• Categories

Vanilla 1.1.4 is a product of Lussumo. More Information: Documentation, Community Support.

 
  1. There may be as many themes and motifs in THE HOBBIT as there were in FOTR, but they are not remotely as memorable. I can also only remember the dwarf theme. The soundtrack releases for THE HOBBIT are as bloated and boring as the film itself was. The regular release should only be one disc. FACT. That album was such a slog.
  2. christopher wrote
    There may be as many themes and motifs in THE HOBBIT as there were in FOTR, but they are not remotely as memorable. I can also only remember the dwarf theme. The soundtrack releases for THE HOBBIT are as bloated and boring as the film itself was. The regular release should only be one disc. FACT. That album was such a slog.

    Funny how things are. After watching the film and listening to the album once, I immediately could hum at least six of the themes, and tell you exactly who/what they represent.

    The album plays more like the Complete Recordings than the original soundtrack releases, just like the film is paced more like an Extended Edition than a theatrical cut. Since I exclusively listen to the CRs and exclusively watch the EEs this is not a problem for me. cool
  3. For a second there I thought I saw: The High Frells
    The views and opinions of Ford A. Thaxton are his own and do not necessarily reflect the ones of ANYONE else.
    •  
      CommentAuthorScribe
    • CommentTimeNov 10th 2013 edited
    So what's the over/under on Shore actually continuing on with all his new themes from the first Hobbit film and adding more for the new locations, rather than giving up and writing the rehash crap that whatever idiot is responsible for the first film's constant track-in debacle will inevitably insist on?

    As an audience member and casual Tolkien fan I found it insulting to my intelligence that they apparently thought I and everyone else watching the film were too stupid and dull to appreciate the film on its own merits and needed inappropriate music from the previous trilogy to scream at me, "HEY, THIS IS VAGUELY SIMILAR TO THAT SCENE IN LOTR, SO HERE IS THAT SAME AWESOME MUSIC, ARENT WE SO CLEVER!"

    Just let the damn thing develop as its own thing, for God's sakes. I would be more enthusiastic about rewatching the film (which I haven't managed to sit through since seeing it twice in theaters) if they had allowed the music to retain its integrity. What they did cheapens both sets of films. No other film series in history has had music as meticulously developed through leitmotif as the original LOTR trilogy. Its an utter travesty to then take those themes specifically written to be about a certain character or place or theme, and use them for something completely different in a new series just to help a handful of morons who might otherwise be confused that yes, these films take place in the same universe as those other movies you saw 10 years ago.

    But at least we got to hear what Shore wrote. I'd dearly love to hear what Williams did or would have written for scenes like the beginning of the Jedi temple invasion, where he could have written some of the most iconic film music in history, like he did for the almost-fall of Luke in a thematically similar scene in the original trilogy. I can write better music in my head than the crap that was tracked in. But damn Lucas or whoever is responsible for that disgusting case of temp track love had to rob me and everyone of that opportunity. That one is actually worse than anything in The Hobbit because at least the track-ins in PJ's movie sort of work if you ignore the break in thematic continuity; the last scene with Bilbo and Gollum is absolutely beautiful even though its recycled music. But the inclusion of the Geonosis arena music, of all things, completely robs that whole scene of any of the gravitas or horror we should be feeling during that part of the film. Its the beginning of possibly the worst atrocity Anakin commits in his entire life. And yet it seems no one involved even realized that. Its a telling commentary on the awful pacing of that part of the film that the cue directly afterwards is titled something so impotent as "Moving Things Along". That title is almost a cry for help to Lucas etc who clearly had no idea what they were doing and were just like "lulz this plot stuff doesn't matter lets just get to the LAVA LIGHTSABER FIGHT 'cause thats all anyone wants from this film anyway, lulz character development and emotion wtf is that? hey williams just write a cool theme for the LAVA LIGHTSABER FIGHT and dont bother with the rest of the film, we'll just track in random stuff from the rest of the series. LULZ LAVA LIGHTSABER FIGHT!!"

    TLDR version: I hate track-ins.

    /rant
    I love you all. Never change. Well, unless you want to!
  4. yeah x 10000000000
    beer applause kiss wave fireworks
  5. There needs to be a bit of thought put into these releases, a way to bring people into the monumental amount of music for The Hobbit - I think that those who immersed themselves in the musical world of The Lord of The Rings need guiding into the musical world of The Hobbit too.

    Start off with an easy-to-manage 60-70 minute edited release/album that highlights all the main ideas and makes them punchy and listenable in an easy way. Then, once people have become familiar with those (and seen the films) then release the warts-and-all complete recordings.

    Just like they did for The Lord of The Rings.

    I think that the producers of the music releases of The Hobbit have assumed that, since people loved the complete recordings of the original trilogy they would love having a thorough release of these scores. Using myself as an example - that's not the case.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
  6. I think I'd go insane if I had to wait five years for the complete recordings of the Hobbit scores like we did for Return of the King, so in a purely selfish sense I'm glad a lengthy release is available so soon. But why the standard edition has to also be a 2-CD set, I don't know. It would make a lot more sense if they kept the special edition the way it is, and made the standard edition a 60-minute presentation.

    What also worries me about these releases is that they still aren't complete (the film version of the eagles' flight at the end of AUJ comes to mind, and...*sigh*...even that horribly misplaced Nazgul theme statement is an exciting new arrangement that's worth hearing out of context). But, they also aren't missing enough music to make yet another, even lengthier release worth making. I wonder if that stuff will ever see the light of day. It seems a bit like the album producers (Shore?) shot themselves in the foot by making something that doesn't really please either camp.

    Then again, the music's fantastic (yes...ALL TWO HOURS OF IT IS WORTH HEARING), and that's all that matters, right? cheesy
    •  
      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeNov 10th 2013
    I'm curious: do you (or anyone else who's into the full recordings) also take the time (more than once) to listen to the entirety of that version?

    I acknowledge it may very well be quite meditative to those so inclined, but one of the problems I have with these 'full recordings' is that I extremely seldomly have the time to listen to 'em throughout. So I always, without exception, end up making a shorter 'user friendly' version anyway.
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
    •  
      CommentAuthorScribe
    • CommentTimeNov 10th 2013
    I just listened to the complete Fellowship of the Ring score on Friday night through Saturday. So yes, people do take the time.
    I love you all. Never change. Well, unless you want to!
  7. I very reguarly listen to the original releases. The full recordings I own chiefly for archival reasons and as collector's items. I use them to look for and listen to certain cues. I listend to the full versions in their entirety when I first got them and I listend to the 3rd one again about two month ago.

    Volker
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
  8. I don't frequently listen to them all the way through in one sitting, no. Maybe once a year or so (usually in conjunction with reading Doug Adams' book). But I listen to individual cues from them all the time when they come up on shuffle.

    I think perhaps one of the reasons why I'm constantly rubbing shoulders with the Thors and Jameses of this world over album length is because I rarely listen to full albums anyway. I'm almost always shuffling...best of a composer, or of a year, or of a franchise, or usually just my giant cues-rated-four-stars-and-above playlist. In that sense, I'm glad to have a huge release because then I know I'm not missing out on anything and I (and not some album producer) can pick what cues are worth listening to, and then leave the rest for those occasions when I really do feel inclined to listen to the score all the way through. So for me the policy is and always has been the more, the merrier.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeNov 10th 2013
    To each their own, as they say. My approach to soundtrack listening is diametrically opposite to Edmund's.

    I'm fine with that, as long as there are alternatives for both camps. In the case of THE HOBBIT, there wasn't.
    I am extremely serious.
  9. You're both wrong, for different reasons. wink

    Hey, at least I was brief.
    A butterfly thinks therefore I am
  10. franz_conrad wrote
    You're both wrong, for different reasons. wink

    Hey, at least I was brief.

    Brevity is not my strong suit, as I'm sure has become apparent by now... tongue
  11. Never used to be mine! wink
    A butterfly thinks therefore I am
    •  
      CommentAuthorJim Ware
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2013
    I see nothing wrong with the album presentation of An Unexpected Journey - the score doesn't outstay its welcome and to present it in an extended form on album is a perfectly valid creative decision. There is a considerable amount of thought put into these releases and they are most definitely not the full score arbitrarily slapped on to disc as some seem to think in this thread.
    • CommentAuthorTimmer
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2013
    yeah
    On Friday I ate a lot of dust and appeared orange near the end of the day ~ Bregt
  12. Jim Ware wrote
    I see nothing wrong with the album presentation of An Unexpected Journey - the score doesn't outstay its welcome and to present it in an extended form on album is a perfectly valid creative decision. There is a considerable amount of thought put into these releases and they are most definitely not the full score arbitrarily slapped on to disc as some seem to think in this thread.

    Honestly, the only real issue I have with the releases is why the blummin' 'eck the standard edition version of "Roast Mutton" is so much better than the special. crazy
    •  
      CommentAuthorErik Woods
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2013
    yeah
    host and executive producer of THE CINEMATIC SOUND RADIO PODCAST | www.cinematicsound.net | www.facebook.com/cinematicsound | I HAVE TINNITUS!
    • CommentAuthorTimmer
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2013
    Edmund Meinerts wrote
    Jim Ware wrote
    I see nothing wrong with the album presentation of An Unexpected Journey - the score doesn't outstay its welcome and to present it in an extended form on album is a perfectly valid creative decision. There is a considerable amount of thought put into these releases and they are most definitely not the full score arbitrarily slapped on to disc as some seem to think in this thread.

    Honestly, the only real issue I have with the releases is why the blummin' 'eck the standard edition version of "Roast Mutton" is so much better than the special. crazy


    Oh? I didn't know that. How does it differ?
    On Friday I ate a lot of dust and appeared orange near the end of the day ~ Bregt
  13. From what I've heard they actually cut an arrangement of Misty Mountains out of the expanded version of Roast Mutton for some reason.

    I wouldn't know, because I got the standard.
    http://www.filmmusic.pl - Polish Film Music Review Website
    •  
      CommentAuthorJim Ware
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2013
    The mutually exclusive material does confuse matters. In the case of Roast Mutton, the limited edition was Shore's original cue and the 'standard' album has the film version.
    •  
      CommentAuthorErik Woods
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2013
    If you are going to release a massive multiple CD set instead of a single disc release then do it right. Just release the complete recordings a be done with it instead of gouging the customer by release two 2CD sets with different programs and different cuts of certain cues. What Watertower did with An Unexpected Journey was unacceptable.

    -Erik-
    host and executive producer of THE CINEMATIC SOUND RADIO PODCAST | www.cinematicsound.net | www.facebook.com/cinematicsound | I HAVE TINNITUS!
  14. I don't want to hear every damn note, but if I do, I want to be sure every damn note is there...?
    A butterfly thinks therefore I am
    •  
      CommentAuthorErik Woods
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2013
    franz_conrad wrote
    I don't want to hear every damn note, but if I do, I want to be sure every damn note is there...?


    Pretty much!

    -Erik-
    host and executive producer of THE CINEMATIC SOUND RADIO PODCAST | www.cinematicsound.net | www.facebook.com/cinematicsound | I HAVE TINNITUS!
  15. Timmer wrote
    Edmund Meinerts wrote
    Jim Ware wrote
    I see nothing wrong with the album presentation of An Unexpected Journey - the score doesn't outstay its welcome and to present it in an extended form on album is a perfectly valid creative decision. There is a considerable amount of thought put into these releases and they are most definitely not the full score arbitrarily slapped on to disc as some seem to think in this thread.

    Honestly, the only real issue I have with the releases is why the blummin' 'eck the standard edition version of "Roast Mutton" is so much better than the special. crazy


    Oh? I didn't know that. How does it differ?

    There's a huge action variation of the main Misty Mountains theme in the middle of that cue which is one of the most satisfying moments in the entire score. At least, on the standard edition, where it's an uncomplicated, straightforward and quite simply badass belting-out of the theme (not to mention that variation got tracked into the film quite a few times). The special-edition version is a much more obscured statement of the theme that tries to stretch it rather awkwardly over some asymmetrical rhythms and is in general much less enjoyable. But because the special edition version is quite a bit longer, it basically forces you to edit together a version that inserts the standard version's statement of that theme into the special. Kind of like you never get a fully satisfying version of "The Flag Parade" on the Ultimate Edition of The Phantom Menace and have to edit in the version from the regular album.
  16. franz_conrad wrote
    I don't want to hear every damn note, but if I do, I want to be sure every damn note is there...?

    This is that "brevity" thing I keep hearing about again, isn't it? Very nice way to put it. smile
    •  
      CommentAuthorJim Ware
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2013
    Edmund Meinerts wrote
    Kind of like you never get a fully satisfying version of "The Flag Parade" on the Ultimate Edition of The Phantom Menace and have to edit in the version from the regular album.


    The album version of The Flag Parade just repeats the cue twice. :p
  17. Edmund Meinerts wrote
    franz_conrad wrote
    I don't want to hear every damn note, but if I do, I want to be sure every damn note is there...?

    This is that "brevity" thing I keep hearing about again, isn't it? Very nice way to put it. smile


    shame
    A butterfly thinks therefore I am
    •  
      CommentAuthorJim Ware
    • CommentTimeNov 15th 2013
    Any thoughts on the new Smaug samples?

    http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/11/15/t … oundtrack/