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Hans Zimmer's Top 10 Scores


Dixon Hill

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You forget that after reading my DKR analysis, you gained an appreciation for it.

Some of it. I still don't care for the score as a whole, but the Bane stuff has grown on me. There was one thread where someone asked for a 13-track Dark Knight trilogy highlights list, and the list I came up with had 6 each from the first two and just "The Fire Rises" from TDKR.

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1. The Prince of Egypt

2. The Thin Red Line

3. The Rock

4. The Lion King

5. The Da Vinci Code

6. Hannibal

....

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1. The Lion King

2. Da Vinci Code

3. Interstellar

4. Hannibal

5. The Peacemaker

6. Thin Red Line

7. Frost/Nixon

8. Inception

9. Sherlock Holmes

10. The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Karol

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So when I looked through all his scores to pick the top 10 out, I quickly realized it was impossible. So here's a quick list that would be different tomorrow.

1. The Thin Red Line

2. Interstellar

3. Black Hawk Down

4. Tears Of The Sun

5. Gladiator

6. The Last Samurai

7. The Da Vinci Code

8. An Everlasting Piece

9. Frost/Nixon

10. The Weather Man

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Any score you would recommend me to begin discovering his work, Grey? I've heard a couple of cues here and there (and seen a few films scored by him and his disciples) but I've never quite got round to listening to a full album, unfortunately.

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The Thin Red Line, Gladiator, The Da Vinci Code, Interstellar, Inception, Crimson Tide, Backdraft

This should be a good cross-section of what he does, at least as a starting point. I'll try to stop adding things to it now, though....

Looking over his work like this is a mini-revelation. It's so easy to lose sight of what emotional and musical riches he's produced, because of all the "noise" about him.

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The Thin Red Line, Gladiator, The Da Vinci Code, Interstellar, Inception, Crimson Tide, Backdraft

This should be a good cross-section of what he does, at least as a starting point. I'll try to stop adding things to it now, though....

Looking over his work like this is a mini-revelation. It's so easy to lose sight of what emotional and musical riches he's produced, because of all the "noise" about him.

Neither CRIMSON TIDE nor BACKDRAFT offer 'musical riches'. Only a handful do - of which you listed only two.

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The Thin Red Line, Gladiator, The Da Vinci Code, Interstellar, Inception, Crimson Tide, Backdraft

This should be a good cross-section of what he does, at least as a starting point. I'll try to stop adding things to it now, though....

Looking over his work like this is a mini-revelation. It's so easy to lose sight of what emotional and musical riches he's produced, because of all the "noise" about him.

Neither CRIMSON TIDE nor BACKDRAFT offer 'musical riches'. Only a handful do - of which you listed only two.

Your wrongness makes me weep.

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I like Hanz Zimmer. He isn't my favorite but I do like him. At times he's very good. What I don't like is seemingly how most movies nowadays try to sound like him. Or that is how it feels to me.

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His career is incredibly diverse. Plenty to explore.

Indeed. For whatever reason I really connect to his war films. My list is completely devoid of his 90s action material or his unknown dramas like The House Of The Spirits. Too much good stuff to ignore.
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I like Hanz Zimmer. He isn't my favorite but I do like him. At times he's very good. What I don't like is seemingly how most movies nowadays try to sound like him. Or that is how it feels to me.

Producers demand that "epic" Zimmer sound because it's cheap and easy to produce.

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Not produce, imitate. The Williams sound is also easy to imitate, but those who try are just as unsuccessful at capturing the actual content as the Zimmer imitators. Composers shouldn't imitate. Poisonous and lazy.

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Well if the Zimmer sound is like Tron Legacy than I'm all for it.

Here's my top 10, I mostly love his music from the 90s, because he was creatively at his best.

The first three I may just swap around, when my mood changes on any given day.

1. The Lion King (the Disney release)

2. Crimson Tide

3. The Prince of Egypt

4. Gladiator

5. Interstellar

6. Broken Arrow (the original release)

7. Backdraft (the leaked complete score)

8. Inception

9. The Thin Red Line

10. The Rock

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I don't agree that he was creatively at his best in the 90's. He had a particular thing happening then, but what he's been doing over the last decade or so is I think much more singular and innovative.

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Why would I?

I had some very good arguments but if the attitude is like that, why to bother?

Thank you. The smartest post on this board in a while!!

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It's not a very smart post, unless he can back it up, which he may be able to. But one assumes from his past discourse on Zimmer that he has naught to say but rambling rabidity, which is something this thread aims to avoid, as stated in the original post. And you may make that out to be a discussion-stifling attitude, Jay, but then, you have the benefit of not having any interest in the subjects that are especially prone to such issues on here.

Please hornist, present your very good arguments. If you feel that Zimmer hasn't pioneered an innovative fusion of the synthetic and the organic, the pop idiom and the classical one, then tell us why - bearing in mind that whether or not you like it has no weight.

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Ok, now we made this a big deal it gave me some pressure, had something on my mind of the facts of hans' latest output that I can't stand, the Inception/TDK/The Island(ok it's not hans)etc...that repetative minor thirth sixteenth dual staccato it is not very innovative. The next "cool" chord doesn't help even it comes fucking too loud!(hans music has no nyances). But to be fear, its midnight here, I'm tipsy and I need to listen more zimmer to make a perfect analyse to make TGP convinced. Nite!

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It's not a very smart post, unless he can back it up.

This, from the guy who argues like this:

Your wrongness makes me weep.

Such statements show how emotionally invested you are in the argument. Not entirely a bad thing -- it's great that you have a composer to truly admire. You may be coming across as too much of a martyr however. Most of us have been there (ever seen me spout off about PJ's Hobbit films?), but I think it's causing the others in this thread to take you less seriously and it's not helping your cause.

Tl;dr: We get it, you feel Zimmer's work is received unfairly. No need to be so aggressive toward everyone about it!

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It's not a very smart post, unless he can back it up.

This, from the guy who argues like this:

Your wrongness makes me weep.

Such statements show how emotionally invested you are in the argument. Not entirely a bad thing -- it's great that you have a composer to truly admire. You may be coming across as too much of a martyr however. Most of us have been there (ever seen me spout off about PJ's Hobbit films?), but I think it's causing the others in this thread to take you less seriously and it's not helping your cause.

Tl;dr: We get it, you feel Zimmer's work is received unfairly. No need to be so aggressive toward everyone about it!

No one is being aggressive. Do you really think I was seriously telling pub that his wrongness makes me weep? What is with people on this board not being able to tell when someone is being serious or not, and making these self-righteous tirades as a result?

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It's not a very smart post, unless he can back it up.

This, from the guy who argues like this:

Your wrongness makes me weep.

Such statements show how emotionally invested you are in the argument. Not entirely a bad thing -- it's great that you have a composer to truly admire. You may be coming across as too much of a martyr however. Most of us have been there (ever seen me spout off about PJ's Hobbit films?), but I think it's causing the others in this thread to take you less seriously and it's not helping your cause.

Tl;dr: We get it, you feel Zimmer's work is received unfairly. No need to be so aggressive toward everyone about it!

No one is being aggressive. Do you really think I was seriously telling pub that his wrongness makes me weep? What is with people on this board not being able to tell when someone is being serious or not, and making these self-righteous tirades as a result?

It is very tough to discern whether someone is being serious or not purely through typed text.

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It's not a very smart post, unless he can back it up.

This, from the guy who argues like this:

Your wrongness makes me weep.

Such statements show how emotionally invested you are in the argument. Not entirely a bad thing -- it's great that you have a composer to truly admire. You may be coming across as too much of a martyr however. Most of us have been there (ever seen me spout off about PJ's Hobbit films?), but I think it's causing the others in this thread to take you less seriously and it's not helping your cause.

Tl;dr: We get it, you feel Zimmer's work is received unfairly. No need to be so aggressive toward everyone about it!

No one is being aggressive. Do you really think I was seriously telling pub that his wrongness makes me weep? What is with people on this board not being able to tell when someone is being serious or not, and making these self-righteous tirades as a result?

It is very tough to discern whether someone is being serious or not purely through typed text.

Common sense would suffice, I think, but I'm being proven wrong time and time again. The trend seems to be that new or infrequent posters are the most easily offended and quickest to jump on the soapbox - I'll stick with my theory that it's just a matter of familiarity.

Ok, now we made this a big deal it gave me some pressure, had something on my mind of the facts of hans' latest output that I can't stand, the Inception/TDK/The Island(ok it's not hans)etc...that repetative minor thirth sixteenth dual staccato it is not very innovative. The next "cool" chord doesn't help even it comes fucking too loud!(hans music has no nyances). But to be fear, its midnight here, I'm tipsy and I need to listen more zimmer to make a perfect analyse to make TGP convinced. Nite!

I see, you think the Batman ostinato thingy is not innovative. Well, no, perhaps it's not - but is that the entirety of what he's done since about 2004? What about my specific points regarding his merging of various idioms into one coherent whole? Don't you think that's pretty innovative? It's very similar to what Williams did with jazz and 20th century harmony.

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He's the big cheese for the simple reason that he was at the right place at the right time and that his musical abilities translate well to the current age/zeitgeist (mid-90's onwards). I don't consider this a big compliment as you may have guessed but still am fond of surprisingly many scores by the RCP posse that i got acquainted with over the years. Sadly not in relation to the massive output they have put us through.

For checks and balances i always will drop at least one of these grumpy but meaningless comments on TGP's ill-chosen lovefests about this man.

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grumpy but meaningless comments

Be sure to post disclaimers though, or some people might be offended and have some very choice words about how you can better yourself!

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Neither CRIMSON TIDE nor BACKDRAFT offer 'musical riches'. Only a handful do - of which you listed only two.

CRIMSON TIDE is tedious, stolid fair, but I was surprised by BACKDRAFT when I last listened it. There are some avant-garde nooks and crannies I hadn't noticed before.

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The next "cool" chord doesn't help even it comes fucking too loud!(hans music has no nyances).

There's actually a lot of nuanced writing buried in Zimmer scores, even the much-maligned POTC and TDK ones (I would even say especially the POTC scores); the problem is that the focus always seems to be firmly on the "loud factor."

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It's not wise to discuss things with someone as dogmatic as TGP. The best solution is to silence all debate, or else risk losing the argument, which is unacceptable.

That said, climate change is real and is caused by humans. Full stop. No debate. We're right. You're wrong. Dare to disagree and you shall be publicly humiliated, fired from your job or be forced to resign, have all your property confiscated, your e-mails searched, and face prison time.

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The problem is that Zimmer-related "debate" is seldom debate, it's just the spewing of meaningless, subjective, and often rude contentions, and hornist himself has done this in the past, and it is assy behavior, and I'll call it that if I want.

It's not as bad as it used to be, reading some threads from more than several years ago on the subject. But the same old suspects turn up again and again, so I'll not feel bad about trying to turn one away at the door when he shows up with an already provocative "and you are serious?".

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They just have to accept that this is a Zimmer forum now. If they want to talk about Williams, Goldsmith or any other composer who likes to show off their fancy, complex compositions, they can take it elsewhere.

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Perhaps we need a Zimmer subforum. The Tolkien people seem to exist more happily now without anyone giving them a hard time - because unlike what some would have you believe, a lack of debate doesn't mean a lack of discussion. As if discussion were only constituted by disagreement.

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They just have to accept that this is a Zimmer forum now. If they want to talk about Williams, Goldsmith or any other composer who likes to show off their fancy, complex compositions, they can take it elsewhere.

 

OK, let's talk about some fancy complex compositions.

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Cool, two improvements at once!

;)

They just have to accept that this is a Zimmer forum now. If they want to talk about Williams, Goldsmith or any other composer who likes to show off their fancy, complex compositions, they can take it elsewhere.

OK, let's talk about some fancy complex compositions.

As you wish. What draws you to these cues?

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Perhaps we need a Zimmer subforum. The Tolkien people seem to exist more happily now without anyone giving them a hard time - because unlike what some would have you believe, a lack of debate doesn't mean a lack of discussion. As if discussion were only constituted by disagreement.

And an AI subforum. It's allllll for you!

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