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

[Faleel 5,346]

Didn't even notice a difference there, I was so annoyed with the CD by that point

1:12:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yv4vOxunH4?t=72

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Okay, I'm almost to the finale of Batman. Nothing to complain about so far! Okay, there's a bit of Beetlejuice in Photos/Beautiful Dreamer, for me the first noticeable instance of Elfman starting to repeat himself. With Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Elfman really blows his load immediately. What a fantastic score. Worth the $400 price of admission alone. Okay, not really. Elfman maintains his erection into the early 90s. Beetlejuice is wonderful. It runs a bit too long on the Elfman box set, which overall is weirdly assembled. Still, we're in the prime of the Elf Man at this point. Up next: Edward Scissorhands.

[Jay 37,346]

The whole boxset is "weirdly assembled"... some discs maintain the exact old original OST, then but bonus tracks at the end. Some mostly maintain the original OST, but make some alterations throughout. Some completely rebuild the score from the ground up.

It would have been epic if they had hired Matessino to give each film a proper C&C release. Well, I guess the specialty labels can still do that one by one.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Batman the score is the musical embodiment of these iconic characters. It's just fantastic. Edward Scissorhands is a delight, especially in its climax, but the album runs too long. Batman Returns is completely superior on the La-La Land set. I don't even remember a lot of the weird edits and alternates on the album, it's been so long since I listened to it. This score works best in complete and chronological order, but especially with all the missing Batman theme moments, a ton of which seem to be absent on the album. Almost through with Nightmare Before Christmas. This one isn't really my thing. I can't say it's a misfire, though. I mean, it's such a beloved score. Musically, it is very similar to Scissorhands and Returns. The Penguin's Theme is even in there as well as part of the Beetlejuice theme. It's entertaining, however. So he's still got my attention. Up next: Mars Attacks! I don't know how this one with fare. I've never listened to the score outside of the movie.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Mars Attacks! is one of my favourite Elfman scores ever, and I'm tough on him. I'd argue it was his last great score before taking his first plunge into mediocrity.

[Jay 37,346]

I agree with Drax

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I think you're both loons when it comes to this. Mars Attacks! was a really hard listen. Sleepy Hollow has been a complete reversal. Big, operatic, wildly entertaining. I like this one.

[Jay 37,346]

To each their own. I could never get into Sleepy Hollow at all

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I think this is where I get off the Elfman/Burton train. Maybe some day I'll give the rest a shot, but not today. And not tomorrow. And not next week.

I bought this crappy box (at a slight discount) strictly for Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. I figured I might as well venture a bit further into the set than Disc 1!

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

To each their own. I could never get into Sleepy Hollow at all

Same. I don't even know why.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Sleepy Hollow is great. So are Corpse Bride and Big Fish. I like parts of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Planet Of The Apes.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

My favorite part of Sleepy Hollow was the film version of the Main Title at the end. It was overall very fun. I've never listened to it outside the movie.

Mars Attacks! was vanilla, like the film itself, but with its quirky Martian theme and occasional fun moments. I wanted desperately for it to be over. There was one standout track sequenced after the end credits, Final Address, which underscores Nicholson's ridiculous speech to the Martian Ambassador.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I went through a time between 1999 to 2003 where I really looked forward to the next Elfman score. To me, that era was his last surge of semi-greatness.

I enjoyed Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, Spider-Man, Red Dragon, Men In Black II, and even Hulk. But then Big Fish happened, which I couldn't get into. Spider-Man 2 was okay, and then he bored me again with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Never again did he compose a score that I would describe as a classic or addictive the way he did between 1985 to 1996.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Currently making my way through Wintory's AC Syndicate. Tina Guo's cello performances are impeccable.

[nightscape94 965]

Never again did he compose a score that I would describe as a classic or addictive the way he did between 1985 to 1996.

Family Man came pretty close for me.

[crocodile 8,000]

Spectre

Karol

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Never again did he compose a score that I would describe as a classic or addictive the way he did between 1985 to 1996.

Family Man came pretty close for me.

It's okay but forgettable.

[Wojo 2,453]

You all know that PBS will air a Danny Elfman concert from Lincoln Center next Friday, don't you?

[Jay 37,346]

Hitchcock is the modern Elfman score that did the most for me

Wanted is a hugely underrated gem from the late 2000s

[publicist 4,643]

The only Elfmen from the last 10, 12 years i need are CORPSE BRIDE (delightful, melodically inspired), HULK (his best comic book score) and WOLFMAN. Parts of OZ and ALICE IN WONDERLAND are very good, too, and maybe SOP but on the whole it doesn't seem to have much zip anymore. Nothing to get hooked on.

[publicist 4,643]

Currently making my way through Wintory's AC Syndicate. Tina Guo's cello performances are impeccable.

Heavy use of Saint-Saëns' 'Danse Macabre' and more formal british string quartets like Delius. Surely a surprising approach for this genre. Needs to be studied more, methinks.

[Incanus 5,714]

Jane Eyre by John Williams: A beautiful autumnal score in a very British musical idiom complemented by some of Williams' most loveliest lyrical melodies. The original soundtrack album does not have a wasted note and the little over 33 minute CD (LLL re-issue) offers a whole immersive world with clearly defined thematic ideas (with the central love theme) and a surprising amount of variety including the breathless scherzo To Thornfield, the source music styled Meeting for recorder, viola and guitar, the dissonant and eerie Thwarted Wedding with its echoplexed strings and a gorgeous religioso theme in The Restoration. All comes to a tender melancholy conclusion and fulfilment in Reunion (End Title) where Williams gives the most extended and loveliest reading of the superb love theme. This is truly one of the essential early Williams scores before his world famed Jaws, Star Wars, Superman and Indiana Jones. Most highly recommended.

[publicist 4,643]

Here you can watch it, btw. Pretty rare movie.

https://archive.org/details/JaneEyre70

[Incanus 5,714]

Cheers pub! Will do!

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Jay 37,346]

Why is a film from the 70s in the public domain already?

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

The same happened to Godzilla vs Megalon.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Public domain is a Communist concept. How can something not be owned?

[BloodBoal 7,538]

The movie is owned... Owned by the Collective...

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I was so impressed (or mostly surprised) by Sleepy Hollow that I decided to listen to it again, just to be sure. I still enjoyed it. Then I started the Music Box over again from the beginning. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Batman and Batman Returns will always have a special place in my heart. I can't really find any fault in Elfman's output in that era. We were lucky to have him. RIP, both Danny Elfman and Tim Burton.

Currently listening to the La-La Land Batman Returns as I drink two cups of good hot black coffee. Today's present to myself.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

That thing that happens to artists when they get older happened to Burton and Elfman. They lost their talent.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Not their talent, but their inspiration.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

They have plenty of inspiration - money!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Bloody lefties!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

He is a friggin lefty that Elfman!

[crocodile 8,000]

I don't think Elfman lost any of his talent. But he does tend to "spread himself too thin over too many pieces of bread".

But hey, at least he's trying different stuff. You know, learning. That's got to count for something.

Karol

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

You all know that PBS will air a Danny Elfman concert from Lincoln Center next Friday, don't you?

I saw a clip from a promo with Paul Reubens and the performance sounded pretty bad.

[Matt C 452]

The Grudge 2 - Christopher Young

Unlike the movie it accompanies, the score improves on the original. Young expands and gives more variation to the main theme several times, giving more harmonic resonance to accompany the scares. Still no Hellraiser or Hellbound: Hellraiser 2, but still a strong Young horror score.

[Muad'Dib 1,802]

Scarface - Giorgio Moroder

I wish there was a link on YT of "Reunion" - it's so damn good! Cheesy as fuck but still full of emotion.

[A24 4,331]

The Book Thief.

I can honestly say that, of all the 'autumnly' scores Williams ever wrote, this is the weakest one. Williams has done similar scores before, but they were better.

Alexandre

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[KK 3,307]

It is definitely one Williams' weakest scores. Competently written, as usual, but with nothing very interesting to say.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Honestly, just about everything is better than The Book Thief as far as Williams goes.

Currently listening to the new Back to the Future Part III on Spotify. It's kinda tough to sit through this one.

[Matt C 452]

Henry Jackman - X-Men: First Class

I like the main theme but the rest of the album is completely forgettable.

[Faleel 5,346]

Back to the Future I, II, III - Alan Silvestri

The first is the best, but the others are nothing to sneeze at.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Contact - Alan Silvestri

Sphere - Elliot Goldenthal

The Prestige - David Julyan

SPECTRE - Thomas Newman

Star Trek: Generations - Dennis McCarthy

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

The Book Thief.

I can honestly say that, of all the 'autumnly' scores Williams ever wrote, this is the weakest one. Williams has done similar scores before, but they were better.

Alexandre

It's one of John Williams' plainest scores, though to be fair, the movie itself is one of the plainest Williams has scored. Even so, I still find it more entertaining and emotionally involving than most Desplat scores of similar scope and intent (The reason I make this comparison is because I believe Desplat would have scored the film had Williams not been interested).

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

John Williams is better then anyone else!

[Incanus 5,714]

It is definitely one Williams' weakest scores. Competently written, as usual, but with nothing very interesting to say.

I take it that you have not heard those swinging 60s comedy scores.

Sodom and Gomorrah (Tadlow re-recording) by Miklós Rózsa: This is actually getting better with each listen. The composer lavished enormous amount of care on this music despite the movie being a clunker and Rózsa being exhausted by the two epics he scored the year before. While it definitely sounds like him through and through on every bar there is still enough new material to keep it thoroughly engaging. While it might exhaust you aurally after the 2 hour mammoth of a musical narrative of the truly epic kind, it is well worth the time and investment. Smaller doses of it provide a more easily digestable experience.

Spectre by Thomas Newman