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

[LSH 968]

Almost. The "Music by John Williams" on the last one is too small.

[thestat 342]

Blanchard's Blut und Boden is amazing - no wonder he was Oscar nominated, the melody is fantastic and the orhestration, especially, is dynamic as anything:

 

 

Don Davis' rejected work on Matrix Reloaded is a fucking gem:

 

 

[Thor 7,453]

 

A little morning Morricone.

[Thor 7,453]

Played a few Goldsmiths today, but it's so boring to post about familiar stuff, I didn't feel like creating posts about them (they were, incidentally, A PATCH OF BLUE, STAGECOACH/THE LONER, BANDOLERO and now SECONDS.)

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

What a boring post.

[Marian Schedenig 8,154]

22 minutes ago, Thor said:

Played a few Goldsmiths today, but it's so boring to post about familiar stuff, I didn't feel like creating posts about them (they were, incidentally, A PATCH OF BLUE, STAGECOACH/THE LONER, BANDOLERO and now SECONDS.)

 

It's pointless to point out that you just posted about anyway, so I don't feel like mentioning it.

[Thor 7,453]

The whole world is pointless.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

The work of film music fandom, sure.

[SteveMc 2,674]

Black Sunday, JW

Muscular underscore with some intriguing moments of orchestration and musical direction.  

[Jay 37,266]

Paul Buckmaster - 12 Monkeys (OST album)

 

Looooooong time since I've heard this one!  This is one of those rare OST albums where the score cuts are interspersed with existing pop/rock songs (Charles Olins, BJ Cole, Fats Domino, Louis Armstrong, Link Wray, Tom Waits), and it actually fully works.  I don't know how listening to only Buckmaster's score would be on its own - never tried!  But this album works fine.

 

The quirky main theme is fun, even though its not by Buckmaster but the Introduccion from Suite Punta Del Este.  Still, all the different ideas throughout this album somehow come together to form a whole.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

Xcellent score.

I whittle it down for listening pleasure

25

2,4,5,6,9

11

17-24

7,8,13,16

[Jay 37,266]

Various - The Prince of Egypt Sampler

 

This is a 6 track promotional CD that contains 4 songs from the various official Prince of Egypt albums (Freedom from Nashville, The River from Inspirational, and Humanity & Through Heaven's Eyes from the main OST) plus two Zimmer score cuts that don't seem to be on the official OST - "It Is Only Beginning..." and "Chariot Race"

 

The songs were not my cup of tea, but the 2 Zimmer score cuts were pretty good.  Is this CD worth anything?  Hmm.  I can't remember how I picked it up.  I guess it will only have value until the score gets an official expansion...

[Thor 7,453]

12 MONKEYS is very "Astor Piazzolla". But yeah, nice score. Wish Buckmaster had worked more in film.

 

Now listening to...

 

 

Geez, difficult to find a cover for this online. You'll have to suffice with this tiny one. It's KUNDO: AGE OF THE RAMPANT from 2014, by South Korean super composer/producer Jo Yeong-wook (who also did the wonderful score for THE HANDMAIDEN). Great score -- it's very much a straightfaced pastiche of Morricone/spaghetti westerns, with a few sprinkles of ripe orchestral writing and a little bit of funk.

[Jay 37,266]

Christopher Lennertz - Medal of Honor Rising Sun

 

Another promo, though now made irrelevant via LLL's MOH box.  A decent action game score.  Not on the level of Giacchino's scores but not bad by any means.  The cameos of Giacchino's Nazi theme were cool

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

45 minutes ago, Jay said:

Various - The Prince of Egypt Sampler

 

This is a 6 track promotional CD that contains 4 songs from the various official Prince of Egypt albums (Freedom from Nashville, The River from Inspirational, and Humanity & Through Heaven's Eyes from the main OST) plus two Zimmer score cuts that don't seem to be on the official OST - "It Is Only Beginning..." and "Chariot Race"

 

The songs were not my cup of tea, but the 2 Zimmer score cuts were pretty good.  Is this CD worth anything?  Hmm.  I can't remember how I picked it up.  I guess it will only have value until the score gets an official expansion...

I have no idea how I got it but I'm glad for the two extra cues from the score as they round it out nicely, especially having the finale... just annoying they decided to put it into a single track. I did a bit of editing and split it into its constituent parts to insert in the correct place with the rest of the score. Not much into the songs either... no idea if it's worth anything though, sorry!

Agents of SHIELD (Bear McCreary) - Surprised that no more music from this series has appeared since the first season as the existing album is great, probably more interesting than most of the recent Marvel movie scores. Shame McCreary hasn't been given a big screen Marvel assignment really. Having said that, I get the feeling that the music budget for AoS might have got smaller as it went on as the music definitely became less orchestral, although I think a double/triple CD of highlights from the other seasons would be worth a listen.

 

Goodbye Christopher Robin (Carter Burwell) and Christopher Robin (Geoff Zanelli & Jon Brion) - No Christopher Robin movies, then two come along at once... Burwell's effort is largely more introspective, with that slightly folksy, chamber sound that Burwell brings to so many of his scores. I'm not sure what I expected of a mixture of Geoff Zanelli & Jon Brion but their effort is equally enjoyable, albeit in a slightly more upbeat and perhaps superficial way. It sounds more like the score to an actual Winnie the Pooh movie (but perhaps that reflects the tone of the film). Interesting to compare and contrast two enjoyable scores with different approaches, but for similar material.

 

Koyaanisqatsi (Philip Glass) - Having found his Tales from the Loop music to be kinda samey (I know, I know, it's minimalism, that's kinda the point, but it doesn't have to be that samey...), I thought I'd go back to one of his classics and it really is quite a striking work. Eerie and beautiful in equal measure. Doesn't look like either the re-recording from 1998 or the expanded version of the original score is easily available though...

[Bespin 8,472]

I just can't get enough!

 

Marry Poppin's Redemption, The Shawshank Redemption, Road to Perdition and 3 Passengers.

 

[LSH 968]

Good haul!

 

I need to revisit Saving Mr. Banks, I remember some lovely stuff in that.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

1 hour ago, Tom Guernsey said:

I have no idea how I got it but I'm glad for the two extra cues from the score as they round it out nicely, especially having the finale... just annoying they decided to put it into a single track. I did a bit of editing and split it into its constituent parts to insert in the correct place with the rest of the score. Not much into the songs either... no idea if it's worth anything though, sorry!

Agents of SHIELD (Bear McCreary) - Surprised that no more music from this series has appeared since the first season as the existing album is great, probably more interesting than most of the recent Marvel movie scores. Shame McCreary hasn't been given a big screen Marvel assignment really. Having said that, I get the feeling that the music budget for AoS might have got smaller as it went on as the music definitely became less orchestral, although I think a double/triple CD of highlights from the other seasons would be worth a listen.

 

Goodbye Christopher Robin (Carter Burwell) and Christopher Robin (Geoff Zanelli & Jon Brion) - No Christopher Robin movies, then two come along at once... Burwell's effort is largely more introspective, with that slightly folksy, chamber sound that Burwell brings to so many of his scores. I'm not sure what I expected of a mixture of Geoff Zanelli & Jon Brion but their effort is equally enjoyable, albeit in a slightly more upbeat and perhaps superficial way. It sounds more like the score to an actual Winnie the Pooh movie (but perhaps that reflects the tone of the film). Interesting to compare and contrast two enjoyable scores with different approaches, but for similar material

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

Koyaanisqatsi (Philip Glass) - Having found his Tales from the Loop music to be kinda samey (I know, I know, it's minimalism, that's kinda the point, but it doesn't have to be that samey...), I thought I'd go back to one of his classics and it really is quite a striking work. Eerie and beautiful in equal measure. Doesn't look like either the re-recording from 1998 or the expanded version of the original score is easily available though...

The recent release is the complete film score, slightly edited.

Both Should be available.

Try Orange Mountain Music site.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

Great presentation for a great score. Simply love it!

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

7 minutes ago, bruce marshall said:

The recent release is the complete film score, slightly edited.

Both Should be available.

Try Orange Mountain Music site.

Cheers. Annoyingly I can't find it for lossless download anywhere... may just plump for the CD.

[Jay 37,266]

James Horner - Wolf Totem (OST CD)

 

I love it.  I really don't even mind the retreaded material - which in the grand scheme of things isn't THAT much of the running time.  The main theme, the overal tone, the journey the album takes you on is just great.

I had never taken the shrinkwrap off my physical CD before, only listened to the album on Spotify.   It turns out there's a note inside "from the filmmakers" that reference Horner's death and includes quotes from Annaud about their relationship.  I had forgotten that though the film had already opened in other countries beforehis death, and we had the digital OST because of that, the film didn't open in the US or get the Milan CD until after.  Damn.

[SteveMc 2,674]

19 minutes ago, Jay said:

James Horner - Wolf Totem (OST CD)

 

I love it.  I really don't even mind the retreaded material - which in the grand scheme of things isn't THAT much of the running time.  The main theme, the overal tone, the journey the album takes you on is just great.

I had never taken the shrinkwrap off my physical CD before, only listened to the album on Spotify.   It turns out there's a note inside "from the filmmakers" that reference Horner's death and includes quotes from Annaud about their relationship.  I had forgotten that though the film had already opened in other countries beforehis death, and we had the digital OST because of that, the film didn't open in the US or get the Milan CD until after.  Damn.

It became one of my favorite Horner scores.  He always had a great sense of flow, and I think this score really is one of his best in that regard.

[Jay 37,266]

Yea, I'd never want to like, skip around or just have a track from it in a playlist.  It's just a good album to hear all the way through every time

[SteveMc 2,674]

Anna Karenina 

Dario Marianelli

 

Lovely period Dario. Was one of the first new scores that I took notice of when I was first discovering film music. 

Still keeps my interest for sure.  The waltz theme is one of the best film themes of recent memory, imo.  

 

[Thor 7,453]

 

So many great moments; I just need to whittle it down to a proper, flowing playlist. I've always considered the opening of the "Main Title" (before the bassline kicks in) one of the most gorgeous pieces JNH has written, he's so good at poetic, urban soundscapes.

[Thor 7,453]

 

I loved Heather Christian's score for the sequel score last year, but I thought it was time to play the original Revell again. It's been AGES since the last time. It still holds up beautifully with its blend of world music, industrial and mysticism. "Bitches of Eastwick" is a great track.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

A terrific score from James Horner, I think I might prefer that one to the most famous Titanic. It really have this fun spirit that I loved too in Casper and has clearly a nice jazzy atmosphere that I find absolutly delightful. I think I'll have to order it before it becomes OOP.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

The Player - Thomas Newman

 

One of my favorite T. Newman scores.  It immediately pulls me back into the world of one of the best movies of the 90s.  Bitter, slyly ironic Hollywood noir (or at least noir adjacent).  Good stuff.  I also enjoy how he takes a cue from the "meta" humor of the movie and includes little snippets of studio noise from the sessions in some tracks.

[Bespin 8,472]

James Newton Howard

🔯💎🦍🦕

 

[Thor 7,453]

You’re playing four soundtracks at once, Bespin? Highly impressive.

[Jay 37,266]

Michael Giacchino - LOST

 

Some guy recently shared online a huge 4 hour fan edit of music from LOST's first season ripped from the blu rays (so full of sound effects and such).  I listened to all 4 hours while working this morning and heard so many great renditions of  themes that got the short-thrift on the official OSTs, I was re-invigorated in my desire for expanded score releases.  Please Varese, make it happen!

[Bespin 8,472]

57 minutes ago, Thor said:

You’re playing four soundtracks at once, Bespin? Highly impressive.

 

Yes, in random mode!

 

[Jay 37,266]

John Williams - The Reivers (Masters of Film Music CD edition)

 

A recent purchase of mine, I bought it because people here said it had better sound quality than the 1995 Sony CD.  Well, maybe it does (I haven't heard the 1995 CD in a minute), but the sound quality is still bad!  Muffled and full of clipping!

It's fun music but boy, it's long overdue for a proper remaster...

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

I wanted to listen back to that one even though MM's edition is quite perfect. There's lot of nice things here especially the three final tracks that sound like great suites. The sound quality is surprisingly still pretty good.

Just now, Jay said:

John Williams - The Reivers (Masters of Film Music CD edition)

 

A recent purchase of mine, I bought it because people here said it had better sound quality than the 1995 Sony CD.  Well, maybe it does (I haven't heard the 1995 CD in a minute), but the sound quality is still bad!  Muffled and full of clipping!

It's fun music but boy, it's long overdue for a proper remaster...

I'm still waiting for MM remaster, don't want to buy those old crappy edition. The Eiger Sanction is also in that list with Born on the Fourth of July.

[Jay 37,266]

I don't have the Eiger CD at all (too expensive!), but I have BO4J - it doesn't sound bad

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

Same for Eiger. I agree that BO4J doesn't sound bad but it did have a really bad presentation IMO, not enoygh Williams on it.

[Jay 37,266]

Oh absolutely, it's certainly deserving of the MM treatment and finally getting to hear the whole score on album without the pop/rock songs, I thought we were just talking about sound quality stuff

 

For Reivers, I don't know if it can even be expanded - Who knows if the original scoring elements exist or not.  The album master could be all their is to work from, I dunno

[Jay 37,266]

Michael Land - The Dig

 

41 minutes of atmospheric mood music.  It was nice.

 

The bonus CD-ROM has demos for The Dig, Full Throttle, and Rebel Assault II!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Outbreak - James Newton Howard

 

Love it when JNH channels his inner Goldsmith

 

 

[KK 3,307]

Lara by Arash Safaian

 

Spotify pointed me to this delicious find. While the album is mostly a series of anonymous, but elegant chamber music with some performances of classical piano repertoire by the formidable Alice Sara Ott. It's definitely worth checking for this fantastic show-stopper of a central piece:

 

 

[Thor 7,453]

7 hours ago, Jay said:

Michael Land - The Dig

 

41 minutes of atmospheric mood music.  It was nice.

 

The bonus CD-ROM has demos for The Dig, Full Throttle, and Rebel Assault II!

 

The best videogame ever made, the best videogame music ever written, and in my top 50 soundtracks of all time (regardless of media). A bonafide masterpiece - Wagner meets Vangelis.

 

Now listening to:

 

 

80s JNH is so underrated (and underrepresented on disc). So many wonderful things with synths and smaller acoustic ensembles - a beautiful organic extension of the various rock and pop albums he was working on at the time (as performer, arranger and producer). This is no exception.

[Jay 37,266]

Michael Giacchino - Cars 2

 

Wowzers.  This was an OST album I picked up blind (as I was doing with all Giacchino albums by this point), but had never opened until now - in fact, I don't recall if I even listened to the score online or not (my interest in the film being as low as it ever would be for a Pixar film.  I still haven't seen it actually).  I was kinda shocked to see the 2011 date on it and realize I've been sitting on this for a decade....

 

The first 5 tracks are pop/rock songs that range from good (Weezer covering The Cars "You Might Think") to terrible ("Polyrhythm").  The Brad Paisley songs are the worst (I just don't like country music), with "Collision of Worlds" having some of the dumbest lyrics I've heard in a while.  The middle song ("Mon Coeur Fait Vroum / My Heart Goes Vroom") was actually written by Giacchino and is good too.

 

The score itself was fun!  I was kinda surprised how much I liked it.  Kind of a mashup of elements from Mission Impossible 3, LOST, and some other stuff.  It lacks a strong memorable theme and a good narrative, it's sort of just a collection of different fun ideas, but it was nice.  It might go up in my estimation on future listens, especially ignoring the pop songs and maybe getting an expanded release.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Wind River - Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

 

Everyone freaks out over Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, when Cave & Ellis is the much more interesting and (creatively) successful "pop musician scoring movies with mostly ambient sounds" partnership out there today.  I saw Wind River once in the theater (pretty good movie) and I found the score really kind of arresting in context.  The spoken word portions sound so cringe on paper, but worked amazingly well in the film.

 

Sadly, it looks like Taylor Sheridan (the director) has switched to using Brian Tyler as his composer now.  Cave/Ellis scored Hell or High Water and Wind River, but Tyler scored the Yellowstone TV series and is scoring Sheridan's movie slated for this year (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Those_Who_Wish_Me_Dead )

[SteveMc 2,674]

The Fugitive - James Newton Howard.  

Excellent rhythmic film scoring. 

[Jay 37,266]

I've been following Sheridan's career with great interest after loving Sicario and Hell or High Water (and Wind River too, though not as much as those two).  Even Without Remorse was enjoyable.  I haven't seen Yellowstone but I will be checking out Those Who Wish Me Dead right away, though I am fearful it will continue the downward slope of his career for me

 

The music in any of these productions made no impact on me.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

27 minutes ago, Jay said:

The music in any of these productions made no impact on me.

 

 

I think the Cave/Ellis scores were absolutely essential to the atmosphere/style of those films and probably impacted you just by doing their job well, enhancing the emotions and tone that the director wanted to convey.  I know you meant they weren't something that made you want to listen to them on their own, but I had to quibble with this sentence.

 

[Edmilson 7,370]

Hell or High Water was one of my favorite movies from the last decade, and the music works really well in that movie.

[Jay 37,266]

7 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I think the Cave/Ellis scores were absolutely essential to the atmosphere/style of those films and probably impacted you just by doing their job well, enhancing the emotions and tone that the director wanted to convey.  I know you meant they weren't something that made you want to listen to them on their own, but I had to quibble with this sentence.

 

Yes, I am sure you are right and I did indeed only mean that I don't remember what they sounded like and that I wasn't compelled to listen to outside the films, not that they weren't an essential part of their films

 

1 minute ago, Edmilson said:

Hell or High Water was one of my favorite movies from the last decade, and the music works really well in that movie.

 

One of mine as well!

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

OMG! I never thought that I might enjoy this score that much! It's probably my favourite Batman score so far (I haven't listen to Batman & Robin yet).

Damn I regret not having buy it when it was available...

[Thor 7,453]

3 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Everyone freaks out over Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, when Cave & Ellis is the much more interesting and (creatively) successful "pop musician scoring movies with mostly ambient sounds" partnership out there today. 

 

Not sure it needs to be a "competition". I love both duos. But yeah, Cave & Ellis has done some great stuff. THE ROAD is marvelous, even if it's not something I like to listen to on its own.