[Thor Joachim Haga]

If, on the other hand, a film score works inside the movie, but does so in a fresh way that’s not trite, not bland but vivid, not unoriginal but inventive, not uninteresting but engaging, not boring but compelling, or (again) whatever (I just used the opposites of what could make music uninteresting as music), then it becomes automatically interesting as music per se and may be considered “great” or at least “good”.

Yes, I think that’s where we fundamentally disagree. I marvel at the way Mica Levi just used a single, descending chord (that runs its course, then restarts again) to describe the alien’s deadly seduction in UNDER THE SKIN. It’s original, it’s fresh, it’s something that lifts the film. Or how those low-register rumblings created an uneasy, nervous atmosphere throughout the narrative. It’s lean and mean. When assessing it as a filmatic tool, alongside acting style, effects, editing, sound design, it is – as far as I’m concerned – a GREAT score. Not merely serviceable, but GREAT. A fundamental reason for why the film is somewhat of a modern sci fi/horror classic.

However, when I try/tried to listen to it outside its movie, it just went on my nerves. It was monotonous, boring, static, aggravating. Nothing great or pleasurable about it. Not something I want to listen to again, not something I want to own.

This is not some weird, abnormal thing to experience, I think. It’s fairly normal. To be able to appreciate a score in-context, but not so much on album. Or vice versa.

I probably have dozens, if not hundreds, of such examples.