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

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

2 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

A lovely score, but the dialogue over the opening track (the most memorable by far, as far as I recall) really bugs me.

Funnily enough I listened to the opening suite track this week as a random Morricone and forgot about that dialogue. It is indeed rather intrusive and a shame as the music is especially wonderful. Will give the full thing a listen soon. 

[Bespin 8,481]

James Horner - Jack the Bear

 

[publicist 4,643]

10 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Funnily enough I listened to the opening suite track this week as a random Morricone and forgot about that dialogue. It is indeed rather intrusive and a shame as the music is especially wonderful. Will give the full thing a listen soon. 

 

It's an ancient complaint, though in this case the label 'dialogue' is of course reductive. What Morricone weaves in here is slices of sicilian life (human sounds, of a village waking up, peasant greeting shouts etc.) and it's actually more interesting this way as a programmatic piece of music. If you take that away, you are left with good but typical Morricone (we've heard variations of it a million times by now).

 

 

[Thor 7,504]

 

The wonderful, airy Benny Andersson song was always the main takeaway here, but the symphonic Eljas score is appropriately playful too (the action music is a bit staccato, though). Film is obviously a huge nostalgic favourite of mine (as are most Lindgren film and tv adaptations); it premiered on my 10th birthday in 1987.

[Thor 7,504]

 

Due to a recent poll about the year 2000, I listened to this again. Haven't listened to it in years, but played it A LOT when it came out. It cemented my love of Illaramendi as a present day Delerue -- spectacularly good with the bittersweet melancholy, a bit aggravating when it comes to suspense. But this is one of his best.

[filmmusic 1,829]

The Fugitive (complete) (James Newton Howard)

It has its highlights of course, and I guess it compliments the visuals nicely, but I haven't ever understood its Oscar nomination.

In its place I would put either Jurassic park or The Piano.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,527]

17 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

The Fugitive (complete) (James Newton Howard)

It has its highlights of course, and I guess it compliments the visuals nicely, but I haven't ever understood its Oscar nomination.

In its place I would put either Jurassic park or The Piano.

I had to look that up.

THE PIANO not nominated, but THE FIRM was?!

It's an outrage!

[filmmusic 1,829]

3 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

I had to look that up.

THE PIANO not nominated, but THE FIRM was?!

It's an outrage!

Yeah, I know.

I guess The Firm was innovative in that it used only a piano solo? I don't know..

[Naïve Old Fart 9,527]

I don't call ripping-off "The Conspirators" innovative.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

The Firm is a great score

[Naïve Old Fart 9,527]

It is a good score, but an Oscar™ nomination? Not sure about that.

 

My favourite Dave Grusin record is ONE OF A KIND.

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

The Firm deserved its nom.  I would pick The Fugitive to replace with JP, even though I like the Fugitive score, it's more derivative, a firmly "just good" down-the-middle 90s thriller score.

[Thor 7,504]

They were all excellent nominations that year, and the right one won in the end. Of course, I would have loved JP to be nominated and to win, since it's my alltime favourite score, but JW cancelled himself that year, with two super strong scores.

[filmmusic 1,829]

4 minutes ago, Thor said:

They were all excellent nominations that year, and the right one won in the end. Of course, I would have loved JP to be nominated and to win, since it's my alltime favourite score, but JW cancelled himself that year, with two super strong scores.

No love for THE PIANO?

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

5 hours ago, publicist said:

It's an ancient complaint, though in this case the label 'dialogue' is of course reductive. What Morricone weaves in here is slices of sicilian life (human sounds, of a village waking up, peasant greeting shouts etc.) and it's actually more interesting this way as a programmatic piece of music. If you take that away, you are left with good but typical Morricone (we've heard variations of it a million times by now).

 

Maybe. But I saw the film before I got the score album, and the one standout moment in the score to me was the climax of the opening track. I'd like to have that music isolated.

[Thor 7,504]

1 hour ago, filmmusic said:

No love for THE PIANO?

 

Yes, it's great. There were lots of great scores in 1993 that were not nominated for an Oscar.

[Bespin 8,481]

James Horner - Living in the age of airplanes 

 

[Edmilson 7,443]

One of the few Horner scores I don't like at all.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

It's Jay's #1 favorite of all time

[Bespin 8,481]

Well, it's a score for a documentary, and I understand that each track is set for a specific aspect or "scene" (tableau) of the documentary, I love that kind of "world tour". It's like variations on a subject, which is airplanes here, if I understand well. 

[Jay 37,361]

My favorite Horner scores are Aliens, The Rocketeer, and Apollo 13

[crocodile 8,012]

No Willow?

 

Karol

[Jay 37,361]

That'd be in the top 5, just not the top 3.  And I forgot Wrath of Khan, that'd be top 3 instead of Apollo 13

[Bespin 8,481]

You could ask @Naïve Old Fart about the dozen scores that are in his James Horner Top 5. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Decide which 5 Horner scores from the 80s or 90s are most ignored/obscure, and voilà, you have Richard's top 5!

[Edmilson 7,443]

Dad

The Name of the Rose

Thunderheart

Class Action

A Far Off Place

[Bespin 8,481]

Dad is not obscure nor ignored! At least not by me!

[Thor 7,504]

It's very hard to do obscure Horner anyway, since he's so beloved and many people have a close connection to all of his discography. You'd probably have to venture outside into the unreleased to find something that is remotely obscure -- things like FANTASY, GIST AND EVANS, LANDSCAPE, THE STONE BOY, IN HER OWN TIME, or maybe some TV film things like BETWEEN FRIENDS, SURVIVING and FISH POLICE.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,527]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

Dad

The Name of the Rose

Thunderheart

Class Action

A Far Off Place

One of those is definitely in my top-5 

[Richard Penna 3,687]

Over the weekend I somehow got reminded that Randy Newman's A Bug's Life had a C&C promo like a lot of other Pixar movies and given that my rip of part of the climactic chase from the isolated score sounds a bit rubbish (mostly volume changes, but the album version is different) decided to check out the whole thing.

 

I'm now around a third of the way through and it's great stuff - there are a lot of little moments from the movie that I don't remember hearing on the OST, including the brief tense cue where Flik is told to leave, and the Ant Band source cue. It's a really nice companion to the Toy Story legacy release.

 

There's also a ton of source music to go on a similar legacy treatment for this...  

[Bespin 8,481]

James Horner - Windtalkers

 

[Edmilson 7,443]

2 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

Over the weekend I somehow got reminded that Randy Newman's A Bug's Life had a C&C promo like a lot of other Pixar movies and given that my rip of part of the climactic chase from the isolated score sounds a bit rubbish (mostly volume changes, but the album version is different) decided to check out the whole thing.

 

I'm now around a third of the way through and it's great stuff - there are a lot of little moments from the movie that I don't remember hearing on the OST, including the brief tense cue where Flik is told to leave, and the Ant Band source cue. It's a really nice companion to the Toy Story legacy release.

 

There's also a ton of source music to go on a similar legacy treatment for this...  

A Bug's Life is awesome, one of my favorite Randy Newman Pixar scores. And it desperatly needs a great Legacy edition, because the OST is pitiful.

[Thor 7,504]

 

This wonderful 2016 game score by Douglas Holmquist is what turned me on to synthwave -- a genre I wasn't even aware existed at the time (although it had existed for several years), combining everything I loved about 80s synth music and contemporary EDM production values. Today, I'm more on top of things, although it's a rabbit hole you never really get out of.

[GerateWohl 4,368]

When I really dig deep, I might find at max five Horner scores that interest me musically.

But recently I realized, that I hardly saw any movie, that he scored.

I saw the Cameron movies, Willow, Brainstorm, Braveheart, The Name of the Rose, Wolfen, the Zorros, Krull, Gorky Park, Patroit Games and the sequel, the Star Trek movies and The Magnificient Seven. I think, that's pretty much it. Might have forgotten one or two.

Music mostly didn't leave a trace apart from realizing the reappearing Horner motifs.

My main issue is probably, that his themes very rarely connect with me, and if they do, they are often used in each third movie of his. I like some of his action scoring. But for that I own my three reference soundtracks of his. 

 

So, my personal top five (only five I ever need) are 

• Brainstorm
• The Name of the Rose
• Aliens
• Krull
• Titanic

[Naïve Old Fart 9,527]

Two of those are on my list.

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

8 hours ago, Edmilson said:

A Bug's Life is awesome, one of my favorite Randy Newman Pixar scores. And it desperatly needs a great Legacy edition, because the OST is pitiful.

I was lucky enough to pick up the Oscar promo, which fills in most/all of the gaps in the original soundtrack, and it’s definitely one of my most treasured possessions. I still think it’s still my favourite Randy Newman score for a Pixar movie, it’s a bit less frenetic than the Toy Story scores and it’s just overflowing with brilliant themes. I can’t remember if anybody has disproved my theory, but I believe the OST doesn’t include any tracks with choir, thus missing out some of the best moments in the actual score such as the finale cur and the brief but fun Robin Hood moment. Agreed that it definitely needs a legacy edition, Although Disney will probably find some new way to fuck it up… 

[Richard Penna 3,687]

I don't see why Newman didn't just release the C&C promo as the OST - perhaps joining On Trial to a nearby cue if he couldn't bear to release a 30 second cue. It's not simply a session dump and he didn't include the source music other than the Ant Band.

 

I'm not sure about the choir on the OST but he didn't include the opening or closing cues, opting for the song and the suite instead.

 

Clemmenson's review suitably and expectedly glass half empty, as usual 

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

15 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

I don't see why Newman didn't just release the C&C promo as the OST - perhaps joining On Trial to a nearby cue if he couldn't bear to release a 30 second cue. It's not simply a session dump and he didn't include the source music other than the Ant Band.

 

I'm not sure about the choir on the OST but he didn't include the opening or closing cues, opting for the song and the suite instead.

 

Clemmenson's review suitably and expectedly glass half empty, as usual 

Well I guess he released what he wanted/was able. However the opening and closing cues are worth the price of an expanded release alone. The suite is fun but adds nothing new. 

[Bespin 8,481]

James Horner - Enemy at the Gates

 

[Richard Penna 3,687]

4 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

When I really dig deep, I might find at max five Horner scores that interest me musically.

 

I can narrow mine down to these in terms of having full albums, or at least reconfigured (OST minus some bits + expanded tracks):

 

Deep Impact

Braveheart

Titanic

Wolf Totem

Avatar

House of Sand and Fog

Life Before Her Eyes

Apollo 13

 

I have a whole bunch of tracks from lots of other scores but would never enjoy their full albums. There's certainly nothing further I'd like expanded, given that basically everything from Avatar has leaked.

[A24 4,333]

 

Like the movie, it's too much doom and gloom. Needs more variation. It needs a track like Tourists On The Menu.

[crocodile 8,012]

Where would you place such a cue within the film?  The OST album is not the best, to be honest. While the complete score might be too much at least you can create a much better tight listening experience that actually like the score is going somewhere.

 

 God of War and God of War Ragnarok. 3 hours and 20 minutes of McCreary is...a lot. Enjoyable though.

 

Karol

 

 

[A24 4,333]

1 hour ago, crocodile said:

Where would you place such a cue within the film?  

 

 

Each time the family is on the move. 

[GerateWohl 4,368]

Lifeforce - Henry Mancini

 

This score, even though not used that way in the final movie, is for a score lover like me a wonderful musical experience. I am just starting to get to know the score. A particularly impressionistic soundscape. I must confess, I am not that much interested in Michael Kamen's contribution to the score. Maybe If one day I am going to watch the movie I might feel the urge to listen to the Kamen parts. But so far I am perfectly fine with Mancini's wonderful music.

[Vince 34]

David Arnold's The Musketeer (2001). Haven't seen the film but I couldn't pass up on an adventure score by Arnold. It's main theme isn't as immediate as, say Stargate or Independence Day, but it does manage to inspire the same kind of rush with its action material. 

[Thor 7,504]

 

I don't understand how Bataller never got more of a career boost after this highly impressive 2011 work -- which is like a cousin to Jusid's superb ISABEL series. I mean, I've heard more of his work, but none has been on this level (plus, I don't veer much to the horror scores like LA HERMANDAD, REC 4 etc).

[Thor 7,504]

 

I'm editing and writing in an upcoming film magazine issue about feature film debuts, and I'm considering writing a small bit about this, Michael Mann's stupendous debut. So time to play the excellent TD soundtrack again. It's a little too rock/poppy here and there, and not my favourite by them, but still some gorgeous sequencer tracks (like when once "Diamond Diary" finally gets going).

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

To Kill a Mockingbird by Elmer, RSNO version. Beautiful performance of a gorgeous, seminal score. Random thoughts, there’s a danger motif (for want of a better description) that’s almost the raptor motif from Jurassic Park (the final note is different). Motifs like it seem to pop up all over once you start listening. It’s almost film music’s own dies irae… On a more serious note, did Elmer effectively invent the gentle drama score? I don’t know if this was his first such score, but it’s one of his finest and best known. Before that, dramas were rather durm and strang instead of delicate and sensitive. It reminds me that it’s astounding that Elmer never won a best score Oscar. Definitely robbed. Several times. 

[Thor 7,504]

8 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Elmer, RSNO version. Beautiful performance of a gorgeous, seminal score. Random thoughts, there’s a danger motif (for want of a better description) that’s almost the raptor motif from Jurassic Park (the final note is different). Motifs like it seem to pop up all over once you start listening. It’s almost film music’s own dies irae… On a more serious note, did Elmer effectively invent the gentle drama score? I don’t know if this was his first such score, but it’s one of his finest and best known. Before that, dramas were rather durm and strang instead of delicate and sensitive. It reminds me that it’s astounding that Elmer never won a best score Oscar. Definitely robbed. Several times. 

 

One of the best scores of all time. I use it in my lectures all the time. Hopefully, one day we'll get the orignial recording with Williams' piano playing.

[Andy 4,127]

5 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

 On a more serious note, did Elmer effectively invent the gentle drama score? 

 

I have had the same thoughts.  I'm not knowledgable enough about the score's contemporaries, or what came before, but this score seems way ahead of its time.  If I didn't know better, I might think I was listening to outtakes from Cocoon.