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The Official James Horner Thread


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  • 4 weeks later...

There is a pleasure I feel when I listen to Horner's music that I do not get when I listen to Williams, for the most part.  I am in awe of Williams scope and technique and absolutely love his music, but with Horner, its more like his music just reaches out to your heart, without demanding emotion, just showing it to you.  Its a very beautiful thing. 

And Horner was no slouch technically either.

He is indeed missed.:james:

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He was better than everyone. I was listening to Apollo 13 earlier. What a glorious score and so avant garde. What possessed him to combine this bold militaristic Americana yet distinctly Horner music with a children's choir? It's brilliant. You can't argue with the results. I love this man.

 

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...There are other people that love Horner more than Williams?

...Is it safe to come out then?

Though I don't really find any reason to argue one composer's strengths against another's, it's merely that I pull out Horner albums a bit more often. I know there's the whole "But all his scores sound the same!" nonsense, but you can really say that for any composer, and that's just the consequence of trying to listen to every single score of a composer you like. Hence I don't feel the need to own any more Goldsmith's than I already do, for example. 

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2 minutes ago, kaseykockroach said:

...There are other people that love Horner more than Williams?

...Is it safe to come out then?

Though I don't really find any reason to argue one composer's strengths against another's, it's merely that I pull out Horner albums a bit more often. I know there's the whole "But all his scores sound the same!" nonsense, but you can really say that for any composer, and that's just the consequence of trying to listen to every single score of a composer you like. Hence I don't feel the need to any more Goldsmith's than I already do, for example. 

 

My 3 favorite composers of all time:

 

1. Hans Zimmer

2. James Horner

3. John Williams

 

I came out for you so you can feel more safe. Williams is unquestionable the greatest of all time though imo. 

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4 hours ago, Batman's Diet Coke said:

What possessed him to combine this bold militaristic Americana yet distinctly Horner music with a children's choir? It's brilliant. You can't argue with the results.

 

Oh, you can, the cooing choruses of syrupy proportions always being the worst, kitschy concession to new age by Horner. But such aesthetic considerations aside, 'Apollo 13' was a very distinctive work, doubly impressive as being another quickly written score in  Horner's most busy period in between 'Casper', 'Braveheart' and 'Jumanji'.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Wow, that publicist really loves to lay on the disdain. He’s the JWFan equivalent to FSM’s late RM Eastman with the levels of arrogance and insults flying at everyone who isn’t him. He’s on ignore because I find that kind of thing he does just lame and tiresome. I’d rather focus on positives than pointless criticism. Whatever his axe is that he feels needs grinding, it’s likely a polished stump at this point. 

 

Also the only music in JADE that wasn’t used much was the Chinese source music. Most of the score itself was used. Edited as most scores are, but used in the film. 

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  • 5 months later...
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  • 1 month later...

On the Fathom Events website, I see that Glory and Field Of Dreams are returning to theaters in the summer for their 30th anniversaries. Wouldn't be surprised if they receive expansions at around the same time

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  • 1 month later...

Academic curiosity: What is the earliest "documented" form of the Danger Motif? Film, cue, Youtube link, anything. Khan's the earliest I know of and it's pretty prominent there.

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Indeed it is. I have no idea.

 

I now regret intensely that I didn't ask Horner about the 'danger motif' when I interviewed him. It was on my sheet of paper among the interview questions, but I chickened out in the last minute (also because of the time pressure).

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On 4/6/2019 at 10:24 AM, Holko said:

Academic curiosity: What is the earliest "documented" form of the Danger Motif? Film, cue, Youtube link, anything. Khan's the earliest I know of and it's pretty prominent there.

 

He used it in his Roger Corman films he was scoring when he was in his early 20's.  Battle Beyond the Stars had it, lots of cribbing, and the blaster beam because that was the thing then. Remember Horner started with Corman with ultra low budget films mascarading as big budget productions.  So if you hear it https://www.discogs.com/James-Horner-Battle-Beyond-The-Stars-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/release/3425689 you will hear a TV quality early JH score full of the tropes of the time and tons of derivation.  BUT what is very important is that Horner fans hear the original of the distinctive composer we grew to adore.  It is sort of like seeing Picasso with crayola. 

 

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Horner's own team called it the 'danger motif'. It might've originated with them or it was just common enough that they picked up the term. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Filmtracks credits Horner with more 5 star score in the modern era with one exception  and one tie. Williams is the exception, Goldsmith is the tie. 

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On 4/6/2019 at 7:30 PM, Ghostbusters II said:

Who originally dubbed it the Danger Motif?

 

It's used by Prokofiev in his composition Mother Goose, and I'm quite certain it's supposed to indicate danger there.

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On 5/5/2019 at 11:58 AM, bollemanneke said:

Does anyone (NL?) know how expandable The Pelican Brief is? Is there a lot of material missing, could it fit on one CD etc.?

 

It could all fit on one CD. Really looking forward to hearing this cue released someday

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  • 4 months later...

I've known about that project for a while, but not been allowed to say anything (Kim, who is one of the people behind this project, is an acquaintance of mine). I won't be able to attend, but I hope it results in some form of recording. I've been curious about "Spectral Shimmers" for as long as I've been a Horner fan.

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As I said on the fsm board we are ambitious and hopeful about a recording. It’s just too soon to say anything definitive about that aspect. 
Kim has gone above and beyond while keeping us in the loop even when he had to go down his own path to make this happen. 

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