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

[crocodile 8,012]

1 hour ago, AC1 said:

 

It must have been more than 10 years since the last time I listened to Angela's Ashes. It's one of those Williams CDs you tend to forget you have. The recording is pretty good but it's mostly strings. The score is not bad but it never was all that engaging, IMO (just like the movie).

Hate speech! Ban him! 

 

 Call of the Wild 

 

Karol

[Thor 7,504]

 

Always a soundtrack I reach for when I'm stressed out (which I am now). Beautiful classical pastiche; quite Schubert at times, and Chopin-esque elegance at other times.

[crocodile 8,012]

 Jungle Cruise. I do enjoy this album. 

 

Karol

[Jurassic Shark 12,076]

6 minutes ago, Thor said:

Always a soundtrack I reach for when I'm stressed out (which I am now).

 

That's what listening to Angela's Ashes does to you.

[Thor 7,504]

3 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

That's what listening to Angela's Ashes does to you.

 

Instead of spouting nonsense, I recommend you check out LOVER'S PRAYER. Knowing your taste a bit, I think you'd like it.

[Jurassic Shark 12,076]

Just now, Thor said:

 

Instead of spouting nonsense, I recommend you check out LOVER'S PRAYER. Knowing your taste a bit, I think you'd like it.

 

Listening to it now, but I fear it's gonna be too pastiche-y.

[Thor 7,504]

Sorry to hear it. I'm always in awe of great pastiche scores.

[Jurassic Shark 12,076]

They indeed can be super fun, such as Victor Reyes' stylish Grand Piano.

[Bespin 8,482]

Goldsmith - Under Fire

Kamen - Don Juan de Marco

 

[Faleel 5,348]

Count me in as one who has Angela's in his top 5.

[Holko 9,526]

Utilised Spotify to catch up on all JW OSTs it has that I haven't heard yet.

 

Cinderella Liberty - Groovy enough, good enough theme (that I expected to go into the Sugarland theme when on harmonica), not a fan of the vocal performances. Not bad but didn't feel it had much substance.

Jaws 2 - already heard the expansion but the thread has traffic, why not. Still don't like it, feels like JW just knocking himself off, all those kinda interesting moments interrupted with a blurting unsubtle loud DUNDUNDUNDUN Shark A without any finesse or interesting embellishments, none of the buildup of the first... not for me.

Heartbeeps - I was shocked to like this as much as I did. Even bought it on presto afterwards. Cheesy but cute and very very JW-ey once you adjust to the synth's prominence. Only somewhat lost me in the second half in the stretch where the two main themes are mostly abandoned.

The Witches of Eastwick - Liked this one too. Good varied string use, overall pretty Elfmany - even if the Elfmanyness we know mostly came after this one!

The Accidental Tourist - Liked this one too! Alwaysy but less sugary and with even less of a thematic/narrative arc, but it did manage to keep my attention and I liked its sound.

Stepmom - This one on the other hand did not manage to keep my attention.

[A24 4,333]

Is this your opinion after only one listen, Holko? So much can change after multiple listens. Or does that only happen to me?

[GerateWohl 4,369]

It is simply impossible for me to understand how one can find The Accidential Tourist more interesting than Stepmom. The Accidential Tourist has ONE theme which to me is even not too fancy and that is repeated all over and over until the end of the soundtrack album. At least that's my memory. I will check it out again.

[A24 4,333]

Yes, but the theme (and mood) of The Accidental Tourist is the apotheosis of the authumnal score. 

[Holko 9,526]

15 minutes ago, AC1 said:

Is this your opinion after only one listen, Holko? So much can change after multiple listens. Or does that only happen to me?

First listen for everything except Jaws 2, and Devil's Dance if that counts.

[SteveMc 2,674]

Stepmom is nice.

[A24 4,333]

It is, but because of the way it implements the solo nylon guitar for the melody line, it kinda flirts with the romantic that is slightly tacky. 

 

[publicist 4,643]

55 minutes ago, SteveMc said:

Stepmom is nice.

 

The 6-minute suite aka Credits is nice, the rest a chore to sit through. One of the most directionless, meandering Williams'ses ever.

[Jurassic Shark 12,076]

True!

[Thor 7,504]

You're all bonkers. It's a gorgeous score from start to finish. A thousand times more interesting than something like THE BOOK THIEF. Now THAT is meandering.

[Jurassic Shark 12,076]

 

4 minutes ago, Thor said:

A thousand times more interesting than something like THE BOOK THIEF. Now THAT is meandering.

 

True!

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

5 hours ago, Holko said:

Jaws 2 - already heard the expansion but the thread has traffic, why not. Still don't like it, feels like JW just knocking himself off, all those kinda interesting moments interrupted with a blurting unsubtle loud DUNDUNDUNDUN Shark A without any finesse or interesting embellishments, none of the buildup of the first... not for me.

 

It's a good score, the moody opener is wonderful, and End Title is better than everything else in your post.

[Tallguy 3,389]

I finally took a break from The Eiger Sanction and spun up Ramin Djawadi's Pacific Rim. It's one of my go to "Gotta get stuff done" scores.

 

 

EDIT: Apparently I should be listening to Angela's Ashes. But it isn't available to stream.

 

 

[SteveMc 2,674]

12 hours ago, Thor said:

You're all bonkers. It's a gorgeous score from start to finish. A thousand times more interesting than something like THE BOOK THIEF. Now THAT is meandering.

The Book Thief is one of the best thematically structured Williams scores in recent decades.  It is a brilliant score.  Perhaps the construction of the OST does not bring that out fully, a chronological treatment might help.  Each cue is wonderfully constructed on its own and within the narrative structure

[Faleel 5,348]

5 minutes ago, SteveMc said:

The Book Thief is one of the best thematically structured Williams scores in recent decades.  It is a brilliant score.  Perhaps the construction of the OST does not being that out fully, a chronological treatment might help.  Each cue is wonderfully constructed on its own and within the narrative structure

[A24 4,333]

20 minutes ago, SteveMc said:

The Book Thief is one of the best thematically structured Williams scores in recent decades.  It is a brilliant score.  Perhaps the construction of the OST does not being that out fully, a chronological treatment might help.  Each cue is wonderfully constructed on its own and within the narrative structure

 

Really? I listened to The Book Thief quite a lot lately and it does nothing for me (other than being nice music in the background). It's like a very intelligent music computer was programmed to write music like Williams. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and voila, here's your Williams score! If this is not Williams on autopilot then I don't know what is. Were someone to steal my copy of The Book Thief, I shall not weep over it.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

26 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

EDIT: Apparently I should be listening to Angela's Ashes. But it isn't available to stream.

This playlist is pretty good although it's not FLAC

 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (OST) by Ennio Morricone

One of the best western score and Morricone.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,528]

1 hour ago, SteveMc said:

The Book Thief is one of the best thematically structured Williams scores in recent decades.  It is a brilliant score.  Perhaps the construction of the OST does not being that out fully, a chronological treatment might help.  Each cue is wonderfully constructed on its own and within the narrative structure

Agreed, Steve.

THE BOOK THIEF is a late-flowering masterpiece. It's a pleasure from beginning, to end, and it's easily the best thing about an otherwise lacklustre film. Geez, even Roger Allam couldn't save it.

[SteveMc 2,674]

1 hour ago, AC1 said:

It's like a very intelligent music computer was programmed to write music like Williams.

For me, it sounds more like a master using his well honed skills than a composer on autopilot.

7 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

THE BOOK THIEF is a late-flowering masterpiece.

Yes, this.

[Bespin 8,482]

I think we just saw a good example of a poster in autopilot! 

[Bespin 8,482]

Thematic of this evening, the catholic church.

 

Jerry Godsmith - The Omen score

Al Silvestri - Van Helsing OST

[Edmilson 7,454]

Speaking of which, what are the odds for an expanded edition of Van Helsing? It was released before 2005 (specifically May 2004), and since they already expanded The Mummy Returns, so they could do the other Stephen Sommers/Alan Silvestri collaboration. 

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

Stepmom is one of Williams' best scores

[A24 4,333]

Well, I'm happy to see you guys can enjoy something other than Star Wars or Indiana Jones. Maybe there's hope for JWFan after all?

[KK 3,307]

20 hours ago, SteveMc said:

For me, it sounds more like a master using his well honed skills than a composer on autopilot.

It sounds like a master with well-honed skills…on autopilot. In that sense, Alex’s hodgepodge computer analogy is not entirely off-base. However well intentioned it may be, it’s little more than an amalgamation of Williams’ all-too-familiar dramatic gestures and conventions.

[publicist 4,643]

11 minutes ago, KK said:

It sounds like a master with well-honed skills…on autopilot. In that sense, Alex’s hodgepodge computer analogy is not entirely off-base. However well intentioned it may be, it’s little more than an amalgamation of Williams’ all-too-familiar dramatic gestures and conventions.

 

To put it more bluntly, it's boring shite without even a trace of creativity. I only cut Williams some slack because he might have rightfully dozed off once he saw the Apple iMac ad that posed as 'opening' and buried whatever hopes he might have had for this abomination (it sits proudly alongside 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjama', 'Jacob The Liar' and 'Defiance' as another example of war-torn WW2 Europe dreamt up by a bunch of guys that probably find the idea of living without multiple yachts and a luxury retreat in the Hamptons obscene).

[SteveMc 2,674]

The movie is tripe, but that should not cloud judgements of the score.

[Tallguy 3,389]

I'm following my tradition of not listening to a score that I have ordered an expansion of (Wrath of Khan) so I'm scratching my James Horner itch:

 

The Land Before Time

 

I'd imagine some combination of Krull, The Rocketeer, Sneakers, Field of Dreams, and maybe Zorro will follow today. Brainstorm? Titanic?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,528]

TITANIC vs. BRAINSTORM?

Non contest.

 

TITANIC...

Spoiler

can fuck off!

 

[Kasey Kockroach 2,344]

Smurfs: The Lost Village by Christopher Lennertz

 

Enjoyed this more than anticipated, though I’m accustomed to lovely invigorating scoring for disposable kiddie fodder. 

[Jules 59]

The Book Thief is such a great score. Is it the most polarising Williams?

[artguy360 1,843]

Book Thief has a few passages I enjoy a lot but otherwise is really a master on autopilot like others have said. The score has a refined technical quality, but sounds far too derivative of his Angela's Ashes style of writing, without a clear emotional center beyond vaguely sad music, vaguely dramatic music, and vaguely sad and dramatic music. It probably didn't help that the movie is a total bore despite the source material being quite good.

[badbu 123]

Craig Armstrong - The Bone Collector

Love that one :-) 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,528]

7 hours ago, Jules said:

The Book Thief is such a great score. Is it the most polarising Williams?

I'd say the top-5 polarizing JW scores are:

1/ IMAGES

2/ STEPMOM

3/ THE BOOK THIEF

4/ ROSEWOOD

5/ SPACECAMP 

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

Knowing (Marco Beltrami) - having not yet taken the plunge for the expanded edition I thought I’d give the give the original album a spin. I remember it being good but seems even better than I remembered. Does the expanded version are much? Beltrami is one of those composers I want to like more than I actually do. It’s all well crafted but I can’t say I remember a bite of it afterwards.

[Thor 7,504]

3 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

I'd say the top-5 polarizing JW scores are:

1/ IMAGES

2/ STEPMOM

3/ THE BOOK THIEF

4/ ROSEWOOD

5/ SPACECAMP 

 

IMAGES, STEPMOM and ROSEWOOD are excellent. SPACE CAMP is OK. THE BOOK THIEF is a borefest (and yes, I'm aware it has its fans -- kudos to those; I like people who stick up for a maligned score, even if I don't agree with them!). I have spoken.

[Edmilson 7,454]

I think The Patriot is a little controversial as well. It's a score that has its fans (me probably being the biggest of them) but also a lot of haters.

 

And I don't believe the haters will be magically converted into fans when the expansion gets released, they'd probably hate it even more!

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

Long Live THE PATRIOT and may its expansion come soon

[Thor 7,504]

 

A hodgepodge of composers (Storaas the most experienced and orchestrally apt among them), but beautiful, reflective score that deserves more attention than what it has.

[Kühni 485]

.