[This message has been edited by Damon (edited 30 December 2000).]

I think his orchestra/rock mutant scores are not very inspired and sound a lot alike. I mean, they work on an emotional level, but that's not too hard if you simply let a synthetically enhanced orchestra scream at full volume at the audience. I think his 'small' scores are far more interesting. As for GLADIATOR, there was too much borrowing from Holst's "The Planets" for my taste. But I have to say that the 'oriental' touch of the music transported to me very well the message of ancient Rome being the centre of a multi-cultural world. Still, I would have liked a more classical approach for a film that obviously follows in the foot prints of films like BEN HUR or QUO VADIS.

It is first and foremost Zimmer's "ethnic" sound that appeals to me, be it the african-oriented POWER OF ONE or LION KING, the "indian" K2, the "egyptian" sound of GLADIATOR or PRINCE OF EGYPT or the asian-sounding BLACK RAIN or BEYOND RANGOON (the latter is my favourite).

I also enjoy a lot of his action material (sacrilege!), in the CRIMSON TIDE/THE ROCK/PEACEMAKER vein. You should know, though, that I usually enjoy film music completely separated from the film itself - as just another music genre - and I CAN agree upon the fact that some of Zimmer's action material in films can be a bit bombastic at times. But only at times. Usually it complements the equally striking visuals (Scott, Bay, Leder) neatly, IMO.

I have never been very fond of his orchestral comedy or drama efforts, though (at least not in recent years). Somehow, they seem a little too lightweight for me.

Hans Zimmer, a prodigy musical child, has always had a unique gift for melody (esp. the powerful minor-moded ones) and "soundscapes" that equal those of Vangelis.

I guess I never tire of saying that. So be it.

NP. Pino Donaggio/Brian DePalma collection

(In regard to the Lisa Gerrard portion of the Gladiator score: it could hardly be clumsier or more sophomoric. I was aghast when I heard it and despaired for the future of all human culture. I threw all my recordings in the ocean and burned down a library, put a hot poker in my ears and clawed a hole in the ground to live in. I subsist on the ends of worms. Anything rather than take the chance of hearing another movie so affronted.)

On CD, a lot of Zimmer's music makes for credible background music. Attentive listens have not been especially rewarding.

That species of music just doesn't do anything for me. I have no notion whether it's good music or not - I've given up trying to fit everything I hear onto some continuum of relative values. (Except for Lisa Gerrard's contribution to Gladiator, of course. See above.)

(While I was writing this I was listening to Franz Waxman's title sequence for Beloved Infidel. That music would have worked just as well for Gladiator.)

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ROMY

Scroll down for the final version....
[This message has been edited by Swashbuckler (edited 31 December 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Swashbuckler (edited 31 December 2000).]

I do not like Hans Zimmer for the most part because I find his music either bland or obnoxiously loud for no good reason.

I do not like the fact that he writes different arrangements of the same theme (originally for Backdraft, now referred to by most as the Iron Chef theme) for every action picture he does, whether it works or not (its appearance in Gladiator was ridiculous).

I do not like the fact that his scores are so damn formulaic. Every Zimmer score has a paint-by-numbers feel... he uses the same sort of music for the same sort of scene in every film he composes. While it makes sense that a certain similarity would arise if this happens, one begins to smell a rat after it happens four or five times.

I do not like the fact that the Media Ventures crew has all adapted his post-Black Rain style (a score I liked when I first heard it; now that I've heard it a million times since, for several different films I'm a little less enthused about it) and compose score that have the same lack of identity.

I do not like that Zimmer, and Media Ventures at large, stand for generic film scoring. I'm not interested in that. I much prefer it when there is a style that goes in different directions based on the movie he/she gets. With Zimmer or any of the Media Ventures, you always know what the score is going to sound like. You always know what's going to happen next in the score. This sort of predictability is something I don't find interesting.

Regarding the plagiarism thing, I don't think Zimmer is as ridiculous about it as Horner is, but it does rankle me when the obvious rip-offs show up... the "Mars" thing was a rip-off, the "Sahara" thing was a rip-off... I mean, quoting "Mars" may have made sense to Zimmer (I don't know why), but at least credit the damn piece to Holst. It's not that hard to do. Really. George Fenton credits his quotes all the time.

While I admit that Zimmer has composed some effective score, I must say that I have not been interested in his music since the ear-splitting headache he caused with Backdraft. What a horrible score. What a horrible movie.

So, Damon, I would turn the question around. How can you possibly like Hans Zimmer?

Instead of editing the post, it was submitted again?

That's wierd.

NP: Under Fire

Hans Zimmer is the most talented of the current breed of composers that one might most closely liken to wallpaper-hangers. His work has no particular depth, but the surfaces CAN be highly appealing.

THE LION KING is coincidentally a pastiche of my two favorite previous scores by him, BACKDRAFT and the remarkable, little-remembered POWER OF ONE (1992). I own a lot of his stuff, and like it more than I don't (or else it'd be out the window), but when he goes for something deeper like THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS or THE THIN RED LINE, I don't find it comes off terribly well.

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[This message has been edited by Damon (edited 31 December 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Damon (edited 31 December 2000).]