Jump to content

Wonderful Escapades- some thoughts of 2002, brobably Johnny's best year.


Joni Wiljami

Recommended Posts

This evening we had a concert with my orchestra and one of the pieces was Escapades for alto saxophone. Lovely Jess Gillam was the soloist. 

 

During the whole week I was thinking of Williams' output in 2002. It is just amazing, out of this world. I even think it is Williams' best ever... 

 

Any thoughts? 

 

.. and I do not want to hear anything about William Ross or that Ennio would have done it better😜😜😜

Link to comment
Share on other sites

AotC is great, especially expanded. Minority Report has slowly grown on me and I listen to it now more than ever. Fawkes' Theme is one of my all time favorites. Still need to spend more time with Catch Me if You Can.

 

I agree that it feels like a better year in retrospect than it did at the time. For example, the similarities between some of the scores that year bugged me at first, but now it's sort of charming in a way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, hornist said:

This evening we had a concert with my orchestra and one of the pieces was Escapades for alto saxophone. Lovely Jess Gillam was the soloist. 

 

During the whole week I was thinking of Williams' output in 2002. It is just amazing, out of this world. I even think it is Williams' best ever... 

 

Any thoughts? 

 

 

 

I actually agree with you here, Pasi, 2002 was an absolute hell of a year for Williams. Minority Report and Catch Me if You Can are full of juicy moments where Williams was able to deliver the meat, and was a great confluence of his film and concert writing, particularly Minority Report. 

 

I know it's an unpopular opinion, but Attack of the Clones is my favorite Star Wars prequel score: the music sounds so vibrant, and with the exception of a few dry cues, is brimming with richness and a strong, consistent, and pungent mood that I don't find in the other two prequel scores. It also has some of Williams' coolest action moments, with a distinct vibe and personality that a lot of his action music in the 2000's can't claim.

 

Gotta admit I'm still not really familiar with Chamber of Secrets, so I won't speak on that one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2002 was a good JW year, no doubt. But we all have our favourites. I'll never ceaze to be amazed by 1966, for example -- I even did a whole thread on it. If someone put a gun to my head and forced me to choose, I'd probably pick '93. Only two films, but what films (and scores).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Nick Parker said:

 

Which is your favorite of the 2002 scores?

Not too crazy about any of them so my favorite varies from time to time.  Catch Me If You Can is probably the most well-rounded of the bunch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Not Mr. Big said:

Not too crazy about any of them so my favorite varies from time to time.  Catch Me If You Can is probably the most well-rounded of the bunch.

 

Hmmm...normally it's Attack of the Clones and sometimes Chamber of Secrets that are the punching bags. What is it that turns people off from Minority Report? That's one of my absolute favorites. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Nick Parker said:

 

Hmmm...normally it's Attack of the Clones and sometimes Chamber of Secrets that are the punching bags. What is it that turns people off from Minority Report? That's one of my absolute favorites. 

It's a bit inconsistent overall (both on OST and in film).  Some scenes JW absolutely nails (the Anne Lively music, the confrontation with Leo Crow, the finale) while others don't quite hit the mark (Eye-Dentiscan, the overally comedic tone of some of the action music). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2002 was surely a very good year, and I agree that Escapades is a fantastic suite (one of his best concert works). But, if I had to give relative marks to JW's scores, the 2000s would feature three 5/5 items in my book (AI, HP1 and HP3), and two of them were written in 2001. So, 2001 would be my choice for his best year in that decade.

 

About 2002, well, Minority Report is surely one of those scores of which I am eagerly awaiting a Matessino expansion. I'm quite sure that would produce the "AI effect" (that is, it would be vastly superior to the OST presentation, and it would lead to a positive re-evaluation of the score). I'd like an expanded AOTC as well, please, together with the other prequels.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Score said:

About 2002, well, Minority Report is surely one of those scores of which I am eagerly awaiting a Matessino expansion. I'm quite sure that would produce the "AI effect" (that is, it would be vastly superior to the OST presentation, and it would lead to a positive re-evaluation of the score). I'd like an expanded AOTC as well, please, together with the other prequels.

 

I would _love_ an expanded Attack of the Clones, but the Minority Report OST captures the spirit of the score perfectly. I'm not one to campaign for the good old C and C, but I believe the album isn't missing much from the film score proper. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, hornist said:

This is why I started this thread. So underrated year. 

Indeed. Attack of the Clones, The Chamber of Secrets and Minority Report are really underrated. But they cannot compete with The Lost World and Rosewood.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

Indeed. Attack of the Clones, The Chamber of Secrets and Minority Report are really underrated. But they cannot compete with The Lost World and Rosewood.

Really? People's tastes are so different, those two are in the bottom of my list. 

 

But good I started this topic, cannot recall many of this wonderful year. Very surprised it so unliked. 

 

Also the idea that so many big scores that year, you cannot compare the 2 score years to this. So many so massive works there. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, hornist said:

Really? People's tastes are so different, those two are in the bottom of my list. 

These are among my personal favourites, but they're also objectively among Williams' best scores of the last 25 years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aotc was a bad score to a bad film .Minority Report is odd and weird. Catch Me is interesting but overall 2002 is not one of John's best year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah that piece is stunning. Sean's theme at the beginning is of course great but I've always been drawn to the second half, e.g. (particularly in light of the scene it accompanies, which I found very moving):

 

 

Draws from a similar vein as A.I. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Will said:

Yeah that piece is stunning. Sean's theme at the beginning is of course great but I've always been drawn to the second half, e.g. (particularly in light of the scene it accompanies, which I found very moving):

 

 

Draws from a similar vein as A.I. 

 

For sure! That's why I linked the video...it's just really difficult to do timestamps on a phone. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What's interesting about the 2002 scores is that you can hear Williams was in the same headspace, as each score shares similar DNA, yet displays Williams' versatility to shift to multiple genres. 

 

1 hour ago, JoeinAR said:

Aotc was a bad score to a bad film.

AotC is underrated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Arpy said:

What's interesting about the 2002 scores is that you can hear Williams was in the same headspace, as each score shares similar DNA, yet displays Williams' versatility to shift to multiple genres. 

 

 

I would say the same of 2005, which just so happens to be another favorite year of mine, haha.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, Incanus said:

2005 was equally interesting and prolific in my opinion with another batch of 4 very different and engaging scores.

 

2005 was fantastic. As I always say, the last time/year JW was on the level I usually associate with him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

57 minutes ago, Thor said:

2005 was fantastic. As I always say, the last time/year JW was on the level I usually associate with him.

I must kinda agree. That year somehow put and end to an era of Williams and Spielberg that constantly reinvented themselves. After that it was just kind of a reprise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Brundlefly said:

I must kinda agree. That year somehow put and end to an era of Williams and Spielberg that constantly reinvented themselves. After that it was just kind of a reprise.

 

Something "happened" in terms of thinking and approach in Williams' music in the film music gap between 2005 and 2008. More modular, less defined melody lines; as if he "lost" something in the interim. It's never been on the same quality level since, even if there's the odd hlghlight track here and there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Thor said:

Something "happened" in terms of thinking and approach in Williams' music in the film music gap between 2005 and 2008. More modular, less defined melody lines; as if he "lost" something in the interim. It's never been on the same quality level since, even if there's the odd hlghlight track here and there.

And at the same time Spielberg went backwards in time with his movies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.