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John Barry's The Black Hole


Jay

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Hello all,

I know this title was a holy grail for a lot of people, and it finally came out... but I haven't seen much talk about it!

What do people think? How is the new Intrada release?

I am COMPLETELY unfamiliar with this score. If I like the samples, is it a definite pickup, or is the complete score fairly repetitious?

Discuss!

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Well, I haven't heard this at all, but since it was a holy grail for so long, I listened to some samples. Which I found rather underwhelming. Then I decided to buy High Road to China instead. Can't say I regret it!

I have a feeling that, together with Explorers, these were holy grails because of the combination of composer & genre/cult movie.

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I love it, but then I'm biased as The Black Hole is one of those major nostalgia movies for me. Came out when I was a kid, and was one of those handful of movies that HBO would repeat over and over and over back in their early days, just like Somewhere in Time, Seems Like Old Times, and even Krull a few years later.

The score is typical John Barry. I've always loved the "haunting" main theme. As others may say, it does feel somewhat repetitive after a while. There are a couple of themes, but none of them are developed to any great extent, IMHO. The sound quality is excellent, however.

For me, this was a must-buy, but your mileage may vary.

(High Road to China is also enjoyable (and also a bit repetitive), but The Black Hole tops it for me, partly due to the nostalgia factor.)

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I think the album should be a tad shorter, but there is some great stuff in there, although very typical Barry. I love th Holst Saturn reference in the main title :)

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it's awesome

The unreleased music at the beginning builds up the "black hole" theme just as it's supposed to be. I always wanted those cues

there's other great moments of unreleased music, like BOB and VINCENT

DEFINITELY worth it over the LP presentation

It's one of the top 5 non James Bond John Barry scores

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Interesting to see you phrase it that way. Would would you say are the top 5 non-Bond Barry scores?

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I've always loved this score. I saw this movie on my 9th birthday, and I was so blown away by the main title even then that I asked if I could spend my birthday money on the record. That record has been a treasured possession ever since. I also had the pop-up storybook, but I don't think that survived as well...

Anyway, the music still blows me away in places. The Intrada CD is fantastic. I don't find it to be overly long or repetitive (unlike some Barry scores, the dreary Hanover Street for example). The closing section of the score is gorgeous (Into the Hole). The sound quality is excellent. I would highly recommend this release to anyone, but especially if you saw this movie on your 9th birthday.

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Jason's question is tough, for me, because while I consider John Barry to be one of the best film composers ever and one of my personal favorites, I own not a single Barry Bond score (and no, there aren't any "but Napster used to be legal" copies, either).

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Interesting to see you phrase it that way. Would would you say are the top 5 non-Bond Barry scores?

Black Hole

King Kong

Raise the Titanic

The Last Valley

Dances With Wolves

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