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Much like my disdain for the ruinous synth effects that undo the otherwise interesting music going on in the soon to be released Don Is Dead score, are there any scores by JG that have been marred for you by his preponderance for silly synth farts or cheesy electronic effects?
Conversely, as I loved his goblin noises in Legend (but not in Timeline), what do you consider his more successful synth embellishments?
I also loved the synths in Leviathan, especially the whale call.
Just wondering. 
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I don't really like the basic ' tick tock' back and forth sounds. They sound cheap and could be done by a five year old on a Casio.
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Posted: |
Aug 8, 2020 - 11:20 AM
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By: |
MikeP
(Member)
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I don't believe any of his scores have been "ruined" by electronics. Some didn't really tickle my fancy ( the wooshes in Supergirl, the synth ram's horn in Timeline ), but they don't ruin the score.
But I DO love how he used electronic accents in a lot of his action cues. He would use a continuing synth effect ( a sequencer ? ) under the orchestra to add to the momentum and urgency to the music, that's the best I can do to describe it right now. Escape From Torture in Rambo: First Blood Pt 2 uses it to wildly successful effect. That kind of chittering sound was also used a lot in Innerspace's action music. Extreme Prejudice is VERY synth heavy, but in particular his original version of The Plan uses a grinding /repeating electronic accent under the orchestra, dropping out then coming back in as the tension / suspense amps up . Then the last two minutes of that cue explodes in with hammering synths and urgent horns in one of my all time favorite movie music moments.
I guess being a fan of electronic / synth music, for the most part Goldsmith's use of synths never bothered me.
And I don't care what anybody says, Criminal Law is a fantastic, atmospheric, creepy synth score 
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Don't get me wrong. I ain't a hater on JG synth use and a lot of my favourite scores by him feature them heavily (Hoosiers, First Blood, Psycho 2, Rambo 2, Gremlins, Innerspace...loads more) and I love all-synth efforts like Runaway, but there are scores that really grate on me now and then (Don Is Dead may be one of the worst cases).
Interesting comments so far.
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The worst is easily Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate. Urgh.
But here’s one which probably won’t get me a lot of love, here:
Under Fire. I think that score would be SO much better without the synths (or if they were at least toned down). I would buy a complete orchestral realization of that score in an instant. (Runaway, too... I can tell that’s a good composition hampered by dated synths.)
I admit I have trouble enjoying Logan’s Run’s synths on album, too...although I do admire the architecture of the score and appreciate that they serve a purpose.
Some of my favorite synth usage of Jerry’s is Damnation Alley, just a couple years later. LOVE the melodic synth sounds in that score, and how they integrate well with the orchestra.
Yavar
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As far as I'm concerned, Legend is the only JG score truly ruined by electronics. I listened to it once and that was it.
I was very wowed by Goldsmith's use of synths in Legend, and still consider it one of the most inventive use of synths (with or without an orchestra). They are arguably overused in that score, but then again it was written in the 1980s, when every composer was synth happy (even John Williams piled on the electronics in The Witches of Eastwick).
People carp about the "farting" sound -- but to anyone who saw the movie (admittedly not many did), it perfectly captured the character of the goblins. I was also always struck by the synths in "The Riddle" where at one point Goldsmith has them playing in such a high register they are just within the threshold of human hearing.
Legend is honestly one of the few Goldsmith scores I find to have any standalone appeal.
Gremlins' electronics are excessive to me (and it's not a score I enjoy listening to), but they work well in the film. Under Fire's synths are hit and miss with me. They are brilliantly used in the main title, but a bit clumsy in cues like "Rafael".
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I remember reading a review of a score, from around that time of Rambo 2, Extreme Prejudice, Rambo 3, wherein the writer said it sounded like the orchestra was coated in tin-foil.
I must admit that sound doesn't really bother me at all.
It's the lazy sounding repetitive beats of the suspense stuff from his later scores (Executive Decision, Air Force One, U.S Marshals, The Haunting) that tends to bore me.
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DAMIEN—OMEN II sounds like an example of mid-70s 'synth-farts' as you call them, but I have to say in that particular case, I love them. I'm talking more about the film recording than the album.
Cheers
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Posted: |
Aug 10, 2020 - 5:14 AM
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By: |
DavidCorkum
(Member)
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It's the lazy sounding repetitive beats of the suspense stuff from his later scores (Executive Decision, Air Force One, U.S Marshals, The Haunting) that tends to bore me.
I wouldn't say that stuff bored me, but it represented the much-discussed decline in Goldsmith's creativity, as the synth elements started to be the only distinctive elements of the scores, while the orchestral element got too basic and similar, in general.
But much of the 80's had some fantastic orchestra/synth unions. I think Innerspace is a classic on a par with Gremlins, and Baby is a close relative to Legend, at least in the jungle environments. Supergirl got a little awkward with the "magic" stuff, which got more refined in Warlock.
In general I think a common denominator in all of Goldsmith's best scores is a sense that he was having fun with it, and playing with electronics seems to have amused him.
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I don’t find the synths in Criminal Law or Alien Nation (both 1988) too grating, but I do find them very much so in Runaway.
But I can tell Runaway is the best composition for the three, and since it already comes across as “orchestrated” in a way, I would very much like to hear an orchestral realization of that score.
Glad someone brought up Warlock, one of Goldsmith’s most underrated efforts. I love the synths and integration with the orchestra in that score.
Yavar
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