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

[JTN 2,048]

It was one of my childhood dreams come true to interview Craig Safan. I grew up with his classic score to THE LAST STARFIGHTER and I get teary-eyed whenever I listen to it.

[Thor 7,523]

 

Had to playlist the shit out of it, but at 47 minutes, it works reasonably well. It was never on Horner's level, obviously, and not on Franglen's either (which I also had to playlist the heck out of), but Toprak captures the exotic elements well. The completely non-descript action music not so much, which is why you see little of it here.

[bollemanneke 3,352]

Deep impact, first half. The mastering sucks big time.

[Thor 7,523]

 

Illarramendi goes Italian, sorta. The guitars, the accordions, the melancholy - it sounds like Delerue scored LADY AND THE TRAMP. But to its benefit, without question. Only 7 score tracks, though, the rest songs.

[Thor 7,523]

 

Coulais is hit and miss to me (more miss than hit), but occasionally he hits a home run. This old, 2001 effort is a fascinating score to get lost in - dark and brooding, but with many interesting percussive elements going on. It's kinda Howard Shore in style, the Shore you hear in THE CELL. That, along with WOLFWALKERS and BLANCHE COMME NEIGE remain my Coulais favs, I think.

[JTN 2,048]

I like Coraline and Les Choristes. 

[Thor 7,523]

 

Part modern and explorative, part old-school and pastoral. I like the latter bits best. But all in all, one of Dudley's best efforts.

[JTN 2,048]

The main theme is catchy, the rest of it is good, but nothing special. 

[Bespin 8,484]

What was my surprise, and my dismay, to realize while intending to listen to Dave Grusin's soundtrack of the movie 'On Golden Pond' that it seems there exists on the market only a completely dated version of the soundtrack which includes dialogue excerpts from the film. So I say: HEY... WO.... STOP!... THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

 

 

[JNHFan2000 2,969]

Days Of Thunder - Hans Zimmer

 

Love this score! One of Zimmer's best from before 2000. So glad La La Land released this.

 

And I'm always hoping that Zimmer does a score like this again.

 

 

 

 

35 minutes ago, Bespin said:

What was my surprise, and my dismay, to realize while intending to listen to Dave Grusin's soundtrack of the movie 'On Golden Pond' that it seems there exists on the market only a completely dated version of the soundtrack which includes dialogue excerpts from the film. So I say: HEY... WO.... STOP!... THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

 

 

Yeah, I would love for the music to be released without dialogue

[GerateWohl 4,378]

18 hours ago, Thor said:

 

Part modern and explorative, part old-school and pastoral. I like the latter bits best. But all in all, one of Dudley's best efforts.

I like the score, too. But I wished Dudley had written a stronger remarkable love theme for it. The one she actually came up with is a little pale regarding the depth of this fatal love. 

By the way, listening again to it I was particularly reminded of McCreary's Rings of Power music, which is thematically stronger. 

[Badzeee 110]

Ennio Morricone:

 

 

[Edmilson 7,474]

12 minutes ago, Badzeee said:

Ennio Morricone:

 

 

 

For a moment I thought this was the Great Album Covers thread 

[Thor 7,523]

Great choice, Badzee!

 

7 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

I like the score, too. But I wished Dudley had written a stronger remarkable love theme for it. The one she actually came up with is a little pale regarding the depth of this fatal love. 

By the way, listening again to it I was particularly reminded of McCreary's Rings of Power music, which is thematically stronger. 

True, but the whole film takes a slightly detached approach, if memory serves.

[JTN 2,048]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

For a moment I thought this was the Great Album Covers thread 

If the girls didn't wear bras, it would be. 

[Thor 7,523]

 

I can appreciate Rob wanting to explore non-electronic idioms, which he has done a lot lately, but this is the Rob I love, a film I haven't seen (from 2014). Melodic, airy, funky, beautiful electronic landscapes.

[filmmusic 1,843]

 

A sonic marvel! And I'm not referring to the sound quality but to the music itself!

One of my top 10 favorite non-John Williams scores of all time!

[Badzeee 110]

On 2/2/2024 at 4:19 PM, Edmilson said:

 

For a moment I thought this was the Great Album Covers thread 

 

I do love a bit of Morricone. Somewhere I have the original vinyl LP of this (which is now virtually unplayable). It has this vibrant ORANGE cover:

 

[JTN 2,048]

 

Almost as good as the first one, an amazing continuation of Poledouris’ first classic score.

[Jurassic Shark 12,094]

I've never understood the appeal of these.

[Tom Guernsey 2,287]

Our local cinema is doing a screening of BTTF this afternoon so I had to revisit the score ahead of time. Nothing much new to say although it did strike me how impressively complex some of the writing is compared to a lot of Silvestri's prior film scores. Given all the fuss people made about how Danny Elfman couldn't possibly have written Batman, if I were around in 1985, I'd have been pretty surprised at BTTF coming from Silvestri.

 

[JTN 2,048]

I’m really starting to like this score. 

 

Not bad at all. 

[JTN 2,048]

Cool score.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

Lifeforce by Michael Kamen

An overall interesting atmosphere but it lacks a strong motif that would make of this score a great one.

[JNHFan2000 2,969]

The Post - John Williams

 

I really love this score!

It's very 90's Williams in drama mode. I of course love the string work in this score, but the more introspective moments with the piano are gorgeous.

And the end credits suite is phenomenal!

[GerateWohl 4,378]

On 04/02/2024 at 3:18 PM, Tom Guernsey said:

Our local cinema is doing a screening of BTTF this afternoon so I had to revisit the score ahead of time. Nothing much new to say although it did strike me how impressively complex some of the writing is compared to a lot of Silvestri's prior film scores. Given all the fuss people made about how Danny Elfman couldn't possibly have written Batman, if I were around in 1985, I'd have been pretty surprised at BTTF coming from Silvestri.

 

My only criticism on this one like on many other Silvestri scores as well: Great themes that are almost never varied. When they appear, they always appear in nearly the same way. But, yeah, he is not a Williams. 

[Thor 7,523]

 

Stunningly gorgeous score from 2011 with shades of both SCHINDLER'S LIST and THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS. It remains Fock's best score to date. Requires a little bit of whittling, though.

[filmmusic 1,843]

14 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Stunningly gorgeous score from 2011 with shades of both SCHINDLER'S LIST and THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS. It remains Fock's best score to date. Requires a little bit of whittling, though.

Never heard of this or the composer. Since you mentioned Schindler's List, I will take a listen!

[Thor 7,523]

Please do. I would be surprised if you didn't like it. Focks can be really good sometimes, and often subscribe to old-school romanticism. Other favs are NIGHT TRAIN TO LISBON and OSTWIND. Her EHRENGARD from last year is also great, but more in a Desplat-ian style (when Desplat is good). Alas not released yet. Her albums are always too long, but can be whittled down.

[JTN 2,048]

Probably the best John Williams score not written by Williams. Perfect action adventure music, gorgeous orchestrations, pure 80s nostalgia. Basically all my childhood dreams and hopes encapsulated.

[Bespin 8,484]

3 minutes ago, JTW said:

 

I tried really hard to connect with this movie, but for some reason I can't quite define, it never clicked for me. As a child of the 80s, this movie belongs to the era of many films I cherished during my childhood, yet this one is absent from my memories.

[Tallguy 3,402]

1 hour ago, Bespin said:

 

I tried really hard to connect with this movie, but for some reason I can't quite define, it never clicked for me. As a child of the 80s, this movie belongs to the era of many films I cherished during my childhood, yet this one is absent from my memories.

 

Yeah, I missed the boat on Goonies. 1985 was right in my prime movie going teenage years and it just didn't grab me. Didn't see it at the theater and could never get through it on home video. Ah well, I'll always have Ladyhawke and Back to the Future.

[GerateWohl 4,378]

Same here. I think, Goonies missed the supernatural element at the time to attract me.

And it didn't have a John Williams score.

But then, Stand By Me I watched. But that had Stephen King's name on it at least.

 

[JTN 2,048]

@Bespin @Tallguy @GerateWohlSo nice to know that you didn’t care for this classic, but this thread is about the scores, not the films.

[Bespin 8,484]

Just now, JTW said:

@Bespin @Tallguy @GerateWohlSo nice to know that you didn’t care for this classic, but this thread is about the scores, not the films.

 

I don't connect with the score either!!!

[Tallguy 3,402]

43 minutes ago, JTW said:

@Bespin @Tallguy @GerateWohlSo nice to know that you didn’t care for this classic, but this thread is about the scores, not the films.

 

I mean, it's no Ladyhawke.

[JTN 2,048]

No, it’s much better. 

[Bespin 8,484]

1 hour ago, JTW said:

No, it’s much better. 

 

I don't connect with you either!!! 

 

[Faleel 5,364]

On 06/02/2024 at 12:14 PM, GerateWohl said:

My only criticism on this one like on many other Silvestri scores as well: Great themes that are almost never varied. When they appear, they always appear in nearly the same way.

[JTN 2,048]

1 hour ago, Bespin said:

 

I don't connect with you either!!! 

 

 

[Tallguy 3,402]

Just now, JTW said:

 

 

Everyone who just made the dejected Artoo noise: Drink!

[Bespin 8,484]

It's John Williams's birthday!

Let's listen to some OSTs!

• Fiddler on the Roof
• Return of the Jedi
• Heidi
• Valley of the Dolls
• The Book Thief

[JTN 2,048]

Pure Michael Kamen awesomeness.

[filmmusic 1,843]

9 minutes ago, JTW said:

Pure Michael Kamen awesomeness.

Yeah, I mentioned in the last film you watched thread, that it's my favorite Kamen score.

What are the chances of an expansion?

[JTN 2,048]

Yeah, you gave me the idea to listen to it.

Well I guess the same as with any other MK scores. TTM is owned by Disney, so no idea. Would be great, though. But my holy grail is Highlander, that’s my favorite Kamen score, along with Robin Hood PoT. (I also love Mr. Holland’s Opus, Hudson Hawk, The Iron Giant, Band of Brothers and X-Men.)

[Thor 7,523]

 

Siliotto is an interesting case for me. When I discovered Siliotto's gorgeous MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN in 2016 or thereabouts, I thought he was new, interesting voice on the scene. I obviously knew he had done THE PUNISHER some 10 years prior, but still fairly young and promising, I thought. Then I realized he was, in fact, a super veteran (he's 74 now) and had a huge back catalogue. He was already in his 40s when he decided to focus more extensively on film music in the mid 80s! Since then, I've been trying to explore more of his work. This broad and heartfelt score from 1995 has been one of the positive discoveries.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

1 minute ago, bruce marshall said:

 

Nm

[Thor 7,523]

 

Another good one from Siliotto. Yes, it's romantic.

[Thor 7,523]

 

Young is one of the few composers who can make thrillers and horrors listenable with his "delicious darkness" approach to things. Here's another example from 1991, with a fair bit of Goldsmith-isms thrown in (as he often did at the time).

[Thor 7,523]

 

7/G RAINBOW COLONY, a 2004 score by Yuvan Shankar Raja, son of legend Ilaiyaraaja. I find the 1000+ scores of his dad to be an overwhelming task to propery explore (a top 10 Ilaiyaraaja list would be helpful, DemonStar, if you're reading) , but 44-year-old Raja jr. still has a whopping 170 credits to his name. This is eclectic fare, mixing voices, electronics and more traditional styles. But it is mostly an instrumental score album, which is kinda rare in Bollywood.