Film Score Discussion

[Astro Zombie]

Harold Faltermeyer:

Beverly Hills Cop (Axel F)

Top Gun Anthem

Tango & Cash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExDTKpMfxDg

[Blu Warrior]

Huge score fan here! I own probably around 1000 scores on cd, vinyl and flac downloads. I find most of todays scores dull and lacking a good main theme. There are a few though. Although I do own a number of Zimmer scores, I blame him and his RC cronies for the constant wailing voices, drum patterns and synths that dominate films today. Last year he released the God-awful Man of Steel and then came up with a pretty good score for the Lone Ranger, go figure?

My favorite composers are: John Williams, James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith, John Barry, Bernard Herrmann, Etc. Yeah, I was born in the 70's and grew up in the 80's.

Very hard for me to do but my top ten?
1. The Empire Strikes Back

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark

3.Clash of the Titans '81

4. Jaws

5. Braveheart

6. Conan the Barbarian

7. King of Kings

8. Star Trek V

9. The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

10. Superman The Movie

Ask me in a week and It'll change except the top 2
I'm very excited for the expanded Empire of the Sun coming next week!

[Astro Zombie]

Henry Mancini's Charade score is great as well.

[Blu Warrior]

I love special editions!

[Blu Warrior]

My Star Wars cd collection

Spielberg/Williams collection


and the rest of my Williams collection:

[aiman04]

My most played SACD

[benderal]

My favorite composers are John Barry, James Horner, John Williams, Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer. I was actually not a big fan of most of Hans Zimmer's earlier work, but I have really liked the scores to the recent Batman movies, Inception, Sherlock Holmes, Man of Steel, The Lone Ranger and his collaboration on The Amazing Spiderman-Man 2 is way better than the movie itself and better than Horner's score for 1. The action/sci-fi movie music for me stands out more for me so I tend to stick to that.

As for dramatic scores for they don't really stand out for me anymore. Back in the day there would be a slew of good soundtracks out - Cast Away, Legends of the Fall, Nobody's Fool, The Shawshank Redemption, The Lord of the Rings, The Man Without a Face, Forrest Gump, Field of Dreams, Star Trek II, Cocoon, My Life, The War, How to Make an American Quilt, Little Women, Saving Pvt. Ryan, Heart and Souls and more that isn't matched today. Don't get me wrong some of the the soundtracks mentioned and those not mentioned may have only had 2-3 really good pieces, but it's hard for me to even find that today. There have been pieces from some films like True Grit, Up and Cloud Atlas, but those are few and far between. I think the last dramatic score I really liked was Benjamin Buttons.

I am a huge John Barry Fan. There is a certain beauty and/or sadness in his music that really appeals to me. beauty in his love themes/scores like Somewhere in Time, Hanover Street, The Scarlet Letter, High Road to China, Peggy Sue Got Married, My Life, Indecent Proposal, Out of Africa, OHMSS, Octopussy, Enigma and way more. I have tried to get my hands on most of his stuff, but it's sad that he has a lot of music that was lost b/c i would have loved an expanded edition of Moonraker and even a soundtrack for The Betsy.

[Megalith]

Music scores are better than ever. Those who think otherwise aren't listening to enough of it.

I am still convinced that the best composer for modern films is Hans Zimmer. Think what you want, but his best work (Journey to the Line, etc.) is untouchable. Even his more recent work, like the themes for Rush (1976, Lost but Won), are spectacular.

And it's sad how it's almost 30 posts in with no mention of greats like Patrick Doyle, Gregson-Williams, and Craig Armstrong.

[benderal]

Originally Posted by Megalith

Music scores are better than ever. Those who think otherwise aren't listening to enough of it.

I am still convinced that the best composer for modern films is Hans Zimmer. Think what you want, but his best work (Journey to the Line, etc.) is untouchable. Even his more recent work, like the themes for Rush (1976, Lost but Won), are spectacular.

And it's sad how it's almost 30 posts in with no mention of greats like Patrick Doyle, Gregson-Williams, and Craig Armstrong.

Which dramatic scores are you referring to? I'd like to check them out. I will say I liked Hans Zimmer's contributions to the 12 Years a Slave soundtrack.

[Blu Warrior]

Thor Soundtrack - Sons of Odin - YouTube

This is what I mean about modern scores sounding the same. At the 30 second mark these drum effects come in and ruin a fantastic melody. Its a shame really 'cause Doyle can usually hit it out of the ballpark. The prominence of these drum styles nowadays goes back to Gladiator and I have grown weary of them.

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by Megalith

Music scores are better than ever. Those who think otherwise aren't listening to enough of it.

I am still convinced that the best composer for modern films is Hans Zimmer.

[jscoggins]

I tend to prefer real instrumental music scores. "Sound design" scores can be fun if used sparingly. Wall to wall "sound design", though, is just irritating.

[RockzillaXD]

Way too many film scores I love to list, it would even take me forever to make a top 10.

I will echo what everyone has said about Only God Forgives. Absolutely fantastic score to that film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS0T1TVKsbs&feature=kp

[benderal]

Originally Posted by Blu Warrior

Thor Soundtrack - Sons of Odin - YouTube
This is what I mean about modern scores sounding the same. At the 30 second mark these drum effects come in and ruin a fantastic melody. Its a shame really 'cause Doyle can usually hit it out of the ballpark. The prominence of these drum styles nowadays goes back to Gladiator and I have grown weary of them.

I actually like the soundtrack for Thor, especially like Sons of Odin, To Joutenheim and From Earth to Asgard. I think Patrick Doyle made it stand out more as opposed to Alan Silvestri's scores for Capt. America and The Avengers.

I can agree that modern scores either sound the same (graduates of Hans Zimmer University) or just don't stand out. Brian Tyler stands out more than others, but John Powell, Jon Debney, John Ottman and Harry Gregson -Williams all sort of run together for me.

[Chaotic]

Absolutely love this score

Flow Like Water - YouTube

[aiman04]

Originally Posted by Megalith

Music scores are better than ever. Those who think otherwise aren't listening to enough of it.

I am still convinced that the best composer for modern films is Hans Zimmer. Think what you want, but his best work (Journey to the Line, etc.) is untouchable. Even his more recent work, like the themes for Rush (1976, Lost but Won), are spectacular.

Originally Posted by Megalith

And it's sad how it's almost 30 posts in with no mention of greats like Patrick Doyle, Gregson-Williams, and Craig Armstrong.

[EddieWilson1983]

Hey, all. I was just wondering how many score albums any of you have, and which ones you listen to regularly. Here's my collection so far...

Batman (Danny Elfman)
The Crow (Graeme Revell)
The Crow: Salvation (Marco Beltrami)
Hook (John Williams)
Man of Steel (Hans Zimmer)
The Mask (Randy Edelman)
Passion of the Christ (John Debney)
Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber; 2004 version)
Sabrina (John Williams)
Superman: The Movie (John Williams)

[Dotpattern]

Originally Posted by EddieWilson1983

Hey, all. I was just wondering how many score albums any of you have, and which ones you listen to regularly.

I just checked my inventory and I have slightly over 1,600!! Lately, I've been listening to a lot of John Powell, Michael Giacchino and Brian Tyler. I just purchased the 2 disc Deluxe Edition of Star Trek Into Darkness and anticipate listening to that a lot.

[EddieWilson1983]

Originally Posted by Dotpattern

I just checked my inventory and I have slightly over 1,600!!

Wow!!! Does that number include soundtracks too, or just scores?

Lately, I've been listening to a lot of John Powell, Michael Giacchino and Brian Tyler. I just purchased the 2 disc Deluxe Edition of Star Trek Into Darkness and anticipate listening to that a lot.

John Powell did the music for the first three "Bourne" films; I'd love to find those on CD. He also scored John Woo's "Face/Off", which is an action fave of mine. I'm not familiar with Michael Giacchino, but Brian Tyler's done a couple of entries for both Marvel and the "Fast & Furious" series. I wouldn't mind finding those as well.

[JimDiGriz]

The last soundtrack I really thought was brilliant was Drive I think. It helped that I loved the film too. Only God Forgives? Not so much, nowhere near Drive for me.

I thought Under the Skin soundtrack was good despite not liking the film much at all.

Favourites?

1) Blade Runner
2) Taxi Driver
3) Goodfellas
4) Once Upon a Time in the West
5) Hannibal (film)
6) Gattaca
7) Solaris (2002)
8) Chinatown
9) Twin Peaks (series)
10) The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Theres loads more but those really stand out for me.