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Basic Instinct


thestat

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Goldsmith's score to Basic Instinct is very likely the greatest score of all time.  Everyone homages the score 30 years later, it stands technological time, it's a testament to a by-gone age, but it's orchestral acrobatics and synth modulations transcend time, making it sound like a masterwork that everyone knows nowadays, but which sets the standards for film music. Does a score comment or participate? Does a score reveal or enhance the narrative? Jerry did this.

 

 

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Basic Instinct is easily one of my favorite Jerry scores!

Neil's complete edition released by Quartet is one of the best albums in my collection

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I want to say Home Alone 2 was a better score that year, but it offered so little new material (uncharacteristically for JW in a sequel) that it hardly qualifies as an original work.

 

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My favorite scores of 1992, ranked

  1. Batman Returns, Elfman
  2. Basic Instinct, Goldsmith
  3. Far and Away, Williams
  4. Sneakers, Horner
  5. Home Alone 2, Williams
  6. Dracula, Kilar
  7. Porco Rosso, Hisaishi
  8. Alien 3, Goldenthal
  9. Lethal Weapon 3, Kamen
  10. Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Walker

The Last of the Mohicans is a popular score from this year that had never really clicked with me, and I need to get more familiar with all the other Jerry scores from 1992 (Mom and Dad Save The World, Medicine Man, Forever Young, Mr. Baseball, Gladiary rejected, Public Eye rejected, and Love Field), all the Silvestri scores (Death Becomes Her, FernGully, Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot, The Bodyguard, and Sidekicks), as well as all the other Horners (Thunderheart, Unlawful Entry, and Patriot Games)...

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51 minutes ago, Jay said:

My favorite scores of 1992, ranked

  1. Batman Returns, Elfman
  2. Basic Instinct, Goldsmith
  3. Far and Away, Williams
  4. Sneakers, Horner
  5. Home Alone 2, Williams
  6. Dracula, Kilar
  7. Porco Rosso, Hisaishi
  8. Alien 3, Goldenthal
  9. Lethal Weapon 3, Kamen
  10. Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Walker

The Last of the Mohicans is a popular score from this year that had never really clicked with me, and I need to get more familiar with all the other Jerry scores from 1992 (Mom and Dad Save The World, Medicine Man, Forever Young, Mr. Baseball, Gladiary rejected, Public Eye rejected, and Love Field), all the Silvestri scores (Death Becomes Her, FernGully, Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot, The Bodyguard, and Sidekicks), as well as all the other Horners (Thunderheart, Unlawful Entry, and Patriot Games)...

 

Respectable list!

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It's never been one of my top favourite Goldsmith scores, but it's been growing on me over the last years (and I always liked it, to be sure). It really works wonders in the film though - I always remember how suspenseful it makes the elevator scene at the end.

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4 hours ago, Jay said:

I need to get more familiar with all the other Jerry scores from 1992 (Mom and Dad Save The World, Medicine Man, Forever Young, Mr. Baseball, Gladiary rejected, Public Eye rejected, and Love Field)

Mom and Dad save the World is better than Basic Instinct. But I just realised, what for me was more or less the quintessential thriller score from the 90s, Copycat by Christopher Young, might be somehow inherrited from Basic Instinct.

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This thread made me want to revisit Jerry's Basic Instinct score. I think I'll do so over the next few days. When I first heard it, I thought it was okay but not special, so now I really want to re-discover it.

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As great as this score undeniably is… it wouldn’t even make my Goldsmith top 50. I’m also someone who gravitates more to the zany creativity of Mom and Dad Save the World, or the sweeping emotional power of Medicine Man.

 

But MAN what an insanely amazing and prolific year Goldsmith had in 1992.

 

Yavar

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You sure did!

 

Some scores I listen to and don't really think about the movie much when listening to them, but with this score, my mind recalls tons of imagery from it, because it makes such a strong impression when watching the film itself.  I am pretty sure the reason I've even seen that movie more than a few times is because I love experiencing Goldsmith's music in it.

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7 hours ago, Jay said:

My favorite scores of 1992, ranked

  1. Batman Returns, Elfman
  2. Basic Instinct, Goldsmith
  3. Far and Away, Williams
  4. Sneakers, Horner
  5. Home Alone 2, Williams
  6. Dracula, Kilar
  7. Porco Rosso, Hisaishi
  8. Alien 3, Goldenthal
  9. Lethal Weapon 3, Kamen
  10. Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Walker

The Last of the Mohicans is a popular score from this year that had never really clicked with me, and I need to get more familiar with all the other Jerry scores from 1992 (Mom and Dad Save The World, Medicine Man, Forever Young, Mr. Baseball, Gladiary rejected, Public Eye rejected, and Love Field), all the Silvestri scores (Death Becomes Her, FernGully, Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot, The Bodyguard, and Sidekicks), as well as all the other Horners (Thunderheart, Unlawful Entry, and Patriot Games)...

 

Look at that list. It was easy for a kid to become a film score aficionado back then.

 

My favorite from that List is Dracula, but Basic Instinct is probably the best film score, indeed

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16 minutes ago, Romão said:

 

Look at that list. It was easy for a kid to become a film score aficionado back then.

 

My favorite from that List is Dracula, but Basic Instinct is probably the best film score, indeed

I thought the same - damn that's a fine list.  We were spoiled.  

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There are few things in film music that have the impact of Jerry's opening theme - everyone, nowadays, in their reviews mentions how powerful JG's score is. It rethought the genre, those icy strings. I still think it is the greatest of all time, especially with Roxy Loses, but I can concede some top spot to Total Recall.

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