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How do we feel about James Horner's Titanic?


indy4

Rate the score to Titanic  

39 members have voted

  1. 1. Rate the score to Titanic, 10 being the best



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I still want the complete score with all the film versions. It's irritating that there's a bunch of extra re-recorded music and music inspired by the film that I tend to skip on the original album and Back to Titanic, but the film versions of Southampton, The Portrait, the opening scenes, Jack and Fabrizio catching the ship, Jack and Rose running from Lovejoy and other bits and pieces have never surfaced. I don't know what the hell the anniversary version is supposed to be, but I don't even want the music on discs 3 and 4. That bastard Horner knows we want the music, too. I doubt we'll ever get it.

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I still want the complete score with all the film versions. It's irritating that there's a bunch of extra re-recorded music and music inspired by the film that I tend to skip on the original album and Back to Titanic, but the film versions of Southampton, The Portrait, the opening scenes, Jack and Fabrizio catching the ship, Jack and Rose running from Lovejoy and other bits and pieces have never surfaced. I don't know what the hell the anniversary version is supposed to be, but I don't even want the music on discs 3 and 4. That bastard Horner knows we want the music, too. I doubt we'll ever get it.

Pretty much.

I'm not normally one to moan about incomplete presentations, but I'd buy a new album if it had everything from the movie and in chronological order. And with no annoying extended/unused material tacked on. At least it'd be easy to skip all the repetitious Rose material, which hasn't aged to well (it's mostly too cheesy).

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Personally, I don't find it a bad score--it's perfectly serviceable--but far from his best.

The bit where he quotes SCHINDLER'S LIST? :P

I like that moment too, especially the Seagull Effect on the strings.

I'm not sure how I feel about that - the Schindler's List/Mahler copying is just so blatant, but I love the harmonic work. Also, does anybody have an idea what's going on with the strings roughly from 7:03-7:30?

The bit where he quotes SCHINDLER'S LIST? :P

You mean Mahler's 9th? ;)

Don't YOU mean Mahler's 8th?

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My favourite moment of Titanic score is the actual sinking scene (from 6:50). It's a very eerie and scary moment - all those ghostly synths:

Karol

The last 2 minutes of that cue is great stuff.

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One of the coolest unreleased moments is in the opening scene when they shine a light on the possessions in the wreck and there's an Apollo 13-esque rendition of the love theme with the female vocal.

I'm drunk and listening to it right now. Just finished "Take Her to Sea, Mr. Murdoch" and currently up to that awesome percussion in "Hard to Starboard" as the big fucker SLOWLY starts turning to avoid the iceberg. Sometimes, these silly Horner vocals annoy me, but usually, I like them. I cannot disassociate them from images of that great ship on its way from the coast of Ireland with Leo watching the dolphins. We still had symphonic film scores and none of this RCP crap, films were not yet fully CGI, Star Wars and Star Trek hadn't been ruined and John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith still regularly put out new scores. Happy days. Thanks for reminding me, Horner.

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Guilty pleasure?

I sometimes love it, sometimes find it annoying. It is memorable, however and though its presentation in the film is a disaster, it is used effectively.

That sounds about right. I don't own the score, but I've considered buying it a number of times as a result of its effectiveness in the film. Evocative to the extreme in that classic Horner fashion, even as it simultaneously annoys with its derivative, cheesy manipulativeness.

Can I simultaneously vote for, like, a 9 and a 2?

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I'll give it 8 on the whole. Celine Dion killed the love theme for me but the rest is quite nifty.

Thank you for posting that Don Davis interview snippet Mike. Considering that it is a miracle how well the music turned out.

P.S. I have a feeling Horner had the whole damn circus all over again with Avatar with Cameron dictating changes continuously and Horner meekly complying. There is certainly the same kind of "keep the film scores green, recycle!" feel to the whole thing, which might imply more arduous than normal situation for Horner. Perhaps that is where he gets his haughty attitudes the rest of the time. He has to make up for such humiliations. :P

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I gave it an 8th. The synth choir might have been deliberate but it still sounds horrible. It is a fantastic score though all the same. Must rewatch the film actually. It's been years but it's a film you kinda have to make the effort to sit down and watch. We have it on Blu actually and I've never seen it in that format so that might make a fun exercise.

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I've only seen the film once in full (when it came out), so I'm largely unfamiliar with the score in context.

Going by the heavily re-recorded and alternate-filled OST, I enjoy the bits exploring the wreck (someone on the shrine made a mock-up of it, and it's really good), the Southampton scenes, and most of the material for the sinking scenes.

Much of the rest I've either never noticed, or doesn't do much for me.

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That's the thing - all the haters and whiners in here are in denial about the themes. There hasn't been anything written in years and years, thematically, which gets anywhere near the quality, complexity and stunning beauty of Rose's theme. You just don't get intricately developed and finely crafted melodies like that in movies any more, but here we are again seeing idiots dismiss it on a whim.

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That's the thing - all the haters and whiners in here are in denial about the themes. There hasn't been anything written in years and years, thematically, which gets anywhere near the quality, complexity and stunning beauty of Rose's theme. You just don't get intricately developed and finely crafted melodies like that in movies any more, but here we are again seeing idiots dismiss it on a whim.

I don't know Quint... What does it sound like?

Karol

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That's the thing - all the haters and whiners in here are in denial about the themes. There hasn't been anything written in years and years, thematically, which gets anywhere near the quality, complexity and stunning beauty of Rose's theme. You just don't get intricately developed and finely crafted melodies like that in movies any more, but here we are again seeing idiots dismiss it on a whim.

THIS!

Most people here a synth choir and nothing more!

The themes are are excellent actually. Any score with even half the richness and texture today would easily be the best film music of 2014

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That's the thing - all the haters and whiners in here are in denial about the themes. There hasn't been anything written in years and years, thematically, which gets anywhere near the quality, complexity and stunning beauty of Rose's theme. You just don't get intricately developed and finely crafted melodies like that in movies any more, but here we are again seeing idiots dismiss it on a whim.

I don't know Quint... What does it sound like?

Karol

Show me a better melody recently. I desperately want to hear it.

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That's the thing - all the haters and whiners in here are in denial about the themes. There hasn't been anything written in years and years, thematically, which gets anywhere near the quality, complexity and stunning beauty of Rose's theme. You just don't get intricately developed and finely crafted melodies like that in movies any more, but here we are again seeing idiots dismiss it on a whim.

THIS!

Most people here a synth choir and nothing more!

The themes are are excellent actually. Any score with even half the richness and texture today would easily be the best film music of 2014

"Easily the best film music of 2014". What an indictment...

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That's the thing - all the haters and whiners in here are in denial about the themes. There hasn't been anything written in years and years, thematically, which gets anywhere near the quality, complexity and stunning beauty of Rose's theme. You just don't get intricately developed and finely crafted melodies like that in movies any more, but here we are again seeing idiots dismiss it on a whim.

I don't know Quint... What does it sound like?

Karol

Show me a better melody recently. I desperately want to hear it.

OK but I don't know what melody you're talking about... Is that a song tune? Or something else? Can't remember any themes from this film. Not seen it since 1998 and I just listen to a few action tracks on the album. Maybe this is a best way to re-acquaint myself with it?

Karol

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I never doubted the quality of themes. There's nothing wrong with the writing or the themes or anything like that.

The synth choir is nothing but awful though.

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