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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from Taikomochi in Coming soon the 2023 John Williams Top 10 Best/Favorite Score thread.
1. Heartbeeps
2. I'll fill in the rest in August...
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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from Naïve Old Fart in Coming soon the 2023 John Williams Top 10 Best/Favorite Score thread.
1. Heartbeeps
2. I'll fill in the rest in August...
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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from Thor in What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)
Not one of Rozsa's best known efforts, but an exciting adventure score in surprisingly excellent sound (I had to do a double take to confirm that, yes, it's from 1953). One of my favourite entries from the Rozsa treasury boxed set - just a shame that it's not available separately in such fine sound. There are previously releases but I can't vouch for their quality.
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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from Bespin in Coming soon the 2023 John Williams Top 10 Best/Favorite Score thread.
1. Heartbeeps
2. I'll fill in the rest in August...
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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from Yavar Moradi in The Official James Horner Thread
Thanks both, I figured that was the case but thought I'd ask anyway! Shame. Wonder why someone shot it down (unless it was James Horner himself, but this seems unlikely) as I think it would be a good seller and is a very well regarded score. Oh well, we can but hope... if nothing else, the OST could use a bit of a remaster.
Varese do at least seem to have picked up on doing expanded editions again (even if the production quality has been variable at times) so we can only hope these get some attention eventually.
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Tom Guernsey reacted to Yavar Moradi in The Reivers: Complete Cue List
PM me with your email address and I can send you a better sounding audio copy than exists on YouTube. There are actually tons of Goldsmith-scored radio projects, some of which would be worthy of getting a new recording for album... but this is the pinnacle of his radio scoring, and IMO his very first masterpiece (done months before his first theatrical film score, Black Patch). It's basically a series of four concert works, famous poems set to music. "The Highwayman" in particular just blows me away. The only part of it which has ever been commercially released on album is "The Thunder of Imperial Names" segment, re-arranged for military wind band by arranger Mike Davis in the 1970s. It's been released on CD a couple of times (though I prefer the original radio orchestra), but f you check out this interview I did with Mike Davis, you can hear the superior original album release of his arrangement (which has never made the leap from LP to CD so far):
https://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/159614/10162979-odyssey-interviews-mike-davis
He was apparently a friend of Jerry's. Hopkins is a talented composer himself and in multiple interviews has said that if his acting career hadn't taken off, he would have more actively pursued composing work.
https://www.classicfm.com/composers/sir-anthony-hopkins/guides/hannibals-ear-music/
Good stuff, right? You can buy this album of his concert music:
https://www.amazon.com/Composer-CD-Anthony-Hopkins/dp/B005K7HBMS
He's written scores for some of his own films over the past decade or two. No doubt he greatly appreciated the masterpiece scores Jerry wrote for his films such as Magic. Maybe one day I'll manage to interview him about their relationship (or maybe someone else?) ... fingers crossed.
Oh, and there's also an earlier British film composer named ANTONY Hopkins... so I suggest you avoid that confusion as many people haven't.
Yavar
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Tom Guernsey reacted to Jay in The Official James Horner Thread
Yes, they do (according to something I read on FSM once anyway, I forget who posted it there or how to find the post now)
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Tom Guernsey reacted to Yavar Moradi in The Official James Horner Thread
They do indeed, confirmed multiple times by folks at other labels. And a former Varese employee (Peter Hackman) confirmed trying to pursue a Deluxe Edition while at Varese, but someone apparently shot it down.
Two other 80s scores which Varese controls in perpetuity due to their specific licensing agreements despite releasing re-recordings rather than the original tracks: Miklos Rozsa's Eye of the Needle (though the superior original recording was luckily released as an isolated score track on the Twilight Time Blu-ray) and Danny Elfman's Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.
Yavar
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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from Yavar Moradi in The Reivers: Complete Cue List
Blimey, another Jerry thing I've never heard of?! I'll be giving that a listen later.
Cool in re no-narration versions of Peter and the Wolf, may have to check them out.
At the risk of totally derailing this thread, I should say that I enjoy the narration on Jerry's Christus Apollo - of course it helps that it's Anthony Hopkins (always wondered how they persuaded him to do it!).
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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from GerateWohl in What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)
Not one of Rozsa's best known efforts, but an exciting adventure score in surprisingly excellent sound (I had to do a double take to confirm that, yes, it's from 1953). One of my favourite entries from the Rozsa treasury boxed set - just a shame that it's not available separately in such fine sound. There are previously releases but I can't vouch for their quality.
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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from crumbs in Sabrina 2 CD from La-La Land Records (2023)
Just a minor correction…
Sabrina 2: The Wrath of Sabrina the Teenage Witch
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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from Bespin in What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)
Things that end up at a glue factory?
(But seriously, all great scores. Horses are clearly an inspiring subject for composers).
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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from GerateWohl in The Reivers: Complete Cue List
Having given it another listen as a result of your post, I actually forgot how orchestral The Reivers is - in my mind, the original score was more like Missouri Breaks (which I do like a great deal) but tonally it's broadly halfway between Missouri Breaks and The Cowboys in its mixture of bluegrass and more traditional, expansive western scoring. Having said that the horse race cue sounds more like 80s/90s JW (which I still think is broadly true), I was surprised to be reminded of a motif that sounds a little like Home Alone in The Reivers which surprised me somewhat!
Probably why I almost never listen to it (I have the Sean Connery narrated version on Decca) as I'm not that interested in the narration. Similar when it comes to The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra by Britten, although it doesn't help that I find the narration a bit patronising on that one. At least Peter and the Wolf is just a charming folk story so easier to enjoy on its own terms.
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Tom Guernsey reacted to Bespin in What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)
Ok guess the theme of today's program...
Thomas Newman - The Horse Whisperer OST
Danny Elfman - The Black Beauty (OST made with the expanded score tracks)
Randy Newman - Seabiscuit OST
James Newton Howard - Hidalgo OST
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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from Brando in Sabrina 2 CD from La-La Land Records (2023)
Just a minor correction…
Sabrina 2: The Wrath of Sabrina the Teenage Witch
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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from ThePenitentMan1 in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (James Mangold, June 30 2023)
...and the Final Frontier?
...and the Search for Sallah?
...and the Wrath of Brody?
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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from Bespin in Sabrina 2 CD from La-La Land Records (2023)
Just a minor correction…
Sabrina 2: The Wrath of Sabrina the Teenage Witch
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Tom Guernsey reacted to Yavar Moradi in Star Trek: Picard (2020 TV Series)
Yeah, Jerry's main Trek theme appeared in only two films for the TOS cast, but THREE films for the TNG cast (in addition to adorning every episode of their seven season series, even if it was a reduced orchestration arranged by someone else).
I for one LOVE the new Titan theme by Stephen Barton.
Yavar
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Tom Guernsey reacted to Cerebral Cortex in Star Trek: Picard (2020 TV Series)
Some quick thoughts after watching the finale to picard 3.0: you are (not) alone:
• The finale is TNG meets Star Wars meets The End of Evangelion. Trek has never been this Star Wars, even under Abrams. But that's okay. If Andor is Star Wars embracing the best parts of Trek, Picard S3 is Star Trek embracing the best parts of Star Wars. To live in an age where these two divisive fandoms can be bettered by finally taking lessons from the other is a great joy.
• If we are to define "All Good Things..." as the left hemisphere ending to TNG, this is the full right hemisphere ending, in a good way. In fact, it's very satisfying finally getting fuller and richer arcs for these characters now that they can exist in a post-Gene Roddenberry Trek where characters don't have to be static in time and incapable of changing in profound emotional ways.
• Stupid ideas are only as stupid as the lack of thought you put into them, something stupid on paper can work on film if you just find a good reason to explain why it should be there. The Enterprise-D coming back, on paper, should not really work, but they did a great job explaining why it feasibly should/could still be around.
• Great Trek doesn't necessarily have to be perfect Trek. It's surreal seeing TNG getting the proper send-off the TOS crew got with Undiscovered Country. It seemed like such an option was always off the table, so there was never a possibility to hope for it. So to so quickly start to realize what it was you were seeing could only really be met with overall misbelief. But whereas TOS ended with film, TNG ends with television, which in the end seems kinda perfect. Kirk (William Shatner) was made to put at the front and center of big screen adventures, whereas Picard (Patrick Stewart) thrives in proper longer form stories.
• Question what you love, but don't be as quick to doubt yourself for loving it.
• Never doubt your ability to love something again.
And...
• There's nothing a good Patrick Stewart monologue can't fix.
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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from That_Bloke in A sign of things to come? Star Wars: The Piano Anthology - Music by John Williams Featuring Themes from All Nine Films Deluxe Hardcover Edition with a foreword by MIKE MATESSINO
Might have to pick this up then realise my playing is a lot rustier than I thought... I picked up what would now be the A New Hope selections and got it signed by Anthony Daniels after a concert, so is something of a treasured possession. The arrangements are a lot trickier than the standard piano versions you get but more interesting as a result. For a really decent result, you probably need to arrange JW's stuff for four hands. I'd definitely enjoy hearing some of his stuff arranged in that way (I know there's already such things out there on YouTube etc.), but tracks like The Asteroid Field or Here They Come rather than just the theme concert arrangements. Interesting that the original trilogy probably has the most standard selections whereas the sequels in particular feature more actual score cues. I've always wanted to play the Mynock Cave cue as you can hear JW playing bits of it in that excellent BBC documentary about him writing the score to Empire and it's amazing how good it sounds just played as chords in the piano.
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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from Yavar Moradi in The Official Intrada Thread
Let the guessing leading to inevitable disappointment commence!
(But seriously. This all sounds amazing. Yay!)
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Tom Guernsey got a reaction from Cerebral Cortex in Star Trek: Picard (2020 TV Series)
Finally got to the end so time for unsolicited, ill-informed comments:
Definitely a significant step-up in quality from the first two seasons, although stylistically it's much more Star Trek XI, rather than TNG Season 8. This is an action adventure show rather than the exploration of humanity TV show. Can't help but feel that Patrick Stewart, much though I love him, kinda hamstrung the series originally with his "no Enterprise, no 'Make it so' etc." edicts as it meant trying out a totally new direction which didn't really work. There's no reason it couldn't have worked - perhaps something a bit more low key, but nobody would have watched that. To be honest, Picard could almost have just been season 3, but with a greater emphasis on ageing and life moving on (much like the TOS movies). The music feels a bit like the ChatGPT Star Trek score; lots of loving quotes of the Courage fanfare, Jerry's TMP/TNG theme, nods to James Horner and Cliff Eidelman, and I especially loved the hint to Dennis McCarthy's finale from Generations which is really quite wonderful. However, outside of those moments, it's a little bit nondescript at times. It's a bit of a shame that the TNG cast didn't get their own theme as Jerry's theme still feels very tied to the original cast (although I concede that it only appeared in two of their movies) - I guess the original cast are almost more suited to James Horner's style. Great to see the Enterprise D in gorgeous HD even if flying it like the Falcon through the Death Star is pushing credibility slightly beyond the limit. Still, I don't buy that the Enterprise D would be entirely retired, after all, TNG had plenty of Excelsior class ships bringing admirals etc. over and they would have been far older in the show chronology. The whole thing could have been a great movie, just ditch the Changelings and Vadic which I honestly don't think added much. The latter as "camp villain of the week" would have been fine had there not been so many more similar such villains preceding her that were far more effective. Bringing in the Changelings as almost a red herring villain was just unnecessary. The Borg projecting through Jack to people under 25 making them Borg something, something, something, made very little sense. My understanding is that the Borg weren't physically superior underneath all the technology so turning humans in Borg zombies through DNA fragments wouldn't make them Borg with all the personal shielding and other stuff that made them invincible. Finally, Brent Spiner is a great actor. His switching between Data, Lore and B4 etc., was masterful and the combination character that resulted was superbly played. -
Tom Guernsey reacted to Edmilson in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (James Mangold, June 30 2023)
Then, a few years later, the reboot: Indiana Jones Into Darkness and the sequel Indiana Jones Beyond!
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Tom Guernsey reacted to Nick1Ø66 in Star Trek: Picard (2020 TV Series)
It's not just that he hamstrung the series from the get-go with his "No Enterprise/Make it so, etc." A big problem is that he insisted on basing Picard on his own life, his own values, psychological hang ups, etc. which gave the overall impression that we weren't watching a show about Jean-Luc Picard, but rather Patrick Stewart. Which is reflected in his acting (or lack thereof). The first two seasons in particular, I never felt like I was watching Picard, but rather Patrick Stewart. And either because he was playing himself, or just his age, but despite being an outstanding actor most of his life, his performance took as step down in the show overall.
Otherwise, Season 3 was mostly fantastic as opposed to the awful first two. It definitely played more like a TNG film, and I'd actually be interested in seeing a fan edit that presented it that way and ditched a good deal of the superfluous stuff (which was most of the first 8 episodes).
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Tom Guernsey reacted to Andy in Star Trek: Picard (2020 TV Series)
I'm making my way through the soundtrack.
I enjoy the pastiche stuff for the Boldly Go feels.
I do not enjoy the banging percussion for the action music.
It really is a mixed bag listen apart from the show.