A new compilation done by me - there's something for everyone.

Aside from the inclusion of the hateful and execreable Eboliana Tormentini, a most laudable compilation, heavy on the thematic and epic side! I like it! This should go well as a sort of 'very best of' type CD.

Some great tracks, but I prefer compilations with some kind of theme or context to connect them (aside from that fact that it's all film music). Dare I say, a concept*.

*I fear this is like saying Beetlejuice three times.

I actually wikied that name before I realized what happened

You don't say!

Well, I don't give a f*** about anyone else's taste either. I like what I like, and dislike what I dislike. But I will always defend the artist's right to present his or her work any which way he or she wants -- as long as there IS some thought to it and not just a matter of verbatim transferring cues from one medium to another.

I'm not sure I understand the issue? (If indeed there is one?) Are Erik and Edmund suggesting that discussing preferences concerning playlists is tantamount to critisicm?

Ah, this seems to have become an allegory about "produced" film music albums vs "unproduced" ones. If that is the case, then I hate to say I think what's been said is bollocks, but I do. Listen to "Let's Get Out of Here" on the original Star Trek V album - a tight, thrilling, frankly magnificent piece of action/adventure music which runs 5:13. Then listen to the two pieces (running 6:49) from which it was edited (on the expanded version of the soundtrack) - film-specific, perfect in context but oddly unfocused-sounding on disc. If you could edit out those 96 seconds for your playlist the way Jerry Goldsmith did for his album then you have my respect, because I bloody well couldn't.

I hate choice!

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that, for me, a score or album doesn't demand to be listened to from beginning to end. Oh, the first time (or few times) I hear it, yeah, of course. I have to know what all the themes mean and how they're developed from beginning to end and how the narrative flow works. But after that, I can very easily pick a favorite cue and jump in without having lost anything by not having immediately listened to the wider context that cue is in. I shuffle my top cues playlists far more often than I listen to full albums, actually. Maybe that's why my taste in film music is more towards the easy-listening, action-packed and bombastic, immediate-gratification variety, rather than the subtle, dramatic, requires-multiple-listens variety.

Thor, I don't think your analogy of color choice in paintings is an apt one (that would be like us choosing the notes for the composer ), but I see what you're saying with film editing. All I can say is, with music, I'm perfectly comfortable with shouldering some of the editing duties. There's no other artform where I'd feel OK doing that...maybe from time to time if the mood takes me I'll watch a favorite scene from a movie on YouTube or something, but not regularly. You have to go from beginning to end with a film or a book, but I just don't feel that's the case with a score. I view albums more as libraries, raw material from which I separate the gems. Maybe when I'm older and have a full-time job eating away at my life I won't have that mindset anymore...

Also, I will point out that there are a few films where you are given a certain "choice" as to how much of it you want to watch...I refer of course to director's cuts, deleted scenes, things such as the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions etc. It's still not fully in the hands of the viewer, though.

Initially I was quite ready to defend you Thor, but I think you're ignoring a few points. First, it's a lot easier to make a playlist than it is to edit a film, for self-evident reasons. Secondly, music is more abstract than a movie. Moving around a few tracks will not suddenly make an album unlistenable, but doing that to a film probably will make it unwatchable (not least because albums come in discrete packages called 'tracks'). Custom playlists make sense, because they're easy to create and they enable the user to dictate the flow of the album to their own tastes. Also, custom artwork makes sense for similar reasons; it's easy to implement. Most people still buy physical copies of films, so what would be the point of custom artwork? With digital albums, you can draw a picture of a dick for all I care. Whatever makes you happy.

Simple as that.
Boom.
Next.

I agree about listening to an album from start to finish. I enjoy the journey too, the musical narrative. This is one of the reasons I love listening to film music. It's the musical story telling that attracts me to film music, among other things. But you begin to venture into crazy dogmaland by suggesting that albums should always be something entirely divorced from the film, something that is its own self-contained entity. Not only that, but equal artistry to the music itself (!?). Some of this makes sense, a good album is a fine thing. It certainly doesn't always need to follow the film's narrative, or indeed have all the music (in fact, rarely do I think a soundtrack album benefits from a complete and chronological presentation, as much as it pains me to mention that over-used phrase). But sometimes, perhaps even often, a film score album largely benefits from at least loosely following the flow of the film. Sure, move a few themes around, put the odd track here instead of there, like a lot of John Williams albums, but in general sticking to the film's narrative is a safe bet. You are after all listening to a piece of music that was designed for a film, not an album, despite what you believe about albums. You seem to place album creation on this unreachable pedestal, and it's just not true. Even I can make a decent album from the 'raw materials'. If you can't, you've either not got the time, inclination or patience for it, which is fair enough, or you're retarded.

Of course, it's just a case of whatever works best for a given score, and often that's subjective. Hence, we end up back at custom playlists and even custom edits. (About 60-70% of the albums on my phone are edited come to think of it.)

But just to clarify my original point, I do prefer playlists with a theme (I.e. a context). I can certainly enjoy a random playlist of great themes, but I prefer to have at least some thread to tie them together. I think that's quite different to what Thor is talking about now that he's elaborated a little.

Brilliant post. Totally agree.

I'm also in agreement with your second post, I'm a film music fan first with a few exceptions.

Yeah, this is the big mystery with you, Volker. You and I share a similar taste in pop/rock/electronic albums with a clearcut concept feel. Yet that somehow evaporates when you switch to soundtracks. Then the film is in focus. For me, those concept albums in other genres are the very basis on which my soundtrack interest was formed. For you, they exist in a different universe.

It's strange how we can be so similar and yet so different at the same time.

I'm still not convinced that album production should be elevated to an artform on the same level as, say, the actual composition of the music. For me it's a craft. Are professionals better at it than me? Undoubtedly, the same way a professional baker can make a loaf of bread far more quickly and far more deliciously than I can. But that doesn't mean I can't bake my own bread and still have it taste pretty darn good.

Mental. But, whatever works for you.