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Thomas Newman Appreciation Thread


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An imagination I'd describe as boundless

he is indeed my favorite composer, I must confess

Oh Tom with your music I shall go through this life of mine

with every up and down, I'm sure you'll give me a sign

Tom admirers like Inky, Penna, Koray and Crocodile

you are officially in my most-valuable-members-file

Though the time has now come, I've reached 789 so I'm out of here

I'm sure you guys will take care of the thread, so I will not fear

Blumenkohl, where you at?

I hope you when seeing this thread your pants shat.

This is my very humble Snoozeman CD collection (plus 2-3 cds that are in the car):

img0811a.jpg

(the one next to finding nemo is fried green tomatoes)

So! Are you a Snoozeman fan like me? Post your thoughts, favorite pieces/scores, your CD collection or anything else related to him and his music! Listen to some of my favorites here:

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Well done Alice! I knew you could do it. :)

Thomas Newman became quite sneakily one of my favourite film composers. First I thought his repertoire limited and specializing in quirkiness but over time I have begun to appreciate his unique compositional voice. His gift for writing affecting and powerful melodies is quite uncanny as is his dramatic instinct but he also is one of the few film composers whose ambient or near sound design film scoring is interesting and quite often listenable. That is not to say Newman doesn't have his duds as well since very often he creates or is called upon to create extremely subtle musical accompaniment that is all sound design or wandering and meandering sound that forms wafting atmosphere that is difficult or frustrating to grasp or appreciate on its own although it might work well in the films. But he is at his best when writing somewhere in between. His use of specialty instruments is a trademark, the combinations often inventive, outlandish and at times marvellously spot on. The composer's self professed love for working with smaller ensembles for better control over the sound is both interesting as it works obviously very well and at the same time frustrating since I would love to hear Newman unleashed with a 100 member symphonic ensemble as he does have the skill and talent to pull it off.

I have numerous favourite scores but to mention a few Angels in America, Road to Perdition, Meet Joe Black, Shawshank Redemption, Fried Green Tomatoes, Oscar and Lucinda and The Good German.

P.S. You can't leave now Alice! You have this thread to look after!

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He's one of the warmest, Capraesque composers out there, and my two favourite cues would be:

He might be a little too reserved and comfortable for some, but one could never argue he doesn't have a highly distinct sound and timbre no matter what one may think of the scores themselves. He's a steady, reliable hand in a Hollywood system which tries its damn best to move away from the warmth and traditional sensibilities of orchestral scoring.

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One of my Tom Newman all-time favorites:

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Oscar and Lucinda is on the top 5 of my Newman list for certain. :)

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My favourite Thomas Newman score:

Absolutely beautiful.

I really love Thomas Newman for the sheer warmth of his style, and as Incanus said, his ambient designs are among the rare soundscapes that I enjoy. But lately they are slowly becoming redundant.

And Alice, you don't have our permission to leave just yet ;)

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I didn't remember the number was 789 but thought so because you have been posting quite sparingly lately and save to the last farefell thread...

This is maybe the most beautiful:

But that post thingy was just a joke... :crymore: :crymore:

Ps. and you forgot me from the Snoozeman fan list!

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Ps. and you forgot me from the Snoozeman fan list!

She also forgot me, but I guess I don't make it a point to really express my fondness for the composer on this forum.

Surprised that no one mentioned Shawshank Redemption:

But still, nothing beats Angels in America. I consider it the perfect Newman score as it embodies the different facets of his entire career.

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Yes Meet Joe Black is terrific. Newman at his yearning best.

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My feeble Thomas Newman collection includes the common Shawshank Redepmtion, but I also have Angels in America and Lemony Snickets. Love his style, but I always felt a little goes a long way for him. I can't quite justify an expansive collection, but I like what I have, and may add on a title or two at some point.

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Yes Meet Joe Black is terrific. Newman at his yearning best.

I find Meet Joe Black too depressing to enjoy unfortunately (personal reasons).

Ones I like: American Beauty, Angels in America, Finding Nemo, Little Women, Road to Perdition, Shawshank, The Green Mile.

Plus a few other okayish ones.

My current favourite though is The Horse Whisperer:

(0:43 onwards in this first one - YEAH!!)

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The problem with Thomas Newman is sometimes he can be a little distractible. Granted I don't own a ton of his music, but the soundtrack to Finding Nemo for instance is totally unlistenable to me, with the exception of a couple of tracks. It just bounces too much from idea to idea.

ButI barely own any of his music so I'm not really qualified to make that judgement. I do like A Series of Unfortunate Events and his work on Amazing Stories.

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Nemo isn't helped by a seriously fragmented album. I rarely listen to it, and it's not because of the quality of the music. To get Thor-like for a moment, more thought into the album presentation would've benefitted this score.

Plus, unlike someone who shall remain nameless (^), scores needing gapless playback annoy me. I prefer longer tracks that flow better.

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Though the time has now come, I've reached 789 so I'm out of here

I'm sure you guys will take care of the thread, so I will not fear

Blumenkohl, where you at?

I hope you when seeing this thread your pants shat.

Waaaaiiitt a second. You're leaving? Did I miss something? Consider my pants formally shat. I thought you liked us.

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Though the time has now come, I've reached 789 so I'm out of here

I'm sure you guys will take care of the thread, so I will not fear

Blumenkohl, where you at?

I hope you when seeing this thread your pants shat.

Waaaaiiitt a second. You're leaving? Did I miss something? Consider my pants formally shat. I thought you liked us.

I already linked to the post that you missed in post #9.......

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Plus, unlike someone who shall remain nameless (^), scores needing gapless playback annoy me. I prefer longer tracks that flow better.

:rolleyes:

Why not just come out and say it's me?

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Yes Meet Joe Black is terrific. Newman at his yearning best.

It also became more or less the blueprint for many subsequent film scores for drama. Newman is one of the most influential voices in the contemporary landscape of Hollywood film music. Even top composers like James Newton Howard and Danny Elfman paid their own "tributes" to the Tom Newman sound.

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Yes Meet Joe Black is terrific. Newman at his yearning best.

It also became more or less the blueprint for many subsequent film scores for drama. Newman is one of the most influential voices in the contemporary landscape of Hollywood film music. Even top composers like James Newton Howard and Danny Elfman paid their own "tributes" to the Tom Newman sound.

Very true. Newman came into vogue quite heavily in the late 1990's and early 2000's. One of the best examples of this is JNHs The Emperors' Club that is simply a projection of Newman's sound and stylistic traits by another composer so much so that I thought it was Thomas Newman score when a friend played a track from it.
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This is my very humble Snoozeman CD collection (plus 2-3 cds that are in the car):

img0811a.jpg

(the one next to finding nemo is fried green tomatoes)

Wow, nice collection! Sorted by alphabetical (rather than chronological) order too... ;)

What are the 2-3 other CDs, by the way?

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  • 1 month later...

guys! thank you for sharing all your thoughts and comments! I really enjoyed reading them and I'm glad to see that this forum has a few snoozeman fans. hornist and KK, you are officially in my most-valuable-members-file as well!

:lol: That poem is awesome Alice!

Is that a hand-shaped bookend?

hehe.. indeed it is! glad you noticed it. love my hand-shaped bookend very much!

what are your thoughts on snoozeman, jason? any score you like?

Alice, do yourself a favor and pick up Revolutionary Road when you get a chance. Probably my favorite score of his after Road To Perdition.

revolutionary road is indeed a fine score which took me a couple of listenings to really like. it's on my to-buy list but I keep ignoring it. good thing my birthday and christmas is coming up soon!

This is my very humble Snoozeman CD collection (plus 2-3 cds that are in the car):

Wow, nice collection! Sorted by alphabetical (rather than chronological) order too... ;)

What are the 2-3 other CDs, by the way?

thank you sir. and I just noticed a misplacement. whooops.

the other CDs are wall-e, oscar and lucinda and the war if I remember correctly. :)

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There is singing in the desert,

there is laughter in the skies.

There are wise men filled with wonder,

there are shepherds in surprise.

You can tell the world is happy by the light that's in their eyes,

for alicebrallice is here!

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Indeed. My knowing now that Alice is so enamoured with the serene lyricism of Newman makes it all the more obvious the reasons why she's spoken too of her appreciation for Silverstri's Castaway score - being that the Back to the Future composer seemingly slipped into his restful Newman mode when approaching the Zemekis essay on the human spirit and what it is to be utterly alone yet full of yearning memory. The score could've quite easily came from the pencil of Newman.

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