Parsifal666
I don't even own a DAW, I'm just a troll.
I'm just getting into that one, and actually like it better than Chinatown.
Your favourite Jerry Goldsmith score
- Thread starter ka00
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JohnG
Senior Member
Me too. A lot better movie too
Parsifal666
I don't even own a DAW, I'm just a troll.
OMG SO I'M NOT TOTALLY CUCKOO! lol I thought Chinatown was very popular, though I never really cared for it much...despite the fact that Nicholson might be my favorite actor (Easy Rider, The Shining, Cuckoo's Nest, and quite a few more).
Even the score for CT doesn't really do that much for me...would have been cool if Rozsa could have scored that one imo.
(On bended knee, genuflecting in the shape of inverted crucifix):
I'm not worthy Godly Goldsmith!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seasharp
Member
The Russia House and of course the main theme from ChinaTown.
Parsifal666
I don't even own a DAW, I'm just a troll.
I just watched the Edge (hadn't since it came out). Now THERE'S a score, yet another triumph for the greatest film composer ever (imo).
kmaster
Composer | Writer | Breakfast Food Enthusiast
He had 10 days to write it after the first composer got fired.
Seasharp
Member
I can believe it took only ten minutes. After the haunting trumpet main theme there’s not much else of note. I use to own the full soundtrack CD and only listened to those few tracks that had the main theme.
tomorrowstops
Member
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Iila’s theme, come ON!)
Logan’s Run - some serious ARP 2500 action - nuff said
Seconds - way too short, but the main theme is sooooooo good. Like unreal.
Logan’s Run - some serious ARP 2500 action - nuff said
Seconds - way too short, but the main theme is sooooooo good. Like unreal.
In case anyone is interested, there are a few free Jerry Goldsmith scores and cues available for download.
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iliatilev
New Member
Sleeping with the Enemy score was great..
I like music
Senior Member
Missed him in concert with the LSO (he was due to conduct, but his health deteriorated so he could not travel). However, this was played, and then played again as the encore. Love that part also!
Abdulrahman
Member
I would have to say Disney's Mulan for sure!
Ganvai
Active Member
The 13th Warrior is maybe my biggest guilty pleasure from Goldsmith.
But there is so much to love
The Wind and the Lion
This is a fantastic adventure soundtrack with so many clever and weird ideas. And while Goldsmith had always weird instruments and ideas, especially in his Sci-Fi scores, it is great to hear how he worked this into a more conventional setting.
Air Force One
I have to include this one because it is one of the most overlooked soundtracks from Goldsmith. It is simple, straight forward and maybe the best anyone could have done for this movie. I like the movie, it's an okayish action movie (when you are able to look over the tons of patriotism) but it really gets intense with Jerry Goldsmith score.
For everyone who thinks "Oh, the movie is simple, the soundtrack seems kinda simple, that's not hard to make" you should watch the alternative score from Randy Newman for one of the most intense Action Scenes ever made ("The Hijacking"). Newman did some very good music, but it lacks the simplicity and straightness of Goldsmiths score.
So even this score is not the "best" or "most complex" from Goldsmiths works, it shows one of his strength best: His ability to maintain the very soul of a film in his music, without using weird instruments or super experimental elements that would distract the listener from the movie itself, but just with melodies and the use of his orchestra.
This is something I really admire Goldsmith for. He did this a lot and often so masterfully, that no one ever realised what a Genius he was. No matter if it was in Mulan, Ghost and the Darkness, First Blood or The Mummy. He understood movies and music so deeply that he was able to capture the essence of a movie into a melody in a very natural way.
I guess this is why he never got the recognition during his life and also why he is missed so much nowadays.
But there is so much to love
The Wind and the Lion
This is a fantastic adventure soundtrack with so many clever and weird ideas. And while Goldsmith had always weird instruments and ideas, especially in his Sci-Fi scores, it is great to hear how he worked this into a more conventional setting.
Air Force One
I have to include this one because it is one of the most overlooked soundtracks from Goldsmith. It is simple, straight forward and maybe the best anyone could have done for this movie. I like the movie, it's an okayish action movie (when you are able to look over the tons of patriotism) but it really gets intense with Jerry Goldsmith score.
For everyone who thinks "Oh, the movie is simple, the soundtrack seems kinda simple, that's not hard to make" you should watch the alternative score from Randy Newman for one of the most intense Action Scenes ever made ("The Hijacking"). Newman did some very good music, but it lacks the simplicity and straightness of Goldsmiths score.
So even this score is not the "best" or "most complex" from Goldsmiths works, it shows one of his strength best: His ability to maintain the very soul of a film in his music, without using weird instruments or super experimental elements that would distract the listener from the movie itself, but just with melodies and the use of his orchestra.
This is something I really admire Goldsmith for. He did this a lot and often so masterfully, that no one ever realised what a Genius he was. No matter if it was in Mulan, Ghost and the Darkness, First Blood or The Mummy. He understood movies and music so deeply that he was able to capture the essence of a movie into a melody in a very natural way.
I guess this is why he never got the recognition during his life and also why he is missed so much nowadays.
re-peat
Senior Member
The one time when Goldsmiths inspiration failed him a little bit, in my opinion, is with the main theme — the Quatermain March — from "King Solomon's Mines".
I don't know whether it was at the insistence of the producers or director, or if it was Goldsmith's own idea, but what he came up with, is clearly an attempt at an heroic "Indiana Jones"-like march. And, as I think most will agree, he didn't quite pull that one off - in fact, it's a pretty weak effort. (Which, more than anything, proves, if any such proof were still needed, what a unique genius musical invention the "Raiders March" actually is.)
Most everything else in the "Solomon" score is vintage high-quality Goldsmith though.
_
I don't know whether it was at the insistence of the producers or director, or if it was Goldsmith's own idea, but what he came up with, is clearly an attempt at an heroic "Indiana Jones"-like march. And, as I think most will agree, he didn't quite pull that one off - in fact, it's a pretty weak effort. (Which, more than anything, proves, if any such proof were still needed, what a unique genius musical invention the "Raiders March" actually is.)
Most everything else in the "Solomon" score is vintage high-quality Goldsmith though.
_
I like music
Senior Member
I don't know, man! I fucking love it. That said, I can't listen to Goldsmith through anything but rose-tinted ear-glasses. But I guess when comparing with the rest of his work, it isn't quite there ... maybe.
mducharme
Senior Member
In general I love Goldsmith's music - but I do have do agree that his "King Solomon's Mines" main theme was less interesting than most of his stuff, a bit trite.
The relationship of the KSM score and that of the film that it very openly parodies is interesting. Goldsmith's main theme is certainly not comparable to Williams' in any way. However, I've always felt that Williams' Marion theme from Raiders was one of his weakest love themes. Although still certainly not bad by any means, it doesn't match Goldsmith's rather strong love theme for KSM. So even though Williams' main theme is certainly better and Goldsmith's is more trite and I would say objectively weaker, Goldsmith's love theme is, I feel, stronger than Williams' in this case.
Regarding the main theme, I wonder how much in this case was due to the idea that this was to be an Indiana Jones parody sort of film. His theme seems over the top in such a way that he might try to play a parody for laughs. It doesn't sound earnest in the same way that his Supergirl theme does (Supergirl was certainly not meant as a parody) or even the KSM love theme does. So I have always interpreted the "trite" aspects as due to the fact that it is a musical parody. It is similar in idea to the very trite "Hogwart's March" that Patrick Doyle wrote for Goblet of Fire. Doyle certainly would have recognized that theme as being trite and could have written something much better, but it was a parody of a full-of-itself march style, and played a dramatic role in the film when Cedric Diggory's dead body apparates back there when they are playing the march, commenting on how meaningless the celebrations are amongst matters of life and death. Not that there is any deeper meaning in the King Solomon's Mines main theme other than Goldsmith perhaps trying to create musical laughs where they were absent in the script, but there is a similar idea of parody in both cases, and this can at least partially explain the interpretation of the melody.
The relationship of the KSM score and that of the film that it very openly parodies is interesting. Goldsmith's main theme is certainly not comparable to Williams' in any way. However, I've always felt that Williams' Marion theme from Raiders was one of his weakest love themes. Although still certainly not bad by any means, it doesn't match Goldsmith's rather strong love theme for KSM. So even though Williams' main theme is certainly better and Goldsmith's is more trite and I would say objectively weaker, Goldsmith's love theme is, I feel, stronger than Williams' in this case.
Regarding the main theme, I wonder how much in this case was due to the idea that this was to be an Indiana Jones parody sort of film. His theme seems over the top in such a way that he might try to play a parody for laughs. It doesn't sound earnest in the same way that his Supergirl theme does (Supergirl was certainly not meant as a parody) or even the KSM love theme does. So I have always interpreted the "trite" aspects as due to the fact that it is a musical parody. It is similar in idea to the very trite "Hogwart's March" that Patrick Doyle wrote for Goblet of Fire. Doyle certainly would have recognized that theme as being trite and could have written something much better, but it was a parody of a full-of-itself march style, and played a dramatic role in the film when Cedric Diggory's dead body apparates back there when they are playing the march, commenting on how meaningless the celebrations are amongst matters of life and death. Not that there is any deeper meaning in the King Solomon's Mines main theme other than Goldsmith perhaps trying to create musical laughs where they were absent in the script, but there is a similar idea of parody in both cases, and this can at least partially explain the interpretation of the melody.
Thomas Kallweit
eclecticism
I have to look out -
spontaneously indeed I have to say:
Planet of the apes for sure.
Yesterday I watched Capricorn One for the first time. As I listened to the music I thought, great, this could be Goldsmith, and bingo it was - though I don't know if this may be my favorite (it was good anyways). So I guess he is very recognizable for me - compliment
spontaneously indeed I have to say:
Planet of the apes for sure.
Yesterday I watched Capricorn One for the first time. As I listened to the music I thought, great, this could be Goldsmith, and bingo it was - though I don't know if this may be my favorite (it was good anyways). So I guess he is very recognizable for me - compliment
