Best Film Music of the Year albums

[tpigeon 3]

Over on another thread, I made mention of my annual tradition of making an 80 minute album comprised of the best film music pieces of that year. Mark Olivarez commented that his own albums in recent years have been short, as mine is so far this year. Last year, however, despite not being a great year for epic action/fantasy scores, was particularly good for quieter scores of a various stylistic backgrounds and traditions.

Therefore, below is a tracklisting for my "Best Film Music of 2006" album. I don't necesarily like all the films represented on the album, nor is all of it representative of my personal biases and preferences. It rather sums up what I consider to be premiere film music of 2006, capturing the diversity of music from our film composers last year. I'm curious to know your thoughts, such as what I left out, what doesn't deserve to be there; though I probably don't need to encourage the input of opinion here on this board. If anyone else has done something like this, I'd very much like you see your selections. Enjoy!

1. End Titles, Part I (Letters From Iwo Jima) by Kyle Eastwood - 2:55

2. Death of Vesper (Casino Royale) by David Arnold - 2:50

3. Chevaliers de Sangreal (The DaVinci Code) by Hans Zimmer - 4:07

4. The End (United 93) by John Powell - 5:50

5. The Plan Begins (Charlotte's Web) by Danny Elfman - 2:57

6. The Last Stand (X-Men 3: The Last Stand) by John Powell - 5:29

7. The Great Eatlon (Lady in the Water) by James Newton Howard - 4:41

8. The Flowers of Buckingham (The Queen) by Alexandre Desplat - 2:28

9. I Knew Her (Notes on a Scandal) by Philip Glass - 3:22

10. Unrecht Oder Recht (The Good German) by Thomas Newman - 2:55

11. Who Are You? (Miami Vice) by John Murphy - 1:33

12. The Descent (The Descent) by David Julyan - 4:54

13. The Painted Veil (The Painted Veil) by Alexandre Desplat - 3:17

14. V. I Forget (Serenada Schizophrena) by Danny Elfman - 6:23

15. Billy's Theme (The Departed) by Howard Shore - 6:58

16. A Princess (Pan's Labyrinth) by Javier Navaratte - 4:02

17. London (Blood Diamond) by James Newton Howard - 2:38

18. Death is the Road to Awe (The Fountain) by Clint Mansell - 8:25

Total Time: 75:14

[Morlock 11]

I can't really structure this as an album, and my view is not all-encompassing enough to create a real representative best of....but here are a lot of good tracks of many of my favorite scores from 2006. Some are representative, others are simpyl the best tracks on the given album.

The Black Dahlia / The Zoot Suit Riots (2:14) (The Black Dahlia) Marc Isham

Blunt Instrument (2:23) (Casino Royale) David Arnold

Chevaliers de Sangreal (4:09) (The Da Vinci Code) Hans Zimmer

Kyrie for the Magdalene (3:55) (The Da Vinci Code) Richard Harvey

The Departed Tango (3:40) (The Departed) Howard Shore

Billy's Theme (6:58) (The Departed) Howard Shore

Firewall (3:16) (Firewall) Alexandre Desplat

Unrecht Oder Recht (2:25) A Good German (Thomas Newman)

A Good Dose (1:11) A Good German (Thomas Newman)

Nazis Pay Too Well (3:53) (The Man Inside) Terence Blanchard

The Great Eatlon (4:41) (Lady in the Water) James Newton Howard

End Title (7:42) (Little Children) Thomas Newman

I Knew Her (3:17) (Notes on a Scandal) Philip Glass

The Illusionist (2:34) (The Illusionist) Philip Glass

Jack Sparrow (6:06) (Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest) Hans Zimmer

The Queen (2:09) (The Queen) Alexandre Desplat

Mourning (3:50) (The Queen) Alexandre Desplat

Evey Reborn (3:50) (V for Vendetta) Dario Marienelli

Dark Phoenix's Tragedy (3:18) (X Men:The Last Stand) John Powell

The Waterpark (2:24) (Ice Age 2:The Meltdown) John Powell

The End (5:50) (United 93) John Powell

I believe it comes to approximately 79:45 in play time.

[indy4 155]

I don't have many score from 2006, but here it is:

1. Jack Sparrow (6:07) (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) Hans Zimmer

2. Wheel of Fortune (6:45) (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) Hans Zimmer

3. Davy Jones (3:16) (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) Hans Zimmer

4. Maestro (3:53) (The Holiday) Hans Zimmer

5. Gumption (3:45) (The Holiday) Hans Zimmer

6. Dream Kitchen (1:35) (The Holiday) Hans Zimmer

7. CheValier de Sangreal (4:09) (Da Vinci Code) Hans Zimmer

8. Charades (5:50) (Lady in the Water) James Newton Howard

9. Factory Rescue (4:14) (M:i:III) Michael Giacchino

10. Main Title (2:12) (Charlotte's Web) Danny Elfman

11. Rough Flight (5:11) (Superman Returns) John Ottman

2006 wasn't a very good year, IMO. It had some great work by Zimmer and Howard, but that was the only oustanding pieces, IMO. So far, I think 2007 is a great year for film scores, can't wait to make that list.