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Which are your Top 5 James Horner scores?


Josh500

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Although I later admitted to regretting not putting Titanic at #1.  So the list I posted there but move Titanic to 1 and shift everything else down.

 

Also, see here for the results of that poll:

 

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1 minute ago, Disco Stu said:

 

 

Although I later admitted to regretting not putting Titanic at #1.  So the list I posted there but move Titanic to 1 and shift everything else down

 

It's not like it's engraved in stone...

 

For me, the favourite JW scores change from year to year!

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2 minutes ago, Bilbo Skywalker said:

3. The Amazing Spider-Man

 

Never seen the movie, never heard the score.

 

Is it really that good?

26 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

1. Titanic 

 

I've always wondered how Titanic would have been scored if John Williams had gotten the job.

 

I actually think it probably wouldn't have been much different, in terms of impact, melody, or mood.... Just much more complex orchestration!

 

This is undoubtedly James Horner's masterpiece. 

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6 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

 

Never seen the movie, never heard the score.

 

Is it really that good?

 

I really like it but I wouldn’t expect it to feature on too many people’s lists. 

 

Its definitely worth listening to though. Probably don’t need to see the film but it’s not bad!

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45 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

1. Titanic 

2. Avatar

3. Aliens

4. Braveheart 

5. Rocketeer

 

Mine is probably the same, but with Braveheart on top, followed by Titanic.

 

Braveheart sure does have a lot of filler (and synth filler, at that) and it's certainly not particularly leitmotivically intricate, but its certainly written to be incredibly affecting, and complements the film incredibly well. Its also got a couple of incredibly full and rich string performances from the London Symphony Orchestra. There are moments where it feels absoloutly huge.

 

Titanic got knocked off of the top because it feels deriviative of Braveheart. I know both Horner and James Cameron really liked that score, and the Hymn for the Sea has a lineup just straight out of that score: Ulieann Pipes, tin Whistle and boy choir. Its also not as dynamic and varied.

 

Maybe I just cannot divorce the music from the film. Braveheart is an absolute masterpiece, in my eyes. It has romance, action, amazing visuals and great drama and tragedy mixed up in measure. Even just on the level of the romance, it's just as believable in the forty minutes of screen time in Braveheart, as it is in the three hours of Titanic.

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1: Avatar. The big best of Horner's career

2: The Spitfire Grill. A very fondful heartwarming/breaking score, absolutely underated

3: The Perfect Storm. Impressive theme, the score is very well built.

4:  Braveheart. Because LLL unleashed the best of it

5: The House of Sand and Fog. Dark but.... you have to listen to it !

 

I would have put titanic somewhere but until LLL releases something I wont be able to really judge it !

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36 minutes ago, Blanche Hudson said:

Field of Dreams

 

Really? I recently saw the OST album of Field of Dreams for 2 bucks!

 

I should have bought it! :(

55 minutes ago, James said:

1. Willow

2. Glory

3. Star Trek II

4. Aliens

5. An American Tail

 

Honorable mentions: Krull, The Perfect Storm and The Mask of Zorro.

 

Titanic doesn't even get an honourable? 

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2 hours ago, Josh500 said:

 

Titanic doesn't even get an honourable? 

 

No.

I've always had a problem with Titanic. Not with the score, but with the movie.

My mom made me watch so many times or something. I don't even remember.

It's a wonderful score, the even with the movie. I like the scene with the ship sinking.  But, I do not know why, I avoid almost all about it.

It's situation weird, I know.

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2 hours ago, Josh500 said:

The Land Before Time gets mentioned a lot! Another must have?

 

The Land Before Time sees Horner operating in that late-80s transitional period of his career. Much like the film,  the score could have easily been an adequate, passable but mostly unremarkable exploration of childhood  and friendship by the guise of a cartoon narrative,  but both make the distinguished choice of acknowledging the sadness that sometimes comes with youth and having to grow up too soon. 

To me, TLBT sees Horner at perhaps his most genuine and sincere. While he does paint of lot of the musical canvas with playful strokes, he infuses a lot of heart into the work as well, and it's that persistent and earnest quality of heart that is so pervasive throughout the score (that Horner masterfully pulls off without coming across as cliché) that makes the score so enduring to me. 

Also, full disclosure, growing up saw this and Star Wars as both being my favorite soundtracks at a very young age and I listened the shit out of 'em, so I have a healthy dose of nostalgia to cloud my judgment.

 

But also also, this is really fucking good. 

 

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In no order: 

 

The Amazing Spider-Man

Living In The Age Of Airplanes

The Perfect Storm

Searching For Bobby Fischer

Courage Under Fire

 

Those are my most personal and favorite 5. 

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1 hour ago, NL197 said:

 

Courage Under Fire

 

Never heard of this movie until now! 

 

Was Horner maybe channeling Jerry Goldsmith doing Under Fire? :D

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10 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I have grown to really enjoy Searching for Bobby Fischer since I made my list last year.  Not sure it'd get into my top 5, but it's a superb score.

 

There are so many!

 

Jumanji, The Missing, Legends of the Fall, Casper, Patriot Games, The Devil's Own....

 

Im hard pressed to know where to start!

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1 hour ago, The Doctor said:

Courage Under Fire is an awesome score.

 

Most of what is listenable isn't from the movie score, though. Horner did several 'concert' pieces.

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Yes, Courage Under Fire is a strange album. Much of it isn't in the film, and what's in the film largely isn't on the album. 

It's one of my favorite scores based on both film and album. 

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3 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

It's all about the information!

 

Cattle mutilation is up.

I can't work with this man.

 

What do you want?

Oh, just peace on earth, and goodwill to men.

This is the NSA. We don't do that sort of thing.

 

 

 

 

Too many secrets.

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