Composer Threads The Thomas Newman Thread

[Bespin Copilot 10,302]

11 minutes ago, Jay said:

I think the majority of people here do like action scores, but I don't think the majority of people here only like action scores.

 

You know me, I never generalize!

[Bespin Copilot 10,302]

6 hours ago, Jay said:

This is the flaw with Bespin's method.

 

Com'on, it's just a way to ignite a discovery. It gives only some hints from where to start. It's not a religion. It's a forum about film music, so we talk about film music...

 

And I would add that, strangely, in the last weeks you seem to have suddenly "discovered" some of my recent suggestions (and finally purchased some early JW CDs I promote since a long time, yeah!).

 

Well, that's the goal of this forum.

 

We promote film music... and we lose money.

[KK 3,310]

3 hours ago, Bespin said:

We promote film music... and we lose money.

 

This should be on the JWFan t-shirt!

[Bespin Copilot 10,302]

Hi experts, is the FYC of WALL-E a good option to introduce me to this score?

[Richard P 5,062]

From an ebay screenshot, looks like the FYC has a handful fewer tracks than the OST, so probably yes. It's a very fragmented listen.

[Jay 44,732]

16 hours ago, Bespin said:

Com'on, it's just a way to ignite a discovery. It gives only some hints from where to start. It's not a religion. It's a forum about film music, so we talk about film music...

 

You act like I was personally insulting you, but I was just making an observation about your process!

 

16 hours ago, Bespin said:

And I would add that, strangely, in the last weeks you seem to have suddenly "discovered" some of my recent suggestions (and finally purchased some early JW CDs I promote since a long time, yeah!).

 

I don't know what this means.  I've known forever I "should" own Fiddler on the Roof, but never got around to it because I don't like musicals and don't expect to listen to it much.  I own the FSM Checkmate / Rhythm in Motion, and known for a long time the later CD versions sound better, and always intended to grab them eventually, along with M Squad.  Same thing with Jazz Beginnings, I've known forever it "should" be in my collection, and just hadn't gotten around to it yet.

 

These also were collectively the last things I needed to add to my collection that I could find for reasonable prices.  I still need Eiger Sanction and Thomas and the King too, but those are expensive.

 

16 hours ago, Bespin said:

Well, that's the goal of this forum.

 

We promote film music... and we lose money.

 

ha!

[Bespin Copilot 10,302]

1 minute ago, Jay said:

You act like I was personally insulting you, but I was just making an observation about your process!

 

I didn't took it like that at all.

[Jay 44,732]

Looking at my words again to be sure, I can't understand how you could come to that conclusion ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sorry you misinterpreted my intention!

[Bespin Copilot 10,302]

12 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

From an ebay screenshot, looks like the FYC has a handful fewer tracks than the OST, so probably yes. It's a very fragmented listen.

 

It seems only the songs are missing.

[Richard P 5,062]

Oh yeah, forgot about those.

 

Anyway, The Axiom, Define Dancing, and a lot of music from towards the end, are the highlights, I'd say.

[Bespin Copilot 10,302]

Pardon me, let me decide which cues are the highlights.

[Richard P 5,062]

* sigh *

[Jurassic Shark 15,905]

37 minutes ago, Jay said:

I still need Eiger Sanction and Thomas and the King too, but those are expensive.

 

Thomas and the King isn't that expensive, though.

 

But I'd wait for a remixed release...

[Jay 44,732]

I couldn't even find Thomas and the King on Amazon

[Bespin Copilot 10,302]

9 minutes ago, Jay said:

I couldn't even find Thomas and the King on Amazon

 

Nothing on discogs too.

 

You'll have to wait for a JWfan to die.

[LSH 1,098]

On 1/15/2021 at 5:45 PM, Bespin said:

Already ordered:

• Shawshank Redemption - Expanded edition
• Saving Mr. Banks Deluxe Edition
• Passengers (oh it seems this one is already rare, I don't know why?)
• Skyfall OST

 

Bridge of Spies currently unavailable? What???

 

Once you've explored the 'popular' ones be sure to check out some of the lesser-mentioned scores of his, particularly - as Thor said - from the 80s and 90s.

 

THE MAN WITH ONE RED SHOE

LESS THAN ZERO

MEN DON'T LEAVE  ----  (somebody please release this officially, it's superb!)

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

WHISPERS IN THE DARK

JOSH AND S.A.M. 

THE WAR

HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT

OSCAR AND LUCINDA

 

... are all great.

 

 

[Jurassic Shark 15,905]

3 minutes ago, LSH said:

HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT

 

How do you do that?

[bruce marshall 1,959]

9 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

From an ebay screenshot, looks like the FYC has a handful fewer tracks than the OST, so probably yes. It's a very fragmented listen.

I have it.

Another " collection of cues" ....with wrong track numbers.

I bought it for the cover.

I reprogrammed it to make it semi-listenable.

Get the ost.

It has the two tracks co- written by Peter Gabriel

( included on PIXAR GREATEST)

Get the ost.

It has the two tracks co- written by Peter Gabriel

( included on PIXAR GREATEST)

[Bespin Copilot 10,302]

I really start to appreciate Thomas Newman's style.

 

I just received "Skyfall" today and listened to it.

 

Tradition and modernity.  I like!
 

[KK 3,310]

I've really warmed up to that one over the years. It's pretty underrated.

[bored 585]

I haven't gotten around to Skyfall yet, but I've always loved Finding Nemo, WALL-E, and A Series of Unfortunate Events. There's just so much style and heart in those 3 scores. ASOUE in particular is just brimming with personality, and his music really fits with the tone of the film and the book series.

[TSMefford 1,648]

3 hours ago, superultramegaa said:

ASOUE in particular is just brimming with personality, and his music really fits with the tone of the film and the book series.

 

Absolutely agreed. I adore that score and would love an expansion. There's some nice missing cues in the film and some more things that were recorded, but not used. 

 

 

[KK 3,310]

Another nice little Newman interview. Nothing new is discussed, but there is an excerpt of a lovely piano composition he wrote for his mother at the end.

 

https://www.pbs.org/video/becoming-newman-3kszg7/?fbclid=IwAR3t90M__hvWIWp2eayNkIRvnw57Z3-ZJfbpbvq9LKAaGZHiSlaXELlfv-A

[Linae 11]

-
 

[Foundling 12]

On 2/1/2021 at 2:35 AM, KK said:

Another nice little Newman interview. Nothing new is discussed, but there is an excerpt of a lovely piano composition he wrote for his mother at the end.

 

https://www.pbs.org/video/becoming-newman-3kszg7/?fbclid=IwAR3t90M__hvWIWp2eayNkIRvnw57Z3-ZJfbpbvq9LKAaGZHiSlaXELlfv-A

The full piece here: 

 

 

[Thor 9,334]

I found THE LITTLE THINGS to be completely anonymous. Not even exciting Newman textures. Kind of a letdown after the brilliant LET THEM ALL TALK.

[Bespin Copilot 10,302]

Any thoughts about Less than Zero (1987)?

 

I'm a fan of the soundtrack and the movie since many years, especially because of the haunting closing song of the movie, sung by Roy Orbison (an original song written by Glenn Danzig for the movie), but I don't really recall the score...

 

 

[Thor 9,334]

2 hours ago, Bespin said:

Any thoughts about Less than Zero (1987)?

 

 

 Top 5 Newman for me, perhaps even top 3.

[Bespin Copilot 10,302]

1 minute ago, Thor said:

 

 Top 5 Newman for me, perhaps even top 3.

 

But Thor, it's AN EXPANSION!!! 

[Jay 44,732]

No, it's not.  The OST album was just songs, no score.  The LLL is the premiere release of the score, not an expansion

[Bespin Copilot 10,302]

Of course, previously unreleased score, I know.

[bruce marshall 1,959]

4 hours ago, Thor said:

 

 Top 5 Newman for me, perhaps even top 3.

Definitely!

I only recently discovered it when SIRIUS started playing it.

Great stuff!

[Bespin Copilot 10,302]

I'll not be hard to convince, I'm currently listening to an evaluation copy and it plunge me in the mood of the movie, which I always loved.

 

Added to my wishlist!

[LSH 1,098]

Currently listed at IMDb as the composer on John Madden's upcoming war film Operation Mincemeat for Netflix. I do hope this turns out to be true. 

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1879016/?ref_=nm_flmg_com_1

[bruce marshall 1,959]

He wrote a great theme for FIVE CAME BACK, a NETFLIX documentary series.

Never released AFAIK

[LSH 1,098]

25 minutes ago, bruce marshall said:

He wrote a great theme for FIVE CAME BACK, a NETFLIX documentary series.

Never released AFAIK

 

It's good however I do find that brass motif gets a little repetitive towards the end. 

[GerateWohl 6,362]

I am still struggling with Thomas Newman in a way. Even though I like a lot of his highly emotional themes and his compositions are quite good, I am not a fan of his wall-of-sound-like way of recording his scores. That always leads to some sound sausage that does not even pretend to sound somehow like a natural orchestra like these in principle quiet piano melodies are louder than everything else. The strings are beautiful but seem somehow disconnected form everything else.

Probably I am not good at putting this into words. And I am sure that Newman créates that sound on purpose. It is his style and I also get why many people like it and why this is so effective in films. But when I hear one of his scores without the picture longer than 20 minutes I get bored somehow. Just not my cup of tea.

[LSH 1,098]

His music is composed and mixed in a very particular way. One which sounds experimental and semi-improvised but is in fact incredibly, incredibly polished. 

 

I can understand why it wouldn't gel with some people, but you cannot deny its effectiveness... and influence.

[GerateWohl 6,362]

2 minutes ago, LSH said:

..., but you cannot deny its effectiveness... and influence.

I don't.

[LSH 1,098]

Well that's good then.

 

Which scores of his do you enjoy?

[GerateWohl 6,362]

I have one sampler from the Prague Philharmonic with re-recordings of some of his famous scores. That one I like a lot. In particular The Green Mile, The Good German, The Horse Whisperer, Road to Perdition and Meet Joe Black, last of which I also have the soundtrack album.

I tried some more on Spotify, but did not really get caught.

I think, Joe Black is my favourite. There I really enjoy the full album.

[LSH 1,098]

All of those are superb but, in my opinion, his magnum opus is ANGELS IN AMERICA (2003).

 

Probably the best mix of his different styles (the dissonant, the 'quirky' rhythmic, and the piercingly beautiful sweeping stuff). The opening titles alone is worth the price. Check it out if you haven't already, I can't recommend it enough.

[Disco Stu 15,517]

8 minutes ago, LSH said:

All of those are superb but, in my opinion, his magnum opus is ANGELS IN AMERICA (2003).

 

Probably the best mix of his different styles (the dissonant, the 'quirky' rhythmic, and the piercingly beautiful sweeping stuff). The opening titles alone is worth the price. Check it out if you haven't already, I can't recommend it enough.

 

I agree, it's right in the upper echelon of his work.  I particularly enjoy his scores that have at least in part an Americana/bluesy style, a very underrated early score of his is Fried Green Tomatoes.  I would include Shawshank/Green Mile in that category as well.

 

 

[Richard P 5,062]

Angels is a really bizarre mixture of epic orchestral Newman, and very understated quirkiness. I've found that a little under 40 minutes is about right to get the highlights.

 

Certainly, the main title is quite something.

 

I kind of wish he'd done an album arrangement for The Green Mile in the same vein as Shawshank. I kind of got the impression that he went for a slightly more curated approach for more serious films (Perdition, Shawshank, Little Women, etc) but this seems to be an exception. Again, around 30-40 minutes seems to be a good length for something like that.

 

Then again, you'll rarely see me complaining about an album being too long and presenting most of a score.

[GerateWohl 6,362]

Thanks a lot for recommendation. I will check them out. Still I think, he overdoes it with his Mix seemingly keeping all music, no matter what instruments, what dynamics, all at the same level. Especially in very emotional scenes like the final execution scene in the Green Mile his music is for me rather a wall between the emotion in the screen and the viewers emotion, turning everything into something unreal as if the music is there to keep the viewer from feeling something instead of making you feel something. It is like glueing Honey all over the scene. But probably that's actually the purpose. But I think Thomas Newman's music is especially good at this sugaring emotions out of a scene.

[Naïve Old Fart 12,497]

2 hours ago, LSH said:

All of those are superb but, in my opinion, his magnum opus is ANGELS IN AMERICA (2003).

ANGELS IN AMERICA is top-3, for me, but AMERICAN BEAUTY remains his masterpiece.

[LSH 1,098]

It's between the two for me. Even without mentioning the influence it had after, AMERICAN BEAUTY has some of the best marriage of picture and music in cinematic history. 

[Richard P 5,062]

My all time favourite will always be The Horse Whisperer. Perfect mix of bluesey/Americana/orchestra, and from seeing the film many years ago, I don't offhand remember anything significant unreleased. I really think this is a large part of why we rarely get Newman expansions - most of them don't need it because he recognises which are the must-include highlights.

[LSH 1,098]

I love THE HORSE WHISPERER. For all the reasons you mention.

 

The theme that plays on horn in the cue Double Divide, and then later fleshed out in Montana breaks my heart. And then the centrepiece of The Rhythm Of The Horse.   And everything in between. The atmospheric lonely Newman piano in There Was Snow and Simple Truths. Awww.

 

I think this one also became a temp-track favourite. Just listen to AN UNFINISHED LIFE (2005)... both Christopher Young's rejected score and Deborah Lurie's replacement (though the latter is more Newman influenced).

[Koray Savas 2,257]

Road To Perdition for me. Music that evokes time, place, and character so hauntingly well.