Ray Barnsbury

1.) Return of the Jedi 2.) Chamber of Secrets 3.) Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 4.) Attack of the Clones

I like the fact that it takes place largely on Mackinac Island in my home state of Michigan. And I agree, the score is simply beautiful.

Maybe, but there are many others who like it too! It does have a few less interesting moments, but overall I think it's great. Thematic, lush, with just enough ethnic flair. Not to mention that "The Land Race" is one of the best tracks, like, ever. On the whole, much better than your bloody Patriot.

Ordered, yay (decided it was too risky to add to the Christmas list). Looking back, this music was probably some of the first film/tv music I ever noticed; I remember walking around humming the Joker's theme as a kid.

Kingdom's (I was referring to your statement that Raiders' villains didn't need overly evil music). Since Williams, and other film composers, have often talked about scoring the aspects of a film that are not literally on-screen, I imagine that he wrote a more melodic, obvious "evil" theme for Kingdom to make up for a lack of truly threatening villains. I agree with Delorean though, that there was certainly intentionally over-dramatic villainous music in Raiders.

Maybe he was trying to compensate for the film's weaknesses. I should say that I certainly don't think Raiders' Nazi theme is "crap"; I've actually begun to enjoy it quite a bit more recently, especially in "Desert Chase." It pretty much kicks ass.

I'd say that's you getting senile, not Williams.

I have a feeling that Manuel was exaggerating to compensate for similarly overzealous comments from the other side of the argument. But really, I don't find the Russian theme to be nearly as "cartoony" and brassy as the Nazi theme from Last Crusade, for example. It does have some bold iterations, but there are also several subdued ones where it comes off fairly evocative (like 1:28 in "The Spell of the Skull"). And its variations in "Ants!" are pretty raw and threatening, similar in a way to the Raiders Nazi motif. I don't know that one is necessarily better than the other, but I don't see "pleasant" and "cartoony" as the most accurate descriptions of the Russian motif.

Wow, look at the guy on that nose!

(i laugh at your response) Unbelievable. Some people will just take anything from Williams as long as it's big and brassy - with no thought whatsoever to its musical function. The Nazi motif from Raiders could be described as big and brassy too (maybe even moreso). I'd like to know why, in your eyes, the Russian theme is lacking since you kind of bring it up a lot. Ray Barnsbury - who likes both

After getting into the recent re-recording of El Cid, and hearing some great samples of Plymouth Adventure thanks to Mark O.'s Thanksgiving music thread, I wondered if anyone had any more Rosza recommendations or favorites since this thread was started. I haven't gotten into the Golden Age much, and Rosza seems like a good place to start.

The lightest and merriest parts of TLC are in "Indy's Very First Adventure" (8:51-9:04 almost sounds like music for a romantic comedy - in a good way). After that, I don't think it's too fluffy. Moreso than its predecessors, but that's not saying much.

Though it's been discussed before, that's a very interesting and insightful post. I'd probably agree with the periods you outlined. I'm not as familiar with a lot of his earlier works, so I'm not sure if The Reivers or The Cowboys would be better transition points than, say, Jaws. But I suppose the latter may be more when he really took off with that style, rather than when he started with it. And although there were definitely stylistic changes from his Star Wars/Raiders sound in the late eighties and early nineties, with Accidental Tourist, Last Crusade, Home Alone, Hook, etc., I agree with Schindler's List being the one that most significantly signaled another new "era." I'd say that's definitely the other contender for the start of the third period.

AMAZING MUSIC! I agree, it's fantastic. I can PM you about "Tapestry of Nations" if you don't have that too.

I have a 23:55 "Tapestry of Nations" track that doesn't have any such singing (though those lyrics do sound amusing...). I can PM you a link if you're interested. Do you have his piece for "IllumiNations" as well?

That's the guy who did those great pieces for Epcot...how's his music for that show?

It bothers me that the problem exists, but I can't hear it so I voted "no."

Actually, I'm liking Temple better at this point.

As amazing as Temple is, E.T. has a heart to it that Temple, just by the nature of the film, doesn't. For that reason I pick E.T., but both are probably on the same level objectively.

Schwetty Balls?

You're telling me you haven't made a point to watch The Village several times a week since it was released??

Er, Lucius and Ivy's relationship is sort of central to the film. The love theme is the most prominent, melodic one in the score (heard at the start of "What Are You Asking Me?" for instance).

That's a great clip - good find! I'd love to see the rest of the show.

Third option. I don't like the filter, and I think we were all fine before it was instated. There weren't threads heaping with aimless strings of obscenities. Sometimes "colorful language" can be effective for the sake of humor, emphasizing a point, or just making things more...well, colorful. In the end, it's Ricard's website and he has every right to operate it as he chooses. I just find the filter to be a bit of an annoyance.

I've recently been watching Showtime's Dexter, which is a really great, unique show. The score is actually pretty good too, creepy in a sort of quirky way. And for the other fans of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia out there, what did you guys think of the season finale last week? It may have been the most amazing half hour of television ever!!