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Have to disagree with Goldsmith, I liked most of his album presentations. I think the original versions of for instance Bad Girls and The Edge are better listening experiences than the expanded ones. And while most releases sometimes missed some great cues, the assembled albums where always perfect listening experiences, none of his soundtracks outstayed their welcome. I sometimes miss the days of those 30 - 45 min releases. I could play most of the albums again and again, whereas these days when I'm halfway through a Brian Tyler album, I'm starting to lose my interest. When it comes to 60+ min soundtracks, James Horner and John Williams always know how to assemble a great album. Elliot Goldenthal also always has great album presentations of his scores.
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An infamous Ford A. Thaxton "we are Fanboys who know nothing" rant in 3..., 2..., 1...
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I always thought John Williams really conceptualized the best showcases for his themes. From the first Star Wars through Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, I thought he was the best. I thought John Barry caught up to him, album-wise, around the time of A View to a Kill and The Living Daylights.
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Worst, well then I have two contenders: If James Newton Howard was the man to blame for the Varese 30 minute album assembly of Outbreak. The movie contains so many great cues and he (or whoever it was) assembled the least interesting cues and skipped ALL the great ones (except one). In your humble opinion...... Since Mr. Howard produced that album, one would assume that he put on the cues he liked and thought represented the best parts of his score. I'm sure you fell you know what to do so much better then he does about such matters.. The other issue with that score is that it was recorded in LA with AFM Players and was released under the old New Usage Payment rules which accounted for such a short release. I would have assumed you would have known about that given how long you've been around here... I thought I heard that Tomorrow Never Dies had to be issued with the latter half of the score missing because the album needed to be finalized while the score was still being recorded. That is correct.. Re: Goldsmith, you guys are right. I was probably being a little harsh. I'm thinking of some albums in particular that really sounded so much better in complete form like First Knight and Star Trek V. And there's definitely some of his latter day score albums that I thought had questionable cue selection (ST: Nemesis in particular comes to mind).[endtquote] Both scores were released be Major Labels and produced under the old AFM rules, even with that I'd be hard pressed to pick a single cue I'd would have left off of any of them. In the case of "ST: Nemesis" my understanding is that Mr. Townson choose the cues for the album that Jerry Approved (Once again a AFM Recorded score released under the old New Usage Rules), as I recall the original album was pretty good given that those limits. Perhaps I should have re-structured the topic to simply being best / worst albums since, as others have pointed out, sometimes there are factors other than composers' wishes that dictate album format. Chris. That is also correct. Ford A. Thaxton
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I think in these kinds of threads it's import to state one's stance on this issue: I prefer albums of highlights in most cases, because I'm looking for a strong musical experience more than hearing all the music from the movie in the clear. And I prefer hearing how the composer wants to focus and present the music vs. an audio catalogue. For a change of pace from these choices, I'll pick a few modern day examples of folks who do some good work even in the CD age of too-much-is-never-enough. I think Hans Zimmer can create a fine album of his work when he limits. Examples for me are the Sherlock Holmes albums, Inception, and Broken Arrow. They all play very well. The expansion of Broken Arrow really wears out its welcome for me. (He's also put out albums that are way too much of a good thing, but everybody does these days from time to time (and I'm talking about music I like here) - the Pirates 2 & 3 are just exhausting, by the end I feel like I never want to hear them again.) Marco Beltrami has made some very fine albums from his scores - my favorites are Hellboy, Flight of the Phoenix and 3:10 to Yuma. I've loved some of Elfman's album assemblies - Beetlejuice and Batman the first, Darkman and Mission Impossible, Hulk and Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Dark Shadows. John Powell can do great albums without going overboard - very big fan of his album of The Italian Job, it plays perfectly. And Michael Giacchino has put together some great albums: my favorites are the Incredibles and Star Trek into Darkness. Both are missing a ton of music and both play beautifully as presented. So much so for Trek that I much prefer it to the expanded recording.
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