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  1. christopher wrote
    CIVILIZATION VI - Geoff Knorr

    This is just as enjoyable to me as his work on the BEYOND EARTH games. The album is much too long, but it is interesting the way they did the score on this one. They've got a theme for each location in the game and four variations (ancient, medieval, industrial, and atomic) based on how developed that civilization is in the game. Thankfully, not all four variations for every civilization are included on the album (or it would have needed a third disc!), and I think you easily cut half of them and get this down to really strong album. Something like this:

    1. Spain (The Industrial Era)
    2. France (The Industrial Era)
    3. Germany (The Industrial Era)
    4. Norway (The Atomic Era)
    5. Russia (The Medieval Era)
    6. England (The Industrial Era)
    7. America (The Industrial Era)
    8. Egypt (The Industrial Era)
    9. China (The Industrial Era)
    10. Greece (The Industrial Era)
    11. India (The Industrial Era)
    12. Japan (The Industrial Era)
    13. Sumeria (The Atomic Era)

    It would clock in at about 54:12, and give you a good representation of the different themes. Each track is very self-contained. They often begin softly and build to a big level (the kind of level you'd expect from this team for this game series), and then resolve, often getting quieter again. It's kind of like a trailer music album, except that the music isn't dialed to a 10 the whole time, and the compositional quality is, on average, higher here.


    you should listen to the main theme of Christopher Tin. Just stunning. shocked
    I love this album too. Took about 16 tracks from the selection for my listening experience.
    waaaaaahhhhhhhh!!! Where's my nut? arrrghhhhhhh
    •  
      CommentAuthorWashu
    • CommentTimeJan 6th 2017
    Hidden Figures - Hans Zimmer, Benjamin Wallfisch and Pharrell Williams

    It is pretty good. It barely earns 3 stars. Annoying wordless choir though, but still pretty cool at times. This is mainly a Wallfisch score, Zimmer did not do much in here which is why he removed his name from the Oscar ballot for the score. Much better than Batman v Superman obviously, but not more than a pretty solid entry for Zimmer (even if he didn't do that much in here).
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeJan 6th 2017
    Washu wrote
    Hidden Figures - Hans Zimmer, Benjamin Wallfisch and Pharrell Williams

    It is pretty good. It barely earns 3 stars. Annoying wordless choir though, but still pretty cool at times. This is mainly a Wallfisch score, Zimmer did not do much in here which is why he removed his name from the Oscar ballot for the score. Much better than Batman v Superman obviously, but not more than a pretty solid entry for Zimmer (even if he didn't do that much in here).


    Looking forward to sampling this! Love Wallfisch, love Zimmer, love Pharrell. I don't see how this could fail.
    I am extremely serious.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeJan 6th 2017 edited
    NP: GAGARIN: FIRST IN SPACE (George Kallis)

    One of my Top 10 scores from 2013. Bold and muscular, but always thematically driven. What happened to Kallis?
    I am extremely serious.
    •  
      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeJan 6th 2017
    Thor wrote
    Washu wrote
    Hidden Figures - Hans Zimmer, Benjamin Wallfisch and Pharrell Williams

    It is pretty good. It barely earns 3 stars. Annoying wordless choir though, but still pretty cool at times. This is mainly a Wallfisch score, Zimmer did not do much in here which is why he removed his name from the Oscar ballot for the score. Much better than Batman v Superman obviously, but not more than a pretty solid entry for Zimmer (even if he didn't do that much in here).


    Looking forward to sampling this! Love Wallfisch, love Zimmer, love Pharrell. I don't see how this could fail.

    Hmm. It failed for me. Not so interesting as a standalone listen, but I'm sure it pushes all the right buttons in the movie that seems to be the big Oscar candidate. It's very light but also very anonymous. I mean, the piano melody could come from a romantic comedy. Only the voices and choir perhaps create an element to make it stand out a bit more. Zimmer is all there in Katherine Calculates for example (Da Vinci Code). The final track could be from Spanglish or something.
    Kazoo
    •  
      CommentAuthorWashu
    • CommentTimeJan 6th 2017 edited
    Bregt wroteHmm. It failed for me. Not so interesting as a standalone listen, but I'm sure it pushes all the right buttons in the movie that seems to be the big Oscar candidate. It's very light but also very anonymous. I mean, the piano melody could come from a romantic comedy. Only the voices and choir perhaps create an element to make it stand out a bit more. Zimmer is all there in Katherine Calculates for example (Da Vinci Code). The final track could be from Spanglish or something.

    I don't consider it completely mediocre, slighly above that. Plenty of Zimmer touches here and there and some stuff is clearly written by Zimmer and then taken further for orchestra and completed by Wallfisch so I wouldn't call it very anonymous, pretty anonymous though, yes, and it is almost Thomas Newman-like at places as well.

    Of course it isn't completely good and interesting, but it isn't as uneaven and weak as Batman v Superman even if that one is much more distinctively Zimmer (not surprisingly - he had way more input there).
  2. Thor wrote
    NP: GAGARIN: FIRST IN SPACE (George Kallis)

    One of my Top 10 scores from 2013. Bold and muscular, but always thematically driven. What happened to Kallis?

    I like his score from last year, 93 Days, a lot.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
  3. Thomas Glorieux wrote
    you should listen to the main theme of Christopher Tin. Just stunning. shocked
    I love this album too. Took about 16 tracks from the selection for my listening experience.


    I did not even realize that this existed! Why wouldn't you put the main theme on the album?!? It's good. I do wish he had done a little more with the choir than just having them sing in unison, but I liked the theme, and the cue from the opening movie, of course, which uses the theme. Thanks for pointing this out!
  4. christopher wrote
    Thomas Glorieux wrote
    you should listen to the main theme of Christopher Tin. Just stunning. shocked
    I love this album too. Took about 16 tracks from the selection for my listening experience.


    I did not even realize that this existed! Why wouldn't you put the main theme on the album?!? It's good. I do wish he had done a little more with the choir than just having them sing in unison, but I liked the theme, and the cue from the opening movie, of course, which uses the theme. Thanks for pointing this out!


    My selection

    01 - A New Course (Opening Movie)
    02 - Rome (The Industrial Era)
    03 - Spain (The Industrial Era)
    04 - France (The Industrial Era)
    05 - Norway (The Atomic Era)
    06 - America (The Industrial Era)
    07 - America (The Atomic Era)
    08 - India (The Industrial Era)
    09 - Russia (The Atomic Era)
    10 - Brazil (The Atomic Era)
    11 - Egypt (The Industrial Era)
    12 - China (The Industrial Era)
    13 - China (The Atomic Era)
    14 - Kongo (The Atomic Era)
    15 - Greece (The Industrial Era)
    16 - India (The Atomic Era)
    17 - Sogno di Volare (The Dream of Flight)
    waaaaaahhhhhhhh!!! Where's my nut? arrrghhhhhhh
    •  
      CommentAuthorWashu
    • CommentTimeJan 6th 2017
    Brimstone - Junkie XL

    Yeah, this is dull as dishwater - mostly generic ambience and generic Barberian string writing that is pretending to be great when it is the opposite of that, urgh so jarring, cheesy and tasteless. The most cheesy thing I have heard since Michael Giacchino's Rogue One (aside from some of the over the top wordless voices heard in Hidden Figures). Yet another poor Junkie XL score. Distance Between Dreams was a much better score (probably his best with Mad Max: Fury Road) despite its relative unevenness and adherence to commercial electronica. Say what you will about Mica Levi's Jackie, but at least it wasn't a total bore and cheesy and keep in mind that I am a HUGE fan of ambient music.

    I predict most will praise this one because of the string writing, but urgh, it is so damn cheesy and especially when he also adds the voices, he seems to be saying 'I am epic and profound, listen to me!', blargh. The string writing in Mad Max works well enough for what it is but here it is just overdone and also is just too of it much with not anywhere near enough variety in the writing (which is never interesting to begin with), it also oversteps frequently and becomes cheesy, but as previously noted it just drones on forever basically. Watching paint dry is more fun than waiting for the generic string writing to break the ambience here. Skip this dreary effort and have a listen to Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings instead which this is highly derivative of (if not more at times) perhaps most prominently in the cue titled 'Genesis' 2 minutes and 15 seconds in which is pretty much a straight rip off of the Barber adagio, but bits and pieces of the adagio can be heard pretty much all over the place. Why focus on Barber (which he already did in Mad Max), why couldn't he pick another and lesser known source to at least make it a bit more interesting? Why must it almost always be a mainstream source that we all know?
  5. Thomas Glorieux wrote
    christopher wrote
    Thomas Glorieux wrote
    you should listen to the main theme of Christopher Tin. Just stunning. shocked
    I love this album too. Took about 16 tracks from the selection for my listening experience.


    I did not even realize that this existed! Why wouldn't you put the main theme on the album?!? It's good. I do wish he had done a little more with the choir than just having them sing in unison, but I liked the theme, and the cue from the opening movie, of course, which uses the theme. Thanks for pointing this out!


    My selection

    01 - A New Course (Opening Movie)
    02 - Rome (The Industrial Era)
    03 - Spain (The Industrial Era)
    04 - France (The Industrial Era)
    05 - Norway (The Atomic Era)
    06 - America (The Industrial Era)
    07 - America (The Atomic Era)
    08 - India (The Industrial Era)
    09 - Russia (The Atomic Era)
    10 - Brazil (The Atomic Era)
    11 - Egypt (The Industrial Era)
    12 - China (The Industrial Era)
    13 - China (The Atomic Era)
    14 - Kongo (The Atomic Era)
    15 - Greece (The Industrial Era)
    16 - India (The Atomic Era)
    17 - Sogno di Volare (The Dream of Flight)


    Very good smile
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeJan 6th 2017 edited
    Washu wrote
    Brimstone - Junkie XL

    Yeah, this is dull as dishwater - mostly generic ambience and generic Barberian string writing that is pretending to be great when it is the opposite of that, urgh so jarring, cheesy and tasteless. The most cheesy thing I have heard since Michael Giacchino's Rogue One (aside from some of the over the top wordless voices heard in Hidden Figures). Yet another poor Junkie XL score. Distance Between Dreams was a much better score (probably his best with Mad Max: Fury Road) despite its relative unevenness and adherence to commercial electronica. Say what you will about Mica Levi's Jackie, but at least it wasn't a total bore and cheesy and keep in mind that I am a HUGE fan of ambient music.

    I predict most will praise this one because of the string writing, but urgh, it is so damn cheesy and especially when he also adds the voices, he seems to be saying 'I am epic and profound, listen to me!', blargh. The string writing in Mad Max works well enough for what it is but here it is just overdone and also is just too of it much with not anywhere near enough variety in the writing (which is never interesting to begin with), it also oversteps frequently and becomes cheesy, but as previously noted it just drones on forever basically. Watching paint dry is more fun than waiting for the generic string writing to break the ambience here. Skip this dreary effort and have a listen to Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings instead which this is highly derivative of (if not more at times) perhaps most prominently in the cue titled 'Genesis' 2 minutes and 15 seconds in which is pretty much a straight rip off of the Barber adagio, but bits and pieces of the adagio can be heard pretty much all over the place. Why focus on Barber (which he already did in Mad Max), why couldn't he pick another and lesser known source to at least make it a bit more interesting? Why must it almost always be a mainstream source that we all know?


    Wow, talk about a different reaction than mine. I was just about to post here how STUNNING this score is, as I'm listening to it now. Barber? Sure. But by GOD (literally), how gorgeous. I wouldn't be surprised if this is going to stick with me as a favourite all through the year.

    (we do agree on DISTANCE BETWEEN DREAMS, though -- one of the very best scores of 2016).
    I am extremely serious.
  6. Wow, talk about a different reaction than mine.


    At this point, Thor, this shouldn't be a "wow" moment for you. It should be standard every day stuff.
    The views and opinions of Ford A. Thaxton are his own and do not necessarily reflect the ones of ANYONE else.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeJan 6th 2017 edited
    True, but I wouldn't be surprised if Washu's reaction is actually the exception in this case. Check it out on Spotify if you can, Justin. Unless, of course, you've already made up your mind that you won't like it because I do.
    I am extremely serious.
  7. I don't think it's on Spotify yet in the US. I can't find it, anyway.

    NP - EL OLIVO - Pascal Gaigne

    Very nice little score.
    •  
      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2017
    Thor wrote
    Unless, of course, you've already made up your mind that you won't like it because I do.


    Well, it DOES tend to be a bit of a 100% hit rate indicator these days... wink
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
    • CommentAuthorJosh B
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2017
    Dances with Wolves - John Barry

    I'm not familiar with this or the vast majority of Barry's work. After just the first cue, I know I need to delve deeper.
  8. Josh B wrote
    Dances with Wolves - John Barry

    I'm not familiar with this or the vast majority of Barry's work. After just the first cue, I know I need to delve deeper.


    Everyone seems to have their own personal Barry tastes, but if you loved this, I'd recommend "Somewhere in Time" and possibly his replacement score to "The Scarlet Letter" (which has hints of DwW).
    The views and opinions of Ford A. Thaxton are his own and do not necessarily reflect the ones of ANYONE else.
  9. Josh B wrote
    Dances with Wolves - John Barry

    I'm not familiar with this or the vast majority of Barry's work. After just the first cue, I know I need to delve deeper.


    That score is a masterpiece! So many themes, and all of them gorgeous. Timmer may be the biggest Barry fan on earth. I'm sure he can give you far more recommendations than you'd like, but I second the two scores Justin mentioned. What did you think of the rest of Dances With Wolves?
    • CommentAuthorJosh B
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2017


    That score is a masterpiece! So many themes, and all of them gorgeous. Timmer may be the biggest Barry fan on earth. I'm sure he can give you far more recommendations than you'd like, but I second the two scores Justin mentioned. What did you think of the rest of Dances With Wolves?


    I need to give it a few more listens. I started to get burnt out about halfway through (as I usually do with long releases, and this isn't even the complete one). I often find myself wishing that Barry would play around with more complicated harmonies but I guess that's not his style. Some of the themes are gorgeous.
    • CommentAuthorTimmer
    • CommentTimeJan 8th 2017
    If you're looking for complicated harmonies Josh then Barry is the wrong place to listen and not where his genius lies. If you want some recommendations I'm happy to give them.
    On Friday I ate a lot of dust and appeared orange near the end of the day ~ Bregt
    • CommentAuthorJosh B
    • CommentTimeJan 8th 2017
    Timmer wrote
    If you're looking for complicated harmonies Josh then Barry is the wrong place to listen and not where his genius lies. If you want some recommendations I'm happy to give them.


    Sure, I'd like to give him more of a shot. smile

    (Listening to my 90s Goldsmith playlist right now.)
  10. Did you listen to the expanded or the commercial album, which, in this case, I prefer.

    Volker
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
  11. NP: The Mists of Avalon (2001) - Lee Holdridge

    One of my enduring favourite scores. It never fails to touch me.
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
  12. NP: Zulu (1964) - John Barry

    From the Walkabout/Zulu re-recording. Talk about an addictive main theme!
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeJan 8th 2017
    NP: FIREFLIES IN THE GARDEN (Jane Antonia Cornish)

    Nice, airy score for a film I haven't seen. Lots of stars, though.
    I am extremely serious.
    •  
      CommentAuthorSouthall
    • CommentTimeJan 8th 2017
    Lost - Season One Giacchino

    Been years since I listened to any of these. This is really good.
    • CommentAuthorJosh B
    • CommentTimeJan 9th 2017
    Captain Future wrote
    Did you listen to the expanded or the commercial album, which, in this case, I prefer.

    Volker


    Not the recent complete release but the one before that, over seventy minutes long.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeJan 9th 2017 edited
    NP: MAN OF STEEL (Hans Zimmer)

    I love this score; the big and bombastic (with these HUGE interval leaps), but especially the more intimate, reflective material. A hundred times more appealing than the noisefest that was Bats vs. Supes (although I managed to boil that down to a very good, 38-minute listening experience too).
    I am extremely serious.
  13. NP: Man of Steel (2013) - Hans Zimmer

    It's a really good score. When it was first released it's reception IMO was damaged by two things:
    - The absolute ridiculous promotion campaign surrounding it.
    - The looming shadow of Williams' '78 score that determined what people expected to listen to, consciously or not.

    Volker
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.