Kevin

Euphonium! That's my choice. More mature than a french horn, but less harsh than a trombone. Underrated instrument really.

Last of the Mohicans - Trevor Jones 20 years later, it's still a pretty good score with a great main theme.

That might be true, but I suspect that if you listen to The Mummy Returns, you will get a pretty good indication of what his POTC score would have sounded like. It probably would have pushed the cheese out a little too far.

It's certainly a good score, very different than the typical John Williams sound adore him for. The score itself revolves around the use of the piano, backed up by the string section. The main title cue is fabulous and introduces two very memorable and effective motifs for the film. The underscore is always present, mixed with the haunting chords interwoven beneath this mask of deception. There always seems to be a battle between good/evil, harmony/disharmony, etc etc. The way John Williams uses electronics in this score is refreshing (for not being a major electronic user like Jerry Goldsmith) with the use of electronics in the end credits being a highlight of the score. The pace of Presumed Innocent can be what disinterests people away from this score, with it being definitely subdued for over the majority of the album.

Fateless - Ennio Morricone Wonderfully restrained (but very emotional) dramatic score.

Unfortunately, most of it just sounds like watered-down Tiomkin. No way. Tiomkin's scores were always virtoisic, like Korngold. Lots of tuplet flourishes, lush orchestration, and polyphony. Though he had a tendency to be too hyperactive, at times. This, is just Moriconne's Dollars scores given the Zimmer treatment. A mechanical, computerised sound, even if it's performed by an orchestra. He always instructs the orchestra to play as one big surrogate synthesiser, devoid of human expression (except the trumpet here). IMO that is abuse of the symphony orchestra. Must be very dull for the players.

Did anyone notice else the performance error in the performance of the Star Trek theme?

Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium - Alexandre Desplat/Aaron Zigman Charming score, one of the better fantasy children's scores since 2005.

The main theme from Legends of the Fall.

Warlock: The Armageddon - Mark McKenzie

Warlock: The Armageddon This is a good score by one of the more forgotten composers in the film music world. It was an early entry in Mark McKenzie's career, and he had to endure significant problems during the recording to get the music recorded. It's not really a full blown horror score in the vein of Hellraiser I & II (which I find very overrated) but it definitely has some horror parts (with help from Young & Goldsmith), channeling Dies Irae through the choir. Contrasting the horror parts, is the love theme and the heroic Druid theme are the highlights of the score, the heroic theme, with the supporting trumpets, not being far away from The Rocketeer (which was written after). Beware of the sound quality, because it was literally recorded in a warehouse. But however, you should seek out this score if you like horror & dramatic scores and you are a Mark McKenzie fan.

No one finds it funny when you pretend to be a doctor.

Good video game score, The Dig by Michael Land. Imagine Wagner on a 1990s keyboard, it's much better than it sounds.

The extra material isn't that great. If you take all of the extra material, you get about an 80-85 minute score. Which is a long listen. The regular album is perfect in terms of length.

Score collection right now? At last count recently, I have just under 500 scores. I'm happy enough with that number and I am determined to not let my collection get big for the sake of being big. There are people out there who have to buy everything that comes out and never have time to listen to the stuff they bought. I could never imagine not listening to a score that I like for five years just because my collection is huge and my time is being eaten up by other scores. Getting rid of scores that are marginal in enjoyment/memorability is always the key to keeping your collection small. It also helps that I have not bought too many scores so far this year (I've only bought 4-5 scores in 2011).

Does anyone use the Chat Room from time to time, or is it pretty useless?

Check your Private Messages.

In my humble opinion, Speed 2 is his best action score.

I think that Out of Africa is a bit over-liked by people. I don't dislike the score, I'm just pointing out that the more memorable parts of the score use the great main theme. The opening titles, Flying Over Africa, and the end titles are the best cues on the album and overshadow anything else. There isn't a lot of secondary development with Karen's theme (although it is nice and pretty). I would give it 3.5 stars or 4 stars, not not the glowing 5 star masterpiece everyone gloats about.

There is alot of dramatic intensity in this score, lavished with epic and romantic orchestrations and memorable themes. Doyle gives the large orchestra a full workout as he did with many 1990s scores. I suspect the level of intensity in this score was to counteract how slow the film actually was. The cue that I have provided is the end title which is a good summary of the over themes of the score. Plus, the album is a reasonable length (53 minutes) so it doesn't really drag.

You guys are missing the point, you point out the major composers that do have styles. What I'm saying for every major composer that does have a style, there's at least two dozen minor composers that don't (like Debney and others). So there are plenty of composers out there, who write music but don't have any style themselves.

When?

Anyone watch the Nostalgia Critic or The Spoony Experiment?

I rate the three Qatsi scores the same.