Desplat13

Star Wars. Prequels included, prequels discluded, or prequels on their own. Any way you want to look at it.

For sure. But there is a clickable list of them in alphabetical order on your right. But of course, any advice on the site design is welcome as well.

And you decide by your good judgement what is a legitimate law and what is not. And thieves decide by there bad judgement what is a legitimate law and what is not. And pretty soon you end up with 1 a: absence of government b: a state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of governmental authority c: a utopian society of individuals who enjoy complete freedom without government 2 a: absence or denial of any authority or established order b: absence of order

As some of you already know, I am the editor and at the time only writer for the online soundtrack review site www.soundtracksreviewed.blogspot.com This is a thread where I can post links to each new review as I write it, and then we can discuss the scores being reviewed. I review new as well as old albums, in no particular order. Feel free to argue with me all you want. After all, that is what this thread is really for, as well as for me to share my reviews with you. All right, there are already 19 reviews on the website, so feel free to read and talk about any of the previous ones. The latest is The Lion King, and I know there are some fans of that score here. I also know that I was a little harder on it than many might want, so please post your opinion. Enjoy!

Exactly. You decide what is law and what is not = Anarchy

Along the same lines, what makes putting music and videos on an iPod "okay" and legal compared to those acts? You're copying material you purchased, possibly several times if you have multiple players, and other people will presumably be hearing it at some point. I've always wondered why that's seen differently. Now I thought it was legal to make back-up copies for your own private use. In this case, 4 and 5 from that list would be legal. Correct me if I am wrong.

So, what exactly was JW's role on this one? I have seen his name attached, but I assume that he did not have anything to do with the creation of songs like "If I Were A Rich Man" and so forth. Was he just the orchestrator for these songs? Did he write the instrumentals? Was his version a later released thing? Sorry, I just never learned what he had to do with it.

Anarchy

I certainly give this score 5 stars. The simplistic Jurassic Park theme works so well, combined with all of the complex, sometimes almost atonal music. It is so diatonic, and really works great as a contrast. Putting it among all of the modern, complex music is like putting humans in with heartless and cruel dinosaurs. It is a wonderful contrast in the score.

More than a 500-page book talking about the music (which would however be interesting), I'd like an official release of the complete conductor scores. I really can't understand why they don't pursue an operation of this kind. If there is a film conductor score that would sell from the publication day to the end of times, that is Star Wars. Even an official scan of the complete sketches would do. They are missing an opportunity to make a lot of money and to bring joy to a lot of film music students all around the world. To be sure.

C

Hey, on the vine swinging thing that has everyone arguing: I am a semi-sorta-fit 19 year old. I often swing on a rope out around and over a creek. While I do not switch ropes or anything, I have jumped for the rope over the water, launching a ways before trying to grabe the rope and hold on. While I usually fail and fall into the water, I still have a good idea of what it would take. I assume Mutt is supposed to be more in-shape than me, and the woods were completely full of vines, so it is not like he had to aim each swing for another available vine. Swing to the top of a swing, and grab a vine that is bound to be close at hand, and keep going on that one. Nothing too crazy there. Just get started in the right direction, and try not to run into a tree trunck. While I will probably never have a chance with that many vines in one place, I would love to try it. I don't think it would be quite as hard as many of you seem to think.

You have to take it in the context of the rest of it. It is meant to be over-blown. While I haven't seen the movie, I can say that the score works good for a Dr. Suess story, and is quite a fun ride if you don't mind constantly-changing musical styles.

True, very true. Anakin's theme is perhaps the greatest lost chance in the Star Wars movies, and I could have use a bit more love theme in Revenge of the Sith.

Is depth determined by "new thematic or leitmotif material"? Williams style has changed, and I liked the way he embraced his new style in those films, rather than artificially going back to the old style, as in The Phantom Menace and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (both of which I enjoyed greatly). Of course, having said that, I do not really try to defend Attack of the Clones, but that is more because it becomes tedious because of the teenage romance angle Lucas chose, and Williams had to follow. It still has great moments. And, of course, Revenge of the Sith is just plain great.

My favorite moments in Revenge of the Sith are the non-action, almost Wagnarian orchestrally over-blown, tragic build-ups. Really wonderful stuff. And, of course, Schindler's List.

You have a very good point. This view makes much more sense to me than any other defenses of Temple of Doom. In other words, Temple of Doom does not hide the fact that what is happening is outrageous and nearly impossible, while The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull makes it look too heroic and 'I am cool so I can do this'-ish. I think they are similar in probability of being able to happen, but perhaps Temple of Doom doesn't try as hard to convince the audience that it is possible, and so 'works' better. I still don't like Temple of Doom, but at least you have given me a good reason why its 'sillyness' works better than The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Thank you.

Depends. Was your main complaint with the first one the lack of thematic interest, or the general style? If the first was your problem, this one improves in that area, and would be worth checking out. If you can't stand the MV style of battle music from the first, stay far, far away from this score.

True, over-all they are probably similar. I just found all the problems people had with the vine swinging sequence to be kind of silly compared with all of the outrageous-ness in Temple of Doom. I hate the refrigerator thing, though...

One of the more sensible suggestions you will find on this board. But then, what would the forum be for? Anyway, I have to say that I saw Temple of Doom for the first time a little while ago, and that whole inflatable raft falling from an airplane (sure it's been done. That doesn't make it believable), then falling over a cliff into water, then falling down a waterfall (I think) and who knows what else really made me laugh. Perhaps that was the intended effect, but it came across as hilariously cheesy to me. Add on top of that the jump from track to track in the chase scene at the end, and I would say that though Indiana Jones movies are made of the ridiculous, Temple of Doom took it too far. Now, of course, if you are going to say that it was the magic of the rock, than fine, consider it as believable as you want. That is kind of like throwing the force in there and saying that there is no reason for reason any longer. Anything goes (pun intended). You might as well say that the . An exaggeration, but you get my point. Mutt swinging from vines seems too much for someone who hasn't done it before, but, like I said, Indiana Jones is built on the ridiculous, and this (in itself) did not amount to nearly the 'improbability' (if you would rather use that word) of all the scenes I already mentioned from Temple of Doom. You can argue the merits of the movie-making, story-telling and story-line from The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as much as you want, but saying that Temple of Doom is more believable seems to be really grasping for threads of reason. Bending over backwords might be a good way to put it... But then, I didn't really care for Temple of Doom, so why listen to anything I say about it?

You contend that that time period was when John Williams was doing his best work, and I believe that to be a valid viewpoint (whether I agree or not). But I think that everyone here should actually think about the wisdom in Josh's words (something that is very hard for many people here, because it is in style to look down on that type of unbridled enthusiasm). Franz Liszt spent the years from about 12 or so to 30 as a concert pianist, and is considered to be the first real virtuoso. He dazzled people with his playing technique, and amazed the world so much so that many people seem to have felt ashamed in later days about the way that they acted at that time. At the age of 30, he gave up public playing altogether, only playing after that very rarely, and mostly at private gatherings. He then devoted himself to studying composition. So at that point we had a composer/pianist, who could write amazing pieces either for piano, for orchestra, or for piano and orchestra. Sometime around this time I believe he wrote pieces like Totentanz, an amazing combination of orchestral power and pianistic virtuosity. But, as he continued to get older, his works displayed less and less obvious beauty or power. Instead, they became much more reserved. At that time, many many people longed for Liszt to return to the stage as a pianist, but he would not, because he valued his art above what people thought of him. Looking back on this time, many scholars believe Liszt's most forwarded reaching and insightful music was written during this time, but many people missed it because they wanted the old style so much. Because they were longing for the old style of Liszt, they missed what is now considered to be his very best and most amazing music. I do not know if we are living in a time like that for Williams or not. We can only know that after the fact. But I think people should consider Josh's words, and be thankful. I think I would go crazy if it were in any way possible for me to shake Liszt's hand, or get an autograph. Yet that is possible with Williams. Not only that, but he made an honost effort to go back to his old style in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for the sake of his fans, something Liszt fans (Lisztians. Yes, that would be me) never really got from their composer. Take my advice and be thankful.

Here is my review as it appears in http://soundtracksreviewed.blogspot.com/ The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Harry Gregson-Williams Rating: 6.5 Number two of the Chronicles of Narnia series is, stylistically, more of the same. Director Andrew Adamson knows how to create a fantasy, eye candy atmosphere, and Prince Caspian has even more of that feel. The computer generated animation in this film is used in the same near half-and half ratio with the live action, and in such a clean, non-gritty way, that a definite fantasy feel is attained. Many people disliked this aspect of the first film, and the Lord of the Rings comparisons were frequent and irrelevant. The fact that these were completely different films, just as the books were completely different books, didn't seem to matter. Folks wanted another Lord of the Rings, and it is a mercy that those in charge of the Narnia production had a different vision. The original Narnia score received much the same useless comparisons with Lord of the Rings that the movie did. There can be no doubt that Howard Shore produced an impressively coherent score for The Lord of the Rings, but I am afraid that anyone who thinks that his scores would have fit the Narnia movies is, well, how can I say this? Wrong. Because of the comparisons, the first Narnia score did not receive especially high ratings, with many reviewers complaining about the odd mixture of orchestral and synthetic elements. For some, the soft pop-ish "Evacuating London" track was the problem, for others, the electric violin was like fingernails on a chalkboard, while still other turned their noses up at the epic, Media Ventures sounding "The Battle". For many it was a combination of all of these elements, adding up to a collective snobbery towards the soundtrack. Trying not to, of course, pat myself on the back too much, I would like to say that my original review, while in no way raving, did not look down on the score stylistically. My main complaint was the lack of interest and thematic development in many of the middle tracks. In fact I ended the review by saying "It is not because Gregson-Williams didn't know that syncopation and the use of the synth are modern techniques, but because he chose to use them anyway. I think it was a good choice.". It seems many other listeners and reviewers have come to this opinion, and the reviews this time around are much more favorable. Many themes find reprisals in this installment, and there is actually a general lack of new themes in the film. There is an excellent motif for Reepicheep (or the mice in generel, I am not sure which), which, very unfortunately, does not find its way into the album presentation at all until the last score track, "The Door in the Air", at 1:19 - 1:30, set against a end-of-the-story-ish backing. The non-inclusion of this theme really is a shame, as I think it might be the very best in the Narnia series to date, with its creative representation of mice. It gets it best presentation during the raid on the castle, but the track "Raid on the Castle" I believe, begins after this presentation. "Prince Caspian Flees" really sets the tone for the entire elbum, with racing strings, and somewhat Media Ventures-ish textures. The entire album, in fact, is closest to the track "The Battle" from the previus installment stylistically, and Gregson-Williams has really started to perfect the style. "Raid on the Castle", despite the disappointing lack of Reepicheep's theme, also showcases some excellent battle music. "Miraz Crowned" shows Gregson-Williams heretofore unused in this series talent for drawn out orchestral crescendos, and is actually quite impressive to listen to. The White Witch music, most obviously shown on the track "The Stone Table" in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, gets a reprise on the track "Sorcery and Sudden Vengeance", and it is as disturbing as ever. One of the better tracks is "The Duel", and it contains my favorite moment on the album. At 2:18 - 2:24 Gregson-Williams turns a theme which had previously been used as a type of Wonder of Narnia theme into a rhythm-oriented march piece, underscoring Peter's duel with king Miraz. It really is a great musical representation of a line from the movie, used in at least one of the previews, where the dwarf Trumpkin tells the four children from London, "You may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember". The track which ends the score, "The Door in the Air", is very similar to "Only the Beginning of the Adventure", which ended The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. While many loved that track, neither it nor this one especially impressed me. But if you liked the ending of first one, you are likely to enjoy this ending as well. The inclusion of the four pop songs which end the album and play through the credits was inevitable, but I really do not understand how starting "The Call" while the movie is still playing can be termed in any way acceptable. For me, this is doing a major disservice to Gregson-Williams, by taking away what could be some of the most musically important moments of the movie. Instead of getting a chance to do something subtle, hinting at some theme or memory from Narnia, or who knows what he might do, we instead get an obvious "Ok, this is the wrap, the movie is over (even though it isn't yet) and we are prematurely ripping you from the story and placing you back in your theater seats. Also, you might as well leave now, because there is no musical reason to sit through the credits. Just more of the same". I know I am harsh on pop songs in movies, but the placement here really upset me. Other than these major gripes, "The Call" is actually not a bad a song, if one can separate it from the way it was used in the movie. The rest are nothing special. As the series progresses, I must say that I am glad to see that both director Adamson and composer Gregson-Williams will not be returning for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, even though I have enjoyed their work for both Narnia films. It just seems that Prince Caspian was far to similar artistically to the first one, and, while it worked here, I think one more would be too much. Still, Prince Caspian is a very nice listen, and an improvement on the first score. Gregson-Williams, while using many of the same themes, seems to do much more with them this time, and they are more meaningful. There is less filler music, and most serves a purpose, working for the artistic whole. While it is good to have fresh writing on the way, Gregson-Williams really stepped up to the plate and delivered. -Colin Thomson Track list: Prince Caspian Flees The Kings and Queens of Narnia Journey to the How Arrival at Aslan's How Raid on the Castle Miraz Crowned Sorcery and Sudden Vengeance The Duel The Armies Assemble Battle at Aslan's How Return of the Lion The Door in the Air The Call A Dance 'Round the Memory Tree This is Home Lucy

Yes, that "War!" really did make me laugh.

Good post. And I would put Return of the Sith there too, with a little more than a little edge for me, because I can't help the fact that I love epic, overdone and overacted tragedies. All of those things gave Williams the chance to do something really special, and he did it. Now for the complete score release, so we can actually hear the special things that he did.

yes it is sped up - 30 seconds shorter then the version i have the by request album That is interesting. Maybe he likes faster tempos now-a-days. Kind of odd.