Somewhat less listenable...

[Yoda Longbottom 0]

I sense I am just scoring another smash hit with this topic...

Anyway, I am curious whether you JW fans have got in your possession a score/soundtrack that to you for the most part of its playing time sounds unlistenable, that is you can't stomach the music on it for whatever reason (too many heart-halting scary moments, unbearable orchestral blasts, cacophonic structure of the music, much too rehashed stuff, slushy orchestration... anything that discourages you from listening to it). You can even add as to why you feel this or that way about it.

I came across an idea for such topic last week when I finally found a copy of a soundtrack to GHOST by my favorite composer Maurice Jarre. I didn't give it any pre-listening and bought it by reliance.

Mine are:

JERRY GOLDSMITH - Hollow Man: those uneasy blasts towards the end

MAURICE JARRE - Ghost: sounds as if Maurice tested certain boundaries of synthesizers on this score

JOHN WILLIAMS - Death on Carousel (from The Fury): that parky feel about it, overall weird; I don't know...but love the score and can't say why...

HANS ZIMMER - More Music From Gladiator: loud, too loud, and loud again

RACHEL PORTMAN - Cider House Rules: the main theme is not sophisticated enough to stand so many look-alike variations; plus to me it sounds obtrusive.

JAMES HORNER - Aliens: that sudden screaky blast of strings around the 5:50 mark into the third track - I always skip this part; but I like the score as a whole

If you'd like to add yours, feel free to do so. Could help the others to think twice before purchasing a specific item...

Roman.-)

[Lurker 5]

Goldsmith's Logan's Run annoys me to no end.

Neil

[Incanus 5,733]

Some of the most unlistenable unnerving music in my collection:

HOWARD SHORE: Copland: Lacks everything I admire in a score. Nothing to crasp since there is no theme and the orchestral rumble that basicly goes nowhere. I hate it as a whole.

ELLIOT GOLDENTHAL: Final Fantasy: action music for Staccato and Dreamscapes has very unusual avant garde feeling. Even after several listenings I don't crasp it and it jars my ears.

HANS ZIMMER: Gladiator:The battle music in the beginning of the movie is just too repetetive and lends of a heavy dose from Holsts' Planets (Mars Bringer of War). Same goes for the Colosseum scene music.

Thin Red Line: Zimmer and Co. written pieces

JOHN WILLIAMS:(Thought it to be impossiple Williams could write something I did not like but after long and hard thinking I remembered) The Towering Inferno: Much of the underscore for the interiors of the skyscraper is lowkeyed elevator music. Too schmaltzy for me.

JAMES HORNER: Titanic:

has many moments I don't care to listen to basicly because the love theme is utilised. Celin Dion made sure I hate that theme(not by bad performance but with overperfomance of that song in the media). Plus there is always the repeating Horner action music with orchestral hits aplenty.

Mask of Zorro:

The Horner 4- note motif is back with vengeance - very annoying. The love theme sounds like an old Finnish schlager (popular tune) from 1950 or 60' in basic melody. Sakusacchi groans in my ears. Why does he has to use that for every second score he composes .

Big Joe Young: I own this CD and I have never listened it through. Very arch hornerian and that sakusacchi flute is there too. Theme song is Disney like and akward. Too much same old Horner.

Michael Kamen: Die Hard 3: underscore is simply too quiet to keep interest in the music. Nondescript.

X- men: Electronic meanderings with couple of listenable tracks. Superhero scores without good main theme are simply lousy.

JERRY GOLDSMITH:Masada: The March is trying too hard to be jewish. I don't like it a bit. Ruins the over all effect of the score.

MacArthur: weirdly electronically peppered orchestrations makes this war time score unfriendly to listen.

[Yoda Longbottom 0]

Incanus, I don't know your real name but that can't stop me from telling you how much I enjoy reading your inputs. I don't say that because you've participated in my topic, but because you always put so much effort into your thoughts and wording and analysis, and although only seven blasts of such comprehensiveness have you gladdened me (not only?) with, let me encourage you to continue doing so as long as possible...

Thank you and Indysolo for your contributions.

Roman.-)

[Melange 446]

Good post subject

I know i'll be hung drawn and quatered for this, and my legs, arms and head sent to the four corners of the message board. But some parts of Raiders irritate me. Far too snary and squealy at times. The wonderful track "Miracle of the Ark" is utterly ruined for me as a listening experience outside the movie when we get to the stage where the Nazi's melt. Such wonderful rising music and then an utter bleating screechy annoying mess for a number of seconds until the chorals kick in. Such a damn shame. Also a bit in "Basket game"...i dont know the exact bit, but halfway through it there is a few very loud distorted blasts of trumpets to signify something. Sorry but that bit just hearts my ears and my enjoyement of that track if i'm honest. I like Raiders. But i've always found it far too ear piercingly screamy in parts. Hence, i found Temple of Doom much more listenable than Raiders.

[Morlock 11]

First of all I disagree about the Gladiator battle music. IMO it's marvelous and never overly repetitive.

I'd put James Newton Howard's Signs. It opens great, and the closing were the best tracks of last year, but otherwise I can never stand listening to the intervening 20 minutes.

[Melange 446]

I like Gladiator. But now when i put it on after listening to something else, it is FAAAR too loud and intrusive. Its wonderful on its own as a score. But have you ever tried making a movie score compilation on CD?. One or 2 bits of Gladiator i'd like to put in. But it always sticks out like a sore thumb and never fits in anywhere. Too intrusive and bloody loud.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Michael Kamen: Die Hard 3: underscore is simply too quiet to keep interest in the music. Nondescript.

Are you judging this score on what is on the CD?

X- men: Electronic meanderings with couple of listenable tracks. Superhero scores without good main theme are simply lousy.

It's average.

JERRY GOLDSMITH:Masada: The March is trying too hard to be jewish. I don't like it a bit. Ruins the over all effect of the score.

MacArthur: weirdly electronically peppered orchestrations makes this war time score unfriendly to listen.

GREAT SCORE' date=' and one of his best themes, shame on you.

Stefancos- [/quote']

[Guest]

ALIENS

Alternate End Credits: It's really easy to stop listening to this track, because it's so inaudible and eventless. Then right when you least expect it...you get the scare of your life from those strings and the cymbals. Wow! That will scare you if you've got it loud enough and you don't know when it will happen.

GOLDENEYE

Some of it's decent, but it's too "synthetic", I think. The themes Serra came up with aren't that intriguing nor is the rest of his writing. I think Martin Campbell's film could have been enhanced so much had it been scored in the same way as his following film, The Mask of Zorro. (I know Incanus bashed it, but I like it and even Inc's got to admit that Zorro's better than Goldeneye.)

OCTOPUSSY

This has to be Barry's lowpoint in the Bond series. Nearly all of his other scores are interesting, at least, except for this one. There's not much thematic detail, it's just the same brass-and-string sound he always uses and you could probably play me a track and I wouldn't be able to know it which Barry-scored film it was from or even if it was James Bond.

EARTHQUAKE

For the most part, this isn't all that easy to listen to. Maybe it's just the age and the mix, but this one sounds like a bunch of elevator music, too. The highlights are probably the first two tracks and "Cory in Jeopardy".

DRACULA

This one's starting to grow on me. The score used to sound bland to me, but that main theme is too good to hate. It's easier to listen to when you compare it to more modern scores that have a better-sounding mix.

CONGO

The themes aren't good, I hate the synths used. 'Nuff said.

Ehh...that's enough. I'll save the rest for Soundtrek.

[UCFKevin 0]

I.....um........can't really understand why anyone would have a score they don't like listening to...

[PBL 0]

HANS ZIMMER: Gladiator:The battle music in the beginning of the movie is just too repetetive and lends of a heavy dose from Holsts' Planets (Mars Bringer of War)

True... Even the concert arrangement is so bad !! Nothing interessting, just effect and flare...

JAMES HORNER: Titanic:. Celin Dion made sure I hate that theme(not by bad performance but with overperfomance of that song in the media)

That's another point... I find the song motiv too much repetitive to me, and lacking a real melodic achievement. But the interpretation is really good to me.

Michael Kamen: Die Hard 3: underscore is simply too quiet to keep interest in the music. Nondescript.

That is one score I enjoyed during the 30 first minutes of the movie... then I get bored, and the score gets repetitive, lacking some really powerful high points (but the movie wasn't so good also imho...)

For me, a soundtrack that wants me to throw my Stereo over my window is Willow... I just can't stand the perpetual repetition of the character's theme (the "Schumann one")... I find it particularery overrated... (even for a Horner score )

[scissorhands 16]

Throne of Blood (by Masaru Satoh) main theme is very unlisteneable, but I have learnt to like it.

Also chorus of LOTR (by Howard Shore) is unbearable.

[Justin 2]

I find the some music in Gremlins and a lot of music in Gremlins 2 to be annoying. Simply because of the awful films they are in.

Justin -Who can't stand the Gremlin films.

[UCFKevin 0]

I love the Gremlin flicks!

Anyway. Was it Die Hard 3 or Lethal Weapon 4 that Michael Kamen absolutely abhorred working on? I think it was DH3. There didn't seem to be a damn thing new in it. Same goes for LW4, actually.

And, different composer, but it also goes for Batman and Robin. Not a DAMN thing different from Batman Forever. It seemed like a pure cut and paste job.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Parts of The Planet Krypton, with the synthesizer, are pretty irritating to me, though I absolutely LOVE the opening fanfare in that track. There's a track from Commando from a James Horner collection I have that is unbearable to listen to . . . some kind of electro, synth, rock crap. And I'm in agreement with scissorhands that the overbearing use of chorus in LOTR is headache inducing.

Ray Barnsbury

[Melange 446]

I.....um........can't really understand why anyone would have a score they don't like listening to...

You've never taken a gamble buying a CD, to find it did'nt pay off? . I've only ever done that once or twice (not with soundtracks though). My Raiders comment was only regarding a couple of tiny bits of the score which i find very hard on the ears and intrusive as a listening experience. As a whole i love it. I dont think there are any soundtrack CD's i own which i would call "unlistenable" it total.

[King Mark 3,631]

although they contaon great cues,I find a lot of Goldsmith's Alien and Totall Recall unlistenable.(PotA too,but I retured the c.d. right away).

Williams:

Images,Minority Report,Alot of cues on AotC.

K.M.

[ymenard 54]

Anyway, I am curious whether you JW fans have got in your possession a score/soundtrack that to you for the most part of its playing time sounds unlistenable, that is you can't stomach the music on it for whatever reason (too many heart-halting scary moments, unbearable orchestral blasts, cacophonic structure of the music, much too rehashed stuff, slushy orchestration... anything that discourages you from listening to it). You can even add as to why you feel this or that way about it.

Ack! Looking at the list you wrote, I suggest you never try to get into Elliot Goldenthal

Seriously, I always have difficulties listening to the End Credits from The Lost World. It ruins an almost perfect JW score for me.

[Luke Skywalker 1,807]

Well i think that i do not own anything that i dont like, but James Horner's Willow last action scenes have very loud percussion and the Chorus in LOTR has that loud sound that i cannot heard them 'loud' (i have to lower the sound sometimes). I mean, Duel of the Fates is over-chorused but i don't find it ear-hurting, but gorgeus. What i dont like from Williams is Some Parts in Saving Private Ryan, since many of them seem to be a prelude of something great that never comes, since the action is not scored. It's frustrating, IMO. I also skip sometimes The song (far way from home?) from Hook.

I barely skip anything, the music i own is not that unlistenable for me...

[King Mark 3,631]

Also,after a while,and lately,the "slushy orchestration" in Harry Potter is getting on my nerves.

K.M.

[Yoda Longbottom 0]

King Mark, I suppose I know what you mean.

After I bought and devoted hours of comparative listening to both Harry Potter scores we've gotten so far, I tended to think that for CoS John Williams and William Ross employed more profound means to bring magic to Hogwarts. But now, after that long, I again prefer the Sorcerer's Stone as a stand-alone entertainer. It is very difficult to tell why because CoS at the first look seems far more balanced, thematically richer score, but that was okay just for less than 2 months with me. Some orchestration in CoS irritates me a very little bit (Dueling the Basilisk), true, but I can't say the same about the Sorcerer's Stone's at all, yet I'm glad John Williams never gets near as cloying as some other composers get.

As I said above, although I like Harry Potter scores, and as much as they are entertaining when listened to, they don't ray the same deepness as those that occupy my top ten list. But for all this the movies should be blamed above all else. Had JW scored HP some 25 years ago, I'm sure he'd easily surpass both so-far-made movies with his scores, but he was never meant to do so. In fact, the music is roughly as good as the movies it's written for, and that he didn't go for more like with Star Wars or Far And Away? Who's to blame...? A muse Howard Shore caged in his den and won't let her out until the Ring is...... 8O (just joshing...) 8O

I have a small question that I don't think we actually know the answer to. But does anyone think John Williams has listened to Howard Shore's scores to LOTR?

Have a very happy weekend you all...! 8O

Roman.-)

[Yoda Longbottom 0]

Correction made. I did mean "The Dueling Club" and by no means "Dueling the Basilisk" as the referenced cue orchestration/structure of which disquiets me.

Roman.-)

[Guest]

IMO, John Williams is without any doubt the best composer alive. However, even I think there to exist some Williams music which is not very listenable:

- The ceremonial chants in Temple of Doom and Seven Years in Tibet;

- Some sound effect-like music in Nixon, A.I. which are meant as fill-in.

By the way, Williams wrote his Song for World Peace in 1995, in 1994 he wrote his Cello Concerto.

[Guest]

IMO, John Williams is without any doubt the best composer alive. However, even I think there to exist some Williams music which is not very listenable:

- The ceremonial chants in Temple of Doom and Seven Years in Tibet;

- Some sound effect-like music in Nixon, A.I. which are meant as fill-in.

By the way, Williams wrote his Song for World Peace in 1995, in 1994 he wrote his Cello Concerto.

He wrote his Song for World Peace in 1994.

It has to be ready on New Year's Eve !!! 8O

[Many 0]

I dont' find any of Williams's music to be "unlistenable", but the CD's that get the least playtime in my player are probably Seven Years in Tibet and Nixon. One of my favorite non-Williams works is Pino Donaggio's score to Carrie. However, that CD contains the one track in my 200+ CD collection that I cannot abide listening to. The liner notes describe the track as "sustained low string chords and a sizzling, buzzing grouping of synthesized sounds". To me it just sounds like static electricity and completely out of synch with the rest of score, which I think is amazing.

Anthony

[King Mark 3,631]

Correction made. I did mean "The Dueling Club" and by no means "Dueling the Basilisk" as the referenced cue orchestration/structure of which disquiets me.

Roman.-)

The Dueling Club and Spiders sort of sound like the nondescript action cues in AotC and MR,only more kid friendly,and Dueling the Basilisk has a terrific opening,with Fawke's theme in a action mode,which sounds cool and heroic,but the cue then becomes somewhat disorganised with frantic brass notes and woodwind screeches.At the end the chorus part it is pretty atmospheric,but it's not really playing anything memorable either.

Then you have the sneaking around the castle with the broom flying music in low tuba notes and plucked stings(which I think Williams uses to represent footsteps)like Cake for Crabbe and Goyle and Polyjuice Potion,and both cues really make the c.d. drag at that point(as the scenes they score in the movie).

Then the cues with the Stone motif.However it's orchestrated,it's still only the same 3 notes,which we heard plenty of in PS,and IMO one of Williams less inspired motifs.

What I meant by slushy orchestration is the Reunion of Friends music.For a while I thought it was pretty neat and powerful,but it's sort of a drawn out and overblown piece reminicent of a bunch of previous scores.

Usually when I start feeling that way about a score it's because I played it too much,I'm sure it will sound better after a much needed rest 8O .

K.M.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Usually when I start feeling that way about a score it's because I played it too much,I'm sure it will sound better after a much needed rest .

K.M.

I have that too, it's like I "O.D." on a certain score or even a specific track (ahem . . . Fawkes, anyone?) and then have to wait a month or longer to listen to it again.

Ray Barnsbury

[King Mark 3,631]

Yeah,I've O.D'd on Fawkes,and also Harry's Wondrous World and Hedwig's Theme. I have a Minidisk of Potter music in the car which I've played too often.

K.M.

[Melange 446]

I have that too, it's like I "O.D." on a certain score or even a specific track (ahem . Fawkes, anyone?) and then have to wait a month or longer to listen to it again. Ray Barnsbury

I've commited that mistake with Journey to the Island (Jurassic Park). That used to have hairs standing up on my kneck and adrenaline rushing through me. But nowadays i can play it and say "yeah yeah yeah...big bombastic bit coming next ...what a suprise etc etc" (with a jaded look on my face)..heheh. No matter how much i've rested with that one, i still cant regain the magic and thrill of hearing it in the early years (certainly when hearing it first it in the Cinema). One that i never tire of though, is Goldsmiths Star Trek Motion Picture score. I can play that ad nauseam and never every get jaded from hearing it. I enjoy every single second of it and even though i know most of it by heart, it always seems like i'm hearing it for the first time. When i was travelling last year (for about 6 months) i had no music with me. So returning and putting on a score with good headphones was bliss and sensory delight. Yes i agree a rest is always a good thing. Repetition brings dullness and cobwebs.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Hmmm, good topic. Well, so far I utterly dislike Coppola's score to Apocalypse Now, which seems to drag on forever without making a point other than "hey, this synthethiser works!"

Another score I can't stand is The King and I, I just like two or three songs, and the score itself is just soo unbelivably booooring. Rodgers & Hammerstein only won me with South Pacific.

And finally -- Alan Menken's "Hercules". Menken is my second film music hero after Williams, but while he delivered quite some good songs for the film, the score was an unclassy re-hash of Aladdin and The Little Mermaid, only without the magic touch. It's the first time I thought a score for a Disney movie was childish.

[Melange 446]

Hmmm, good topic. Well, so far I utterly dislike Coppola's score to Apocalypse Now, which seems to drag on forever without making a point other than "hey, this synthethiser works!"

Melange - Falling off chair and getting back on it.

I love that score. It's so bizzare and original. The music used for Willard coming down the steps is utterly amazing for me. Do you also have the 2CD version?...which amongst other rare bits, has the unused "Cleans death" soul choral?. There is a lot on the 2CD which is not on the single releases (aswell as that recent Re-Dux re-issue). It's nice to have both to get an overall score experience.

Melange - Who has admired that freaky score for many a year

Melange - Natural btw,because i've been a JM Jarre fan since a kid

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Well, I liked the music so much when I heard it at a friend's house, I bought the CD some months later. But this was 1998 and the soundtrack quickly lost its appeal, and now it's a dust collector. A pity because it had some good song. "This is the end, my only friend, the end . . . . "

[Melange 446]

Well, I liked the music so much when I heard it at a friend's house, I bought the CD some months later. But this was 1998 and the soundtrack quickly lost its appeal, and now it's a dust collector. A pity because it had some good song. "This is the end, my only friend, the end . . . . "

The End by "The Doors"

The best use of that within the movie was the scene where Willard is having his breakdown in his room near the beginning of the movie. Very well mixed together imo.

Melange- Big "The Doors" Fan also

[Morn 8]

This is a rather tricky question. Some of the more abstract action music in ROTJ. And the harp piece from Angela's Ashes. I also tend to not like some of Goldsmith's synth writing. Plus I can't stand that 70's dinner music jazz style as in The Towering Inferno.

[Melange 446]

I also tend to not like some of Goldsmith's synth writing.

You dont like (for example) The Mutant?

Melange - Who considers that piece a masterpiece blend of Synth/Orch.

[Morn 8]

Well that particular track is pretty cool. Not for the synth though.

[Melange 446]

Oh i think they add to its effect tenfold

Synths get to levels of expression that orchestra cannot.

That's why i admire Jerry for his skill of balancing both.