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

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

3 hours ago, Bespin said:

 

- Hook (2023)

 

That would be "32nd" 

[Holko 9,526]

I was just randomly scrolling through MBR's stock categorised by labels I know when I saw that Cinevox had already expanded Giú La Testa and it was reissued and still in stock. I don't know how I never knew about that or never tried looking for it, I've loved it since I first heard the OST on the first big Morricone box, and loved it even more after I finally watched the movie (which easily became my favourite of the "Once Upon trilogy" - the score might be too, I really like America now but it's not varied enough, and I don't really want to bother with West until somebody does a proper sounding release). So I just did a quick sample check to see if it's a worthy release, not still a mess like that West reissue, and ordered it immediately with HTTYD3 in maybe 5 minutes. And I still friggin' love it, just a perfect blend of beauty and melancholy slightly tinged with spaghetti western textures and sprinkled with some fun additions, I especially adore the aching theme for the flashbacks that's often played by lush romantic strings or the female vocalist. Most of the alternates aren't huge revelations but it's a nice alternate program and I found all the differences interesting enough.

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

Wolf Totem - James Horner

 

What a wonderful score. Full of all the Hornerism's one could wish for and I love every second of it.

 

Still sometimes think about all the scores he could've written over the past 9 years and how it felt after this that he was making a bit of a comeback.

[Thor 7,508]

WOLF TOTEM is Horner's last great score, IMO.

 

 

NIDO DE VIUDAS, or WIDOW'S NEST in English, is a 1977 film with a superb Francis Lai score. Deeply melancholic, with gorgeous mixes of synth and orchestra. Some of it has a NEVERENDING STORY vibe. Alas, it's only available in the Anthology box, so I had to throw this cover together in 2 minutes to have something in my iTunes.

[Thor 7,508]

 

This is one of the Robbinses I always had a bit of trouble getting into. Something about the starkness of the minimalism, I think. But once you weed out the existing songs and pieces, you're left with 32 minutes of score, which means the style doesn't wear out its welcome.

[Thor 7,508]

 

From the cover, it might look like a cheesy comedy, and perhaps it is. But one shouldn't be fooled by the cover. Remember how WE'RE NO ANGELS, despite its cover, housed a rollicking George Fenton action score? While this is no action score, it's a gorgeous religioso score that channels wonderful, lithurgic choir. No comedy in sight. I'm ALWAYS sold when it comes to this religious sound, so this quickly rocketed into my top 10 Sarde when I discovered it a few weeks back.

[Badzeee 110]

John Barry - The Scarlet Letter

 

Perhaps not one of his more celebrated scores, but I adore it. Barry at his most yearningly romantic. The choral arrangements (Agnus Dei) are superlative. 

 

[Thor 7,508]

One of my Barry favs, for sure.

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

One of Armstrong's most beautiful scores. He's at his best in this romantic setting.

I've edited our the songs etc. so I'm just left with Armstrongs score and it's one of the best romantic drama scores of the past 10 years in my opinion.

 

 

[Thor 7,508]

Certainly is. Top 3 Armstrong for me.

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

What are the other two???

[Edmilson 7,466]

Speaking of Barry...

 

High Road to China

 

 

One of my favorite scores from him. The main theme just soars! 

 

Across the Sea of Time

 

 

Wow! That was great! 45 minutes of traditionally melancholic Barry. I never heard of this movie (I think it's a documentary about the United States and specifically New York?), but the score is wonderful.

[Badzeee 110]

10 hours ago, Edmilson said:

Speaking of Barry...

 

High Road to China

 

 

One of my favorite scores from him. The main theme just soars! 

 

Across the Sea of Time

 

 

Wow! That was great! 45 minutes of traditionally melancholic Barry. I never heard of this movie (I think it's a documentary about the United States and specifically New York?), but the score is wonderful.

 

Across The Sea of Time was an IMAX movie, by all accounts. I never saw it, but picked up a copy of the soundtrack, somewhere, sometime! I agree, it’s fabulous, however little known. 

 

Trailer here

[Thor 7,508]

10 hours ago, JNHFan2000 said:

What are the other two???

 

WORLD TRADE CENTER and ROSA MORTA (non-film album). If latter doesn't count, then IN TIME. Armstrong is very good at synths too, not just orchestra. It's rare that you find a composer equally skilled in both arenas.

[JTN 2,030]

On 9/3/2024 at 5:36 PM, Thor said:

WOLF TOTEM is Horner's last great score, IMO.

It’s this one, imo.

[GerateWohl 4,370]

32 minutes ago, Thor said:

Armstrong is very good at synths too, not just orchestra. It's rare that you find a composer equally skilled in both arenas.

For me Armstrong always was basically an electronic musician, who just uses occasionally orchestral arrangements to enrich his electronic soundscapes. Like Zimmer and others, too. This comes from firstly, how I got to know them (from their electronic music) and the way they use the orchestra (use the orchestra instruments as rhythmic patterns or enriching sound carpet).

Surely I don't do them completely justice by that view. But that's how I feel about it.

[Thor 7,508]

Well, sure, he's good at that too. But he has many purely orchestral works, that are on level with composers that only, or primarily, work with orchestra. That's rare. Things like FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, LOVE ACTUALLY, PLUNKETT & MACLEANE (what an action score!), WORLD TRADE CENTER, the Peter Mullan films (chamber ensembles) etc. There is no "orchestra used as rhythmic pattern" etc. there. It's all just skilled, dynamic, classical orchestral writing.

 

 

This was a nifty little thriller from 2016. I dig Toydrum's work in general, and while this isn't on the level of DEEP WATER and FUTUREWORLD, I love the combination of ethereal, childlike innocence and those experimental, grindy, zithering tension elements they're known for. It should never get too pretty!

[GerateWohl 4,370]

2 hours ago, Thor said:

Well, sure, he's good at that too. But he has many purely orchestral works, that are on level with composers that only, or primarily, work with orchestra. That's rare. Things like FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, LOVE ACTUALLY, PLUNKETT & MACLEANE (what an action score!), WORLD TRADE CENTER, the Peter Mullan films (chamber ensembles) etc. There is no "orchestra used as rhythmic pattern" etc. there. It's all just skilled, dynamic, classical orchestral writing.

Thanks. Probably I give some of these a listen.

 

His only score I once had (and liked) was The Quiet American, which is basically a beautiful but typical 90s ambient triphop score à la Portishead with piano and strings. 

But I am curious about his more orchestral efforts.

 

[Badzeee 110]

Craig Armstrong came to prominence as an arranger for Massive Attack, famously for Unfinished Sympathy, which is why it seems to be a common perception that he's some kind of trip-hop artiste. 

 

I love all the pieces Thor mentions in his post above, and especially agree re: Plunkett & Macleane, one track of which was used on the UK version of The Apprentice for years.  All his solo albums are quite beautiful too - often a mix of guest vocal soloists and instrumental pieces. Of the film scores of his that I know, I'd add The Clearing, Best Laid Plans (not much of his actual score on the album, sadly), Elizabeth: the Golden Age (with AR Rahman and which is epic), The Incredible Hulk (the Ang Lee version IIRC) and The Great Gatsby.

 

Far From the Madding Crowd was actually new to me, so thanks @JNHFan2000 for that one. Time to go back and listen to some more recent Armstrong scores that I've missed! 

 

I think that Armstrong is essentially a superb composer / arranger who is very at home in the studio, which is why there's often a slant of electronica to his work. But his orchestral chops are also formidable, so you've got (in my view) an extremely flexible and technologically erudite composer who is as at home composing romantic, olde worlde scores as he is modernistic pieces with more of an element of ambient sound design to them. 

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

20 minutes ago, Badzeee said:

Far From the Madding Crowd was actually new to me, so thanks @JNHFan2000 for that one. Time to go back and listen to some more recent Armstrong scores that I've missed! 

You're welcome. His The One And Only Ivan is also very good. Incredible main themes there as well.

[filmmusic 1,831]

23 hours ago, Thor said:

 

From the cover, it might look like a cheesy comedy, and perhaps it is. But one shouldn't be fooled by the cover. Remember how WE'RE NO ANGELS, despite its cover, housed a rollicking George Fenton action score? While this is no action score, it's a gorgeous religioso score that channels wonderful, lithurgic choir. No comedy in sight. I'm ALWAYS sold when it comes to this religious sound, so this quickly rocketed into my top 10 Sarde when I discovered it a few weeks back.

Just listened to it too.

Wasn't so interested in the choir music, as it sounded more like source music, but in the rest. Quite good music!

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

Texas Rising - Bruce Broughton & John Debney

 

That opening suite alone is enough to place this as a modern day classic!

[Thor 7,508]

 

I think this 1967 score is one of the first feature film scores Grusin ever did? In any case, it's a solid album. Loungey, with some sprinkles of orchestral drama and even those quasi-baroque elements I love so much in jazz-centered scores. Kritzerland put it out on CD in 2011.

[Thor 7,508]

 

I've had a digital version of this score in my collection for years, but I think I've only played it once. Returning to it now, and I can't understand why I haven't played it more often. It really is a lovely slice of Americana. Grusin and Randy Newman, in particular, really knew (know) how to capture that twangy, down-to-earth Americana style.

[LSH 969]

42 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

I've had a digital version of this score in my collection for years, but I think I've only played it once. Returning to it now, and I can't understand why I haven't played it more often. It really is a lovely slice of Americana. Grusin and Randy Newman, in particular, really knew (know) how to capture that twangy, down-to-earth Americana style.

Big fan of this one.

[Tallguy 3,398]

Listening to the single Theme from Close Encounters. It's almost like time traveling to the winter of 1978. I can smell the plastic of my first Star Wars toys.

[Andy 4,138]

That single got significant radio play as I recall. 

[Tallguy 3,398]

9 hours ago, Andy said:

That single got significant radio play as I recall. 

 

Anytime I hear a radio station say "We play ALLLLLL the hits of the SEVENTEEEEEEEES!" I'm always like "Yeah? Where's Close Encounters and Star Wars? (Meco AND John Williams!) Where's King Tut? Where's Send in the Clowns?" Sure they play Billy Joel and Steve Miller but where's the WEIRD stuff?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

Ken Bruce used to play the full version of 'Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft', by The Carpenters. He also played 'Forever Autumn', from the chimes of Big Ben, to the end of side two. Nowadays, it's all modern shit, and "urban soul", whatever that is.

[Badzeee 110]

14 hours ago, Tallguy said:

Listening to the single Theme from Close Encounters. It's almost like time traveling to the winter of 1978. I can smell the plastic of my first Star Wars toys.

 

I love it. 

 

I know JW himself would like to disown it - and apparently requested it was left off the LLL expanded version. Luckily I still have my own, battered old 7" single from 1978 if I really want to blast it out loud. 

[Tallguy 3,398]

36 minutes ago, Badzeee said:

 

I love it. 

 

I know JW himself would like to disown it - and apparently requested it was left off the LLL expanded version. Luckily I still have my own, battered old 7" single from 1978 if I really want to blast it out loud. 

 

Thankfully I have it on the Varese CD from 1990. It has a quintessential Williamsness that the Meco Star Wars lacks. (Not that I don't love Meco's Star Wars.)

[Bespin 8,483]

16 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

 

Thankfully I have it on the Varese CD from 1990. It has a quintessential Williamsness that the Meco Star Wars lacks. (Not that I don't love Meco's Star Wars.)

 

We can also found the disco track on this 2015 release.

 

Unfortunately, once you've experienced the Expansion... you rarely (well, that's my case) want to go back to the OST where some analog edits are not very well executed.

 

But, hey... that was the OST, it's 'historic'!

 

NOTE: Moreover, if Stéphane Lerouge wants to include excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind in a potential volume 2 of his John Williams 'Écoutez le cinéma' box set (because the suite presented on volume 1 is far from sufficient), it is absolutely necessary that he select excerpts from the expansion and not from the OST. Mercy.

[Tallguy 3,398]

16 minutes ago, Bespin said:

 

We can also found the disco track on this 2015 release.

 

Unfortunately, once you've experienced the Expansion... you rarely (well, that's my case) want to go back to the OST where some analog edits are not very well executed.

 

But, hey... that was the OST, it's 'historic'!
 

 

The original LP is possibly the finest 40 minutes of film music ever assembled. (Sorry, Star Trek. Raiders and E.T. you're wonderful but you aren't in the running. Jedi, go away. You know what you did.) It took the most recent expansion to make me even think of budging from it.

And yesterday I was listening to a playlist that was just the LP program recreated using the expansion tracks. Which ends with the single from the original CD, of course.

[Bespin 8,483]

3 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

 

The original LP is possibly the finest 40 minutes of film music ever assembled. (Sorry, Star Trek. Raiders and E.T. you're wonderful but you aren't in the running. Jedi, go away. You know what you did.) It took the most recent expansion to make me even think of budging from it.

And yesterday I was listening to a playlist that was just the LP program recreated using the expansion tracks. Which ends with the single from the original CD, of course.

Yes, of course it's great when we listen to the "New" digital edits from the expansion, not the clunky ones from the old OST.

[Jay 37,369]

You want to use disc 1 track 10 after the main titles, not disc 2 tracks 11 then 12, to replicate the OST as close as possible.

 

Clicky.

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

Alice in Wonderland by Richard Hartley (his brother JR wrote a book about fly fishing...). One of a run of Hallmark (and probably other network) TV movies in the late 90s with delightful orchestral scores by Richard Hartley and Richard Harvey (neatly next to each other in iTunes). Hartley's score to Alice is much more playful than the somewhat urgent sound of Elfman's score for the Burton version, perhaps closer in spirit to the John Barry score for the 70s version. However, where those two composers are pretty readily identifiable, Hartley's score is more of a mashup of 80s and 90s feature scores, notably bits of Hook and Casper, plus others I've almost certainly missed. Not the most original, but charming and tuneful all the same. The songs are silly but fun and entirely appropriate.

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

Just now, Tom Guernsey said:

Alice in Wonderland by Richard Hartley (his brother JR wrote a book about fly fishing...).

Not many people will get that.

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

2 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Not many people will get that.

One is enough. ;-)

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

Tru, dat.

 

[Thor 7,508]

So gorgeous, that score, like practically all Hartley.

[LSH 969]

 

While I prefer Casino Royale as a complete work, there is no question that this should be considered his best 007 score - simply for the reason that he proved himself so utterly for the job, and the legacy proves that.

 

All of his Bond scores have several singular superb moments in them and I place this score as a very close second. 

 

'White Knight' is not only my favourite Arnold Bond cue... it's also not only my favourite Arnold cue entire... it's one of my favourite cues of all time! (Hearing it played live at Birmingham Symphony Hall back in 2016 was one of my absolute captivating live music experiences to date). The tension build in the first third of this cue is fucking sublime. Those bass marimbas!

 

The expansion is fantastic by the way!

[Andy 4,138]

11 hours ago, Badzeee said:

 

I love it. 

 

I know JW himself would like to disown it - and apparently requested it was left off the LLL expanded version. Luckily I still have my own, battered old 7" single from 1978 if I really want to blast it out loud. 

 

11 hours ago, Tallguy said:

 

Thankfully I have it on the Varese CD from 1990. It has a quintessential Williamsness that the Meco Star Wars lacks. (Not that I don't love Meco's Star Wars.)

Orchestral version of the Disco arrangement

 

 

[Tallguy 3,398]

Compare the strings at 1:56 of the above to 2:22 on this:

 

 

Not even in the same class.

[Badzeee 110]

19 hours ago, Andy said:

 

Orchestral version of the Disco arrangement

 

 

 

OHHHHHHHH

 

[Collapses in pleasure] 

 

Nah, of course not in the same class as JW's version, but certainly an honourable interpretation. There are some... er, not-so-great cover versions of CE3K to be found on YouTube... 

 

On the other hand, I also find myself thinking that it's really difficult to mess up with the beautiful (apparent) simplicity of those five notes...

[Edmilson 7,466]

(is July of 2023 old enough to get into this thread? if not then feel free to move it to the appropriate thread)

 

Oppenheimer

 

The complete score as extracted from the movie using AI, I think.

 

Well, listening to "everything", I was kinda reminded of the "calmer" parts of Inception and TDKR. It has that same feeling of strings + electronics where things are moving along and characters are talking and preparing. I guess it's the Nolan way and Oppie and his phisicists preparing the bomb is kinda like Cobb and his gang preparing the mind heist. Problem is, Zimmer does this kind of underscore better than Goransson and so the score does feel "samey".

 

Long stretches of time of string and synth textures, sometimes more melancholic, others more urgent and others more tense, all of it playing like a long piece of music (or longer pieces stitched together) connecting several scenes of characters advancing the plot across multiple decades.

 

But it does come alive in the more "climactic" scenes, like the Trinity sequence, which has indeed a great score. It's the best cue(s?) in the score, Can You Hear the Music is so overrated (I'd like it a lot better without the synth BWAAAAAAAMMMMS - hey, another Inception connection!). Kitty Comes to Testify is also pretty good. But overall the score is for the most time very samey.

 

But hey, something nice to put to for 2+ hours while you're working.

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

Penny Dreadful - Abel Korzeniowski

 

For me a new Korzeniowski score is always sort of an event. They don't happen that often, but I'm always completely captivited by his work. And everytime in the peruods when nothing new is coming, I mostly return to this.

 

This might be his best work for me personally. It has all the things I love about his music. The European classicism, the immense beauty, the gothic horror and so much more. It's him firing on all cilinders and I can listen to all 3 season in a row without ever tiring from it.

All put together it's over 3 hours of music, but he's able to make each and every single cue interesting. There's so many themes and interesting orchestrations going on. It's just fantastic.

 

It's a modern day masterpiece in my opinion.

[Matt C 454]

1985 At The Movies

 

The selections for the album make sense for a listening experience and the re-recordings are precise given that L.A. musicians performed on them. But the “Legend” and “Lifeforce” tracks, due to the smaller ensemble and dry mix, lack the enveloping power and scope of the original London recordings.

 

It’s a solid album regardless and at a good price, it’s worth it for casual fans. But after being spoiled by the previous re recordings done with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the LSO, I was expecting a lot more.

[crocodile 8,017]

Listening to The Return of the King CR set on my way to London. Can't wait for tonight's performance. 😍 

 

Karol

[ddddeeee 257]

15 hours ago, JNHFan2000 said:

Penny Dreadful - Abel Korzeniowski

 

For me a new Korzeniowski score is always sort of an event. They don't happen that often, but I'm always completely captivited by his work. And everytime in the peruods when nothing new is coming, I mostly return to this.

 

This might be his best work for me personally. It has all the things I love about his music. The European classicism, the immense beauty, the gothic horror and so much more. It's him firing on all cilinders and I can listen to all 3 season in a row without ever tiring from it.

All put together it's over 3 hours of music, but he's able to make each and every single cue interesting. There's so many themes and interesting orchestrations going on. It's just fantastic.

 

It's a modern day masterpiece in my opinion.

This is my favourite music for a TV show. So much of the dramatic heavy lifting was left entirely to Korzeniowski. It's probably the most essential component of the show after Green. 

[Thor 7,508]

I really, really wanted to like PENNY DREADFUL. I found the show fine, and I'm a big Korzeniowski fan in general. Alas, despite numerous efforts, but I couldn't get into the score. Felt detached, and lacked the "delicious" stylings of his earlier work. I haven't quite finished with it. I aim to give it another shot down the line. But for me, Korzeniowski hasn't really been on fire since ROMEO & JULIET, and that's a looooong time ago now (and yes, I've sampled everything he's done since).