Now Playing XLI

at least you're buying it, which for me doesn't feel like cheating anymore.

I'm patient.

NP: Babylon 5: A Late Delivery from Avalon

I've been listening to every score in my collection in alphabetical order, and I just made it to the "Bab" section. I have many, many, many hours of Babylon 5 music ahead of me. While it has many fans, I find it rather dark and inaccessible and certainly not thematic. Makes me wonder why I collected so many. Still, I'll plow through and maybe learn to appreciate it better.

I have the two anthology sets with suites from central episodes, and that's good enough for me. When Franke gets in a groove or a mood, he's excellent, but some of the crash-boom-bang "effect" tracks don't do much for me. I love the gorgeous, majestic writing in "Requiem on the Line" or whatever it's called.

Yes, it is quite ambitious. I do have mine ordered on my shelves in such a way that numbers come first, so yes, it took me several weeks just to MAKE it into the A's. Listening to stuff like 7th Voyage of Sinbad, 1492, 1941, 101 Dalmatians and 8MM.

It's been fun. I think I'll keep doing it. I posted on Facebook about every single score I listened to during this experiment (sometimes in batches).

NP: Metropolis - Gottfried Huppertz

Watching the restored almost complete version of this classic on blu-ray is an amazing experience!
And Huppertz original 1926/27 score is impressive to say the least!
I've heard the recording from a decade ago which was great but this recent one is just superb!
The music, while thematic, plays out over long periods of time and contains expanded treatment of the core elements. So many themes here. Quite Wagnerian in style. So many highlights!
Huppertz truly does sound like "the past" but in a positive, important way. The Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester of Berlin specializes in repertory like this and conductor Frank Strobel is himself a dedicated specialist in historic film scores and this performance is quite flawless. The sound engineering is top notch and this is completely worth hearing.
This is from the earliest days of scoring and it may sound stylistically "old" but so rich and exciting notheless!
Nothing short of 5 stars for this one!

I have. And I think I know why you asked. It is easy to consider Last Samurai a "sequel score " to Thin Red Line, no? Though since I got introduced to Last Samurai first it is the other way around for me! Good score. My favorite cue is "Light" which sounds very close to a motif in Last Samurai.


NP: Memphis Belle - George Fenton

One of the few concepts that I think almost all composers have translated into music quite masterfully, is mankind's passion for flying. Really, when flying alone is the subject, the results always blow me away, even if that is only small fraction of the cue in question.

For a long time John Williams' "Cadillac of the Skies" (as heard in its concert arrangement) was my top favorite in this category. (True enough, "Flying" from E.T. is nothing short of spectacular but that is more like a "fantasy" take on the subject, no?) But recently I came across a potential new candidate for that position: "Memphis Belle" by George Fenton, to whom I got introduced to with his amazing, amazing work for "Anna and the King". I have to say each and every time I give this album (and "Anna and the King" a spin, it leaves me speechless. That's not just because Memphis Belle is one heck of a ride. It is not only because it is bold, adventurous, and emotional. But also because a man of such caliber is not getting many (if any) assignments these days. Unbelievable.

I don't think one needs to sit through the whole album to find out just how good this score is. The one cue I regularly revisit, and I believe any curious newcomer to this title should check right from the start, is the magnificent End Titles cue. It is possibly a recorded (and not assembled) suite of all the best moments of the score, and it is here where Fenton's top notch themes finally get time to play in full glory to knock listeners out of their socks. Especially that one last reprise of (what I consider to be) the flying theme in this suite... WOW...

Shame that I can't use YouTube from where I am. Access to many of these social network type websites are restricted where I live. But I know on good grounds the Japanese do wonders when it comes for solo Piano pieces. People may not have heard of Hitoshi Sakimoto, but I think his piano works, particularly for Valkrya Chronicles are just amazing. "Beautiful Gallia" (麗しのガリア), "A Girl in the Battlefield" (戦場の少女), Fold of Heart (心のひだ), all from Valkrya Chronicles, are worth checking if anyone is curious about this composer. They shouldn't be too hard to find on YouTube I think.

Blu, yes, it is a non-metaphorical sequel to The Thin Red Line. In fact, a piece that got ripped off from The Thin Red Line, or rather Wagner's Lohengrin (end of The Way of the Sword is basically note for note end of Journey to the Line, if you compare) is an unused cue from Thin Red Line. You wouldn't have noticed that, had Hans not released his original Journey to the Line piece in the first place!

I much prefer what Delerue came up with to the final Zimmer score, though that one is very melodic. Zimmer has spoken of the rejection and he blames the situation on the director. As Justin pointed out on his website, Hans wanted to release the Delerue score alongside his and was refused it.

I just want to thank Atham for introducing me to this incredible work! It's stunning and the UN Forces theme is f__king awesome!

How to describe this score? well, the quote above says it all "...in every way you turn, this CD is a masterpiece!"

Highly recommended to all who love ballsy, purely symphonic, action packed, larger than life, thematic and deeply profound film music!

-Erik-

I'm weak.
I will strive to emulate your behavior Tim the man!

NP: The Greatest Miracle - Mark McKenzie

Yup... by far still the best score of the year!

EDIT - This score is unreal! There is no way a cue like "Angels, Demons and Prayer" would make it in a Hollywood film these days! I think it would be refreshing for film composers to take on smaller and/or more independent projects that would allow them to stretch their wings instead of having them clipped by the corporate big wigs that run the business now! My goodness this score is gorgeous!

I'm gonna have to resurrect my Mark McKenzie tribute show! More need to hear this man's brilliant music!

-Erik-

You've listened to it, right?

-Erik-

Ok... fair enough.

-Erik-