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


Ollie

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Really the only Star Wars rerecording I've heard that sounds like it could be an OST. A few concert adaptations, but mostly underscore. Excellently performed, in my opinion. And sounding more like a dry studio recording than the other two 

 

The subtle differences between Gerhardt's reading of the material compared to Williams' is effective and interesting. I prefer his Finale.

 

Top notch album!

 

***1/2 out of ****

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No, its really fun actually. Rather ambitious too.

 

The Rise Of Skywalker.

 

I'm just not bonding with this score. Its Williams going through the motions with great flair. But its all so loud and noisy, and a bit obvious?

 

There's zero subtlety in the recording. Its not pleasant to listen too. On headphones or speakers. Williams does this now and then.

 

The new theme is...fine. its a bit plain and simple after the playful Rey's theme and ambitious Reborn piece. That might have been the last time Williams really pushed the boat out on Star Wars.

 

This OST just wants me to go back and re-evaluate the Revenge Of The Sith score 

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5 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

This OST just wants me to go back and re-evaluate the Revenge Of The Sith score 

 

Don't agree with you on RoS, but ROTS is the last really ambitious epic score Williams did. 

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And binds several different approaches to 'dramatic' with great relish (the kettle drums on 'I am the Senate' are something to behold and i always preferred BotH to the more obvious Orff knockoff in DOTF).

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Sadly most of that is still unreleased or badly cut into pieces. I think my biggest and never-ending regret is that culture at this point allowed for self-referential bullshit like the 'Duel' insertion. This plus the useless credits sequence of 13 minute are its only letdowns.

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Listening to the new disaster set on my way to the airport.

 

The Poseidon Adventure. Now that is one gloomy score, isn't it? It will take a few listens to get into this one.

 

Now listening to The Towering Inferno. This new album sounds really good. I've only heard bits of this score from the FSM album and there is a massive difference. This alone is probably worth the money.

 

Karol

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John Debney's 'Liar Liar' OST from 1997. I consider this to be the finest track of the album

 

 

the orchestration in this is just so superb! reminds me of very much of Goldsmith's rousing late 90's action/adventure epics, such as 'The Mummy'.

 

I think Debney is majorly underrated as a composer.

 

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Just now, crocodile said:

:music: Earthquake by John Williams. Film version for now. Will listen to the album recording later.

 

Karol

 

I see you are into JW's disaster movie scores these days. Great!

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Waves - Reznor and Ross

 

There must be some hardcore NNN fans out there, this album is way too long at an hour and twenty. Lovely textures as always from these blokes, but I liked their work on Watchmen more, though probably just because it was more fun. Have to decide whether I’ll watch the film

 

Little Women - Desplat

 

I’d skipped around on this one a little already but gave it a full listen and I love it. Beautiful work from Desplat, I love the woodwind/string interactions. Can’t wait to see the film, hopefully on Boxing Day. 

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With a little slavic help, JNH delivers one of the best christmas scores in recent memory. It has not one original bone in its body parts, but it's warm and affecting.

 

Mark Isham delivers the second Balto score this year (John Koutselinis bestowed us with a very hornerific 'The Great Alaskan Race earlier) and it ain't bad but not that good, either. Middle of the road with a few nice instrumental touches, curiously absent themes (given the topic).

 

Another nice surprise, which were plenty in late 2019 (i will give them due in the inevitable year's end roundup), this is also a surprisingly warm and melodic score for much-praised vietnamese movie which tells the one sided love story of young man for his girlfriend from childhood. Mid-sized, airy orchestra consisting of strings, guitar piano and woodwinds, it's a throwback to better film music days. Eschews the saccharine by lots of instrumental touches that give the score variety, though it seems a team work. Nevertheless, it's good.

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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Expanded OST)

 

The original CD was the first JW album I ever owned. It's obviously one of his very best scores for one of the best movies I've ever seen. It has all of his trademarks--literally everything you enjoy about JW is here in top form. Epic heroic and villainous fanfares, sweeping romantic themes, testosterone-fueled masculinity, hair-raising religioso etc. There's never a dull moment and the expanded edition of an already solid album only improves the listening experience because the entire score is entertaining and perfect.

 

Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (Charles Gerhardt)

 

These are great albums. I prefer them to the originals. That is to say they are go-to versions of the OT for me. They are arranged far better than the JW albums because Gerhardt can present all the concert arrangements, take his time here and there as the music is no longer married to the movie, there's no source music or Ewokian vocals disturbing the orchestral music. The Empire album is probably the best all around, but the entire trilogy is completely stellar. I do wish the new digital release featured Close Encounters, but for all your Star Wars trilogy listening pleasure, I just don't think it gets any better than this.

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Just now, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

Epic heroic and villainous fanfares, sweeping romantic themes, testosterone-fueled masculinity, hair-raising religioso etc. There's never a dull moment and the expanded edition of an already solid album only improves the listening experience because the entire score is entertaining and perfect.

 

 

dude yes.  The Last Crusade complete score sends the listener through such an incredible/adventurous journey.  More so than the other Indy scores.  You really feel like you travel all around the globe during this one.

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3 hours ago, Bellosh said:

 

dude yes.  The Last Crusade complete score sends the listener through such an incredible/adventurous journey.  More so than the other Indy scores.  You really feel like you travel all around the globe during this one.

 

Indeed. All the travel montages and establishing shots are wonderfully scored. Really gives it that globetrotting feeling

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The Rise of Skywalker :music:

It's great!  A surprisingly heavy amount of new thematic material and interesting orchestral colors.  Williams' large scale symphonic writing is top-form.  Some great unique takes on the pre-existing themes too.

A Christmas Carrey :music:

Great underrated Christmas score.

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TROS (FYC+OST playlist)

TFA (OST)

Batman Returns (Expanded)

TLJ (Isolated score)

SW+ESB+ROTJ (Gerhardt albums)

Back to the Future (Expanded)

 

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I hope you’ll have a better New Year's Eve than them!

 

John Williams - Poseidon Adventure (LLL 2019)

John Williams - Rosewood (Expanded)
Alan Silvestri - Forrest Gump (Score)

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12 minutes ago, First TROS March Accolyte said:

Libertador by Gustavo Dudamel - surprisingly RCP-an for a world-class classical conductor

 

I bought the CD album out of curiosity, then sold it on eBay.

 

12 minutes ago, First TROS March Accolyte said:

E.T The Extraterrestial (2002 OST reissue) by John Williams

 

The 20th anniversary expanded release, you surely mean.

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Howard Shore - The Fellowship of The Ring (OST)

Howard Shore - The Two Towers (OST)

Howard Shore - The Return of the King (OST)

 

One cock ring to rule them all.

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The Force Awakens

This score impressed me a good deal when I first heard it, and it still gets me going whenever I return to it.  John changed things up regarding his writing style, delivering a bold score anchored by a collection of themes that really hit all the right emotional and thematic notes.  The fact that most of the score consists of rather harmonically sparse swirling and stabbing underscore strung together in skeletal fashion around these themes is a strength maybe, contributing to a sense of drive and urgency.  This is a very good adventure score indeed.

And the Jedi Steps sequence is in the running for being the very best finale John ever wrote for the franchise.  

 

The Last Jedi

When I heard this score for the first time, I was underwhelmed.  Perhaps Jedi Steps made my expectations too high.  At any rate, I always hear something new to like when I return to this one, as infrequently as that is.  Again, much of the score is underscore, which sometimes sounds a little uninspired.  But there are moments of interest.  And, there is a clear continuity.  This score feels very professional, and serves its movie better, I think, than TFA does.  Rose's Theme, though not overly strong, is very well used to ground the score with a sense of optimism amongst the dark chaos.  

 

The Rise Of Skywalker

This is the most sophisticated score of the sequel trilogy.  And perhaps it is the one most rewarding repeat listens.  John tries to return to a more recognizably "Star Wars" sound 

Thematic, harmonically rich underscore is back. And there are plenty of stirring moments of melodic and harmonic interest.  What is missing, at least for me, are the kind of new memorable themes we  had in TFA, for instance.  The new themes we do have are polished, quite lovely, but their pastoral grandeur seems a bit out of place amongst the martial and epic stuff that characterizes the rest of the score.  The FYC is essential to have a full picture of the very well-rounded ways that John utilizes the existing ST themes.  

Perhaps it is the fault of the film, but, even with its strengths, this score feels like it is laying it on thick, like it is glossy varnish for something, lacking the inner thematic drive and direction that the very best Star Wars scores have.  Nevertheless, it is a fine work indeed. 

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Indiana Jones: The Soundtracks Collection (Discs 1-3)

 

I revisited the expanded OSTs of the Indy trilogy, arguably three of the best scores ever, perfect accompaniment for three of the best movies I've ever seen and entirely entertaining listening experiences separated from the picture. From the decidedly more suspenseful testosterone-fueled Raiders and manic high adventure of Temple to the romantic religioso-infused Crusade, there's never a moment where I doubt I'm listening to some of the best stuff JW has ever done.

 

I value every track from these scores. I fondly remember exactly where I was and even how much they cost when I acquired them decades ago. I remember finally getting an imported Temple for $30 by mail from the Star Wars Fan Club in the year 2000 when I saw an ad in the Star Wars Insider magazine. I remember seeing two different versions of the expanded Raiders, one with a brown slipcover and the other without. I remember Crusade being my first JW OST ever and I know it's still preserved in a box somewhere with it's aged curled-up insert. I remember all this because of how important this music has been for me.

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Steve Jobs Daniel Pemberton

 

I'm currently reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, so this is a perfect fit. Plus, I liked the movie a lot.
Then again, I like anything with Aaron Sorkin involved.

I'm not sure how I feel about this soundtrack. The electronic underscore is really cool, the ambient vibe of the Lisa-related cues is quite emotional, but I really don't like the orchestral track Revenge. A lot of people say that scene is one of the best scenes ever, and it really is well-written, but I find the soundtrack to be really distracting, especially 'cause it's supposed to underscore a really dense dialogue.
 

 

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Morricone's last masterpiece: this Tornatore thriller has it all, free-tonal scale explorations, beguiling voices, lyrical cantilenas, Edda Dell'Orso and so forth. It's cerebral-yet-accessible and also helps the movie immensely. Film MUSIC in the best sense and a sad reminder of the drought we endure in transitional movie music since the late 90's.

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Return of the Jedi (Special Edition). Always like that use of the Imperial theme after Vader/Anakin dies and actually smiled when it appeared in Episode IX. 

 

The Empire Strikes Back (Special Edition) -seems my disc has scuffed somewhere so the last couple of tracks on Disc 2 sounded glitchy. Shame as it gets in the way of the love theme right towards the end of the finale track. 

 

For good measure revisited the Gerhadt Empire Strikes Back. Love his rendition of Han Solo & The Princess. I only twigged Leia's Theme in the middle, about 2.30

 

 

or my fatigued imagination. 

 

 

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Alien - Jerry Goldsmith

 

It's a shame Ridley Scott dumped a significant portion of this score in favor of temp tracking from other scores like Freud (although the way it's used in the Dallas death scene is chilling), because it's still one of the most complex and ambitious scores Goldsmith wrote. There was nothing wrong with how he scored the movie, but Ridley called the shots. The score, butchered up as is, remains effective in the film. But the unused score is still a revelation.

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Listened to some stuff on the last few days before the New Year:

 

Marriage Story (Randy Newman): Pretty great. I haven't watched the movie, so I found the score a little light for a movie dealing with such heavy and complex themes. But it's great for Randy Newman fans as a standalone listen, and the more emotional parts reminded me of Toy Story 3 of all things. 3.5/5

 

1917 (Thomas Newman): Wow, that was really better than I expected! It's no easy listening, but it's no Dunkirk either, with some beautiful and atmospheric passages reminiscent of Angels in America and Road to Perdition. The more controversial tracks were Sixteen Hundred Men and Come Back to Us, which really are the "Newman going Zimmer" I was expecting, but still it wasn't that bad. I never expected to hear a RCP-like power anthem and a Journey to the Line/The Way of the Sword-esque tracks composed by Newman, but he did it better than most Zimmer clones. 4/5

 

Little Women (Alexandre Desplat): I'm a fan of Desplat, but not of his European fluffy scores with a lot of woodwinds, that critics like Broxton and Southall seem to love (The Danish Girl, Coco Before Chanel, Chéri, etc). I don't really like his lighter style and prefer when he tempers it with some darkness (the Potter scores, The Ghost Writer, Suburbicon) and/or sadness (Benjamin Button, The Imitation Game, Unbroken and his masterpiece in my opinion, The Light Between the Oceans). On Little Women, his music is either fluffy and breezy, or a little sad, but still very light and happy, and it all becomes very repetitive after a while. 3/5

 

Joker (Hildur Guðnadóttir): It worked really well on the movie, and I'm glad that such a dark and violent score works great as a standalone listen too. I'm curious to see what Hildur does next after she wins her Oscar, and I hope she also gets to expand her musical language to other genres besides thrillers, like an adventure movie or a romance flick. 4/5

 

Harriet (Terence Blanchard): Blanchard is a very talented composer, but apparently he suffered with the temp track on this one. The best parts of the scores, like the Americana grandiose main theme reminding me of Thomas Newman's recent scores for movies set on the American countryside (like The Judge and The Help), while the action music also sounded like Newman, on this case his Bond scores. On the Bridge has some anachronistic synth percussion that are really similar to the action music of Skyfall. Also, some of the brass sounded synthy to me, which wouldn't be surprising (this isn't a high budget blockbuster), but maybe it's just my earphones. But still, a very good epic score like we don't see a lot of these days, and I hope he gets other opportunities of doing movies like this. 3.5/5

 

The Song of Names (Howard Shore): Some interesting moments, but I was expecting more. Shore was apparently very inspired by the project, but clearly this won't be his Schindler's List and, for his violin-led scores, Eastern Promises was better. But I'll listen to it again to see if it "clicks".

 

Also, I've heard the Theme for The Irishman by Robbie Robertson, and it's a pretty good piece that, in 4 and a half minutes, really captures the spirit of Scorsese's epic crime drama.

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Dreamcatcher - JNH

 

Pretty dull score, with a lot of boring suspense music. There's some interesting action music similar to the one from Dinosaur, The Postman and Vertical Limit, but not enough to make a more interesting listen, specially on the expanded edition.

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