goodman) - A Muppet classic and the songs are winning.
A Christmas Carol (Nick Bicât) - Forgot I had this one... need to listen again, but seem to remember it being quite lovely.
Scrooge (Richard Addinsell) - Suite from the David Newman conducted compilation on Telarc and the same one on the Chandos album conducted by Rumon Gamba. The former also includes selections from Tiomkin's It's a Wonderful Life and Mockridge's Miracle on 34th Street (although the Bruce Broughton version is hard to beat). Weirdly, the Telarc album lists it as A Christmas Carol (including prominently on the cover), but it was clearly released as Scrooge. Odd.
A Christmas Carol (Stephen Warbeck) - From the TV version with Sir Pat Stew... at the lower key end like the Nott version, but somewhat darker and more brooding. In many ways, probably more appropriate to the story.
A Christmas Carol (Franz Waxman) - One I'd totally forgotten about, but Waxman at his more whimsical and balletic, with some lovely arrangements of carols too. Sounds more contemporary than its 1938 pedigree might suggest. Lovely suite on the Legends of Hollywood Volume 4.
Scrooged (Danny Elfman) - Squarely late 80's la-la-la Elfman, but humorous and spiky fun, if a little choppy.
At the more tenuous, but still worth a mention, end...
Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol (Murray Gold) - I think this was the second Matt Smith Christmas special but easily one of my favourite standalone Gold scores for Doctor Who that fully justifies its full length release, capped by the utterly gorgeous Abigail's Song (Silence is all You Know) performed by Katherine Jenkins. Utterly winning.
I realise I've missed Scrooged by Leslie Bricusse. Sure I've heard it, but seem to remember the sound being dreadful... sure there must be others?!
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From a recent episode of the generally excellent Sound of Cinema on BBC Radio 3, which focussed on "Secret Places" I gave the below a spin. On a random aside, he described Howl's Moving Castle as being about a girl who gets lost and whose parents are turned into pigs and then turned into a witch... now I've not seen either film for a few years, but I'm pretty sure that the first part is actually the plot of Spirited Away. If so, a rather odd error.
The Secret Garden (Zbigniew Preisner) - lovely but also quite quirky, not heard Marianelli version although the clip sounded charming).
Pan's Labyrinth (Javier Navarrete) - one of those "really enjoyable while it's on but don't remember much afterwards" scores, but always worth a listen.
Howl's Moving Castle (Joe Hisaishi) - classic Hisaishi, although I think enjoy the above mentioned Spirited Away more, especially the Sibelius (5th Symphony last movement, inspired quite a number of film scores) inspired Reprise (even if it's not, in fact, a reprise...).
Lost Horizon (Dimitri Tiomkin) - suite from the Gerhardt album. Not sure I'll ever get that much into Tiomkin compared to Herrmann or Rozsa, but still good stuff.
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1 minute ago, Jurassic Shark said:
I'm completely opposite. But I do think that the extended Robin is quite fragmented.
Yeah, that's a good way of describing it. To be honest, The Three Musketeers isn't really that similar but I kinda pair them as swashbuckling historic scores, but I just really enjoy the mock-baroque stuff in Musketeers. Hopefully that'll get a longer edition at some point.
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13 hours ago, thestat said:
So, do the liner notes clear up, for example, this cue>
Which does not sound anything like Kamen, the composition is much lighter than Kamen would do for a scene like this - there are so many of these swinging sword-fighting cues in Robin Hood, obviously, the grand finale, that make their way into The Pagemaster and even The Matrix to make me argue that there is a heavy 'orchestrational' influence from Don Davis here.
At the same time, I have to disagree with Tom in that this one actually ages well. I listen to anything on the Escape to Sherwood track and I wonder what did I miss with Kamen (never was much of a fan either, he is great at times, extremely banal at others). But the theme and the orchestral dynamics here are just brilliant......
Interesting thoughts on the orchestrator influences, will have to give them a listen... Davis clearly had a bit of a background impact with his orchestration jobs in the 90s! I don't think that RH:POT has aged badly more, as I said, it doesn't quite gel for me, but as I said, will give it more listens and hopefully develop a greater appreciation. That said, I do still find his Three Musketeers score more engaging that RH:POT.
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20 minutes ago, crocodile said:
Is it not We're Leaving?
Karol
I thought it might be but wasn’t sure. I don’t have the previous release any more. Bit of an odd change of title!
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Really enjoying this set although I agree that it’s a touch repetitive over 8 discs. The scores are somewhat similar but kinda fun. The original albums really seem to misrepresent the scores as a whole though, missing off larger chunks of the orchestral stuff.
Random question. The originally expanded version of the first score had a track called Hollywood Boulevard Chase (which I recall being good fun) but this set doesn’t seem to have a track named as such and I can’t satisfy myself as to which track it is on the new set. Not sure what I’m missing?! (Sorry if I’m being lame!)
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2 hours ago, scallenger said:
I'll spare making a new thread and just place it within this one since this is where all the current interest in Jurassic is at. I just released today a new video showcasing an early original version of JURASSIC PARK: THE RIDE for the first time. It includes original music by Caleb Burnett, who I instructed to reference the John Williams themes.
You guys may enjoy it.
That looks like it would have been pretty amazing if the animatronics were effective... whatever happened to it? Fun mix of quotes from the original and Giacchino scores too.
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Reading through this thread earlier I gave AI another spin today and I must admit that it's one of those scores I want to enjoy more than I actually do. I appreciate it, but a lot of the first half can be quite slow going, genuinely haunting though it is. While I like having the expanded score, I think there's probably a happy medium between the length of the original album and the full 2 hours.
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Still loving this... having re-listened to some of the sequel trilogy scores, I have to admit that the performances on those often feel a bit lacklustre, more in terms of energy rather than on a technical level. OK, Powell does have a slightly hyperactive style at times (too many notes!) which perhaps demands a higher level of energy, but even comparing the 20 seconds or whatever of the opening to the end credits, the Solo performance is pretty damn thrilling.
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Aside from Solo... over and over...
The American President (Marc Shaiman), Dave (JNH), JFK (JW), LBJ (Shaiman again), Nixon (JW again) and Frost/Nixon (Hans and friends). Can you see the pattern!? All pretty great scores to be fair. Might have to work my way through House of Cards again, some of Jeff Beal's scoring is pretty great.
NP: The Coolangatta Gang (Bill Conti) - great mix of orchestral bombast, cheese, that weird baroque style thing that Conti does and, well, more cheesy bombast. Lots of fun.
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26 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:
Everything falls apart without the five missing minutes.
Haha. That must be it.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan by James Horner (FSM Expanded Edition)
in General Discussion
Posted
Yes indeed... I seem to remember some random thread on FSM about the "worst sounding scores" where ST2 came up. Sure, it's not perfect, but there are definitely a whole lot worse. Funny really, when I bought the original album when I first starting collecting, I always thought it sounded amazing. I was always overwhelmed by the cascading string explosion after the tense buildup during the first minute or so of Battle in the Mutara Nebula; it remains a spine tingling moment.