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


Ollie

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Paycheck by John Powell

 

Fun score with a nice groove and some cool electronic percussion. I wonder what the landscape for action film music would look like if this score had became influent and not The Bourne Identity.

 

Now, can someone plase give John Powell another action movie to score?

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Just another synthwave recommendation to fellow fans of the genre out there. A little gem from last year, music by Jonny Mendez who was unfamliar to me untill this. Dark and lush.

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The Da Vinci Code by HZ

 

It's very demanding to listen to the complete score, since it's basically 2 hours of religious church music mixed with stuff from Hannibal and Batman Begins... But Chevaliers de Sangreal is still one of the best things HZ wrote in his career.

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It's certainly the most crowd-pleasing cue of the score. I like it in its Zimmerian simplicity, where he takes a simple idea and make it sound bigger and more melodramatic during the course of cue.

 

Also, Hugh Marsh's electric violin solos are outstanding. They give the score an etherean quality.

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Frank and Jesse (Mark Mckenzie) - terrific score for the mid-90s film about Jesse James and his brother. It’s not quite at the level of Silverado or Tombstone but for anyone wanting more of Broughton’s rousing western style won’t go far wrong with this.

 

Mark Mckenzie is definitely one of those “what happened to them?” composers who had such promise but whose careers never quite hit A list. Shame.

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Never buy this album, even if you're a huge Richard Robbins fan. 95% of the score is Swing music of the '40s. 

 

 

 

PS: Yes, JS, buy it if you're a fan of Swing music of the '40s. Sigh ...

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Me too....sometimes. But it's not really why I buy a Robbins score, so thanks for the warning, AC. One of the few of his I haven't explored.

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23 minutes ago, AC1 said:

Come and get it!

 

I thought the swing tracks would be rerecordings, but they seem to be mostly originals, which I've already got.

 

 

1 minute ago, Thor said:

Me too....sometimes. But it's not really why I buy a Robbins score, so thanks for the warning, AC. One of the few of his I haven't explored.

 

He's completely unknown to me. What's his highlight scores?

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One of my favourite blends of western and oriental. The more expansive string and horn orchestral touches (which 'intrude' only fleetingly, i. e. in The Passage, Le Lac, Norbu, La Mort de Tinle) give the percussion/voices-driven oriental backbone an epic-yet-languid feel. It's a ravishingly well-done album, and were it one of Zimmer's better blockbuster scores, it would have probably sold like hot cakes.

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Quote

He's completely unknown to me. What's his highlight scores?

 

My favourite remains (no pun intended) THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (which also happens to be one of my alltime favourite films), followed by HOWARD'S END and A ROOM WITH A VIEW. The classic Merchant/Ivorys. I also quite like SURVIVING PICASSO, THE GOLDEN BOWL, JEFFERSON IN PARIS and MAURICE.

 

Here's an old article I wrote on REMAINS (in Norwegian) that also touches on the Robbins score - written right after the composer's death in 2012.

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5 minutes ago, publicist said:

One of my favourite blends of western and oriental. The more expansive string and horn orchestral touches (which 'intrude' only fleetingly, i. e. in The Passage, Le Lac, Norbu, La Mort de Tinle) give the percussion/voices-driven oriental backbone an epic-yet-languid feel. It's a ravishingly well-done album, and were it one of Zimmer's better blockbuster scores, it would have probably sold like hot cakes.

 

I don't know what it is, but I've always had a problem getting into Coulais' work. It seems detached somewhat. "Pretty" on the surface, but without real content. However, in recent years, I've quite liked his WOLFWALKERS and especially BLANCHE COMME NEIGE. Maybe I should give HIMALAYA a second chance.

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Pretty on the surface but without real content is a description that fits a good deal of your pop (film score) favourites, so i don't see where Coulais (or at least this score) differs. It's not a bad label, i might add, i for myself don't like to listen to more intense stuff like Herrmann most of the time. 

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10 minutes ago, publicist said:

Pretty on the surface but without real content is a description that fits a good deal of your pop (film score) favourites, 

 

Ouch. That took a personal turn, all of a sudden. Not quite sure what you're referring to. But regardless, I hope to (re)discover some Coulais down the line. At the very least, I prefer his more restrained, "European" approach to things over some of the Hollywood blockbuster-type scores.

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35 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Ouch. That took a personal turn, all of a sudden. Not quite sure what you're referring to. 

 

Well, stand by your tastes, i say.

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Monster's University :music:

Saw the film for the first time the other day and was pleasantly surprised by the score.  It's more in Newman's sentimental Pleasantville/A Bug Life sound (with hints of 1941 and Patton) than the jazzier first score.  

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A rather noisy 6+ hours playlist for me today:

 

The Matrix

The Matrix Reloaded

The Matrix Revolutions

 

You know, I don't really care that Don Davis doesn't do the new film. I don't know where you'd go from the nearly apocalyptic bombast of Revolutions. There's a nice progression from the horror-like first entry, through genre-hopping evolution of the sequel (music and film) and the epic resolution of religious proportions. It was probably the last time a new franchise really sounded like something, or someone rather. So happy I can now play the trilogy all the way through and appreciate the intricate orchestrations in their full glory. I'd consider all three to be classics now.

 

Karol

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On 6/29/2021 at 4:41 AM, Thor said:

 

I don't know what it is, but I've always had a problem getting into Coulais' work. It seems detached somewhat. "Pretty" on the surface, but without real content. However, in recent years, I've quite liked his WOLFWALKERS and especially BLANCHE COMME NEIGE. Maybe I should give HIMALAYA a second chance.

 

I think Coulais' thing is colour and sonic palette. He has a great ear for that kind of thing and I think he's more inventive in that department than most of the usual Hollywood bigwigs. 

 

Also, anybody who isn't moved by the heart in Coulais' Les Choristes should be banished.

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28 minutes ago, His Royal Noelness said:

Raise the Titanic by John Barry
 

This and the model are the only good things from the movie. 

Great book but poorly researched. Both book and film had the ship intact. The film is a waste of good talent.

 

I only own the main title on some compilation cd

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1 hour ago, JoeinAR said:

Great book but poorly researched. Both book and film had the ship intact. The film is a waste of good talent.

 

I only own the main title on some compilation cd


Both book and film were released before the discovery of the wreck and until Ballard found her it was generally accepted (despite eye witness testimony) that the ship broke apart. 
 

I think the 1996 miniseries is the first dramatisation to have the ship break apart. Even the Nazis depicted fit going down intact!

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There was overwhelming witness testimony that it split in two. Mr. lightoller's testimony, clearly a lie and one well paid, swayed history until the truth came out.

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1 minute ago, JoeinAR said:

There was overwhelming witness testimony that it split in two. Mr. lightoller's testimony, clearly a lie and one well paid, swayed history until the truth came out.


Yes but the eye witness testimony was ignored and it was falsely accepted the ship sank in one piece. 
 

There’s no point saying RtT was badly researched for having the ship in one piece when every other dramatisation before it did the same. 
 

Until Ballard found the wreck it was widely believed and accepted she was in one piece .

 

 

anyway. The story doesn’t really work the same if it’s in two pieces anyway.

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Actually it is fair.  Clive Cussler was known for his fastidious research. His later Titanic book ignores the first.

 

I still love the book. Great fun and the US / Soviet subplot left out of the movie was so good

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5 hours ago, crocodile said:

You know, I don't really care that Don Davis doesn't do the new film. I don't know where you'd go from the nearly apocalyptic bombast of Revolutions. There's a nice progression from the horror-like first entry, through genre-hopping evolution of the sequel (music and film) and the epic resolution of religious proportions. It was probably the last time a new franchise really sounded like something, or someone rather. So happy I can now play the trilogy all the way through and appreciate the intricate orchestrations in their full glory. I'd consider all three to be classics now.

 

I've always been a big fan of the first two scores and found the third one to be somewhat generic in its Horner bombast. I'd love a new Davis score in the footsteps of the first or second, but I don't know anything about the film, and if it would be more like the third (or perhaps something else entirely), I won't miss Davis so much. I've become a fan of the Cloud Atlas score, and especially how well its style and atmosphere fit the film, so if the new Matrix turns out to be anything like that, I should be happy.

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Oscar and Lucinda (Thomas Newman) - If I had to pick, I'd probably put this as my favourite Thomas Newman score. Absolutely gorgeous writing throughout, with the highlight being The Church of Glass, quite possibly the finest single track he's ever written. But it's one of those scores with brief, delightful moments such as Floorwashing or Leviathan, which offer a perfect minute and a bit of music. OK there are some themes that you really wish he'd use a bit more often, but that aside, a really superb effort.

 

My only complaint would be the horribly yellowy cover art...

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2 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Oscar and Lucinda (Thomas Newman) - If I had to pick, I'd probably put this as my favourite Thomas Newman score. Absolutely gorgeous writing throughout, with the highlight being The Church of Glass, quite possibly the finest single track he's ever written. But it's one of those scores with brief, delightful moments such as Floorwashing or Leviathan, which offer a perfect minute and a bit of music. OK there are some themes that you really wish he'd use a bit more often, but that aside, a really superb effort.

 

My only complaint would be the horribly yellowy cover art...


Yes. I only heard it for the first time some 3 years ago, even though I had known about it for years. It quickly rocketed to my Thomas Newman third place.

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shark.jpeg

 

A gorgeous documentary score that I don't think I've ever seen mentioned. Very much a chill-out / ambient / world music vibe throughout. I imagine Thor would like this. 

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The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Alan Menken) - Probably second only to Beauty and the Beast in my estimation of Menken's Disney scores (and I guess therefore, overall). The best songs are some of his finest; in particular the titular opening track which, along with Belle from Beauty and the Beast rather ruined opening musical numbers for me (I kinda think every musical should open with a epic introductory song, but very few do). The quality is maintained through Out There, Heaven's Light/Hellfire and God Help the Outcasts, all of which are superb, even if the other two are a bit of a sop to it being a kids' film. However, it's the score that perhaps stands out the most. The progression in quality and sophistication from The Little Mermaid to Hunchback is astonishing.

 

Interesting to see comments in the other thread about the stage show. The German language version is indeed excellent, but my German isn't up to much so I got more out of the more recent English language cast recording. The additional songs broadly match the quality of the original and excise the Gargoyle song (as they don't feature on stage) although the decision to write a new, slightly less memorable tune for Court of Miracles seems an odd choice). The songs based on themes from the underscore, notably Esmerelda (perhaps my favourite of the songs) are especially good - something that Menken did with the Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid stage shows. It always made me wonder whether they were tunes from discarded songs that he brought back for the stage setting where a show would typically have more songs than an animated film.

 

My only real complaint (at least when it comes to the English stage show) is that, for whatever reason, Menken and Stephen Schwartz decided to completely re-write the lyrics for the opening number so instead of telling Quasimodo's backstory and how he came to be in the care of Frollo (truly a masterclass in succinctly introducing the characters, the dramatic setup, the setting, and much else besides) it's changed to being about Frollo and his brother. Not sure if this element is from the original novel, but given that Quasimodo is ostensibly the lead protagonist, having the opening number changed to being entirely about the antagonist seems like a very odd choice, especially when the original version is nigh on perfect.

 

Roll on the expanded edition...

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31 minutes ago, LSH said:

shark.jpeg

 

A gorgeous documentary score that I don't think I've ever seen mentioned. Very much a chill-out / ambient / world music vibe throughout. I imagine Thor would like this. 


Thanks for the tip. Sounds like something for me. I absolutely adore his score for White Squall, which contains some of those elements as well.

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7 hours ago, Edmilson said:

Pocahontas is still my favorite Menken score for Disney, though I haven't listened or watched Hunchback in a while. I will try it again when the Disney Legacy edition becomes available (let's hope it won't take too long).

Pocahontas is much less flashy but dramatically very satisfying. Some of the song lyrics are a bit on the nose, but musically up their with Menken's best. Similarly, the underscore is very fine and shows a more serious side to Menken. I think I appreciated the Legacy Collection of this more than even Beauty and the Beast (which, despite being my favourite, suffers from having a couple of sillier interludes in the underscore such as the "here comes the bride" bit when Gaston proposes to Belle, which slightly takes you out of things).

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Goldsmith's 5th or 6th 1992 outing, The Public Eye went unused. By this time no unusual occurrence, though in all fairness, Goldsmith's slight jazzy thriller score probably was more than sufficient for this slight movie. Why someone would pay good money for a replacement score for a period movie with Joe Pesci with a box-office potential of about 1 Mio. is beyond me (its take was $3,067,917 against production costs of about 15 million). But Universal did. The score itself is one of those small-scale things Goldsmith loved to do at the time but more often than not failed to inject with real enthusiasm. It has Russia House written all over it, the main thematic material later put to use in the also-rejected Gladiator (the boxing movie, not THE Gladiator) and as sorta love theme in The Vanishing (another forgettable thriller) a year later. 

 

More bemusing is the almost holy reverence these obscure things receive today, with words like 'legendary' applied to The Public Eye, a label probably neither of its makers ever dreamed of in connection to what probably was an also-ran that went as quickly as it came. On to greener pastures. Compared to Mark Isham's less specific, more generalized score - a harbinger of things to come - Goldsmith is glued to the character of Pesci, to whom the score is beholden. It finds a certain romantic longing at his hustling heart, something which was much more upfront in the luxuriant Russia House with Sean Connery playing a similar character. The jazzy strains are fortified with lurking half-tone steps (courtesy of Basic Instinct, written a few months before it), synth pattern and other fingerprints of the Goldsmith thriller toolbox. 

 

It's perfectly serviceable - it would have been another of those Varése 30-minute jobs - with classic JG cue titles as 'Turn it Off', 'No User' and 'Ask Me' and preferable to released scores as drab as 'Malice' - but don't expect anything approaching a long lost masterpiece. It gets the job done, which is of course something that can not be said for most of today's 'dramatic' scores.

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19 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

I've always been a big fan of the first two scores and found the third one to be somewhat generic in its Horner bombast. I'd love a new Davis score in the footsteps of the first or second, but I don't know anything about the film, and if it would be more like the third (or perhaps something else entirely), I won't miss Davis so much. I've become a fan of the Cloud Atlas score, and especially how well its style and atmosphere fit the film, so if the new Matrix turns out to be anything like that, I should be happy.

Well, isn't the third one a natural continuation of the sound anyway? Plenty of Hornerish fingerprints all over the first two as well. I remember Davis talking about the sequels in Krakow some years ago. He said that he was asked to go bigger with the sequel and bigger still with the third one and that it didn't necessarily make anything better. 

 

I get what you're saying but, for better or worse, it was the only logical endpoint if you follow these instructions. 

 

Karol

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