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Author	Topic: Unique Scores?

Camillu Wizard	Which score do you consider to be truly unique? I don't necessesarily mean masterpieces - they could be unique in a bad way, or due to their unique instrumentation. Some starters: Naked Lunch - Howard Shore Can't sit through this at a stretch, but definetely one of a kind. Black Hawk Down - Hans Zimmer Mostly due to the mix of vocals and electric guitars. Admittedly some parts sound much like his other scores, but some tracks are truly unique. The Mission - Ennio Morricone Never before or since has any score been so ethnically rich and complex, particularly the first track. I personally have never heard any score which reminds me of this one, except maybe City of Joy. Magnolia - Jon Brion Despite the occasionaly similarity to Thin Red Line, this score always reminds me of the film and nothing else. I just read over what i've wriiten above and am starting to doubt that any truly unique scores exist out there after all. Any suggestions?
posted 10-29-2002 03:08 AM PT (US)

Timmer Wizard	A hard one Mark, interesting question... Shore's THE CELL is about the most unique score I can think of from the last few years, it's a harsh listen that I would recommend with some reservation?! Ryuchi Sakamoto's LITTLE BUDDHA may also fit this catagory?, it has a beautiful mix of orchestral forces with Asian vocals and ethnic instruments (Sitar, Tabla etc), and has remained one of my all time favourite scores (I kid you not, this is wonderful!) John Barry's 'BOOM!', probably the darkest score I've ever heard by Barry, some great and strange orchestrations, this is a real oddity that I really like...some of this music feels like your looking at a strange alien landscape. The opening calliope like theme probably owes something to Nino Rota. Mychael Danna's 8MM, great merge of Arabic/orchestral stangely at odds with the film yet fitting very well. I'm interested to see what other people come up with/disagree with... Good thread Mark.
posted 10-29-2002 05:12 AM PT (US)

JJH Wizard	surely Titus helongs.
posted 10-29-2002 05:22 AM PT (US)

justin boggan Wizard	Again with the bad spelling.
posted 10-29-2002 05:50 AM PT (US)

Brad Wills Wizard	THE SENTINEL.
posted 10-29-2002 06:13 AM PT (US)

Camillu Wizard	I was gonna mention Titus, JJ - but as someone mentioned recently, a lot of the tracks on that are very reminiscent of his other works. The big band pieces are very unusual, but again, we've heard similar stuff elsewhere (methinks). The Cell slipped my mind. Good one.
posted 10-29-2002 06:42 AM PT (US)

SirT Muggle	Mickey One - Stan Getz, Eddie Sauter For its daring use of Stan Getz's improvisations to prerecorded avant-garde big-band jazz writing. A Quiet Place in the Country - Ennio Morricone A fascinating score relying on what appeared to me at the time improvised playing from a chamber orchestra of the maestro's material.
posted 10-29-2002 08:44 AM PT (US)

Marian Schedenig Wizard	Images by Williams. At least it's the only musical work I've ever heard that features a soloist who vomits instead of singing. NP: Christus Apollo (Jerry Goldsmith)
posted 10-29-2002 10:15 AM PT (US)

scoreguy16 Wizard	I was actually just thinking about posting something like this myself (weird!). Anyway, what made me think about it is 2 scores by John Powell. I Am Sam and Forces of Nature. Both scores are different from most emotional scores i've heard. Other Unique scores that I can think of are Spy Game (not completely unique, but in a way) K-PAX (again, somewhat unique, but at times reminds me of Forrest Gump) but that's about all I can think of right now. Clayton NP>The Mummy complete
posted 10-29-2002 01:11 PM PT (US)

HAL 2000 Wizard	The Third Man (It's all zither music) Forbidden Planet Patton (for it's fading horn triplets) The absolutely bizarre score for Titus (as mentioned above)
posted 10-29-2002 02:16 PM PT (US)

dgoldwas Wizard	PUNCH DRUNK LOVE (Jon Brion). Wow. Dunno how to even explain this one. Dan
posted 10-29-2002 02:30 PM PT (US)

Camillu Wizard	Dan - is it good? Anything at all to do with Magnolia?
posted 10-29-2002 02:54 PM PT (US)

dgoldwas Wizard	quote: Originally posted by Camillu: Dan - is it good? Anything at all to do with Magnolia? No, the score has nothing to do with MAGNOLIA...... It's just... bizarre. You have to see the film to "get it", so I'm told. (Which doesn't make it a very good stand-alone soundtrack, IMHO.) Dan
posted 10-29-2002 03:00 PM PT (US)

Richard Street Wizard	quote: Originally posted by Marian Schedenig: Images by Williams. At least it's the only musical work I've ever heard that features a soloist who vomits instead of singing. I've just obtained "Drammi Gotici" (Gothic Dramas"); scores to four TV dramas by Ennio Morricone. I'm not sufficiently aware of much of Morricone's work apart from his Hollywood output and the most famous of his Italian scores - but much of this isn't like anything else I can readily name. Track 15 runs for 11 minutes and sounds like some sort of slowed-down cackling and howling and miscellaneous hallucinogenic moans. This isn't to say I don't like it; it's disorienting, extremely weird, goes on far too long, and you can't even dance to it. NP: DRAMMI GOTICI (Ennio Morricone)
posted 10-29-2002 03:13 PM PT (US)

scoreguy16 Wizard	I thought of 2 more. The Truman Show is somewhat unique. So is Great Expectations at times. Clayton
posted 10-29-2002 08:15 PM PT (US)

Lou Goldberg Wizard	I think I'm following along the lines of HAL here that unique scores involve some kind of strange orchestration or attempt at something, successful or not, rarely tried or that breaks new ground. So I'm less inclined to pick out specific scores than certain practices. Morricone's use of Edda'Orso vocals, various electronic experiments, PSYCHO with it's use of all strings and all the other strange Herrmann mixes like using the serpent, the harmonica-viola passages of THE NIGHT DIGGER, the electrovox-bell passages of BRAVE NEW WORLD, etc. The one or two a-capella choir cues/scores, and other experimental things of that nature of which there are so many (just off the top of my head Sarde's LE CHOC main title which uses jazz, orchestra, and bagpipes!). And then there are styles and sounds that are simply one-of-a-kind like Philip Glass music.
posted 10-30-2002 12:00 AM PT (US)

Jeron Wizard	You want a unique score? Try Dave Grusin's "The Firm". I've never heard anyone use the piano in so many different ways, including percussion. Great music, too! Jeron
posted 10-30-2002 01:17 AM PT (US)

Camillu Wizard	I guess you could say that Elfman's Mission: Impossible is quite uniques since the vast majority of the score relies on percussion. And it works too...
posted 10-30-2002 03:51 AM PT (US)

JJH Wizard	Jeron, the piano is a percussion instrument asmuch as it is a string. silly goose! NP -- El Cid, Rozsa
posted 10-30-2002 04:53 AM PT (US)

Ken S Wizard	quote: Originally posted by Lou Goldberg: - - unique scores involve some kind of strange orchestration or attempt at something, successful or not - - Will HEARTBEEPS by John Williams suffice ? Why does all the "unique scores" have to sound like crap ? In my opinion some of the happiest unique scores are Goldsmith's BABY: SECRET OF THE LOST LEGEND (I can't have enough of the End Credits music, and yet the piece could easily irritate someone to the brink of madness); the HEARTBEEPS score is known to irritate many people out there, Williams fanatics or not; Alan Silvestri's FATHER OF THE BRIDE astonishes with the score's versatility and one of the most lushest sounds ever created for any orchestra; Bruce Broughton's YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES is a curious musical conflict with extremely furious parts and yet the score includes the most beguiling, sincere theme Broughton has ever composed (speaking of which, I also like to add here Broughton's scores for BABY'S DAY OUT, HONEY I BLEW UP THE KID and MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET); and John Debney's HOCUS POCUS is simply pure magic. David Newman's MATILDA deserves a special recognition being one of the composer's most effective scores. Unique..? It can be easily said that ALL film scores are unique in some way, even the first HARRY POTTER - the so-called magic score which, every time I hear just a snippet of "Hedwig's Theme", brings into my mind a boat of nasty pirates rowing towards a skull-shaped rock... KEN
posted 10-31-2002 01:36 AM PT (US)

Michael Wizard	Christopher Young: The Vagrant and Invaders from Mars Elliot Goldenthal: Butcher Boy and Titus Howard Shore: Naked Lunch (as mentioned before) Goldsmith: Planet of the Apes (his most unusual orchestration) Rozsa: Ben Hur (unusual in its epic dimension) Michael
posted 11-02-2002 05:11 AM PT (US)

Graham Watt Wizard	You know, I've never seen THE THIRD MAN. Thumbs down to me. But, to get to the point, wasn't the Anton Karras score all zither? That was pretty audacious for its time, wasn't it? Annoying perhaps, effective maybe, but audacious yes. And, Brad, are you talking about the Gil Mell� score for THE SENTINEL? If so, thumbs up. I'm not sure how "original" it would sound to the layman, but for me (us?) at least, it's a spectacularly individualistic work.
posted 11-03-2002 03:19 PM PT (US)

jonathan_little Wizard	Coma is so unique it makes me almost want to smash my CD every time I listen to it. But I've got to save it for that amazing "Disco Strut" cue (not by Jerry.)
posted 11-03-2002 05:41 PM PT (US)

Vinylscrubber Muggle	Well, I guess if we're going to mention Gil Melle (who is being mentioned alot at these boards lately), we certainly should include THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN. Now, I'm sure all the anti-electronic people will come out of the woodwork, but the effectiveness of this borderline ambient/sound design effort from Melle is not to be denied. I certainly wouldn't want to have a steady diet of this approach to scoring, but it sure works for Wise's film. [Message edited by Vinylscrubber on 11-05-2002]
posted 11-05-2002 07:04 AM PT (US)

PeterK FishChip	Vangelis' scores are very unique. Blade Runner is the least unique of them all, as it "fits" along with our expectation of a synthesized score for a futuristic film. The most unique are V's scores for age-old films like 1492 and The Bounty. What the hell? Isn't it odd all these synth drones have joined Christopher Columbus on the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria? Oui, tres bizarre! But of course, Vangelis claims to write music that is without bounds. As far as my eardrums can tell, something right is happening.
posted 11-05-2002 03:44 PM PT (US)

nightwing Wizard	Well how about Fight Club? The first time I heard it after I bought it I couldn't stand it. Then a year later I put it in to give it another try and I fell in love. It is quite different from most other scores I own and have heard.
posted 11-05-2002 09:54 PM PT (US)

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