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James Horner burned out?


MagicRat75

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from 1994 to 1998 James Horner turned out his most popular scores. I enjoy The Perfect Storm and The Missing but all the stuff he is turning out now is sleepy stuff and offers little in the way of a nice melody that stays in your head and you can hum along to. With expectations as high as a John Williams score, I would buy his latest cd without seeing the movie but now I don't.

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Amen to that - I actually prefer his earlier scores, imo he seems to just be stuck on autopilot after his success with Titanic.

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Since 1994 the only Horner scores I would consider buying are...

Apollo 13

Braveheart

The Mask of Zorro

Justin - Who owns Mighty Joe Young only because he got it when he was 12 (Not a terrible score though.)

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Don't forget Star Trek III as well...

Though some of his later stuff I find irritating since he basically re-used a lot of his own music. I heard the Aliens score he did and I cringed when I heard the exact theme for Khan in it.....

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Brainstorm

Aliens

Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek III - The Search for Spock

Battle Beyond the Stars

Krull

Those are the scores I can listen to anytime, start to finish. There are other things of his (usually variations on those scores above) that I also enjoy in bits and pieces.

Note that all of those scores listed above were done at least 19 years ago.

Neil

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Brainstorm

Aliens

Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek III - The Search for Spock

Battle Beyond the Stars

Krull

Those are all good (except Battle, which I don't know.... and I don't have Trek III on CD). Also the above mentioned Willow, though (everybody has read at least one of my posts about the Schumann ripoff)...

I also like Mask of Zorro and Casper. And of course, his all-time best: Sneakers.

Marian - who thinks Horner has been burnt out for about 10 years or so.

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Willow is outstanding.

It's also the first score to use the famed 4 note danger motif.

Really? He never used it before that? Anyway, it's not his first Wagner ripoff, Krull is full of them.

Marian - :P

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No one's mentioned The Rocketeer?! Good grief! Perhaps peak score of the famed 4 note danger motif? :P It also contains the perfection of his slam-bang finish end credits. But besides that, it has some fantastic original stuff. "The Flying Circus" and "The Zeppelin" are my favorites, probably, but everything else is amazing. It's stunning the energy in that score--it gives you a rush, sometimes!

I'm definitely a big fan of his earlier work. The big, astic stuff--yeah, that's my favorite of his. Apollo 13 is a good one though, and I like what I've heard of Braveheart. His later stuff, though, just hasn't really interested me. Maybe I need to take another listen. Is it just me, or is he just not scoring the same kind of projects he used to? He's really not scoring the same fun, action-adventure movies he used to. Could that be the difference? I know some people riff on him a lot for copying stuff, but, man! It'd be great to hear that danger motif, or slam-bang finish in one of his scores again!

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My Favourite Horner scores:

Krull

Star Trek 2

Cocoon

Land Before Time

American Tail

Casper

Willow

K.M.Who can't believe no one mentionned Cocoon

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Krull

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Aliens

Willow

The Land Before Time

Glory

The Rocketeer

IMO, The Rocketeer was Horner's last great score. He's had a really good scores since then (Legends of the Fall, Apollo 13, The Mask of Zorro) But nothing that really shines like the scores above.

Justin

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Willow and the Rocketeer are two of my very very favorites of his.

And the 4 note danger motif is great, but it's just a Rachmaninov rip-off (from 1st symphony). And, of course, the main theme from Willow is Schumann. Yeah, I'm done, I'm sure this has been mentioned a billion times.

But ALSO (lol), if you really like Horner try listening to Prokofiev's 4th symphony. Just start it from the very beginning. I can't say Horner rips off anything from it, but the opening melody sounds sooo Horner-like. (rather, Horner sounds so Prokofiev-like). In case you can't tell, I really enjoy finding connections with film music and concert/classical music. :P

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And the 4 note danger motif is great, but it's just a Rachmaninov rip-off (from 1st symphony).

As I said, I know it from Wagner...

And, of course, the main theme from Willow is Schumann.

While the score's other main theme is from Grieg, and that wonderful fanfare is from Strauss.

Marian - who should listen to Krull again, where you can find tons of ripoffs, back to back.

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I'm not too familiar with a lot of his earlier scores, but here are the Horner score I really like:

Great ones:

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Krull

Sneakers

Legends of the Fall

Braveheart

Apollo 13

Very good ones:

Titanic

A Beautiful Mind

An American Tail

Willow

Glory

American Tail: Fievel Goes West

And there are several not bad ones as well.

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I'd have to agree. I think that James Horner has kinda burned out.

I was really dissapointed when he frivolously used the same music fro A Beautiful Mind's opening as he used for Bicentenial Man's. I was really shocked. It's almost exactly the same.

I love his older stuff like The Land Before Time, Willow, and a few of his newer ones like Titanic but past that, I don't listen to him or own anything much by him.

His music sounds all the same. They almost always have a piano solo or some sort of piano part that sticks out above the orchestra. They also almost all have similar chord progessions. His music also has an almost celtic sound to it.

It doesn't have much diversity eaither.

Seriously. I was in a friends car listening to the XM radio. John Williams was on. I knew the track name, the movie, and what was happening in the scene. heh

We went to Wal-Mart, as we left...a new piece was playing. We listened to it. I didn't recognize it but I said "I would say James Horner, but I havn't heard a piano yet." No sooner had I said that, but the piano started.

I then said "Well, it doesn't have the harp in it." again, no sooner had I said that, but the harp started playing.

We all laughed. I then said "Well, I guess it's James Horner but it's really good! I must not have seen this movie or heard the music before."

We then played with the display and figured out how to see the track name and artist--my friend had just gotten XM.

It was James Horner and The Perfect Storm, which is a score I was pleasantly surprised by. I thought it was really good.

I think my favourite score by him is eaither Titanic or Deep Impact. I love those scores. But he has defoinately lost his touch.

That's one thing I can say for John Williams, he changes. He doesn't get stuck in one sound. He changes from movie to movie. You can seriously put the soundtracks in order by listening to them and figureing out their changes because they really just grow from one to the next.

Not something I can say for James Horner.

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I really don't rate post-80s Horner at all. Apollo 13 I thought was a lot of nationalistic overblown crap. Willow, Krull, Battle Beyond the Stars, and the two Star Trek movies are all the Horner I find interesting. In answer to the question, yes I really think he burned out. What a great score composer he was in the 80s though.

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I was really dissapointed when he frivolously used the same music fro A Beautiful Mind's opening as he used for Bicentenial Man's. I was really shocked. It's almost exactly the same.

He's been doing this type of thing for a while now.

I think my favourite score by him is eaither Titanic or Deep Impact.

Me too plus Braveheart, Apollo 13 and Glory.

I don't know if he's burned out. Perhaps after winning an oscar and making such a huge amount of money on Titanic, he's just lost the fire in his belly.

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For me, it's Brainstorm and STII Wrath of Khan

Both scores, gave the Orchestra a run for their money.

Brainstorm really pushes the envelope with choir and orchestral effects.

I also like his "Name of the Rose" (even though Horner himself wishes he'd never done it). There is nice bit when Connery and Slater arrive near the Monastery on horses, and it's exactly the piece of music Horner would use years later in Braveheart at the battle of Falkirk when you see Edward the 1st on his horse before the battle, and also when Wallace arrives home in Scotland on his horse after years away on pilgrimage. Therefore, i think we can assume that it's Horner's "Horse" motif. LOL. Horner has always re-used material he's done before, even at the beginings of his career.

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I'd like to see him use the Blaster Beam again. :D

I agree that the pre-90s stuff was his best. It's like that's when he was at his peak for writing fun scores, the 90s were his last shots at greatness with awesome dramatic scores, and now he's a has-been. Sneakers was the last fun score.

One score I like is Cocoon and its sequel. Those are pretty good. Pretty familiar (The Return is "Genesis Countdown" note-for-note). But the main theme's really good.

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My favorites of Horner's:

The Land Before Time

The Rocketeer

Glory

Legends of the Fall

I think they're all over ten years old. But when he was good, he was really good!

Ray Barnsbury

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I like that loud 4 note brass motif in Cocoon that opens the score when we see shots of planets.I remember it really gave me goosebumps in the cinema.

K.M.

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Willow is outstanding.

It's also the first score to use the famed 4 note danger motif.

Actually, that would be Alexander Nevsky by Prokofiev

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I thought some of his music for Troy was actually very good, but given the time he spent on it, I kind of doubt what I'm hearing is his complete artistry. But it is at least very good sounding in some parts.

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It's funny to read through this thread and to see how it develops from a Horner bashing to a Horner admiring. :?

Although I like Mask of Zorro, Jumanji, Perfect Storm and Apollo 13 to a certain extend, I still think the main bulk of what Horner produces is not much better than Zimmer and certainly not worth my money. MY money I said 8O

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Willow is outstanding.  

It's also the first score to use the famed 4 note danger motif.

Actually, that would be Alexander Nevsky by Prokofiev

Shostakovich used it first, I believe.

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Willow is outstanding.  

It's also the first score to use the famed 4 note danger motif.

Actually, that would be Alexander Nevsky by Prokofiev

Shostakovich used it first, I believe.

My thought also. (D-S-C-H = D-Em-C-B = Dmitri Schostakovitch)

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Horner's career took a spectacular nosedive since his cameo as Cadet Horner in SPACE SEED II.

Hitch, who would welcome Jimmy to star in his forthcoming movie MY FINGER NEEDS CLEANING with Sharon Stone, Don Rickles and Mickey Rourke. Maybe I should call Steve Guttenberg out of retirement?

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But ALSO (lol), if you really like Horner try listening to Prokofiev's 4th symphony.  Just start it from the very beginning.  I can't say Horner rips off anything from it, but the opening melody sounds sooo Horner-like.  (rather, Horner sounds so Prokofiev-like).  In case you can't tell, I really enjoy finding connections with film music and concert/classical music.  :)

Hmmm... I think I know the one you're talking about. But I always thought it was Tchaikovsky's 4th? Regardless, there's a first movement out there that sounds deliciously Horner-ific. :) I was planning on getting it one of these days, but now I'm not so sure I know what I'm talking about. Can anyone who has listened to both symphonies confirm which one I'm probably referring to? Or did Horner rip them both off? :D Thanks guys.

CYPHER

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Horner's not bad, but he's not great either.

Horner scores I like:

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn

Aliens

The Land Before Time

Braveheart

A Beautiful Mind

Troy

Horner scores I was disappointed by:

Willow

Legends of the Fall

Apollo 13

Horner I hate:

Patriot Games

Titanic

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  • 14 years later...
On 7/29/2005 at 4:34 PM, MagicRat75 said:

from 1994 to 1998 James Horner turned out his most popular scores. I enjoy The Perfect Storm and The Missing but all the stuff he is turning out now is sleepy stuff and offers little in the way of a nice melody that stays in your head and you can hum along to. With expectations as high as a John Williams score, I would buy his latest cd without seeing the movie but now I don't.

 

Bicentennial Man, The Perfect Storm, A Beautiful Mind, The Missing, House of Sand and Fog, The New World... All of them came out between 1999 and this post. After that, we had The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas, Avatar (works fine in the movie) and The Amazing Spider-Man. 

 

I understand getting nostalgical for 80s and 90s Horner, but there's a lot to like on his late career,

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It's because in the earliest discussion forums you didn't have to be logged in, you could post as a guest, so people did it so others would know who they are.  Also, earlier versions of the forum didn't have a signature feature at all, so they had to manually put it in if they wanted something there in each post.  As we've upgraded through various versions of IPBoard since 2002, all the old posts keep getting converted into the new formats even if they were made when things were different

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