Jump to content

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


Ollie

Recommended Posts

I've always maintained it's the best action score ever!

Even with the fart effects?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They arent fart effects. I dont know what kinda farts you have heard.

Synth farts of Goldsmith caliber! Admit it!

In all fairness I should give the score a good listen. I just never got beyond the silly synth effects.

Memoirs of a Geisha by John Williams: A playlist combining the album with the Cello Suite.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah the heart and soul of modern demgraphics. Don't tell me you can't hear heroism in that!

Oh and after a minute it's giving me a headache, it's giving a headache!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ZERO THEOREM - George Fenton

More of an electronic curiosity closer to M83 and club dubstep stuff with a minimalist cello/piano theme (reminding me of Max Richter's DISCONNECT from 2012) and vague jazz references (Thomas Newman's quirkier side meets Mark Isham in ROMEO IS BLEEDING-mode) thrown on top. For Fenton who's not usually associated with stuff like this it sounds like he dug it - saying it works and doesn't sound odd. I kinda liked it though it will hardly please people fresh off RAMBO 2.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes it is, and then some. Also First Blood isnt nearly as much of an action score.

True. First Blood has been growing on me (I didn't think that much of it when I first got it, already knowing the sequel), but there's not that much action material in it.

Even with the fart effects?

I don't have a problem with the sound effects. They're well integrated and especially in the busier action cues they help support the rhythms through the dense orchestration.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Journey by Austin Wintory: A souful and atmospheric piece of work for a very original video game. Gorgeous cello solos, intriguing synths blending with the small orchestra and delightful melodies all create a highly unique atmosphere and a satisfying journey of their own, pardon the pun.

Creation by Christopher Young: Hands down one of my top5 Young scores. A kind of answer to JNH's The Village and Snow Falling of Cedars it is a beautifully lyrical, melancholic and yearning entry in his discography and of a kind I would wish he could do more often as he has a knack not only for the great melodies but also exquisite orchestrations. Highly recommended.

Incidentally excellent music to write university essays to as I have been toiling on another one today. Inspiring stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Listened to Brian Eno's score for The Lovely Bones. Nice. Also acquired all four albums in his "Ambient" series; flying down south on Tuesday for my brother's wedding, and I thought, what better way to quell this newly developed, poorly timed flight anxiety than some ambient music?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes it is, and then some. Also First Blood isnt nearly as much of an action score.

True. First Blood has been growing on me (I didn't think that much of it when I first got it, already knowing the sequel), but there's not that much action material in it.

Even with the fart effects?

I don't have a problem with the sound effects. They're well integrated and especially in the busier action cues they help support the rhythms through the dense orchestration.

Rambo III might have been the best of the three, had the performance been better. The composition is truly superb!

Though the "rambo" theme for that one is the least good of the 3.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Herrmann - Vertigo. The McNeely re-record.

One of my favourite Herrmann scores and a fantastic re-recording. First Herrmann CD I got. I think the score most elegantly exhibits both the composer's gift for psychological writing infused with his trademark unease and his gorgeous thematic writing. Scene D'Amour is of course the highlight but the master of suspense makes even the quietest moment interesting in this score.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The complete release for Star Trek Nemesis. God I'm so glad this score got the complete release it needed/deserved. Grant I was all ready use to the boot but this makes it A LOT better, especially with "Allegiance" and "The Mine" now being able to be heard. Plus the film mixes and the quality....I looove it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

House of Frankenstein by Don Davis

A truly enjoyable and well-crafted score. Unlike a more Horner-flavoured Warriors of Virtue, the style of this composers comes to a forefront - a lot of stylistic trademarks pop up here and there. Some nice choral work adds an element of wonder and Gothic grandeur as well. In my opinion it completely surpasses Patrick Doyle's work. And, yet again, you can't believe how this abysmal mini series could inspire music as good as this.

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

House of Frankenstein by Don Davis

A truly enjoyable and well-crafted score. Unlike a more Horner-flavoured Warriors of Virtue, the style of this composers comes to a forefront - a lot of stylistic trademarks pop up here and there. Some nice choral work adds an element of wonder and Gothic grandeur as well. In my opinion it completely surpasses Patrick Doyle's work.

Karol

I have to check this and Warriors of Virtue up ASAP! I have completely forgotten to delve into Davis' discography!

Cutthroat Island by John Debney: This stuff is insanely catchy if a bit non-stop racuous swashbuckling almost from start to finish. Might be that it is too much of the good thing as the energy level of the score remains very high throughout so it might be a bit exhausting listen but it really contains some of the finest pages Debney has ever penned. Eveything is magnified in this score, action, drama and tragedy take on gigantic proportions, sometimes perhaps too much for their own good yet there is such genuine joy and unabashed glee in the score it is hard not to be affected.

The Blue Max by Jerry Goldsmith: Upon further listens the score reveals an excellent dramatic arc, a perfect blend of elements and such great unrelenting action writing with all the trademark Goldsmith devices in play. The main theme with its ever higher arching line is a marvel of economy in achieving such lofty sense of both flight and heroism and the love theme is a gorgeous yearning piece of classic melodicism of the composer, his voice loud and clear even back then. I have nothing but good things to say about the music and the superlative LLL release. Only small snag is the sound quality which of course can't be helped, the score being from 1966, but the work Matessino has done on the score is superb. Kudos to LLL for such a great release and giving me a chance to own this fantastic early masterpiece from maestro Goldsmith.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Promise - Klaus Badelt

Badelt's best work to date. It may seem like another MV/RC score, but there's a beautiful expressive flow to Badelt's writing. And there's just something about the orchestra that really gives expressive life to the music. The erhu and cimbalom solos, in addition to the lone vocalist, really make the score shine. Absolutely beautiful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

House of Frankenstein by Don Davis

A truly enjoyable and well-crafted score. Unlike a more Horner-flavoured Warriors of Virtue, the style of this composers comes to a forefront - a lot of stylistic trademarks pop up here and there. Some nice choral work adds an element of wonder and Gothic grandeur as well. In my opinion it completely surpasses Patrick Doyle's work.

Karol

I have to check this and Warriors of Virtue up ASAP! I have completely forgotten to delve into Davis' discography!

Cutthroat Island by John Debney: This stuff is insanely catchy if a bit non-stop racuous swashbuckling almost from start to finish. Might be that it is too much of the good thing as the energy level of the score remains very high throughout so it might be a bit exhausting listen but it really contains some of the finest pages Debney has ever penned. Eveything is magnified in this score, action, drama and tragedy take on gigantic proportions, sometimes perhaps too much for their own good yet there is such genuine joy and unabashed glee in the score it is hard not to be affected.

The Blue Max by Jerry Goldsmith: Upon further listens the score reveals an excellent dramatic arc, a perfect blend of elements and such great unrelenting action writing with all the trademark Goldsmith devices in play. The main theme with its ever higher arching line is a marvel of economy in achieving such lofty sense of both flight and heroism and the love theme is a gorgeous yearning piece of classic melodicism of the composer, his voice loud and clear even back then. I have nothing but good things to say about the music and the superlative LLL release. Only small snag is the sound quality which of course can't be helped, the score being from 1966, but the work Matessino has done on the score is superb. Kudos to LLL for such a great release and giving me a chance to own this fantastic early masterpiece from maestro Goldsmith.

I think this score is available on Spotify to listen. I've got my promo CD. Check it out, it's really good.

As for your two. Cutthroat Island is both a great score and an obnoxious one. And the Prometheus album doesn't really resolve that. One one hand, it brings a bit more downtime and slightly bit more variety (with the wedding track being a particular highlight). But the sheer length of this presentation makes it really overbearing. The final battle itself doesn't benefit much from expansion, the best material was already available. But, having said all that, I'm glad this upgrade came out. Speaking of grand epic Debney, I'd like to see Lair released on disc. Whether that's just the iTunes presentation or expanded edition, it would be nice to have. As long as they fix the mastering issues, that is.

The Blue Max album is really good. A slightly different Goldsmith than I'm used to. Still need to familiarise myself with it more closely (so much stuff being released at the same time). But the final battle sequence is superb.

Oh, one more thing. The favourite things Debney ever penned are: his Sin City portion. A truly superb orchestral treatment of the sound established for the franchise - dark, dirty and noirish. It would be my wish to see him coming back for the new instalment. The other one is concert version of The Passion of the Christ. The latter might be a bit on a cheesy side, but offers some really solid writing. Brings his world music a bit closer to the Rozsa/Newman level. I'd like to have a proper album release for that.

Karol - listening to another obnoxious and overdone (but hugely entertaining) score Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This was composed in 1978 but it sounded like what Goldsmith would sound in most of his 90's drama scores. Probably this is the seed that would germinate in his 90's phase.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think this score is available on Spotify to listen. I've got my promo CD. Check it out, it's really good.

As for your two. Cutthroat Island is both a great score and an obnoxious one. And the Prometheus album doesn't really resolve that. One one hand, it brings a bit more downtime and slightly bit more variety (with the wedding track being a particular highlight). But the sheer length of this presentation makes it really overbearing. The final battle itself doesn't benefit much from expansion, the best material was already available. But, having said all that, I'm glad this upgrade came out. Speaking of grand epic Debney, I'd like to see Lair released on disc. Whether that's just the iTunes presentation or expanded edition, it would be nice to have. As long as they fix the mastering issues, that is.

The Blue Max album is really good. A slightly different Goldsmith than I'm used to. Still need to familiarise myself with it more closely (so much stuff being released at the same time). But the final battle sequence is superb.

Oh, one more thing. The favourite things Debney ever penned are: his Sin City portion. A truly superb orchestral treatment of the sound established for the franchise - dark, dirty and noirish. It would be my wish to see him coming back for the new instalment. The other one is concert version of The Passion of the Christ. The latter might be a bit on a cheesy side, but offers some really solid writing. Brings his world music a bit closer to the Rozsa/Newman level. I'd like to have a proper album release for that.

Karol - listening to another obnoxious and overdone (but hugely entertaining) score Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Yes the Cutthroat Island score is ridiculously over the top and even the softer moments are in some ways loud. This dampens the effect of the score as the dynamic range is so short, everything is big all the time so that the music doesn't form a journey with peaks and valleys but one big peak all the time. Still when it is good it is brilliantly good!

As a fan of film noir I am sure to check Sin City out. The Passion of Christ left me entirely cold. It tries too hard and ends up a bit flat in my opinion. I do not know about the concert work though. I should explore that one soon. But I would say something like The Nativity Story by Mychael Danna resonates just more strongly with me than anything in The Passion of Christ.

Oh and The Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is just big, splashy and fun score. Shearmur makes the score breathe a little easier than Cutthroat Island though. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John Carter by Michael Giacchino: This score has been slowly growing on me. And as some have pointed out the villain material, the half-alluring half-eerie sounding choral piece for Therns, is some of the best material of this score. This music gathers quite a few elements from Giacchino's works into one whole and as I said it has become more and more entertaining score with each listen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dragonslayer - Alex North

Cocoon - James Horner

Jurassic Park - John Williams

Ooooh good stuff, although Dragonslayer is something I haven't quite gotten into yet. North is a hit and miss with me. Something like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Streetcar Named Desire work like hot cakes but Spartacus and Dragonslayer do not. Go figure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John Carter is definitely something you should investigate further, I'd also recommend watching (and re-watching) film. Giacchino puts a lot of care into it, some of it might not be immediately apparent on album. We need a complete release.

Dragonslayer - Alex North
Cocoon - James Horner
Jurassic Park - John Williams

Ooooh good stuff, although Dragonslayer is something I haven't quite gotten into yet. North is a hit and miss with me. Something like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Streetcar Named Desire work like hot cakes but Spartacus and Dragonslayer do not. Go figure.

How dare you not like Spartacus? I'll let John Williams himself to tell you off! (See? He is very unhappy in this still frame) ;)

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dragonslayer - Alex North

Cocoon - James Horner

Jurassic Park - John Williams

Ooooh good stuff, although Dragonslayer is something I haven't quite gotten into yet. North is a hit and miss with me. Something like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Streetcar Named Desire work like hot cakes but Spartacus and Dragonslayer do not.

From Sanya Shoilevska Henderson's book Alex North, Film Composer.

Despite North's personal taste for the genre of intimate dramas, he composed music for some of Hollywood's most spectacular epics of all time-- Spartacus, Cleopatra, The Agony and the Ecstasy, and The Shoes of the Fisherman. He found the scoring of the big epic picture far more difficult, because he liked to identify with the film's subject and empathize with its characters. In this regard, he always tried to personalize the films as much as possible and to concentrate on the personal relationships between the characters. While he could identify with the subject matters and the characters in such films as Viva Zapata and Spartacus, it was not nearly as easy for him to identify with the subjects of others epics that he was assigned to score. Therefore, he developed an "objective" type of wring whenever the films implied such an approach. It meant supplying the dramatic situations with the most authentic and objectively most appropriate musical background without deep personal and emotional involvement. "Spectacles call for writing that is objective in character. I prefer to be subjective. I like to say something that has something to do with myself personally and mould it, so it fits the content of the film. I write best when I can empathize. When you can't do that, then you have to fall back on technique and write programmatic music. Each picture calls for its own solution."

North on DRAGONSLAYER:

"The picture offered me any number of opportunities in a dramatic sense that had nothing to do with characters. Except for the boy-girl relationship, everything had to be so removed from myself, because very often I’m able to express some inner feelings about how I relate to the film. I achieved that approach with A MEMBER OF THE WEDDING and WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, where you have interpersonal relationships which lend themselves to the kind of score which is not necessarily lyrical but has more soul…is more compassionate. There was very little compassion in this story. It was not one of those kinds of films where you get thematic ideas in advance, jot them down and re-work them later.”
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.