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Sleepers (John Williams)


Thor

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I have to revisit this eventually.  I listened to it once like 15 years ago and never heard a note of it since.  Have not recollection or impressions from it unfortunately.

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I don't think I've ever listened to this one!  If it was, it was once, a long time ago.... I did pick up the CD though, so I'll get to it one day.

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I think I saw the film once in the 90s; Don't remember much about it.  I will definitely watch it again some day.  That cast!

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The surprise inclusion of "Hell's Kitchen" as one of the encore pieces at Williams' 1998 London concerts was one of the highlights of the night. I don't he's performed it much in concert since, if at all. 

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Wonderful score. I've watched the film just a couple of times (at the original theater run and later on DVD) and can't recall much of the score in it, though I do recall having liked it a lot. On disc might not be one of the easier ones to get through, but surely is a greatly rewarding one when you get to the end of it.

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It's kind of the definition of a three-star score for me.  There's nothing in it that I'd say is bad, but nothing in it that really moves me, either.

 

That said, it does seem to grow on me a bit every time I listen to it (which is once or twice a year).  So I'm sure there is plenty there that I'm just not paying sufficient attention to.

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6 hours ago, TownerFan said:

The gorgeous end title setting of the main theme ("Hell's Kitchen") always made me think of Williams channeling Lenny Bernstein's On the Waterfront.

 

What an interesting connection. Love both scores but never thought of it.

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5 hours ago, pete said:

The surprise inclusion of "Hell's Kitchen" as one of the encore pieces at Williams' 1998 London concerts was one of the highlights of the night. I don't he's performed it much in concert since, if at all. 

 

Were you there, too, pete? Cool!

It was a nice surprise, wasn't it?

Was Oliver Ford Davies narrating THE COWBOYS, at the same concert?

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1 hour ago, Richard said:

 

Were you there, too, pete? Cool!

It was a nice surprise, wasn't it?

Was Oliver Ford Davies narrating THE COWBOYS, at the same concert?

 

I sure was, and it was a great experience^.

 

I recall the Hell's Kitchen encore was performed just the first two nights. The Reivers with narration, The Cowboys, the Tuba Concerto were performed on the final two nights with different encores. I think Schindler's List was one of the encore pieces over the last two nights, and it was in the program proper for the first two.

 

I got tickets for each night as well as the open rehearsal on the Friday morning. I thought it would be my only chance to see Williams in concert. Since I live in Korea these days, that's proven to be true so far^.

 

john-williams-1998-a.jpg

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This score never clicked with me though I like the music better outside of the film. In the film itself I find the score out of place. During various scenes including the football sequence and the ending at the courthouse, I consistently got the feeling that this movie wasn't suited for a full orchestral score. 

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Great Gem of score which is actually quite underrated. And one of my favourite drama scores. This was one of the most rewarding and enjoyable scores by Williams( in his subliminal dark mode). I really cant really describe it but @Romão has described as 'Autumnal' and 'urban' - and this is just apt description. Its also a very moody score and not sunny or bright as we usually expect from Williams. When I'm in my most depressive moments I play this to sooth myself. It works. The film is also  great and I bought a copy from a store in Hell's Kitchen, NY !

 

i love playing ' The Trip To Wilkinson' during a foggy road trip.  By the way, I find 'The Football Game' driving ostinato rhythms akin  to 'The Hunt' from THE LOST WORLD. 

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10 hours ago, Thor said:

Isn't that the last time Williams was in Europe (for concerts)?

 

9 hours ago, pete said:

I believe so. I don't recall hearing of concerts in the U.K. and Europe after 1998. 

 

I can confirm that yes, it was, unfortunately :(

 

Whether he did secret concerts in 2002/2004/2005 is anyone's guess, but I doubt it.

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It's a well-deserved breath from the splashy stuff - a dreaded career phase for the Star Wars crowd - but gets a point subtracted for a lack of coherence. That tends to be a problem with the albums after 'Nixon' & Co: great (sometimes indifferent) moments joined together into 3 or 4 minute cues but since they're glued to on-screen images the whole thing feels less than the sum of its parts. Frankly, scores like this would profit more from a formal musical adaption than the xth Flag Parade.

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9 hours ago, Thor said:

Isn't that the last time Williams was in Europe (for concerts)?

 

Yes, the last concert held in Europe. He however returned of course to record Star Wars prequels and Harry Potter scores. In 2005 he promised a series of concerts with the LSO to their management, but he canceled because he had return in LA to start working on War of the Worlds.

12 hours ago, Miguel Andrade said:

What an interesting connection. Love both scores but never thought of it.

 

I think it's more eloquent in the end title setting of the main theme, especially in the kind of Copland-esque chromaticism that JW always loved so much (and Lenny too), but also on the style of orchestration. Since the end title suites always have been for JW the opportunity to put in pure musical terms the film's underlying subjects and overall dramatic sense (at least in broad terms), I think he might have seen in this New York drama a sort of contemporary setting of some of On the Waterfront's themes (redemption, emancipation, etc.)

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"Last Night at Wilkinson" made me almost depressive for one day, which is no joke. It's the only Williams score with that capability.

The string climax in "Time in Solidary" is awesome! One of his most intense violin moments. (The only more intense one occurs in "Rosewood".)

Extremely underrated!!!

 

The OST is also totally sufficient! 56 minutes and I really don't know what could be missing. Maybe nothing, but surely nothing important.

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