[Closed] Now Playing XLII

YES!!!!!!

I have probably covered this several times before but it seems appropriate to air it here again!

My first exposure to Williams' Star Wars was in the autumn of 1977 when Meco released in the UK their "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" single. I can't remember how this release relates to the release of the 2 LP Star Wars album but I do remember getting Williams' score as a Christmas present on cassette (along with a mono-speakered portable cassette player). And I do remember being surprised that the music was not like the version I had heard from Meco - I think that I was very naive about soundtrack releases back then. I may already have listened to Geoff Love's LP with Psycho, Earthquake, Death Wish, The Executioner, etc before that Christmas (but the chronology is a bit woolly from back then) so I knew that these compilations were around, but I don't think that I realised until that point that you could buy albums with original soundtrack music on it.

Film soundtracks were very rare in Falkirk as it was some time later - perhaps the summer of 1978 - when I came across a vinyl version of the score whilst on holiday on Skye. And I duly bought it but had to wait until we got back home before I could listen to it.

I listen to some of the tracks every now and then and I cannot believe how different film music is today compared to the lean awesomeness that is Star Wars.

Funnily enough I just finished a listen to John Carter myself. I love this one.

Jerry Goldsmith - Under Fire

A plain masterpiece.

I like FIRST KNIGHT (then again, 90's Goldsmith is my favourite Goldsmith), but beyond a highlight or two, it isn't all that which people make it out to be. A bit too bombastic for my taste; a bit too many perfunctory action cues etc.

THE PAGEMASTER - JAMES HORNER

One of those big thematic fun rides from 90s Horner, which could hardly do wrong.

TITANIC - JAMES HORNER

I was watching the James Cameron documentary 'Ghosts of the Abyss' earlier and evidently it inspired me to give this another whirl right after. As always I'm taken away by the beauty and excitement this score provides. Nothing he has done the last 10 years can touch this IMO.

I am not a HUGE fan of Titanic myself, even if I actually own the score on CD. I used to hate it when it was first released, it took me a lot of listening to Horner and Titanic itself to start liking it, but yeah. I very much prefer Enemy at the Gates (a heavily underrated work, I think), The Four Feathers, The Missing and Avatar to this one. Also his Zorro scores.

John Williams - Memoirs of a Geisha

One of my all-time favourites from the man. I just love the theme and how he restrains himself just to get to the beautiful Confluence in the end. Beautiful, even if understated, thematic material, great and subtle inclusion of Far Eastern instruments (not so subtle in the brilliant Brush on Silk, which I'm on now) and general restraint makes it a very well-rounded listen for this lover of more intellectual approach to film music.

Interesting, the last four cues on the album are pure brilliance. Granted, took me a while to get used to Dr. Crab's Prize, but A New Name is also cool and what he does with the opera and combining it with Part-like strings in The Fire Scene and the Coming of War is also quite something.

Bliss - Jan A.P. Kaczmarek

MASTERPIECE!

Planet Earth- Fenton

Some beautiful music here, great orchestrations.

A very good in depth review Jordi, well done

Thank you!

I learned english thanks to the attacks I recieved all these years in the forums.
So I expect the same thing with my reviews. So if you find something wrong with them, just tell me!

I have to admit, I did find 30 minutes of Jablonsky's score for Battleship worth listening to. The rest is just ear-splitting noise. So I may come down on the side of Jordi's assessment of the score rather than James'.

Snap, Crackle, Pop... Rice Krispies!

-Erik-