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

[A24 4,323]

Mainly the bowing of the strings. Because the (exciter/EQ) effect is adding harmonic content to the treble, the friction of the bows is emphasized, which makes the tone of the strings sound too grainy, almost distorted. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

Perhaps you need a better sound system.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

Perhaps Shawn Murphy needs to stop messing with perfectly good recordings.

[A24 4,323]

Indeed, Murphy can be great, but he or the mastering engineer screwed up. Of course, most people won't hear anything wrong. In fact, they may even prefer it, even though it sounds unnatural. The follow-up to Jurassic Park sounds much, MUCH better. Is that Murphy as well?

[Mr. Who 919]

23 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

I mean, some people think, a good Bond score should include the title song a lot, which to my mind Casino Royale did in a quite smart way. Others think, it should include the Bond theme a lot and traces and variations of it in every theme. That's what basically A Quantum of Solace did. Others may think, to hell with the title song and the Bond Theme! The movie needs a good modern action score. That's what Thomas Newman did for Skyfall and Spectre. I a not very interested in the last category. For Bond I like the first two better.

I never understood the criticism that Skyfall and Spectre don't use or pay homage to the the bond theme. Both scores, and especially Spectre do it arguably more than Arnold did, at least in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Newman doesn't just straight up play the theme as a needle drop, but actually builds his writing in a lot of cues around different parts of the bond theme, both rhythmically and harmonically, where he might take just a few bars of the theme and inverts them or use them as an action motif or as an accompanying line. The use of the theme is just less obvious than in some other bond scores but in my opinion it's just as good. 

 

Just a few of many examples from Spectre would be Los Muertos Vivos Estan, Detonation, Backfire, Safe House, Westminster Bridge. In Spectre the title song is also used once in the score and the same thing is true in Skyfall where the cue Macau Casino is a cue based mostly on the song theme with hints of the bond theme.

 

I love Newman's bond scores and think the criticism that they aren't bond scores in their DNA to be completely wrong.

[Bespin 8,472]

Ok, this morning I do it.

 

I'll try it for the first time!

 

But just before, a little mise en bouche!

 

Herrmann - Vertigo

 

Then...

 

Williams - Images (remastered OST)

[GerateWohl 4,320]

6 hours ago, Mr. Who said:

I never understood the criticism that Skyfall and Spectre don't use or pay homage to the the bond theme. Both scores, and especially Spectre do it arguably more than Arnold did, at least in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Newman doesn't just straight up play the theme as a needle drop, but actually builds his writing in a lot of cues around different parts of the bond theme, both rhythmically and harmonically, where he might take just a few bars of the theme and invert them or use them as an action motif or as an accompanying line. The use of the theme is just less obvious than in some other bond scores but in my opinion it's just as good. 

 

Just a few of many examples from Spectre would be Los Muertos Vivos Estan, Detonation, Backfire, Safe House, Westminster Bridge. In Spectre the title song is also used once in the score and the same thing is true in Skyfall where the cue Macau Casino is a cue based mostly on the song theme with hints of the bond theme.

 

I love Newman's bond scores and think the criticism that they aren't bond scores in their DNA to be completely wrong.

I have to confess, that I am not familiar with the Spectre score, but apart from the mini quote of the song I didn't find much of Bond in the Skyfall score. The M theme is nice. But the action stuff in way behind Quantum (even though the action scenes themselves are much better in Skyfall).

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

1 hour ago, Bespin said:

Then...

Williams - Images (remastered OST)

Good luck...you're gonna need it 

[Thor 7,451]

 

All this talk about Davis being off the new MATRIX, I decided to give this 2017 score another go. It was a runner-up for me that year, and it still holds up. Thankfully less "aggressive" and with some nice lyrical parts. It's not all dense brass clusters and stuff, which he often does.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

He should have that eye checked.

[Edmilson 7,367]

Green Lantern - JNH

 

My favorite composer scoring my favorite super-hero from the comics. This should've been a dream project for me. And yeah, while the score is not as good as it could've been, it still better than I remembered, with some epic parts for choir and orchestra and also some beautiful romantic cues for synth and guitar. The weakest part is the main theme, which was ripped right from a generic Jerry Goldsmith action score from the 90s, but at least Howard does some interesting things with it.

 

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for a decent GL movie, which ideally should be scored by John Powell.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

4 hours ago, Thor said:

 

Hmm. I'm getting a very PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE vibe, from the picture.

[Faleel 5,326]

12 hours ago, AC1 said:

The follow-up to Jurassic Park sounds much, MUCH better. Is that Murphy as well?

Yes.

[Bespin 8,472]

Images is a painful score to listen.

 

The man who does the ggggarrrrrrrrrr...... ahhhhhhhhhrghhhh... on pretty all the tracks.... that makes me uncomfortable.

 

Sorry!

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

The Madness of King George, by Georg Friedrich Händel, ripped off by George Frampton.

 

[GerateWohl 4,320]

2 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

The Madness of King George, by Georg Friedrich Händel, ripped off by George Frampton.

 

Is that any good? These ripp-offs of classical music are seldomly ...bearable. I have bad memories on JNH's Nutcracker massacre or Mansell's Swan Lake mutilations.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

4 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Is that any good? These ripp-offs of classical music are seldomly ...bearable. I have bad memories on JNH's Nutcracker massacre or Mansell's Swan Lake mutilations.

 

It's better than those you mention, but the stuff that's arranged by Fenton is just too light. It doesn't stand a comparison.

[GerateWohl 4,320]

14 hours ago, Bespin said:

Images is a painful score to listen.

 

The man who does the ggggarrrrrrrrrr...... ahhhhhhhhhrghhhh... on pretty all the tracks.... that makes me uncomfortable.

 

Sorry!

 

Yeah, I think John Williams mentioned it once in an Interview, that he doesn't see himself as a good vocal composer.

[Thor 7,451]

3 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

The Madness of King George, by Georg Friedrich Händel, ripped off by George Frampton.

 

Frampton?

 

Love that soundtrack -- both the original Händel and the beautiful pastiche by Fenton (and his more "modern" cues too).

 

 

A somewhat overlooked Broughton, this is one of my favourites of his. Nails the Spanish colours while being warm, intimate and introspective. Also has a couple of Goldsmith-like action cues (one of them named "First Blood", funnily).

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

3 minutes ago, Thor said:

Frampton?

 

That's his real name.

[Thor 7,451]

Have you been smoking weed again?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

According to Wiki., he was born George Richard Ian Howe.

He changed his name because he needed an Equity card, and the name George Howe was already used.

@Jurassic Shark, I'd lay off the mind altering substances, for a while, at least until they sort out your medication 

[Thor 7,451]

Perhaps he was thinking of Peter Frampton, although I don't know why.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

If he thinks that, then I don't want @Jurassic Shark to show me the way 

[Thor 7,451]

 

I always find it interesting how many Morricone themes there are that are familiar (because they've been showcased on compilations and stuff), yet people don't always know their origin. This is one example, where the "Viva La Revolucion" theme is very familiar, but people may not know it comes from this particular 1969 film. It's a very nice score, a more straightforward spaghetti western, more classical, without so many of the oddball instrumental choices as in the Leone and Corbucci films.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

..

 

[Edmilson 7,367]

The Dark Knight Rises

 

The best Bat-score by Zimmer (and team) for the worst movie in the trilogy.

[Kasey Kockroach 2,343]

Baby’s Day Out by Bruce Broughton

 

Wonderful score not served ideally by its 80-minute complete release. Luckily made a 49-minute playlist awhile ago. 

[Thor 7,451]

 

The ominous guitar plucking and occasional odd instrumentation notwithstanding, this 1969 Morricone is a fav primarily because of the sweet love theme and the wonderful display of baroque jazz melancholy.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

A really good assembly of great suite. Simply lovely

[Tallguy 3,359]

Eiger Sanction, disc 2. Now with correct index on tracks... Well, whatever tracks were messed up before. 

 

Wow, that sounds nice. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

QUANTUM OF SOLACE...again.

Boy, do I love this score!

It's easily my second favourite Arnold score.

[Tallguy 3,359]

2 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

QUANTUM OF SOLACE...again.

Boy, do I love this score!

It's easily my second favourite Arnold score.

 

And the first?

 

As for me:

 

Innerspace! Or as I like to call it, the best Goldsmith / Dante score.

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

43 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

Innerspace! Or as I like to call it, the best Goldsmith/Dante score.

No argument, from me! Top 10 Jerry, right there.

The poster is wrong. It should be the one with the little craft, between forefinger, and thumb, by John Alvin, I think.

 

 

 

44 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

And the first?

You might not believe this, but...it's CHANGING LANES.

[Tallguy 3,359]

1 hour ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

No argument, from me! Top 10 Jerry, right there.

The poster is wrong. It should be the one with the little craft, between forefinger, and thumb, by John Alvin, I think.

 

 

 

You might not believe this, but...it's CHANGING LANES.

 

Yes, the original album cover is my favorite. But it didn't do any good at selling the movie. 

 

Now I need to see if Changing Lanes is on Spotify. It is! Um... Those track titles are like the anti Giacchino! 

[Bespin 8,472]

I was inspired and I created this piano playlist.

 

 

[Tallguy 3,359]

Ok! Changing Lanes by David Arnold.

 

Yeah, this was really good. It was like someone took Body Double from The World is Not Enough (one of my all time favorite tracks) and turned it into an album!

 

The middle gets very soundscape-y (it almost sounds like present day Zimmer!) and then the last 1/4 or so, when the strings come back, sounds a bit like Person of Interest (and I love Person of Interest).

 

Time well spent. Thank you @Naïve Old Fart!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

You're more than welcome, @Tallguy .

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

That's such a disappointing score.

[Thor 7,451]

 

Back in 2015, synth/darkwave was riding high and mighty as the next, new thing (it's now more established). This great horror score was part of that, although it's more textural and explorative. Refreshingly free of stingers, and just an envelopping sound world to enter. A definite highlight of 2015. Cody Carpenter, John's son, participates on a couple of tracks -- one of them a jazz number.

[Jay 37,249]

I recently discovered that score, and wrote a bit about it here

 

https://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?/topic/33206-david-arnolds-changing-lanes

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (Alexandre Desplat) - having watched the film I decided to revisit  the score and had the same impression as when I was watching the film being that it’s well written and hits all the right dramatic notes but definitely lacks a decent main theme (or 3) to tie it all together and is too straight laced for Besson’s colourful and imaginative world. Which brings me to…

 

The Fifth Element (Eric Serra) - which, despite not really generally being to my taste, did a great job of mixing some effectively mysterious sections with ramped up opera (the Diva Dance brilliantly kitschy) and tracks with samples and fun, 90s style urban tracks. I suppose technically it’s quite disparate and disjointed but it’s a lot of fun on disc and very effective in the film in a way that Desplat doesn’t seem to achieve even if valerian is a marginally more straight laced movie.

[Jay 37,249]

Oh man, two score albums I really really love!

 

Valerian has 2 memorable themes IMO, the one for Big Market in all the early tracks, and the one for the Mül from the opening cue and then towards the end of the score.  It does lack a strong main theme / theme for Valerian himself, i agree.  I mean there is one, but I always forget it.  I wonder if Desplat was so uninspired by Dehane's uninspiring performance, he gave him a forgettable theme on purpose

 

Fifth Element I love all the way through, on disc or isolated score edit, but I don't include "The Little Light of Love" song, just not my cuppa

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

10 hours ago, Jay said:

Oh man, two score albums I really really love!

 

Valerian has 2 memorable themes IMO, the one for Big Market in all the early tracks, and the one for the Mül from the opening cue and then towards the end of the score.  It does lack a strong main theme / theme for Valerian himself, i agree.  I mean there is one, but I always forget it.  I wonder if Desplat was so uninspired by Dehane's uninspiring performance, he gave him a forgettable theme on purpose

 

Fifth Element I love all the way through, on disc or isolated score edit, but I don't include "The Little Light of Love" song, just not my cuppa

Maybe I'll have to give it yet another listen but I tried hard to pick out memorable themes in it but certainly can't remember much about it and it's not for the want of trying! Quite possible regarding the lead's performance... it needed someone with a bit more presence and perhaps a bit quirky for the role.

 

I seemed to recall not thinking much of Little Light of Love but actually really enjoyed it... forgot it was sung by Sting.

 

JW in Vienna - In retrospect, I feel like I bought this out of duty than anything.  There's something so kinda heavy and lumpen about the performance and recording. It almost feels like the audio equivalent of the stereotypes about overly burnished European orchestras. Not a compilation I'll be returning to often, every track has been better performed and recorded elsewhere.

 

Adore (Christopher Gordon) - Delightful piano and strings led drama score when you need something a little lighter (in the best way) to cut through just a bit too much heavy orchestral durm and strang.

[GerateWohl 4,320]

At watching Valerian the music particularly felt out of place to me. But the lead actors often felt out of place, too.

I don't remember much of the score and it might even be nice on disc. But I remember feeling relieved, that Desplat didn't score Rogue One at that moment.

 

 

[publicist 4,643]

1 hour ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Adore (Christopher Gordon) - Delightful piano and strings led drama score when you need something a little lighter (in the best way) to cut through just a bit too much heavy orchestral durm and strang.

 

It's short but follows the general style:

 

 

[Thor 7,451]

Didn't care for JUNE AGAIN, but ADORE is....well, adorable.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

21 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

That's such a disappointing score.

Eejit.

[Jay 37,249]

11 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Maybe I'll have to give it yet another listen but I tried hard to pick out memorable themes in it but certainly can't remember much about it and it's not for the want of trying! 

 

Pearl Theme

1. Pearls on Mul 0:42, 3:56
2. Showtime 1:02
3. Pearls Attack 1:01 (action variant)
4. Pearl's World 2:43, 4:10
5. The City of 1000 Planets 2:39, 3:16
6. Pearls Power 0:00, 0:29, 1:24
7. Final Combat 4:59

Big Market Theme

1. Reading The Memo 0:00, 0:24
2. Big Market 0:03, 0:15, 1:03
3. Flight Above The Big Market 0:00, 0:08, 0:54, 1:48

Valerian's Theme

1. Showtime 1:36
2. Valerian In Trouble 0:22, 0:47
3. Arriving on Alpha 0:00
4. Pearls Attack 3:22
5. Valerian's Armor 0:09, 0:44, 1:43
6. Spaceship Chase 1:03
7. Boulanbator Combat 0:58, 1:42
8. Fishing For Butterflies 1:09, 1:23, 1:36
9. I Am A Soldier 0:55
10. Final Combat 6:49

 

11 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

I seemed to recall not thinking much of Little Light of Love but actually really enjoyed it... forgot it was sung by Sting.

 

It isn't - it's sung by Serra himself (with background vocals by Nourith)

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

Do JWfaners prefer A Little Light Of Love, or The Experience Of Love?