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Williams' manliest most testosterone-fuelled music?


TheUlyssesian

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As I read CC tear apart RC scores limb for limb, there is often an observation he makes, sometimes positively of some RC scores bringing pure testosterone within the music. Even some of Goldsmith's scores can be described to have a manly sound.

 

I thought of what would be an equivalent theme or sound or cue in Williams' work and came up with a blank!

 

That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just that I feel Williams' work is much too refined. Even when he writes heroic themes for male leading characters like Indiana Jones or Tintin or Luke, the themes aren't exactly super-manly sounding. Luke's theme has a very Romantic sound, Indy's theme has a very matinee sound etc. His music is always unerringly in good taste and proper.

 

Anyone else come up with something?

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1 hour ago, TheUlyssesian said:

As I read CC tear apart RC scores limb for limb

 

You mean flail and wail like an infant wallowing in his own feces while the composers he whines about and millions around the world whose lives are enriched by their music give not the slightest damn?

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6 minutes ago, Will said:

Not sure exactly what you mean by "manly," but this one seems to capture it:

 

 

 

 

That one definitely came to mind! After several years of super-busy and viscerally reserved, almost abstract action music-- where Williams seemed to equate writing frenetically dense,  (relatively) chaotic music with music that actually conveyed chaos and tension--it was very refreshing to hear him scale back and really get in the trenches, so to speak with how he approached scoring these kinds of scenes.

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2 hours ago, Thor said:

This is up to interpretation, of course (what is 'manly', anyway?), but I think maybe this non-film music composition might fit the bill:

 

 

Belly of the Steel Beast?

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1 hour ago, The Illustrious Jerry said:

Revenge of the Sith comes to mind.

 

 

 

Two epic cues.

 

The sheer orchestral power from the LSO is incredible in these cues. It kills me that JW probably won’t ever record anything with them again.

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Duel of the Freakin' Fates!  Also, how has no one mentioned Superman yet?  My vote is the alternate Main Title, where even the Love Theme gets a macho brass reading:

 

 

 

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John Wîliams is not manly, how his music could be?

 

I love him because he’s a real man, assuming his whole masculine and feminine side in his art.

 

Real men are the best artists according to me. I think about Charles Aznavour and Roy Orbison too, obviously.

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2 hours ago, Alex said:

The sheer orchestral power from the LSO is incredible in these cues. It kills me that JW probably won’t ever record anything with them again.

Oh yeah. 

 

Also, you know it's a perfect day when you're merging onto the highway and Boys Into Battle is playing on your playlist.

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If one is going by movie title alone, THE MAN WHO LOVED CAT DANCING would be a contender, but there's nothing 'manly' about a man dancing like a cat. ;)

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On 4/5/2019 at 11:47 AM, Thor said:

This is up to interpretation, of course (what is 'manly', anyway?), but I think maybe this non-film music composition might fit the bill:

 

 

Wait, where did that one come from?

I only ever heard a less-than-one-minute-long version of that.

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2 hours ago, Pieter_Boelen said:

Wait, where did that one come from?

I only ever heard a less-than-one-minute-long version of that.

 

There are many versions of this; also with synths or heavy metal guitars and what-have-you.

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On 4/4/2019 at 11:52 PM, SteveMc said:

The Lost World, yes as has already been said.  And that War Horse segment to be sure.  Also, The March Of The Resistance is very rough around the edges gung-ho to my ears.  

 

March of the Resistance definitely has that sound but again is much too refined with dense complex orchestration. And then it has that magnificent classical structure in the middle with the suspended notes or whatever you call them - 

 

 

I think a muscular macho sound is necessarily a bit simple and dumbed down. And there is little in Williams' music that corresponds to that - his music is always complex, busy and dense.

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1 hour ago, TheUlyssesian said:

And then it has that magnificent classical structure in the middle with the suspended notes or whatever you call them - 

I like that bit!

It's what takes March of the Resistance from "pretty darn good march" to "really worthwhile".

For me, anyway.

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4 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

 

March of the Resistance definitely has that sound but again is much too refined with dense complex orchestration. And then it has that magnificent classical structure in the middle with the suspended notes or whatever you call them - 

 

 

I’d say a Fugato, in other words it starts like a fugue but never really becomes one :)

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26 minutes ago, Romão said:

 

 

This is so awesome! I wasn't familiar with this piece or score. This is the value of looking at JW's work through different lenses, there are still so many discoveries to be made.

 

The latter part of this cue could easily score an Arnold action sequence in Predator or some such or a heist action sequence. A very unusual sound from JW.

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I don't think it's been mentioned as a contender - the revised music for the werewolf chase in POA. Lots of low brass and pounding percussion.

 

There's also a brief moment as the Falcon is about to escape from the space worm in Empire. A simple and exposed but extremely effective mini-melody for low brass.

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