Intrada Soundtrack Forum

So as we start the new year and reflect on the last, I admit my list of favorite scores for 2011 is rather small. Not to be dreary, but on a personal side, I'm finding the state of new film scoring is getting pretty bland. I certainly have an appreciation for the current film score vernacular, and it sometimes yields innovative work (GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO), but I find myself listening to the "oldies but moldies" a lot more and the newbies a lot less. I wasn't around during the Korngold and Steiner heydays. My introduction to movie music came during the Bernstein and Goldsmith era. As we moved into the seventies my joy spread in two directions. Backwards to Herrmann and Newman and Friedhofer and Rozsa and Skinner and all those guys... and forward to Williams and Horner and Broughton and Poledouris and Chris Young and James Newton Howard and the rest of the incoming breed. And in between were my beloved Bernstein and Goldsmith and Barry and company. What treasures everyone had to offer! BEN-HUR and DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES and ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD in one direction, JAWS and CAPRICORN ONE and SILVERADO and HELLRAISER in the other, and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and THE GREAT ESCAPE and PLANET OF THE APES and GOLDFINGER in between. Wow! I mean literally... wow!

But today, those are all backwards. With the single exception of WAR HORSE, I'm just not enthused about all that much that is happening with the movie music scene right now, and going forward remains uncertain. No matter what their tastes may be, almost everyone appreciates the beauty of Mozart. His music will last forever. Thus should be the case with the great film composers I think of as I look backwards. But as for current scores, I'm not overly optimistic, and as to the future ones, only time will tell. To be sure, there are terrific composers now making their mark... Giacchino is sensational. So there's hope for others. Please... may this new year bring wayward film producers back on board to once again to seek out genuinely memorable music for helping tell their stories!
--Doug

To be fair, there's no need to waste time of new bland scores. One could spend the rest of their life just trying to track down, attain, and listen to every single score Ennio Morricone and Elmer Bernstein ever made. Tehre's no shortage of old goodies out there. There's enough for several lifetimes.

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Yeah, it can't be much fun being a film composer these days (but what a dream job in the 50's & 60's!). There was a program about song writing on the radio a couple of years ago, & the people on it were all successful hit songwriters, & they were saying how little "music" was in the modern hit single, by music I think they meant melody. I think it's the same with film music now, melody is just not required, it's all about beats, wails, dirges, & lots of percussion. It can work OK for a film, but it's not something you'd want to listen to away from the movie. As aways, there's some interesting composers around & it's best to keep an open mind.

I find myself hardly ever listening to the newest scores on their own. I agree that much of the scoring from decades past is replete with truly exciting and/or emotional melody, whereas today's scoring anchors film much in the same way that sound effects do. I don't have a problem with this, as there are plenty of timeless film score treasures to listen to away from their respective films.

I listen to early Golden and Silver Age scores quite a bit, but my main comfort zone lies within the 80s. I feel that this decade yielded a lot in the way of both timeless orchestral classics and just plain fun scores that may now sound dated but have the exuberance to get me in a better frame of mind.

Back in the late 80's I looked forward to any album that was produced from nearly every composer.
Now, I look forward to mostly* what Intrada unearths from archive after archive.

*and the other labels too, but when Intrada debuted ALIEN, they became my primary source.

Also in looking back,
In 2007, ALIEN (1979) was the big deal.
For 2011, THE SAND PEBBLES and THE WRONG BOX (1966) were the grand finale.
Not to dis ST4:TVH from 1986, but as we progress further forward, the more valued music comes from deeper in the past.

As much as the new score to PROMETHEUS has me excited,
I'd probably enjoy a straight LP re-issue of Disney's long forgotten SCANDALOUS JOHN by Rod McKuen much more.

Call me crazy but for my money, THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN was the real John Williams gem from the past year. I loved WAR HORSE, too, of course but TINTIN really had the old sense of fun and playfulness that Williams has always done so peerlessly.

With that said, I must agree that overall, modern film scoring is just nowhere near as compelling as the music of bygone eras.

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Randy Wilson
Dallas, TX

For me the good old days are long gone. Nothing new excites and to be honest it is often a chore to listen to a new score. I think Zimmer's first Sherlock Holmes was the last score I thrashed for a long period, as well as Powell's Paycheck. Shame he hasn't sustained the early promise of that score. Very rarely do modern composers manage to rekindle the magic of the composers that are sadly long gone. I continue to look backwards and enjoy the magic of film music from the 60s, 70s, 80s and some from the 90s too. All thanks to Intrada and the other lablels, the Musician's Union and the Studios.

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Jason Needs
Webmaster, Jerry Goldsmith Online

I like when the music has an identity of its own, but that somehow got lost when the Media Ventures arrived and you could put that music in almost any movie and the themes vanished (except the main theme) and all that was left was the socalled drooning score.
Sure I listen to Zimmer, Powell, Badelt etc, but the music will never be as powerful as the once Poledouris, Goldsmith, Herrmann etc made and that is not the composers fault. It is the moviecompanies that has decided that the score won´t be a character of it´s own anymore and just be something in the background...
I´m not one of those Zimmer bashers and thinks he made some great scores too, but listen to Mission impossible 2 and Gladiator which arrived the same year...you could switch those two scores and hardly tell one is a gladiator movie and the other a spyaction movie...
That´s sad, as i miss my new Jaws, Superman, Rambo, Indiana Jones, even Norman Bates or Ben Hur and not to mention James Bond (no not a fan of Arnolds latest efforts sorry)

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What got me into film scores were the fine movies of the 80’s
I remember seeing E.T. as a child & hearing that theme just added to the emotion (yes I cried)
But with no understanding what a score was or even who the composer was, I was still hooked
When Back to the future hit the screens I again immediately fell in love with the score
And seeing the name Silvestri in the credits I had something to go on.
Unfortunately the score wasn’t available at the time but this didn’t stop me from wanting to learn more.
And as my love for the movies increased so did their scores.
Obviously I have my favourites but that period had the likes of Goldsmith, Silvestri, Horner, Faltermeyer and Bernstein just to name a few. What was not to like
Of course as the years passed so did the way movies were being made & a new breed of composer is being introduced.
With heavy C.G.I & loud sound effects the scores are getting louder too.
This isn’t for everyone but being a collector of both movies & there music I only have Intrada to thank for going back to for me where it all began.

The only 2011 score(s) I heard and liked were: Jane Eyre/Dario Marianelli, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy/Alberto Iglesias, and The Last Circus/Roque Banos... that's it.

Matt

I thought Alexandre Desplat did a good job with DEATHLY HALLOWS part 2. I wasn't too thrilled with his treatment to part 1, but I think he really stepped up for Potter's last adventure.

On the whole though, I do agree with Mr. Fake. The overwhelming number of CD's I've purchased in the last few years date back to the 80s and 90s. That's where I find myself most of the time when listening to my music.

I'm afraid I'm turning in to all the old people I used to make fun of who spent all their time whining about "the good old days!"

Getting old sucks!!

I've always been more interested in culture from the past over the current. Unearthing obscure vinyl recordings way back when and spinning them after so many years of being lost or buried unplayed in some box in a basement or attic always seemed sort of magical to me. Sometimes I'd consider all the horseshit that may have surrounded a particular recording upon its initial production or perhaps the politics involved (too many hands in the pie) and realize what remains after so many years is the music, an LP on a turntable being enjoyed by one human being. A message that survived and is being sent/recieved via Marantz turntable.

I would say these days not only are there too many hands in the pie but the faces, fingers and toes of every greedy, money mad fuzzer mucker wanting a piece of the action, thus a confused, convoluted mish mash lacking any real individual identity or personality.

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