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The Official DANIEL PEMBERTON Thread


Disco Stu

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He's notable enough to have his own thread.

 

His main credits theme for the new Dark Crystal show on Netflix was released today.

 

 

I have to admit I'm not overly impressed.  Maybe it'll grow on me when I watch the series.

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He's had some very good scores.  I'm just not impressed with this cue on first listen.

 

Check out The Old Man & The Gun or The Man from UNCLE!  They're good.

 

Edit: As pointed out by Koray, I mixed up Daniel Pemberton with Daniel Hart, the composer of The Old Man & The Gun.

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I like Pemberton, and think he's done some solid work.

 

But this is a very far cry from Trevor Jones otherworldly original.

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4 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

He's notable enough to have his own thread.

 

His main credits theme for the new Dark Crystal show on Netflix was released today.

 

 

I have to admit I'm not overly impressed.  Maybe it'll grow on me when I watch the series.

:sleep1:

Fine by TV standards but bland by any other.  Why not just bring Trevor Jones back?

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Good composer. His best have been mentioned already: STEVE JOBS, OCEAN'S 8, THE MAN FROM UNCLE. But I always keep my eyes out for him. The DARK CRYSTAL thing should be interesting. Oddly, I was never that big a fan of Jones' original feature film score.

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King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is one of my favorite scores of the last decade. You love it, or you hate it.

 

 

And of course :D

 

 

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I like the (admittedly slight) variation on Jones' theme, beginning at 1.28.

 

 

12 hours ago, Thor said:

Oddly, I was never that big a fan of Jones' original feature film score.

What are you talking about, Thor? THE DARK CRYSTAL is a gorgeous score, full of magic, mischief, and wonder...like the film.

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For some reason, I find both THE DARK CRYSTAL and LABYRINTH kinda grating. Lots of samey chords in the same register. But I love a lot of Jones' other work.

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8 hours ago, Thor said:

For some reason, I find both THE DARK CRYSTAL and LABYRINTH kinda grating. Lots of samey chords in the same register. But I love a lot of Jones' other work.

Geez, you're right, there, Thor, baby!

LABYRINTH is a nasty, patronizing, cloying film. I truly dislike it. The one good thing about it, is UNDERGROUND.

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It's been YEARS since I saw it. 

 

My favourite Joneses are EXCALIBUR, NATE AND HAYES, THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH, RUNAWAY TRAIN, THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, G.I. JANE, DARK CITY and AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS.

 

A shame he has basically disappeared off the face of the earth. Last time I heard, he was teaching in his home country of South Africa.

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8 hours ago, Thor said:

It's been YEARS since I saw it. 

 

My favourite Joneses are EXCALIBUR, NATE AND HAYES, THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH, RUNAWAY TRAIN, THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, G.I. JANE, DARK CITY and AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS.

 

A shame he has basically disappeared off the face of the earth. Last time I heard, he was teaching in his home country of South Africa.

 

No love for Cliffhanger?

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13 minutes ago, Thor said:

It's OK, but the highlight is the theme. And Jones did that same theme better in MOHICANS anyway. :)

Ugh.  Last of the Mohicans SUCKS.  It's just the same thing over and over

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3 minutes ago, Not Mr. Big said:

Ugh.  Last of the Mohicans SUCKS.  It's just the same thing over and over

 

Then you need to listen to Varese's rerecording.

 

17 minutes ago, Thor said:

Jones did that same theme better in MOHICANS anyway. :)

 

That's so true!

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Pemberton totally knocked it out of the park with this one. The score is gorgeous and massively succesful in using the general template of Jones' score (the recorder solos and atmosphere in particular) but it also pays homage to Last of the Mohicans (probably via Hurwitz' First Man) in using minimalist string figures to tie the whole together. This is especially powerful in Today We Fight....

 

What I find awesome is that he somehow captured the Trevor Jones essence here (or at least the late 90s variation of it). The sweeping melodies, quirky synth stuff, the use of gaelic instruments, and a general sense of melancholia that, to me, always was key Trevor.

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LOVE the Dark Crystal score! I like the soundscape Pemberton creates, he seems to have a bit of an experimental streak. There are several different prevailing moods, from mysterious, to playful, to scary, but there's a great sense of unity to the whole thing, thanks to the composer's sonic palette. It sounds great on headphones, where you can really be immersed and get lost in the music. It has a very satisfying blend of traditional, organic sounds presented via thoroughly modern-sounding production techniques.

 

Hope they announce the CD release soon.

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'Experimental but safe' is the Pemberton brand, and it's working wonders. No dissing of the man, who by all accounts, including mine, is awesome (I saw him arriving late for the London fan film score convention, running out of the taxi etc, 'excuse' was that he'd got too hammered the night before - respect. The fact that he took what was effectively a fan convention so seriously to still bother turning up and doing talks is in his credit.

 

But again, his The Dark Crystal score is better than any film score done this year - right?!

 

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16 minutes ago, thestat said:

But again, his The Dark Crystal score is better than any film score done this year - right?!

 

No, far from it. But when whittled down to a decent presentation, it's a highlight among the TV/film scores this year.

 

Pemberton is a bit uneven in quality, but the aforementioned three titles (STEVE JOBS, MAN FROM UNCLE, OCEAN'S 8) are all top notch, and among the best in their respective years.

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What convention are you referring to? Sounds interesting.

 

After listening to more of his scores, my biggest complaint is that he too often relies on loops. He'll build on them, drop out certain instrumental lines, etc. to keep them interesting, but they still get a bit repetitive. I haven't had that problem with Dark Crystal, though.

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Totally agree with some of those comments. Uneven is the Pemberton brand - outside of The Dark Crystal, I don't think he's ever produced a cohesive score. Yes, Jobs has that awesome Glass-ripoff but it does not mix with the rest of the Atari soundscapes. But this works in his favour as he's able to sell this as diversity.

 

Not sure about HTTYD3 - I love Powell, obviously, but this is yet again a case of too much mickey-mousing that is so prevalent in his animation work. If he could get to this level of consistency within the composition of a singular track, awesome:

 

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51 minutes ago, thestat said:

Totally agree with some of those comments. Uneven is the Pemberton brand - outside of The Dark Crystal, I don't think he's ever produced a cohesive score. Yes, Jobs has that awesome Glass-ripoff but it does not mix with the rest of the Atari soundscapes. But this works in his favour as he's able to sell this as diversity.

 

Have you seen the film (STEVE JOBS)? The music actually reflects the three main acts (or periods) of the film. It's supposed to be three very different approaches or styles of music for each.

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