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Which iconic theme do you prefer?


  

58 members have voted

  1. 1. Which theme do you prefer?

    • Superman Theme, John Williams
      50
    • He's A Pirate, Hans Zimmer
      8


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First of all, referring to the "He's a Pirate" theme is kind of like referring to the ESB end credits theme. There are quite a few involved.

Second of all...yeah, what gkgyver said. :P

Superman for me, clearly. I actually can enjoy Pirates when I'm in the right mood, but come on.

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I'm not sure which recording you're referring to, Chaac, but I wouldn't want to hear that piece slowed down. It needs to be fast. As for that MV sound, I'm not sure how much you can get rid of that. Part of it is the way it's orchestrated and recorded, yes, but a big part of it is just endemic to the way it's written.

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I love the POTC theme, so this wasn't as clearcut choice as it seems. These days, I probably get more pleasure from that than from the SUPERMAN theme, which is a bit overplayed. But SUPERMAN obviously has more years on its back, and even more time to cement itself in popular culture, so it's a bit of an unfair comparison. POTC is unquestionably one of the most popular film themes in recent history, though, popping up everywhere from cellphone ringtones to sporting events to commercials.

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I'm not sure which recording you're referring to, Chaac, but I wouldn't want to hear that piece slowed down. It needs to be fast. As for that MV sound, I'm not sure how much you can get rid of that. Part of it is the way it's orchestrated and recorded, yes, but a big part of it is just endemic to the way it's written.

There's an excellent RPO performance available and its tempo is perfect. I think it's on iTunes.

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No I am talking about the theme as it it used a few times in the movie. As a sort of heroic, noble theme for Jack.

Again, you have to decide which theme you are talking about. :P The track "He's a Pirate" opens with a theme that sometimes functions as a love theme for Will and Elizabeth, sometimes as a generic action theme, and sometimes even more broadly just as a theme for the film itself. After a transitional passage and a brief melody with roots in both this score and other Zimmer scores, it goes into Jack's theme - the good one, not the one Zimmer wrote for the Jack Sparrow lookalike in DMC. It ends with another generic action theme used in the film. So if you're asking about themes, not specific cues/tracks, you gotta make up your mind which theme you're talking about.

EDIT: I still haven't been able to find that RPO recording. The vast majority of "He's a Pirate" re-recordings are crap.

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Probably every single theme JW has written is much more preferable than He's a Pirate, an absolutely awful piece of music without any artistic integrity what so ever

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I've found a short part of the exact RPO recording:

http://www.youtube.c...be_gdata_player

Ewwwwwwwww.

Yet you have no such questions regarding the Theme From Superman, which actually contains several themes also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttQjm-8OITE

Superman has a well-known concert suite featuring a three-part main theme, as well as the love theme. Although those first three are melodically distinct, they all represent the same thing, and due to the fact that they're presented together as the theme from Superman, it makes perfect sense to think of them that way. It's like the A and B themes from Raiders, or the A and B themes in the Star Wars main title, or what have you. But with Pirates, all we got was a short end credits suite and the cues written for the film. (And that recording is the original, BTW.)

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Probably every single theme JW has written is much more preferable than He's a Pirate, an absolutely awful piece of music without any artistic integrity what so ever

It works very well in the scene in the first films which introduces the Jack Sparrow character.

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I've found a short part of the exact RPO recording:

http://www.youtube.c...be_gdata_player

Ewwwwwwwww.

If you don't think that blows the ost version away you need to wash your ears out and get some taste!

He's a Pirate, an absolutely awful piece of music without any artistic integrity what so ever

Load of shite.

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It's still an awful piece of music from awful score. All of this IMHO, of course, but I can't imagine how can anyone enjoy this theme without considering some sort of guilty pleasure

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Absolutely no contest here. He's A Pirate it is!

Just kidding. :P

Superman all the way.

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I've found a short part of the exact RPO recording:

http://www.youtube.c...be_gdata_player

Ewwwwwwwww.

come on it sounds much better than what steef posted. the orchestration makes it still sound synth somehow (or maybe its just my mind..)

This is the best rendition of it, obviously

i didnt knew mosquitoes could buzz music with their wings....

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It's still an awful piece of music from awful score. All of this IMHO, of course, but I can't imagine how can anyone enjoy this theme without considering some sort of guilty pleasure

I enjoy it because it's catchy, harmless fun. Shallow as hell, but it wears it's unabashedly uncynical heart on its sleeve. It's not trying to pass itself of as Prokofiev. It's pop music.

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He's A Pirate, obviously. Hope someone comes up with something as iconic for a new Superman movie.

Karol

Even though the origin of the theme is suspect, it is by far the most well-known and iconic new film theme of the last decade. Moreso then anything from LOTR or Harry Potter.

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I've found a short part of the exact RPO recording:

http://www.youtube.c...be_gdata_player

Ewwwwwwwww.

come on it sounds much better than what steef posted. the orchestration makes it still sound synth somehow (or maybe its just my mind..)

Isn't it the sign of brilliance? When JW composed the wild signals cue from CEOTTK where live musicians were supposed to mimmick synthethic performance. And it's a masterpiece of the 20th Century. ;)

Karol

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Ewwwwwwwww.

If you don't think that blows the ost version away you need to wash your ears out and get some taste!

I'd have the same reaction to any piece of music recorded like that, be it Williams or Zimmer or whoever. It's just an absolutely awful-sounding recording. Terrible performance, terrible acoustics, terrible mixing. You're right that I do need to wash my ears out now, though. ;)

The only decent re-recording of He's a Pirate that comes to mind is one that Disney did with the LSO for the fountain show World of Color. It hasn't gotten an official release, and it certainly sounds like there's some synth stuff going on, but it's a polished and fairly enthusiastic performance. And it's the LSO.

It's still an awful piece of music from awful score. All of this IMHO, of course, but I can't imagine how can anyone enjoy this theme without considering some sort of guilty pleasure

I enjoy it because it's catchy, harmless fun. Shallow as hell, but it wears it's unabashedly uncynical heart on its sleeve. It's not trying to pass itself of as Prokofiev. It's pop music.

up.gif

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He's A Pirate, obviously. Hope someone comes up with something as iconic for a new Superman movie.

Karol

Even though the origin of the theme is suspect, it is by far the most well-known and iconic new film theme of the last decade. Moreso then anything from LOTR or Harry Potter.

i think the fellowship and hedwigs themes are by the least tied with he is a pirate.

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It's still an awful piece of music from awful score. All of this IMHO, of course, but I can't imagine how can anyone enjoy this theme without considering some sort of guilty pleasure

I think it's a fantastic theme and a superb score, and don't feel one iota of "guilt" about it. Then the phrase 'guilty pleasure' has always been rather fussy in the first place.

It's still an awful piece of music from awful score. All of this IMHO, of course, but I can't imagine how can anyone enjoy this theme without considering some sort of guilty pleasure

I enjoy it because it's catchy, harmless fun. Shallow as hell, but it wears it's unabashedly uncynical heart on its sleeve. It's not trying to pass itself of as Prokofiev. It's pop music.

Exactly.

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Porn should never be a guilty pleasure. It's a necessity man. ;)

You should have seen it live mate, especially for the look on Peio's face ;)

Unfortunately I saw a live performance of it with some fellow JWFans. I thought Saxbabe was going to vomit and John nearly ran me over to get into the lobby.

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No I am talking about the theme as it it used a few times in the movie. As a sort of heroic, noble theme for Jack.

Superman wins, no contest. As a listening experience and how it's used in the film, Superman's theme blows away Zimmer's theme.

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The question I'm asking . . . when the hell did "He's a Pirate" even reach "iconic" status anyway?

Whatever.

- Uni

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The film was deservedly popular, and the music was a veritable "greatest hits" of that MV power anthem sound, which has one foot in more traditional symphonic scoring and one foot in rock and other genres of popular music. Doesn't surprise me at all that it became popular. As I've said before, it was my first real exposure to that MV sound, so it sounded very fresh and interesting and exciting to me at the time...ironically.

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The question I'm asking . . . when the hell did "He's a Pirate" even reach "iconic" status anyway?

Whatever.

- Uni

Delusions of grandeur from fanboys. ;)

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Okay make that three people that need to pull their heads out of their asses thinking that Zimmer's "He's A Pirate" is better than Williams' Superman theme.

I can only imagine the slowness of Zimmer's rendition for Superman's theme. Hell at least John Ottman made a good effort at capturing the rendition perfectly.

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Which of these famous, iconic themes do you prefer?

Wait, I get it. You're trying to flush out the bad ones, right?

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I'm not sure which recording you're referring to, Chaac, but I wouldn't want to hear that piece slowed down. It needs to be fast. As for that MV sound, I'm not sure how much you can get rid of that. Part of it is the way it's orchestrated and recorded, yes, but a big part of it is just endemic to the way it's written.

There's an excellent RPO performance available and its tempo is perfect. I think it's on iTunes.

If by RPO you mean the Prague recording, it's absolute shit. No one has successfully rerecorded Hans to date. Not even the man himself! That live album of his isn't very good.

I voted for He's A Pirate.

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