Most Overrated Williams Scores

[A24 4,326]

I guess you were the "provider", huh?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

LOL, you make it sound like I stand in dark alley ways late at night, answering to people in trenchcoats asking "what do you have?" while looking around nervously.

But yes, I've been a provider for many.

[Justin 2]

What do you have?

Justin -

[David Coscina 3]

Roald, I know all of Williams scores very well. IN fact, I've transcribed more of his themes for piano than I care to list. I used to love BOT4OJ but I don't feel it ages particularly well. That and the fact that both score and film are a little overwrought for my tastes. I prefer NIXON or even JFK if we're talking Williams/Stone collaborations.

I think SLEEPERS is far more compelling than BORN because it's got a greater thematic and stylistic breadth and reveals Williams in a different light. I also really like Sabrina and Stepmom but I don't find I go back to them as much as SLEEPERS or A.I. I think LOST WORLD is not very good at all, one of Williams' weakest offerings mostly because of the chord-based theme he constructed for that film. there's just not too many ways of varying it as opposed to more the more melodically driven Jurassic Park's Island Fanfare.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Can't really think of an overrated score by John Williams. They're all very good.

[Morlock 11]

I prefer NIXON or even JFK if we're talking Williams/Stone collaborations.  

"....or even JFK..."?

JFK is a masterpiece. No place for that 'even'.

[David Coscina 3]

Well that's your opinion Morlock and you're entitled to it. I prefer NIXON's main theme to JFK's more patriotic anthem. But I heard Williams conduct a suite from JFK a couple years back in Pittsburgh and it was pretty great. And I still like parts of BORN. I just cannot get into it as much.

Hey, I love Angela's Ashes- it's one of my favorite Williams scores EVER. Most people probably don't. I think it's a solid score and an amazingly cohesive piece on its own. If ever a score could work as an entire concert piece, I believe it is this one. In fact, it sounds as though Williams wrote it in that fashion. In fact, I'll take Angela's Ashes over Schindler's List any day of the week. But that's just me. Actually, I would say this score is a little underrated.

[A24 4,326]

 I prefer NIXON's main theme to JFK's more patriotic anthem.  

JFK is one of my favorite scores ever. I hardly hear any conventional patriotism in it. Yes, the opening melody is played with a trumpet, but it's not so much about the love and pride for one's country as it is about the grief over a tragedy. The two (love and grief) are connected (as they usually are), but I feel that Williams and especially Stone clearly have placed their accents on the fatal event, Stone by being his usual fatalistic self and Williams by being dark and mournful.

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Alex Cremers

[mahler3 478]

Could never really see the brilliance behind The Fury. The main theme is great but that's pretty much it for me.

Not even the delightful For Gillian, or better yet The Search For Robin - I love that score, both versions!

- Tim.

[mahler3 478]

 I prefer NIXON's main theme to JFK's more patriotic anthem.  

JFK is one of my favorite scores ever. I hardly hear any conventional patriotism in it. Yes, the opening melody is played with a trumpet, but it's not so much about the love and pride for one's country as it is about the grief over a tragedy. The two (love and grief) are connected (as they usually are), but I feel that Williams and especially Stone clearly have placed their accents on the fatal event, Stone by being his usual fatalistic self and Williams by being dark and mournful.

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Alex Cremers

and Arlington, leaves me breathless everytime - a beautifully constructed adagio and another flawless Jim Thatcher horn solo.

[BigKenLittle 6]

Over-rated and John Williams scores don't really belong in the same sentence together... It's sort of an oxymoron.

Truth be told, there is not a single score composed yet by the maestro that I disliked... Some I like less than others, but they all have their merits in my humble opinion.

BKL

[Bowie 45]

I think LOST WORLD is not very good at all, one of Williams' weakest offerings mostly because of the chord-based theme he constructed for that film.  there's just not too many ways of varying it as opposed to more the more melodically driven Jurassic Park's Island Fanfare.

This is true, in the sense that the number of plausible variations of the theme is limited, but I am sooo thankful he was inspired enough to write such an awesome theme. It's something I wistfully turn to practically all the time. I personally can't care less about its flawed dissemination throughout the body of the score. If that's the way the cookie crumbled, so be it. Same with 7YIT. I would sacrifice a pleasant-quality and thorough score for an extremely brilliant main title theme coupled with a subsequently dull score any day.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I'm sorry, obviously the both of you have no idea what you are talking about.

In terms of rhytm and mood, The Lost World is a masterpiece.