Your top 10 Silvestri scores

[WampaRat 1,105]

I actually found myself kinda reaching on this one. I love parts of all his scores. But I realize there’s very few I can feel engaged with throughout the entire length of the album. 

 

1. The Mummy Returns

2. Back to the Future

3. Van Helsing

4. Forest Gump

5. Castaway 

6. Avengers: Endgame

7. Ready Player One

8. Father of the Bride

9. The Abyss

10. Captain America

 

Im sure there will be similar scores on others lists. I need to give Roger Rabbit another listen. And yeah I need to give Predator (1 and 2) another go. What are your top 10 Silvestri scores?

 

Sidenote: does anyone else think Silvestri’s compositional style has changed very very little over the course of his career? If you played elfman’s early stuff next to his current stuff you miight recognize a few characteristics of the same composer. But play something like predator and the mummy returns and they seem like they were written only 2-3 years apart. 

[Muad'Dib 1,801]

Yes on both counts, Silvestri's albums can be quite a chore to sit in their entirety. I've said this before so sorry for the repetition, but I think Silvestri writes almost exclusevily to picture, he cares very little for the listening experience outside of the film. At least that's my impression, I could be wrong.

 

And also regarding his compositional style, he has remained more or less the same, it's quite a unique case. But I think this might be because he always considered himself more of a percussion/jazz guy, so maybe he wasn't that interested in exploring his orchestral style for concert works for example.

 

Anyway, my top 10:

 

1. Predator 2

2. Mousehunt

3. Judge Dredd

4. The Abyss 

5. Forrest Gump

6. Death Becomes Her

7. Clan of the Cave Bear

8. A Christmas Carol

9. Avengers Infinity War 

10. Ready Player One

 

I like BTTF but outside the main themes the score does little for me.

 

[WampaRat 1,105]

Ah clan of the Cave Bear. That’s one of his earlier ones. More synth-based yeah? I’ll need to check that one out.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Romancing The Stone
Back To The Future

Predator

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Death Becomes Her

Forrest Gump

Mouse Hunt

Cast Away

The Mexican

The Mummy Returns

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

13 hours ago, Muad'Dib said:

Silvestri's albums can be quite a chore to sit in their entirety.

 

Yeah, I usually have to stand up and walk around a bit.

 

Top 5, no particular order:

 

BttF 1 - 3

Forrest Gump

Mouse Hunt

EDIT: Allied added.

[JNHFan2000 2,944]

1. Avengers: Endgame

2. Ready Player One

3. Back To The Future 3

4. Forrest Gump

5. Avengers: Infinity War

6. The Mummy Returns

7. A Christmas Carol

8. Back To The Future

9. Who Framed Roger Rabbit

10. Predator

[Thor 7,468]

THE ABYSS is one of the three scores that cemented my love of film music, and Silvestri is easily in my top 10 favourite film composers -- although the highlights are extremely sporadic since 2002.

 

1. THE ABYSS

2. Cast Away

3. Contact

4. Flight of the Navigator

5. Forrest Gump

6. The Mummy Returns

7. American Anthem

8. Back to the Future III

9. Predator 2

10. The Delta Force

[bruce marshall 1,315]

I posted my

list on the proper thread.😠

[mstrox 6,647]

I think Silvestri writes excellent themes, but more often than not, they just exist in repetition without a lot of variation.  As a result, I probably tend to like his sequel scores much more than the originals, because those old excellent themes still exist in repetition but are joined with newer excellent themes, etc.

 

also, repping Father of the Bride here until Stu can log in.

 

1.  Father of the Bride

2.  Mummy Returns

3. Avengers Endgame

4. Back to the Future III

5.  Ready Player One

6. Forrest Gump

7.  Avengers infinity War

8.  Night at the Museum 3

9.  Who Framed Roger Rabbit

10.  Back to the Future

 

it didn’t make my list, but shout out to Silvestri for his weird marching band opening for The Croods, one of the only film score pieces in recent memory that actually grabbed me while I was watching a movie.

[Muad'Dib 1,801]

8 hours ago, WampaRat said:

Ah clan of the Cave Bear. That’s one of his earlier ones. More synth-based yeah? I’ll need to check that one out.

 

Yeah! It's quite interesting. Silvestri and those synths mixed quite well in the 80's. 

 

 

Curiously, you can hear some of The Croods in there

[Goldfinger 59]

My Top 10

 

1. Back to the Future Part II

2. Forrest Gump

3. Avengers: Endgame

4. Mouse Hunt

5. Back to the Future Part III

6. Predator

7. The Mummy Returns

8. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

9. Clean Slate

10. Super Mario Bros. The Movie

 

[Edmilson 7,393]

1. The Mummy Returns
2. Avengers: Endgame
3. Predator/Predator 2
4. The Abyss
5. Contact
6. Avengers: Infinity War
7. Van Helsing
8. Forrest Gump
9. Judge Dredd
10. The First Avenger

12 hours ago, WampaRat said:

Sidenote: does anyone else think Silvestri’s compositional style has changed very very little over the course of his career?

If you want a Silvestri score that doesn't sound like any other, listen to Romancing the Stone. It's closer to Horner's 48 Hours than most Silvestri scores.

[Bespin 8,480]

My top 10 is currently in this selection:

 

[WampaRat 1,105]

1 hour ago, Muad'Dib said:

 

Yeah! It's quite interesting. Silvestri and those synths mixed quite well in the 80's. 

 

 

Curiously, you can hear some of The Croods in there

Fun stuff! That cover reminded me of “Princess Mononoke” for a split second lol.

 

I would never guess this was the same guy who wrote BTTF. I would love to hear someone score a film in this way today without it being tongue in cheek. Just to see if it could be taken seriously. The score to “Eddie the Eagle” I think made an honest effort to try that. But it was still an inspirational comedy.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

My top 10:

1. Back to the Future part. II

2. Back to the Future

3. Avengers: Endgame

4. Beowulf

5. Who Framed Roger Rabbit

6. Avengers: Infinity War

7. Captain America: The First Avenger

8. Predator

9. Forrest Gump

10. Back to the Future part. III

[zeo5 3]

My top:

 

1. Predator (1987)

2. Back to the Future

3. Predator 2

4. Mummy Returns

5. Captain America-The First Avenger

6. The Avengers

7. Judge Dredd

8. Eraser

9. The Quick and the Dead

10. Van Helsing

[mxsch 115]

Just chronological order.

 

1. Back to the Future

2. Predator

3. Judge Dredd

4. The Mummy Returns

5. Van Helsing

6. The First Avenger

7. The Avengers

8. Infinity War

9. Ready Player One

10. Endgame

 

[Tom Guernsey 2,280]

In alphabetical order:

 

1. Back to the Future III (the best bits of the first two, plus the great western and love theme)
2. Forrest Gump
3. The Mexican (or The Quick and the Dead depending on my mood)
4. Mouse Hunt
5. The Mummy Returns
6. The Polar Express (This really needs a proper release, the underscore is superb and the songs veer between fun and cloying, but he gets away with, plus another great example of riffing on the finale of Sibelius' 5th Symphony)
7. Predator (or the sequel)
8. Soap Dish
9. Stuart Little (The Boat Race is one of the most joyous and thrilling action cues ever)
10. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

 

Obligatory honourable mentions:

 

• The Abyss (as I commented elsewhere, the last third or so is terrific and leaves the impression of a score better than the early parts actually are, which rather meander and aren't nearly as interesting as the non-watery antecedent, CE3K)
• Back to the Future 1 & 2 (clearly classics, but the final entry wins it with the wealth of material and being more consistently entertaining)
• Contact (or Forrest Gump II)
• Judge Dredd (I didn't get as much out of the expanded edition that I expected but still a great score)
• Lilo & Stitch
• Night at the Museum & Sequels
• The Quick and the Dead (or The Mexican depending on my mood)
• The Wild

I have to agree that Silvestri's style kinda plateaued in the 90s and hasn't evolved beyond any of the scores up to that point. He still writes entertaining enough scores, but they are more pastiches of prior works (if not necessarily any one in particular). I've been less enamoured with his various Avengers scores. I don't know what it is, but his action writing style doesn't feel heavyweight enough for those films... I don't quite know how to describe it, but it doesn't feel epic enough somehow. It's more down to his natural style, but it doesn't have the weight of Judge Dredd  or the darker parts of The Mummy Returns.

[Smaug The Iron 510]

1. Back to the Future 
2. Back to the Future 3 
3. Endgame 
4. Infinity War 
5. Back to the Future 2
6. The Avangers 
7. Captain America
8. Night at the Museum