[Closed] Now Playing - Part XIV

The longer this discussion endures, the more I think that it will lead nowhere, since both (or three now?) sides are right. Of course complete scores help to identify which scores are magnifient as a whole, while on the other hand, nothing´s wrong about enjoying an album made of 45 minutes of the best music of a score.

There is one point, however: What exactly is a great score?

I think we all agree that a score which, over its full course, is full of rich themes, variations of them, great action music, gorgeous moments of romance and drama, and a satisfying end credit suite comes very close to what most people would define as a damn fine listening experience. But that says nothing about whether such hind of score was actually good for the movie or not.

A score´s task is what helps a movie to sell its mood. Therefore a great score is something that helps the movie to reach a higher level of emotional existence by the music alone. But that doesn´t necessarily mean that those 90 or 120 minutes of score are actually a good listening experience.
A great horror score will enhance the mood by all kinds of music that would kill most people´s nerves when experienced out of context.

So in the end I believe that any kind of judgement has to be devided between three seperate entities: The score within the movie, the complete score without the movie, and the edited score album.

Which totally kills off the point I made some months ago, where I said within the top3-topic you just should decide whether you like what a composer created for a movie or not. The problem is obviously far more complex than I originally thought.

So, what to make out of it. I think people are perfectly able to decide between a short edit and the complete work, but to judge a score, I think both of those versions are equally unsuited. You can just decide which one makes a better listening experience. But to say whether a score really works or not, there is only one way to judge that: Listen to it within the context it was written for. With the movie. Anything else is just about listening experiences.

Do people find listening to more "boring" music a lot easier when they've seen the film and at least know what it accompanies? I sure do.

I do to.

But the key word is "easier".

Not really in my case but I think this is what separates film music listeners into two different groups (as with all these things, of course some people straddle the two) - one group who listen to it because they really do think it's great music; and other other half who listen to it because it's some kind of souvenir of the film.

NP:Speed Racer (Giacchino)

Fuc_ing amazing!!!!

I can't believe what im listneing in the last tracks!

Pay it Forward - Thomas Newman

A good continuation of the American Beauty sound world, for a pretty lousy film.

No, not at all. Good music is good music no matter what and if it sometimes helps gain more meaning when you watch the film they accompany, still good music should make sense no matter what. Even for those....."boring" scores as you say - although i deeply disagree with that term, genius work like UNITED 93 made sense all the way and moved me even before i watched the slightest bit off the movie. Of course it's always a matter of personal tastes, experiences and musical data as well.

They're enhanced. That doesn't mean music outside the film is no good.

It's indeed quite a brilliant musical collection there. Overall though, i believe that the whole season 3 along with the helicopter landing on the boat motif of season 4 hold the most spectacular material Giacchino wrote for the show so far, this not dismissing the breathtaking Rose and Bernard and Hurley's Handouts from season 2.

I can't think of a single soundtrack album I've enjoyed more after seeing the film. It's either good music, or it's not.

Odd, I can think of many. I thought it was a natural thing to understand (and therefore enjoy) the music more after seeing the film - I still think that. You're just... special I guess.

Well, there are times when I thought "what the hell is this all about?" when listening to a CD, and then I see the film and understand. That doesn't make me think bad music is suddenly good, though. Perhaps you're right - I'm just special.

I am indeed waiting for the OST of Speed Racer just to get better sound quality. Then I will enjoy it.

I think what I'm saying is that sometimes (perhaps, virtually all the time) you can understand or appreciate a soundtrack album better after seeing the film, but it can't turn music which just doesn't work on an album into music which does - at least not, if you're listening to it for music's sake, rather than in an attempt to be reminded of the film.

Now this is one where admittedly my perception of the music changed after seeing the film. I just can't listen to it now, so vacuous a film score is it. Laughably bad.