What are you listening to now?
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I love the original album, so of course I had to check out the “sequel”. Very fitting follow up after all these years.
Have to admit I’ve had this sitting on my shelf for a while before listening to it. But I quite like it. Ranging from the ambient and soothing via the majestic to the weird, Zimmer can really draw you in with his exotic, otherworldly soundscapes. The opening, 9-minute track, “Beginnings Are Such Delicate Times”, is beautiful, with a saxophone (or sax-like instrument) that reminds me of Vangelis’ use of sax in BLADE RUNNER.
I said it before. In my view Dune is from score perspective a big missed opportunity. This very slow paced movie would have been a great canvas for a kind of Wagnarian classical score. But Zimmer’s spheric meandering sound design slows this already slow movie down so much and evoked partly rather boredom in me despite this epic imagery.
I found the score in part 2 much better than in part 1. There I found it really too much score and often too loud for scenes that could have used calmer or no score. Of course counterpoint usage of music is great but in part 2 I found this far better solved. I have not listened to both scores standalone yet except sample a track here and there via Youtube.
I hear Aquaman returns in the 2nd installment
Yes, right afer the Avengers have defeated the Emperor 😉
I said it before. In my view Dune is from score perspective a big missed opportunity. This very slow paced movie would have been a great canvas for a kind of Wagnarian classical score. But Zimmer’s spheric meandering sound design slows this already slow movie down so much and evoked partly rather boredom in me despite this epic imagery.
I’m not a super-fan of the movies either. They’re spectacular, for sure, and visually, of all the DUNE film or TV adaptations, they’re by far the closest to the images I had in my head while reading the books. But I can’t say they engaged me emotionally to any great extent. Not sure how much the scores are to blame for that, though. I wouldn’t call them “spheric meandering sound design” – as I mention, I find them quite varied. But a far cry from anything Wagnerian, definitely.
I think I saw Bugge walking around here in my hometown just before Christmas…
Oh, is he from your hometown?
I really like Zimmer’s DUNE efforts, especially the second (my whittled programs of both work like gangbusters). Of course, they can’t compare to three previous DUNE entries — the Toto score for the Lynch film, the Picq score for the 1992 videogame and – most recently – Knut Avenstroup Haugen’s brilliant score for the latest videogame, which I reviewed here. But still.
Nils, is that the vinyl you have?
Nils, is that the vinyl you have?
No, it’s the 2CD release. Which could have been a single CD, had they omitted a track or two, as each CD is just 40 minutes long. But it seems to be the CD version of the digital and vinyl releases, and I guess they didn’t want to leave anything out. 🙂
I haven’t heard Knut’s DUNE: AWAKENING yet. I’ll check it out!
The film is a cult classic, and I was right there soaking it all up when it happened in the early 90s. Always dug this film. Boswell’s score is pinched, acidic and occasionally hard to get into, but also broad when it needs to. The major shock for me was when I discovered that the brilliant, throbbing “The Order of Death” was a song composed by Johnny Rotten of The Sex Pistols, a band I hated (and still have issues with). Interestingly, it appeared again in MARTY SUPREME recently.
Terrific Morricone Score for a forgotten Italian action/fantasy flick.
I found this amusing review of the movie while listening to it right now, which I shall not keep from you.
I found this amusing review of the movie while listening to it right now, which I shall not keep from you.
Ha ha, fantastic review. Where my main takeaway is that I’m pretty sure it (the review, that is) is much more entertaining than the actual movie.
I’ve been watching this great nature documentary series (narrated by Barack Obama) during Christmas, and the music caught my attention. I’ve seen Schweitzer’s name on other documentaries, but this is the first soundtrack of his that I’ve listened to. Nothing extraordinary, but a very likeable, melodic, feelgood, transparently orchestrated (for the most part) score.
If you’re not familiar with Simon Stålenhag’s artwork, I suggest you check it out. He mixes Scandinavian social realism with sci fi elements in beautiful fashion, and also created this gorgeous, Vangelis-inspired concept album to accompany it. It far outshines the music created for the live action adaptations, i.e. the series TALES FROM THE LOOP (scored by Glass & Leonard-Morgan) and the goofball THE ELECTRIC STATE (scored by Silvestri).
This is apparently music from a 2015 BBC series called THE CASUAL VACANCY (based on a less known work by Potter scribe J.K. Rowling), which I’ve never seen. But the music by Solomon Grey is gorgeous – dreamy pop-synth fusions and vocals (so plays more like a pop album). It’s been a favourite for a few years. I also recommend their THE LAST POST from 2017, which is in a similar vein.
This was my 5th favourite score of 2014, and is very much in the same mold as Solomon Grey above. Dreamy shoegaze-like synth-pop that just goes to my core these days. Son Lux (aka Ryan Lott) also delivered a fine score for PAPER TOWNS the year after, in 2015, and a decent (but not quite up to snuff) MEAN DREAMS in 2016, which I saw in Cannes that year, but he’s been more or less off my radar for the last 10 years. I should update myself on his work.
In 2001, I heard this album and realized that Esa-Pekka Salonen wasn’t just a terrific conductor, he was an exciting and original composer as well. In fact, I learned he became a conductor (a superb one) out of the ambition that someone would perform his music. This album was my introduction to his music.
I never got around to checking out his own music. I know I can google around, but before I do – how would you describe his music?
Per the Prejudice of the Melodic thread, sometimes a score’s appeal is more in textures than hummable themes. This is one such score – exploring harmonies, shimmering textures, cautious layering. But it’s all very beautiful.
This is a shout-out to Sigbjørn, who alerted me to this a few years ago. I think it’s his favourite score, because he keeps mentioning it over and over again. It’s very lovely, I can understand why he likes it. The somewhat cheesy drum kit backdrop of “Jane and Gilford” reminds me of Bruce Rowland, but I don’t mind. I don’t actually have the 2CD set from Quartet pictured here, I have digital files of the OST only (which suffices for me).
I love this film. Seen it 5 times. The score also featured in my top 10 of 2013 – at third place, no less. However, in retrospect it was ranked a little high. It’s fine – and certainly the best thing Price has done, in its visceral, powerful style, basically revolving around chord modulations instead of melodies – but maybe not quite top material. A good runner-up, I’d say. Need to whittle this one of these days, 72 minutes is overkill.
The film is great. The score serves it very well – a movie that didn’t need much score IMHO – but is a bit boring standalone to me.
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