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ReKnowing the Score

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Author	Topic: ReKnowing the Score

PeterK FishChip	Paul Tonks, people miss your column.... However, visitng the archive some four or five months after your grand finale earlier this year rekindles some reknowing. http://www.moviepoopshoot.com/score/archives.html I enjoy 'em and still sense a void for a good regular column on our subject. Are there any options? Is the world of film music drying up? Hard to do with the millions of soundtracks coming out each week, both from major labels and indies. For those of you who've enjoyed calling yourself a collector for more than 5 years, how do you feel? Overwhelmed by it all? Tired of trying to keep up? Bored by the music?
posted 09-22-2004 04:53 PM PT (US)

Timmer Standard Userer	I'll always be a film music fan! Simple as that!! But I have slowed down a lot, earlier this year I thought I had around a 1000 + Cd's and was shocked to find that I had over 2000, I've had to put a lot into storage. Apart from picking up re-released and un-released older scores I find a lot of recent stuff just doesn't knock me out like it used to. Where's the originality? NP : Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow - Edward Shearmur...nothing I ain't heard before, it's good, stirring stuff and I'll be playing it again, but it don't blow me away!
posted 09-22-2004 06:26 PM PT (US)

Widescreen Standard Userer	I'll keep going as long as there as music to be had that I enjoy, I'm sure others here are the same, like Timmer. This year so far, there's been some pretty unforgettable stuff for me- the reason I know is that I'll play select cues or the entire album of one title repeatedly. So far this year, I've had that happen with: Hidalgo The Terminal Spider-Man 2 Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow The Bourne Supremacy And I'm looking forward to Giacchino's big entery with The Incredibles and I'm curious about the RZA's score for Blade Trinity (release date for that one is November 23rd- assuming that's not a song album, it should be interesting). Until you mentioned it, Peter, I hadn't realized that it has been a while since a Tonks review was mentioned on this board, let alone one being posted at the Shoot. Maybe he's on holiday. [Message edited by Widescreen on 09-23-2004] [Message edited by Widescreen on 09-23-2004]
posted 09-23-2004 05:57 AM PT (US)

Marc Flake Standard Userer	I've had very few scores tickle my fancy over the past five years (I've been collecting for more than 40 years now). I know that I've bought more CDs to replace vinyl than new scores. This year, I've only bought scores for "Hidalgo," "The Last Samurai" and "1492." And I bought 1492 only because I heard "Conquest of Paradise" in the trailer for "The Alamo." The first two I bought after viewing them at home on DVD. I don't go to movies much anymore. And when I do it's to kids' movies more often than not. I haven't yet gotten 'round to buying the newest Harry Potter score. But I will. I think it's the best of the three so far. I don't think there are many movies out that move me like the ones I saw when I was younger -- therefore the music isn't as inspiring. Or it could be that the music being written for movies just isn't that compelling to me. I was rather disappointed in the music for "King Arthur," for example.
posted 09-23-2004 01:38 PM PT (US)

joan hue Standard Userer	"Hope springs eternal." Therefore, I keep hoping for more and better film music. The loss of Bernstein and Goldsmith took a big swipe at my bubble, but it hasn't been broken. NP Bite The Bullet
posted 09-23-2004 03:22 PM PT (US)

franz_conrad Standard Userer	Every time I feel disheartened at American film music... I look eastward to the dark continent of Europe, and there's plenty to appreciate there. And every time I feel disheartened at European film music... I look eastward again... eventually I end up in America again and I'm glad to hear drum loops again.
posted 09-23-2004 06:43 PM PT (US)

Gae Standard Userer	Beauty and profundity are hard things to discover in all walks of life, thats why if it is found in anything, it should be treasured and kept close to the heart. The problem we face, as film score collectors, is the challenge and difficulty to discover that same beauty that we have found before in other scores that we treasure in our collection. Faced with the immeasurable amount of new releases and old re-releases available, there is of course plenty of great beauty out there to be had...finding it though, is another story. We then have to ask a question. Are we willing to spend all our hard earned money buying loads and loads of mediocre scores in an attempt to find those few wonderful scores that come along? I for one am not. Done that, been there, got the T-Shirt and a large Film Collection. Occasionally though, I am moved enough to by a score on hearing it in a movie or on the radio and when these rare moments arrive, I seize that moment with both hands and depart with my hard earned cash. I am no longer a Film Music collector, only an occasional, casual buyer of Film Scores. That reminds me, I must buy that Thunderbirds 2 CD. Gae
posted 09-25-2004 04:05 AM PT (US)

lancer Standard Userer	I still collect as many scores as I can, but I have to say their just not as magical, and inspiring as they used to be. I would say my fav over the past couple of years is hands down Hellboy by Beltrami. Yes Sky Captain is great too, but I guess HB was a real surprise for me, because I wasnt expecting it to be good, and it turned out great. When I 1st started collecting, often times even if you were expecting a score to be great, it would turn out even better than expected. Now it really doesnt pay to be expecting a magnificent score, because 9 out of 10 it's only going to be mediocre at best.
posted 09-25-2004 12:15 PM PT (US)

Graham Watt Standard Userer	There are not many persons who know what wonders are opened to them in the stories and visions of their youth; for when as children we listen and dream, we think but half-formed thoughts, and when as men we try to remember, we are dulled and prosaic with the poison of life. But some of us awake in the night with strange phantasms of enchanted hills and gardens, of fountains that sing in the sun, of golden cliffs overhanging murmuring seas, of plains that stretch down to sleeping cities of bronze and stone, and of shadowy companies of heroes that ride caparisoned white horse along the edges of thick forests; and then we know that we have looked back through the ivory gates into that world of wonder which was ours before we were wise and unhappy.
posted 09-25-2004 02:03 PM PT (US)

lancer Standard Userer	I would say that sums it up, right there, good job.
posted 09-25-2004 03:36 PM PT (US)

CAT Standard Userer	Graham, I can hardly recall ever hearing anything so well-thought out, so beautifully stated and so ultimately truthful. Thank you for your post. I am awe struck!
posted 09-25-2004 09:09 PM PT (US)

James Standard Userer	Indeed, Graham, you and Mr. Lovecraft are to be commended.
posted 09-25-2004 10:25 PM PT (US)

Gae Standard Userer	Graham, wow! I'm impressed. You said with so much more poetry and eloquence what I was clumsily trying to say! Gae "But some of us awake in the night with strange phantasms of enchanted hills and gardens, of fountains that sing in the sun, of golden cliffs overhanging murmuring seas, of plains that stretch down to sleeping cities of bronze and stone, and of shadowy companies of heroes that ride caparisoned white horse along the edges of thick forests;" ....without meaning to trivialise such a beautiful and profound quote, Graham, have you been nodding off late at night again while watching the Lord of the Rings Box Set? [Message edited by Gae on 09-26-2004]
posted 09-26-2004 03:05 AM PT (US)

Graham Watt Standard Userer	Well, I was going to own up in time, but since James has already found me out, I'll confirm it. Yup, don't go all awe-struck on ME, you have H.P. Lovecraft to thank. That comes from his story "Celephais", written back in 1920. It's a passage which has always struck me, so when this thread came up, I thought it time to (once more) pull out that volume and copy it for you all to see.
posted 09-26-2004 04:11 AM PT (US)

lancer Standard Userer	I thought it sounded familiar, its been a few years since I read any Lovcraft though. Pat your self on the back for thinking to use that though. I think I'm going to dust off some of my old books and go read them.
posted 09-29-2004 08:59 AM PT (US)

Graham Watt Standard Userer	To get back on track and actually try to answer the FishityChippy question, here are my own answers, dulled and prosaic as they are by the poison of life - Overwhelmed, tired by it all, bored with the music? I have to say yes, but I'm not sure to what extent it has to really do with the quality of the music itself (which is, in my view, not good, but maybe not as bad as I perceive it). The real problem I think is two-fold: we're all so on top of it (thanks to Internet) that all surprise has been squeezed out the damn thing before we even hear it, plus the fact that the sheer quantity of releases makes nothing really special anymore. I'd love to have the will-power to not click on or visit a store for a year or two, to just lead a normal life, go for walks, see a film from time to time, then get back on board again. Sort of freshen things up. "So why don't you?" you all cry.
posted 10-05-2004 01:02 PM PT (US)

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