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

[Thor 7,477]

Agreed! My fav too, as previously alluded to.

[Bespin 8,480]

New speakers test - Bespin's 2022 edition

• John Williams - Jurassic Park (2-CD), La-La Land
• John Williams - A Gathering of Friends
• Danny Elfman - Dumbo
• Danny Elfman - Batman Returns, La-La Land
• Jerry Goldsmith - Matinee, Intrada
• Jerry Goldsmith - Star Trek: The Motion Picture, La-La Land
• James Horner - Willow, Intrada
• James Horner - Field of Dreams, La-La Land
• Michael Kamen - The Iron Giant - Deluxe Edition, Varèse Sarabande (2022)
• Michael Kamen - Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Intrada
• James Newton Howard - A Hidden Life
• James Newton Howard - The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
• Thomas Newman - Tolkien
• Thomas Newman - 1917
• John Powell - Call of the Wild
• John Powell - Solo: A Star Wars Story - Deluxe Edition
• Howard Shore - Sliver, La-La Land
• Howard Shore - The Song of Names
• Marc Shaiman - Mary Poppins Returns
• Marc Shaiman - The Addams Family, La-La Land
• Alan Silvestri - The Witches
• Alan Silvestri - Ready Player One
• Hans Zimmer - Wonder Woman 1984
• Hans Zimmer - The World of Hans Zimmer

[Naïve Old Fart 9,506]

Honestly, @Bespin, all you need from that list to test your hi fi, is STAR TREK: TMP, as it still sounds fresh as a daisy.

"V'ger Flyover" is stunning.

If you need something to emphasise percussion, try AMERICAN BEAUTY.

[Bespin 8,480]

Of course I could have picked a lot of music from the past years, but I wanted something "fresh" (not always as a daisy!) for each of my favourite composers.

 

The expansions of Close Encounters and E.T. would have been on a previous version of my list for sure! Buckbeak's Flight from HP... there are some audiophiles classics, we know them!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,506]

Fairy snuff.

Out of interest, Bes, what are you listening for? Are you testing your new Edifier speakers?

[Marian Schedenig 8,176]

2 hours ago, Bespin said:

New speakers test - Bespin's 2022 edition

 

Missing Rosewood.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,506]

Missing DARK SIDE OF THE MOON.

[Bespin 8,480]

I'll not go there! Of course every speakers get my Aznavour, Orbison and Pink Floyd torture treatment!

[Thor 7,477]

 

With the World Cup chugging away, I wanted to play this ol' 2011 fav of mine with football at its narrative center. Glorious, magical and sophisticated, it's my favourite score for a football-related movie.

[JNHFan2000 2,944]

Quantum Of Solace (Game) - Chrostopher Lennertz

 

I never heard this before, but was quite surprised by the many moments where it's very much like Arnold's Bond scores. Especially in the string and brass writing.

With a 45 minute runtime it's perfect and doesn't outstay it's welcome.

Really like this!!

[Jay 37,317]

Yea, that's a good one!

[crocodile 7,988]

 Julius Caesar and Spellbound by Miklos Rozsa. Ever reliable Hungarian on two Intrada recordings recently acquired by myself. Both discs are quite lovely.

 

Karol

[Naïve Old Fart 9,506]

They certainly are, Stanley.

[Bespin 8,480]

With my new speakers? Ok, JUST WOW.

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,176]

 

Waxman's Christmas Carol (about twice as long on the box as the suite in the YouTube video above). Lovely score, actually, hampered somewhat by that awful mid-20th century Hollywood choir.

[thestat 348]

Christopher Young's Hard Rain - a simply astonishing action score with massive orchestral bombast. Yes, it's all temptracked with Horner, Kamen, Williams and Goldsmith but Young absolutely makes it his own with his unique sense of rhythm and orchestration - the forward motion on this score is relentless. The film bombed in 1998 but it's a shame Young never got his share of accolades for this.

 

The main theme is epic in a Young type of way, but the awesome stuff is in the action tracks:

 

[Thor 7,477]

 

We always think of the Icelandic composers as only doing textural, ambient, gruelling scores, and while this 2018 score definitely has some of those elements, it's more "juicy" with some riveting electronic grooves and melodic content that set it apart. Haven't encountered any Sæmundur since then that has been on the same level. 

[Thor 7,477]

 

Never seen a single episode, and have no intention to, but love the scores. Hultquist recaptures some of that electronic goodness he impressed me with in SILICON COWBOYS, along with his wife Sophia (aka Drum & Lace). Airy and lofty. All three volumes are also beautifully curated, running between 30-40 minutes. Wrote a review here awhile back.

[JNHFan2000 2,944]

 

Sabrina - John Williams

 

Such a lovely score. That Party Sequence cue is so calming to me.💙

[Bespin 8,480]

24 minutes ago, JNHFan2000 said:

 

Sabrina - John Williams

 

Such a lovely score. That Party Sequence cue is so calming to me.💙

 

I have yet to try the OST in a more chronological way, if it's possible, because of all the edits... but yes, that's a great album, one of the most underrated JW's scores!

 

@Jay Perhaps another suggestion, without edits?

 

[filmmusic 1,823]

Tron (Wendy Carlos)

Interesting use of synths + orchestra and harmonies, but not my cup of tea really. If I remember well, I prefer Goldsmith's all synth soundtrack for Runaway.

However there are some good standout cues, especially those which include a choir like Love Theme, Tower Music-Let us pray, Anthem, Ending titles.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,506]

Personally, TRON is among my all-time favourite soundtracks (as is TRON LEGACY), but to each his own.

RUNAWAY is in my all-time top 10 Jerry scores.

[publicist 4,643]

 

My honest pick as Best Soundtrack Release 2022 is, to my own surprise, Goldsmith's 'Hollow Man', Intrada Edition. You need affinity for high-grade thriller and suspense textures to really *get it*, but the thematic and motivic base are laid out in very clear terms, so it's no elusive rocket science. Science though, it is, and the lilting 'Explorers'-vibe combined with the slithery sensuality of the 'Basic Instinct' years plus a good splash of harsh, modernistic spikiness - clearly the biggest surprise of 'Hollow Man' - makes for a thrilling combination. 

 

My fairly pronounced respect for this score's finesse back in 2000 didn't prepare me for the depth and detail of the whole thing. It's truly pearls before swine considering the rotten product it was conceived for, so i guess it was as much a love letter to favourite director Paul Verhoeven (on his last Hollywood legs back then) as well as a final lion's roar from the maestro himself, who surely saw the end of the rope in terms of his career. Be that as it may, the lack of fan favourite checklist material (love theme, theme-driven action set piece, more love theme etc.) is also HM's USP. In fact, the score's most dreary when Goldsmith gets the old crashbang chestnuts out in the final half an hour: the composer even bemoaned this on the dvd commentary he recorded, basically acknowledging that his only real music interest lay in getting the movies three complex transformation sequences right, all of them in the first half of the movie (in a discussion panel with director Phil Alden Robinson for whom he scored 'The Sum of all Fears' 2 years later, Goldsmith visibly sighed in relief when Robinson agreed to leave a big action scene unscored for better effect, 'Ahh, one fight less!').

 

For those who 'know the score' i just marked the before-unreleased cues that enriched the content of the original album for me immeasurably, and for fans of Goldsmith's more populist material there's the revised 'Big Climb', which bangs up the fairly mundane original version to a sizzling degree (this is what additional material always should offer in terms of value!).

 

04. Chasing Isabelle (2:04)
08. I Liked It (1:41)
09. The Buttons (Revised) (3:28)
11. Not Right (4:50)
15. I Can’t See Him (4:31)
19. He’s Here (3:13)
20. Dead Dog (1:31)
24. No Code (4:05)
25. Find Him (Revised) (4:55)

CD 2 Complete Score (Continued)
01. Wet Attack (Revised) (1:23)
03. The Big Climb (Revised) (3:09)
12. Broken Window (Revised #1) (2:53)
17. Wet Attack (1:10)
 

[crocodile 7,988]

It's a really good score. On the surface level, it might seem like Total Recall, Basic Instinct and The Hauting rolled into one. And while it might not be the freshest entry in terms of ingredients, the fact he combines of so many genre elements makes it very entertaining all the way through.

 

Karol

[publicist 4,643]

1 hour ago, crocodile said:

the fact he combines of so many genre elements makes it very entertaining all the way through.

 

That makes it sound like a David Arnold Bond score, which is not a recommendation by any means. It's all familiar, for sure, but it's constructed in such a sturdy way and creatively embellished at exactly the spots where it would make a difference that i would point this out as old school mastery that just vanished with composers of this generation.

 

By the way, someone on FSM linked to this bummer one-hour interview with Goldsmith from 1977. The interviewer sounds like an 11-year-old hammering Goldsmith with National Enquirer-like zest, asking hard-hitting questions á la 'You like more Europe or you like more America?'. Goldsmith is remarkably polite and composed by his standards, but begins every answer with an incredulous 'What (*the fuck*) are you talking about?'

 

 

[Thor 7,477]

Oh God, that sounds embarassing. Don't even want to listen to it.

 

 

That's right, I can play "fan classics" once in a while too. I think this was one of the first five Horner CDs that I got, way back in the mid 90s. Lots of clanging and ambiance, so it would have been a tougher sell if I had heard it first today, but I listened to it so many times back then that it's like meeting an old friend. The airy, Irish, Clannad/Enya-ish sub elements that appear here and there provide some heart in the darkness.

[Bespin 8,480]

I'm not familiar with Patriot Games, I will discover it in few days when I'll receive my most recent order!

 

It's not a score that I previously got, as an OST, in my collection, but it's a score that I think, is relevant (but maybe not as much as Clear and Present Danger) in James Horner's corpus...

 

Anyway, I go with the flow... the truth is the compulsive buyer I am has difficulties to refuse any speciality labels offers!!!

[filmmusic 1,823]

Shadow of the wolf (Maurice Jarre)

Good theme, nice soundtrack playing in the background, but I'm afraid it wouldn't keep my interest playing alone.

 

Jacob's Ladder (Maurice Jarre) [ost]

Slow burner and atmospheric.

[Thor 7,477]

1 hour ago, filmmusic said:

Jacob's Ladder (Maurice Jarre) [ost]

Slow burner and atmospheric.

 

Love it! My favourite M. Jarre, I think.

[Bespin 8,480]

May I suggest this essential Maurice Jarre compilation: Maurice Jarre – The Emotion And The Strength (2001, CD) - Discogs

 

 

[crocodile 7,988]

 Die Hard 2: Die Harder. One of my favourite action thriller scores. While the original establishes the majority of the material heard here, I feel this score presents John McClane's material at its most entertaining form here, especially away from the film. The score builds up in intensity gradually but once it reaches the final act it's a one big thrill ride culminating with the triumphant statement of Sibelius' Finlandia (appropriately subtly teased earlier on). The other two scores were more memorable in terms of musical quotations and individual highlights but this one definitely flows much better than either of those. 

 

Karol

[Thor 7,477]

I've sent off my computer to repair, and with that my entire iTunes collection. So while using this temporary laptop, I will only play music on Spotify, YouTube etc. Currently playing my own playlist on Spotify. Back story: A couple of years ago, I was asked to list & create a photo montage of my favourite 144 albums (why 144? I don't know, but only one album per artist was allowed), and subsequently created this playlist based on it. One track each, from my favourite albums, or albums that have been important to me over the years -- across rock/pop, electronic, classical, film music, whatever. Not everything was available on Spotify, but most of it was.

 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,506]

"The Visitors" 

"Iceberg", also 

and  to "Child Of Vision".

By the length of it, I assume that it's "Ethnicolor I"? What the heck, still 

[Thor 7,477]

Yeah, I know we have overlapping taste on quite a few of those things, Naïve Old Fart.

 

It's the live "Ethnicolor" version from the CITIES IN CONCERT album, which was really my pathway into him in the first place.

[thestat 348]

Totally agree that Hollow Man is underappreciated - it's a beautiful score and has some of the most creative Jerry uses of synth (that breathing) . And yes, the mayhem in the second half gets a bit much - it has not got the cohesive systemic logic that Total Recall action had, for example. It seems more incidental which is unusual for Jerry, but his real life conditions might have had a role. Still a wonderful score.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

The Twelve Chairs - John Morris

 

My #1 favorite Mel Brooks movie (so underrated/underseen) and one of my favorite John Morris scores.  Some of the music is actually quite affecting, emotionally, and some is very fun and funny.  The main title song is an absolute classic.

 

 

 

[Tallguy 3,379]

Can anyone say if that's Thurl Ravenscroft in there?

 

It's unseen because where can you see it?

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

7 hours ago, Tallguy said:

It's unseen because where can you see it?

My VHS copy is the only format I’ve ever watched it in!

 

[Tallguy 3,379]

I hope it's really good. Because I figure I'll see it some day and now my expectations are super high.

 

And seriously, is that Thurl?

[JNHFan2000 2,944]

The American President - Marc Shaiman

 

Beautiful 40 minute album. Womderful theme and orchestrations.

 

I feel Shaiman is a very underrated score. I love his music and think he doesn't get enough credit and work for the rerrific composer he is.

[filmmusic 1,823]

20 minutes ago, JNHFan2000 said:

The American President - Marc Shaiman

 

Beautiful 40 minute album. Womderful theme and orchestrations.

 

I feel Shaiman is a very underrated score. I love his music and think he doesn't get enough credit and work for the rerrific composer he is.

I admit I haven't listened to any Shaiman, apart from 3-4 scores inside the film.

I'm listening to this now too. Charming. I see it was Oscar nominated too.

[Edmilson 7,394]

The Da Vinci Code (recording sessions)

 

Chevaliers de Sangreal may be one of Zimmer's most beloved pieces (and it is a really nice theme), but believe me: you do NOT want an expansion for this score.

 

There is some pretty good themes and motifs that appear once in a while, but overall the complete score is mostly 2 hours of dark, suspenseful and boring music for strings (specially cellos). It gets very dull after a while. In complete form, it's not as interesting as Zimmer's others "brooding cellos" scores from the 2000s, like The Ring (which works really well in C&C) and Batman Begins - there's also Hannibal, but I haven't heard that one in a while.

 

Die hards will surely spot some chord progressions that were similarly used in not only the scores mentioned in the previous paragraph, but also Pearl Harbor, King Arthur, Sherlock Holmes, etc.

[Bespin 8,480]

8 hours ago, filmmusic said:

I'm listening to this now too. Charming. I see it was Oscar nominated too.

 

More than this, it's on the AFI 250 list.

[Faleel 5,340]

2 hours ago, Edmilson said:

The Da Vinci Code (recording sessions)

 

Chevaliers de Sangreal may be one of Zimmer's most beloved pieces (and it is a really nice theme), but believe me: you do NOT want an expansion for this score.

 

There is some pretty good themes and motifs that appear once in a while, but overall the complete score is mostly 2 hours of dark, suspenseful and boring music for strings (specially cellos). It gets very dull after a while. In complete form, it's not as interesting as Zimmer's others "brooding cellos" scores from the 2000s, like The Ring (which works really well in C&C) and Batman Begins - there's also Hannibal, but I haven't heard that one in a while.

 

Die hards will surely spot some chord progressions that were similarly used in not only the scores mentioned in the previous paragraph, but also Pearl Harbor, King Arthur, Sherlock Holmes, etc.

Doesn't everyone prefer Angels and Demons?

[Edmilson 7,394]

18 minutes ago, Clockwork Angel said:

Doesn't everyone prefer Angels and Demons?

I don't. And TBH I don't think there are many Zimmer fans who prefer A&D to Da Vinci. A&D is like the bastard son of The Da Vinci Code with The Dark Knight and has a lot of sound design and electronic manipulation. TDVC is more "classical" (although probably more boring too).

[filmmusic 1,823]

3 hours ago, Bespin said:

 

More than this, it's on the AFI 250 list.

AFI 250 best scores of all time?

Hmmmm... I wouldn't go that far...

[Bespin 8,480]

Well they did.

 

I assume that the AFI considers not only the quality of the score, but also the addition it brings to the films.

 

 

[A24 4,326]

 

I always enjoy this one. If a theme works well on a solo cello, it means it's well written.

[Tallguy 3,379]

I'm giving a 10th anniversary spin to the La-La Land Records Star Trek: The Original Series Collection.

 

 

Yesterday I listened to Disc 1: The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before.

 

Today I'm listening to Disc 2: The Man Trap and The Naked Time.

 

The Cage and Where No Man are both glorious. I've come to appreciate The Man Trap over the years but it's still a bit of a slog. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, Fred Steiner day!

[crocodile 7,988]

 Mimic. Very Marco Beltrami score, one of his more accessible horror works in fact, with some nice lyrical moments. Scream might be what he was mostly known for around the time but this one feels more sophisticated and elegant. Good stuff.

 

Karol