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

[Bespin 8,481]

I just listened to a very old score, sorry it doesn't have a cover.

 

[Smaug The Iron 515]

Batman by Danny Elfman (La La Land Records)

Batman Returns by Danny Elfman (La La Land Records)

Far And Away by John Williams (La La Land Records)

Saving Private Ryan by John Williams (La La Land Records)

A.I. Artificial Intelligence by John Williams (La La Land Records misprinted) 

[Bespin 8,481]

Inspired by the recent concert!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Holko 9,526]

Rosenmann's Lord of the Rings. Loved it. Inevitably compared to Shore it feels somewhat shallow and at times childish - but that's its charm too, it's simple and fun, brings me back to watching animated movies of that rough era. Too bad about the film version finale and credits, and possibly more unreleased material - I almost bought it digitally but I'm not about to pay more than my spotify premium account for a goddamn concord half-expansion. I guess it isn't too high on the labels' radar either, right? Hmph.

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

49 minutes ago, Holko said:

Rosenmann's Lord of the Rings. Loved it. Inevitably compared to Shore it feels somewhat shallow and at times childish - but that's its charm too, it's simple and fun, brings me back to watching animated movies of that rough era.

 

Simple? Musically, I've always putting it the other way round: Shore is much more insubstantial than Rosenman, as far as pure music is concerned. Shore of course makes up for it in world building and translating the depth of the book into his themes.

 

49 minutes ago, Holko said:

Too bad about the film version finale and credits, and possibly more unreleased material - I almost bought it digitally but I'm not about to pay more than my spotify premium account for a goddamn concord half-expansion. I guess it isn't too high on the labels' radar either, right? Hmph.

 

What do you mean? I've seen the film dozens of times, but only once or twice during the past 20 years. I don't recall ever finding anything significant missing from the Intrada? Is there a digital release that's different? I wouldn't say that the Labels have been neglecting it - the now old Intrada was one of the first remasters I bought, and it has since been re-released at least once (I didn't get that one, because I don't recall it having any improvements over the old Intrada).

[Holko 9,526]

15 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

What do you mean?

 

The credits is a whole different unreleased take, I know that for sure, and I definitely prefer it.

15 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Simple? Musically, I've always putting it the other way round: Shore is much more insubstantial than Rosenman, as far as pure music is concerned. Shore of course makes up for it in world building and translating the depth of the book into his themes.

Sure I guess, I don't know about the musical theory part; good guy theme sounds good, bad guy theme sounds evil, there's something for Gollum and a descending evil fanfare and that's about it. Interesting how both Rosenmann and Shore scored the Grey Company chasing the Uruk-hai by playing the good guy theme over the bad guy theme's rhythm.

[Faleel 5,347]

2 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

What do you mean? I've seen the film dozens of times, but only once or twice during the past 20 years. I don't recall ever finding anything significant missing from the Intrada? Is there a digital release that's different? I wouldn't say that the Labels have been neglecting it - the now old Intrada was one of the first remasters I bought, and it has since been re-released at least once (I didn't get that one, because I don't recall it having any improvements over the old Intrada).

There is quite a few missing cues (and some cues were only used in the foriegn language tracks on the DVD!) I made a DVD rip + Intrada edit for myself a while back.

 

Gandalf rides to Isengard (0:34)

Bree/The Prancing Pony (source music) (1:41)

The Man in the Moon (song)  (1:08)

Nazgul attacks Merry (in the middle of the song so its part of the length listed above)

Frodo Stabbed (1:53)

Legolas's arrival (0:42)

Frodo Awaking in Rivendell (0:29)

Gandalf telling Frodo of Saruman's Treachery (0:30)

Bilbo's Poem (Rivendell source cue) (0:31)

Bilbo tries to take the Ring (0:15)

Frodo volunteers to go to Mordor (0:37)

Lothlorien arrival
-

Mithrandir (song, film version) (2:06)

Leaving Lothlorien (2:13)

Boromir comes to talk to Frodo (0:09)

Boromir tries to take the Ring (0:15)

Saruman's speech (drums source)
  -
Riding to Edoras (partially only used in foreign language track) (1:11)

Removal of Wormtongue (1:03)

Smeagol and Gollum argue (0:13)

Helm's Deep film insert/take/mix (section at 3:29 is is slightly different in the film with more snare)

The Voyage to Mordor/The Dawn Battle/Theoden's Victory/Theme from the Lord of the Rings (End Titles) film version sequence (10:04)

 

Also all the Nazgul choral sections seem to be less intelligible as english, and just sound like moaning, alt takes, different mastering, or were layers mixed out?

 

So almost 20-30 minutes of missing material, that we know of.

[Jay 37,355]

8 minutes ago, Permanent Waves said:

some cues were only used in the foriegn language tracks on the DVD!

 

Woah!  I've never heard of that happening before, that's pretty interesting

[Faleel 5,347]

Just now, Jay said:

 

Woah!  I've never heard of that happening before, that's pretty interesting

Pretty sure someone mentioned something similar for Disney's Robin Hood.

[Holko 9,526]

9 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

Woah!  I've never heard of that happening before, that's pretty interesting

Neverending Story! Though I guess that's more of a partial rescore + song credits replacement.

 

Goddamn that blaster beam in Helm's Deep! Now I want to delete it and never listen to it until it's properly expanded. Though it seems there's a lot missing so it'll be a discovery even if I know the half-expansion well. With its length I originally simply assumed it was a reissue of the double LP, and the Presto classical site says it's by Concord, but then that's the Intrada reissued with a different cover? That all added to my confusion.

[Faleel 5,347]

19 minutes ago, Holko said:

Goddamn that blaster beam in Helm's Deep! Now I want to delete it and never listen to it until it's properly expanded. Though it seems there's a lot missing so it'll be a discovery even if I know the half-expansion well.

Updated the list, and added an estimate ofnthe amoubt of missing material.

[Holko 9,526]

43 minutes ago, Permanent Waves said:

The Voyage to Mordor/The Dawn Battle/Theoden's Victory/Theme from the Lord of the Rings (End Titles) film version sequence

Is it all different or just the End Titles plus their order? DB/TV doesn't sound much different in a film clip.

[Faleel 5,347]

@Holko
while I am at it here is my analysis, beware, it wasn't written with dark mode in mind at all! ( @Jay is there a way to fix that?):

 

 

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

Warlock (Jerry) - One of those scores I just never really remember to listen to but giving it a spin I can kinda see why. It's one of those efforts that sounds like less good versions of other things (not a common occurence for Jerry it must be said) but this just seems kinda blah with some of his less effective use of synths and sub-non-choral-Omen style suspense writing and bits that (oddly) sound like outtakes from Under Fire at times. Having said that, it does pull itself together a bit toward the end and the final two tracks are pretty effective.

 

Johnny English Reborn (Ilan Eshkeri) - Not quite as good as Ed Shearmur's original, but a decent and surprisingly straight faced spy score which takes some inspiration from Shearmur (the main theme is one of those "similar, but not quite the same or as memorable" type efforts but still decent for all that) and, perhaps inevitably, Arnold's Bond scores. I rather miss that it doesn't have an equivalent to the surprisingly decent Robbie Williams cod-Bond song, Man For All Seasons, from the original, but these are minor quibbles, it's an very enjoyable score.

 

Tender is the Night (Bernard Herrmann) - The cheesy vocal main theme is weirdly at odds with both Herrmann's typical style (I can't imagine that would have been his choice) and the rest of the music, plus it really dates the score, but the rest is typically fine Herrmann even if, similarly, it runs a bit long by the end. Good sound for the vintage.

 

Days of Heaven (Ennio) - Following the discussion on FSM about this and Horner's The New World I thought I'd give the extended score programme of Days of Heaven a listen. I need to check the liner notes for the differences between that and the other programme that isn't the OST programme but any of them are fine ways to experience Morricone's almost uncharacteristically pastoral score. It almost seems a surprise that he'd agree to use Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals as the basis for the main theme, but it works surprisingly well.

 

The New World (James Horner) - Obviously had to give this a listen too and was shocked to discover just how many times I'd listened to it! Then again, despite the dramas Horner had working with Malick his music is absolutely wonderful; conceptually it's the perfect Horner project in the Legends of the Fall/Braveheart/Four Feathers/Dernier Loup etc. vein. I do wonder if Morricone (and apparently Hans) had a better time working with Malick as they were comfortable writing music to be used by the director as he saw fit. Certainly my understanding is that for a lot of Leone and similar films that Morricone score, he wrote a number of themes, variations and other music to fit the overall tone of the film but not necessarily for specific scenes (notwithstanding those scenes where Leone editing picture to music of course!). I wonder if, had Malick simply sat down with Horner to discuss the various parts of the movie, he could have asked Horner to effectively write a number of cues that would work for certain parts of the film if not necessarily particular scenes and then Malick could just use them as he saw fit rather than Horner trying to score to picture as he would have been accustomed to. Either way, the music is terrific (and the film was... pretty).

[Faleel 5,347]

1 minute ago, Holko said:

Is it all different or just the End Titles plus their order? DB/TV doesn't sound much different in a film clip.

I think there is a small transition bit different for the segue between voyage to Dawn battle.

[Jay 37,355]

1 minute ago, Permanent Waves said:

here is my analysis, beware, it wasn't written with dark mode in mind at all! ( @Jay is there a way to fix that?):

 

All set

 

To fix these kinds of posts yourself, just go into HTML view and remove this part: "color:rgb(34,34,34);background-color:transparent;"

[Faleel 5,347]

1 minute ago, Jay said:

 

All set

 

To fix these kinds of posts yourself, just go into HTML view and remove this part: "color:rgb(34,34,34);background-color:transparent;"

Thanks for the info!

 

Though in this case I believe since the thread was locked I couldn't edit it.

 

(Or I made a massive oof, and completely missed the edit button staring me right in the face)

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

1 hour ago, Holko said:

The credits is a whole different unreleased take, I know that for sure, and I definitely prefer it.

 

Interesting. Not *that* different, but sure, I'd pick up a new expansion with alternates.

 

1 hour ago, Holko said:

Sure I guess, I don't know about the musical theory part; good guy theme sounds good, bad guy theme sounds evil, there's something for Gollum and a descending evil fanfare and that's about it. Interesting how both Rosenmann and Shore scored the Grey Company chasing the Uruk-hai by playing the good guy theme over the bad guy theme's rhythm.

 

There's not a lot in the way of themes (you could add the Mithrandir lament, but that's just lifted from Holst's Jupiter). But on the other hand, there's a fugue in the Helm's Deep battle.

 

53 minutes ago, Permanent Waves said:

There is quite a few missing cues (and some cues were only used in the foriegn language tracks on the DVD!) I made a DVD rip + Intrada edit for myself a while back.

 

Interesting. The dubbing situation regarding this film is weird anyway. They changed some stuff in the original because they thought it would confuse people (they renamed Saruman to Aruman, to make his name less similar to Sauron's). At least the German dub has the correct names. And the original voice acting isn't that good, as far as I recall, plus unless you have good voice actors and directors, native English speakers are less likely to pronounce most of Tolkien's names correctly than German speakers are. It's one of those very (very!) rare cases where the German dub is worthwhile.

[Holko 9,526]

1 minute ago, Marian Schedenig said:

They changed some stuff in the original because they thought it would confuse people (they renamed Saruman to Aruman, to make his name less similar to Sauron's).

Worse, the went back and forth between changing and not changing it so it's not even consistent!

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

39 minutes ago, Holko said:

Goddamn that blaster beam in Helm's Deep! Now I want to delete it and never listen to it until it's properly expanded. Though it seems there's a lot missing so it'll be a discovery even if I know the half-expansion well. With its length I originally simply assumed it was a reissue of the double LP, and the Presto classical site says it's by Concord, but then that's the Intrada reissued with a different cover? That all added to my confusion.

 

I'm still confused. What about the Blaster? What release are you listening to? Is it missing the Blaster?

 

The original Intrada was significantly remastered and, as I recall, slightly extended, vs the previous CD release, which I assume was a transfer of the LP. That original CD had a chronological track listing that didn't match the actual order of tracks on the disc - I figure the LP was non-chronological and they had plans to reorder the tracks for the CD and then forgot about it…

[Holko 9,526]

1 minute ago, Marian Schedenig said:

I'm still confused. What about the Blaster? What release are you listening to? Is it missing the Blaster?

 

That was just a random exclamation. It's kickass.

 

1 minute ago, Marian Schedenig said:

That original CD had a chronological track listing that didn't match the actual order of tracks on the disc - I figure the LP was non-chronological and they had plans to reorder the tracks for the CD and then forgot about it…

Discogs listings list the LP sides as A-D-B-C. What the hell is going on here? The first ESB CD again?

[Bespin 8,481]

Ah The first ESB CD.... they used the Promo LP program... that obviously make no sense at all on a CD!

 

That's history!

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,524]

Believe me, @Bespin, it made no sense on the single LP, either, when it was released in the UK 

The A side began with The Imperial March. Happily, I'd bought the double LP, on import, before I saw the film.

[Jay 37,355]

The A side is the concert suite (or the closest approximations available from the original film recordings), and the B side is.... highlights of the remaining double-LP tracks?

[Bespin 8,481]

4 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Believe me, @Bespin, it made no sense on the single LP, either, when it was released in the UK 

The A side began with The Imperial March. Happily, I'd bought the double LP, on import, before I saw the film.

 

No it have sense, if you understand the medium.

 

This promo LP was made like a maxi single or an EP, where each side begins with the hits.

[Bespin 8,481]

Jazzy selection 

 

Peter Gunn

The Russia House 

The Terminal

Speechless 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,524]

One of those is surperb (hint, it's not

Spoiler

THE TERMINAL

)

[Edmilson 7,439]

I should create a poll: "Russia House vs Chinatown: what is the best jazzy score by Goldsmith?"

[Bespin 8,481]

6 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

I should create a poll: "Russia House vs Chinatown: what is the best jazzy score by Goldsmith?"

 

Don't 

Do

That

[Naïve Old Fart 9,524]

1 hour ago, Bespin said:

Don't 

Do

That

Yes

Do

That

 

CHINATOWN is, by a country mile, the greater of the two.

THE RUSSIA HOUSE on the other hand is so damned sexy!

[Edmilson 7,439]

Extreme Prejudice - Goldsmith

 

Interesting mix of Goldsmith action music and the synths he used to like in the 80s. I liked more than I thought I would.

 

Caboblanco - Goldsmith

 

Meh

(Yavar, don't kill me please )

 

Far and Away - Williams

 

Phenomenal.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

3 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

One of those is surperb (hint, it's not

  Reveal hidden contents

THE TERMINAL

)

Ban him!!!!

 

The Incredibles

One of Gia's best score. Pixar is really the studio where his works reach tops

 

War of the Worlds (Intrada)

Even though it's Williams' wickest score from 2005 it is still an absolut masterpiece. The Intersection Scene being the best track IMO

[Jay 37,355]

Nobuo Uematsu & Yasonori Mitsuda - Front Mission: Gun Hazard (OST)

 

Great!

 

 

Eric Serra - Goldeneye

 

I don't care about the general consensus, I like this score!  It's fun and interesting.

 

 

Tan Dun - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

 

The latest off my pile of physical CDs I needed to listen to.  I believe this was my first time ever hearing this score (I received the OST as a gift, I believe).  Well, I liked it!  Not only fun ethnic percussive action, but nice sweeping epic tracks too.  Will be listening again!

[Edmilson 7,439]

It's worth mentioning that Crouching Tiger winning the Best Original Score in 2000 over Gladiator was as surprising as The Postman defeating Braveheart in 1995. In both cases, a foreign movie won the award over a more conventional Hollywood epic whose score was a success even outside of the film music fandom.

[Faleel 5,347]

4 minutes ago, Jay said:

Eric Serra - Goldeneye

 

 

I don't care about the general consensus, I like this score!  It's fun and interesting.

 

 

 

YES!

[Jay 37,355]

Any idea how complete/incomplete the OST album for Goldeneye is?

[Faleel 5,347]

Only thing I know is the film version of the tank chase and this cue is missing:

 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,524]

GUNBARREL is missing, as is the film version of the title song, which can be found on a maxi CD (the things you find at your local thrift shop, eh? ).

 

 

 

7 hours ago, Jay said:

Eric Serra - Goldeneye

I don't care about the general consensus, I like this score!  It's fun and interesting.

Hell, yeah! It's top 5 Bond for me, both film, and score.

 

 

8 hours ago, Edmilson said:

Extreme Prejudice - Goldsmith

Interesting mix of Goldsmith action music and the synths he used to like in the 80s. I liked more than I thought I would.

Also Hell, yeah! It's perfect mid 80s Jerry.

[Sweeping Strings 2,358]

Tank chase is probably missing because they brought in someone else to score it. Which for me says it all about Serra's efforts on the rest of it. 

[Bespin 8,481]

Yesterday I discovered The 25th Hour, by Terence Blanchard.

 

I liked it!

[GerateWohl 4,365]

I was impressed by the 25th Hour score when I saw the film.

But somehow didn't impress me that much on CD.

Maybe a good time to listen to it again.

 

[GerateWohl 4,365]

A Dangerous Method- Howard Shore 

 

A more classical inspired Shore score. Nice simple main theme. orchestra consists just of piano and strings. Probably, you could call it terribly boring, but if you have a crush on Shore with Cronenberg like me you might take your time to get enchanted by it. It as well contains a 20 minute piano arrangement by Howard Shore of Wagner's "Siegfried Idyll".

[Jay 37,355]

Marc Shaiman - City Slickers

Marc Shaiman - City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold

 

We watched both these movies over the weekend, so I grabbed both OST albums off the shelf and listened to them on my commutes to work Monday and Tuesday.

 

Holy hell, these scores are great!  The first is brimming with like 5 themes that all get used throughout the score, which is full of exciting set piece cues.

The second score just takes all that material and kicks it up a notch, with lusher orchestration (choir over epic moments, banjos, fiddles, harmonica, and so on) - it all just becomes more interesting.  It's like a bigger budget version of the same score in a way, but doesn't actually ever feel like a retread of the first, it's also full of fresh takes.

 

I'd love for the specialty labels to tackle both of these!  Especially the first one, as listening of the 30 minute OST album shortly after seeing the film it was apparently how much score is missing, including some highlights (like the Running of the Bulls cue that opens the film).  Actually, both score albums are light on the electric guitar material used for Curly/Duke.

Bring on the expansions!

[Bespin 8,481]

Marc Shaiman is underrated!

 

Howard Shore too!

[Jay 37,355]

Michael Giacchino - Spider-man: Far From Home

 

Hadn't heard this in a while.  It's still great!  Nice blend of the old themes with great new ones.

 

 

John Williams - The BFG

 

Had to listen to this after it came up in recent discussion.  I'll never understand why it wasn't a new instant classics around here.  But I am glad its reputation is growing as of late.

[bollemanneke 3,346]

The LOTR symphony. Was there ever a better opportunity to write a really astounding piece of music and has there ever been a more lazy execution of such an opportunity? This is a cut-and-paste job with an amazing choir, too small an orchestra and too many unused alternates.

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

9 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

The LOTR symphony. Was there ever a better opportunity to write a really astounding piece of music and has there ever been a more lazy execution of such an opportunity? This is a cut-and-paste job with an amazing choir, too small an orchestra and too many unused alternates.

I wouldn't be quite so harsh, but I have to agree that it's a slightly disappointing realisation of what could have been an excellent programmatic symphony rather than effectively a very long tone poem. I actually prefer the Silva Screen LOTR album which covers much of the same ground and provides excellent highlights of all three scores in better sound and performance.

[bollemanneke 3,346]

I have to check that one out again.

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

3 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

I have to check that one out again.

I'm not sure the Silva LOTR album is essential if you're inundated with versions of the original scores, but it's a nice compilation if you're in the mood just for highlights. Today's slightly meh selection of listening highlights:

 

Sheena (Richard Hartley) - Disappointingly, not the about Sheena Easton, but a female Conan knock off. Hartley's score was mentioned in a thread recently so thought I'd give it a spin. Have to admit that I wasn't exactly blown away by it. The main theme sounds like a weird knock-off of Chariots of Fire (of all things) and the rest is kinda pleasant without being nearly as exciting as the other various genre scores of the period.

 

Lover's Prayer (Joel McNeely) - Lovely main theme but I remembered this being more interesting than it was. Lovely, but not mind blowing.

 

Swordfish (Christopher Young) - Reasonably fine mixture of orchestra and electronics (courtesy of Paul Oakenfold) but not Young's most engaging score and missing the strong main theme that anchors something like Hard Rain.

 

Return of the Jedi - Gerhardt (If you don't know you shouldn't be here) - Jedi seems to have done worst of the original trilogy, from its single LP original release to the muffled not very "special" edition, the Gerhardt album of highlights isn't as well performed or recorded as either of the other two, being rather muffled sounding and a lack of precision in the ensemble.

 

Jay Sebring: Cutting to the Truth (Jeff Beal) - Another fine addition to Jeff Beal's list of fine documentary scores. The main title and a couple of other tracks riffing on his early, and excellent, score to Pollock (for which my glowing review for my old website garnered a charming and effusive email from his wife), with the rest a mixture of chopping strings and slower trumpet solos in House of Cards mode. Enjoyable, if not his most original effort.

[Edmilson 7,439]

Gone Girl (Expanded)

 

One of my favorite electronic scores ever. It's the musical representation of the darkness and disturbingness that Drax (R.I.P. his JWFan account) liked in a movie.