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

[Thor 8,493]

55 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

Not sure. I'm listening to the Martian and loving it as much as ever.

 

One of his best.

[Edmilson 9,104]

21 hours ago, Edmilson said:

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

 

This might be my favorite score of my HGW marathon so far. Not the best, but my favorite.

 

Everything he built in the first Narnia score is made better here. Every lesson he learned with the first Narnia and Kingdom of Heaven (as well as his more orchestral adventure scores) is here.

 

Unlike The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, which only gets REALLY good at the end, here there's very little "boring" parts (and I listened to the recording sessions). The orchestral writing is more expressive, the drama, the themes, the action, the choir... Here Harry isn't pulling any punches, unlike in the first half of TLTW&TW. It is a really good fantasy score with some incredible moments.

 

Was this the last time he wrote something so expressive, so unabashedly old fashioned and emotional? His later work in fantasy movies (Prince of Persia, Mulan) wasn't as good as this. Did he spent the last 16 years with thrillers and mildling action/adventure score.

 

And this is where I get to the point where I wanted in my marathon. I was aware of his greatest hits before starting (Sinbad, Shrek, Narnia 1 and 2, Kingdom of Heaven), but it seems that after Caspian Harry got somewhat even more shy. 

 

Will I maintain this opinion once I hear his post-2008 output?

About Narnia, has someone ever attempted a thematic breakdown of the scores? Harry sure did write some great themes.

[Doo_liss 6,604]

Personally I prefer the first.

[Andy 5,213]

[Tallguy 4,545]

I'll see your Guraldi and answer back with James Newton Howard.

 

 

[Doo_liss 6,604]

Getting out the Vote

[Tallguy 4,545]

Abe, he's not super popular but he just might have a shot!

[Edmilson 9,104]

16 hours ago, Doo_liss said:

Personally I prefer the first.

The first only gets really good in the second half, the first half of Narnia 1 is a little boring with many dull and overly serious moments.

 

In the second we have a glimpse of how HGW can be good when he's writing epic scores for full orchestra. Which makes even more frustrating that he dedicated such a huge part of his career doing "gritty Denzel Washington urban crime thriller" films. He shares that with JNH, but much, much worse.

[Doo_liss 6,604]

2 hours ago, Edmilson said:

The first only gets really good in the second half, the first half of Narnia 1 is a little boring with many dull and overly serious moments.

 

 

I guess.

 

Narnia 2 kinda just gives me headache with all the EPIC STABBING™ + Gritty

 

The cue for the attempted resurrection of Jadis is fantastic though. (And the original Rescuing Trumpkin)

[bespinGPT 8,851]

14 minutes ago, Doo_liss said:

EPIC POUNDING™

 

[Jay 39,744]

Ludwig Göransson - The Mandalorian (Season 1, episodes 1, 2, and 3)

 

Love it!

[crocodile 8,589]

Star Wars

V for Vendetta

The Boxtrolls

 

Karol

[filmmusic 2,248]

 

The Pawnbroker & The Deadly Affair

 

I quite enjoy these, but the thing I don't like much is that most tracks sound like source cues.

 

[crocodile 8,589]

On 04/11/2024 at 11:34 PM, Edmilson said:

About Narnia, has someone ever attempted a thematic breakdown of the scores? Harry sure did write some great themes.

I quite like some of the secondary material but the main theme was ruined for me by the "Media Ventures/Remote Control fantasy theme" joke on FSM podcast some years ago. 😄

 

Karol

[Thor 8,493]

 

I've often had trouble getting into Barrow & Salisbury's work, even when they work with Alex Garland, who is one of my favourite current directors. But this one ("shadow-directed" by Garland), I really like. A throbbing, pinched, acidic synth score with shades of John Carpenter, which was rejected in the end and replaced with a far less interesting score by Paul Leonard-Morgan.

[Thor 8,493]

 

Breezy, swingin', loungey, tongue-in-cheek score in the style of Henry Mancini, who was such a formidable, influential force in the 60s. But still with those quintessential Q touches -- a swaggering rhythm, a riffy harmonica or brass instrument, some whistling. Love it!

[Edmilson 9,104]

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

 

Wow. What an epic nothing-burguer of a score. There's some good moments where the orchestra (and choir!) are allowed to shine, plus a nice Wolverine theme. But this is all surrounded by and drowned in lots of atmospheric electronics, creating huge chunks of music where nothing interesting happen.

 

The Taking of Pelham 123

 

All of these problems I described for Wolverine are present here and somehow made even worse. For some reason they hired a string section for this score but they wouldn't even need it since most of the score is low-key electronics and dark, gritty textures. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I like to listen to dark ambient music, especially when it creates a nice mood. But this here is just boring and uninteresting. So despite Harry doing so much of these scores... I don't think he is exactly good at them? 

 

Oh well, now I've finished the 2000s decade of my Harry Gregson-Williams marathon. Onto the 2010s now...

[Thor 8,493]

Did you ever hear David Shire's original TAKING OF PELHAM, Ed? Funky, 12-tone serialism applied to film music. I know, probably not your thing, but it's fun to push one's limits now and then.

[Edmilson 9,104]

4 hours ago, Thor said:

Did you ever hear David Shire's original TAKING OF PELHAM, Ed? Funky, 12-tone serialism applied to film music. I know, probably not your thing, but it's fun to push one's limits now and then.

Seems interesting! I'm not that aware of Shire's work, something that I plan to correct.

[Marian Schedenig 9,147]

Shire's Pelham is fantastic.

[Jay 39,744]

Alan Silvestri - Preadator 2 (Deluxe Edition)

 

Wow, what a fun score.  I guess I had never listened to it with good headphones before, because on this listen I was noticing tons of cool orchestration details.  There's a wind sound used a few times that pretty neat.  But overall I just love how this score works as both a sequel to his Predator score while taking things so far in a new direction its often more of its own thing.  Great stuff.

[Andy 5,213]

On 8/11/2024 at 12:45 PM, Marian Schedenig said:

Shire's Pelham is fantastic.

So much fun. For a child of the 70s, it feels so familiar, and it  builds with a musical momentum that’s irresistible. 
 

Im not familiar with any other Shire except Return to Oz, which I enjoyed, but not as much as some fans who adore it. 

[Tom Guernsey 2,731]

A few recent listens... there's quite a lot, so in a spoiler thing in order not unduly flood the thread. There might be a theme. I couldn't possibly say.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jurassic Shark 13,351]

Nice. I've got five of those. 

[Thor 8,493]

 

This 2017 release never got the attention it deserved. George "Beatles" Martin's work for LIVE AND LET DIE, yes. His unused choral music for THE MISSION, yes (which Morricone ended up scoring, as you all know). But also a bunch of concert works that never saw the light of day. It's fairly light, but always with extreme precision and attention for detail. Recommended!

[Jay 39,744]

Ludwig Göransson - The Mandalorian (Season 1, episodes 4, 5, and 6)

 

Man, some of these scores go by FAST!  So much good stuff though, especially episode 4

[CT-7567 77]

 

Being honest here, this is maybe one of the biggest achievements of Powell career. Seriously, the movie is so bad that i can´t understand how Powell created a so good score for this, easily Powell´s best score from his romcom phase, it´s simply super lovely.

 

But the film is horrible.

 

Like, I knew that it was bad, but i didn´t thought that it would be that bad. The score in the original album and in other more complete versions can even be said as great for what it is, but in the movie it... Simply doesn´t works, and tbh i will say that maybe that´s the director fault, Powell made a super romantic score for some of the worst dialogues ever written because the director thought that John making romantic music in a movie like this would work for some reason.

 

It almost seems like Powell wanted to do his best to be romantic only to make what the characters are saying and doing even more cringe.

 

 

Ok, searched a bit and it´s even more embarassing what actually happened in it.

 

"I also re-watched “Gigli.”  

Of all the movies that I’ve worked on, I know them inside and out. I don’t even know what that movie looks like, frankly, because of the manner in which it took shape. Even the name… I refer to it as ‘the G movie.’ Probably the less said about it the better.  

What jumped out at me as I was watching is that it’s very much aiming for the energy of something like “Midnight Run.”  

Well, the entire context of the film was upended so profoundly, the original intention was pretty much obliterated. I wonder if ever a movie had been changed that much… I’m sure it has in the history of Hollywood, but it was changed so radically. When it came to finishing that movie, I remember the composer came up with a piece of music and played it, and he looked at me for my reaction. I said, “I knew why this scene used to be in the movie and what its purpose was. I don’t have any idea why it’s in the movie now.” The themes of the movie were radically different. The plot was different. The purpose of the movie was different. But I can’t escape blame. [But] it’s so weird — I literally don’t remember the movie that was released, because I wasn’t underneath it in the way I was under the hood of all my other movies. So it’s really a bloody mess that deserved its excoriation."

 

https://variety.com/2023/film/features/martin-brest-director-beverly-hills-cop-gigli-1235672428/amp/

[Jay 39,744]

Ludwig Göransson - The Mandalorian (Season 1, episodes 7 and 8)

 

Boy, this season really ends up building to quite a powerful climax!  You don't even realize it when some of the shorter scores along the way, but by the time you get to the ending things are so much bigger and grander, and it completely fits naturally.  It's such a well-earned pay off!

 

The only two changes I make when listening to the season's albums as if it was one long album, is move "The Mandolorian" track to open episode 1 instead of closing it, and move "The Mandalorian (Orchestral Version)" to end Episosde 8 instead of episode 7.  Then this long album has a natural book-ending opening and closing that works well.

 

I love it!

[Knight of Ren 1,082]

Such great scores! From time to time I revisit the Mandalorian I just absolutely love it from start to finish, and that also includes Season 2 and Shirley's work on Season 3. Such a strong set of themes and overall a really solid and fun score!

[Tallguy 4,545]

That doesn't sound very disenchanted.

[GerateWohl 5,156]

Death Becomes Her - Alan Silvestri 

 

Somehow this score sounds like it wants to be Silvestri's Witches of Eastwick. But the thematic material is quickly worn out, the variations are manageble. I even remember watching the movie and being slightly annoyed by the endless same repetitions of the theme.

But still, the score has its moments. But it didn't require an expansion. 

[Jay 39,744]

David Arnold - Tomorrow Never Dies (LLL)

 

One of my favorite scores that I feel like I fell in love with all over again thanks to the LLL expansion.  This is a rare case of a score that already had an expansion AND an isolated score track STILL had a lot to offer when getting the definitive expansion - there was WAY more music that wasn't in the film OR either album release than anyone could have guessed.  And I love it all!!

 

The early versions of cues are a fascinating insight into the direction the action writing could have gone.  It was like he was still in Independence Day mode and had to shake it off to find the glorious action style he'd develop for this film then expand on with The World Is Not Enough.

 

This listen I really marveled at how terrific the Motorcycle Chase cue is.  I was listening with headphones and heard things I'd never noticed before.  Great score and release.

[Tallguy 4,545]

I feel that Motorcycle Chase gets overshadowed by White Knight (which is amazing). But wow, MC is relentless and perfect.

[Jay 39,744]

Totally agreed!

 

Another thing I like about the score is that even though it uses the James Bond theme A LOT, it never gets repetitive or redundant because he uses it in so many different ways.  It reminds me of what Joe Kraemer does with the Mission Impossible theme in MI5, a bit

[Tallguy 4,545]

7 minutes ago, Jay said:

Totally agreed!

 

Another thing I like about the score is that even though it uses the James Bond theme A LOT, it never gets repetitive or redundant because he uses it in so many different ways.  It reminds me of what Joe Kraemer does with the Mission Impossible theme in MI5, a bit

 

Arnold was the James Horner of the Bond theme. He was the first composer who said "Why WOULDN'T I use it?" Of course he gets that out of his system a bit and by the time we get to Quantum of Solace he barely uses it at all (just like Barry)! (But it's one of his best scores.)

 

I also love the lick that he takes from the titles of From Russia with Love and really makes it a secondary theme for his Brosnan scores. They even used it in the trailer for The World is not Enough.

[Jay 39,744]

1 minute ago, Tallguy said:

I also love the lick that he takes from the titles of From Russia with Love and really makes it a secondary theme for his Brosnan scores. They even used it in the trailer for The World is not Enough.

 

Wait, what's this now?  Timestamps?

[Holko 10,391]

 

0:00, and I think you'll recognise it, from all over White Knight especially.

[Jay 39,744]

Oh wow.  For some reason I never knew (or forgot) that that originated from From Russia With Love.  TIL!  Or TIR?

[Tallguy 4,545]

I think the only reason I made the connection was because the Cincinnati Pops had it as part of their Bond arrangement. So I always just assumed it was a common Bond theme like 007. When I went through all the Bond films in order I found out it was only in FRWL. THEN Arnold brought it back! Lovely.

 

Oh! And how great a theme is Surrender? How many Bond songs make great themes that don't just sound like an instrumental of the song? When that theme kicks in at 7:10 in White Knight? Do you know how many speeding tickets that should have gotten me? (I miss that car!)

 

I remember reading a column about "Guys doing things". It was something like "When guys do important things like fixing a porch or cutting down a tree they all imagine that they have theme music. It's usually James Bond. What does James Bond imagine? Probably Mission: Impossible."

 

 

[Jay 39,744]

Yes when the Surrender theme comes in at the end of White Knight its incredible.  The theme is perfect for the score

 

I'm still salty that the producers commissioned a boring Sheryl Crow song instead of using it for the main title as intended

[Tallguy 4,545]

15 minutes ago, Jay said:

I'm still salty that the producers commissioned a boring Sheryl Crow song instead of using it for the main title as intended

 

It's a good song. It's just not Surrender. Surrender has to be in my top 5 Bond songs.

[Jay 39,744]

If it played in the end credits and Surrender the opening, I'd have no salt at all!

[Tallguy 4,545]

1 minute ago, Jay said:

If it played in the end credits and Surrender the opening, I'd have no salt at all!

 

Ahhh, but see, the whole score leads to Surrender for the end credits. Tomorrow Never Dies (the song) would be even more meaningless in the end credits.

[Jay 39,744]

Hmm, that's a good way to look at it!

[Thor 8,493]

 

I had been looking for this 1978 Lai gem for a long time until I finally found it about a year ago. My memory of it was these beautiful, melancholic melodies (and some synth), classic Lai, and while that holds true, there's also a lot of other stuff, from samba to Arabian music to saloon music. I had forgotten about its eclecticism.

[filmmusic 2,248]

I started with the main titles cue which I adore, and I ended up listening to the whole soundtrack!

As I've said in the other thread, I miss this Elfman!

[Thor 8,493]

Yes, SOMMERSBY and BLACK BEAUTY are scores for people who aren't normally into Elfman. They're very rare for him, in that he rarely tapped into those pastoral landscapes that are more associated with Barry and the like, but good to have them. It's like when I slap IMAGES on the table for people who only think Williams does neo-romantic stuff with cymbal crashes and fanfares.

[filmmusic 2,248]

Warm Christmas unreleased score for an 80s Disney film (or rather 18 minutes of it). I liked it!

[Davis 3,123]

11 hours ago, Thor said:

people who only think Williams does neo-romantic stuff with cymbal crashes and fanfares.

I guess those would think so who only heard some of his most famous themes and nothing else. 

[John Dutton 7,488]

17 hours ago, Thor said:

It's like when I slap IMAGES on the table for people who only think Williams does neo-romantic stuff with cymbal crashes and fanfares.

 

Images is torture. What are you a sadist?