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James Newton Howard's "Signs"


tpigeon

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i saw the movie "Signs" way back on the 15th of July and liked it very much, and being the huge JNH fan that i am, i wanted the score right then and there. with each passing day, the more i thought about the film, the more i liked it. and today finally came, so i picked up the score. i've already listened to it once and am going back to all the tracks i loved, which is just about the whole cd.

i must say though, this score is absolutely brilliant! and i haven't said that in a long time. it's hard to compare it to Williams' works this summer, but i can easily say that this is one of my favorite scores in years. it is truly amazing!

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anyone else hear it? after listening to it a few times, i must say that a lot in the middle kind of runs together. but there are many moments of brilliance on this album that are scatterd. and the last two tracks are simply amazing! and the first track of course.

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i must say though, this score is absolutely brilliant! and i haven't said that in a long time. it's hard to compare it to Williams' works this summer, but i can easily say that this is one of my favorite scores in years. it is truly amazing!

I live in Canada and no store throughout Toronto, the biggest city up here, has as much as a release date for this damn CD. I'll have to order it from Amazon or something....sheesh.

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I picked this up today as well- and it knocked my socks off! I turned the volume up pretty good in the living room- which has the best stereo in the house- and blasted the main titles... Man, it took my breath away! It seriously made the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention- the theme is so damn aggressive, I can't recall the last time I listened to a more ferocious piece of music... those swirling strings, punching brass... you gotta love it! JNH just gets better... Can't wait to see this film!

John F

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  • 18 years later...
On 7/30/2002 at 6:50 PM, tpigeon said:

i saw the movie "Signs" way back on the 15th of July and liked it very much, and being the huge JNH fan that i am, i wanted the score right then and there. with each passing day, the more i thought about the film, the more i liked it. and today finally came, so i picked up the score. i've already listened to it once and am going back to all the tracks i loved, which is just about the whole cd.

i must say though, this score is absolutely brilliant! and i haven't said that in a long time. it's hard to compare it to Williams' works this summer, but i can easily say that this is one of my favorite scores in years. it is truly amazing!

 

It's JNH's greatest achievement.

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It's good, second only to THE VILLAGE among the Shyamalan collaborations. But it's nowhere near his greatest achievement, IMO. Scores I put ahead of SIGNS include FLATLINERS, GRAND CANYON, FALLING DOWN, THE FUGITIVE, THE SAINT OF FORT WASHINGTON, WYATT EARP, RESTORATION, SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS, DINOSAUR, THE VILLAGE, A HIDDEN LIFE and - obviously - his magnum opus WATERWORLD, which is on my top 10 list of soundtracks in general.

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This is one of the scores that, when discovering back in the early 00s (during my scoring infancy) made me go 'woah' with how good it was.

 

In terms of M. Night scores, this and The Village are his top two, and actually the only two for which I'd buy expanded versions.

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1 hour ago, Thor said:

It's good, second only to THE VILLAGE among the Shyamalan collaborations. But it's nowhere near his greatest achievement, IMO. Scores I put ahead of SIGNS include FLATLINERS, GRAND CANYON, FALLING DOWN, THE FUGITIVE, THE SAINT OF FORT WASHINGTON, WYATT EARP, RESTORATION, SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS, DINOSAUR, THE VILLAGE, A HIDDEN LIFE and - obviously - his magnum opus WATERWORLD, which is on my top 10 list of soundtracks in general.

Hell, yeah!

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23 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

In terms of M. Night scores, this and The Village are his top two, and actually the only two for which I'd buy expanded versions.

Hm. I also wish to get an expanded edition of "Unbreakable". I really really liked the soundtrack in the film, but did not really like the CD release of it. The orchestra music was so quiet and the techno-track with the loud drums, that appears about in the last 3rd of the film is the title track on the album, which never made sense to me. 

For that soundtrack a proper release would be very welcome by me. The original CD releases of The Village and Sign were quite ok to my mind. But concerning Unbreakable I would really long for a proper ans expanded re-release.

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The Village is an anomaly in JNH's M. Night canon in terms of album. For all the others, he put most of the score on album without too much fiddling, but in this case he moved things all over the place and omitted some really nice cues.

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On display here is an interesting example of how differently we talk about soundtracks now than what we did in 2002. In the 2002 posts, people talk about the musical content, whereas after the ressurection, 5 of 11 replies deal with expansion issues. I miss the good old days.

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9 minutes ago, Thor said:

On display here is an interesting example of how differently we talk about soundtracks now than what we did in 2002. In the 2002 posts, people talk about the musical content, whereas after the ressurection, 5 of 11 replies deal with expansion issues. I miss the good old days.

 

It's inevitable on The Village's case, on which the best cues from the movie and (if I remember correctly) even a whole theme were omitted from the OST. 

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Maybe, but it wasn't really the focus point back then. I can't remember the last time I had a full online conversation about a score without the expansion issue not only appearing, but dominating the conversation. I mean, it is what it is. I've come to accept it. But I can't help but wax nostalgic over yesteryear either.

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Inevitably? It's perfectly possible to have a meaningful conversation about a score and album without talking about what's 'missing'. And on that note, what are people's highlight tracks from the SIGNS album?

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3 hours ago, Edmilson said:

 

Well, mine is definitely the finale, The Hand of Fate Part 2.

 

 

One of my favorite pieces by JNH of all time.

Hand of Fate pt 1 & 2 for me. 

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20 hours ago, Thor said:

Inevitably? It's perfectly possible to have a meaningful conversation about a score and album without talking about what's 'missing'. And on that note, what are people's highlight tracks from the SIGNS album?

Was always fond of the subtle scoring in this scene. 

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This is one of the freakiest scenes I've ever seen, and the way JNH uses the brass in a slowly meandering fashion is perfect, wth his repeated motif kind of indicating the panic and chaos that's going on in their minds. I also think M. Night's camerawork works well in making the viewer really unsure about what to look for, so that when 'it' happens, with the musical stinger, you're so tensed up.

 

I first saw this alone, at night, as a teenager. Not the best idea.

 

 

Aside from the completely brilliant Hand of FateBaby Monitor really gets me going with the chord changes and gentle strings. The whole score is like an exercise in how to take a simple motivic structure and produce a textural score that works without any big themes.

 

Although, honourable mention must go to the aliens (?) theme, which I find such a subtle but evocative, and more 'mystery' than 'evil' theme:

 

 

 

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13 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

 

Although, honourable mention must go to the aliens (?) theme, which I find such a subtle but evocative, and more 'mystery' than 'evil' theme:

 

They're not evil, just misunderstood.

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