Stark

Love "Hymn to the Fallen," always have, essential John Williams. I wouldn't hesitate at all to put it in the pantheon of his greatest concert pieces. 
 
The score is effective, "Wade's Death" for me is what I really think about as Williams's most important contribution in context. His score is expressing a lot of stomach-churning feelings in the aftermath of that situation. Especially Miller crying in secret, it's like the sound of emotional repression. 
 
But it just feels weird to single out SPR as a masterpiece of film scoring, other than just always appreciating John Williams's musical and dramatic instincts. The film is obviously the Steven Spielberg/Michael Kahn show, D-Day is probably the greatest thing they've ever put together, maybe the greatest thing Spielberg's ever directed. I acknowledge the film is sometimes confused as to what it is really trying to say about the nature of war, but it's such a moving and harrowing movie, I love the whole ensemble and all four combat sequences are just astonishing. 

Hymn to the Fallen is music fit for the funeral of presidents and war heroes.

I still haven't seen the film, and whilst I don't think I would call the score a "masterpiece" by JW's standards, it is extremely beautiful in parts and contains some of Williams' best melancholy/reflective Americana writing. The Last Battle (5:07-end) is absolutely gorgeous. I adore the contrapuntal trumpet writing, and those woodwind chords at 7:19 are wonderful. 
 
 

QUARTET RECORDS ANNOUNCES

UNCOMMON VALOR-EXPANDED
Music Composed and Conducted by JAMES HORNER

Quartet Records, in collaboration with Paramount Pictures, presents a remastered, slightly expanded reissue of James Horner’s classic war score for UNCOMMON VALOR (1983), directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Gene Hackman, Robert Stack and young up-and-comers Patrick Swayze and Fred Ward.

The film is a dramatic action picture centered on retired U.S. Marine Colonel Jason Rhodes, who recruits a motley crew of soldiers and leads them on a clandestine operation in Laos. Their mission is the rescue of unacknowledged U.S. prisoners of war (POWs) left behind after the withdrawal from Vietnam, including Rhodes’ son, officially declared missing in action (MIA). The possible existence of such POWs was a topic of considerable interest during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The messy conclusion of the Vietnam War, coupled with the scandals of the Nixon era, had left many Americans alienated from their government and deeply skeptical of official claims that there was no evidence of living POWs in the former war zone.

James Horner was only 30 years old when he was hired to compose UNCOMMON VALOR, but he was already a seasoned composer with such successful films in his career as STAR TREK II, KRULL, BRAINSTORM and SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, and he was about to enter the A-list of composers in Hollywood with his upcoming hit scores for ALIENS, AN AMERICAN TAIL and COCOON. Horner provides an inventive and effective score, robustly orchestral while endowed with exciting electronic rhythms and Vietnamese textures.

Intrada Records issued the premiere release of UNCOMMON VALOR in 2014 and it quickly sold out. This new, remastered edition adds about 10 minutes of alternate takes. Produced by Dan Goldwasser and mastered by Chris Malone, it features in-depth liner notes by film music writer John Takis.


Tracklist:

1. Vietnamese Solo / Main Title (7:31)
2. Airport (2:21)
3. Tag (2:49)
4. A Lot of us Have Been Killed (1:26)
5. Steal the Sucker (1:44)
6. First trek / Yellow Rain (2:45)
7. Pan Over Hill / Wilkes in Tunnel (7:35)
8. Attack Airbase (3:14)
9. Escape Airbase (3:22)
10. Copters Over Hill (2:51)
11. Final Escape (2:21)
12. End Credits (3:42)
13. Brothers in the Night* (4:48)

Bonus Tracks

14. Main Title (Alternate Mix) (7:15)
15. Main Title Extension (Expanded) (3:08)
16. Parade Ground (3:58)
17. Main Title Extension Vietnamese Overlay (Alternate) (3:15)


Total Disc Time: 64:14

*Performed by Ray Kennedy • Written by Ray Kennedy, Kevin Dukes and David Ritz

https://quartetrecords.com/product/uncommon-valor/
 

It's a shame because Harry Potter 1 and 2, whether you like them or not, are phenomenally well made movies, with great practical effects (and great cgi in the second film), good camera work, great direction for the adult actors, fantastic sets and atmosphere, and great music. Stuff like Fawkes and the Basilisk are practically perfectly realized. You compare that to Percy Jackson and Pixels, and it seems like he's not even trying. 

It would be nice to get a premier release of Ghost in the Shell too!

I think so! Hopefully Sahara happens at some point in the future.
 
Yavar

Is this the first Mansell expansion? We were all wrong!

Hmm, good question. Any former football stars now retired and picking up commercials and acting gigs planning to murder two people 8-10 years from now...? 
 
But I do think Liam Neeson is actually an excellent choice, I can absolutely see him doing a great job playing Frank Drebin. 
 
Or will Neeson play a new character, and we get little references or easter eggs of Leslie Nielsen? I think I'd be OK with that. The Variety article linked above doesn't appear to specify Neeson will be Drebin, but I have no idea if any other press releases or official announcements have confirmed Neeson as Drebin. 
 
Don't crucify me, but... Michael Giacchino? Wouldn't be all that far from his Incredibles work, IMHO. 
 
(eta "s" at end of "Incredible") 

He did War of the Worlds - hard to get more malevolent than that.

I've never heard this score until today, I can't say I was expecting the Meow Mix song to show up.
 
 

Did you just get a big pay check or something?

That’s Sigourney Weaver

The latter could be Event Horizon.

Frieren's complete score is out! 2 and a half hours of awesome music. It's so great to hear many of the great tracks I've grown to love while watching the show. On a first listen I really enjoyed new tracks like Frieren the Slayer, Beyond the Journey's End, Great Mage Flamme and The Magic Within!

It's definitely an acquired taste. I certainty had trouble listening to it back when we only had the bootlegged "film stem" set, but then I got into it a bit more after I'd grabbed an edit someone did (once it became apparent there were gaps in the final edit of the score).
 
It's far more cohesive and thematic than I think people give it credit for, but there's no beating around some of the more abrasive sounds that Kamen likely threw in out of frustration. I certainly have trouble imagining what the more Superman inspired version of this sounded like, because it fits in very well with the other Kamen stuff I've heard (a theme here is straight up taken from Robin Hood!). The action material definitely isn't as cohesive as people might like it to be, but it's got enough energy and personality to it that I honestly don't mind. Really, the highlights are in the dramatic and emotional moments. Very few superhero movies have captured the feelings Death Camp and Logan and Rogue leave me with. They arguably are quite odd for a cape flick, but that's what makes them appealing! You simply will not find anything else with the personality of this, for better or worse.
 
The OST is on streaming if you want a sampler, since it's decently representative of the score (despite some mixes being tailored for the album). The LLL certainly gives a much fuller picture on what Kamen managed to achieve, but I think that'll just depend on if you like any of it beforehand.

I feel this way about Hook. It is not a great movie, but the score does all the musical stuff that I love to listen to.

This is actually what I prefer, and I NEVER prefer shorter presentations!
To answer this question accurately would require I force myself to listen to ET again!

For everyone who have mentioned or will mention LOTR on this thread:
 

For me, it’s ET. Aside from the flying cues I find it unapproachable… and I am a fan of Close Encounters and War of the Worlds!

For me, it’s ET. Aside from the flying cues I find it unapproachable… and I am a fan of Close Encounters and War of the Worlds!

The 2008 release pretty much took the original promo that was made around the time of the movie's release, and added a couple of extra tracks in-between, as well as 3 synth ones at the end. Looking at the cue list and even just watching the opening act of the film, it's pretty apparent that stuff is either missing or we only have the alternates for them. Plus it's a fairly standard Young OST in terms of rearranging the order of tracks for "ideal listening" and all that junk.
 
The rather strange thing about the release is that every new track on it came from a lossy source, suggesting they were pretty limited in terms of the masters they had access to (especially since everything else matches the promo otherwise). So the real intrigue would be if this new release actually uses the original master instead of whatever Intrada and Young had lying around for the score.

Holko:

 
 Jay:

I believe the LLL editions are all definitive, though I don’t own the first one.