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The Force Awakens - Score Reactions from Reviews, etc


Lewya

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1 hour ago, Drax said:

 

He gave ROTS only four stars, complaining about the lack of Luke and Leia theme.

 

Okay, you know that is a pretty gross oversimplification of his review, one which I agree with. ;)

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6 hours ago, publicist said:

It's rather laborious, isn't it? There maybe a lot of fans of SW that cherish every extra mile that is devoted to their precious - though i never heard that Williams was incapacitated by heart troubles in the 80's?

 

The man's never had an impressive grasp of history. Just like the human mind, his reviews are full of themselves, not to mention faulty assumptions, misunderstandings and hearsay.

 

1 hour ago, Richard Penna said:

He rated Aotc above RotS?

 

Good God.

 

Apparently there are a few active members of this board who feel the same way. *Shrug*

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I will comment that I agree with the point Clemmensen makes regarding perspective and the other SW scores.  I think he goes too far saying ROTJ through ROTS don't have strong memorable themes, in the context of saying TFA doesn't, but I do think ROTJ in particular is lacking, aside from the Emperor's theme, which I don't think Williams intended to have the dramatic weight he seemed to want for Luke and Leia, which, while beautiful, is underwhelming in its usage.  I doubt anyone came out of the theater remembering that theme.  Battle of the Heroes in ROTS is also similarly underused.

 

I love all these scores, of course, but I think that particular criticism is misplaced.

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50 minutes ago, BloodBoal said:

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I think ROTS would be a much better score IMO if it did not rely on cut/paste of the duel music from Empire and the Throne Room from SW.

I don't really dig Battle of the Heroes either.

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45 minutes ago, Taikomochi said:

I will comment that I agree with the point Clemmensen makes regarding perspective and the other SW scores.  I think he goes too far saying ROTJ through ROTS don't have strong memorable themes, in the context of saying TFA doesn't, but I do think ROTJ in particular is lacking, aside from the Emperor's theme, which I don't think Williams intended to have the dramatic weight he seemed to want for Luke and Leia, which, while beautiful, is underwhelming in its usage.  I doubt anyone came out of the theater remembering that theme.  Battle of the Heroes in ROTS is also similarly underused.

 

I love all these scores, of course, but I think that particular criticism is misplaced.

 

But...Parade of the Ewoks is the most memorable thing EVER!

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1 hour ago, Drax said:

TFA has it beaten with Rey's Theme alone. That and less generic sounding action music that sounds more Star Warsy.

 

AotC's highlights sound a lot less "generic" than what we hear in TFA. And TFA's action music is more modern Williams than your classic Star Wars sound anyway.

 

1 hour ago, Jay said:

It's a classic Williams score with great themes and great action music.  What more could you want?

 

Indeed. It's not perfect, but it features too much great writing to warrant the amount of hate it gets here.

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2 hours ago, MikeTroxell said:

 

I think ROTS would be a much better score IMO if it did not rely on cut/paste of the duel music from Empire and the Throne Room from SW.

I don't really dig Battle of the Heroes either.

 

The Battle of the Heroes track is not my primary reason for listening to ROTS. Really, that goes for the concert pieces in all of the Star Wars scores. I love the suites because they compliment the underscores proper.

 

7 minutes ago, Jay said:

Why can't it fit both?

 

It does. Hence my use of the word better. ROTS does it better for me.

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5 hours ago, Hlao-roo said:

 

Nice to see some writing from Frank for a lay audience.

 

According to a tweet from Frank (‏@fmlehman) on December 26, it wasn't easy to get the article published.

 

Quote

It's proving very hard to pitch a technical musical description to a) an audience of nonmusicians and b) highly opinionated fans/haters.

 

It's up to 1.4k shares in 9 hours so I'm glad he prevailed. It takes me back to the days of my music appreciation classes and the enjoyment of learning why a piece of music moved me so much. :)

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3 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

 

I never said I hated it. In fact, I don't hate it. I just think it sucks donkey balls, but I feel no strong emotion towards it.

 

If I were to feel an emotion towards it, it would be sadness rather than hate, because it is sad that this score is so bad instead of good.

 

But what about it do you find bad?  Does it lack any dramatic/emotional arc?  Do you think the music itself is somehow annoying or poorly put together?

 

I admit there's so much to be interested in if you apply a scrutinizing compositional eye, that I may be blind to larger legitimate faults. 

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I just read (some of) Filmtracks' review. Clemmenson's sole quality indicator for a score seems to be themes. Then there's the rubbish about JW being the only composer alive who can write at this level. I swear, if Zimmer had written this score instead, it would have two stars.

 

Also, since when was 160kb mp3 considered 'poor quality'? The promo sounds the same as the OST to me.

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2 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

I just read (some of) Filmtracks' review. Clemmenson's sole quality indicator for a score seems to be themes. Then there's the rubbish about JW being the only composer alive who can write at this level. I swear, if Zimmer had written this score instead, it would have two stars.

 

The only composer who writes for film, sure he is.

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5 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

I just read (some of) Filmtracks' review. Clemmenson's sole quality indicator for a score seems to be themes. Then there's the rubbish about JW being the only composer alive who can write at this level. I swear, if Zimmer had written this score instead, it would have two stars.

Nah.  Clemensen tends to overrate unZimmery Zimmer scores.

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4 hours ago, TheGreyPilgrim said:

 

But what about it do you find bad?  Does it lack any dramatic/emotional arc?  Do you think the music itself is somehow annoying or poorly put together?

 

I admit there's so much to be interested in if you apply a scrutinizing compositional eye, that I may be blind to larger legitimate faults. 

 

Indeed. I've seen Alvar trash this score the most in the last few weeks, but never seen him expand on why.

 

But as you say, compositionally, there are some fantastic things to take away from this score.

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1 hour ago, Stefancos said:

But John Williams IS the only composer alive who can still write at this level, and do so consistently.

 

He's also the only compose in Hollywood who's probably still allowed to.

 

That's a good point!

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1 hour ago, Richard Penna said:

Also, since when was 160kb mp3 considered 'poor quality'? The promo sounds the same as the OST to me.

 

Since always, though an alarming number of people cannot tell somehow.

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2 hours ago, TownerFan said:

The New Yorker's music critic Alex Ross chimes in about Williams and his latest Star Wars score:

 

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/listening-to-star-wars

 

Very good piece!

 

Those Facebook comments, tho:

 

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The composer John Williams will almost certainly secure his fiftieth Oscar nomination for the score of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

Posted by

The New Yorker

on 

Friday, January 1, 2016
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6 minutes ago, Taikomochi said:

"The weakest score of the year."

 

According to morons who know nothing.

I bet he has a couple of Star Wars cues on his Ipod at most (only the EPIC ones like "Duel of the Fates") to play over Call of Duty and John Madden Football Simulator 2015.  

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4 hours ago, Stefancos said:

But John Williams IS the only composer alive who can still write at this level, and do so consistently.

 

He's also the only compose in Hollywood who's probably still allowed to.

 

I'd put it differently: He's the only living film composer who is able to write at this level, and possibly the only one who's still allowed to write in this style.

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I imagine a lot of those who don't like the score, don't like the movie, either.  I remember this happening with the PT to some extent but some saw the light when they listened to the music outside the films.

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20 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

I'd put it differently: He's the only living film composer who is able to write at this level, and possibly the only one who's still allowed to write in this style.

 

He's also probably the only living film composer who can get away with not having electricity in his studio! (apart from the desk lamp for nightly sessions, of course...)

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