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Introduce me to Michael Giacchino


Jilal

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Yeah, Up and John Carter are your best bets. Then Star Trek, and maybe Super 8 (though maybe see the film first, if you haven't already).

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I was introduced to Giacchino via the first Medal of Honor, so I may be biased, but I think that's a fantastic showcase of his style on a basic level. Everything you listen to after it sound more advanced in a logical manner.

Then again, chronological order is such a boring way to discover an artist.

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To me his crowning achievement is LOST. There's so many amazing themes over 6 seasons of so much incredible music. Here are just a few cues featuring my favorite themes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAFNH53qlWY

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If you're considering the Medal of Honor box set, drop me a message. I'll sell you mine for less than retail, and it's sealed.

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Make sure to check out the following:

Medal of Honor: Frontline, one of his very best albums.

Super 8 and John Carter

And Lost (especially season 4 and 6 OST's).

You can't go wrong with his animation as well. Ratatouille, would be his pinnacle, IMO.

Karol

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After hearing SUPER 8 here once again, I'm pretty much convinced that it's much superior to

the crap that won the Academy Award the same year..

I just had to think a minute straight to remember which score had won.

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Michael Giacchino's best works are easily his Medal of Honor scores. The first 3 are are absolutely fantastic and he hasn't reached that same level of greatness with his other scores since (although he still produces great stuff). Oh and I haven't heard any of his work for Lost yet so that might change my mind. But there's nothing in Giacchino's career as of yet that competes with MOH (except for potentially Lost, which I've yet to hear).

So yes, do yourself a favour at check out Medal of Honor (*****), Medal of Honor: Underground (****1/2) and Medal of Honor: Frontline (*****)

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Michael Giacchino's best works are easily his Medal of Honor scores. The first 3 are are absolutely fantastic and he hasn't reached that same level of greatness with his other scores since (although he still produces great stuff). Oh and I haven't heard any of his work for Lost yet so that might change my mind. But nothing he's done will ever be as awesome as MoH was.

How can you say nothing will be as awesome if you haven't heard it yet? :P

MOH was my favorite until LOST culminated with the final season. It's his magnum opus, in my opinion. The greatest score written for television.

I also include Airborne in the MOH awesomeness. I didn't like it much at first, but after revisiting it with LLL's amazing box set, I find it to as great as his previous installments. It really is a unified body of work, much like LOST, but spread across many years.

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Michael Giacchino's best works are easily his Medal of Honor scores. The first 3 are are absolutely fantastic and he hasn't reached that same level of greatness with his other scores since (although he still produces great stuff). Oh and I haven't heard any of his work for Lost yet so that might change my mind. But there's nothing in Giacchino's career as of yet that competes with MOH (except for potentially Lost, which I've yet to hear).

How can you saw nothing will be as awesome if you haven't heard it yet? :P

Fixed ;)

MOH was my favorite until LOST culminated with the final season. It's his magnum opus, in my opinion. The greatest score written for television.

If you really could put it above MOH, I guess I really should check these LOST scores out.

I also include Airborne in the MOH awesomeness. I didn't like it much at first, but after revisiting it with LLL's amazing box set, I find it to as great as his previous installments. It really is a unified body of work, much like LOST, but spread across many years.

Airborne is definitely a great score with a wonderful main theme, but I don't think I would rank it up there with the first 3. It doesn't really have the enticing rousing action of the 1st one, or the thoughtful warmth of the 2nd one or the very mature overtones of the 3rd. But still, Airborne is quite an enjoyable score. I also liked Lennertz' entries in the franchise.

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Airborne has a different sound to the action and emotion. The original and Underground are very rousing and adventurous. Frontline goes for a much more somber and reflective tone, and I feel Airborne melds those two sounds quite well. There's a maturity in the writing that really fleshes out the older themes in a new way. "Operation Varsity" is simply bliss. The rendition of the main theme, in the "End Credits" I believe, hit me on such an emotional level, which simply went over my head the first time I listened to the score. It's the equivalent of how he reworks LOST's theme in "Aloha." I know you don't understand the comparison yet, but you really need to check out those scores.

From other people's reactions, though, the music seems to have a different effect if you experience it away from the show first. I can't tell you how to approach it, but for me, the show and its music were one and the same. It was written about in the episode scripts; it really was a character in itself.

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I would put LOST above MOH, too, although in all fairness, it took me a while of watching the show for me to begin appreciating the music. It didn't appeal to me in the beginning, for some reason. But Giacchino took richly leitmotivic, emotionally powerful, sonically interesting approach to the entire series. He used just part of the orchesta (strings, trombones, piano, harp, lots of weird percussion, and occasional synth) to bring the show to life in a very effective way. If you have the time, patience, and money, I recommend starting at the beginning and working your way through each season, because it really is rewarding to hear the way he develops the themes over all six seasons.

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I don't know about Giacchino. It's great that he's actually working 'old style', and some of his work is actually quite nice (I like Super 8), but most of his themes never work for me; they sound as if this was the first melody that crossed his mind, and so he stuck with it. This is particularly true for the Star Trek main theme, which I find pretty bad, and the one for John Carter.

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I would suggest first MOH (all)* and secret weapons over normandy.

And then The pixar scores, and then MI:III, Speed racer*, Star Trek, etc... If you really like those, then you can try re rest of his works.

I would never suggest the LOST CD's as a first glimpse to the untrained ear. Too much filler, and could be tedious. Now a 'greatest hits' compilation' could work better.

Maybe listen to MI:III before MOH airborne, and Speed racer before Cars 2. So you have a real notion on which is derivative of which.

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I think the best OSTs for a newbie of Giacchino to try out are Star Trek, Super 8, and the first Medal Of Honor. Covers the bredth of his composing styles in fairly succinct packages (ok, Super 8 is a really long OST, but at least it doesnt' really ever drag much).

I agree the LOST CDs all have tons of filler and are tough to get into as they can be very overwhelming, especially if you've never seen the show and have no emotional connection to the themes. In fact I've been meaning to assemble a kick ass one-disc "Starter CD" of all the best moments but never made much progress into that project.

Alexander, how goes your GIacchino progress so far?

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It's a very very long CD, and I wouldn't consider it a good "starter" CD for a new Giacchino fan.

It is well liked around here, I personally love it and consider it the best score of 2012 at the moment. The complete sessions are my current holy grail

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I seem to be alone in really appreciating his work on Alias.

It's okay. I enjoy a few cues but overall I'd rank it near the bottom of his repertoire. A lot of the more emotional cues seem like a blueprint for LOST, where he really unleashes his scoring chops.

I still don't really like John Carter.

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(ok, Super 8 is a really long OST, but at least it doesnt' really ever drag much).

Honestly, I'm inclined to disagree. There's a fantastic 40-45 minute CD in there somewhere, but the bitty tracks and long suspense cues tend to undermine that.

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(ok, Super 8 is a really long OST, but at least it doesnt' really ever drag much).

Honestly, I'm inclined to disagree. There's a fantastic 40-45 minute CD in there somewhere, but the bitty tracks and long suspense cues tend to undermine that.

Indeed, the score drags quite a bit on album and makes a poor album experience as a whole (with excellent openings and closings but dragging suspense material). John Carter worked better as an album than Super 8.

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