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

[gkgyver 1,647]

I can't listen to Terminal very often. It's too ... specific to have it on autorepeat.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,488]

Specific?

[crocodile 8,737]

Nah, it's a very solid score and album.

Karol

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,488]

Yep. Great theme.

[gkgyver 1,647]

Gets on my nerves quickly.

[Brónach 1,307]

TERMINAL! TERMINAL! TERMINAL!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,488]

Gets on my nerves quickly.

You don't like the jaunty clarinet theme?

It's sooo infectious. It's an earworm, but in a good way.

[indy4 155]

The clarinet theme is nice,but the love theme is one of JWs all time bests

[Brónach 1,307]

Although I'm rarely in the mood for its particular tone (it feels quite specific to me), I really really like The Terminal and I remember a time when I listened to it to death over and over.

[lonzoe 19]

[crocodile 8,737]

King Kong Lives

It's a very throwback score, old-fashioned even by 80's standards. Funny how one theme prominently featured in Lady Kong Gets Gassed is almost identical to Alex North's Cleopatra main theme. The album is only 47 minutes long which is just about perfect. Rich, full-bodied good-ness, but very, very different from John Barry's - much closer to Max Steiner tradition. Recommended!

I never heard anything from John Scott before, not counting that one (very nice) cue used in Die Hard. Anything particular worth checking out?

Karol

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,488]

That's a GREAT horrible cover.

Nice match with Aliens LOL

[Quintus 5,492]

Quality little vampire movie though, pretty nasty too.

[crocodile 8,737]

What is this devilry?

Karol

[Richard P 4,369]

Man of Steel.

Maybe I'm more in the mood, or maybe it's oddly appropriate background music for holiday planning on google earth, but I rather enjoyed this.

I think you have to get in the mindset for a very textural score with Zimmer's brass and synths getting a bit overbearing at times, but once I tuned in to that, even Terraforming was okay.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,488]

So it begins!

[Quintus 5,492]

richuk has always been pro Zimmer, within reason.

But yeah, Zimmer's MoS is the soundtrack gem of the year. I feel all warm and hearty inside, like a teenager who discovered a band before they went mainstream.

[crocodile 8,737]

Ironically, I'm listening to Blue Box Superman: The Movie right now. Sounds glorious.

Karol

[Matt C 482]

Turbulence

Shirley Walker clearly had great fun composing this score, and her attention to thematic development and twisting around 'Carol of the Bells' to form the villain's motif is quite genius. The action stuff, especially "Here's Johnny" and "Topsy Turvy" is excellent too. It's nice to get an older Walker title out on disc, even if she is no longer around to see it happen.

[Jay 40,274]

Catching up on 3 pages of posts:

Koray, how is Mancina's Planes score?

And as for the best score of the summer, other than Star Trek Into Darkness, which honestly I haven't listened to in months now, I pick Pacific Rim!

[Incanus 5,827]

I can't really say what is the best score of the summer. I have not been very excited to listen to any of them apart from a select few.

[Jay 40,274]

What didn't you like about Star Trek Into Darkness? It's so good!

[Incanus 5,827]

What didn't you like about Star Trek Into Darkness? It's so good!

It is part of the select few.

[Jay 40,274]

Well, then the select few you mentioned are your vote for the best scores of the summer then....

[chuck 155]

Somebody needs to poll this...

[Incanus 5,827]

Somebody needs to poll this...

Where is Josh500 when we need him?

[Koray Savas 2,254]

Koray, how is Mancina's Planes score?

Excellent.

[chuck 155]

[publicist 4,647]

NOW YOU SEE ME - Brian Tyler

Entertaining mixture ranging between Tyler's own funkier scores, or say IRON MAN 3's final title, Lalo Schifrin and John Powell (a natural precursor). It's nothing deep, but a lot of fun if you are in the mood for scores in the BOURNE/MR. AND MRS. SMITH-vibe. One of the better surprises from summer score this far...read "one" as almost the only one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zypcnjlhCNU&list=PL4qttf7btEubs_DNdkz8XxD5fnEeQtH4y

[crocodile 8,737]

King Kong Lives (for the third time). The Avengers and War Horse.

Man of Steel - why not?

Karol

[Incanus 5,827]

The River by John Williams

The Cowboys by John Williams

[crocodile 8,737]

The River is something I'm interested in. I know only that one track from Filmworks album.

Karol

[Sharkissimo 1,974]

THE RIVER is a wonderful score. The bluesy material recalls Williams's work on THE EIGER SANCTION, this time with a Midwestern twist, and The Tractor Scene is one of the greatest suspense cues he's ever written.

[crocodile 8,737]

Those are the two pretty high on my want-list right now.

Oh the whole album is on Youtube. I'll give it listen next.

Karol

[Incanus 5,827]

I also recommend it. Some wonderful different earthy Americana from the Maestro. He really explored a wide spectrum of the sounds of the continent in Mark Rydell's films.

I have been really drawn to this more intimate and "quiet" Williams material lately. Despite the claim that he is all sturm und drang he has written so many fine smaller scale and stylistically varied scores during his career.

[crocodile 8,737]

I'm listening to it right now. It's really lovely, actually. Williams guitar writing is always welcome and there are some very fine examples here. Same goes for flute. Love theme is really good - there's something noirish about it. Good stuff, I want it!

Karol

[Marian Schedenig 9,383]

I love The Pony Ride. I originally knew it (in the late 90s) from a RealAudio clip on one of the old JW fan websites. The clip was in mono.

Imagine my surprise when I got a CD and there suddenly was a guitar *duet* in the track!

[publicist 4,647]

Rydell was one of his old standby's like Robert Altman that seemed to bring out a certain kind of down-earth or experimental personality in his music that got sparse after THE RIVER. I always regretted that he parted ways with Altman after IMAGES. Williams on Altman: "I drifted away from working with him, not through any intentional decision or conscious decision. After Images and The Long Goodbye, I got busy with other directors and other projects. Bob chided me about going Hollywood and getting successful. He would chide me or tease me or censure me about pursuing overly commercial projects, probably my work with Spielberg. He saw that artistically as a kind of betrayal of some kind of bohemian artistic principles he clung to."

I for one would have liked some more of that combo.

[Koray Savas 2,254]

Definitely.

[indy4 155]

Superman: The Movie

I think I appreciated it more than I ever have. It's a fine score, superbly balancing a variety of interesting motifs and themes (and pretty much without overusing any). It also works really well as a complete score--I made a playlist for the score, and I kept almost all of the tracks score proper (not including alternates, etc.). The last third is defintiely weaker than everything that precedes it, but it's still good. I like how Williams focuses on thematic categories--Smallville material, then Krypton material, then Superman's themes, then the love theme, then the villains' theme...and then all of them combined.

[Matt C 482]

Stargate Continuum

It's not as lush or overflowing with excellent material like Joel's Stargate Atlantis album was, but he organizes it into a fine listening experience. The brief action material like "Battle over the Ocean" is nice, but over too soon. It's more of a mysterious and ominous score, but Goldsmith makes it interesting throughout with a nice reoccurring motif that conveys chilly wonder. He uses Arnold's Stargate theme sparingly, only twice, but it's nice to hear.

I hear even better things about Ark of Truth, but it's hard to find at a decent price. Any thoughts on that one?

[Meredith McKay 7,062]

ROTK - Howard Shore

everything from The Cracks of Doom on made me weep.

[Incanus 5,827]

ROTK - Howard Shore

everything from The Cracks of Doom on made me weep.

There there it is not THAT bad is it?

Seriously the finale of the score packs a huge emotional wallop for me too.

Which reminds me that I should take a LotR listening marathon ASAP, reserve a full day for it with intermissions between scores.

[Meredith McKay 7,062]

ROTK - Howard Shore

everything from The Cracks of Doom on made me weep.

There there it is not THAT bad is it?

Seriously the finale of the score packs a huge emotional wallop for me too.

Especially the choral statement of the fellowship theme in the original version, almost signalling the fulffilment of the fellowships mission musically

[Incanus 5,827]

ROTK - Howard Shore

everything from The Cracks of Doom on made me weep.

There there it is not THAT bad is it?

Seriously the finale of the score packs a huge emotional wallop for me too.

Especially the choral statement of the fellowship theme in the original version, almost signalling the fulffilment of the fellowships mission musically

Yes that is a nice touch missing from the film version (which I otherwise prefer for its immediate emotionality; the alternate goes on a bit too long and choir starts to lose momentum imo). Plus the spectacular crescendo in the film version is something I loved from the first time I heard it and was really upset that it didn't make it to the OST.

[KK 3,308]

The OST for ROTK is pretty much the OST in the trilogy I can stand. The last time I heard the OSTs, I was surprised by how frustrated I was by the endless edits/micro-edits, and general lack of musical flow in the FotR and TTT OST albums. Only the CRs do the scores justice.

And of all the entries in the trilogy, ROTK benefits most from the OSTs.

[Meredith McKay 7,062]

Would not the bit with Gondor Reborn, come in right at the end of the Rarities track?

I have a theory the Destruction of the Ring statement in the Rarities track, is actually the clean ending, what would have flowed into Gondor Reborn ins both versions, but the included the clean ending, flowing into The Eagles, to cut the cue down to fit the CD, but still sound musical.

The same as the situation with the rarities version of Anduril, the music for Aragorn leaving the camp at dunharrow is edited out, along with a few seconds of deep brass for Theoden's conversation with the men.

[Jay 40,274]

Koray, how is Mancina's Planes score?

Excellent.

Care to elaborate?

NOW YOU SEE ME - Brian Tyler

Entertaining mixture ranging between Tyler's own funkier scores, or say IRON MAN 3's final title, Lalo Schifrin and John Powell (a natural precursor). It's nothing deep, but a lot of fun if you are in the mood for scores in the BOURNE/MR. AND MRS. SMITH-vibe. One of the better surprises from summer score this far...read "one" as almost the only one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zypcnjlhCNU&list=PL4qttf7btEubs_DNdkz8XxD5fnEeQtH4y

Yea! I've been sayin'!

Check this out, publicist:

[indy4 155]

Saving Private Ryan:

A very good and very different score for JW. The subdued nature is wonderful, although it can make for a tough 1 hour listen. There's also an over-reliance on the Omaha Beach theme--I found that deleting "High School Teacher" from the playlist was a good way to deal with this problem (which is a shame, because the final minute or so of the track has fantastic tension). There's a lot of Copland's "A Lincoln Portrait" in this score, but JW (as often with his rips) uses Copland's music almost the same way Copland used folk songs in many of his compositions--to give the work an almost mythic sense of Americana, but at the same time develop the piece he is referencing. The hymn, "Omaha Beach," "Wade's Death" and the incredibly intriguing hook "Remembering Normandy" are the highlights, but the rest of the tracks function well in the score. JW's use of percussion is very interesting--it seems to suggest a sense of restlessness as our characters approach the bloody climax. Also I think JW's only (?) quiet/subdued boom-tzzz.

[crocodile 8,737]

I used to hate this disc, but, over the years, its dryness has become quite attractive to my ears.

Karol