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


Ollie

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46 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Not being too unkind but I can’t think of one where it doesn’t sound like someone else. Although often it works like gangbusters. His score for Predators obviously heavily leans on Alan Silvestri but is terrific for all that.

Agreed. I don't think I ever heard a John Debney score that made me think "wow, so THIS is the Debney style!". In any case, he's a fine composer and wrote some great scores over the decades: Cutthroat Island, Jungle Book 2016, Lair, The Scorpion King, etc.

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16 hours ago, Edmilson said:

Agreed. I don't think I ever heard a John Debney score that made me think "wow, so THIS is the Debney style!". In any case, he's a fine composer and wrote some great scores over the decades: Cutthroat Island, Jungle Book 2016, Lair, The Scorpion King, etc.

Yeah, exactly that. I kinda feel there must be one somewhere, but I can't really think of one offhand, but he's an accomplished pastiche composer and agreed, those are fine scores (although I'd have to revisit The Scorpion King as I don't remember getting much out of it originally).

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My latest project was the 1968 historical epic adventure film The Stars of Eger (/Eclipse of the Crescent Moon, seen both titles used. This was a long job of ripping the mono audio, utilising looped/repetitive phrases, even using an online AI tool to separate music from dialogue in a few places to varying effectiveness. Been hearing it in the movie since I was a kid  (grew up with an old old miscoloured sped up print with missing frames and reel change markers recorded onto VHS from a TV broadcast) but never really noticed or paid active attention to a lot of it, it was a joyous discovery process for me (also my first project in Reaper instead of Audacity, definitely a learning experience)- it's actually one of not that many hungarian movies I can think of with a proper through-composed leitmotivic score, therefore I wrote and included "liner notes" too. Further context and introduction in the video description. I'm proud/happy that most of it could be salvaged, this program is not missing more than a handful of cues, choppiness comes from the relatively sparse spotting.

 

 

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Inspired by the recent "what is the best score from 2005" thread, I decided to re-listen to HGW's Narnia.

 

It has some wonderful moments of magic, and the main themes are pretty great, but the complete score is a little hard to get through. There's a lot of repetition and some uninteresting cues. 

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50 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

HP 1 CD 1 in preparation for vaccine number 2. I. HATE. NEEDLES.

Surely you should be listening to Back to the Future II then?

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I really like that disc of music!  By far the best way to listen to that score.  No reason to listen to the older ideas of how to present it any more

 

Did you like it?

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Tron: Daft Punk: Amazon.fr: Musique

I had never listen to it but since we've mentionned it a lot in another thread, I've decided to give it a shot.

Well it's simply amazing from beginning to the end. Definitly in my top 3 of 2010 best scores along with HTTYD and Inception. Too bad that the Daft Punk splet up I would have love another score by them.

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Having a Jerry day to commemorate his passing 17 years ago with a (fairly random) choice from each decade:

 

1960s: The Flim Flam Man - the recent LLL release sounds amazing for the age and it's a delightfully charming effort, with plenty of hints at better known later scores.

1970s: The Swarm - again, LLL did wonders with the original tapes and it sounds heaps better than the original Prometheus release. While the movie is probably worse than most of the disaster epics that JW scored, I find Jerry's score much more entertaining and fun. You can really hear it looking forward to his 80s style quite a bit too and the pre-Rudy-esque leaping main theme is infectious as hell.

1980s: Poltergeist II: The Other Side - one of those scores that I just don't know that well, but some of the choral writing is terrific and, as is usually mentioned, the opening track, The Power, is great, but it's just not as good as the original or distinctive enough on its own.

1990s: Mulan - still one of his finest scores of the period, full of great themes, terrific action writing and with gently effective Chinese mannerisms (not exactly authentic but that doesn't really matter), it's criminal (law) that it's still not had an Intrada or Legacy edition. It's not exactly difficult to find one of the many unofficial "deluxe" editions that essentially combine the Academy promo (he was robbed!) and the official/pitiful original soundtrack album.

2000s: Looney Tunes: Back in Action - If not quite going out on a high, it's certainly a fun, tuneful and energetic score for one of his most loyal collaborators.

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4 hours ago, May the Force be with You said:

I had never listen to it but since we've mentionned it a lot in another thread, I've decided to give it a shot.

Well it's simply amazing from beginning to the end. Definitly in my top 3 of 2010 best scores along with HTTYD and Inception. Too bad that the Daft Punk splet up I would have love another score by them.

 

Before they split up, there were rumours they were going to score Dario Argento's new movie, but it turned out to be a misunderstanding/misinterpretation. Sadly.

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The Black Hole
Such a fantastic score. One of those scores that I'm not sure if I love it because I loved it when I was 10. But I'm pretty sure it's just a great Barry score. Probably the first Barry that I actually knew. And of course looking back 40+ years later I realize that it is SOOOOO John Barry.

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ab67616d0000b273381f917bde0fa99743e8c95d

 

This got lots of raves back in 2013, and I agree with some of them. It's a lovely east-meets-west-type score with elaborate melodies (erhu aplenty!), George Fenton-style. Put Fung on the map for me back then, and although some of it is fairly "obvious" (not the most original, in other words), there is something immediately appealing about it. His EQUUS: STORY OF A HORSE from 2018 is also easy to like.

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ab67616d0000b273351eee714a7f4c2ff64d64d8

 

A lot of the best synth scores come from videogames these days, and this 2020 game is no exception. David García Díaz and James Molloy provide funky breakbeats and zithering textures; complete with warped R&B vocals. Like Timberlake through a grinder. Fun!

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R-2445754-1540020242-7529.jpeg.jpg

 

There's a story that goes with this. Back in the early 90s, I sometimes went to a friend of mine to play (or mostly watch him play) the Super Nintendo. I was really only a PC game person, after all. This legendary SNES 1991 racing game was often running. A few years later, I stumbled across this Japanese CD in a used record store in Oslo, picked it up and gave it to my friend, believing it was the original soundtrack from the game. As it turned out, it was jazzy reinterpretations of the music by Yumiko Kanki and Naoto Ishida, as performed by PeeWee and Michiko Hill. Not what he or I expected, so it just sat in his collection without being played for decades. A couple of weeks ago, I visited my old friend in my hometown, and during a booze- and nostalgia-heavy evening, he gave the CD back to me. Not sure what I'm going to do with it; it's a bit irritating to listen to. Meak synth backdrops, wailing guitars or sax going nowhere fast (some of it sounds like late 80s/early 90s sitcom music). I'd much rather have the original game soundtrack, which still hasn't been commercially released, AFAIK.

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AerialChina_featimage.jpg

 

Chinese documentary from 2017, whose wonderful score by Bei Wang sadly has no commercial release (I have 26 minutes worth of promo material). BIg and romantic and soaring.

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Alex Heffes - Escape Plan

 

Wow!  First time ever hearing this, and did so on a recommendation from someone who thought I would like it.  They were right, I liked it a lot!  A sometimes Powell-esque action score, with lots of electronics that blend nicely with real orchestra).

 

 

George Fenton - Fool's Gold

 

Wow!  Another winner!  Also recommended to me a while back and finally checked it out.  This score was very cool, and very fun.  Also frequently Powell-esque, but this time with wonderful Spanish guitar and steel drums at times, and some really killer individual highlight tracks

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Spider-Man: Homecoming by Michael Giacchino

 

Still one of my favorite MCU scores! The music really fits with Holland's interpretation of Peter Parker.

 

The Tourist by James Newton Howard

 

About 10-15 years ago, JNH decided that all his action scores would be inspired by Powell's Bourne, and this one is a great example of that. So, this was one of the most uninteristing and uninspired eras of his career. This one has some cool tracks with enough of James' own personality that it does not become "Bourne-lite", but it's still not exactly great.

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Lena Raine - Celeste

 

Christopher Larkin - Hollow Knight

 

Still two of my favorite video game scores of all time, still don't get sick of either score remotely no matter how many times I listen.

 

And I'm still waiting for a good, proper follow-up score from each composer!  Raine's Oneknowing and Larkin's Barbecue didn't wow me.... Bring on Earthblade and Silksong!

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7 hours ago, Edmilson said:

Spider-Man: Homecoming by Michael Giacchino

 

Still one of my favorite MCU scores! The music really fits with Holland's interpretation of Peter Parker.

 

 

It's SO good! And I don't know why, but Far From Home left me a little flat. But I love both Homecoming and Doctor Strange. I'm so disappointed that G isn't coming back for 2. (Although I totally understand why it's Elfman.)

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I'm constantly forgetting were getting a third Gia Spidey score at the end of the year! Probably because Sony hasn't started hyping the movie yet, no trailers or posters or nothin

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ab67616d0000b2732537640840134dac365cb81c

 

It's Richter doing his usual Richter. I can listen to that kind of romantic, soulful, bleak quasi-minimalism forever. Few can do "aching strings" as well as him these days.

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R-6944991-1489929401-9583.jpeg.jpg

 

There were at least 2-3 soundtrack covers that looked more or less like this, and that came out about the same time in the early 90s. Fenton's score is predictably gorgeous, less sexy; more elegant. But with prominent sax, obviously.

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Revisited one of my old favourites I attempted multiple times, The Boys of Paul Street:

 

The music of this classic was composed by prominent vocal composer Emil Petrovics, known for his operas and ballets. One of the main motifs is the waltz of the handcranked barrel-organ, symbolising the invisible hand of fate cranking life forward, making the music go on, an idea also present in some of the director's other films (Professor Hannibal, The Fifth Seal). Early in the movie it's present as source music originating from the actual barrel-organ on the street, later it comes back in the little hero's fever dreams, then becomes score as the secondary hero's world is collapsing bit by bit. The other main element is the piece heard during the main and end credits, guiding us back to the musical world of the 10s and 20s, the accelerating Art Deco world, the era of the earlier, 1917 and 1924 adaptations of the novel - the approach fits with the main title sequence, a montage of vintage photographs and newly shot sequences made to look like silent, sped-up footage from the era, coloured with only blanket gels (that then transitions to colour widescreen sound footage when the film proper begins), also representing time rushing/marching ahead, since the plot takes place in 1902.

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Always (Expanded) by John Williams

 

Hard Rain (Expanded) by Christopher Young

 

Under Suspicion by Christopher Gunning

 

The Call of the Wild by John Powell

 

Lionheart (Deluxe Edition) by Jerry Goldsmith

 

Hoosiers by Jerry Goldsmith

 

Conan the Destroyer (Tadlow re-recording) by Basil Poledouris

 

 

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7 hours ago, Incanus said:

Always (Expanded) by John Williams

 

Hard Rain (Expanded) by Christopher Young

 

Under Suspicion by Christopher Gunning

 

The Call of the Wild by John Powell

 

Lionheart (Deluxe Edition) by Jerry Goldsmith

 

Hoosiers by Jerry Goldsmith

 

Conan the Destroyer (Tadlow re-recording) by Basil Poledouris

 

 

 

You're having a good day. 

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Conan the Barbarian (Basil Poledouris) - Contains very mild spoilers for the film. Like many here, I have only seen a fraction of the films for which I own soundtracks and I genuinely don't recall if I've seen Conan previously but felt this was one of those films worth watching given how much the score carries the narrative so I put it on the Blu-Ray rental list to appreciate Basil's classic score in its proper context.

 

I have to admit that the film was massively better than I imagined it would be. While I think it's pretty well regarded, many movies of the genre are stilted and awful that I really didn't expect a great deal, but was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. The music is, of course, excellent even though I kinda feel the impact of Anvil of Crom isn't all it should be due to the way it was recorded and performed.  On the other hand, the choral writing for Riders of Doom is hugely effective both in the initial village attach and where it appears later in the film.

 

Funnily enough, I perhaps enjoyed the quieter moments more than the action... Theology/Civilisation, Wifeing and the Orgy in particular. Same on disc come to that. I partly wonder if it's because the string and woodwind playing is generally better than the brass playing, plus the deficiencies in the recorded sound are less obvious.

 

I was surprised at how the scoring of the Orgy contains no build-up to the attack and it's just scored as though the Orgy is an isolated dialogue scene (much like an historical epic albeit considerably more explicit). I wonder if that was a deliberate choice, perhaps scoring it from the perspective of the participants in the orgy (i.e. oblivious to the attack until it happens). Typically you might have expected it to stat fairly delicate but with elements of tension undercutting that as the invaders get closer to launching their attack.

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2 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Funnily enough, I perhaps enjoyed the quieter moments more than the action... Theology/Civilisation, Wifeing and the Orgy in particular. Same on disc come to that. I partly wonder if it's because the string and woodwind playing is generally better than the brass playing, plus the deficiencies in the recorded sound are less obvious.

 

As I always say: This was Poledouris' true mastery. And I don't think it's got anything to do with the performance or recording, because the same is true for Starship TroopersLes MiserablesRed October - you name it.

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2 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

I have to admit that the film was massively better than I imagined it would be. While I think it's pretty well regarded, many movies of the genre are stilted and awful that I really didn't expect a great deal, but was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.

I was also very pleasantly surprised when I watched it. I loved the way it builds a world, has reverence and weight for things, allows the characters, scenes and audience to breathe and music to take over. And Arnold's very likeable in it. I adore the score but only have and only want the rerecording.

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1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

As I always say: This was Poledouris' true mastery. And I don't think it's got anything to do with the performance or recording, because the same is true for Starship TroopersLes MiserablesRed October - you name it.

 

Maybe, but the big, brassy moments don't have the impact in Conan (at times, at least) that they should, but I agree that his scoring of the quieter moments is equally effective. However, it's certainly noticeable how much less impact the more aggressive parts are than they really should.

 

1 hour ago, Holko said:

I was also very pleasantly surprised when I watched it. I loved the way it builds a world, has reverence and weight for things, allows the characters, scenes and audience to breathe and music to take over. And Arnold's very likeable in it. I adore the score but only have and only want the rerecording.

 

Entirely agree. It's sincere and reverent, but without being ponderous or having everyone speak in some kind of weird cod-ye olde speak. I know it's perhaps not a direct comparison, but I tried watching Clash of the Titans, made the same year and couldn't get through more than about 20 minutes before I gave up. It seems to fall into every trap that makes that kind of sword and sorcery epic so irredeemably naff. I'm not even sure I enjoyed Laurence Rosenthal's score in context much either. It seems to make everything seem even more cheesy with it's chippy heroism rather than the quirky grit that someone like Bernard Herrmann brought to the earlier Harryhausen movies or Basil brought to Conan.

 

Back to Basil's score, while there are a number of cues that are great to have in the full score programme, the handful of percussion only tracks don't add a great deal and, having seen them in context, feel almost diegetic in context (at least you could imagine someone in the background tapping away even if technically they aren't). The Varese programme is actually a fairly well chosen summary of the highlights, even if it's great to have the entire thing. I do really enjoy the re-recording; while I know some have complained that it's mixed too hot, it feels like it has a lot more weight to it as a result. Having said that, one does somewhat yearn for the crisp, penetrating brass of the LSO (see my earlier comments about Flesh + Blood).

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8 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

 

Maybe, but the big, brassy moments don't have the impact in Conan (at times, at least) that they should, but I agree that his scoring of the quieter moments is equally effective. However, it's certainly noticeable how much less impact the more aggressive parts are than they really should.

 

 

Entirely agree. It's sincere and reverent, but without being ponderous or having everyone speak in some kind of weird cod-ye olde speak. I know it's perhaps not a direct comparison, but I tried watching Clash of the Titans, made the same year and couldn't get through more than about 20 minutes before I gave up. It seems to fall into every trap that makes that kind of sword and sorcery epic so irredeemably naff. I'm not even sure I enjoyed Laurence Rosenthal's score in context much either. It seems to make everything seem even more cheesy with it's chippy heroism rather than the quirky grit that someone like Bernard Herrmann brought to the earlier Harryhausen movies or Basil brought to Conan.

 

Back to Basil's score, while there are a number of cues that are great to have in the full score programme, the handful of percussion only tracks don't add a great deal and, having seen them in context, feel almost diegetic in context (at least you could imagine someone in the background tapping away even if technically they aren't). The Varese programme is actually a fairly well chosen summary of the highlights, even if it's great to have the entire thing. I do really enjoy the re-recording; while I know some have complained that it's mixed too hot, it feels like it has a lot more weight to it as a result. Having said that, one does somewhat yearn for the crisp, penetrating brass of the LSO (see my earlier comments about Flesh + Blood).

Agh, keep remembering little details... was struck by the fact that the last chord of the end credits doesn't resolve, it leaves you hanging. Made me wonder if that was a deliberate way of suggesting that further adventures were to come given the original plan to turn it into an ongoing series. Still, a neat touch.

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