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John Powell kicks ass


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5 minutes ago, SilverTrumpet said:

 

I always thought it sounded a lot like Puccini. Where specifically was it lifted from, or based on, or whatever you want to call it?


From here:


then compare it with Powell’s love theme in Solo:

 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, SilverTrumpet said:

 

There's my duh moment for the week.

That makes two of us! I almost kinda like that JP is taking inspiration from the classics as JW did for the original trilogy but in a way where he makes it his own. On a related note, is it me or do the strings at the start of Lando's Closet sound a bit, I dunno, muffled somehow? It may be just the way it's orchestrated but it always sounds a little off to me.

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1 minute ago, SilverTrumpet said:

The worst part is when the score came out I was going crazy wondering what it sounded like and eventually just gave up.

I kinda felt it sounded like something but not enough to keep me endlessly puzzled (and not a patch on the El Dorado mystery theme!).

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On 2/3/2022 at 10:28 AM, WampaRat said:

Also the theme at the beginning of this cue has been used liberally in many a “media ventures” score. Badelt primarily used it in Equilibrium and later in PoTC. Not sure if Powell came up with it first or if Zimmer himself used it earlier.

Probably Geoff Zanelli. 

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Now that we are still talking about it...

Late '90s - early '00s is the "power anthem" era of John Powell...

(A hidden gem this day, as we are now more accustomed to Powell's refined orchestration)

 

Which one is your favorite?

Here are the candidate:

 

1. This moment in FACE OFF:

 

 

2. This part from ENDURANCE:

 

 

3. This  segment in ANTZ:

(^^ to be fair, the theme referred is originally composed by HGW, but here, it is JP's track, so I will let you decide)

 

 

4. THE ROAD TO ELDORADO, as have been mentioned before:

 

 

5. This moment from EVOLUTION:

 

 

6. This part from DTOX:

 

 

7. This moment from DRUMLINE:

 

 

If we can sum it the quality of the themes above,

that would be Simple, Cheesy, yet Electric.

 

Personally, i have to choose the one from Evolution, as that track is the one that "invite" me to love John Powell's music.

But Antz is close second, as i used to repeat over and over again the moment mentioned above when i was child.

 

What's your pick?

 

 

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The swashbuckling theme from El Dorado is great indeed. 

 

But it's sad when I'm listening to the music on YouTube and almost all comments are praising Zimmer but forgetting about Powell. Come on, this score is certainly more Powell than Zimmer!

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14 hours ago, Luka said:

 

 

Although I love them almost all, My vote goes to Endurance. This whole track is such a build up to that moment! I also love the climax at 8:26 and I appreciate the African inspiration at 7:24.

 

But sadly, that triumphant is not used in the film. It cuts to Atlanta 1996 Olympic anthem, you can watch here:

https://youtu.be/lBNpR970whs?t=4291

 

And also I heard in some interview, Powell admitted that Endurance is the score he is proud of.

 

8 hours ago, Anthony said:

 

Same as yours. Woud love to hear all of these without the cheesy MV synthesied brass.

Yes, I too would like to hear all Powell's old anthem with real orchestra.

But for me, the synth is also what makes the charm 😄

and how I wish it can return Powell's modern score

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8 hours ago, PrayodiBA said:

But sadly, that triumphant is not used in the film. It cuts to Atlanta 1996 Olympic anthem

 

Oh that's unfortunate! I indeed had never seen the movie…

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  • 2 weeks later...

I kept seeing 'Paul Mounsey' as an additional composer in the credits for lots of Powell's recent stuff and I thought I'd seen that name before.

 

It's been bugging me. And now I know why. 

 

He wrote a piece that ended up in a 'Visit Scotland' tourist board advert back in the early 00s. 

 

 

I remember seeing this on the TV and in cinemas. Ha!

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Now that HTTYD 2 has been released, I’m sure 3 is already in the pipeline. But what I’m really curious about is when (if ever) will SOLO DE be released on CD. Or Disney just doesn’t care? 

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9 hours ago, JTW said:

Now that HTTYD 2 has been released, I’m sure 3 is already in the pipeline. But what I’m really curious about is when (if ever) will SOLO DE be released on CD. Or Disney just doesn’t care? 

According to his official Facebook page, The Hidden World will be out early in 2024. In my head it was next year. But it’s actually the year after. Talk about pacing yourself ;-) Having said that, there’s less interesting missing from the OST from what I recall and it’s already mixed fairly well but I shall look forward to it eagerly none the less. 

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2 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

According to his official Facebook page, The Hidden World will be out early in 2024. In my head it was next year. But it’s actually the year after. Talk about pacing yourself ;-) Having said that, there’s less interesting missing from the OST from what I recall and it’s already mixed fairly well but I shall look forward to it eagerly none the less. 

I thought it would come out this Fall or Winter, or a year from now. But 2024… Why? I’m sure HTTYD 2 is selling very well. I don’t see why they’re waiting so long to release Part 3. I think it’s a mistake. Then again I’m not sure it’s up to JP. 

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4 minutes ago, JTW said:

I thought it would come out this Fall or Winter, or a year from now. But 2024… Why? I’m sure HTTYD 2 is selling very well. I don’t see why they’re waiting so long to release Part 3. I think it’s a mistake. Then again I’m not sure it’s up to JP. 

Agreed. It does seem an awfully long way ahead especially since the first one was last year. I mean it’s almost surprising they weren’t done as a 6 disc boxed set. Sure it’ll be worth and hopefully there will be some other goodies in the interim.  

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8 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

and hopefully there will be some other goodies in the interim.  

Like X-MEN: THE LAST STAND Expanded Edition. Especially since the first two scores already have an expanded release. But I would love a BOURNE IDENTITY Expanded Edition or even a Jason Bourne Soundtrack Collection. Now that would be great. 

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19 minutes ago, JTW said:

I thought it would come out this Fall or Winter, or a year from now. But 2024… Why? I’m sure HTTYD 2 is selling very well. I don’t see why they’re waiting so long to release Part 3. I think it’s a mistake. Then again I’m not sure it’s up to JP. 

 

We indeed have to allow for the possibility that it's not up to Powell, or that there is somehow a financial or logical reason why.

 

But barring either of those - assuming it would simply be a case of curating the digital sessions, then yes, I too think that leaving a huge gap between releases is a mistake. I hope it's not simply to encourage us to 'appreciate' the album presentation first, because, in the same spirit of language that Powell so refreshingly uses, that would be the most patronising load of bollocks, and we've already had a couple of years to do that.

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10 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

 

We indeed have to allow for the possibility that it's not up to Powell, or that there is somehow a financial or logical reason why.

 

But barring either of those - assuming it would simply be a case of curating the digital sessions, then yes, I too think that leaving a huge gap between releases is a mistake. I hope it's not simply to encourage us to 'appreciate' the album presentation first, because, in the same spirit of language that Powell so refreshingly uses, that would be the most patronising load of bollocks, and we've already had a couple of years to do that.

Agreed. And a year between releases feels perfectly well spaced out to me. And I can’t believe preparing the conductor score would need two years either.  

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19 minutes ago, JTW said:

Like X-MEN: THE LAST STAND Expanded Edition. Especially since the first two scores already have an expanded release. But I would love a BOURNE IDENTITY Expanded Edition or even a Jason Bourne Soundtrack Collection. Now that would be great. 

X-Men 3 would be good. I’m not super desperate for more Bourne especially but I think the later scores are missing a couple of good cues from whah I recall from prior discussions. 

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7 hours ago, JTW said:

Why not?

 

Just the way it is. They don't sell like they used to. We have a thread here somewhere with lots of stats

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4 hours ago, JTW said:

But I would love a BOURNE IDENTITY Expanded Edition or even a Jason Bourne Soundtrack Collection. Now that would be great. 

 

With HTTYD 2 out of the way, the Bourne trilogy is now at the top of my Powell wishlist.

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With how much we complain about the legalities of music royalties screwing over potential releases, I am a bit confused by some of the issues mentioned here. No wonder someone said any other label pulling this move would cause a riot, because this is bordering on entitled territory almost.

 

Have we forgotten that each movie was distributed by a different studio initially? I get the feeling that might play a part in proceedings if the rights holders of each film also have to have a say. Granted, this might be poor reasoning if Back Lot is in charge of both sequel scores currently (plus all of the films are in Universal's hands now, so they probably would be the only point of contact legally). But since they were the ones to release 3 originally, might that have its own legal technicalities involved? I am remembering LLL saying that they couldn't really do a Rogue Nation expansion until a certain amount of time passed, so could something similar apply here? Also, since those type of releases have many approvals to go through prior to coming out, couldn't that also be at play here?

 

Plus, since we know Powell sometimes does answer questions on social media, can't we just ask him why the spaced apart releases? Can't really hurt to try with how seemingly open he is about some things.

 

In any case, given the hell many post 2005 scores are officially in atm, 4-5 years after the original album release is a godsend. If we're gonna ponder about the lengthy release window, at least exhaust every possible excuse someone can have before deciding Powell and crew are purely responsible for these moves.

 

(Of course, I should clarify that I also think these legal holdbacks are incredibly damaging to the preservation and release of expanded film scores. I just couldn't help but get the impression that we are blaming the smaller companies more in this instance than the giant corporations that decide on what strings get pulled. So I write all this as a means of wanting to understand where some of you come from, as well as having some of my own words corrected if I made any mistakes.)

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I hope some of his other animated movies will fill this long wait. It would be pretty great to get his collabs with Harry Gregson-Williams (Chicken Run and Shrek) espacially since the first one is getting a sequel next year...

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5 hours ago, HunterTech said:

With how much we complain about the legalities of music royalties screwing over potential releases, I am a bit confused by some of the issues mentioned here. No wonder someone said any other label pulling this move would cause a riot, because this is bordering on entitled territory almost.

 

You're absolutely right in your points, and I'll clarify that my viewpoint is purely addressing one very specific circumstance (which of course, I have no right to assume is the case here, and almost certainly isn't) where there are zero barriers to release - the score is there in digital form and just needs a bit of arranging. In that case, given that we're in Dragon-hype right now with the second score, what do they gain by waiting a couple of years for the last one - why not wait, say, 6/9 months, to allow the current release to 'settle'.

 

Hence my mind comes up with some 'conspiracy' theory, born from John Williams' historical reluctance to release more music, that Powell is sitting there thinking that he wants us to enjoy his album presentation for a bit more, then he'll let us hear it all in a few years. My reaction to my own 'theory' is... why? You're clearly happy for us to hear these complete scores, so why don't you let us, as consumers, decide when we're ready to listen to it in a different form?

 

Is it 'entitled'? perhaps. But given how accessible recorded music is now with promos and digital downloads, putting something artificial into the mix is just wrong IMO.

 

If it turns out there are legal issues, studios being asses or some other issue, I'll be first to row back on this :)  It was just very surprising to read that #3 is a few years away, not months.

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On Soulseek I have come across a Deluxe Edition of HTTYD3: The Hidden World, in FLAC.

 

It has a few new tracks of varying sound quality, and known cues are separated, plus a nicely edited suite at the end. Anyone know where this has come from?

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It's a fanedit assembling various sources like the OST and FYC. There was one for 1 and 2 too.

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I have a 35-track album with a runtime of 1:38:20. Tracks 5, 13 and 24 have very little SFX. It's based on the FYC album. I think it's identical to what Miz is referring to.

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Fan editors have been titling their albums "The Deluxe Edition" for probably longer than actual legal music labels have

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Thanks. I like it, the track edits and the sound quality is generally better than I am familiar with (maybe mp3 320k vs. FLAC, which I didn't think I could tell the difference between with my iPhone-grade earphones).

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Isn't having to wait for scores/expanded releases ultimately more satisfying? Frustrating in the immediate term, but it proves the scores are worth it. I don't think I've ever fallen in love with a score that's had a complete release from the get go.

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5 minutes ago, Jay said:

HTTYD3 was recorded in London right?

Yes, at Abbey Road Studios, with 98 musicians, 8 ethnic-music soloists and a 60-voice choir.

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So yea it's kinda strange Solo could get expanded closer to its OST than HTTYD3 can get expanded relative to its OST

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13 minutes ago, Anthony said:

Isn't having to wait for scores/expanded releases ultimately more satisfying? Frustrating in the immediate term, but it proves the scores are worth it. I don't think I've ever fallen in love with a score that's had a complete release from the get go.

If I love a score when watching a movie, or I love the composer, I don't want to wait. The more music, the better. And having to wait two years in between the DE of HTTYD 2 and 3 is too long imho. And it's been 3 years since the movie's and the OST release. The DEs could and should have been released one year apart, that would have been perfect. 

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13 hours ago, Anthony said:

Isn't having to wait for scores/expanded releases ultimately more satisfying? Frustrating in the immediate term, but it proves the scores are worth it. I don't think I've ever fallen in love with a score that's had a complete release from the get go.

 

You have a fair point, but in my experience, no :) 

 

I came across the boot for my now former grail soon after hearing the album, and fell in love with every moment of it - in fact it was one of those where a cue is missing for whatever reason and I was so frustrated.

 

There can be two very valid score 'experiences', depending on how you discover the score, and they can happen within the same timeframe for different people.

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