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

[Naïve Old Fart 9,719]

12 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

I find it interesting how this score was in my "awareness zone" for 25 years, but I only acquired it and properly listened to it a few years ago. And then, BOOM! -- it goes straight into my top 3 favourite Newman scores. I talk a little bit about why in this conversation article (google translated).

 

Another great score, from another thoroughly underrated film.

[Brónach 1,302]

 

[Bespin 8,505]

#JamesHorner
🎭🦸‍♂️💃🏰🔥

 

[Thor 7,654]

 

Trademark trumpets? Yes. Trademark jazz? Not so much. More like reverential Americana. But despite the film's shortcomings, this has turned out to be one of my favourite Blanchard scores.

[JNHFan2000 2,980]

13 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Trademark trumpets? Yes. Trademark jazz? Not so much. More like reverential Americana. But despite the film's shortcomings, this has turned out to be one of my favourite Blanchard scores.

This is indeed a great score. Very deserving of it's Oscar nomination.

I really love the the cues with the Vietnamese instruments added to them

[GerateWohl 4,474]

Listened to John Williams' Sleepers today and realised for the first time that this is musically some kind of older brother of Minority Report. It has a lot of similarities and similar elements. The themes are all different of f course but both scores have much in common in tone and kind of musical ideas. The way electronics and drums and voices are used to name a few. I never was aware of that.

 

Both great scores anyway.

[Thor 7,654]

5 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Listened to John Williams' Sleepers today and realised for the first time that this is musically some kind of older brother of Minority Report. It has a lot of similarities and similar elements. The themes are all different of f course but both scores have much in common in tone and kind of musical ideas.. I never was aware of that.

 

Both great scores anyway.

 

I've gone on record many times to declare my deep love of SLEEPERS. It contains probably the darkest "real life" scoring moment in his career, and is really the first time we hear Williams -- at least marginally -- approach a more modern aesthetic, down to the drum kits in the football game. And yes -- it certainly foreshadows other "modern" elements in scores like A.I. and MINORITY REPORT.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,719]

Although I'm not that keen on the film (a very morally questionable piece of work), I've loved the score since 1996.

 

2 hours ago, Thor said:

... down to the drum kits in the football game.

... and the fretless bass, in the Main Title (at least, I think it's fretless).

 

[LSH 970]

8 hours ago, Thor said:

 

I find it interesting how this score was in my "awareness zone" for 20+ years, but I only acquired it and properly listened to it a few years ago. And then, BOOM! -- it goes straight into my top 3 favourite Newman scores. I talk a little bit about why in this conversation article (google translated).

 

One of Newman's least mentioned scores... that really should be mentioned!

 

I love this.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,719]

Just now, LSH said:

One of Newman's least mentioned scores... that really should be mentioned!

 

It is, now! 

[LSH 970]

1 minute ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

 

It is, now! 

 

Well... give it a week.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,719]

It's a date 

[Brónach 1,302]

The last score I listened to? Cutthroat Island, of course.

[JNHFan2000 2,980]

12 hours ago, Thor said:

 

I find it interesting how this score was in my "awareness zone" for 20+ years, but I only acquired it and properly listened to it a few years ago. And then, BOOM! -- it goes straight into my top 3 favourite Newman scores. I talk a little bit about why in this conversation article (google translated).

I never heard this one. Will check it out.

 

Do you have any more scores from Newman's career I might've missed? Which according to you are great

[Marian Schedenig 8,250]

 

An underrated Goldsmith score in my opinion. Decades after his classic Western days, Goldsmith returned once more and filtered the genre through his streamlined post-Rekall style. It's filled with odd-metres, a rousing theme,  some hard pounding action, plus guitar for flavour. Lots of fun!

[filmmusic 1,896]

Unknown interesting score by Mancini.

The second half of this album plays like source cues, as it's usual with Mancini.

[Marian Schedenig 8,250]

 

That time when Goldsmith stole Horner's theme from 10 years later and put it into his own score as a counterpoint in honour of Patrick McGoohan's legacy.

 

(Seriously, I have no idea if McGoohan is even in those scenes, and he wasn't Scottish anyway… and yes, the Horner score came ten years later. But I find it a curious similarity, and both films do feature McGoohan)

[Faleel 5,447]

10 hours ago, Thor said:

 

I've gone on record many times to declare my deep love of SLEEPERS. It contains probably the darkest "real life" scoring moment in his career, and is really the first time we hear Williams -- at least marginally -- approach a more modern aesthetic, down to the drum kits in the football game. And yes -- it certainly foreshadows other "modern" elements in scores like A.I. and MINORITY REPORT.

And his actual football stuff.

[Thor 7,654]

12 hours ago, JNHFan2000 said:

Do you have any more scores from Newman's career I might've missed? Which according to you are great

 

Oh gosh, haven't done a top 10 Thomas Newman in a while, but perhaps something like this?

 

1. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

2. Less Than Zero

3. Oscar & Lucinda

4. The Green Mile

5. He Named Me Malala

6. The Man With One Red Shoe

7. Meet Joe Black

8. Angels in America

9. Road to Perdition

10. Those Secrets

 

....or something. These things change all the time.

 

8 hours ago, Signals said:

And his actual football stuff.

 

Yeah. Not "Wide Receiver", which sounds like leftover STAR WARS prequel music, but certainly something like "Pigskin". 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,719]

2 hours ago, Thor said:

1. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

2. Less Than Zero

3. Oscar & Lucinda

4. The Green Mile

5. He Named Me Malala

6. The Man With One Red Shoe

7. Meet Joe Black

8. Angels in America

9. Road to Perdition

10. Those Secrets

 

What?????!!!!!!!!!

No PASSENGERS? No BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL? No WALL-E? No THE PLAYER? No SPECTRE? No IN THE BEDROOM? No LITTLE WOMEN? No AMERICAN BEAUTY???!!!!!

Rubbish, boy! Do it, again!

[filmmusic 1,896]

13 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

An underrated Goldsmith score in my opinion. Decades after his classic Western days, Goldsmith returned once more and filtered the genre through his streamlined post-Rekall style. It's filled with odd-metres, a rousing theme,  some hard pounding action, plus guitar for flavour. Lots of fun!

Just listened to the complete score too!

Yeah, it was great.

One of these days I should start listening to every Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack there is released.

I just find it a bit difficult because the man has written so many scores. Much more than Williams if I'm not mistaken.

[GerateWohl 4,474]

Pavilion of Women - Conrad Pope

Beautiful symphonic romantic score with some nods to traditional chinese music.

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,236]

9 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Beautiful symphonic romantic score with some nods to traditional chinese music.

 

And forgettable?

[Marian Schedenig 8,250]

8 hours ago, filmmusic said:

One of these days I should start listening to every Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack there is released.

I just find it a bit difficult because the man has written so many scores. Much more than Williams if I'm not mistaken.

 

I'd like to spend more time evaluating his more obscure output, but there's so much of it that before long, I'm inevitably drawn back to some of my favourites - of which there also are a lot.

[GerateWohl 4,474]

3 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

And forgettable?

You are hitting an interesting point here. The main theme is not really memorable. But if I compare it for example with Howard Shore's "M Butterfly", which has some musical similarities with this one and actually has a memorable main theme, I must say, I prefer to listen to the Pope score because it is somehow more colorful in texture and variation. To me at least.

[JTN 2,242]

One of my favorite Thomas Newman scores. His trademark melancholic music and really good action scoring. Highly recommended.

[Andy 4,272]

On 22/7/2023 at 7:54 AM, filmmusic said:

 

One of these days I should start listening to every Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack there is released.

I just find it a bit difficult because the man has written so many scores. Much more than Williams if I'm not mistaken.

I do this from time to time.  I’m not a completist, but I have a respectable Goldsmith collection . I promise you this, it is never a waste of time. No matter the genre or movie, there is always something in a Goldsmith score that makes it worth a listen.  You might start with one of the Goldsmith at Fox compilations from LLL. They have nice variety of stuff from his earlier years.  

[filmmusic 1,896]

[crocodile 8,064]

 Avatar: The Way of Water. Haven't heard it in quite some time. I do like the original but it's not prime Horner for me. Of his last blockbusters I actually prefer his Spider-Man way more, it feels more satisfying in the execution of electronics and orchestra. So I have no strong feelings about someone else taking over for the rest of the series. Truth be told, Franglen probably did a better job overall because his score feels more coherent. It's faithful to the sound but feels better fleshed out as a narrative. Wouldn't exactly put it in "great" category but a lot of his themes are pretty enough and his loyal emulation of Hornerisns is quite admirable. Enjoyable.

 

Shame there is no CD release because I would buy that. That vinyl one looks quite lame.

 

Karol

[crocodile 8,064]

6 hours ago, JTW said:

One of my favorite Thomas Newman scores. His trademark melancholic music and really good action scoring. Highly recommended.

Looks like a sequel to Oppenheimer. You can even see his silhouette in the background. Looks like Kitty is running away with Lt. General Groves. 

 

Karol

[filmmusic 1,896]

So, I have officially started listening to Goldsmith's complete film discography, in chronological order.

Since he's my second favorite film composer after Williams, this was overdue.

From now on, I will listen only to Goldsmith. 

 

 

Black patch. Wow! What a film debut!

This was great and I dare say, if we were to compare Williams's first score(s) with this, this was so much better!

Track 9, The Fight, stood out to me.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,443]

I really love that one, and this new recording is truly terrific

[filmmusic 1,896]

21 hours ago, filmmusic said:

So, I have officially started listening to Goldsmith's complete film discography, in chronological order.

Since he's my second favorite film composer after Williams, this was overdue.

From now on, I will listen only to Goldsmith. 

I just wanted to say, I have listened to 6 releases already. I'm in 1962.

And how refreshing is to finally hear some QUALITY music!

I see people (not only here) calling masterpieces some recent scores, but honestly they don't hold a candle to old ones, or Goldsmith specifically.

Now, on to Freud, which is a difficult listen IIRC.

[Schilkeman 1,011]

26 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

I just wanted to say, I have listened to 6 releases already. I'm in 1962.

And how refreshing is to finally hear some QUALITY music!

I see people (not only here) calling masterpieces some recent scores, but honestly they don't hold a candle to old ones, or Goldsmith specifically.

I told my significant other recently that I would love to experience some kind of art soon that keeps me from going all "back in my day" about the current state of films, film music, videogames, or anything else that I care about, and think is in a fallow period. I think, sometimes, we want to cling to anything of passible quality so we don't fall into that hole.

 

But it's hard, when listening to something with the compositional integrity of a Herrmann, Goldsmith, Williams, or early-to-mid Horner score not to despair a little, because so much of the Hollywood infrastructure that allowed them to go from talented to masterful just doesn't exist anymore. I'm sure there are composers capable of being in their league who will never get the experience and freedom necessary to get to that level.

 

It doesn't help that so many current directors seem ignorant of, or even hostile toward, art music, or at least have no love for fully symphonic scores. I think, in an indirect way, so many of the pacing issues I've felt in a lot of modern films can be traced to this, but I might be stretching. It just seems to me that older directors and editors were better attuned to the rhythm and pace of linear art, like music, and this was reflected in the music they chose to use.

[GerateWohl 4,474]

18 minutes ago, Schilkeman said:

But, it's hard, when listening to something with the compositional integrity of a Herrmann, Goldsmith, Williams, or early-to-mid Horner score not to despair a little, because so much of the Hollywood infrastructure that allowed them to go from talented to masterful just doesn't exist anymore. 

On the other hand these young composers today have tools at hand to support their work, that the old composers could only dream of. In a way it would be much easier to create these high quality scores today. 

But, in case of Williams for example, He had always the advantage of being a high end performer. Being a really good jazz pianist paired with his compositional skills and musical knowledge you might not find very often today.

And modern digital composition Tools obviously invite to use some layered copy and paste techniques in composing that comes from electronic music.

And, I said it before, that does not have much to do with classical composition.

[Schilkeman 1,011]

7 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

On the other hand these young composers today have tools at hand to support their work, that the old composers could only dream of. In a way it would be much easier to create these high quality scores today. 

But, in case of Williams for example, He had always the advantage of being a high end performer. Being a really good jazz pianist paired with his compositional skills and musical knowledge you might not find very often today.

 

That's just it, though. I went to school with some of these people, who were fantastic performers, fantastic young composers, and they get out, and there's nowhere to go. There's no working as a studio musician until you get to do some arrangements, then score an episode of a tv show, then the pilot of a new show, then a feature film. Williams was always going to be a world-class talent, he would be exceptional in any time period, but if he was a great jazz pianist and a great composer today, I think he ends up as a college professor, or solely in the realm of concert music. I don't think he becomes a film composer.

[GerateWohl 4,474]

1 hour ago, Schilkeman said:

Williams was always going to be a world-class talent, he would be exceptional in any time period, but if he was a great jazz pianist and a great composer today, I think he ends up as a college professor, or solely in the realm of concert music. I don't think he becomes a film composer.

I guess you are right. Didn't even somebody here say, that Williams said that in front of a musical students class, that he wouldn't start a film composer career in the industry today?

[HyenaBoy 29]

What are we considering as "older scores"?

[filmmusic 1,896]

5 minutes ago, HyenaBoy said:

What are we considering as "older scores"?

Well, up to the late 90s? Maybe even early 00s?

[HyenaBoy 29]

4 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

Well, up to the late 90s? Maybe even early 00s?

Thanks. I there a thread for newer scores, then?

 

[filmmusic 1,896]

7 minutes ago, HyenaBoy said:

Thanks. I there a thread for newer scores, then?

 

Ah, you were asking about the title of this thread. Now I get it!

I think everything up to 2021 2020 is considered an older score. 

Here's a thread about 2023:

and about 2022:

edit:

Oh, there is one about 2021 too:

 

[Tallguy 3,526]

We have threads for various years, but personally anything that is not in the current year comes here. Not that I talk much about scores from the current year.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,719]

7 hours ago, filmmusic said:

Now, on to Freud, which is a difficult listen IIRC.

 

It is a difficult listen, but it's no more a difficult listen, than IMAGES is, for JWfaners.

Anyway, if you've seen ALIEN, you've already heard two cues 

[Jay 37,516]

4 hours ago, HyenaBoy said:

What are we considering as "older scores"?

 

Anything except the current year.

[filmmusic 1,896]

10 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Anyway, if you've seen ALIEN, you've already heard two cues 

Hmmmm. What cues?

I don't have  ALIEN fresh in my memory, but I don't see any similarity.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,719]

Just now, filmmusic said:

Hmmmm. What cues?

I don't have  ALIEN fresh in my memory, but I don't see any similarity.

 

The music that plays when the facehugger leaks acid, and it goes through the infirmary floor, and the cue that plays when Dallas tries to capture the full grown alien, are, both, from FREUD.

[Brónach 1,302]

that editing decision is ridiculous

 

Jerry, my beloved, was right about everything, except perhaps for the scenes that are better without music.

[Andy 4,272]

Nah, it works fine and I never would’ve noticed. 
 

and I don’t find Freud that difficult a listen. 
 

@filmmusic which 6 scores by Goldsmith did you listen to?  Just curious. 

[Jay 37,516]

2 hours ago, filmmusic said:

Hmmmm. What cues?

I don't have  ALIEN fresh in my memory, but I don't see any similarity.

 

The Alien film itself tracks in music from Freud instead of using what Jerry wrote for 2 scenes.

The Alien score by him is fully original and doesn't repeat anything in Freud

[filmmusic 1,896]

25 minutes ago, Andy said:

 

@filmmusic which 6 scores by Goldsmith did you listen to?  Just curious. 

I listen to them in chronological order. Now I have listened to 13.

Black Patch

City of Fear

Face of a Fugitive

Studs Lonigan

Lonely Are the Brave

The Spiral Road

Freud

The List of Adrian Messenger

The Stripper

A Gathering of Eagles

Lilies of the Field

Take Her, She's Mine

The Prize

 

Now, I find it difficult to remember them (since I haven't listened to them ever). I just distinguish some themes here and there.

Which brings me to a question I wanted to make a thread out of:

Is it only me, or does anyone think that the period from late 70s to late 90s, is the period we have the most recognizable themes in film music history ever? From all composers I mean.