[Closed] Now Playing XLVI

I love it too (the original Varese, of course) -- one of the rare times I enjoy a horror-type score -- the only thing I'm not too keen on is the stingers.

NP: Thor: The Dark World - Brian Tyler

More entertaining than I expected. Tyler somehow continues to make each new, copy and paste score sound a little bit fresh. Just about as enjoyable as the first Thor score. Tyler's improved orchestrations of the past couple years have really revitalized his career.

NP: Aliens (1987) - James Horner
VS Deluxe Edition

Everything has already been said. Awsome!

Volker

The Hobbit 2.1: The Smog of The Two Towers Returns Howard Shore

What a vast improvement over the first score! Not that the first score was bad, but I can't help but be reminded of a comment by the ever astute Mr. McLennan that when A is happening on screen, A is happening in the music. This is of course true of all the Middle Earth scores, but it was perhaps more evident and plain (in both senses of the word) in the first Hobbit score with very little to redeem it (in stark contrast to the many wonderful themes in the Rings trilogy).

There's a surprisingly different feel to parts of this score, parts I would probably not have thought came from Shore's Middle Earth (which is a good thing; it's different!). I wonder if that has anything to do with Conrad Pope's involvement? I seem to recall a comment in this thread that he had worked on the score.

That said, fuck these two disc releases. There's far too much music here to make an enjoyable and satisfying listen all the way through. I think a 60 minute, perhaps even less, would more than suffice. A great album is waiting to be found in amongst these two discs.

Just realized that [spoiler]Silvestri's Captain America theme gets quoted in this score. [/spoiler] I think that's the first instance of thematic continuity between multiple Marvel films. Its about time. Hope it continues into Avengers 2.

Yes, the Captain America theme...but oddly not Doyle's own Thor theme. I guess it would have been too much to ask Tyler to write an entire score based around it, but it's far superior to the four chords of pop thingy we got.

Yes. Exactly. I understand these chords will likely always get used and there's little point in throwing my arms up in a nerd rage each time I hear them, but if you're going to try to pass them off as a main theme with very little else going on (seriously, even the melody itself is bland), then I think that's fair to criticise the composer for it. Tyler's Thor 2 theme is essentially a parody of itself.

Oddly, I love JNH's version of them in his main theme for Lady In The Water. Without sounding too hypocritical, I think he gets away with it given the shear beauty of the orchestrations, the melody itself, the fact that he doesn't just repeat the chords ad infinitum (i.e. rather than going G, C, F, A and repeat, I think it goes something like G, C, F, A, C, A - perhaps not those exact chords, but certainly in structure) and that there's so much more going on in the score as whole than something like Thor 2. He doesn't just throw them in because he had a brain freeze, but rather they're used in a genuinely thought out and artistic way. (A similar analogy could be made for Building The Crate from Chicken Run.)

...but apart from that, I hate them.

Yes! Astutely put.

You mean it sounded too much like the film?

Sorry, I thought I was being nice to people who hadn't seen the film.

Yeah, something like that.

(the film, incidentally, is one of my alltime favourite films -- goes to show how different my experience of films and soundtracks are).

Quantum of Solace David Arnold

For me, Arnold and Powell are the kings of modern action music... or at least they would be if Arnold actually worked on more films and Powell wasn't obsessed with kid-friendly animation.

Anyway. I think the best thing about this score is that there is no HORN OF DOOM.

I agree. It's a fun score, very entertaining. I also like that the banjo plays the lead in so many tracks and main theme. Not often used in (super) hero scores. And the rock song approach often is great. Love the Mojo Trip! :p

NP: Escape From The Dark - Ron Goodwin

When I heard Quartet Records -what a great outfit they are, by the way! One of my favourite European publishers of the odd and neglected!- was releasing a score from Ron Goodwin (!) that was brass only (!!!) it was pretty much an instantaneous buy for me!

Yeah, it's not a style for everyone, but I hugely enjoy a good brass performance, and in the crossover with film music you can do no wrong, Brassed Off and Ground Force being oft-revisited favourites of mine.
Speaking of the former: this entire score is performed by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, who also did such a sterling (heh) job with the brass band pieces in Brassed Off.

This is very recognisable as a Goodwin score, as even in a 1976 Disney kiddie flick (as I think this is), it's chocfull of strong themes with a clear heroic slant (although the all-out war time heroism of so many of his war movies is obviously toned down a bit).

An odd beast orchestrally, this as I can't for the life of me get why it's brass only (probably something to do with the film's story I do not know?), but as a listening experience it works a treat! Goodwin has that uncanny knack of weaving melodies, themes and emotion quite seamlessly, and he simply does his magic again here. And the brass band's performance is absolutely top notch!