A great day for scores about Dragons

[publicist 4,643]

It must be a Pavlovian conditioning thing that even the most coy comment about too long albums always provokes the rabid barking.

But i quite enjoy making a Thor out of myself.

[Wojo 2,453]

I have 300+ albums on iPod and am not even half full. I can't sympathize with those who feel albums are too long.

[Ollie 1,059]

When you get to the point I'm at, you have a select list of scores you want all the music to and don't care about what or what isn't included on the rest.

[publicist 4,643]

The point being that it's a philosophical thing. You come to a point where you just accept you can't have everything you want.

...and realizing that there should be better ways of spending your time than to wade through an endless supply of hourlong soundtrack albums.

[Ollie 1,059]

Hence the "skip" button.

[Wojo 2,453]

So you make custom playlists. You burn "soundtrack samplers" to CD-R that contain only what you want to hear.

The vocal music genres (rock, pop, rap, country, etc.) are very wide and can support "greatest hits" albums. Same with classical and opera, if only because those repertoires are so vast and people often want only what they heard in Looney Tunes.

But the soundtrack market is very small to begin with. The odds that people want full albums plus greatest hits compilations of their favorite artists and/or franchises are small. Some of the big name composers do get GH albums, like Williams, Morricone, and Goldsmith, or the big franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek. (Re-recordings and name-brand group compilations like Boston Pops count as GH albums in this case.)

I would rather have the full albums and whittle them down to what I want, then pay good money for a half empty box of crayons any day. Or get fifteen different shades of red.

[Andy 4,122]

Hear hear! Good analogy.

[Richard Penna 3,685]

Oh please. Omit the tracks you don't like. It does peak early, back off, and then build up momentum again for a big finish (notwithstanding the song, which is my cue to change albums). But nobody twists my arm to make me listen to it all.

Varese got it right this time by releasing a complete score album for a nice price. Contrast that with their Star Trek album, which has left fans complaining for volume two.

Is HTTYD actually the complete score then? Given that they must've both been recorded in L.A., I wonder why Trek was restricted in length but Dragon wasn't? They both have lots of players and huge choir.

Anyway, I'm definitely in support of longer releases, and then picking the cues you personally want. I did that with Shrek 4 a few days ago, which only has about 2/3 of an album that I find interesting.

[Wojo 2,453]

Damnit, Rich, I knew someone would call me on that!

I don't know. It's 70+ minutes long, which makes it a nearly complete compact disc, which is frankly good enough for me. I don't think I could handle any more HTTYD music. Save some of that for the sequel.

[TownerFan 4,983]

I'm finally listening to North's Dragonslayer right now. I was already acquainted with it, but the new LaLaLand CD sounds amazing and I'm completely rediscovering this score--and what a great score this is! It's almost like what a Stravinsky film score could have been if he ever did one.

I wonder if today there would be a director or a producer with the guts of letting a serious composer writing such adventurous, challenging and rich music for an escapist fantasy movie like this...

We need more of this creative magnitude today.

[Morn 8]

Yeah Maurizio, one of my favourite scores!

[Jay 37,350]

I bought it after listening to the mp3s one time through. I have no idea what the film is like, but the music is fun.

I still haven't warmed up to How To Train Your Dragon, but I haven't seen the movie yet either. That always helps me appreciate a score more