Bad album but a great movie score!

[Quintus 5,399]

Which scores do you rate highly whilst never wanting to listen to them as standalone musical experiences? Have you ever loved the music during the film and bought the OST only to find it just didn't work when separated from the imagery?

I did this with Terminator 2. Brad Fiedel wrote great soundtracks for both of the original movies, but I listened to the soundtrack of T2 once and once only. It just wasn't an enjoyable listen. When I moved house recently I actually threw the CD and its shiny silver case away.

[Jay 37,355]

Die Hard With A Vengeance

Score is really awesome, but the OST album was a terrible mess of stuff that had very little to do with the film's score

EDIT: Oh, that's not what you mean.

Hmmm. Not sure if there's ever been a film experience where I loved what I heard while watching it, but then didn't like it when listened outside the film.

Usually I expect that. I mean there are plenty of films that I love, and whose music supports the film just fine, but I don't have any interest in listening to it separated. Batman Begins, Memento, and Under The Skin come to mind.

[Quintus 5,399]

Don't some people have a penchant for the kitschy crudeness of the Princess Bride's score as they're watching the movie?

[Jay 37,355]

Oh man. I LOVE that film, but honestly never even noticed the score in it until a few years back.

I listened to the OST on a whim and was surprised that it was all synth plodding with the occasional nice guitar work.

Saw the film about a year later and realized oh yea, there's some synths here, how about that.

The score doesn't hurt the film, and the guitar parts are actually nice. But the album is super dull.

[Uni 306]

I'm sure there are plenty of examples I could think of, but the one that leaps to mind immediately is The Game. I remembered the music conveying a chilling effect during the movie, but was thoroughly bored when I listened to it separately.

I did this with Terminator 2. Brad Fiedel wrote great soundtracks for both of the original movies, but I listened to the soundtrack of T2 once and once only. It just wasn't an enjoyable listen. When I moved house recently I actually threw the CD and its shiny silver case away.

I also think you have to give a score a second, and sometimes third or fourth, chance to get through to you. I can agree that much of T2 is a pretty mechanical experience, but I wouldn't dream of tossing out a CD that contains pieces like "Desert Suite" and especially "It's Over/Goodbye," the best piece Fiedel ever composed.

Don't some people have a penchant for the kitschy crudeness of the Princess Bride's score as they're watching the movie?

That's another pretty good example. I'm still not completely sold on the music outside the movie, but I can't picture that picture without it.

[Jay 37,355]

I like the T2 score. I agree, its PERFECT for the film and less interesting on album, but there are plenty of great highlight tracks that are well worth listening to on there!

[mstrox 6,651]

Goldsmith's "Planet of the Apes"

Should I duck and cover now?

[Quintus 5,399]

No you shouldn't! You make a solid suggestion.

[DreamTheater 131]

I like the T2 score. I agree, its PERFECT for the film and less interesting on album, but there are plenty of great highlight tracks that are well worth listening to on there!

I think I'm in the minority but to me the whole album is a highlight. One of the best purely (and only) synthesized film scores I own. Fiedel created an entire sonic universe for that film and I love it to bits.

Bad album, great score ? Nigel Westlake's Babe, well the original Varèse Sarabande album which sucks all the loveliness of the composition out of the music. There's only a couple of cues that are without dialogue but that's not enough to save the horrid album. The 2015 re-recording is a HUGE improvement, it's a stunning 5 STAR album now, because it's performed flawlessly. There's now only the small matter of doing the same for Babe: Pig in the City which got an awful release as well.

Probably not what you meant Quintus but your topic title made me think of this immediately and I had to post something.

[Hlao-roo 389]

Logan's Run, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist

[publicist 4,643]

[Jay 37,355]

Man, PSYCHO is perfect in the movie, isn't it?

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Goldsmith's "Planet of the Apes"

Should I duck and cover now?

Fantastic score on album.

[Thor 7,503]

I agree with Fiedel's TERMINATOR scores. Fantastic scores in the films, almost unlistenable on album (except the main theme).

I felt the same way about a particular score last year -- Mica Levi's UNDER THE SKIN. Superb score in the film, but I don't want to listen to it alone. In fact, that goes for most horror scores for me. Unless it's composed in a more romantic, melodic idiom (what I call 'delicious darkness') -- like HELLRAISER, THE FURY, DRACULA, SCREAM etc. -- I'm hesitant to own it. Stingers and sneaking-around music (with loads of tenuto strings) are not for me.

[Jay 37,355]

Under The Skin was brilliant in the (great!) film. No desire to listen to it on its own.

[Muad'Dib 1,802]

The Great Silence

[DreamTheater 131]

I was going to say Godzilla by Desplat but then I remembered I pretty much hated the score in the film as well as outside of it. So I won't mention it here.

To be honest there aren't too many where scores just didn't work when I listened standalone when in the film they did. I either like it or don't like it.

[Bespin 8,480]

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

I felt the same way about a particular score last year -- Mica Levi's UNDER THE SKIN. Superb score in the film, but I don't want to listen to it alone.

Great "mood album" even if the desire for such a mood might not happen often.

[Gnome in Plaid 219]

I might be in the minority, but that's exactly how I feel about Inception. I thought it fit the film perfectly, but there are only a couple cues I ever listen to from the score.

[Thor 7,503]

Wow, Bespin? GHOST, really? That's a damn fine album. You continue to bewilder me with your quirks and things. And INCEPTION is probably one of my favourite soundtracks in the last few years -- both in the film and outside. But I guess a thread like this will always have suggestions by some that will be incomprehensible to others. That's the name of the game.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

As I frequently say, the original Inception album is one of my favorite albums overall.

[Hlao-roo 389]

We should have a "Bad score but a great album!" thread.

[EdwardHall 30]

"Crimson Tide" by Hans Zimmer. It is only five tracks. Tracks two and four are about twenty minutes of really intense electronic music each which should have been broken up into more tracks, even if they were gapless, continuous tracks. "Crimson Tide" is Hans Zimmer's absolute best score, IMO. He wrote it before he sold out to the Hollywood machine around 2000.

[Jay 37,355]

There is a recording session leak available which is broken up into smaller tracks

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Selling out allowed him to write his actual best scores, then!

[EdwardHall 30]

Which are Zimmer's actual best scores? I don't have as much irrational disdain for Zimmer as filmtracks.com, but most of what he has written since the 90s sounds awfully generic, in my opinion. I admit there are a few gems - "The Holiday," "It's Complicated," parts of "The Lone Ranger," parts of the three "Dark Knight" scores, for example.

On that note, I am really looking forward to seeing what Zimmer does for "Batman v. Superman." Has he given any indication that he will discard all of his Nolan/Bale Dark Knight music and start over? That would be incredibly strange.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

He's not scoring any of the Batman material, that's gonna be Holkenborg.

[publicist 4,643]

"Crimson Tide" is Hans Zimmer's absolute best score, IMO. He wrote it before he sold out to the Hollywood machine around 2000.

CRIMSON TIDE is only a tiny notch above 'nothing', really. Apart from the theme.

[Quintus 5,399]

Logan's Run, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist

Without Login's Run I'd be able to handle what seems to be obvious satire here but with it I feel confused, disorientated and left pondering the meaning of life.

[Thor 7,503]

And now CRIMSON TIDE is being mentioned too -- one of my favourite Zimmer scores and albums (absolutely love the long "suite" format)! Yikes!

[DreamTheater 131]

Wow, Bespin? GHOST, really? That's a damn fine album.

I completely disagree. Ghost is good in the film but gets on my nerves on album. The synths are totally grating, however the 2 orchestral cues and the song make an otherwise awful album a bit better. Just not enough, because I didn't keep that one.

And now CRIMSON TIDE is being mentioned too -- one of my favourite Zimmer scores and albums (absolutely love the long "suite" format)! Yikes!

I completely agree. It just works by only having 5 cues, I love all 60 minutes of Zimmer's concept approach. Of course I'm no stranger to overlong cues (songs), hence my username which is my number 1 rock band.

[Quintus 5,399]

What or "long suite" Zimmer tracks are recommended?

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Which are Zimmer's actual best scores? I don't have as much irrational disdain for Zimmer as filmtracks.com, but most of what he has written since the 90s sounds awfully generic, in my opinion.

Frost/Nixon

Frost/Nixon

Frost/Nixon

Frost/Nixon

[Jay 37,355]

What or "long suite" Zimmer tracks are recommended?

Rock House Jail

1SQ

Peacemaker

[Thor 7,503]

From CRIMSON TIDE or in general? I also like his K2 album, which only has two very long tracks ("The Ascent" and "The Descent").

[Jay 37,355]

Which are Zimmer's actual best scores?

Here you go:

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=25514

[KK 3,307]

Which are Zimmer's actual best scores? I don't have as much irrational disdain for Zimmer as filmtracks.com, but most of what he has written since the 90s sounds awfully generic, in my opinion.

Frost/Nixon

Frost/Nixon

Frost/Nixon

Frost/Nixon

Amen! Glad to see more preaching for this underrated gem.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Logan's Run, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist

Without Login's Run I'd be able to handle what seems to be obvious satire here but with it I feel confused, disorientated and left pondering the meaning of life.

Logan's Run belongs in the "great score for a terrible movie" thread.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Logan's Run, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist

Without Login's Run I'd be able to handle what seems to be obvious satire here but with it I feel confused, disorientated and left pondering the meaning of life.

Logan's Run belongs in the "great score for a terrible movie" thread.

Together with Interstellar!

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Which one is that?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Your favorite movie of all time. The one no one else understands but you!

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

That doesn't narrow it down much.

[Uni 306]

Goldsmith's "Planet of the Apes"

Should I duck and cover now?

When I first picked up POTA, I wasn't expecting the abstractness of it (I hadn't seen the movie in years), and I absolutely hated it. It would be a long, very patient learning process before I grew to understand and eventually love what Goldsmith did with the music for that film—although I still don't find it a very soothing listen, to be sure.

Logan's Run, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist

I can't even. . . . . . . .

That doesn't narrow it down much.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

The harshness of the vintage recording of POTA adds to its relative lack of accessibility, which has probably turned off a lot of listeners.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,524]

Goldsmith's "Planet of the Apes"

Should I duck and cover now?

Fantastic score on album.

Agreed. It's a tough listen, to be sure, but if you stick with it, then the rewards are 10-fold. This was the first JG I bought in 1975. I listened to it, and I have never looked back.

The harshness of the vintage recording of POTA adds to its relative lack of accessibility, which has probably turned off a lot of listeners.

Hmm. Now that is true. I'd love a re-recording, but it wouldn't capture the "atmopshere" of the score.

[A24 4,331]

Dry is harsh?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It can be

[A24 4,331]

Sure, but he same is true for washy.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Washy is more annoying then harsh to me.