Soundtracks, Compilations, or other recently purchased Music

[crocodile 8,020]

Dead Zone by Michael Kamen.

This is a score that is very much in Howard Shore vein, but better than practically any of his Cronenberg work. I'm not sure what to think about Sibelius theme though. It is not credited anywhere...

Karol

[Ollie 1,059]

My Varese package arrived.....

Runaway - Goldsmith

[ChrisAfonso 186]

My latest purchases:

Elfman - Serenada schizophrana

Powell - X3

Arnold - Casino Royale

Rufus Wainwright - Want Two

[robthehand 3]

My Varese package arrived.....

Mine arrived today.

I've listened to The Birdman of Alcatraz - brilliant! This might well become my favourite Bernstein score.

Next up is Runaway (Goldsmith), then Careful, He Might Hear You (Cook), then Seven Cities of Gold (Friedhofer).

[crocodile 8,020]

TTT: CR

Better than I expected. It's still a real struggle to listen to the whole thing though. I don't have such problems with Cleopatra or ROTJ. The thing is that somehow it doesn't flow as well as some classic scores. Maybe this is because of the editing or extending of the picture? I don't know. But transitions like this from Rohirrim (or whatever they're called) charge at the end to the next sequence at the Isengard is jarring to me. It reminds me of TPM: UE. Besides, there is little sense of dramatic progression. You could replace Warg battle with some Helm's Deep material and I wouldn't notice. The latter is a real disappointment on disc. It is relentless, which is fitting, but doesn't translate well to the listening expierence. This is simply a lazy scoring, not completely unlike some of Zimmer's work. Nothing special happens in it. Having said all of that, I love the Ent material and the Oliphants bits. The unreleased Gollum bits are also pretty good. It seems that the highlights are the quiet parts. The OST was so much better to listen to. As the matter of fact it still remains my favourite Shore album.

Finding Nemo

I have to say that I really like this score. It is as likeable Newman score as you can get. The thing that I love about this score is that you don't have sense like it was composed for an animated feature.

Karol, who doesn't understand the purpose of The Fellowship of Rohan theme, since we have already Fellowship theme and the new Rohan fanfare.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

TTT: CR

Better than I expected. It's still a real struggle to listen to the whole thing though. I don't have such problems with Cleopatra or ROTJ. The thing is that somehow it doesn't flow as well as some classic scores. Maybe this is because of the editing or extending of the picture? I don't know. But transitions like this from Rohirrim (or whatever they're called) charge at the end to the next sequence at the Isengard is jarring to me. It reminds me of TPM: UE. Besides, there is little sense of dramatic progression. You could replace Warg battle with some Helm's Deep material and I wouldn't notice. The latter is a real disappointment on disc. It is relentless, which is fitting, but doesn't translate well to the listening expierence. This is simply a lazy scoring, not completely unlike some of Zimmer's work. Nothing special happens in it. Having said all of that, I love the Ent material and the Oliphants bits. The unreleased Gollum bits are also pretty good. It seems that the highlights are the quiet parts.

I disagree with anything negative in your review.

Cleopatra not boring, are you on crack?

The OST was so much better to listen to. As the matter of fact it still remains my favourite Shore album.

Stop blathering, TTT is the worst of the LOTR OST CD's by far.

Credibility ZERO!

Karol, who doesn't understand the purpose of The Fellowship of Rohan theme, since we have already Fellowship theme and the new Rohan fanfare.

Ignore it then.....

[Ollie 1,059]

Cleopatra is not boring.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

You are right actually, it's isn't.

Not as good as LOTR though.

[robthehand 3]

I wouldn't begin to know how to compare them.

[TheTennisBallKid 17]

Better than I expected. It's still a real struggle to listen to the whole thing though. I don't have such problems with Cleopatra or ROTJ.

Odd...I find ROTJ to be overlong. I prefer the Anthology.

Well, with a few edits.

ttbk, who only listens to the alternate Sail Barge cue....

[Romão 2,274]

ROTJ is probably the most enjoyable "expanded" album ever, IMHO.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I don't think so Tim.....

[crocodile 8,020]

I disagree with anything negative in your review.

Cleopatra not boring, are you on crack?

Stop blathering, TTT is the worst of the LOTR OST CD's by far.

Credibility ZERO!

Do you have some problem with my not having orgasm when listening to TTT? Was the set to expensive to criticize? Because I begin to have a feeling that I'm not allowed to voice my opinion. When I do it seems to upset a lot of people. You desperately need to get a life. Or, instead of attacking everything I say with, write down your own thoughts and try to convince me that I'm wrong. I could value that. Because, nothing from your above "insightful" comments makes me understand your standpoint. Or is it too difficult, man with over 20 000 posts?

To support my own statements about LOTR action music, I think that it could benefit from more balletic approach. The Ferry Scene from WOTW would be a good start, since it is similar in its relentless quality, but much more satisfying musically in the end. By the way, isn't it strange that many people who dislike much of Williams' recent work, seem to praise LOTR for beining superior orchestra writing. I find it puzzling, since Williams does it better anyday anytime in any score.

Howard Shore did an admirable job, but then again he had four years to write this. Williams composed his prequel trilogy in less time than Shore had to write one LOTR score. I think that I could and should want more, when taking this into consideration. I strongly feel that any composer (and I mean ANY) could do the same or better withg as much time.

Karol

[Romão 2,274]

The TTT complete recordings are more remarkable in my view as a standard and pinacle of what comple film score editions should be like, not so much musically, in my very humble opinion.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Howard Shore did an admirable job, but then again he had four years to write this.

Hardly.

He had a long time to develop themes and musical ideas, but the actual writing to the motion picture was done in a far smaller time, since the post production schedule of all these fils was a nightmare.

Williams composed his prequel trilogy in less time than Shore had to write one LOTR score.

Which, is somehow a bad thing?

On AOTC you can hear that Williams didn't develop material and flesh out certain sections very well because he didn't have the time. It's one of the reasons why AOTC isn't up to Star wars level.

I think that I could and should want more, when taking this into consideration. I strongly feel that any composer (and I mean ANY) could do the same or better withg as much time.

Karol

In the end it's the end result that counts, not the amount of time the composer was able to spend on it.

[crocodile 8,020]

crocodile wrote:

Howard Shore did an admirable job, but then again he had four years to write this.

Hardly.

He had a long time to develop themes and musical ideas, but the actual writing to the motion picture was done in a far smaller time, since the post production schedule of all these fils was a nightmare.

I didn't knew that.

Which, is somehow a bad thing?

On AOTC you can hear that Williams didn't develop material and flesh out certain sections very well because he didn't have the time. It's one of the reasons why AOTC isn't up to Star wars level.

And what about the original trilogy? There isn't any obvious shortage of quality because of tight schedule. I don't count tracking and some small reused parts in ROTJ.

Karol

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

That is because (to my knowledge) Williams did not have to work with such a tight schedule on the films from the OT as he did with AOTC.

[crocodile 8,020]

He had about three and a half months. He did TPM in four months and the same was with ROTS.

Karol

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

He had about 3.5 months for what?

And what is the source of your info?

[crocodile 8,020]

The official SW site stated that he saw the film in October and the sessions began in end of January, which gives...

Karol

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Ok.

It's not the most reliable source I gues, but what do you do.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

anyone here know whether Poledouris' On Deadly Ground and Hotshots Part Deux are any worth getting? Thanks.

[crocodile 8,020]

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events by Thomas Newman

I'm in a Newman mode lately. I really like this score. True, it is disjointed and the album is tad too long, but there is hardly any composer who can match Newman's wacky style. There are so many strange instruments there that I have never heard of. And he has his own voice, which is very strong, I might add.

Karol

[Romão 2,274]

I´ve been on a roll lately:

Star Trek the Motion Picture - Special Edition

Total Recall - Expanded

The Final Conflict

The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing

The River

Alexander Nevsky complete score re-recording

Great Scenes from the Ring, by George Solti

Elgar´s Cello Concerto

[crocodile 8,020]

Is there a huge difference between Alexander Nevsky complete and the cantata?

Karol

[Romão 2,274]

You do get broader sense of how the themes are developed and used throughout the score. I would say it is very fascinating to listen to if you are familiar with the cantata beforehand.

[crocodile 8,020]

I am. Is it original recording or a re-recording?

Karol

[Romão 2,274]

Re-recording. I also have the original recording, but the sound is so bad and degraded that it is only useful as collector´s item.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events by Thomas Newman

I'm in a Newman mode lately. I really like this score. True, it is disjointed and the album is tad too long, but there is hardly any composer who can match Newman's wacky style. There are so many strange instruments there that I have never heard of. And he has his own voice, which is very strong, I might add.

Karol

I agree about the disjointedness, and it's mainly because of that that I don't feel it's a great overall score, but the beautiful family music in "Resilience" and the finale is amazing!

Ray Barnsbury

[Morlock 11]

I dunno, the only cue I liked in that one is the wacky 'The Marvelous Marriage', with that pulka ensemble.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

You didn't like the piano theme in Resilience that's later reprised orchestrally?

Ray Barnsbury

[Morlock 11]

It sounds too much like other Newman pieces, namely the title track from Road to Perdition (and the orchestration is identical). In general, the score and the film were too disjointed for my liking (though I did like the tone of both).

[QMM 4]

After finally finding out the HGW's Deja Vu was exclusive to iTunes, I bit the bullet it and bought it. About halfway through the second track on it and I'm loving it so far, some great dark stuff in it.

[crocodile 8,020]

Mission: Impossible 3

My of favourites of the year. Giacchino really begins to develop his own voice. Lost helped him a lot, I think. I like his action ostinatos. Very driving. I don't how so many people find this too loud and relentless and then praise X3. It is sumply beyond me. Recommended.

Cutthroat Island

It's the original album and a very fine one, I might add. I'm not so sure that I would listen to the expanded album. The score's attitude could be pretty exhausting. Not sure if I could herald the score as brilliant, but it is very solid indeed.

Karol

[Joe Brausam 215]

I got Nixon yesterday. I actually like it a lot, though it has a different feel than i expected. The opening track though, its awesome!

[Morlock 11]

Mission: Impossible 3

My of favourites of the year. Giacchino really begins to develop his own voice. Lost helped him a lot, I think. I like his action ostinatos. Very driving. I don't how so many people find this too loud and relentless and then praise X3. It is sumply beyond me. Recommended.

I liked the score, but can't help but feel that Elfman's work was more exciting and interesting (with better use of themes, both Schifrin's and Elfman's).

[crocodile 8,020]

Agreed.

Karol

[Trent B 337]

I just rebought this CD from Amazon and I'll have it on Wednesday.

[Red 75]

Good for you. ^_^

[Romão 2,274]

Can't go wrong with that one.

[Trent B 337]

B)

[nightscape94 965]

The Finale track is one of the most badass finales I've ever heard.

Tim

[Trent B 337]

Indeed.

[Red 75]

Good form. ^_^

[robthehand 3]

Re-bought? Did you scratch that one as well? ^_^

[Trent B 337]

It was one of the many (infact 99% of my CD's didn't make it) that didn't make it up when I moved.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

my first Kunzel/Telarc CD

btw what does JWFan think of Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops? The telarc discs are quite expensive here.

[robthehand 3]

btw what does JWFan think of Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops? The telarc discs are quite expensive here.

Mixed feelings. Some albums are fantastic, most are very good, but there are a few stinkers out there.

[Ollie 1,059]

Kunzel's Star Trecks II might be the best, I like his Bond cd and the Chiller one as well.

I'm still waiting for my Intrada package with 2001 and Spaceballs to arrive.

[robthehand 3]

I'm still waiting for my Intrada package with 2001 and Spaceballs to arrive.

Did you order from Intrada? I ordered mine from Screen Archives, along with a load of other stuff. There's a big advantage to SAE while I live in England - they don't write the value on the package, so I don't get stung by import tax.

I have 2001, Around the World in 80 Days, The Bravados, The World of Henry Orient, Brannigan and Breakheart Pass on order from SAE.

Kunzel's Star Trecks II might be the best, I like his Bond cd and the Chiller one as well.

I like "Epics" as well.

One thing about all these CDs - whatever the performances are like, the sound is always top-notch.