Movie/TV/Game Scores Through The Ages - Alan's Personal Favourites

He did what Mancini did which was to create arrangements of the themes that were easy on the ears. I think he had the same producer as Hank

You wouldn't have gone for Barry's GOLDFINGER?

...oh, hang on

I prefer From Russia With Love on the whole, but there's no getting around the classic status of Goldfinger. I think this is where Barry really came into his own on the Bond sound (which, unfortunately, I'm not too crazy about. )

Incidentally, I have a sneaky suspicion what Alan's choice for 1966 will be.
(I guess he's just waiting so long because he's unsure how to sell it to us )

You surely mean Shirley Bassey?

Things are hard enough without having to agree with peoples' expectations too!!

1966 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Ennio Morricone

I don't need to "sell" this one! Just take a listen to the CD and just believe!! I know that David did.

From the first "wah-wah" it's a score that's just so good that it defined more than any other the spaghetti western sound to a wider audience. Everyone knows the main theme and the frequently mentioned tracks such as "The Ecstasy of Gold" and (to a lesser extent) "The Trio" - operatic in scale and Leone saw how Morricone's music was clearly enough to carry the drama.

But there's also the more emotionally charged passages too - passages that are not as famous - but are pure brilliance: "The Sunset", "The Desert", "The Death of A Soldier" & "Father Ramirez" all spring immediately to mind.

Morricone had a good year in '66 with several other notable score: La Resa dei Conti and Navajo Joe.

Mario Nascimbene's score for One Million Years BC would probably be chosen if it had appeared in any of the years either side of 1966 and ticks many of the boxes filled by the score I ended up chosing.

Jerry Goldsmith begins to make a name for himself in cinema, with The Sand Pebbles edging out The Blue Max in my book.

And I can't end this year without mentioning the music written for the original Star Trek TV show. Alexander Courage's original pilot and episodes such as "Shore Leave", "The Corbomite Maneuver" and especially "Charlie X" are full of wonderful tracks.

A very good year!

NP: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Ennio Morricone

Thor -

No complaints here either (mostly because, well, it's your list). And I'm not even that much of a fan of this score! I guess that makes me a bit weird...

I'd choose The Blue Max, but then I'm not very familiar with many '66 scores.

...according to imdb.com The Big Gundown was released in Spain in 1966, West Germany 1967 and USA 1969! And One Million Years BC was released in the US in 1967.

1966 was also the year of BLOW-UP, Antonioni's arguably best film. It had lots of swingin' 60's tunes (by the likes of Herbie Hancock), but is one of the most important films in history to use SILENCE and LACK OF MUSIC.

The Sand Pebbles would have been my choice

Didn't know about the use of lack of music in this movie as I've not seen the film. But there are 2-3 tracks that I really enjoy and they're a nice change to the full-blown orchestral score tracks I hear when they appear on my "favourites" playlist.

Now THAT's the truth.

1967 - You Only Live Twice - John Barry

There was no real doubt that this would be my choice for this year - probably my favourite Bond score that delivers the whole package. A great title song, the Bond space music, great action sequences, really emotional tracks and a oriental colour to the score that just tops it off nicely.

I've gone on about this score several times already when the opportunity arises. Looking at what was available before the score was expanded, I have to say that the shorter version was almost perfect and expanding it didn't really add much to what was already available. A great score.

A couple of scores that I wanted to mention here that I have difficulty enjoying but they're more fascinating rather than enjoyable: Gary McFarland's Eye of The Devil (with it's delicate harp passages & it's off-balance feel) and Henry Mancini's Wait Until Dark with that weird prepared piano (ala Elfman's Red Dragon).

And on the TV front, composers such as Sol Kaplan, Jerry Fielding and Fred Steiner are still producing quality Star Trek scores.

My pick would be Simon & Garfunkle's THE GRADUATE, not only because it's such an important score, historically, but also because there are some damn fine songs there that work both on album and very effectively in the film.