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

[Jurassic Shark 12,080]

10 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

they can enjoy watching a video of a film at the cinema with audience noise, as well as terrible picture and sound

 

...on their phone. 

[Edmilson 7,468]

James Horner - House of Cards

 

 

Kinda like a shier cousin to Searching for Bobby Fischer, which came out on the same year. It's less overtly melodramatic than, say, Bobby Fischer or A Beautiful Mind, but it's a rewarding listen. Nice intimate moments and even some ethnic instruments mixed with synths, a Horner trope. An undiscovered gem in 's filmography.

[Thor 7,518]

HOUSE OF CARDS is top 10 Horner for me, or almost. 

 

 

I've been kinda hooked on New Age/ethnic-style scores recently, which made me go back to this 2003 score by Jeff Beal, before he became famous. Love those vast, echoey ambiances, with gongs, voices and winds.

[LSH 969]

2 hours ago, Thor said:

HOUSE OF CARDS is top 10 Horner for me, or almost. 

 

 

I've been kinda hooked on New Age/ethnic-style scores recently, which made me go back to this 2003 score by Jeff Beal, before he became famous. Love those vast, echoey ambiances, with gongs, voices and winds.

The New Age/ethnic genre is one I’ve always loved - my appreciation for it predates that for film scores even (I had an aunt who was waaay into it).

 

This is a great choice, by the way.

 

 

[Thor 7,518]

Cool, LSH! We certainly have that fascination/history in common, I've noticed. Incidentally, continuing my Beal/New Age/ethnic vibe with this 2015 score next (much too long at two and a half hours over two discs, but can be whittled down):

 

[Thor 7,518]

 

I've often said that Velazquez hasn't really wowed me since LO IMPOSSIBLE in 2012. Then last year, he impressed me both with LA CONTADORA DE PELICULAS and the concert work AMAIAREN KONDEIRA, so I decided to give some of those interim scores another chance. This one, from 2016, stood out. The album is much too long, and has several uninteresting tracks, but also some great highlights. When boiled down to 48 minutes, it's a pretty good affair, all in all.

[JTN 2,036]

On 15/2/2024 at 10:24 AM, filmmusic said:

you're right. I didn't like it very much.

By the way, Camile Claudel is one of my favorites too. The love theme is sublime and I think it has Mahlerian influences.

Has he mentioned it in an interview? I didn't know...

I finally had the time to look up my interview with Gabriel, and here's what he said:

GY: "I don't have a favourite, but there is one score that I wrote, that when I perform in a concert, I say to myself "Oh my god, how did I do that?". One, only one, it's called CAMILLE CLAUDEL."

 

He goes on about how three works inspired him to write the score: Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht, Richard Strauss' Metamorphosis and the 1st Movement of Mahler's 10th Symphony. 

[Thor 7,518]

 

It's easy to dismiss Morris because he did all those Mel Brooks comedies, but he always treated those films with musical seriousness, which made them even funnier. Of course he was a brilliant dramatist too, for more serious films. THE ELEPHANT MAN, obviously, but also this adaptation of THE SCARLET LETTER. The sound is a little muddy for a 1979 recording, but the score is beautiful, as one would expect.

[Tallguy 3,401]

2 hours ago, Thor said:

It's easy to dismiss Morris because he did all those Mel Brooks comedies, but he always treated those films with musical seriousness, which made them even funnier.

 

Isn't that like saying "It's easy to dismiss Elmer Bernstein because he did Airplane and Ghostbusters"?

 

I like Young Frankenstein better than a lot of serious scores.

[Thor 7,518]

6 hours ago, Tallguy said:

Isn't that like saying "It's easy to dismiss Elmer Bernstein because he did Airplane and Ghostbusters"?

 

Sure is. Of course, Bernstein was far more prolific than Morris, and had great success in other genres too, but one should always be careful not to prejudge a composer based only on a single sound that he or she is most famous for.

 

 

I talked to a Sri Lankian film critic in Tromsø in January, and inevitably the discussion went to Bollywood scores and Rahman. Her favourite of his was JEANS from 1998, which her dad used to play all the time when she was a kid, and she was glad that I -- too -- loved that score. Light and airy songs with layered and sophisticated production values. So playing that again now. Like me, she also had no idea why it was called JEANS.

 

[filmmusic 1,838]

9 hours ago, Thor said:

but also this adaptation of THE SCARLET LETTER. The sound is a little muddy for a 1979 recording, but the score is beautiful, as one would expect.

I love Barry's The Scarlet Letter. How does this compare?

[Thor 7,518]

38 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

I love Barry's The Scarlet Letter. How does this compare?

 

They're both romantic and pastoral approaches, of course. As someone who's not a big Barry fan (although I like his romantic output, of which SCARLET LETTER is part) I gravitate towards Morris' more transparent style. He's able to finish off his melodic lines quicker and to-the-point. Less half note meandering, which Barry does a lot. As I said, however, the release is hampered by less-than-stellar sound, which might influence the whole evaluation.

[Jay 37,372]

Basil Poledouris - Starship Troopers (complete)

 

Holy hell, I love this score

 

 

Michael Giacchino - Spider-man: Homecoming (LP Program)

 

Holy hell, this short arrangement is really sweet!

 

 

Alexandre Desplat - Valerian and the City of 1,000 Planets (OST)

 

I hadn't listened to this score in a while.  I forgot how much I liked it!  I wish there was a complete version available.

 

 

Jerry Goldsmith - Alien (OST)

 

I hadn't listened to the OST album in a while, only the complete score (many many times).  The OST is nice!

 

Nobuo Uematsu, et all - Final Fantasy VII Remake (OST)

Nobuo Uematsu, et all - Final Fantasy VII Remake (Plus OST)

Nobuo Uematsu, et all - Final Fantasy VII Remake (Intergrade OST)

 

Been listening to all this music again in prepreation for Rebirth.  Still love it all!  Though no album as-is is very good as an album.  The kind of score you need to customize a presentation for yourself.

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

On 22/02/2024 at 9:49 AM, Thor said:

 

I've often said that Velazquez hasn't really wowed me since LO IMPOSSIBLE in 2012. Then last year, he impressed me both with LA CONTADORA DE PELICULAS and the concert work AMAIAREN KONDEIRA, so I decided to give some of those interim scores another chance. This one, from 2016, stood out. The album is much too long, and has several uninteresting tracks, but also some great highlights. When boiled down to 48 minutes, it's a pretty good affair, all in all.

 

I love this score! I made a 58 minute version.

The big 25 minute cue at the end is spectacular I think. Wish composers were able to do that more often these days. I'm a sucker for a good long cue that's well constructed!

[crocodile 8,017]

 What If...? by Laura Karpman. This is probably some of the best scored Marvel content out there. Each episode has its own unique sound, thematic content and is very much reminiscent in style of the Shirley Walker's Batman: The Animated Series (and other DC animation). I sort of wish now they give Karpman the next Avengers film because she clearly knows how to balance out all the different ideas created by other composers and create a fairly coherent whole out of this multitude of, often disparate, ideas. All of this while maintaining the sense of fun, so much welcome in the MCU.

 

Karol

[GerateWohl 4,371]

What if...? is seemingly anyway the best Marvel output since phase 4.

[crocodile 8,017]

Definitely better than most other things they released since Endgame, for sure.

 

Karol

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

9 minutes ago, crocodile said:

 What If...? by Laura Karpman. This is probably some of the best scored Marvel content out there. Each episode has its own unique sound, thematic content and is very much reminiscent in style of the Shirley Walker's Batman: The Animated Series (and other DC animation). I sort of wish now they give Karpman the next Avengers film because she clearly knows how to balance out all the different ideas created by other composers and create a fairly coherent whole out of this multitude of, often disparate, ideas. All of this while maintaining the sense of fun, so much welcome in the MCU.

 

Karol

Agreed that her What If scores are great although having finally having given her score to Ms Marvel a listen yesterday that was somewhat underwhelming which was quite disappointing. 

[Holko 9,529]

Went through most of the rerecordings I've bought physically that I haven't listened to in a while: King Kong, Adventures of Robin Hood, Sea Hawk, Thief of Bagdad, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, North by Northwest, Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, Taras Bulba, Fall of the Roman Empire, 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Born Free, Raise the Titanic, and of course Conan the Barbarian.

 

Some were exhausting (Sea Hawk can be a bit much, and goddammit Dimitri, you know you are allowed to take musical breaks, right?), some lovely to get to know (don't really know Born Free that well so always nice to "rediscover" that there's more to it than the theme), some just plain old fun, and Ben-Hur is of course just perfect in every way. Reading the booklet and listening, the level of commitment to the restoration on Taras Bulba and especially Thief of Bagdad always astonishes me. But I'm just overall insanely happy with and grateful for all of these, and everyone who worked hard to free these wonderful scores from their not great or downright awful sounding or even nonexistent original forms.

[Bespin 8,484]

🤖🚀 L'Umanoide from the Morricone boxset 🌌🔫

 

"L'Umanoide," released in 1979, is an Italian science fiction film directed by Aldo Lado. The movie falls into the genres of science fiction and adventure. It blends elements of futuristic technology, extraterrestrial encounters, and adventurous storytelling.

 

[Andy 4,141]

One of the few Morricone scores I own!  The movie is one of the funniest Star Wars ripoffs out there. The score is quite cosmic in a lovely way 

[Edmilson 7,468]

Danny Elfman - Hulk - Complete Score

 

 

One hugely underrated gem in Elfman's career, and especially among his superhero scores.

 

I like how his Hulk theme, a repeating figure for flutes and strings, is kinda like he's channeling his inner Herrmann and it's used to represent Banner's/Hulk's internal conflicts, as the movie is as much as an exploration of his psychology as a superhero monster movie (which made it be receive some harsh fan responses when it was released two decades ago). There's also another theme related to Bruce's mom and Betty which is more emotional, and the contrats between these two themes form a nice narrative arc.

 

I think that this score can be described as a darker take on his Spider-Man score (with some similar moments but without Spidey's whimsy) mixed with Red Dragon, both of which came out in the year before Hulk. 

 

Even the much-criticized Middle Eastern inspired material, with duduk and female moaning a la Lisa Gerrard, work to diferentiate this score from Spider-Man.

 

Now that his Batman scores, Spider-Man and Hellboy 2 were already expanded, I believe this one (as well as Spiderman 2, but that one may prove a little tricky) should get the expanded treatment as well.

[Edmilson 7,468]

The Painted Veil by Alexandre Desplat

 

 

The stereotypical Alexandre Desplat drama score, with lots of pretty waltzes, unusual percussion, pianos, etc. That means your enjoyment of this score will depend of whether you like his style or not. I myself personally prefer the darker, more dramatic tracks such as The End of Love.

 

Alexandre Desplat - Unbroken

 

 

Nine years ago (oh my gosh...) Desplat was having the best year of his career so far, with him releasing well liked scores such as Grand Budapest Hotel, Godzilla and The Imitation Game. Then there was the score for this movie as well. See, I remember really liking this album and becoming particularly obsessed with the track "Making Gnocchi", so much so that I ended up watching the movie.

 

Now, nine years later, I had no recollection of this score nor the movie. In fact, I had completely forgotten that I had even seen this movie! It completely vanished from my memories. Forcing my brain a bit, and without going to Google, I can vaguely remember it being an Angelina Jolie movie about a guy who becomes POW... Is that right?

 

Anyway, Desplat's score is less "pretty" and more darker and violent, but also a little boring. I can see people not caring about it in the year that had GBH, Godzilla and Imitation Game. But the one track I loved nine years ago is still pretty good!

[GerateWohl 4,371]

On 26/02/2024 at 12:56 AM, Edmilson said:

Danny Elfman - Hulk - Complete Score

 

 

One hugely underrated gem in Elfman's career, and especially among his superhero scores.

 

I like how his Hulk theme, a repeating figure for flutes and strings, is kinda like he's channeling his inner Herrmann and it's used to represent Banner's/Hulk's internal conflicts, as the movie is as much as an exploration of his psychology as a superhero monster movie (which made it be receive some harsh fan responses when it was released two decades ago). There's also another theme related to Bruce's mom and Betty which is more emotional, and the contrats between these two themes form a nice narrative arc.

 

I think that this score can be described as a darker take on his Spider-Man score (with some similar moments but without Spidey's whimsy) mixed with Red Dragon, both of which came out in the year before Hulk. 

 

Even the much-criticized Middle Eastern inspired material, with duduk and female moaning a la Lisa Gerrard, work to diferentiate this score from Spider-Man.

 

Now that his Batman scores, Spider-Man and Hellboy 2 were already expanded, I believe this one (as well as Spiderman 2, but that one may prove a little tricky) should get the expanded treatment as well.

I used to like that one more before I found that the main theme is a one to one copy from Holst's Saturn.

 

How I recognized that? Well, I listened to the opening track of Howard Shore's The Yards. And I thought, that is Elfman's Hulk theme, isn't it? But Shore credited it as adapted from Holst's Saturn.

And I thought, shame on you Danny. Not only that he didn't credit, what he actually took over from Danna's rejected score. He also stole the main theme from Holst without crediting him.

Quite unelegant,

 

 

[JTN 2,036]

Hmmm… I don’t think Elfman’s theme is a copy of Saturn. I hear some similarities, but overall they sound very different. Sorry.

[GerateWohl 4,371]

17 minutes ago, JTW said:

Hmmm… I don’t think Elfman’s theme is a copy of Saturn. I hear some similarities, but overall they sound very different. Sorry.

Hey, this four note theme? Even the Instrument, flute, is the same.

[Tallguy 3,401]

On 25/02/2024 at 6:56 PM, Edmilson said:

is kinda like he's channeling his inner Herrmann

 

Does he have an inner Herrmann? I thought he only has an outer Herrmann.

[Thor 7,518]

10 hours ago, Edmilson said:

The Painted Veil by Alexandre Desplat

 

The stereotypical Alexandre Desplat drama score, with lots of pretty waltzes, unusual percussion, pianos, etc. That means your enjoyment of this score will depend of whether you like his style or not. I myself personally prefer the darker, more dramatic tracks such as The End of Love.

 

I would say the opposite. Refreshingly few of his usual cloppety-clop rhytmical motifs, and instead longlined, elaborate melodic lines and layered orchestrations. A very UNtypical Desplat score, IMO (although recognizable as him, of course) that makes it my no. 1 favourite of his.

 

 

The orchestra is a little meager, the sound quality wears its age, but nothing wrong with the music, of course. I'd love to have this exact suite/album program (including THE QUIET MAN) replicated with contemporary sound and a larger orchestra.

[JTN 2,036]

3 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

Hey, this four note theme? Even the Instrument, flute, is the same.

Yet the theme doesn’t feel the same to me, only slightly similar. Again, sorry.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

I dicovered this via FMR one day last year while looking for inspiration and it's a really nice 45 minute album of atmospheric, percussion and some string/brass material - a very setters/natives vibe to it, and a really nice action-esque track with some wild percusson. Also a lovely theme hinted throughout and given extended treatment in Rajah of Sarawak. It's a perfect sort of album to have on in the background as it has a slightly slow classical tendency. Looks like the composer has done some Netflix stuff that is worth exploring.

 

Also wins my award for one of the best OST covers I've seen lately, although it's got a great poster as source material.

 

[Thor 7,518]

I tried EDGE OF THE WORLD awhile back, but alas it didn't do that much for me -- despite the tantalizing cover.

 

 

Is it on Williams' level? No, not really. But a "fat" and delicious orchestral score, ripe with pastoral beauty. Shame it's only out on a promo set.

[JTN 2,036]

Arthur B. Rubinstein is one of my favorite film composers, and imho one of the most underrated in film music history. His score to BLUE THUNDER is a masterpiece, and WARGAMES is also amazing. The film it was written to is also a gem, more relevant than ever. Rubinstein’s score is just awesome, and I can’t thank Quartet Records enough for releasing it some years ago. I wish they would revisit BT as well, it would very much deserve it.

[Thor 7,518]

 

Gorgeous score, as always with Ozon/Rombi. Chamber orchestra stylings. The two classical pieces, by Chopin and Tchaikovsky, feel ingrained with the rest of the score.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

2 hours ago, Thor said:

I tried EDGE OF THE WORLD awhile back, but alas it didn't do that much for me -- despite the tantalizing cover.

 

I admit that the great cover (well, great poster) was an element in deciding to give it a go. It's not for everyone though.

 

2 hours ago, Thor said:

Is it on Williams' level? No, not really. But a "fat" and delicious orchestral score, ripe with pastoral beauty. Shame it's only out on a promo set.

 

I'll probably bang on about this until the end of time, but the day we stop using 'Williams' level' as an indicator of a high quality score will be a good one.

[Thor 7,518]

Well, I thought it was appropriate in this case, since they've both done HEIDI films. It's natural to compare one adaptation to the other.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

Oh are they two films based on the same story/characters? Makes more sense in that case.

[Tallguy 3,401]

So, people seem to like this one.

 

Outside of the film (that I am lukewarm on) I've never heard it.

 

Hey, this is pretty good! I mean, there's nothing really "new" here from a Goldsmith perspective. It's Jerry doing what he was great at. Bit of Air Force One. Bits of Star Trek Insurrection / Nemesis. Swirled in with Lawrence of Arabia. (There are actually some bits that sound kind of Mask of Zorro! How often did THAT happen?)

 

But I have to say, this is a hoot. I don't know what's new and exciting on any expansions.

 

I think Ron Jones took a bite out of this for his video game score Starfleet Command 2. I never realized how Goldsmith that sounded, since it was such a departure from SFC 1 and the Star Trek sound in general.

 

Why is Mumia Attack "explicit"?

 

EDIT: OK, Camel Race is pretty spectacular, isn't it?

[Thor 7,518]

"Night Boarders" is one of the best tracks written in all of film music history. I constantly blasted that with windows open back in the early 2000s, no doubt annoying people passing by. It's my alltime favourite Goldsmith score. Makes a good companion piece to THE WIND AND THE LION --  a kind of "middle-eastern avantgarde" sound (yes, I know Egypt and Morocco are not middle-eastern, but North African music has those Arabic elements).

[Romão 2,274]

This is one of my all time favorite Goldsmith action tracks:

 

 

[Thor 7,518]

 

That opening track, man. Pop beats & synth & gregorian chants a whole decade before the likes of Enigma, Era and Deep Forest (film is from 1982). It's' a delightful score, this, that mixes lithurgy, eastern mystisism, lounge and suspense.

[Thor 7,518]

 

In the "series" of scores that incorporate classical pastiche, this remains another highlight. One of Portman's finest, I think, and more variation of themes than usual. The actual classical pieces are organically intervowen. If you look quickly at the cover, you might mistake Keira Knightley for Natalie Portman (something they managed to exploit in the SW prequels, of course), in which case it would have been a Portman score for a Portman film. But alas.

[GerateWohl 4,371]

42 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

In the "series" of scores that incorporate classical pastiche, this remains another highlight. One of Portman's finest, I think, and more variation of themes than usual. The actual classical pieces are organically intervowen. If you look quickly at the cover, you might mistake Keira Knightley for Natalie Portman (something they managed to exploit in the SW prequels, of course), in which case it would have been a Portman score for a Portman film. But alas.

Wow! Another match. I am not that much of a Rachel Portman fan, but this score I find excelent. Probably my favourite of her.

[Thor 7,518]

We see eye to eye now and then, Geratewohl. It's just that we've made it into a "running joke" that we're so different in everything.

 

 

So gorgeous, it makes your heart melt, this one. Album might need a little trimming, but I put this on the same level as John Barry's classic, outrageous as that may sound.

[bollemanneke 3,349]

The wind that shakes the barley. Missing everything a sensible person would have included on an album.

[Thor 7,518]

5 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

The wind that shakes the barley. Missing everything a sensible person would have included on an album.

 

The George Fenton score? That is very nice indeed.

[Bespin 8,484]

I don't know if it's because I'm getting older (I'll be 50 next week), if I feel time speeding up, or if I'm noticing that film music is changing, or all of this at once... but anyway, I just realized that among the most significant works of the 21st century, we have Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings trilogy. I think it's unanimous. Note that to this monumental work, I would also add the first 3 Harry Potter films by John Williams.

 

With this in mind, I'm starting to explore the complete scores of Howard Shore for LOTR, as until now I had only devoted myself to listening to the OSTs.

 

I started with the complete recordings set of The Two Towers.

 

It's a fascinating world!

[filmmusic 1,838]

You know, I never got around to listening the complete recordings.

I only listened to the osts once, if not at all...

[Jurassic Shark 12,080]

They're not that good.

[Badzeee 110]

I know there's a new Dune film out, and a new (and inevitable) Zimmer score to go with it, but I wanted to go back and re-watch the old David Lynch version before seeing the new Villeneuve flick. Haven't managed to get around to it yet, but out of sheer curiosity, I listened to this. 

 

The Prophecy Theme by Brian Eno is pretty good, all airy and mysterious, but some of the other tracks by Toto are godawful in their dated 1980s production stylings. Suddenly Zimmer didn't feel quite so samey. 

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

Both scores work reasonably well in their films (with the Zimmer score having several moments where it seems very overbearing for no discernible reason). But the Toto score is actually interesting music that I like to listen to apart from the movie, unlike Zimmer's sound design.

 

Of course, the Toto score accompanies a film that, despite many brilliant aspects, simply doesn't work itself. The score is perhaps that one aspect where it trumps Villeneuve's version.