Thomas Newman
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Thomas Newman has a new score out today — THE TUESDAY MURDER CLUB. It’s unmistakably him, but in the lazy corner, IMO. Doubt I’ll be getting it.
But a good opportunity as any to do a thread on him. In recent years, Newman has risen to my “alltime top 10” list, a current 9th place. Coincides with my change in taste towards the more textural and calm. I like all his facets – the Americana sound, the synth stuff from the 80s and early 90s, the quirky things. And the fact that it almost always sounds like him, no matter what he does.
My latest Newman score that I decided to import into iTunes was WHITE BIRD (but only after some heavy playlisting) from last year, and before that the excellent LET THEM ALL TALK from 2020, with its Barry-inspired main theme. So in recent years, it’s been hit and miss. But I have about 30 Newman albums in total, of which SHAWSHANK still reigns on top.
What about you?
I liked his Bond scores although probably not his best ones. I do like him but are not really fan. SHAWSHANK is one of the CDs I sold quite some years ago when I thought I needed to get rid of some I rarley listen too (yeah, what a joke and I regret having sold those…even back before streaming then it really wasn’t much…). I always like ROAD TO PERDITION because of those Irish/Celtic influences and ANGELS IN AMERICA. I have less than 50 scores and probably should review them again as I cannot say much about them right now…
You should get Meet Joe Black. That’s my personal favourite. That and this best of from The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra are the only ones I listen to from time to time.
I have about 35 Thomas Newman albums, and yes, I like him a lot. I agree with Thor, his scores always sound like him, and there is a calm, textural quality to most of his output I very much enjoy. Newman’s music is at times the musical equivalent to relaxing on a warm summer afternoon.
Favorite scores of his are AMERICAN BEAUTY (very original at the time, everybody copied it… quirky), SCENT OF A WOMAN, ANGELS IN AMERICA (one of his more dramatic scores, a great album), THE HORSE WHISPERER and MEET JOE BLACK.
Favorite scores of his are AMERICAN BEAUTY (very original at the time, everybody copied it… quirky), SCENT OF A WOMAN, ANGELS IN AMERICA (one of his more dramatic scores, a great album), THE HORSE WHISPERER and MEET JOE BLACK.
Indeed, AMERICAN BEAUTY is a classic, SCENT OF A WOMAN and MEET JOE BLACK I have and I think I also liked. Really have to revisit those.
Apparently, he turns 70 today. Congratulations to him, but I also find it scary how time flies. In my mind, he’s still in his forties.
I also find it scary how time flies
Indeed… I still have him on a “newer generation composer” list, too…
Well, why not if he isn’t replaced shortley before release by someone else. His two Bond scores might not have been real classics in the series but served the movies in general. Another big franchise surely pays off for him moneywise 😉
We got plenty SW scores that didn’t sound totally like JW. The question is how much will this sound like TN.
So, Thomas Newman is doing some Star Wars thing
I am not excited.
While people like John Powel, Michael Giacchino and Michael Abels thought “This is Star Wars, so let’s write some Star Wars music!” I expect Newman rather to be the type like Göransson, Britell and the likes who said “I was hired for Star Wars to do my thing to give it a contemporary flavor. That old fashioned timeless classical style is done.”
Could go either way, I suppose. He can do oldfashioned if he sets his mind to it (there are several individual cues in the past that demonstrate this), or he could just do “his thing”. But I’d rather he focus his energies on smaller projects, to be honest. They tend to get the best out of him.
Hm. Not sure if it could go either way. Even when Newman went for classical orchestral textures I don’t remember him show that degree of variation that would be required for a wall-to-wall romantic score. A little bit like Alan Silvestri. When a particular theme appears it mostly appears the same.
And Newman isn’t even a tunesmith like Silvestri.But anyway, I am happy to be surprised and proven wrong.
I expect a splash of orchestral color here and there but most of the time his atmospheric moody electronic meandering.
Yay! Finally reached Thomas Newman in my collection walkthrough. Will spend quite a bit of time only listening to him now (I have 30 Newman albums), inbetween sampling new scores. Kicking off with the double-header of MAKING MR. RIGHT (1987) and DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN (1985), which is the earliest I’ve got. Since I only have this album digitally, and never really investigated the cover, I always assumed MAKING MR. RIGHT was a Newman score too, until – a few years ago – I was alerted to the fact that it’s by Chaz Jankel (of K2 fame). Oops! Both are fine scores either way.
I only have 25 TD albums, so done in about a week (and after that I’ve also had time for four Iwashiro albums, 3 other albums, some Norwegian scores – in preparation of a podcast episode – and some sampling of brand new scores).
I’m going to do a separate thread on the whole ‘collection walkthrough’ project soon, which is now coming up on 1.5 years (and I’m still a long way away from finishing).
When listening through my Newman collection, or any composer’s filmography, for that matter, I find it interesting when the shifts occur. First those lovely, moody synth affairs (well mostly synths, anyway) with DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN, THE MAN WITH ONE RED SHOE, LESS THAN ZERO, WELCOME HOME ROXY CARMICHAEL, THOSE SECRETS and JOSH & SAM, and then….BOOM!….1994 comes along with LITTLE WOMEN, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and THE WAR – all with their warmer or quirkier Americana sound, which would define many more of his works in the 90s.
Yes, that’s no doubt part of it. But as I said earlier, I like all types of Newman variations.
It’s strange to think that, with a few exceptions, I found him rather boring in my teenage years. I guess it was the impatience of youth shining through. Whereas now he’s in my top 10 film composers. All those gorgeous shimmering textures he’s so good at, whether it’s synths or orchestra, flew completely over my head at the time. I call it “The SAVING PRIVATE RYAN Effect” (a score that bored me to tears as a youngster, but whose intriciacies I only appreciate now, as a weathered, old man).
I know that. In earlier years when I in the 80s primarily loved action themes and sometimes even needed a kind of pop beat… All else was “work” to get into and appreciate other types of scores.
I don’t know why it took me so long to get to OSCAR AND LUCINDA (1997), but it came into my life as a whirlwind in 2020, after only being familiar with the title iself from before. It rocketed into my top 3 Newman, and I talked about it in a column called “The staff recommends” on the main site (that sadly died after just one installment).
Meet Joe Black is still my favourite of his. Probably because it is one of his most conventional scores and it has his best theme.
Meet Joe Black is still my favourite of his. Probably because it is one of his most conventional scores and it has his best theme.
Actually just reached that now. Absolutely, a fine score indeed.
After the boisterous (in Newman terms, anyway) fan favourite THE GOOD GERMAN (2006), there are three moody scores that I feel are underrated – LITTLE CHILDREN (2006), REVOLUTIONARY ROAD (2006) and BROTHERS (2009). To pick up something we discussed in the “Prejudice of the Melodic” thread, these are really great examples of scores that make the most out of explorative textures, riffs, moods. Newman CAN be excruciatingly boring if he’s uninspired, but if he’s inspired and gets to play around with those textures, it can be very absorbing.
Not sure about Shore (who I associate more with brooding stuff), but it’s one of the few times he’s gone oldfashioned in his music. Not quite Golden Age, but alluding to his father’s stylings.
Now that I’ve reached them, I have to give a shout-out to Newman’s wonderful Indian music in the three films HE NAMED ME MALALA, THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL and VICTORIA & ABDUL, which came out over a three-year period between 2015 and 2017. He was always very good at that sound. Some of his own floating, ethereal music that resonates so well with Indian “raga” music, I think.
THE GOOD GERMAN was a surprise to me as I never heard Newman that be before. The only THomas Newman I have on CD actually. I got it as a Varese promo in cardboard cover if you know these, 2nd hand I think.
TOLKIEN was such a nice surprise in 2019, after I came to terms with the fact that there wasn’t any LOTR sound in it (why would there be? It’s about the author, after all, not his work). I reviewed it here awhile back.
LET THEM ALL TALK (2020) is such a lovely score. Only 20 minutes, but elegant variations on the John Barry sound. I didn’t know he had that kind of jazz sentiment in him. And then, finally, on to WHITE BIRD (2024) now, the final Newman in my collection thus far. Largely disappointed after the long wait (the film & soundtrack were postponed for a long time), and the overlong running time didn’t make it better. But when whittled down to 40 minutes, it’s actually a GOOD Newman work that rears its head, and worthy of inclusion in my iTunes collection. Says a lot about how much curation means.
The IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE soundtrack came out yesterday – it appears to be an ambitious film that takes place in three different periods. Ancient past, presence and future.
Not that thrilled with it, to be honest. Some of it sounds like his PASSENGERS stuff, but not quite as good (and PASSENGERS was fairly mediocre to begin with). But I’ll have to listen a few more times.
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