Randy Newman
Graeme Revell
Elliot Goldenthal
George S. Clinton

James
NP - Tombstone (****)
http://go.to/richardband

Yeah, Graeme Revell is somewhat underrated. All I think of when I hear his name is that one score he did for Psycho IV. It was very well-paced, and much better than Danny Elfman's rendition of the original Herrmann score. His music for The Saint was much better than the movie will ever be. I really believe he should be considered for the next Bond movie.

Randy Newman...Well, I don't really care much for his work. A Bug's Life's score was very memorable though. I also feel that he should not sing anymore. What an annoying voice. Of all the Newmans though, the most talented (and underrated for that matter) is Thomas Newman. He always puts out good stuff. I have yet to hear a bad score of his. Meet Joe Black is in my top 5.

Strangely enough, since my opinion on this varies a lot from others', out of all the Alien scores, Elliot Goldenthal's version for Alien3 was the most powerful. It does sound weird at times, but the last couple of tracks are very deep and rich; full of agony. Interview with the Vampire is one of my fave scores. Plus I also enjoy his work on Batman Forever. These are three great choices for Halloween parties and haunted houses.

George S. Clinton? Nah...

Some other underrated composers: Carter Burwell (Being John Malkovich!); Barrington Pheloung (Hilary and Jackie); Patrick Doyle (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein); David Hirshfelder (Shine/Elizabeth) and Burkhard Dallwitz (The Truman Show.)

Nuff sed.

Graham Revell rules, definately deserves more recognition.

Carter Burwell doesnt have as much recognition as williams etc, but he has gotten a couple of noms too. Loved his score for general's daughter, and mayn critics pointed it out in their reviews.

Patrick Doyle: Henry V was brilliant, all i can say.

As for that Alien 3 comment...well, we've all had this discussion before, so i wont get back into it since i feel i emerged victorious last time

The vast majority of his output is for stuff like RELENTLESS 4 and DEATH WISH 5 -- he's been stuck in direct-to-video exploitation for untold years-- but he's clearly a HUGE talent. He reminds me of what I felt about Christopher Young when I first heard his earliest stuff (DEF-CON 4, etc.), and look how far Young's come.

Plumeri is having less success, which distresses me, but I certainly wish him well.

Problem is, I can hardly recommend any of the films he's done! They're all pretty wretched! Which makes his sensationally composed music all the more impressive ... there's nothing else to pay attention to ...

As for underrated composers:

George S. Clinton
Eric & David Wurst (low-budget composers whose talent rivals some big-budget composers)
Shirley Walker
John Debney
Shirley Walker!
Alan Howarth
SHIRLEY WALKER!!
John Carpenter

How is Rachel Portman underrated? She already has an Oscar and more or less her pick of projects. Even Disney originally wanted her to do MULAN. But you knew that. (For those who don't remember, she bowed out of MULAN due to pregnancy. Goldsmith's score is great, but I'd love to know what Portman might have done with it.)

Christopher Young is someone who hasn't quite broken through properly, though between this year's ENTRAPMENT and THE HURRICANE, he is finally getting both quality huge-budget assignments and quality character movies. Hey, what composer wouldn't kill to do a Sean Connery movie? (Though, ironically, I thought he did a more interesting job on the less prestigious actioner HARD RAIN. Well, there's no telling how these things'll work out.)

Joel Goldsmith has lived somewhat unfairly in his father's shadow; I'm not sure whether his failure to break out huge is because his dad is inevitably in more demand, or whether Joel doesn't have a very huge ambition. A mutual friend (I don't know Joel) told me that Joel's basic attitude is "just get the job done." But he's done some amazing stuff. I refer you to MOON 44. He's also done some terrific synthesizer scores for pictures hardly anyone ever saw (in fact I can barely remember the titles ... one was OLIVIA [1981], directed by Ulli Lommel of THE BOOGEYMAN fame).

I think we need to dig a little deeper and farther back to answer this question.

Most Underappreciated/Underused:

David Shire
John Scott
Michael J. Lewis

Those guys can score anything, too!

I wouldn't call Philip Sainton underrated, though. His Moby Dick score is absolutely fantastic, but being his only film score, I fear he's not that important to film music in general.

Michael Small has some wonderful scores to his name, for example Marathon Man and The Stepford Wives. Haven't heard his Mountains Of The Moon: people say it's good.