Graham Watt
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I don’t know. I’m here today, for a few moments. Maybe discussion per se is dying out across the planet.
My CD collection is on shelves, in alphabetical composer order where that’s possible. The first CD is by Michael Abels. Until recently it was by Alejandro Amenábar, but that still means that I have NO John Addison or Richard Addinsell for example. The last CD is by Denny Zeitlin… which means I have NO Zimmer at all. That’s kind of surprising even to me. I don’t hate him, and some of his scores are probably better than ones I DO have by other composers, but his name alone conjures up very little magic for me – and a lot of negative feelings.
Following on from what Nick mentioned – and I’m sure that Thor has mentioned it too – I also used to know every one of my CDs (LPs back then) note for note. Part of the reason was that I had so few, another perhaps is that I (we?) were absorbing everything like a sponge in the old days. It may be futile to try to recapture that, but I am of a nostalgic bent, and instead of attempting to embrace everything in all its exponential wonder I find myself tending to at least want to get back to really “knowing” what I already have.
Hence my decision to start a walkthrough, albeit only of Williams at the moment.
I’m here, but not in the mood for Antonioni. I’m doing a walk-through of my John Williams collection and cannot think of doing anything else. Next up is THE LOST WORLD.
Byeeeeee!!!
I’ve often thought of doing that, because I know that there are quite a few titles in my collection which I’ll probably never be in the right mood to listen to again. But I never found myself in quite the right mood to start the walk-through either.
But I’m “kind of” doing it at the moment. After reading the Tim Greiving book, I started going through my John Williams CDs alphabetically. I’ve just finished JURASSIC PARK. Now there’s an interesting example of what I touched on before. It’s a score that I hadn’t played for years, largely because I “thought I knew it” inside out. But no. There were long stretches which I wouldn’t have been able to place if someone had played them to me blind. So it’s a worthwhile exercise… while probably being no good for weaning myself off OCD behaviour.
I’ve just thought of one I enjoy immensely – Henry Mancini’s cool, elegant, and at times groovy THE THIEF WHO CAME TO DINNER.
I see, Thor, that you mention North’s THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY as fitting the bill. I would also include Goldsmith’s prologue piece to that, “The Artist Who Did Not Want To Paint”. If Michelangelo got Divine Inspiration for works, it sounds to me that Goldsmith (and North of course) found a way to express that. It doesn’t even have to have a directly religious inspiration, especially when it comes second hand, but I detect a sense of great humanity in the Goldsmith, as if he’s addressing what Man can achieve through Art. It can reach “the heavens”.
Again I see that although you mention INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, and INDY AND THE LAST CRUSADE, there’s nothing on “The Map Room” from the first film. Is that a different kind of thing? In this case I’m not sure how permeable the parameters are. If we push them a bit, I can think of many instances of music that expresses the awe and wonder of science for example.
I love that kind of sound too. I didn’t see E.T. on your list, Thor. That “alone in the woods” stuff near the beginning is very religioso. I must admit that I adore the full “in yer face” religioso scores for the classic religiosos movies. My favourites come from Rózsa and Alfred Newman. As an antitheist, I wonder what I’m actually responding to here… Maybe it’s a bit like how I still get a thrill out of (some) horror films and scores, but I don’t believe in vampires either.
What about classical music? Top of my list would be some of Vaughan Williams. I also listened to Alan Hovahness’ “Mysterious Mountain” the other day. That fits the mold, and it’s not specifically “religious”, just kind of generally spiritual.
When I was living in London (1987 to 1990), I went for a pint or six in The Red Lion pub in Ealing. There was live jazz on in a dark corner, and at the end of one piece, the lead (don’t know who he was) asked for a round of applause for the band members – “…and Derek Wadsworth on trombone”. I thought, “there can’t be that many Derek Wadsworths playing trombones”, so when he went to the bar for a pint I asked him if he was THE Derek Wadsworth “…who did SPACE: 1999”. When he admitted that he was indeed that chap, I went into a long, boring (for him) spiel about music for science fiction films. It’s funny how we (or just I?) imagine that all musicians and composers who dabble in the medium are as much fans of the stuff as we are. I was going on about how ALIEN was such a brilliant score when I noticed that his eyes had begun to glaze over, so I eventually left him in peace with his pint.
From the few words he got in edgeways, he came across as a soft spoken, polite and rather shy big guy. Another Yorkshireman incidentally.
Tall, I can count my friends on the hands of one finger, and they (you) are both deranged, but thankfully your’e obviously not in a position of power otherwise you would have had the invoice police onto me and I’d be lying on a mattress soaked in other men’s piss, being pecked at by Franco’s pet vulture.
Just what the FUCK is the tangerine twat up to now? That latest tantrum about “not having to bother much about peace now” seeing as Thor didn’t allow him to get the Knobbly Piss Prize is the work of a top loony. Even Putin liked it, urging him to go ahead and grab Greenland. What a bunch of unbelievably moronic wankers the entire world is full of. All except MY deranged friends.
Careful! The turnips are falling from the roof! SQUAAAAWK!!!
Just a little nugget taken in isolation from the long view… although it might actually be more significant than it sounds. I’m one of the many “older gits” whose childhood and adolescence was shaped by “taping direct from the telly onto cassette”. In some ways it might be geekism at its saddest (my friends had started going to school discos and stuff), but it certainly attuned my ear to composers’ styles.
This was before Halliwell’s Film Guide, which gave a composer credit for the major studio films at least. And so I taped the Main Titles from almost all films shown in Blighty from between about 1973 and 1979. In most cases, certainly in the early days, I would have absolutely no idea who the composer was, but I quickly latched onto the style(s) of Rózsa and Herrmann (unmistakeable), but also people like Herschel Burke Gilbert (after hearing RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11, I just knew that it had to be him within the opening bars of WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS). And so on with a multitude of composers.
That’s just part of my own “Film Music Origin Story”.
I imagine that his “joke” about not even bothering to hold mid-terms was to dissuade people to vote at all. But surely he’s not clever enough to think of that possiblity. The sooner the world is rid of this stupid, capricious baby the better. I wouldn’t underestimate the real danger he poses. He’s like a four-year-old pyromaniac in a fireworks store.
I only listen to music at home, and when I’m sitting down. I’ve never tried listening to music when out walking, or on a train. So many other sounds and sights to keep me amused. I like austerity. I wish I had shared some cheese with Ingmar Bergman in his bare kitchen.
Hello again, friends! I’ve never known such convulsive times. The whole planet shitting itself waiting for the next unpredictable/predictable move from the giant orange toddler. I hate him and I want him to die. And his cronies and spokespersons are just as vile. I have friends who are as deranged as they are, but I thank dog (anagram of God – I didn’t use that word because, like Santa, he doesn’t exist) that my deranged friends are not in positions of power.
The whole scenario is undermining science fiction and satire. Remember in BACK FROM THE FUTURE when Marty McFly tells Doc (?) that Ronald Reagan is President? And Doc says, “Oh yeah? And who’s vice-president? Jerry Lewis”? Oh how we laughed.
Lukas posted on FB that he accidentally knocked the url out of place. The man with the screwdriver will come when he wakes up.
Ha ha! I’M John Blankenship too!!!
The new board is worse than useless. I can’t even post on it now (“Sorry, something is wrong with your data.”)
I’m not even half-way through the Tim Greiving book, but I’m enjoying its thoroughness. Every paragraph has me scuttling to the copious notes at the end to find the sources of the info.
Having said that – and I know you (Thor) has mentioned this… It’s noticeable how he races through all Williams’ early TV work. Even the Irwin Allen shows get barely a mention (apart from some nice words about LOST IN SPACE’s “My Friend, Mr Nobody”. The author also calls the Irwin Allen themes “songs”. Is that accepted nowadays?
Rather perplexed at his total dissing of DADDY’S GONE A-HUNTING, which I thought was a great score. Other cases are multiple.
It seems that for Greiving, the composer only really flourished after HEIDI, THE REIVERS etc… which might be the case, but it’s a conservative view. Now I’m ploughing through page after page of how great STAR WARS is.
I’m not passing any final judgment until I finish the book, but at the moment I’m seeing that it’s a little lop-sided.
Ah! Now I understand. I “didn’t realise” that the Forum Feedback and the Welcome topics were pinned. But I’ll never forget that as long as I live.
Thor, I don’t know how often you visit FSM nowadays, but your old thread about deceased former members has been… resurrected… with the addition of a few more names.
I ordered my copy of the Tim Greiving book on John Williams yesterday – should arrive on or before next Friday.
I’m selective when it comes to biographies, especially of film-related people. From what I have, too many seem to be written by “fanboys” (thanks to Ford Thaxton, I am now considered such), with very little critical filter, and the others seem largely copied and pasted from Wikipedia.
But I have high hopes for the Greiving book.
By the way Thor, I “know” (infer) that the Greiving bio flummoxed your own plans to eventually write the “definitive” JW biography. Is there anything that you had previously researched (for example, Williams’ ancestry) which is not covered in the new book?
Hello again, playmates!
Just to clarify/ confuse the issue wot I was on about several moons ago, this particular topic was (previous to this post) last contributed to 2 dager, 8 tiner siden.
The topic “Been to Any Good Concerts Lately?” is currently three places down the list, and yet the most recent post was a mere 19 minutter siden.
Do I make myself clear?
Is there a way to show the most recent posts at the top of the list? I thought that most message boards did that by default.
Big bro is on the insurance case now, Thor. I imagine we’ll get a percentage back.
Thinking about all this – and it might be good fodder for a new topic – I’m not sure a actually want to go to Skye next year. Not becuase it isn’t beautiful (it’s spectaular), but because every year there are more and more tourists. The island is still mostly single-track roads, and nowadays, in the summer, they’re packed with tour coaches maneuvering around the passing places. I suppose the next step is to make all the roads much wider to accommodate them, but then the place loses all its charm. The road through Glen Coe on the mainland has been ruined, for example. Maybe Alan has an opinion on this.
When I retire (three more years – I hope I stay alive), I’m going to take my holidays in May. Good weather, fewer tourists.
Hello playmates!
I recently got back from a visit to the Auld Country. My brother and I had booked a week in a cottage on the Isle of Skye (spectacular place), but the day before we were due to travel, my brother “fell” (not quite sure how he did that) and broke his collarbone. So we had to cancel it, and lose all the money we’d paid to book it. No refund when you break your collarbone the day before arrival!
And so I spent two weeks sleeping on the floor in my brother’s little house, which is also my sister-in-law’s house (as you can imagine). Not quite Skye, but my brother’s greenhouse is coming on a treat.
Thor, the Nieto book seemed VERY heavy-going back in the day. Full of diagrams and the philosophy of colours. I was initally against the idea of reading the book, because there are actually NO film composers mentioned throughout. Now, skimming through it, it seems absolutely fascinating.
