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What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)


Ollie

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John Williams - The Long Goodbye (from Fitzwilly/The Long Goodbye 2004 Varèse Sarabande)

 

I don't dislike the tune, a great jazzy earworm in fact. I guess I have to see the movie now!

 

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Puppet on a Chain,

Galaxy Quest, David Newman

 

The Force Awakens -Rey's theme grows on me. I liked it from the off but a little behind where everyone else seemed to.

 

Spectre- so-so early on but picks up.

 

Logan's Run-

ah, maybe I've seen the film too often but could picture that moment perfectly during Terminated in Cathedral  (towards the end) where Francis aims his blaster through the mesh:

"Runner!...You...are...terminated!"

 

Quite fond of On the Circuit, at least the start with the love theme gradually building.

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Revenge Of The Sith

 

Been playing a near complete version of this, compiled by someone who's very good in creating these kinds of expansions, over the last week, to try and hear the magnificence that many claim to detect, but has always been invisible for me.

 

The score is at its best when the film is. The early scenes of seduction are impressively scored. ROTS is at its best when the music explodes the Dark Side. Creepy but languid, built from the tone of the Emperors music in ROTJ, but more primal and abstract. Very impressive for a composer who has never been considered a master of darkness like Jerry or Bennie.

 

But alas. The action music, especially in the begging is energetic but hollow. The same typical Williams devices over and over again.
The lament, while starting well never really builds to anything. Same for the seemingly endless array of fanfares, heroic or menacing.

 

Throughout much of the score there's a disturbing lack of strong thematic material. Weird considering Williams had a wealth at his disposal. Anakin's Theme is once again left at the wayside. Across The Stars fares little better. The general Grievous theme is good, but really only features a few times. Again never actually building to anything significant.

AOTC gave us a mouthwatering finale of the Imperial March, thankfully. Because we get nothing of the sort here. The theme has a few statements. But never fully formed or carried through.

 

Battle Of The Heroes is stronger then I remembered. But like DOTF in TPM is has little presence throughout the score. It suddenly appears, late in the film, unannounced.
It's treatment in the film leaves much to be desired. Constantly alternating with warmed over versions of DOTF or the duel music from TESB.

Because of all this ROTS is a score without much of a center. The most frequently used theme is The Force Theme, but even that one lacks the impact of previous scores. Stated often in fanfaric renditions with lots of patina, but curiously devoid of the nobility and wisdom of the OT.

 

There are many standout moment in this patchwork of a score though. The eerie voices of Padme's Ruminations. The quiet but resolute build of the melody in "Anakin's Dark Deeds/It Can't Be" the epic tragedy better then Portman or McGregor were able too.

 

However these fine moments are islands in a sea of competent yet indistinct scoring which fail to provide the score with either the dramatic flow or the immediacy that the subject matter seems to be begging for.

 

Of course considering the film and the film maker he had to deal with John Williams performed above and beyond the call of duty. And I maintain that in the film this remains the most impressive and effective score of the Prequels.

But as a stand alone listen I cannot recommend it over the wealth of Star Wars music Williams has written before and after.

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The way Williams basically deconstructs the Grievous material for the action music doesn't help its case really. But it is heck of an impressive but uneven package. It wants for whatever reason pull into several different directions during the course of the story which doesn't produce the most coherent throughline thematically or dramatically but when Johnny is really cooking the anguish, melodrama and sheer momentum he mines from some of the scenes is brilliant.

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Of course you did!

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Totally agree with you about ROTS, Stefan.  Basically why I've never been able to connect to it either.

 

Listening to it at TFA in succession does make it clear that even though almost none of the themes from the Prequels are used, The Force Awakens does have a lot of stylistic similarities to those scores. 

 

Its feels like a very happy union of the warmer, more thematically driving OT scores, written in the language of the prequels.

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Pocahontas: The Legacy Collection  by Alan Menken

 

Bought this album quite randomly, my old soundtrack got lost somewhere ages ago. And I'm really happy with it, the complete thing works very well in chronological order, much better than the old album. It's a very effective and consequential combo of score and songs, probably bit too neglected among Menken's popular hits.

 

Oh, I noticed Bruce Botnick put this together. Now I know why it feels right.

 

Karol

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2 hours ago, E.T. and Elliot said:

Star Trek: First Contact complete score

 

Had many Jerrygasms, especially during "First Contact".

 

 

A great album exists somewhere between the OST and the expanded. The old album was missing too much good music, but the expanded has too many bridging filler cues.

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Taras Bulba (Tadlow Re-recording) by Franz Waxman: Excellent score all around although the setpiece which every fan usually enthuses about, The Ride of the Cossacks, is still not among my favourites. Waxman's dramatic writing in places could well come from a decades more modern score. That man was a bit of a master, wasn't he.

 

Pan's Labyrinth by Javier Navarrete: Enchanting darkly edged fairytale score with simple lullaby melody at its center. Like the director del Toro says, the theme really encapsulates the whole work in the best possible way.

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5 hours ago, Incanus said:

Taras Bulba (Tadlow Re-recording) by Franz Waxman: Excellent score all around although the setpiece which every fan usually enthuses about, The Ride of the Cossacks, is still not among my favourites. Waxman's dramatic writing in places could well come from a decades more modern score. That man was a bit of a master, wasn't he.

 

 

 His music never ages. A master

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A little hand-made playlist (that starts very pleasantly!), a sort of Anthology covering the period from 1969 to 1984...

 

01 Overture from Goodbye Mr. Chips

02 The Reivers Overture

03 Entracte from Fiddler on the Roof
04 Main Title from The Poseidon Adventure

05 Nice To Be Around from Cinderella Liberty

06 Overture from Tom Sawyer

07 Main Title from Tower Inferno

08 Main Title from Jaws (The Album)

09 Main Title/Rebel Blockade Runner from Star Wars

10 Resolution & End Title from CE3K

11 Theme from Superman

12 Imperial March from ESB

13 Raiders March from Raider of the Lost Ark

14 Flying from E.T. (The Album)
15 Luke and Leia from ROTJ

16 End Titles from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

17 The River

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On ‎26‎/‎01‎/‎2016 at 10:27 PM, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Interesting. The track lists do seem to match.

 

Can't find anything in the liner notes, but it might well be. It quotes from "FSMCD...".

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Concerning David Shire's Return to Oz:

 

I've been on the fence on whether I should buy the original 1 cd OST or the the Intrada expansion. I've read some people that consider the original album presentation to be the best way to experience this score and that edition is, as of this moment, considerably cheaper. Is the By Cities cd legit?

 

What would you guys recommend?

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I would start with the Bay Cities. It's a perfect album!

 

If you go complete score, you're not gonna care about anything. Not the album, not the listening experience, not the sound mix, nothing. All you'll want is to stay in the complete score. And you're not gonna want to come back.

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1 hour ago, E.T. and Elliot said:

I would start with the Bay Cities. It's a perfect album!

 

If you go complete score, you're not gonna care about anything. Not the album, not the listening experience, not the sound mix, nothing. All you'll want is to stay in the complete score. And you're not gonna want to come back.

Intrada set it is then!

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The Intrada release contains the OST program on the second disc so if you buy that you get the best of both worlds.

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True, if all things were equal, the Intrada would be the obvious choice. However, I can the Bay cities for a 1/6 of the price of the Intrada, and I just wanted to know whether I would still be getting all that I need to apreciate this score

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Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith (Expanded Edit Thingy) by John Williams: I love the dark tragedy laden finale of this score perhaps the most but there is a lot of great material sprinkled throughout.

 

:music:Minority Report by John Williams

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It's a fantastic deal. Just between me and you, Intrada did nothing to improve the OST. But then, there was really nothing they could do.

 

While the complete score is amazing, the sound mix on the OST is superior and there are some questionable choices on the Intrada set. There are some sound effects, a source music track with terrible sound quality sequenced in with the score and some still-missing moments that are really quite wonderful.

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Star Wars the Force Awakens by John Williams

 

Tom Sawyer by the Sherman Brothers (conducted and adapted (and underscore) by John Williams)

 

 

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Jaws 2 (John Williams) - Great, but I think Williams went a little overboard in some places (no pun intended).

 

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (John Williams) - My appreciation has greatly increased after listening to the full score, especially towards the end of the film.

 

Kung Fu Panda 3 (Hans Zimmer) - Great stuff, although having no knowledge of the film, every track came across a bit samey, unlike KFP2 where it felt like every track could almost stand on its own. Kai's theme is pretty good, but sounds very similar to Imagine Dragons' "I'm So Sorry", which may be intentional because apparently they worked with Zimmer on this score. Lang Lang plays on the piano in three tracks; in the first one (Oogway's Legacy) he plays an arrangement of Oogway Ascends with the orchestra, in the second one (Portrait of Mom) he provides a chordal accompaniment for a flute, and in the third one (Po Belongs) he provides a sort of flowing accompaniment for the orchestra. In the latter two cases the piano is so subtle that it could've been played by any regular studio pianist, especially in Po Belongs where it's mixed so low that you can only hear it faintly as an effect. As for Oogway's Legacy, the first 30 seconds or so feature a somewhat simple and understated arrangement for the piano, accompanied by sustained strings. It's something new but I didn't find it that interesting. After a brief 30 second cello statement, the piano returns with the orchestra, and alternates between playing chords and scales, none of which go naturally with the orchestra. So while I think it's at least interesting that they did something different with the "main theme" (Oogway Ascends) by bringing in a piano, the execution of it could've been better. But overall, if you're in the mood for an energetic, Oriental-sounding score then I heartily recommend Kung Fu Panda 3. 3.5/5

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:music: Creed by Ludwig Goransson. Now, this is how you do an entertaining, memorable modern blockbuster score that honours tradition but looks ahead. It's great in the film, gradually gaining strength along with main character.

 

 

Karol

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