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

[Romão 2067]

I adore the suite on the London sessions cd, but' I've heard that it contains the best parts of the score anyway. Anyone agrees with that statement? I'm still undecided if I should buy the cd

[publicist 4635]

It actually does not. The score revolves around a dark, appropriately so, theme that isn't even featured in the suite:

 

 

[Matt C 437]

1 hour ago, Romão said:

I adore the suite on the London sessions cd, but' I've heard that it contains the best parts of the score anyway. Anyone agrees with that statement? I'm still undecided if I should buy the cd

 

Get the CD. As publicist said, Mr. Dark's theme does not emerge in the London sessions. And there's a hauntingly beautiful music box motif as well.

[Romão 2067]

Cheers, guys, good to know

[Not Mr. Big 4049]

Somewhere in Time  

[Dixon Hill 4232]

 

[Unlucky Bastard 7770]

Yeah I like it too.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6478]

Me too!

 

Star Trek: Nemesis complete score

Star Trek: Generations complete score

Star Trek: First Contact complete score

Godzilla (1998) complete score

Batman (1989) Prince OST

Batman (1989) complete score

Batman Returns complete score

Casper OST

Live binaural ASMR recordings of The Haunted Mansion and the Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland

[nightscape94 965]

The only track I'm familiar with from the score is "To Live Forever", which has that great finale with a beautiful version of the Courage fanfare.

[Brónach 492]

 

[A Farewell to Kings 3574]

Batman Vs. Superman - Hans Zimmer
Edge of Darkness - Howard Shore
Jaws
Jaws 2
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars (1977)
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back - John Williams

[crocodile 6867]

 Something Wicked This Way Comes by Georges Delerue

 

Karol

[Cerebral Cortex 2849]

Jeez, I'd forgotten how great this score was. 

[Matt C 437]

Something Wicked This Way Comes - James Horner

 

After listening to Delerue's unused score, I decided to revisit Horner's replacement again. The album arrangement is far too short, and I wished Horner had compiled a longer version for Intrada or let them do it. The arrangement works beautifully as a listening experience (several tracks are arranged purposefully out of order), but as a full representation of the film, it's lacking. It begs for a C&C arrangement that the Delerue version enjoyed. Maybe with Horner's passing, Intrada will do a repressing of this album with more tracks?

 

That said, Horner's score is still quite nice, and thanks to Simon Rhodes, sounds like it was recorded yesterday. It is more outward emotionally, and his motif representing the young friendship is absolutely beautiful. I can't choose between Delerue's motif or Horner's, they're that good. I do prefer Delerue's shorter and more ominous Dark motif over Horner's, as well as the calliope source tracks.

[Not Mr. Big 4049]

Disneyland 

 

[crocodile 6867]

 First Knight by Jerry Goldsmith. Not my favourite score but I always admired how timeless it feels. It would work great in an old 1960's Hollywood epic, was great in the 1990's... and would have been completely valid in a 2016 film.

 

Karol

[publicist 4635]

Powder – Jerry Goldsmith

Goldsmith in interviews restated two things several times: that he wasn’t an intellectual composer and that his biggest desire was to write music for simple human dramas.

Both curious statements, given the composer’s almost unmatched talent to construct and deconstruct his scores out of tiniest melodic fragments with the uncanny ability to make complex filmic subtexts musically tangible, making him a perfect composer for abstract, subliminal, ambivalent and heady subjects (say, ‘Logan’s Run’, ‘Alien’ and a thousand others).

His scores for slice of life-dramas on the other hand are a decidedly mixed bag, that apart from notable exceptions (‘Islands in the Stream’, ‘A Patch of Blue’) seldom were a match for his more cerebral works, even becoming increasingly banal in his later years.

So while the composer never had problems coming up with a facsimile of the kind of fake, superficial Hollywood patina that escapist fantasy movies like ‘Forever Young’ required, the real world problems of ‘Angie’,  ‘Love Field’, ‘Rudy’or ‘Not without my Daughter’ musically scored points when not concerned with portraying sensitive emotional issues (meaning some of them didn’t score any).

‘Powder’ is now a textbook example of this: basically a queer melodrama about an outcast boy with supernatural powers it required a blend of sci-fi, yearning, lostness, myth and romance.

As expected, Goldsmith responded well to the more ambivalent, mysterious side of the story while the ‘Theme from Powder’ – an achievement the composer himself thought highly of – is one of the rare Goldsmith misfires that while being a nice and innocuous enough tune also seems patronizing in its obvious desire to please and gain easy sobs from the audience; even worse, the diabetes-inducing sweetness  is seriously at odds with the secluded, highly complicated and reflective character it wants to portray (a boy in early adolescence but it sounds like a little girl tending her sick horse).

One could almost call it a betrayal on Goldsmith’s part, who seems more interested in out-Hornering Horner or more likely at that point in his career, was just fed up with his peers often getting all the love and accolades for music that almost invariably was simple in design and blunt in its emotional effects.

But laying on the schmaltz with a trowel never was Goldsmith’s forte, so the rare moments when ‘Powder’ comes to life – on Intrada’s new edition in cues like i. e. The Incubator, The Spoons, New School, Jacob’s Ladder, Nature Walk, Freak Show – concern themselves  with portraying fear, confusion, anger and such.

One sweet cue worth a mention is ‘Silver Box’ (‘Steven and the Snow’ on the old release), a rare longer if light venture into impressionist country where Goldsmith for a moment seems to find the congruent amount of charm for the sequence at hand.

Still, the score through his minimalist, shimmering surface offers a nice change of pace from the thumping sequencer-infested action scores of the later part of the 90’s and it’s not entirely without interest. But it also makes you wonder what the uncompromising 70’s Goldsmith would have done with the rather curious undercurrents of the story.

 

 

[Not Mr. Big 4049]

Munich 

 

[A Farewell to Kings 3574]

Sleepers - John Williams
Edge of Darkness - Howard Shore

[Incanus 5569]

The Secret of NIMH by Jerry Goldsmith: This is a top rate animation score to be sure but even after a number of listens I don't find myself giving it unequivocal top marks overall. Some magic is oddly missing in this score for me.

 

Looking for Richard by Howard Shore

 

The Lost World: Jurassic Park by John Williams

 

Jaws by John Williams

 

The Patriot by John Williams

 

First Knight by Jerry Goldsmith

 

 

 

 

[Gnome in Plaid 213]

Nixon (Williams)

Revenge of the Sith (Williams)

The Eiger Sanction (Williams)

A Dangerous Method (Shore)

[Not Mr. Big 4049]

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 

[crocodile 6867]

 10 Cloverfield Lane by Bear McCreary

 

 

Karol

[Incanus 5569]

Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt by Marcin Przybyłowicz, Mikolai Stroinski and Percival

[Quintus 5394]

Star Wars The Force Awakens OST. Outside of a small handful of really brilliant tracks this is an underwhelming missed opportunity of an album. It's loaded with easily skippable cues, which is not the sign of a great JW OST. 

 

*BADLY* needs a greatly expanded/unreleased edition to do what was probably a very fine Star Wars score full justice.  

[Unlucky Bastard 7770]

I dunno, I think it has enough music.

[A Farewell to Kings 3574]

Edge of Darkness - Howard Shore

[Jay 31058]

Danny Elfman - Mission: Impossible

 

Can't get enough

 

Craig Safan - The Last Starfighter (Intrada)

 

Love it

 

James Horner - Star Trek 2 (FSM)

 

Love it, really want that final cue without narration.  I always skip the Huxley track too

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10254]

I don't mind the narration at all. It would actually sounds odd without it. But the Huxley cue should have been put in the back as a bonus track.

Otherwise, stellar release!

[Jay 31058]

Yea, agree, the Huxley source cue belongs as a bonus track, not in the main flow.

 

Yea, its great otherwise.  I really love that "Enterprise Attacks Reliant" track that wasn't on the OST, its a killer action cue

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10254]

I do maintain though that the OST had one of the best 45 minute programs ever done.

[Jay 31058]

Absolutely agree with you.  it's a fantastic album.  Love Surprise Attack coming right after the main title.  The whole program flows immaculately.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10254]

Yep, in the film the first part is very sparsely scored, but the OST really drops you right into the good stuff.

Also always loved that wonderful trio Enterprise Clears Mooring, Battle In The Mutara Nebula and Genesis Countdown.

[Jay 31058]

Alan Silvestri - Predator 2 (Deluxe Edition)

Love it!

 

Mark Mancina - Speed 2: Cruise Control (Expanded edit)

 

Love it!  Gieger's Escape = one of the best action cues of the 90s!

 

 

[crocodile 6867]

 The Huntsman: Winter's War by James Newton Howard. About halfway through the album and I still can't quite get into it. It's all supposedly well produced and decently composed. But I can't hear a single memorable idea. Not even a theme, just... anything. Well, maybe one half-decent theme. Does it get better? Or was Maleficent (or most of Maleficent anyway) an anomaly in modern JNH's career?

 

Karol

[Jay 31058]

I couldn't get into it either. Not sure why that one got so much hype.

[Not Mr. Big 4049]

I enjoy the softer material from the score but the rest is pretty underwhelming.  

[Gnome in Plaid 213]

9 hours ago, Faleel said:

Edge of Darkness - Howard Shore

Shore really hit a homerun with that one.  I mean it runs the gamut from beautifully emotional to menacing, from peaceful to heart-pounding.  It's really everything a thriller score should be.

[A Farewell to Kings 3574]

After I listen to this one enough to be familiar with it, I am going to check out Corigliano's score.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6478]

Star Trek: The Motion Picture complete score

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock complete score

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Collection disc 4

Star Trek: First Contact complete score

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country OST

[A Farewell to Kings 3574]

3 Great scores there, 1 good one, and 1 I have not heard.

[publicist 4635]

8 hours ago, crocodile said:

 The Huntsman: Winter's War by James Newton Howard. About halfway through the album and I still can't quite get into it. It's all supposedly well produced and decently composed. But I can't hear a single memorable idea. Not even a theme, just... anything. Well, maybe one half-decent theme. Does it get better? Or was Maleficent (or most of Maleficent anyway) an anomaly in modern JNH's career?

 

Karol

 

I would go so far and say the theme is one of his best of the last 10 or so years. I posted a playlist that did omit half of the cues and i find that pretty satisfying - 'Maleficent' also had kinda boring cues. This is a bit less showy due to the different nature of the movie but i think that it would be a great disservice to this score to immediately file it under disappointment. I guarantee it will have more staying power than some of the more obvious best of-choices.

 

Hurry Sundown - Hugo Montenegro

 

I did prepare myself for the new Intrada edition of this outrageously entertaining 1967 score for a boring Preminger roadshow picture about race problems south of the Mason Dixon line. Hugo Montenegro was a brilliant arranger but this (and 'The Undefeated') proves he could write damn catchy scores, too. This is just like on of those old Quincy Jones orchestra meets blues and gospel funk scores and for anyone into this stuff it should be a bag of fun.

 

 

[Not Mr. Big 4049]

Memoirs of a Geisha 

The best of Williams' 2005 scores on an artistic level but it doesn't do much for me emotionally.  In that regard, I prefer ROTS and Munich.  

[Naïve Old Fart 7533]

"Logan's Run".

 

This is a brilliant example of how a complete score can augment, enhance, and elevate whatever was available before. I was famililar with the released score from 1976, but this adds so much emotion, and punch to the already released music, that it almost turns into a whole other score. JG at his very, very mid 70s best!

 

 

As an encore, I popped-on "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (complete). There is nothing that I can say about this score, that hasn't been said, many times over, except perhaps that, if "ST:TMP" had done the sort or business that "CE3K", or "Star Wars", or "Superman" had, then this score would be all over the airwaves, to this day.

As it is, I will add this: "ST:TMP" is the single finest achievement in the history of motion picture scoring. Discuss.

[bollemanneke 2873]

Empire Strikes Back. I don't really like the Star Wars music in general, but I love its themes. Just can't get enough of the End Credits right now and how JW turns the Death Star Theme (or whatever) in major, on woodwinds and mixes it with Yoda's theme. Gorgeous.

[A Farewell to Kings 3574]

Rebel Fanfare.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10254]

53 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

I don't really like the Star Wars music in general,

 

..........

[Unlucky Bastard 7770]

36 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

 

..........

 

Probably not "epik" or "emoshunal" enough for some.

[bollemanneke 2873]

I'm not after epicness, but emotion never hurts. I just don't like this kind of dissonant music, just as I absolutely hate people like Stravinsky whose only purposes was doing what no one else did. To each his own. Listen to his Rites of Spring and tell me whether suicide crossed your mind.

[Romão 2067]

 Seriously?