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| There are 528 Reviews Done |
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Thomas Newman - How To Make An American Quilt
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| Another charming score from the master of themes |
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Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
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Strangely, for once I hear some resemblances with his brother David Newman in several parts of the score. Rarely did I say to myself, this is David not Thomas I hear here. "Quilting Theme" and "An American Quilt" (representing the lovely main theme) is evidence of that resemblance. Apart from that resemblance, it's another winner from the Thomas Newman theme cannon, irresistible to the human ear. But for me it is not this score's strongest theme. No for that we actually have to praise the theme for one of the sisters instead. Heard softly in "He Never Came Back" and powerful in "The Diver", it is once again solid proof that Thomas Newman has a born knack for beautiful themes. Of course true trailer fanatics will cherish "The Diver" cue immensely, as it made the trailer Heart of Atlantis so captivating.
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Excellent Tracks:
- "The Life Before"
- An American Quilt
- The Diver
Read the complete review on MainTitles.net
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Alexandre Desplat - La Fille Du Puisatier
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| One of Alexandre Desplat's most accessible dramatic works in years. |
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Written by Bob den Hartog - Review of the regular release
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To be completely sure the listener is aware of the time period in which the film is set, source songs from the first half of the 20th century are well represented. In their original form (like too-sweet-for-its-own-good operetta chanson "J’ai Rêvé D’Une Fleur"), but also in new renditions orchestrated by Desplat. Which is why we get not one, not two, not even three, but four versions of 1911 operatic classic "Core ‘ngrato", composed by Salvatore Cardillo; the original version as sung by tenor Enrico Caruso, a version with added orchestra, a beautiful cello version and a reprise of the orchestral performance, with once again tenor Caruso. Although one could say the many reprisals of the same song are a tad much, these works never detract from the established mood and help to enrich the sonic world Desplat creates, complementing his own thematic ideas.
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Excellent Tracks:
- La Fille du Puisatier
- Les Roseaux
- Rendez-Vous Manqué
- Core ’ngrato — Cello Version
Read the complete review on MainTitles.net
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Thomas Newman - Unstrung Heroes
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| Eclectic combination receives an Oscar nomination |
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Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
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The score however doesn't begin the way you expect an Oscar nominated score to begin. Eclectic and pounding away on the various percussive elements, "Outside 2B" surely is an eclectic opening. But that we can say about some other tracks as well. "Inside 2B", some guitar weirdness in "Is Unstrung", "The Beast is Coming" and "Half Amelia" and the final track "There is no Conspiracy" show us Thomas Newman at his most creative.
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Read the complete review on MainTitles.net
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0 of 1 found this review helpful |
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Thomas Newman - Help, The
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| Lovely score misses that special Thomas Newman ingredient |
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Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
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Of course The Help is full of the familiar Thomas Newman trademarks. We have guitar ("Upside-down Cake", "Heart Palpitations" (feisty), "Jim Crow", ""First White Baby" (relaxing), "My Son"), soft meandering music, gradually moving forward through oboe, piano and strings ("Mississippi", "The Help", "Bottom of the List", "November 22") and by far the most magical inclusions of all, namely the piano playing ("Them Fools", "Write That Down", "Trash on the Road").
Once he delivers a mesmerizing violin moment too, and that track "Constantine" really gets me every time I hear it. "Amen" is lovely and beautiful and the timeless tranquility of "Ain't you tired (End Title)" makes it the perfect final track of the score. Give or take a brief change of pace in "Celia Digs" and a familiar quirky entry in "The Terrible Awful", The Help sounds distinctly Thomas Newman like from start to finish.
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Read the complete review on MainTitles.net
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1 of 1 found this review helpful |
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Yasunori Mitsuda - Chrono Cross OSV
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| A Beautiful Soundtrack |
| By: |
Winter
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| Date: |
13 Mar 2012 |
| Rating: |
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The Chrono Cross OSV was considered ground-breaking, being one of the first RPG titles to have a soundtrack that borders on orchestrated in spite of being mostly synthesized. The music even includes "accidentals" like the sound of fingers sliding on guitar strings.
Mitsuda combines a variety of different cultural themes into the music, including Celtic, Arabian, classical and traditional Japanese. The music also retains hints and reminders of the original Chrono Trigger soundtrack, which is wonderful for those who loved the earlier game. It is all very well written and though some of it can be very calm and relaxing, other pieces will definitely get your feet tapping.
Though most of the music attracts players of the games, for the nostalgia and love of the game and its story, the album also stands alone. It's innovative and creative, and contains diverse themes that anyone can appreciate.
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4 of 4 found this review helpful |
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Raymond Lefevre - Les Plus Belles Musiques De Film De Louis De Funes
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| Musiques de Louis De Funes, Raymond Lefebvre & son orchestre |
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This Play Time compilation is an attribute to the great work of French composer Raymond Lefebvre (1929-2008) who was, like Louis de Funes a pianist.
The whole album is made of the music, he composed for the Gendarmes Serie which is with the Fantomas Serie the most popular movies of Louis de Funes. This CD, as it should have been a very good commercial sale was confirmed and re-release 5 years after, more complete, with additional music in the CD Louis De Funes, Vol. 1 also by Play Time.
This CD, for me, is a turning point for the record companies like Universal or Sony, who sees the high potential of selling this type of popular movie music. Even though OST buyers are from another world which SST is the jewel case.
There was, previously a former sale test released in 1988 from a German (vielen Dank!) label Hortensia that I think disappear with other soundtracks from Louis de Funes' movies. Like Bryan Singer's X-Men which re-launch the business of Super Heroes movie (Spider-Man,
Superman Returns…), this CD has made possible the re-recording of many old French comedies, some from De Funes, like the Fantomas serie CD but also Delusions of Grandeur , the amazing The One Man Band (Bidibidi-BA!), Don't Look Now: We're Being Shot At & The Sucker with Bourvil or More recently the excellent release of The Exchange Student-The Gazebo CD in 2011.
The wonderful collection from Universal écoutez le Cinéma will have never been created without the success of this compilation.
*Request List - Important tracks to be pointed out* :
- 07.Faites Sauter La Banque: Galipettes is coming from a memorable scene in the begining of the film, when a nice attribute to silent movies is made. You can imagine the play of the actors in this scene by listening to the music.
-05.Le Gendarme De Saint-Tropez: "Douliou Douliou Saint-Tropez is the main theme sung by Geneviève Grad who plays Nicole De Funes' daughter in the movie and it is a standard today like My Heart will go on.
-12 Le Gendarme A New-York: Entrecote Story is an attribute composition to West Side Story and so is the corresponding scene where they fight for a piece of meat, an Entrecote.
-23 Jo: Generique should be the main titles of the American version of this movie Joe: The Busy Body also known as The Gazebo.
-26 Le Gendarme Et Les Extra-Terrestres: Amplitude Siderale who will inspire the E.T. theme, track 33, La Soupe Aux Choux: Oxo La Terre made 4 years later !
-35 La Soupe Aux Choux: Final who hit the record as it was played 58 times until today (3/14/2012).
Bloopers :
-19 Le Gendarme En Balade: Marche Des Gendarmes (Version 70) there is a Bloopers at 00:47 one of the singers made a mistake and starts with an "La" instead of whistling like all the others.
I need also to tell you that Mr Raymond Lefebvre & son orchestre became very famous in Japan during the eighties as you can see in many videos on the net.
Not only conducting his own orchestra, he often plays himself different instruments.
Here are links to two videos that better shows what I told you.
In Video01, the introduction is taken from track 24 Le Gendarme Et Les Extra-Terrestres: Rencontre Du 4eme Type. Video02 is an orchestra version of Quincy Jones' famous song Ai no corrida.
I. Raymond Lefèvre Live in Japan '89 Capriccio Rhapsodie
Video01
II.Raymond LEFEVRE LIVE IN JAPAN '84 vol.02 (Ai no corrida orchestra version)
Video02
Hoping my review has taught you more on this great French composer who died on 27th June 2008 and is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery div 8 Paris city.
Evan.
PS : English>French movie titles are :
1963"Rob the Bank">"Faites Sauter La Banque"
1964"Le Gendarme De Saint-Tropez">id
1965"The Gendarme in New York">"Le Gendarme à New-York"
1965"The Sucker">"Le Corniaud"
1966"Don't Look Now: We're Being Shot At">"La Grande Vadrouille"
1967"The Exchange Student">"Les Grandes Vacances"
1970"The One Man Band">"L’Homme Orchestre"
1970"The Gendarme Takes Off">"Le gendarme en Balade"
1971"Delusions of Grandeur">"La Folie des grandeurs"
1971"The Gazebo">"Jo"
1978"Le Gendarme Et Les Extra-Terrestres">"The Gendarme and the Extra-Terrestrials"
1981"La Soupe aux choux"(translation: "Cabbage Soup")
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3 of 3 found this review helpful |
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Leonard Rosenman, The Yellowjackets - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
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| Leonard Rosenman's The Voyage Home |
| By: |
Jim_A
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| Date: |
28 Feb 2012 |
| Rating: |
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In addition to composing music for two James Dean films, East of Eden, and Rebel Without a Cause, Leonard Rosenman had done a large volume of work in film and television before meeting with Leonard Nimoy in 1985 to discuss scoring the fourth Star Trek film. According to Rosenman, the two of them talked for hours. And mostly about the character of the music matching the character of the film.
At that juncture, the writers were about halfway through writing the screenplay, and Nimoy knew even then that this entry into the Star Trek franchise would be a warmer, more uplifting film, emphasizing the human element of the characters, their mission, and the universe around those characters. To put it simply: a change of pace. And a warmer family film, that would also subsist as a comedy.
Rosenman had by this time composed for a few Science-Fiction films and TV shows before. To name a handful: Fantastic Voyage, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, an episode of the original Twilight Zone, titled, "And When the Sky was Opened," and animator Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings film. But Rosenman had never scored what he termed a "hardware film" before. And regardless of Nimoy's assurances that this was definitely not going to be a hardware film, Rosenman initially wasn't sure if he was the right choice.
He was also concerned about his own use of the Alexander Courage music -- that famous fanfare for the original TV show, which fans would be expecting to hear. Said Rosenman, "The idea of trying to create, as Jerry (Goldsmith) did, and I think even Jamie (Horner) tried to do it, a new Star Trek theme is shoveling sand against the waves. My original idea, and as a matter of fact even the script, called for Sandy (Alexander) Courage’s theme at the beginning. I thought, 'Well, if I have to do it, I’ll make a fantastic arrangement of it, the kind they’ve never heard before.' I took it a bit slower and very sweeping, and then for the rest of the film I had my own music. As a matter of fact, this time I utilized motifs for the various characters, which has never been done in STAR TREK before. There is a main Star Trek motif, which I repeated throughout the entire film, and also in the end title credits. Well, suddenly Leonard Nimoy ran the film, and he put the end credits music against the main title, and thought that it had so much energy and was so much better that he said, 'Let’s forget Sandy’s theme, let’s use your own.' So, except for the fanfare, which is Sandy’s, the rest is all mine."
For the main score, Rosenman utilized an instrumentation arrangement of 98 musicians from the Los Angeles Philharmonic. And for the jazz sections, he employed electronic synthesizers and a group known as The Yellowjackets. He had chosen to focus on the influence of Korngold, instead of Wagner, and design the thematic structure of the score as, "A straight eight-bar phase -- very memorable and repeatable." And by pairing this with some unexpected, occasional tracks composed entirely of contemporary jazz, he created something rather unique in the Star Trek universe. A quiet, soft score for a major Science-Fiction film. Less music than most S/F films, which traditionally are wall to wall with music.
And it's a score which actually co-exists with the mojo of the movie so well, that it only enhances the audience's understanding of the filmmaker's desired tone. And while this is always the implied purpose of a motion picture score, many composers and filmmakers will be happy to tell you, that this type of remarkable accomplishment is unfortunately the exception, rather than the norm. In fact, Rosenman, who was known for "relationship scores," was surprised to discover that the music would function better in this case, if it punctuated the characters relationships with one another, as opposed to intruding on them. i.e. not while the characters are speaking, but rather after.
Said Rosenman, "And it’s a kind of a thing that I use in very much the same way that I would use it in a much more intimate film. There’s a scene where the girl, in a disconsolate way, runs to a truck, sits down and thinks for a while of what she wants to do. And I have this theme suddenly come in, and you know she’s thinking of going to see Captain Kirk. I mean, you simply know it. The theme reads her mind, which is a kind of thing I would do in a much more intimate film."
Rosenman would go on to score only one other big budget Science-Fiction film, Robocop 2. A shame really, given what he had to offer, if properly cast with the right film. He passed away on Tuesday, March 4th, 2008, from a heart attack. He was 83 years old. But his wonderful score for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, will live forever.
Jim_A
*(this review was written with assistance from a 1987 issue of Cinemascore magazine, Leonard Rosenman's own page on imdb.com, and an article in a 1987 issue of Cinefantastique magazine.)
... thank you for reading.
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10 of 10 found this review helpful |
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Cole Porter - Kiss Me Kate
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| A Fun Little Musical |
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I first remember listening to this soundtrack when I was eight. My Mom and I were in my Aunt and Uncle's RV touring the country with them on their way to the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The song "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" came on and I started asking about the musical. My uncle told me the plot of the movie while driving along the endless prairie that is Montana. As you can tell, I have fond memories of that trip.
When I finally saw the full thing on AMC when it was still commercial free, I loved the musical. But more importantly I loved the music. I knew nothing of who Cole Porter was and who the actors were. It was just something fun that I could sing and dance to.
The Movie is a story within a story with some the songs both being from a musical rendition of "Taming of the Shrew" that the cast are putting on. While others are from the modern story of a pair of dueling ex-lovers and the other cast members from the play. Throw in a sub-plot of one of the cast owing the mob money and two enforcers coming to make sure the debt is paid and you have magic.
There are some wonderful, singable songs on this Album most notably - Too Darn Hot; Tom, Dick or Harry; Wunderbar; I Hate Men; and my personal favorite of Brush Up Your Shakespeare.
Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson are wonderful as a former husband and wife who are still in love but still very angry with each other and fighting like Katherine and Petrucio in Taming of the Shrew. Ann Miller steals any scene she is in but she isn't the strongest singer.
It's a fun movie and it's a fun score. There are some filler pieces like in any movie soundtrack but then there are the gems.
Go Brush Up Your Shakespeare and give this soundtrack a listen. You won't be disappointed.
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2 of 2 found this review helpful |
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Two Steps From Hell - All Drums Go To Hell
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| Drums, Drums in the Deep |
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This album is a collection of percussion tracks for use by trailers. These are drums, all sorts of them: Taiko drums, modern snares, tips, tacks, cymbals, African drums, synthetic drums, the lot. Many tracks also have a good lot of effects, though mostly electronic. All tracks have some sort of beat to them,
But that's it, really. They are not quite the musical cherries you may have come to expect from Two Steps From Hell. They aren't meant to be, either.
If you're looking for some of the better tracks to request, try Norwegian Devil, Nuclear Meltdown (non-electronica version) or Operation Sandstorm (instrumental version).
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2 of 2 found this review helpful |
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Jean Prodromides - Le Voyage En Ballon
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| Le Voyage en Ballon is without a doubt an imposingly high and dynamic score that never ceases to amaze me. |
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Written by Joep de Bruijn - Review of the regular release
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The score is performed by a large, 80 piece orchestra and makes use of 12 solo guitarists and a 30 male chorus for several cues. Its symphonic elegance and lilting character underline the beautiful surroundings and the humorous children story being told. The score is an impressive burst of energy, wonderfully orchestrated and with several themes heard in different variations. The first theme is introduces as a waltz, but re-occurs in variation ranging from chorus and guitars combination to a joyful tambourine version. The second theme is a little, playful tune performed by the clarinet. Le Voyage en Ballon is without a doubt an imposingly high and dynamic score that never ceases to amaze me.
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Read the complete review on MainTitles.net
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