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

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

Dreamcatcher by James Newton Howard

 

Some nice textural cues which could almost fit in an Alien pictures. It's sadly missing a really strong theme

[Thor 7,508]

 

Fun, dig the incorporation of mid 90s pop music tropes (like in "Mil Hi Gaye")! As you have gathered, I'm going through my Rahman collection again -- 25 albums in total, after going through his entire discograhy a few years ago and landing on the best stuff. No worries, though, I'm not going to post about all of then (for example, I've skipped over THIRUDA, THIRUDA and Deepa Mehta's crossover hit FIRE so far). 

[Jurassic Shark 12,079]

13 minutes ago, Thor said:

No worries, though, I'm not going to post about all of then (for example, I've skipped over THIRUDA, THIRUDA and Deepa Mehta's crossover hit FIRE so far). 

 

I was starting to get worried there!

[Thor 7,508]

I know. People were on the edge of their seats.

[Edmilson 7,466]

Kung Fu Panda (bootleg)

 

Thanks to the info posted on the HZ fansite, it's easier to see who did what in this score. Thus, I managed to find it easier to appreciate it.

 

From Zimmer's side, I like his comedic Po theme and the beautifully spiritual Oogway theme. I like how he made a huge effort to sound authentically Chinese. However, the problem with most of his DreamWorks scores is that I don't think they have much substance (Prince of Egypt notwithstanding). That said, this of course is miles ahead of his efforts on stuff like Shark Tale or Madagascar.

 

From Powell's side, I managed to find a few moments with that Powell "magic" that is found in his kiddie scores. Nothing outstanding like HTTYD, of course, but my evaluation of the score improved greatly. 

 

If the info is correct, then JP had to do practically the entire climax of the movie, including the confrontations between Tai Lung and the Furious Five, Po's training with Shifu, Shifu vs Tai Lung, and the final showdown between Po and the villain. I guess Zimmer had to leave to work on The Dark Knight so Powell was brought to do the climax and some other scenes earlier in the movie (despite he having to also work on Hancock).

 

Which makes me think: I still can't believe the cue below is a Powell composition (plus James McKee Smith) and not Zimmer.

 

 

[DemonStar 57]

The newly released score album of Kochadaiiyaan (A.R. Rahman). A powerful orchestral/choral score that I highly recommend to everyone. 

 

 

[filmmusic 1,834]

The Field of Dreams (James Horner)(complete score)

Oscar nominated score 1989

Not among Horner's best, but still it has some charm.

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

Gotta love Doyle in his "this is probably a bit much for the movie but it's a brilliant album" phase... having said that, it does get perhaps a touch full on by the end, but plenty of wonderful stuff. I miss this Doyle I can't deny it.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,537]

This is my all-time favourite Doyle score.

The music which underscores the sequence where Frankenstein creates the creature, is brilliant.

[Marian Schedenig 8,200]

34 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

This is my all-time favourite Doyle score.

The music which underscores the sequence where Frankenstein creates the creature, is brilliant.

But the love theme is even better.

[Andy 4,138]

Yaaayyyy!!!!!

 

Atta boy, James Newton Howard!  I knew you had it in you!!!!

 

 

After sampling on Spotify, I took the plunge and picked up the LLL 3CD of Wyatt Earp.  I listened today, with trepidation that it might meander or sag like Waterworld did for me.  I’m happy to say this was not the case at all. 
 

I LOVED this score!  Sumptuous cinematic themes, but also a great sounding orchestra, and a cracking good mastering.  Never did I get bored, as the C&C presentation somehow mixes JNH’s big set pieces with welcome folksy sounding cues.  It all is spread out so that nothing wears out its welcome. Even the less thematic underscore, such as the percussive martial music for I assume the gunfights or whatnot, give contemporaries like Tombstone or Silverado a run for their money.

 

I only wish I had heard this prior to Arnold’s Independence Day, because now I have to un-hear the ID4 theme which rips off the Wyatt Earp Love Theme.  Hopefully I can disassociate it, but I’m far more familiar with listening to ID4 for almost 30 years. Didn’t Arnold reportedly take some of his unused material from Waterworld and repurpose it for ID4 also?  Strange relationship there. 

 

This is a triumph, an absolutely delightful presentation.  I can’t believe JNH purposely made an effort to get away from this type of writing, but whatever.  I’m so glad I gave it a chance because I now have a favorite James Newton Howard score. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,079]

Suite from a Scandinavian film music classic.

 

 

[Jay 37,369]

Mark Mancina - Speed 2: Cruise Control

 

One of my favorite action scores!  Really nice bookending love theme tracks too, and some nice Caribbean flair in the mix as well

[Jay 37,369]

Mark Mancina - Bad Boys

 

Man I thought I really liked this score, but this listen kind of cooled me off from it.  The action music was just Speed leftovers.  Luckily the main theme is still a blast, in the long arrangement of it and some fun iterations throughout the underscore.

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

3 hours ago, Jay said:

Mark Mancina - Speed 2: Cruise Control

 

One of my favorite action scores!  Really nice bookending love theme tracks too, and some nice Caribbean flair in the mix as well

I gave the original a spin yesterday and it's a great score, although I think the sequel is more fun and interesting, despite the sequel being a bit of a dud.

Zany (but mostly not in an annoying way) comedy score, very full on but a great main theme and never a dull moment. Even the dialogue extracts are quite good fun, in fact I liked them more than the sung bits (those big old cheesy chorus numbers rarely do much for me).

[Jay 37,369]

It's kind of amazing how little Speed 2's score has on common with Speed 1. It's really its own thing with the occasional cameo of an old theme, but always reworked and new and interesting. 

[Jay 37,369]

John Williams - The Witches of Eastwick

 

I listened to fan edit of the isolated score track - not a pleasant listening experience!  There's SO MUCH source music interrupting the flow of the score.  Really soured my on the experience; I remember liking the score a lot the last time I listened to the OST album.  I'll stick with that until an expansion comes out some day

[Bespin 8,483]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

John Williams - The Witches of Eastwick

 

I listened to fan edit of the isolated score track - not a pleasant listening experience!  There's SO MUCH source music interrupting the flow of the score.  

 

That's what I always said, good luck for an expansion!

[Marian Schedenig 8,200]

16 minutes ago, Bespin said:

That's what I always said, good luck for an expansion!

 

That's what she said.

[thestat 348]

On 20/02/2023 at 8:08 PM, Tom Guernsey said:

Gotta love Doyle in his "this is probably a bit much for the movie but it's a brilliant album" phase... having said that, it does get perhaps a touch full on by the end, but plenty of wonderful stuff. I miss this Doyle I can't deny it.

This is the pinnacle of Doyle's golden era - 1991-1995. It distills (or expands) all that made his work at that time so amazing. He has never reached these levels of awesomeness or compositional dexterity as he started to use either thicker orchestration (as in Harry Potter 4) or was forced into an RCP mold as with Eragon etc.

 

The Creation is the encore he plays at his concerts which is not surprising.

 

I don't think Arnold was ever on Waterworld, Isham was (FFS)>

 

This is olden style Doyle done this millenia:

 

[Jay 37,369]

15 hours ago, Bespin said:

 

That's what I always said, good luck for an expansion!

 

Why would an expansion be difficult?  It'd just be the score cues alone, and will be great.  the source stuff isn't necessary.

[GerateWohl 4,370]

A Hidden Life - James Newton Howard

 

Because of all the praise from fans here and because the CD is so cheap I check it out again and again on Spotify from time to time, but all I hear is Lady in the Water and I have that CD already. 

 

On 20/02/2023 at 9:08 PM, Tom Guernsey said:

Gotta love Doyle in his "this is probably a bit much for the movie but it's a brilliant album" phase... having said that, it does get perhaps a touch full on by the end, but plenty of wonderful stuff. I miss this Doyle I can't deny it.

Frankenstein has good themes, but I always found their variations in the score kind of flat and boring. That's why I don't listen to it very often.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,537]

MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN? It's a monster.

[Bespin 8,483]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

 

Why would an expansion be difficult?  It'd just be the score cues alone, and will be great.  the source stuff isn't necessary.

 

There will be many little tracks, well if they chose to put them on the expansion... so that's why I say good luck, many decisions will have to be taken.

[Jay 37,369]

Again, how is that a problem.  Just put a bunch of short ones together to make longer tracks

[Bespin 8,483]

I JUST SAID GOOD LUCK! 

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

19 hours ago, Jay said:

John Williams - The Witches of Eastwick

 

I listened to fan edit of the isolated score track - not a pleasant listening experience!  There's SO MUCH source music interrupting the flow of the score.  Really soured my on the experience; I remember liking the score a lot the last time I listened to the OST album.  I'll stick with that until an expansion comes out some day

I have to admit that I rather like how Nessun Dorma merges in from the underscore for the ballroom scene as it's quite tastefully done and works quite well (much though JW's music is great). Like a few other DVDs, I specifically bought Witches of Eastwick for its isolated score. I think I gave it a listen once but obviously it's easier to listen to it as a rip, but I'm sure an official expanded version is coming at some point. Not that there's a massive amount of music missing but a little audio polish probably wouldn't be a bad thing.

[Tallguy 3,398]

50 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN? It's a monster.

 

Creature.

[LSH 969]

1 hour ago, GerateWohl said:

A Hidden Life - James Newton Howard

 

Because of all the praise from fans here and because the CD is so cheap I check it out again and again on Spotify from time to time, but all I hear is Lady in the Water and I have that CD already. 

 

The problem I have with A Hidden Life is the handful of highlights, beautiful as they are, are too scarce to make for a decent album listen. If the score was a tad more developed and expansive, it could have been a career best.

[filmmusic 1,834]

A Hidden Life is a masterpiece. I don't listen to the classical pieces when I listen to the album, so as not to get out of the mood.

 

[Thor 7,508]

1 minute ago, filmmusic said:

A Hidden Life is a masterpiece. I don't listen to the classical pieces when I listen to the album, so as not to get out of the mood.

 

 

Sure is. His best since THE VILLAGE (which, incidentally, is very much in the same style), and by far the best score that year.

[Marian Schedenig 8,200]

2 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

A Hidden Life - James Newton Howard

 

Because of all the praise from fans here and because the CD is so cheap I check it out again and again on Spotify from time to time, but all I hear is Lady in the Water and I have that CD already.

 

More LitW-style JNH? Now I'm interested.

[GerateWohl 4,370]

As I said. For me somehow the harmonies of Lady in the Water in the instrumentation of The Village. That sums it up for me. Not different enough to justify it as a separate work. I rather listen to the other two.

But good for those who see something special in it. 

I don't know why I am so picky with JNH. For example with Howard Shore I am much more indulgent when it comes to almost similar sounding scores.

[Jurassic Shark 12,079]

1 hour ago, Tallguy said:

 

Creature.

 

He's a scientist. 

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

I really wanted to like this more as it's an interesting concept, but so often feels leaden and plodding, nor does it really feel like it takes advantage of the colours of a church organ. I don't know if it's the performance, the transcription or maybe some music just doesn't work well transcribed. An interesting idea but not an entirely successful one.

[GerateWohl 4,370]

No matter what you play on an organ, it sounds like church music. Depending on the source it can sound like good church music or bad church music. These are the options.

[Jurassic Shark 12,079]

5 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

I really wanted to like this more as it's an interesting concept, but so often feels leaden and plodding

 

True to its roots.

[Bespin 8,483]

Listening to some nominees and winners of the 2022 IFMCA Awards.

 

[Thor 7,508]

 

As recommended by DemonStar in the Rahman thread. I agree -- it's quite good, although some of the music is clearly augmented with sampled instruments, and I could be without some of the RC-like ostinatos here and there. But when things are toned down a bit, I dig it. Not the orchestral masterpiece like ENTHIRAN, and I generally veer more towards Rahman's non-orchestral work, but yeah - good stuff.

 

(Also a bit funny that Rahman is such a big star that he's equal in size to the film's protagonist on the soundtrack cover itself).

[Jurassic Shark 12,079]

5 minutes ago, Thor said:

I could be without some of the RC-like ostinatos here and there.

 

Me too.

[filmmusic 1,834]

Gabriel Yared all-synth score, from an animation film I love!

Quite interesting but I'm not sure I'd like it if I didn't love the film.

[crocodile 8,017]

Amistad

Tomorrow Never Dies

Spider-Man

 

What a batch this was. Great albums constantly being played on my iPod.

 

Karol

[Thor 7,508]

21 hours ago, filmmusic said:

Gabriel Yared all-synth score, from an animation film I love!

Quite interesting but I'm not sure I'd like it if I didn't love the film.

 

Not familiar with that, thanks for the recommendation. I dig Yared's early synth excursions, like BETTY BLUE.

[LSH 969]

 

The Land Race has always been one of favourite stand-alone Williams cues and I listen to it often but without taking the rest of the score in.

 

So this has been quite eye-opening because I haven't listened to it - in its entirety - in years. 

 

It's all just as sublime as I remember.

[A24 4,338]

 

It's better than the movie.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,537]

Yeah, you're right, and to say that about a Steven Spielberg film, is downright sad.

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

All The Money In The World - Daniel Pemberton

 

There's some tracks that aren't very interesting, but how I love that main theme!!

The tracks where it's featured in a soo cool and the cue "J. Paul Getty" is a powerhouse.

[thestat 348]

Still a beautiful JG exercise in compact melody and orchestrational  awesomeness>

 

[Andy 4,138]

On 27/2/2023 at 7:35 PM, LSH said:

The Land Race has always been one of favourite stand-alone Williams cues and I listen to it often but without taking the rest of the score in.

 

It’s a go-to cue for me when I need a pick me up. Why there’s not a concert arrangement for the Land Race, I’ll never understand.  It would bring the house down. 

[Thor 7,508]

 

Classy British score release from 2020; the best Scherrer has done to date.