I am a total newbie to sound tracks and I am looking for some recommendations to get started. Please if you have time, let me know what you would recommend as the top few (5 to10) staples for a new sound track enthusiast. I do not really want a compilation type CD of various composers or eras. I would rather get individual sound tracks and make my own compilations later of what I like the best.

Fist a little background on what I have. Last month I stumbled across the LTOR complete ST for the Fellowship of the ring. I bought it and loved it. I did a bit more research and bought a few more CDs over the next month. I have bought the following so far.
Gettysburg
Gods and Generals
Braveheart
Titanic
Alexander
1492
Blade Runner
The Thin Red Line
Black Hawk Down
The Last of the Mohicans
The Last Samaria
Pirates of the Caribbean
LOTR TT is on order.

As you can probably tell I like movies about history, war or action. So far I tend to like The Last of the Mohicans the best followed by Zimmer’s The Thin Red Line, Black Hawk Down and The Last Samaria. I also enjoy listing to Vangelis even though I do not like new age in general. I have browsed the forum a bit and it seems like many of you do not like Zimmer’s work. I may have some of his best? At least I think they are good. I am looking forward to giving other composers a listen also. Thanks for those of you have read this far and provide some recommendations.

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Originally posted by Kasilof:
Hello,

I am a total newbie to sound tracks and I am looking for some recommendations to get started. Please if you have time, let me know what you would recommend as the top few (5 to10) staples for a new sound track enthusiast. I do not really want a compilation type CD of various composers or eras. I would rather get individual sound tracks and make my own compilations later of what I like the best.

Fist a little background on what I have. Last month I stumbled across the LTOR complete ST for the Fellowship of the ring. I bought it and loved it. I did a bit more research and bought a few more CDs over the next month. I have bought the following so far.
Gettysburg
Gods and Generals
Braveheart
Titanic
Alexander
1492
Blade Runner
The Thin Red Line
Black Hawk Down
The Last of the Mohicans
The Last Samaria
Pirates of the Caribbean
LOTR TT is on order.

As you can probably tell I like movies about history, war or action. So far I tend to like The Last of the Mohicans the best followed by Zimmer’s The Thin Red Line, Black Hawk Down and The Last Samaria. I also enjoy listing to Vangelis even though I do not like new age in general. I have browsed the forum a bit and it seems like many of you do not like Zimmer’s work. I may have some of his best? At least I think they are good. I am looking forward to giving other composers a listen also. Thanks for those of you have read this far and provide some recommendations.

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Welcome to the board.

Not everybody on the forum dislikes Zimmer by the way. Here some Zimmer must haves:
Gladiator
More Music from Gladiator
Crimson Tide
The Rock
Batman Begins (with James Newton Howard)

Since you like LOTR it seems to me that you like big orchestral scores. You should definitely check scores of the following composers:
James Newton Howard (Waterworld, Wyatt Earp, King Kong) - He's another of my favorite composers
John Debney - Cutthroat Island is his must have score
Harry Gregson-Williams (Shrek, Chronicles of Narnia, Kingdom of Heaven, Spy Game) - He's one of the so-called Zimmer-boys
John Powell (Shrek, Face-Off, Chicken Run, Paycheck) - Another Zimmer-boy. He actually writes simple but very melodeous scores.
Alan Silvestri (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Mummy Returns) - Fav. composer of Robert Zemeckis
John Williams - No comment
Jerry Goldsmith - Fan favorite, passed away 2 years ago
Trevor Jones (Cleopatra, Dinotopia, Merlin, Dark City)

And many more ...

You could check out www.soundtrack.net or www.filmtracks.com for score reviews.

I say don't go to far and you can keep yourself busy discovering movie music for years.

There are several fantastic reviewers from our forum who've spent good time writing great reviews perfect for the novice collector.
http://www.moviemusic.com/member.asp?295 http://www.moviemusic.com/member.asp?1605 http://www.moviemusic.com/member.asp?2612 http://www.moviemusic.com/member.asp?28 http://www.moviemusic.com/member.asp?1109 http://www.moviemusic.com/member.asp?1884 http://www.moviemusic.com/member.asp?22 http://www.moviemusic.com/member.asp?16 http://www.moviemusic.com/member.asp?754 http://www.moviemusic.com/member.asp?840 http://www.moviemusic.com/member.asp?2054

There are many.... so many. Apologies for leaving out hundreds of others. If you and your reviews need to be noticed, shout! Link! Whatever!

Thanks again.

Oh Hi by the way. Another newbie here.

quote:

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Originally posted by eggerty:
If you like Zimmer then I can also recommend you get King Arthur and Crimson Tide - two great (IMO) scores. Also, Lady in the Water by James Newton-Howard is also stunningly beautiful.

Oh Hi by the way. Another newbie here.

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I forgot about King Arthur. I should've mentioned The Peacemaker as well ... and some more ... and welcome to the board.

For Kasilof, some Zimmer scores that I personally like that I didn't see on your list:

The Prince Of Egypt
Pearl Harbor

For some scores relating to war, history, etc.

Band Of Brothers
The Patriot
Legends Of the Fall

I actually posted a similar thread a few years ago as I was starting to collect film scores.

http://www.moviemusic.com/mb/Forum1/HTML/010719.html

I'm flattered Peter posted my reviews , but most of those titles are ones I'd certainly reccommend without reservation!

Welcome to the club