Your Favourite Jerry Goldsmith Score

[JTN 2,036]

Entire score, not theme.

[Thor 7,517]

THE MUMMY.

[Edmilson 7,466]

Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Total Recall and The Omen.

 

The score for TMP is the only Trek thing that I actually agree that it's better than everything!

[Jurassic Shark 12,080]

14 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Total Recall and The Omen.

 

I actually own all these. Perhaps I'll unwrap them one day.

[JTN 2,036]

1 minute ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Perhaps I'll unwrap them one day.

Please do!

Just now, JTN said:

Please do! Also, listen to them.

 

[GerateWohl 4,371]

[Jurassic Shark 12,080]

I actually own that. Perhaps I'll...

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

I usually cite The Final Conflict, and it's definitely one of my favourites, with at least two of Goldsmith's most brilliant cues (The Monastery and The Hunt), amidst several other standouts. It's not necessarily my top favourite all the way through though, because it has its share of dull moments (I don't think any of the extended stuff before the finale ever really managed to catch my attention). In that regard, other favourites like Total Recall, Alien, Poltergeist, and The Mummy fare better (interestingly, I also always thought the densely romantic stuff before STTMP's climax drags a bit, although I adore the drawn out mystery music in the middle of the score).

 

My favourite underdog is Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend. It belongs to Goldsmith's sacred action triptych together with Total Recall and Rambo 2, but unlike those never gets the attention it deserves.

[JTN 2,036]

Like Master @Thor, I also pick THE MUMMY as my favourite JG score. Every time I listen to it, some awesome new detail catches my attention, and the score - to me - gets better and better over time and with each listening. This has got to be Maestro Goldsmith's late masterpiece, one of his very best, and my personal favourite of his œuvres.

 

 

 

9 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

My favourite underdog is Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend

Wow, I've never heard of this score. Thanks for the recommendation, Mar.

[Jurassic Shark 12,080]

14 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

The Final Conflict

 

It's one of my favourite JG scores, with a very good The Hunt, but it should have more cues like that (or a longer hunt).

[JTN 2,036]

Just now, Jurassic Shark said:

 

It's one of my favourite JG scores, with a very good The Hunt, but it should have more cues like that (or a longer hunt).

What is your favourite JG score?

[Jurassic Shark 12,080]

1 minute ago, JTN said:

What is your favourite JG score?

 

I'm not into ranking stuff, so I can't really answer that.

[JTN 2,036]

Fair enough.

[Thor 7,517]

2 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

I'm not into ranking stuff, so I can't really answer that.

 

Rankings rule!

[Jurassic Shark 12,080]

2 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Rankings rule!

 

Life's too short.

 

3 minutes ago, JTN said:

Fair enough.

 

All I can say is Stephen Oliver's The Hunt is the best.

[JTN 2,036]

4 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

All I can say is Stephen Oliver's The Hunt is the best.

That’s not a JG score, is it? 
 

Last time you said Lady Jane was the best.

[Jurassic Shark 12,080]

Just now, JTN said:

That’s not a JG score, is it? 
 

Last time you said Lady Jane was the best.

 

The Hunt is the opening of the Lady Jane soundtrack.

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

20 minutes ago, JTN said:

Wow, I've never heard of this score. Thanks for the recommendation, Mar.

 

Half of it is bumbling sacharine synth music (I presume for the dino family), in the vein of Legend, though not on that level. It can be a bit much, though at least some of it is nice enough and I generally don't mind it. But when the score goes into action mode, it rocks. Horner took one of its action counterpoints as a theme for Braveheart.

[JTN 2,036]

6 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

The Hunt is the opening of the Lady Jane soundtrack.

Wow, then you’re not only not talking about your favourite JG score, but your favourite score.

 

And yes, I did get Lady Jane upon your recommendation, but I didn’t memorize the cue names.

[Holko 9,529]

6 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

I'm not into ranking stuff, so I can't really answer that.

High five!

This stuff is just too unquantifiable and even changes over time or depending on your mood.

 

From all his scores that I tried, I liked these ones enough to buy: Seconds, Planet of the Apes (also own Escape because of the LLL box, it's not bad but I'm not sure I'd have bought it if they were sold separately), Logan's Run, Alien, STTMP, Legend, The Ghost and the Darkness, and The Mummy. From these, I could probably whittle down the absolute love favourites to... Planet of the Apes, Alien and Legend maybe?

[JTN 2,036]

4 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

But when the score goes into action mode, it rocks. Horner took one of its action counterpoints as a theme for Braveheart.

You had me at “sacred action tryptich”.
 

 

2 minutes ago, Holko said:

Legend

LEGEND is a fricking Masterpiece!

[Jurassic Shark 12,080]

3 minutes ago, Holko said:

Planet of the Apes

 

I'd consider purchasing this if it got a separate release, but don't tell Naive Old Fart.

 

3 minutes ago, JTN said:

Wow, then you’re not only not talking about your favourite JG score, but your favourite score.

 

I don't think it's my favourite score, but we'll never know as I'm not into ranking.

[Holko 9,529]

1 minute ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

I'd consider purchasing this if it got a separate release, but don't tell Naive Old Fart.

Yeah that's where I was for a couple years, I only really wanted Planet and Conquest from the box, then I just said fuck it and bit the bullet. And I still only love those two but now I have a really nice looking box!

[Jurassic Shark 12,080]

4 minutes ago, JTN said:

And yes, I did get Lady Jane upon your recommendation, but I didn’t memorize the cue names.

 

What do you think about it?

[JTN 2,036]

1 minute ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

What do you think about it?

I listened into track 1 and loved it, but then I had to do something and turned it off, and haven’t returned to it since. I will put it on in the near future, because everything you’ve recommended to me so far were all excellent music. So Lady Jane will soon return to my living room.

[Jurassic Shark 12,080]

1 minute ago, JTN said:

everything you’ve recommended to me so far were all excellent music. So Lady Jane will soon return to my living room.

 

That's great. I don't see the point of recommending bad music.

[JTN 2,036]

9 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

That's great. I don't see the point of recommending bad music.

That wouldn’t be too nice, I agree. 

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

23 minutes ago, JTN said:

I listened into track 1 and loved it, but then I had to do something and turned it off, and haven’t returned to it since. I will put it on in the near future, because everything you’ve recommended to me so far were all excellent music. So Lady Jane will soon return to my living room.

 

Track 1 is The Hunt, so according to Shark, you've already heard the best part.

[Jurassic Shark 12,080]

There's some great choral stuff towards the end, among many highlights. 

[JTN 2,036]

9 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Track 1 is The Hunt, so according to Shark, you've already heard the best part.

That would be an OST too short for even @Thor. 
 

 

45 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Half of it is bumbling sacharine synth music (I presume for the dino family), in the vein of Legend, though not on that level. It can be a bit much, though at least some of it is nice enough and I generally don't mind it. But when the score goes into action mode, it rocks. Horner took one of its action counterpoints as a theme for Braveheart.

 

2 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

There's some great choral stuff towards the end, among many highlights. 

Guys, you’re spoiling me with all this great music, thanks. 

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

4 hours ago, JTN said:

Entire score, not theme.

Short, yes, but sheer perfection:

 

Or if you prefer the more intimate sounding original recording rather than the amazing London Symphony Orchestra recording from 1989…

Yavar

[JTN 2,036]

1 minute ago, Yavar Moradi said:

Short, yes, but sheer perfection:

 

Or if you prefer the more intimate sounding original recording rather than the amazing London Symphony Orchestra recording from 1989…

Yavar

Sublime!

[filmmusic 1,837]

[Edmilson 7,466]

I'll never forget the first time I listened to JG's Star Trek theme start to finish for the first time. I was like "oh my gosh, this theme is so AMAZING it looks like it was written by angels!". Then the album got to The Enterprise and I was absolutely sure that I had heard the greatest cue of all time.

 

One of my fondest memories from my early days as a film music fan was when I discovered on YouTube the footage of John Williams conducting Goldsmith's Trek theme. I was ecstatic with seeing one of the greats paying homage to another. It's kinda like how a classic rock fan would be if they saw The Beatles performing a Rolling Stones song live... lol

[JTN 2,036]

3 hours ago, Edmilson said:

One of my fondest memories from my early days as a film music fan was when I discovered on YouTube the footage of John Williams conducting Goldsmith's Trek theme.

You mean this one? This is fantastic. Too bad JG couldn’t live to see/hear it. How big of JW to pay tribute to his fellow film music titan.

Two quotes from the comment section:

”Jerry Goldsmith once got a question at a concert about the other great composers that he liked. His answer was: “You mean apart from John Williams?”

 

“John Williams in return said about Goldsmith, "He was the golden boy. We used to call him Gorgeous. He had a freshness, and his music had freshness".

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

20 minutes ago, JTN said:

You mean this one? This is fantastic. Too bad JG couldn’t live to see/hear it. How big of JW to pay tribute to his fellow film music titan.

 

Williams recorded the STTMP main title (and the Alien closing title) with the Pops in 1983. So Goldsmith might well have heard at least that version. I imagine he's probably also conducted it at Tanglewood at some point between that time and Goldsmith's death.

[Jurassic Shark 12,080]

6 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

So Goldsmith might well have heard at least that version.

 

That recording is quite disappointing, though. 

[JTN 2,036]

1 minute ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

That recording is quite disappointing, though. 

Williams purposefully conducted it like that.

[GerateWohl 4,371]

1 hour ago, Yavar Moradi said:

Short, yes, but sheer perfection:

 

Or if you prefer the more intimate sounding original recording rather than the amazing London Symphony Orchestra recording from 1989…

Yavar

Interesting. Listening to the first four notes of that horn melody in the beginning, it reminded me of someting from John Williams.

But it is just an effect that Williams used later in some pieces like "Immigration and Building" (four note trumpet motif opening) or "Song for World Peace"  (four note horn motif opening).

 

The notes are always different and Goldsmith actually has an eight notes motif here. Still similar pattern.

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

Obvious answer, as so many have said, is ST:TMP. I don't know how someone who claimed to "not understand" Star Trek could have written a theme so absolutely perfect for it. It's not a heroic swashbuckling march like Star Wars, but one that still suggests adventure and heroism, but a different type of heroism. A friend of mine, on hearing The Enterprise cue, commented that he didn't like it as he didn't like it when themes were played slowly like that. He's under the patio now of course*. Maybe more films need to be poorly edited with long sections that need to propped up by music... of course there aren't really any composers who'd write something that sounds like Ravel on steroids (see also Secret of NIMH).

 

 

If ST:TMP weren't an option, I'd have probably struggle to narrow it down to fewer than 10 favourites and probably none that are especially left field choices. Deep breath...

 

• Gremlins/Gremlins 2 (anything Joe Dante, all those scores are such fun and have a myriad of superb tunes - JW gets all the credit for great themes but even Jerry's middling scores have decent themes, his best ones have superb themes)
• Omen Trilogy (first and third being the standouts)
• Papillon (Jerry does Debussy and another example of his exemplary skill as a tunesmith, the main theme is as haunting as any committed to film)
• Star Trek V (the ultimate "scoring the film it should have been rather than what was on screen")
• Hoosiers/Rudy, Poltergeist/Alien (so many ways to score horror, all of which are tuneful and not just screeching and jump scare chords)
• Legend/NIMH (more Jerry does Ravel and Debussy)
• Patton (it's a bit too literal in the way he characterises the different sides to Patton, but it's still brilliant, plus echoplex... echoplex... echoplex...
• Mulan (WHERE IS THE EXPANDED VERSION YOU DISNEY BASTARDS? Sorry... need a lie down)
• The Mummy (we loved it even if you didn't Jerry)
• Night Crossing (inventing half of James Horner's 80s scoring tropes plus my only signed Jerry score as I've talked about before),
• Rambo trilogy (gotta love some farting synths, but the It's a Long Road theme is another underrated classic theme)
• Total Recall, Under Fire, The Wind and the Lion (how can you not love a title with the acronym TWATL?)
• Criminal Law of course*.

Oh you wanted one? Sorry.

 

*obviously a joke

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,551]

THE FINAL CONFLICT, by a country mile.

[Jurassic Shark 12,080]

16 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

I don't know how someone who claimed to "not understand" Star Trek could have written a theme so absolutely perfect for it.

 

That's exactly why the theme is so good.

 

16 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

obviously a joke

 

Right...

 

4 hours ago, JTN said:

Please do!

 

Nah, then I'll get less for them on Discogs. 

 

[Tallguy 3,401]

4 hours ago, Thor said:

Rankings rule!

 

Rankings are only my fourth favorite thing.

 

It's boring but I don't see how I can go with anything other than Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Front to back, top to bottom.

 

There are other Jerry scores I love, but nothing else really comes close.

 

I think I might have a slightly harder time with Williams. But I might like Star Trek: The Motion Picture more than those, too. (Maybe.)

 

3 hours ago, Yavar Moradi said:

Short, yes, but sheer perfection:

 

Or if you prefer the more intimate sounding original recording rather than the amazing London Symphony Orchestra recording from 1989…

Yavar

 

What IS this? Other than gorgeous?

[Edmilson 7,466]

25 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

• Papillon (Jerry does Debussy and another example of his exemplary skill as a tunesmith, the main theme is as haunting as any committed to film)

Wonderful score. I listened to the 2017 (or 18? I dunno) expansion a lot back when it came out.

 

26 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

The Wind and the Lion

This one is also great. Goldemith's best "epic" score.

 

Also, there's The 13th Warrior, which is also Jerry in his "Arabian epic" mode. I might like this one a little bit more than The Mummy.

[Thor 7,517]

I'm trying to think of some context, to flesh out my previous answer, but it's difficult.

 

As I've said in another thread, I probably discovered Goldsmith between 1990-1993. Then I got my first full soundtrack CD with CONGO in 1995 (temporarily). By the time THE MUMMY came around in 1999, I was already a Goldsmith fan of sorts. Had several of his themes on compilations, and maybe a handful of CDs. I can't remember which ones, though. I remember loving the film when it came out (I still do -- Sommers is a master of B movie tropes, heightened to A level!), but I think I got the CD independently of that. I didn't rush out to get the CD after I've seen the film. As always, film viewing and soundtrack listening are two completely different experiences for me.

 

But I picked it up. I lived in Oslo then, having moved away from home in 1996. After spending 1998 in the army, I was back in my tiny Oslo room in 1999, sharing a flat with two other people. I either got it in a record store, or online. But as I also said in the other thread, I remember BLASTING the score with loud volume that summer, with windows open and no doubt annoying people passing by down on the street (and the neighbours!). Especially "The Night Boarders", which I played over and over.

 

If I had been introduced to THE MUMMY today, I wouldn't have liked it as much. My taste these days veers towards other things. But it came at the exact right time -- a restless 22-year-old craving rambunctious orchestral action music. And so it's stuck in my DNA, and remains my favourite 25 years later.

[Jurassic Shark 12,080]

12 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

 

Rankings are only my fourth favorite thing.

 

It's boring but I don't see how I can go with anything other than Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Front to back, top to bottom.

 

There are other Jerry scores I love, but nothing else really comes close.

 

I think I might have a slightly harder time with Williams. But I might like Star Trek: The Motion Picture more than those, too. (Maybe.)

 

 

What IS this? Other than gorgeous?

 

The Agony and the Ecstasy is by Alex North.

[Thor 7,517]

1 minute ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

The Agony and the Ecstasy is by Alex North.

 

Sure is, and my favourite of his. But Goldsmith wrote a prologue.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,551]

@Tom Guernsey 

 

TWATL

 

 

Agreed about the score, though. 'Raisulli Attacks' is astonishing.

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

Also, there's The 13th Warrior, which is also Jerry in his "Arabian epic" mode. I might like this one a little bit more than The Mummy.

 

When they came out back to back in 1999, 13th Warrior was hailed as the latest Goldsmith masterpiece and The Mummy was considered a secondary knockoff score. I never understood why, because I loved the whole of Mummy from the get go and initially only really cared about a few individual tracks from Warrior. Over the years, my appreciation of that score has grown considerably, while at the same time Mummy has clearly taken over as Goldsmith's most lauded from that era, with Warrior seeming almost half forgotten these days.

[Edmilson 7,466]

11 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

with Warrior seeming almost half forgotten these days.

Unjustly so, I think. It may be not as well liked as The Mummy but still a wonderful score. Even Ridley Scott liked it so much that he put it in Kingdom of Heaven! 

 

Either way, Goldsmith's final years are probably among the best "later and final era" for any film composer in history.