[Closed] Now Playing XXXIX

NP : THE EMI YEARS VOLUME 2 : 1960 - John Barry


Not as strong as the first volume but still some absolute gems, I'm especially fond of a track called Satin Smooth which is a taste of what was to come in James Bond.

p.s. It's a shame that his utterly brilliant 'MOOD ONE' isn't included on any of these sets, in fact, I'm not even sure it's included on any John Barry compilation disc?

I need a new keyboard

NP: JANE EYRE (Dario Marianelli)

Still one of the strongest scores this year -- beautiful string & piano writing.

NP: Heavy Metal 2000 - Frederic Talgorn

Big and musular! Not a lot of melody but a tons of big orchestral bursts and heavy dramatic material. I think lovers of Goldenthal's big epic scores (Final Fantasy) will find a lot to like in this score!

-Erik

I've been playing some compilation albums today:

JOHN WILLIAMS' GREATEST HITS 1969-1999

This 2 disc set is a good selection of William's most famous themes, and a couple less-well-known themes as well. It's excellent music, of course. There are some of his themes that have been overplayed for me and even though I recognize their Iconic status, I enjoy them less than I used to, but most of these themes will never get old to me no matter how many times I've played them.

JOHN WILLIAMS CONDUCTS JOHN WILLIAMS: THE STAR WARS TRILOGY

This Sony one disc album is okay. Some of the selections mystify me (the Sandpeople music? You've got one disc and you put the Sandpeople music on it?). The Cantina Band track sounds bad, and has some really odd "sound effects" at the end. The throne room finale track kind of repeats itself twice. It's not the best Star Wars album out there.

YO-YO MA PLAYS ENNIO MORRICONE

What an album! Every track is wonderful. It's been way too long since I've played this. I had four of these tracks on a long 'favorite tracks' playlist, but I have no idea how I only included those four on it. Nearly every track here is outstanding. This is an extremely strong album, and if I only had one CD of Morricone music, this would be it.

Prince of Egypt Hans Zimmer / Stephen Schwartz

Great Score, Great songs, Great album.

NP: The Mission - Ennio Morricone

I am utterly shocked and disappointed with myself that I have yet to listen to my digital version of this score. I first imported the album all those years ago when the first iPod was released by Apple back in 2001 and haven't listened to it once. I'm serious. The ONLY track with a play count is "On Earth As It Is In Heaven" and that's because it's in "My Favorites" playlist. I'm so embarrassed.

Top notch film music right here folks... and I don't think I have to explain to any of you at to why this is such a brilliant score!

-Erik-

Very good score, indeed.

NP: CINEMA PARADISO - Ennio Morricone

Not as good as THE MISSION, imho, but has some lovely highlights.

This is probably the only time I ever knew before anyone else besides those directly involved in the film that I knew who was scoring it, talking to David Puttnam personally and he confirmed that they'd signed Morricone only that day.

No, you are not the only one. This FACT thing is becoming really tiresome and annoying.

NP: DAYS OF THUNDER (Hans Zimmer)

Prime Zimmer. Great power anthems, cool grooves etc.

He doesn't like to revisit his older scores at all, which is somewhat typical of most composers, but still. It's part of his legacy, and this is surely not one to be embarrased about.

I stil don't understand why he refused to co-operate on the new release of RAIN MAN -- a PIVOTAL score in his career -- forcing us to accept a poor-sounding presentation instead.

Looking forward to it. I must admit that I'm a bit skeptical about it being better than Invincible as I found that to be a fantastic album, but definitely great to see a good review like that.

Peter

And to those who oppose, I'll continue to use the word FACT in big bold font wherever and whenever I feel it's warranted.


FACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NP: inspired by this my own Cops playlist
A wild amalgam of cop show/film tunes from the fifties up to the 2010s.

Some observations:
* Jim Parker writes some of the TIGHTEST music in the UK (I was already impressed with his work on Ground Force (yes, it's REALLY good!), but his theme to The Midsomer Murders just blew me away(this guy really knows his theremin )!)
* Although we don't seem to be lacking for cop shows this last decade (NCIS, Law & Order, Cold Case, ...), it seems very few really good themes have come out (Law & Order's ok but cheesy ominous synth theme seems very out of place in this day and age). That said, we got some great and inspired song soundtracks (like for instance Tom Waits "Down In The Hole" on The Wire and The Who's "Who Are You?" on Cold Case)
* Funk works exceedingly well for cop show tunes (Dirty Harry, The Professionals and oh! The Theme To SWAT are SO awesome!)
* The prize for very best cops show tune EVER is a toss-up between Dragnet and Hawaii 5-O
* It's pretty frigging hard to find the proper themes to the myriad German 'krimis' that were around in the eighties and nineties. Many song compilations, but not much more.
* The theme to the short lived (?) Rockliffe's Babies may be one of the most haunting cop tunes ever.