[Closed] Now Playing XXXI

It gets better when Buck's new theme comes into it. And the end credits = wow!

it's got bagpipes too

Gorgeous score! One of his best. Thinking about it, that historical triumvirate he did of Lion in Winter, Last Valley and MQOS is pretty remarkable.

Hmmm.... because each track has good quality sound and i just play it on 1500 Watts speaker and i can feel groundbreaking effect. That's why i called this groundbreaking score. Do you get it?

NP: Pom Poko - Hassou Gakudan aka Shang Shang Typhoon

Weird and funny, yet emotional in some way...

One of the funny things about this score is, apparently it was designed to make Japanese people nostalgic. It features instruments which many Japanese kids learned at school (harmonica, xylophone, and this thing which I don't know the proper English name) and instruments used by street noodle sellers , while quoting traditional songs and old children's songs... And of course it has lots of Japanese traditional sounds, especially festival music which cheer us up.

So I'm curious what people from other countries will think. Anyone heard it?


I also love piano pieces The Life Of Tanukis and Epilogue, not so special but very lovely.

We call it pianica or melodion, but those names are TMed by Yamaha and Kawai I heard its "neutral" name is kenban-harmonica (kenban = keys), which nobody uses except textbooks

NP: Amelie ~ Yann Tiersen

Sweet, relaxing and filled with beautiful melodies. Ideal for a hot summer day... like a cool breeze.

I call that digging yourself out of a tight spot.

And very well done too!

NP: You Must Remember This Too

Gregg Nestor's guitar (and company) rendition of several Golden Era score classics.
Building squarely on his first Miklos Rozsa tribute album, this new album tackles Newman, Korngold, Rozsa and others in a similar vein. Being a lifelong fan of the acoustic guitar, this, like the first album, is a wonderful amalgam of two favourites coming together: film music and guitar.

The arrangements are very good in a mostly neo-Romantic fashion (reminding me often of Todesco or Villa-Lobos!). The choice of pieces to transfer to guitar is -logically- generally limited to the more melodic/traditional of musical pieces (dances like bourrées or pavannes or love themes lend themselves of course wonderfully to this medium), but the album holds a few surprises: the opening of Gold's It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World (the original being a very fifties' madcap semi-Mancini-esque flourish) is handled quite delicately, and Tiomkin's A President's Country (the original being a thunderous orchestral potpourri of Tiomkin western themes) is now a rather more introspective suite, even though its western roots are still acknowledged by the inclusion of David McKelvy's harmonica playing. All involved are clearly having a ball with the source material.
The only complaint on the latter piece: the whip sound is mixed in quite loudly, actually making me jump!.

But the highlight of the CD, as Tom has also already remarked upon, must be the Psycho suite, which has to be heard to be believed. Its effectiveness is extremely unexpected, and the arrangement gobsmackingly clever.

This is a GREAT CD, which is very easy to revisit and even slip on during an evening with friends or family who aren't into film music! I wonder how many will be charmed by the combination of themes half-buried in the subconscious and the bewitching sound of the acoustic guitar.

I seriously considered that one Martijn, unfortunately I'm having to tighten my wallet at the moment.

I think it'll be around for some time to come.

Jurassic Park (John Williams)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh... One of the all-time greats. Truly magnificent from begin to end. Doesn't this have one of the best main themes that came out of John's pen? I'd like to think so... The performance of the main theme here always gets the fluids in my eyes, with the soft choir just sending shivers up the spine. The suspense / action music is also of very high quality, of a level he has not achieved this decade, and probably won't again. This is perhaps his last all-round brilliant score, featuring all the elements we've come to love in John's music: classy themes, pure emotion, plenty of chills and thrills, the awe and wonder we experience when watching the film. This score just gets me soaring to high heaven each and every time...

Love 'Under Fire', synths and all.

A true Goldsmith classic.

Changed to..

NP:Medicine man (Goldsmith)

If I want sudaca (south american) Goldsmithian music, This is my favourite choice.

The main theme really captures the beauty of the trees and the landscapes, the action is great Total Recall-esque, and the synth is catchy but sometimes it is really mind blowing (first morning).

the whole score is fresh!

NP: Dracula A.D. 1972 - Mike Vickers

Hmmm...aside from a funky main theme it's less fun than I seem to remember.
It doesn't help that the orchestra is roughly the same size as that for a seventies TV show, and the entire album s in mono.

It's a different kind of horror score to be sure, but not different or interesting enough to make it in any way outstanding.