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ALAN SILVESTRI

General Discussions » ALAN SILVESTRI (Posts 1471 to 1493 of 1493)

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  1. Edmund Meinerts wrote
    Google Translate is pretty good these days. DeepL is even better. I'm a translator and I'm pretty sure 90% of the industry will be automated out of existence in the next 20 years.


    An acquaintance of mine is working as a translator for Russian and English. She tells me, that the rough translations is already done by software. She then corrects the errors and provides the stylistic polish.
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
  2. I was thinking about our conversation in the other thread about what scores really put composers on the "map" so-to-speak in terms of cultural significance, gaining film score fans or popularity.

    I was wondering about Alan Silvestri, and thinking that probably most fans came through Back To The Future.

    Then there was the subgroup (like myself) who discovered him through Forrest Gump in the 90s, then I backtracked to his earlier scores. (And of course have loved his work ever since.)

    But there seems to be a big gap from then until now because today with the younger generation (I have friends with junior high boys) it's all about The Avengers. But I try to tell them, oh the wealth of music they are missing, by not caring about Silvestri's other scores! But I'm certainly impressed by Silvestri's consistency in remaining relevant/iconic culturally and gaining new fans throughout the years. It's certainly not that way for every composer!

    Thoughts?
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeApr 16th 2020
    Yes, that's how it goes. Same with Zimmer too. I remember THE ROCK was all the rage in the 90s, recruiting film score fans left and right. When I talk to young people these days, however (I often hold film music lectures for kids in high school), INCEPTION is the big deal and they haven't even heard of THE ROCK.

    Then there's Williams, of course, with the different generations recruited from STAR WARS and HARRY POTTER etc.

    I guess you could apply the same to any composer who has been at it for a while, and kept some form of popularity throughout.

    In terms of Silvestri, my 'gateway' was THE ABYSS (not only to Silvestri, but really to soundtracks in general) in the early 90s. I had already seen BACK TO THE FUTURE at this point, but at a time I wasn't so aware of film music. I'm happy for him that THE AVENGERS has given him renewed popularity among the young ones, although it isn't a score, or series of scores, that I care particularly about. But then again, I'm ancient. :D
    I am extremely serious.
  4. Oh, that's interesting about Inception...I thought Interstellar was the big todo among younger people. At least where I'm at in Northern California it seems to be, haha. But I myself prefer Inception! I totally agree with you on not caring all that much about The Avengers scores, I like so many others by Silvestri more (Van Helsing for one! smile). And The Abyss is somehow unmemorable to me, though I've listened to it several times over the years. It's so weird...I just complete forget it after I've heard it. I can't quite figure out why!
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeApr 16th 2020
    Filmscoregirl wrote
    Oh, that's interesting about Inception...I thought Interstellar was the big todo among younger people.


    That too, but INCEPTION is 4 years older, so it goes even further back in nostalgia for the young ones these days.
    I am extremely serious.
  6. My gateway score for Silvestri was Van Helsing haha. That actually was a pretty important score in my development as a film music listener because it was both the first time I ever listened to a score that wasn't either The Lord of the Rings or by Hans Zimmer, and also the first time I listened to a score for a film I'd never seen. I don't even really remember how I came across it.

    For Zimmer, Thor, you're ignoring how influential Pirates of the Caribbean was in between those two others you mentioned, in terms of getting people into film music. That was my really truly first ever score.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeApr 17th 2020 edited
    Edmund Meinerts wrote
    For Zimmer, Thor, you're ignoring how influential Pirates of the Caribbean was in between those two others you mentioned, in terms of getting people into film music. That was my really truly first ever score.


    Yes, that's a fair point. Only 7 years between THE ROCK and the first PIRATES, but enough to separate "generations" or at least different formative years. PIRATES was the tailend of the power anthem style, but definitely a gateway for a lot of young, budding fans at the time.
    I am extremely serious.
  8. I think a big part of that was because Pirates used that style in a film that was seen by a lot of impressionable kids and pre-teens (whereas The Rock and Crimson Tide were geared at an older audience). So even though the films were only 7 years apart, the 10-year-old getting hooked on film scores by PotC (i.e. me) and the 17-year-old who first encountered it via The Rock are in fact 14 years apart in age.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeApr 19th 2020 edited
    Yes, good point.

    I can't even remember what my own personal Zimmer gateway was anymore. I remember seeing RAIN MAN in theatres when it came out, at 11 years old, but that was really before I became interested in film music. Might have been DAYS OF THUNDER or something, two years later.
    I am extremely serious.
  10. Is there an actual RAIN MAN score anywhere? I only have the regular release and it has two songs, so it's not much of a listening experience. I'd love to hear the rest!
  11. While the Perseverance Records release is one to be avoided, Notefornote Music released Rain Man and I happened to get it. Maybe it's still around?
    http://www.filmmusic.pl - Polish Film Music Review Website
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeApr 22nd 2020
    Yes, as Pawel says -- avoid the Perseverance (disastrous sound quality; even if it was all that existed at the time, it should have been left untouched untill better materials surfaced), and get the NoteforNote.
    I am extremely serious.
  13. Definitely aspects of these recordings that I didn't know about, thank you both! I'll be on the lookout for a NoteforNote copy then! I saw there were a few for sale on Discogs.
  14. I'm a month late to this conversation, but in the interest of trying to drum up some more conversation I'll add my experiences.

    My first exposure to Silvestri was Back to the Future. I loved the theme, and watched the films many times growing up, but I didn't know who had written the music at the time. The first time I ever heard of Silvestri was with Forest Gump. That feather theme was all the rage when the film came out. Lots of us learned to play it on the piano. After that I realized that Silvesti had score the BTTF trilogy, and Predator, and all those other big films.

    My first Zimmer score was Crimson Tide. I remember catching the film on TV a few years after it had come out and loving that power anthem. My next Zimmer score was Gladiator. I listened to those two scores so many times. When Pirates came out and a whole new generation of people were discovering Hans Zimmer, I was really dismissive of it. When my sister raved about Pirates music I played her selections from Crimson Tide and Gladiator that were very similar in an attempt to show her that Zimmer had basically already written those themes years earlier. I now enjoy the Pirates music very much. Especially the third film score.
  15. I needed an energy boost the other day, so I put on Van Helsing, my absolute favorite Silvestri score. It’s just the best kind of fun and epic score, I get a bit giddy when I listen to it, I just love it that much! The percussion, the choir, the drama, all of it! That got me thinking to challenge myself…what are my top favorite Alan Silvestri scores that I own. Surprisingly, my top 3 are so different from each other! I never really thought about it before, how my favorite scores from different composers aren’t very alike to each other all. Meaning, I thought perhaps my taste in music would be more similar (other than the film score genre of course) and that the top spot would be similar in recipe to other’s in my top spot from different composers, but as I thought more about it, I guess I was surprised how varied my taste is. But I’ll just focus on Silvestri here.

    My favorites:

    1. Van Helsing (thundering, epic, tons of fun!)
    2. Practical Magic (sweet, romantic, light)
    3. The Quick and The Dead (Morricone-esque but with a Silvestri flare, I’m a sucker for Western style scores)
    Runner Up: Ready Player One (I wasn’t wowed by it at first, but it has really grown on me, and I enjoy it immensely now!)

    What are your Top 3 Silvestri scores and why do you love them?
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeDec 15th 2020 edited
    VAN HELSING is certainly an original favourite, Cailin. I've tried it many times, but it gets too dense and bombastic for me. I aim try again at a later time.

    Mine would probably be:

    1. THE ABYSS - one of the three scores that made me a film music fan. I have a tribute article about it (in Norwegian) here: http://celluloidtunes.no/the-abyss-alan-silvestri/

    2. THE MUMMY RETURNS - to follow up Goldsmith's masterful score in such a deliciously thematic and playful way, is impressive. IMO, this is the last time Silvestri was firing on all cylinders, and it's already 19 years old.

    3. FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR - Silvestri gets too little kudos for his funky 80s synth scores (Synclavier for the win!), and this remains my favourite of those.

    But hey -- plenty of honourable mentions: ROMANCING THE STONE, FANDANGO, SUMMER RENTAL, AMERICAN ANTHEM, THE CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR, THE DELTA FORCE, CRITICAL CONDITION, BTTF3, PREDATOR 2, YOUNG GUNS II, RICOCHET, THE BODYGUARD, FORREST GUMP, JUDGE DREDD, THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, CONTACT, CAST AWAY, THE POLAR EXPRESS, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, THE CROODS, bits and pieces of COSMOS, bits and pieces of READY PLAYER ONE. These are all in my collection, and hence 'favourites'. So is THE WITCHES, but I didn't care for that. Aim to try again once I've whittled it down in length.
    I am extremely serious.
  17. I LOVED the movie Flight of the Navigator as a kid! But I've never listed to the score (and haven't seen the movie in many, many years!) I really want to check that one out now! I'm complete opposite on you with the first choice funny enough. I've tried and tried to listen to The Abyss - it's even the first album on my list when I open up iTunes on my phone, but it's a score I...just...can't...REMEMBER! It's the weirdest thing! I have no recollection of it in between listenings. The opening, themes, not of it is familiar even though I've listened to it several times and I'm just not sure what that's all about because that hasn't happened to me with any other score! Truth be told though, I've never seen the movie either, so perhaps it would be more memorable in context and would fix my recollection issue with that one. smile And, I think when I'm in the mood for The Mummy, I always go back to Goldsmith's because I just adore it. But The Mummy Returns is an excellent score! So good! Just not quite as good as memorable as first one. And even though I don't typically like swashbuckling scores, Van Helsing is like the perfect blend for me of that type of genre, because it's a little more classical, sophisticated, but still with the fun elements. Oh, I wish we could listen to it together in person and I could point out all the most amazing parts that I love, I wouldn't be able to contain my joy, and think it would be contagious, and you'd start to love it too! biggrin
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeDec 15th 2020
    Yes, that's funny. You have the same problem getting into THE ABYSS as I do VAN HELSING, and vice versa! smile

    But I really, really hope you get to see THE ABYSS at some point. One of my favourite movies as well, probably seen it some 30-40 times over the years.
    I am extremely serious.
  19. Van Helsing is actually my favorite Silvestri score as well, although it's one that came along very early in my film score journey, so it has a bit of the rose tinted factor going for it.

    Thor, I'm not surprised you don't like it, but you aren't going to like my reason why: the album is terribly programmed. It's literally just action music. That score has some lovely softer material as well but other than "Reunited" none of it is featured. There's a complete score floating around which is a more well-rounded listen than the album but comes with its own flaws (some pretty tedious suspense music). The ideal Van Helsing album would more or less take the original soundtrack and intersperse those big loud cues with about 15-20 minutes' worth of the nice softer stuff.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeDec 17th 2020
    Edmund Meinerts wrote
    Van Helsing is actually my favorite Silvestri score as well, although it's one that came along very early in my film score journey, so it has a bit of the rose tinted factor going for it.

    Thor, I'm not surprised you don't like it, but you aren't going to like my reason why: the album is terribly programmed. It's literally just action music. That score has some lovely softer material as well but other than "Reunited" none of it is featured. There's a complete score floating around which is a more well-rounded listen than the album but comes with its own flaws (some pretty tedious suspense music). The ideal Van Helsing album would more or less take the original soundtrack and intersperse those big loud cues with about 15-20 minutes' worth of the nice softer stuff.


    Actually, that sounds reasonable to me. You could even omit a couple of the action cues in favour of the down-tempo ones to leave more or less the same length.
    I am extremely serious.
  21. Here are my thoughts on Silvestri's Pinocchio! https://synchrotones.com/2022/09/10/uh-oh-pinocchio/

    Thanks for looking smile
    www.synchrotones.wordpress.com | www.synchrotones.co.uk | @Synchrotones | facebook | soundcloud | youtube
  22. I sure wish there was an expanded score-only version of Silvestri's Pinocchio. It was the score I was most excited about this year, but I couldn't get past all the atrocious audio clips and musical numbers sporadically placed in it - can't stand when they do that. Why can't they just have all the song stuff at the beginning OR at the end? It made it so distracting that I didn't even GET to track 21 Pete! But since you say it picks up there, I'll have to try again! I was really enjoying the themes Alan wrote and thought it was going to be a match made in heaven pairing him with this Disney remake. Thanks for your time in writing the review!
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeOct 1st 2022
    Glad you enjoy it, Cailin, but I'm afraid Silvestri's PINOCCHIO was a massive disappointment to me. Kinda all-over-the-place -- "whimsical" without any strong themes or structure to latch on to.

    It's interesting to look at my Silvestri collection. It's very well covered up to and including THE MUMMY RETURNS in 2001, but then it kinda peters after that. I like the OST of THE POLAR EXPRESS (2004) and A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2009). Play them at Christmas time. I thought THE CROODS (2013) had a lot of things going for it, and there are bits and bobs in COSMOS and READY PLAYER ONE that I enjoy. Otherwise, it's been a pretty meager two decades for a composer who's always been one of my absolute favourites, and - in fact - one of the three responsible for my interest in film music in the first place.
    I am extremely serious.

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