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Danny Elfman's Batman vs. Hans Zimmer / James Newton Howard's Batman

Film Scores on imeem — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:16:03 -0000

Which musical vision of Batman do you prefer?:

Danny Elfman:

or

Hans Zimmer / James Newton Howard:

Molossus - Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard

I selected these tracks because each comes from one of the principal action sequences in each movie. They are also about the same length. Cast your vote and explanations in the comments.

Review: Varèse Sarabande: A 30th Anniversary Celebration

Film Scores on imeem — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 20:30:47 -0000

Rating: 5 stars

Varèse started releasing compilation sets for their 25th anniversary and now five years later they have released a set for their 30th anniversary. The set includes four discs with each disc having its own theme. Interestingly, if I was to order the discs by my favorites I would order them the same way they appear in the set.

Disc one includes inspirational/uplifting/triumphant music. Howards, Peter Pan, Debney's Elf, Isham's Racing Stripes, and Zigman/Desplat's Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium are just a few highlights. For someone who can't afford to buy all of these scores you are getting some of the best tracks on each album.

Disc two includes ethnic/choral music. This is probably my second favorite disc of the set featuring some really nice pieces. Danna's The Gospel of John, Zimmer's Tears of the Sun, Badelt's Beat the Drum, and Debney's Duma are highlights.

Disc three includes a variety of action pieces. This disc was hit and miss with me. Some I really liked and other tracks I guess will take some more getting used to or not. In the latter category are BT's Stealth (who is BT anyway?), Rodriguez's Grindhouse Planet Terror and Sin City, and Tyler's Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift. I really liked Giachinno's take on Mission Impossible, Debney's Evan Almighty, Tyler's Annapolis, as well as several others.

Disc four contains a collection of melancholy tracks. Again another disc that was hit or miss for me. I especially liked the James Horner pieces, Ottman's Gothika, Yared's 1408, Kloser's Day After Tomorrow, and Frizzell's The Reaping.

Overall and for the majority or people, this set is well worth the money and highly recommended. The previous 25th anniversary set's first volume went out of print , although it is back in print I believe until the end of the year. Pick the 30th anniversary set up before it to goes out of print.

Masters of the Universe by Bill Conti (Available July 22)

Film Scores on imeem — Sat, 10 May 2008 03:13:26 -0000

Update: If your looking for an autograph, this one goes on sell today sometime between 11 AM and noon pacific standard time.

Update: La La Land Records will be releasing Masters of the Universe on July 22. If you want an autograph you will need to act fast. The most recent release by La La Land Records, an Outer Limits set, started selling at about noon and the autographs (limited to 100) were gone by 5 that evening.

One of my all time favorite nostaligic film scores is Bill Conti's score to the 1987 movie Masters of the Universe. The only problem is trying to get a copy is cost prohibitive since this disc is long out of print. However, I was excited to learn today that La La Land Records will be re-releasing this classic score in late June. The release will include 2 discs. I discovered this news on the Film Score Monthly's message boards. The first 100 copies will be autographed by Bill Conti!

Varèse Sarabande: A 30th Anniversary Celebration

Film Scores on imeem — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:21:58 -0000

I just happened upon this upcoming release (April 15, 2008) from Varese Sarabande. The set includes four discs and over five hours of film music featuring tracks from various Varese releases over the last five years or so. All the big name composers are included as well as many other lesser known composers. I am particularly excited to hear:

Racing Stripes (Mark Isham) The Big Race (7:20). This one has been reviewed as the best track on the Racing Stripes album.

Beat The Drum (Klaus Badelt / Ramin Djawadi) The Village (5:31). I love scores with African vocals.

The Gospel of John (Jeff Danna) Follow Me (4:35). The inspirational religious genre of film scores can often bring with it some great music.

Beyond Borders (James Horner) Chechnya IV (6:11). Out of the many Horner albums I own this is one I have not heard.

Tears of The Sun (Hans Zimmer) The Journey / Kopano Part III (8:19). Zimmer turned out a great effort with a previous war movie: The Thin Red Line. I am curious how this one compares.

Firewall (Alexandre Desplat) Firewall (3:18). I liked the movie and am interested to recall the music.

Annapolis (Brian Tyler) Showdown (5:48). I just don't have enough of Brian Tyler's works in my collection.

Flyboys (Trevor Rabin) Heroes (4:33). I have heard one track from this score and I am interested to hear more.

Night At The Museum (Alan Silvestri) Night At The Museum (2:37). A fun playful, movie, with a similar score.

X-Men: The Last Stand (John Powell) The Last Stand (5:21). I tend to prefer Powell's scoring for animated films, but maybe this one will change my mind.

Evan Almighty (John Debney) The Flood (6:58). I believe I heard this track on Erik Wood's Cinematic Sound Radio Show a while back and just loved it.

House of Sand and Fog (James Horner) The Waves Of The Caspian Sea (4:03). Horner received an Academy Award nomination for this score I haven't heard.

With so many movie scores coming out, this album is a great way to catch up and maybe discover something new.

I pre-ordered this one at Amazon.com for $14.99 (although its back up to $19.98 now; not sure why I got a better price, but they will give you the lowest price by the time it ships in April). Kudos to Varese for what appears at first glance to be a great film score compilation album.

Since Varese Sarabande has no agreement with imeem for streaming I will not be uploading any songs, but I will post some additional thoughts after I have a chance to listen.