YOUR ALL TIME FAVOURITE FILM SCORE ALBUMS!!!

Well I agree Captain. Excellent film and a superb score.

I've not seen Europa Report yet.

I want to see it. It looks like my kind of film.

OK, Timmer posted his 9th, so I'm permitted to continue according to unwritten online etiquette.

My 9th, though, is something from way before anything online!

#9: THE BAD SEED (1956) by Alex North, on RCA Victor monaural vinyl LP.

I started to collect soundtrack LPs in earnest around 1985 (meaning not only new releases but vintage records issued before I was born). At age 18 in '85, I was going into used book stores and 2nd-hand record rooms and getting used copies of Sol Kaplan's THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD and George Duning's PICNIC, and so forth. When labels such as Varese Sarabande ceased vinyl production by the summer of '89, I still did not own any CD player or CD albums. I continued to mine the vast back-catalogues of old soundtracks on vinyl.
1990 through 1992 was the period when I started to accumulate rare vinyl LPs (via mail order vendors) whilst ignoring the CD medium until I finally got a CD player in '93. While I bought some new releases on cassette tapes (like MEDICINE MAN and BASIC INSTINCT), my primary focus was on getting those 'holy grails' from the past, like Herrmann's VERTIGO on Mercury LP or Malcolm Arnold rarities on London records, or explore those composers who had one or a couple titles (Mischa Spoliansky's SAINT JOAN, Dusan Radic's GENGHIS KHAN, etc.).

One of the joys of my collecting journey was discovering the music of Alex North, and, in particular, the acquisition of THE BAD SEED!

In my opinion, RCA's decision to release THE BAD SEED was a 'first'. There were 12" LPs before, of course (such as THE ROBE & THE EGYPTIAN), but North's score for THE BAD SEED was really the first time that unusual and/or dissonant music was considered marketable enough to warrant a commercial album. Finally, it was recognized that there is an audience (a niche audience) for moody music, and THE BAD SEED had decidedly ironic, morbid & mournful music, which is why this North opus is so beloved by me.

A suite from this title was re-recorded for a CD compilation album, but this does not satisfy me - I cherish the original soundtrack!

I've been out of touch for a bit.
I shall post my third to ninth favourites soon.
My list'll be chocfull of unknown South-easteasian film scores from the turn of the last century and electronic pioneer scores from 1950s Czechoslovakia.

Or not.
As the case may be.

Indonesia had cinema in the 30s? While they were still a Dutch colony? That would surprise me very much...

ooookay....


# 10 LITTLE BUDDHA - RYUICHI SAKAMOTO


Unlike my other choices I've only bought this score the once. I adore this score, for me it is the perfect blend of orchestral and ethnic vocals and instruments ( though to be fair I should point out I'm not keen on the Eastern Wailing Women style as heard most famously in Gladiator ) make it a truly intoxicating mix.

Also there is the fact of how much this score means to me personally in my experiences of Nepal, for me the score conjures the sights and sounds, the smells, the people, the whole spirituality of the country, a country for me that was pure magic. The film was filmed in Nepal and Bhutan...... I have no intention of seeing it.

Little Buddha: So far I have never listened to that score. It seems like that will have to change.
________________________________

There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization ...

The David O Selznick fanfare blends into the Main Theme like the 20th Century Fox Fanfare blends into the STAR WARS theme, the above text rolls and then the title in big capital letters roll from the right to the left hand side. On of the greatest opening sequences, on par with STAR WARS and SUPERMAN. Accompanied by one of the most magical themes in film music history ...

My 10th entry is

Gone With The Wind (1939) by Max Steiner

Clark Gable; Vivian Leigh; Leslie Howard; Olivia de Havilland; Hattie McDaniel …

Lord in Heaven, what a film! And what a score!

Coming from the late decadent Imperial Austria, Max Steiner was just the man to depict the Old South. His merging of original themes with contemporary music forms one of the most compelling scores ever composed. Steiner worked like a madman on this score and was even so aided by a legion of orchestrators and co-composers, to flesh things out.
My favourite incarnation of this score is the one compiled by Charles Gerhardt, who consulted with Steiner on what pieces to use. As a listening experience – with regard to the content and with regard to audio fidelity – this is the album to go for. As far as the original recording is concerned, I long had a CD by Polydor featuring an old LP master. That CD has long since been exchanged for the Rhino single CD edition.

A very nice arrangement, containing the O'Selznick fanfare, the main theme and the Yankee Doodle, done by John Mauceri, may be found on the album “Hollywood Dreams”.

I need t listen to this score again. Well, I guess: Tomorrow is another day!

Volker

Still, it's a quote from the novel / the film.

Ian Fleming's I'll Always Go Hungry Again?

I'll post my 10th when i get my pc back from repairs.

and...


# 11 JOHN BARRY - THE LAST VALLEY


Both the original available on Intrada and Silva Screens complete rerecording vie for space here, I love both equally though that would change if the Barry original had a complete release. An historical drama that again has Barry channelling his choral chops, this score is big and beautiful, thematic and melodic and with the most sublime of choral writing. In my opinion, John Barry never wrote enough choral scores or historical epics, a real loss.

If John Barry's WALKABOUT had a proper release that wasn't a bad sounding boot then that would have been my number 11, Silva's rerecording is great but I rarely play it beyond the Walkabout recording.

Alright. PC back, and ready for my 10th:

10. WATERWORLD (James Newton Howard)

One of my earliest soundtrack CD's and an instant love. It has everything -- majestic religioso music, spinechillingly beautiful 'water' textures on the electronics, swashbuckling heroism, loads of delicious ethnic textures and so on. What a brilliant concept album it is; hardly a second lull in its almost 70-minute running time. JNH did some sparkling scores in the 80s and 90s, but this one stands in a league of its own.

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Now the problem starts for me. The 10 I've mentioned I already thought about a few months ago when I did my Top 10 Celluloid Tunes episode. I haven't given much thought beyond that. So I'll have to think before I come up with my 11th.

#11: LES BICHES (1968) by Pierre Jansen, on rare Cinevox LP ('68) and Saimel CD (2012).

I discovered the films of Claude Chabrol during the 1990s with all the then-available Chabrol titles on VHS tapes.
LES BICHES was one of my earliest encounters with Chabrol cinema and it's the one which made the strongest impression upon me (both the film and its music score).

For years, I could only experience Jansen's music by watching the film until, about 2004, I was fortunate enough to locate and obtain a copy of the ultra-rare Italian vinyl of LES BICHES on Cinevox.
According to the seller, I was only the 2nd American to own LES BICHES (of which only around 500 were minted).

I was overjoyed to have this superb soundtrack on disc, but its duration is very short (about 12 minutes per each side) and 25% of the content is party/source tunes!

I expected that this might never arrive onto digital media and I never anticipated that the whole score would surface in 2012 on CD via Saimel.

I was overjoyed again.

The Saimel edition is a vast improvement [not regarding the sound, though, because the recording sessions were done in mono only]. All of the music heard in the movie is on the CD except for one piece.
The tracks are not in any order at all as far as I can figure. The cues are definitely not in chronological film order, and 2 of them are repeated without any differences apparent - but, still, the Saimel disc doubles the runtime duration of the LP and makes for a very satisfying listen (to me anyway).

Mr. Stefan Schlegel and myself are about the only 2 guys @ FSM who mention Pierre Jansen with any regularity, which is a shame since Jansen & his music certainly deserves more exposure and attention.
I think I may have converted Kevin S. (Advise & Consent @ FSM) into a budding Jansen fan, though ... ...

Yes I have it.

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/PEmTs_53JdQ/maxresdefault.jpg

Mine is also on the Dunhill label, I bought it in a specialist shop 'That's Entertainment' in London's Covent Garden, they specialised in imports.