YOUR ALL TIME FAVOURITE FILM SCORE ALBUMS!!!

I have nothing against gibberish lyrics per se, but it seems to me that when you're writing music for the Tolkien universe, the canon languages themselves are the obvious choice for choral lyrics. At least Howard Shore understands that...


Tastewise, you are what they call a true original, I'd say.

I think Rosenman's score for STAR TREK IV works fine, it's an Earth based score, not much happens in outer space. Rosenman rightly keeps it grounded ( so to speak )

Re: HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP? Hmmmm!? To each their own as they say

I know, I know, this one is a big surprise to all of you...


# 007 JOHN BARRY - ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE

Out of all of Barry's great Bond scores it's this one that, for me, stands head and shoulders above all others. Far Up! Far Out! Far More! was the films tag-line and that goes double for this masterpiece, John Barry pulled out all the stops for this one, a Bond score on steroids to get the public used to a brand new Bond in George Lazenby. A brilliant instrumental title theme augmented by moog synthesisers ( one of the earliest scores to use the moog ) and gets a good workout as the films action theme, another great piece that conjurs the grandeur of the Alps, great suspense and lounge pieces ( Who Will Buy My Yesterday's is just sublime ) and one of the greatest and most transcendental Bond songs of them all in We Have All The Time In The World which has now become a true evergreen.

I would point out that the original album release would not have made my top 50. The 2003 expanded releases were a true god-send for a Barry fan like myself, in fact it was the first time in years that I'd felt that fluttery excitement that I used to get as a teenager at the prospect of a new mouth-watering release.

p.s. Yes, I do like that Christmas song

EGADS!!! I'm slipping. I didn't see that.

I've now edited it to make amends Cheers!

Quite a bit to cram in between my 5th & 6th choices.

There's:

5.1 ONIBABA (1964) by Hikaru Hayashi (no soundtrack)
5.2 THE MEPHISTO WALTZ (1971) by Jerry Goldsmith (on Varese with THE OTHER but with missing sound elements which make the soundtrack mix sound different than the score as heard in the film)
5.3 HOUSE OF MORTAL SIN (1976) by Stanley Myers (no soundtrack; aka THE CONFESSIONAL)

THE MEPHISTO WALTZ could have been my #6 entry, but I love the music in the picture much more than the 1990s Varese Sarabande CD.

[ ... still awaiting a CD box set of all 5 Pete Walker movie soundtracks by Stanley Myers!]

MECHANIC is a superb score. Not dissimilar to my second choice, which I should get around to posting.

I love the songs and whatever bits of sweeping romanticism there is in Barry's OHMSS, but as most of you know, I fall off the bandwagon when it comes to his action and suspense writing. Since this is about whole soundtrack albums, I doubt you'll find much Barry in my Top 50 (if it had been about individual themes, it would be a different matter).

My pick:

7. THE ABYSS (Alan Silvestri)

The finale music was one of the most crucial pieces of film music that made me a soundtrack fan in the first place (I still remember lying on the floor, of all things, listening to the end titles cue as the film played, thinking to myself "I wonder if soundtrack albums contain the same kind of concept feel I love in my prog rock and electronic albums?"). Aweinspiring, majestic, religious like few other pieces in cinema history. Beyond that, though, there are also some interesting synth textures (very "watery") and some percussive stuff. This isn't quite in the same league, but I've grown to appreciate it over the years as part of the album experience -- the gradual buildup towards the finale.

And no, I haven't picked up the expanded version. I don't think that's a good idea.

#6: LADY CAROLINE LAMB (1972) by Richard Rodney Bennett, on Angel records LP ('73).

Angel records was previously the high-end line of Capitol which released mostly classical music.
One typically did not expect a movie soundtrack to surface onto Angel, except concert suites of William Walton's film music.

LADY CAROLINE LAMB, despite its commercial and critical failure at the box office, was an ideal candidate for a soundtrack album with a life of its own divorced from its cinematic origins.

Bennett's score is rather short in duration, filling only one side of the vinyl LP. For this album release, Bennett arranged his film score into his "Elegy for Lady Caroline Lamb" for solo viola and orchestra - which occupied the other half of the record.

Both facets of Bennett's music are excellent. Yet another example of the 'intersection' between concert music and film score. Bennett composed an unforgettable main theme for the Lady in Romantic mold and bolstered such within a classical framework (which symbolized Caroline's husband Mr. Lamb). "The best of both worlds" as Robert Bolt described in his liner notes.

LADY CAROLINE LAMB has witnessed several incarnations on CD courtesy the holding company EMI/Capitol.
However, some versions were combined with material from Bennett's MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS or ENCHANTED APRIL, etc.
Before Quartet became Quartet, they re-issued LADY CAROLINE LAMB as a solo album replicating the original LP program on their 'Singular' label.

I like the Singular edition the most out of the multiple CDs, but ultimately the initial LP is my favorite album because of its theatricality (Side 1 or Side A and Side 2 or Side B) which divides the film tracks and its concert incarnation onto two seperate sides (one aspect of the vinyl medium which did not carry over into the age of the compact disc).

I wonder if soundtrack albums just exist to allow people to listen to some good music that happens to also have been written for a film?

Acknowledged, and have edited my statement to reflect that.

True. We should never forget that when we examine film music; that it exists on album purely by luck.

You in return may want to google: Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.

It's time for Tristram Cary!

#8: BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB (1971) by Tristram Cary, on GDI CD.

Tristram Cary is destined to be on my Top 50 soundtracks - as is a Hammer Film; with this title, I've gotten both Cary & Hammer into my Top 10.

When GDI Records released BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB in 2002, it became my favorite album gotten in that year (and my most frequently played).

This type of music (short cues with lots of stingers) can only have come from the realm of film & TV. Indeed, on the surface BFTMT sounds as if could have been written for TV (monaural sound, cues that offer quick dramatic punctuation and/or brief transition music from one scene to the next, etc.).

Nonetheless, composer Cary invests such an abundance of instrumental colors that his music simply flows, and memorably so. Amidst the sturm & drang exists main themes which evoke ancient Egypt (via superb writing for woodwinds) and impart a degree of sensuality to the onscreen female pulchritude on display (Valerie Leon). Intoxicating listening, if you don't mind pinched mono sound and numerous "wild takes" in the bonus section.

Recommended to the collector who's interested in archival material.

Yup! Slow down there me lad.

My 8th coming next and please wait until after I pose my 9th before posting your 9th. Much appreciated sir.

Is it my fault that Timmer's slow?

Where does Beethoven's 9th come in?