Getting Into A Score

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

I purchased War of the Worlds somewhere around September last year, and was indifferent to it for the longest time. Now, seven months later, I'm getting right into it and I'm realising how complex it is and hopw perfectly it fits into the film. Why did this happen? I bought the WotW DVD a few weeks ago, watched it once and couldn't help it. I liked the movie a lot when it came out, but it was only on my third viewing (first on DVD) that I started to love the score. I watched the music featurette on the second disc and was thoroughly impressed with what Williams had to say about the score, and I fully appreciated what he was going for in the score.

So my question is, what's the longest time it's taken you to really get into a score (from the date of purchase, not the date the film came out), and why (if there is a reason)?

[Incanus 5,714]

Saving Private Ryan took years (3 years or more) and countless listenings to grow on me. Suddenly I just realized how powerful the score really is. It was amazing. And after seeing the film multiple times the music got depth and meaning to me.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I got into War of the Worlds much quicker than I did with ROTS. Too bad the film didn't quite live up to the score.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

I found the first 3/4 were exceptional. But that's me.

[nightscape94 965]

I bought Far and Away back in the late 90s, and during that time, I never finished it. I didn't care for any of it and put it away. Throughout the following time period, I took fleeting glances at it, but it never really registered. About 6 years later I saw the cover and title again with new eyes and it finally hit me that I should probably listen to it again, fully aware of my previous attempt and subsequent failure. When I heard the score the second time, I couldn't believe how good it was. I was obsessed. I listened to it every day for about a week, and went through the entire CD from beginning to end about a dozen times. Since then, I've come to appreciate it along side his many great achievements in the 90s, and think of it as one of his masterpieces.

Tim

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

I've always loved Far and Away from the beginning. As for me it has got to be Minority Report. I still havent got quite into it though I can't say I've purchased it yet, only have it on CDR

[John Crichton 4]

It was a few years before I really started to enjoy AI as a good, though still not great, score. On a whim I rented the DVD and watched it again, and afterward the score just started to come together for me. It took me a while to get to grips with Prisoner of Azkaban too, just because it was so different from the established Potter sound.

[Ollie 1,059]

It usually takes me one or two listens to get into a score.

[Hitch 57]

It'll take me an infinity to get used to Hans Zimmer music in whatever format it's produced.

[futuremartymcfly 0]

Saving Private Ryan, one of the first scores I bought, but only started to listen to it lately

[Hitch 57]

8 years later???? And you dare to show ur neck on this board???

[futuremartymcfly 0]

me?, or someone else?

[Elmo Lewis 6]

The usuals for me: Saving Private Ryan, The Lost World and I'm surprised nobody mentioned Close Encounters of the Third Kind yet.

-Ross, still waiting for Minority Report and War of the Worlds to kick in.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Close Encounters of the Third Kind yet.

The finale from CE3K took my breath away first time I heard it. The whole score is one of Williams' finest achievements.

The Lost World is probably one of my favorite action scores. How can you not love the action cues on that one?

[Trent B 337]

Sometimes for me it generally takes a couple of listens to get into a score. That is if I've heard it in the movie first and I've decided I liked the music or not.

Generally it's usually one time though.

[Romão 2,274]

I admit it took me awhile to get into Close Encounters, as I usually only listened to first track. Next thing you know, it become one of my all time favorite scores.

[orrakul 0]

and I'm surprised nobody mentioned Close Encounters of the Third Kind yet.

I'd be surprised if anyone mentioned CE3K at all...

[Maestro 147]

I've yet to get into Close Encounters.

[King Mark 3,631]

Yeah Close Encounters.I only got into it when the Expanded release came out.Before I'd only listen to the melodic stuff.And RotS.I thought the album didn't flow very well,and when I saw the movie and heard the whole score I got into it.

K.M.

[John McClane 1]

I purchased War of the Worlds somewhere around September last year, and was indifferent to it for the longest time.

That's weird for me, because when I bought it liked it immediately, and listened to it 2 consecutive times, which is something that really eally happens rarely. I got more than 400 CDs, and it's rare to finish a record and start it again, because most of the times I listen to different albums when the first is over.

I think it depends on many things. I love Indy's music, so I don't need much time to get into JW adventure/action music like Ind's.

I listened, for example, to Amistad 3-4 times, and never liked it much. So I tink I have to listen to it more to finally appreciate it.

But usually I like a score (or whatever else kind of record) after 1-3 listenings. Then, of course, the more you listen to it, the more you know abou it, and only time will say if you love it or not.

[Trent B 337]

Hmm as I said for me it sometimes takes a couple of listenings to get into a score, for example...

The Matrix OST. When that CD first came out I bought it pretty much I believe a couple of months after it was released on CD. I was a local Borders in Vegas when I saw it and decided to buy it. I hadn't seen the movie yet when I did buy it and when I listened to the score for the first time I was wondering what the hell I was listening to since most of the CD contained action cues.

I didn't quite hear all the other instruments IE: flutes and that. I mostly heard was strings, french horns and trumpets.

It wasn't until about a year later in 2000 when I finally saw the movie on VHS and paid attention to the music and that's when I got into it. Even my niece (whomed I watched the movie with) said it sounded like it had good music. I agreed with her but even then it took me a long time to fully get into the first score. Once the movie was released on DVD and I learned it had an isolated score I bought the DVD and ripped the iso score and really listened to the score.

That's when I finally got pulled into it and hooked on music from The Matrix. When Matrix Reloaded's OST came out I instantly bought that and I was hooked with the music. I even listened to the score before seeing the movie and that's generally rare for me. Grant there wasn't really much on the 2nd disc but it was still enough. The same thing was with Matrix Revolutions score it only took one listening and I too with that score heard it before I saw the movie.

P.S. I think all 3 Matrix scores are over-looked and under rated music. They're awesome scores!

[futuremartymcfly 0]

When I got CE3K it was at the time my least favorite score, but then again it was only the seventh score I had purchased, the others being Jurassic Park, TPM, Lord of the Rings: Two Towers, Indiana Jones: LC, Jaws, and ET.

[John Crichton 4]

And RotS.I thought the album didn't flow very well,and when I saw the movie and heard the whole score I got into it.

Yeah, judging RotS just by the album really isn't fair, it's a pretty poor presentation of the score as a whole. I remember being a little disapointed too, though that was as much due to how much I had been looking forward to it than anything else.

Sorcerer's Stone is another one that I thought was just a good/very good score based on the OST, then after ripping the unreleased music and really absorbing that bumped it up to great.

[gkgyver 1,645]

Took me one year to get into Fellowship of the Ring.

[Richard Penna 3,686]

I loved FotR since the first time I heard it in the cinema.

[gkgyver 1,645]

I certainly came a long way, didn't I?

[Datameister 2,042]

Heh, FotR was actually the opposite for me. I loved it when I first saw the film and for the first few months with the OST, but after that I grew tired of it. Now I listen to a track or two from time to time.

The ROTS OST was hard to get into. I enjoyed it at first listen, but not as much as I'd hoped. Then, as I grew more used to the cues, I started to really appreciate them. Then I saw the film again, this time on DVD, and realized just how incredible the score was. Then I underwent the same process with unreleased cues: when I first heard them on the DVD, I didn't really care for most of the unreleased material. Then I started seeing merits in most of the cues, and now my complete soundtrack edit is a cherished part of my iTunes collection.

[Genius_Gone_Insane 5]

The Lost World for me--I was really shocked with all the percussion at first. After a while it really grew on me though.

[tpigeon 3]

It took me a while to get into Fellowship of the Ring as well. I heard the soundtrack long before seeing the movie, and I thought it was repetitive with its choral passages and not very colorful as I had expected. But it grew on me eventually, and the complete score is terrific.

As for Williams, Memoirs of a Geisha was a challenge for me. As much as I appreciated it and admired it, I didn't much like it the first few times I played it. As for War of the Worlds, I loved some of it, but overall wasn't impressed. I have come to like them both very much, but I think I was disappointed initially because of the expectations I held for them.

Ted

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

It took me a long, looong time to get into The Fury.

I still don't get what's so immensely great about Total Recall. I need to listen to that one again.

[John Crichton 4]

It took me a long, looong time to get into The Fury.

I still haven't, at least not nearly as much as those like Marian and Cerrabore. I'm still giving it a chance, though.

[Ollie 1,059]

I still don't get what's so immensely great about Total Recall. I need to listen to that one again.

8O

You will become a true believer...

[Delorean90 42]

It took me a little while to get into Fellowship also. I had read the books once and was looking forward to the movies and especially the score. Then I heard clips and I didn't really care for it. I didn't find anything to really latch onto. I liked the Fellowship Theme, but other than that I didn't really care much for what I heard--it was okay, and interesting, but I didn't really dig it.

Then I saw part of the movie on TV, and it was the part where Gandalf rides to Orthanc, and I was thinking "Hey, this isn't bad..." From there it went uphill pretty quickly.

I think a big part of it is that I was used to a modern romantic John Williams score with clear themes and action cues and everything. And of course now that I read the liner notes, it really articulates what it was--Shore was doing his best to avoid any contemporary sounds. So I had to get used to that sound. And then I almost had to do the reverse thing when I watched The Two Towers and Return of the King almost back to back and was listening to the music and everything--and then I listened to ROTS. It actually sounded a bit weird to me. I had to get readjusted to it. Now that I'm more used to listening to both, I can more easily go back and forth. But it is a very different style.

[Henry B 50]

It took me a long, looong time to get into The Fury.

I still haven't, at least not nearly as much as those like Marian and Cerrabore. I'm still giving it a chance, though.

I think it's about accepting The Fury's campiness. Some people have a mindset that might cause them to actually laugh at the over-the-top organ chords or the screaming trumpets ("Vision on the Stairs," "Lifting Susan" - I love those tracks). You have to listen not for subtlety, but for blatant, classic horror. Also, I wouldn't watch, you know, Munich, then take a hit of "Gillian's Power." It would just sound stupid. The Fury is like a fairy tale - simplistic, unrealistic. This is the same view I have when listening to some Broadway music, like Oklahoma! That's another one of my favorites.

[Vaderbait1 1]

Sometimes seeing the movie along with the score increases appreciation. I know I wasn't thrilled with Battle of the Heroes until I heard it in the film, and now I love it as a standalone piece to get the adrenaline going. Personally, I find it really hard to get into a score that you can't hear in a car. This was my problem with AI. It's so quiet, it's all virtually background noise, no strong pieces. Not that music has to be loud, but go listen to the Star Wars scores, there is plenty of quiet music that doesn't just....disappear.

War of the Worlds is kind of growing on me. I hated it at first, never listened to it. But there are a few tracks (not the entire score, not even close yet) that are starting to grow on me.

So some scores just stand out, usually due to strong variations of a strong theme or two. The scores that lack any real themes tend to be more forgettable simply because there's no structure to the score. Those generally are impossible to get through, which is my problem with War of the Worlds and Memoirs of a Geisha. I've heard a few tracks from Munich so far (haven't had a chance to listen to the whole thing), but it seems to suffer from the same things. I think Williams put so much into ROTS that the others just sort of fell flat.

[Kevin McCallister 0]

I agree completely Vader. A.I. was one that literally took repeated listening (especially in the first half of the score, I have the Promo) for me to really get into, but I love it nonetheless.

Close Encounters and The Fury are also scores where I've enjoyed what I've heard, but they haven't reached high in my list of favorites.