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

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

Troy (Intrada) by James Horner

A first half pretty good and a second half absolutly terrific (although I'm not a fan of Groban), another Intrada release that should stay in print forever.

[Thor 7,507]

 

By far the best of the Piccioni/Ortolani/Cipriani soundtracks I've sampled so far. Then again, I'm immediately sold on any devout religioso music like this, so not a big surprise. It's got choir and everything.

[Edmilson 7,463]

3 hours ago, May the Force be with You said:

Troy (Intrada) by James Horner

A first half pretty good and a second half absolutly terrific (although I'm not a fan of Groban), another Intrada release that should stay in print forever.

One of the most underrated Horner scores. 

 

But yeah, Groban's song is awful.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

4 hours ago, May the Force be with You said:

Troy (Intrada) by James Horner

A first half pretty good and a second half absolutly terrific (although I'm not a fan of Groban), another Intrada release that should stay in print forever.

It might be unfair to ask this, but... how does it compare to Yared's score?

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

1 hour ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

It might be unfair to ask this, but... how does it compare to Yared's score?

Don't know. I never listen to the other maybe I should try it.

[Bespin 8,483]

James Horner - Field of Dreams (the new set) COOOOOOL!!!

JW - Fiddler (the new set) WWWWWWAWWWW!!!

 

[Tallguy 3,395]

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (You Know)

Side 1:

Three Million Light Years From Home
Abandoned And Pursued
E.T. And Me
E.T.’s Halloween
Flying

 

The "Which (if any) JW OSTs do you think are perfect and why?" thread has me thinking in terms of album sides.

 

What an amazingly satisfying listen. And E.T. and Me is challenging Princess Leia's Theme for my top spot in "Most Beautiful Williams Cue".

[GerateWohl 4,370]

Beautiful Rózsa score.

Only strange how the score is split over the two CDs. One with 57 minutes, one with 25 minutes.

I prefer listening to this album than listening to the Gerhardt suite.

 

[Tom Guernsey 2,285]

6 hours ago, May the Force be with You said:

Troy (Intrada) by James Horner

A first half pretty good and a second half absolutly terrific (although I'm not a fan of Groban), another Intrada release that should stay in print forever.

Despite Horner being one of a handful of composers where I'll buy pretty much anything with his name on it, I didn't pick up the expanded Troy. My recollection is that the expanded version is actually missing a few moments (the bits that riff on the Britten War Requiem fanfare which Horner co-opted for the city itself if I remember correctly) but most of the additional music was rather nondescript synth stuff. Is this accurate or am I missing out by not going for the expanded edition?!

 

2 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

It might be unfair to ask this, but... how does it compare to Yared's score?

To be honest, aside from being written for the same movie, they are so different in style that they aren't really comparable. Horner's is (at least based on the OST) pretty much exactly what you might expect a Horner historical epic to sound like whereas Yared's doesn't really sound like anything else he's written (that I'm aware of). Yared's does have a slightly golden age feel to it, but on a blind listen I don't think I'd have immediately put it as a lost score from the 50s or 60s. However, it's a much more intricately written and interesting score than Horner's and I certainly listen to it more often than the Horner's effort (despite being a huge Horner fan). It's a shame that a release of some sort seems doomed to never materialise, but never say never... 

[crocodile 8,017]

@Tom Guernsey No, not really, there are a couple of short cues on the expanded Troy but the truth is pretty much all the orchestral stuff from the score already appeared on the original album. There are a couple of nice cues that could have made the cut (Achilles's introduction, Priam's mourning etc.) but there isn't enough on there to be honest. And yes, pretty much all the additional material is synth-based with some ethnic instruments, percussion and vocals on top. The full score feels quite unfinished and, to be honest, it probably was. The original CD was already very well put together.

 

Karol

[Tom Guernsey 2,285]

19 minutes ago, crocodile said:

@Tom Guernsey No, not really, there are a couple of short cues on the expanded Troy but the truth is pretty much all the orchestral stuff from the score already appeared on the original album. There are a couple of nice cues that could have made the cut (Achilles's introduction, Priam's mourning etc.) but there isn't enough on there to be honest. And yes, pretty much all the additional material is synth-based with some ethnic instruments, percussion and vocals on top. The full score feels quite unfinished and, to be honest, it probably was. The original CD was already very well put together.

 

Karol

Thank you. I think that’s what I had concluded to be the case so don’t really feel like I’m missing out. Appreciate it. As you say, it does sound rushed in places and I’m sure Horner regretted not being the first one on the scene as the movie is right up his street and I’m sure I’d have liked more time. Plenty of better Horner expanded scores out there… The Search for Spock, which got an outing today, for example. Great stuff.

[crocodile 8,017]

15 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Thank you. I think that’s what I had concluded to be the case so don’t really feel like I’m missing out. Appreciate it. As you say, it does sound rushed in places and I’m sure Horner regretted not being the first one on the scene as the movie is right up his street and I’m sure I’d have liked more time. Plenty of better Horner expanded scores out there… The Search for Spock, which got an outing today, for example. Great stuff.

I created a custom 83-minute playlist combining the tracks from the two releases:

 

 

Achilles Saves Briseis and Single Combat are extended versions of the tracks already on the original album. The former features basically just a 10-second orchestral swell before the album material starts. The second one extends the drum segment of the Hector/Achilles fight from 1 minute to about 2.5 minute (although you can argue the album version was more than enough). Feast Source and Never Hesitate are the nicest cues of the lot with the latter featuring nice early statement of Achilles' theme. And Hector's Farewell's and Priam Pleads are nice contemplative, but somewhat ambient, cues with nice vocals. The latter curiously features some unwanted studio noise (Horner talking?). But that's it...about 10 minutes?

 

Unlike many people, I do actually really enjoy the score.

 

Karol

[Bespin 8,483]

I never listened to the score of Troy, but it's on my "wish list", yes as some of the best James Horner's scores (I DID MY OWN RESEARCH!).

 

I think the right way to evaluate music, is not really by saying "I love it" or "I don't love it"... because, sometimes, well... often I must say, we change our minds...

 

So I think you have to wonder, is this 'X' work is significant in relation to everything the composer wrote to this day? Is this work representative of what the composer can do best?

[Edmilson 7,463]

Troy's OST was already pretty satisfying. It included all the major orchestral highlights, leaving out just a few cues that are mostly synth. 

 

The liner notes for the extended edition are cool though.

[Bespin 8,483]

I listened to the first 2 CD of Fiddler.

 

I didn’t expect it to be so pleasant! Even the 2nd CD is a pleasure to listen to!

 

This is finally a version that does justice to the work of John Williams.

 

[Jay 37,368]

Alan Silvestri - Predator 2 (Varese Deluxe)

 

My favorite action score from Silvestri.  It's great!

 

 

John Williams - The Cowboys (Varese Deluxe)

 

The announcement of the vinyl edition made me realize I hadn't listened to the score in a while. Man, it's a gem!  The 60 minute main program is aces.

[Bespin 8,483]

Howard Shore - Dead Ringers Collector’s Ed

Thomas Newman - Less Than Zero (expanded)

Thomas Newmam - Passengers 

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

On 07/02/2022 at 9:23 AM, Holko said:

Stepmom, second try, all the way through this time. Left no impression though. What the hell's happening in Soccer Game, are 3 snipers attacking the stepmom's kid as he's driving across the field?

Yes

[bruce marshall 1,315]

4 hours ago, Bespin said:

Less Than Zero (expanded)

 

Wasn't the LLL the premiere release of the SCORE?

[Jay 37,368]

Yep

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Intrada) by Alan Silvestri

A terrific and fun score, one of my top 3 Silvestri. Really glad I succeed to get the expansion before it runs out because it's a true blast!

[publicist 4,643]

1 hour ago, May the Force be with You said:

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Intrada) by Alan Silvestri

A terrific and fun score, one of my top 3 Silvestri. Really glad I succeed to get the expansion before it runs out because it's a true blast!

 

Top 3 for sure.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

It's top-3, for me, along with CONTACT, and BTTF:III.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

1. Father of the Bride

2. Father of the Bride Part II

3. See 1 and 2

[Bespin 8,483]

Goldsmith - Legend (2021, The Film score) 

Goldsmith - Themes and suites (2016, conducted by Raine, from The Blue Max rerecording)

 

[LSH 969]

 

Been so long since I listened to this last I honestly can't remember anything about it.

 

Couple of tracks in, very Barry and Horner-esque. Nice theme.

[Tom Guernsey 2,285]

10 hours ago, Bespin said:

Goldsmith - Legend (2021, The Film score) 

Goldsmith - Themes and suites (2016, conducted by Raine, from The Blue Max rerecording)

 

Legend is, of course legendary (sorry) but I add an extra vote (on the non-existent poll) for the suites and themes from the Blue Max, that's such a great selection of tracks, really well performed. A really good choice of popular choices with plenty of less well known odds and ends. I really hope someone does another Jerry album like this sometime.

 

South Seas Adventure (Alex North) - I'm sure North fans will point out the obvious North-isms, but I'd be hard pressed to identify this as an Alex North score if I didn't know. A bit of an oddity in his oeuvre but an interesting mix of fairly traditional orchestral writing with Hawaiian chants (one of which is very similar to Te Deum Guarani from The Mission, particularly in the way it's sung).

 

Star Wars Trilogy (JW, Kojian/Utah Symphony) - One of the first CDs I ever bought after I started collecting and still a fine summary of the original trilogy scores, with fine playing and recording. One of the only recordings of the end credits that doesn't include any finale (so no throne room). I have to say that I prefer to JW's own Skywalker Symphony album which feels a bit ponderous and cavernous, plus it has that awful "kid messing around with sound effects" ending to Cantina Band.

 

It did get me thinking what a Star Wars Prequel and Sequel trilogy album of this nature might include to get 50 ish minutes of music from each trilogy using concert arrangements and one or two concert ready action cues. I guess the problem here is that the first of each trilogy has a well defined suite but the the second and third in each, less so. Maybe that's a thread that needs starting. Maybe.

[Thor 7,507]

21 hours ago, LSH said:

Been so long since I listened to this last I honestly can't remember anything about it.

 

Couple of tracks in, very Barry and Horner-esque. Nice theme.

 

This was a big surprise to me when I got it years ago. I had expected something Barry/Horner-esque, as you say (because everyone said it was), but I was surprised by how action-oriented it was. Nothing like those at all.

 

 

Huge, wishy-washy melodramatic strings. Not quite the lyrical Piccioni I was looking for, but now that I've gone through all the recommendations that FSM gave me in regards to Piccioni, Ortolani and Cipriani, this remains a contender. So I'm giving it a second chance.

[Bespin 8,483]

Lockhart - JW tribute: Cinema, Music, Champagne and Flutes (whatever the title is)

Williams/Spielberg - The Ultimate Collection

 

 

PS: The Ultimate Collection, but grouped by movies, naturally.

 

 

[bruce marshall 1,315]

SLEEPERS

 

" Hell's Kitchen" is awesome.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

7 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

SLEEPERS

 

" Hell's Kitchen" is awesome.

HELL'S KITCHEN live, is more awesome 

[bruce marshall 1,315]

14 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

HELL'S KITCHEN live, is more awesome 

Is that a RUSH song?😒

[Holko 9,526]

Got the 14 disc volume 2 of the Decca Morricone collection and jumped right into it after some copious ripping and tagging:

 

After the previous box spent 5 discs on Leone and all other western it had was the Tarantino pieces on Disc 17, this one starts right up with a 2 disc wide selection.

Pistole is very interesting in how it's much more like a classic Western score as opposed to the groundbreaking Dollars produced back to back with it on a smaller budget with smaller hopes.

The Ringos move more into fun Spaghetti, then almost epic territory, like these selections a lot.

Resa dei conti is cool, wasn't too taken by Faccia a faccia and not only because of the weird stereo mix.

Grande Silenzio is a big change of gear and not for the worse, love it! Was reading the wiki pages along for some context for each of these and I'll watch this one.

Provvidenza's another welcome change of pace to lead out of the slower bleaker sound with its upbeatness, and Sonny and Jed's a nice straightforward/fun way to close out.

 

Disc 2 will be the Bud Spencer/Terrence Hill disc. I'm still missing gems like Vamos A Matar Companeros. Come on Volume 3!

 

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

As Kenobi is getting closer I dived again in this masterpiece. Every title is perfect but the bloody CD is too short!

 

Star Wars

Pursuing the Kenobi journey. Tales of a Jedi Knight is absolutely gorgeous, really hope it will appears in the show

[filmmusic 1,829]

Murder in the First (Christopher Young)

 

Such an underappreciated score and a masterpiece!

[Thor 7,507]

1 hour ago, filmmusic said:

Murder in the First (Christopher Young)

 

Such an underappreciated score and a masterpiece!

 

Sure is -- one of my favourite Youngs. The upbeat news tunes can be programmed out for an even more fluid pastoral listening experience.

 

 

Leave it to Zeffirelli to get maximum out of the composers he used; often broad, bittersweet melodies like in his case, another Ortolani highlight.

[Thor 7,507]

 

Benny Goodman-type of jazz is not my favourite jazz, sorry to say (which is why I always had trouble getting into Horner's SWING KIDS and BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED....or even COCOON a bit, for that matter), but by all means -- this chugs along nicely, and is beautifully combined with the more reflective orchestral passages (the pop bits, on the other hand, are very dated). One of Ortolani's most famous scores and also a highlight in my recent journey through his work.

[Jurassic Shark 12,079]

5 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Benny Goodman-type of jazz is not my favourite jazz, sorry to say (which is why I always had trouble getting into Horner's SWING KIDS and BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED....or even COCOON a bit, for that matter), but by all means -- this chugs along nicely, and is beautifully combined with the more reflective orchestral passages. One of Ortolani's most famous scores and also a highlight in my recent journey through his work.

 

C'mon, you don't like Sing, Sing, Sing?

[Thor 7,507]

58 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

C'mon, you don't like Sing, Sing, Sing?

 

A bit overplayed, but yeah -- it's fine. I just gravitate more towards other forms of jazz.

 

 

This attracted me because of the 60s beatnik elements - very much in line with the Williams and Mancini lounge scores of the time that I also dig.  Very versatile, that Ortolani. Had to program out the very annoying "Welcome to San Forino" and "Fiesta in the Piazza", though.

[Thor 7,507]

 

Coolness on a stick! Dig these suave mixes of jazz, funk, ambiance, exotica and orchestra.

[filmmusic 1,829]

A Hidden Life (James N. Howard)

Why this gem wasn't nominated for an Oscar is beyond me.

[Thor 7,507]

26 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

A Hidden Life (James N. Howard)

Why this gem wasn't nominated for an Oscar is beyond me.

 

It's always troublesome for Malick movies to get score Oscar noms, due to his use of existing music. Even though there was plenty of original music in this film. But yeah -- by far my favourite score in 2020, and IMO a return to form for JNH, his best since THE VILLAGE (which very much comes from the same mold). The film was my favourite of the year too.

[Bespin 8,483]

Zimmer - The Last Samurai OST

Portman - The Cider House Rules OST

JNH - Prince of Tides OST

[Thor 7,507]

 

This was the "winner" of my Cipriani exploration (so far) -- Morricone-ish baroque jazz sensibilities combined with typically romantic tropes of the era (film is from 1970). Due to my self-imposed limitation, this is the last one I'll post about for tonight.

[Bespin 8,483]

Why listen to Morricone-ish, Barry-ish and Horner-ish scores while you can listen to the originals instead?

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,079]

Because they're all dead.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

1 hour ago, Bespin said:

Why listen to Morricone-ish, Barry-ish and Horner-ish scores while you can listen to the originals instead?

 

I know. Right?

I've been on an Italian western/giallo kick and always smile when I hear Nicolai or Bacalov ' do' EM.

Not that there great scores, but it shows how damn influential and dominant EM was!

[Thor 7,507]

Because there's a big world out there. Morricone is not the be-all, end-all aspect of Italian film music.

[Jurassic Shark 12,079]

Much of his output isn't even that good.

[crocodile 8,017]

 The Monkey King and The Monkey King 2 by Christopher Young. I just tend to listen to those as one long 144-minute playlist. The only thing I removed is the song from the first album. It's as good as fantasy film music gets these days. The concept-like album sequence of both albums definitely helps to experience it as pure music.

 

Karol