YOUR ALL TIME FAVOURITE FILM SCORE ALBUMS!!!

Monday again already! Time flies by!

^ da da daaaaa da da daaaaa da da daaaaa da da daaaaa


No. 32:

The Name of the Rose (1986) by James Horner

I believe that this was the second album by James Horner I owned, the first being Willow. My album - and I think there is no other version - is a German release (Teldec) that goes by the name Der Name der Rose.

Horner has written far better scores than this one, but - heck, I love the film. I LOVE the film and the novel, I adore Umberto Eco, both the writer and the philosopher.

In retrospect contracting James Horner for this German led European production seems a bit of a surprise. Ennio Morricone would have been the obvious choice imo. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud would later work with Horner on "Duel - Enemy at the Gate" and "Black Gold".

Have you see the film? One squence has burned itself into my memory: During the climactic events that conclude the film William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) escapes the fiery inferno of the burning library tower, cradling some precious books he could rescue. He looks out for his ward Atzon von Melk (Christian Slater), whom he fears to be dead. The facial expression, a study of terror, fatigue and desperation, reveals the character actor Connery in all his magnitude. Then they find each other and the tension lifts while mentor and disciple embrace. James Horner leads his dark and moody score into a melodic, organ-like melody, that is jet full of melancholy and a sense of loss.
"Epilogue" and "End Titles" are among those pieces of film music that mean most to me.

Volker

So, you really want to be le pisse garcon?

My list so far from 1 - 32

CONAN THE BARBARIAN - Poledouris
THE LION IN WINTER - Barry
KRULL - Horner
THE BIG COUNTRY - Moross
E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL - Williams
STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE - Goldsmith
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE - Barry
THE FINAL CONFLICT - Goldsmith
THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY - Morricone
LITTLE BUDDHA - Sakamoto
THE LAST VALLEY - Barry
SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC - Vaughan Williams
THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR - Legrand
THE THING - Morricone
WALKING WITH DINOSAURS / WALKING WITH BEASTS - Bartlett
STAR WARS - Williams
CHINATOWN - Goldsmith
HEAVY METAL - Bernstein
BULLIT - Schifrin
BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA - Kilar
STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK - Horner
ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. - Nascimbene
'BOOM!' - Barry
STARSHIP TROOPERS - Poledouris
RED PLANET - Revell
QUEST FOR FIRE - Sarde
FLASH GORDON - Queen / Blake
THE ROBE - A. Newman
THE BOURNE SUPREMACY - Powell
READY WHEN YOU ARE J.B. - Barry
THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS - Barry
ROCKY - Conti

Again I can't agree.
Tom

If I was asked in 1986/'87 who my favorite 3 composers are, at that time I'd say Jerry Goldsmith, Brian May and Richard Band.

There are 2 Goldsmith soundtracks in my current favorites list (with more Goldsmith faves dismissed from the Top 50), I mentioned a Brian May album weeks ago, and now here comes a lone Richard Band offering ...

#32: FROM BEYOND (1986) by Richard Band, on Enigma LP (also '86).

While never a person to appreciate gore in movies, I nonetheless have been drawn into the genres of the fantastic (sci-fi, horror, etc.) since teenage years because of the opportunity these genres lend to composers to create fantastic soundscapes.

In the mid-'80s, I was interested in the Band family's (Albert, Charles, Richard, etc.) Empire Pictures productions since they focused on the fantastic despite low budgets.

Band's soundtrack albums for TROLL and THE ALCHEMIST were some of my most frequently listened-to albums around those years, but I have since outgrown my interest in Richard Band and don't currently listen much to his music. Throughout the decades, another fave of mine - FROM BEYOND - has risen above Band's other film scores to emerge as my favorite. Indeed, I think of FROM BEYOND as the finest film score from 1986.

For years, I have been so accustomed to the LP program on Enigma Records that the expansion and re-mastering of FROM BEYOND on CD removes some of the aspects of the LP which I love so much.
Sure, I appreciate the additional music on the CD, but the CD sounds quite different.
Perhaps much reverb was added in the initial LP mastering, or maybe the CD preserves the sound of the original recording. Whichever mastering is the correct one, it's the Enigma version which is to my taste.

... and taste is certainly a deciding factor as to whether one will be receptive or not to FROM BEYOND.
FB is written for string orchestra, percussion and electronics - no woodwinds nor brass.
The instrumentation might telegraph "Bartok", but Band's soundsculpture, for once, does not sound like any other composer. No Herrmannesque RE-ANIMATOR rip-off here, and no carbon-copy Goldsmith either.

The electronic instruments are well-integrated into the overall aural fabric. FROM BEYOND does not suffer from electronics sounding as though tacked onto the acoustic instruments; the acoustic & electric create an organic whole.

Yet, FROM BEYOND is still an acquired taste and not recommended unless one is predisposed towards the outré.

I never cared much for Richard Band. In fact I don't think I have any full soundtrack scores by him at all.

I remember quite liking the film FROM BEYOND, but I'd swallow anything and everything H.P. Lovecraft based back in the day. I'm afraid I have no recollection of the score at all though I know that at that time I would have been taking note of the score as I did all films.

That's understandable. More often than not, Richard Band film scores would "quote" passages from soundtracks by A-list composers.
This - plus the low budget efforts Band's name got attached to - works against Band's status / reputation / etc.

To folks of a certain generation, though, Band soundtracks may have some following because we discovered his movie music prior to discovering the music of others. Band was one the composers whose works I pursued because his scores were coming out during my formative years as a beginning soundtrack collector and the type of movies Band scored were of primary interest to me.

Another score "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" that I would revisit much. I have it as a transfer.
Tom

My pick:

32. BEN HUR (Miklos Rozsa)

I've always had a soft spot for epic/historical/mythological films, and this is certainly one of the cornerstones in that genre. I've had the film in multiple formats, but I only got the soundtrack in the mid 90s after having warmed to the composer's sound on a Silva Screen compilation called THE EPIC FILM MUSIC OF MIKLOS ROZSA or some such thing. It was the Rhino/TCM single-disc edition with the original tracks. While the biblical music -- especially in the beginning ("Star of Bethlehem" or "Adoration of the Magicians") -- is drop-dead gorgeous, some of the action music can become a bit grating and intense at times, mostly because Rozsa often uses these dense, chromatic clusters of sound in the brass. For example, I don't think I've ever managed to sit through the "block" of rowing/sea battle tracks in the middle of the album.

So if I had sought out the album today, it would probably be an earlier or later rerecording, done in suite format. Certainly not the extended version, even though it contains more of the lovely religious stuff.

Ben Hur is a classic.
Tom

Yeah, as I said earlier -- I would probably have picked up an album like that instead at the time if I had known about it.

But back in the mid 90s, the A&A vs. C&C phenomenon wasn't as widespread, so I basically just fell in love with Rozsa's religious sound on that Silva compilation, found the TCM CD with the name BEN HUR on it in a discount bin and picked it up. I have never bothered to replace it.

Yeah, I have the suite, but I never got the whole soundtrack. Is the whole thing worth having, or does that represent the music fairly well? I'm always curious about more Delerue, especially in that vein.

I see.

The trouble is always the suspense tracks with Delerue. He doesn't know how to do it, at least not in a way I find satisfying. That's what drags albums like AGNES OF GOD and BLACK ROBE down, despite the gorgeous religioso tracks. So I thought maybe the same thing was true for this.