The best in film music. . .

I'm trying to put together a 2-CD set that's representative of the best of film music, and I'm finding it darned near impossible. At times I find that I *way* overrepresent a single composer, or I find myself wanting to use really long tracks, leaving no room for lots of other stuff, or I find that I'm using, say, tons of action music. Another problem I'm having is just sheer bulk; I'm thinking of narrowing it down to just modern film music, maybe not even using Korngold/Rozsa/Herrman/Alfred Newman/Waxman/all those other classics and just the guys better known today, but that's a problem too, because those guys wrote a lot of damned fine music. And also, even within a single score I often have trouble picking which would go better: should I use Non Nobis Domine or St. Crispin's Day from Henry V? Basil Poledouris' Kimberly Main Theme is lovely and pretty short, but is it good enough to go on such an ambitious CD? And so forth. So I'm just asking you: what pieces of music represent the absolute best of film music? What would you put in such a mix?

 

Well, MP3 discs can hold, like, a dozen hours of music, so you wouldn't have to make so many tough choices, were you to burn one. Unless you're planning to play this CD on lots of different devices - most CD players don't have MP3-playback capability, it's only the handheld ones, mostly.

 

I've made a few "best of" film score cds. They are all based on my own favorites, of course. Are you trying to go for a somewhat "objective" sampling of the best? You could easily make a cd from the best of Oscar-winning scores, for example. I guess it depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

For me, I just like having certain mixes that I keep in my car for driving music.

 

Some ideas -

Whenever I do something like this, I try to get an even sampling of different styles as well as well-regarded scores. If you are to limit yourself to modern scores (I'd say "modern" spans the John Williams golden days to present, 1975 onwards), some of my choices would probably be things like:

• Total Recall (Jerry Goldsmith) - The standard-setter for action music. Goldsmith is perhaps the best when it comes to marrying orchestra and synths, and this is one of his best examples.


• Alien 3 (Elliot Goldenthal) - For my money, the most innovative horror score of the last 20 years.


• Legends of the Fall, Braveheart or Titanic (James Horner) - Although I don't personally believe that any of these 3 scores particularly represents the best of the best (or even the best of Horner), I'd say that the particular style employed by Horner is very effective and quite typical of his 90's-present scores.


• Jaws (John Williams) - It would only be half a movie without the score, what more needs to be said?


• Cutthroat Island (John Debney) - Not particularly original, but still some of the best action/adventure scoring of recent years.


• Tomorrow Never Dies (David Arnold) - Classis Bond music brought up to date. Pity all of his other Bond scores have been rubbish. This is the kind of music that James Bond without John Barry should have.


• Conan the Barbarian (Basil Poledouris) - The music tells the story more effectively than the actors and script.


• Aliens (James Horner) - Bishop's Countdown has to hold the record for the largest number of appearances in trailers... It's simply perfect action scoring.

Inclusions for Superman, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, Star Wars etc go without saying. When I'm putting these kind of famous themes on a compilation, I usually like to pick something a little different than the kind of stuff that always ends up on compilations - Concert suites are out the window.

There are far too many more for me to be bothered to list here, but generally I make up a shortlist of tracks in a playlist editor (like Winamp's one) and just mess around with ordering until the transitions between the tracks sound natural, and nothing feels like it sticks out like a sore thumb.

 

Definitely put some stuff in from Dragonheart.. that score is *amazing*

 

It's a challenge to include so much on one or two cds.

One thing I sometimes shoot for is to find a track that has multiple themes from a film/series.

For example, for Star Wars, a track like The Rebel Fleet/End Title is a great one to use. You get the Force Theme, Love Theme, Main Theme/Rebel Fanfare, Yoda's Theme, and Imperial March.

 

Esperanza, I used to like DragonHeart's music until I visited this site. Now I cannot stand it.

 

Another problem I'm having is just sheer bulk; I'm thinking of narrowing it down to just modern film music, maybe not even using Korngold/Rozsa/Herrman/Alfred Newman/Waxman/all those other classics and just the guys better known today

I understand that there's simply too much good film music to include it all. But no Herrmann? I think that's going a bit far. Why not include just one track from Vertigo?

 

Or North by Northwest.

 

Jurassic Park
Star Wars
Willow
Superman
Dragonheart
Searching for Bobby Fischer
Dances with Wolves
Indiana Jones
The Magnificent Seven
Emma
The Rocketeer
Hook
The Cider House Rules
Schindler's List

There's a lot more...but the above come to mind immediately for me...

 

the rock

 

Esperanza, I used to like DragonHeart's music until I visited this site. Now I cannot stand it.


LOL!

 

Seriously! LOL, doesn't it get annoying after a while?

 

haha yeah i can see how that could get annoying, but i dont care.. i still love the score (and hopefully will keep loving it if i would stop playin around with that dang site! lol)

 

That site was very annoying.


Other soundtracks to look at:

Best Fantasy:
Lionheart (Goldsmith)

Best Celtic Influence:
Devil's Own (Horner)

Best Scifi: (I am going to get so munched for this!)
The Black Hole

Best Cheeze:
Army of Darkness

Best Forboding:
(a tie) The Resurrected (R Band) Batman:Mask of the Phantasm

Most Fun:
Gremlins & G2

Best Anime music: (THis was a toughie!)
Tenchi Muyo In Love (The Movie)

Most Haunting:
Wind and the Lion (Goldsmith

Best Nautical:
Tie: Pirates of the Carribean, and Muppet Treasure Island

most overused in ads/previews of other unrelated movies:
The Rocketeer

Best Taiko:
The Hunted

Best Martial Variety:
Babylon 5

Best Compilation CD: Best of Fantasy Highlander.

Untapped source of music for SW or other Fanfilms:
Phil Coulter!!!


Honorable Mentions:
XMen
Tarzan (Disney)
Secret of NIMH
Hamlet (P Doyle)
12th Night (S Davey)
Mask of Zorro
Highlander
Small Soldiers
Captain Blood
The Mummy
Explorers
Shocker
Pleasantville
Flash Gordon
Leviathan
Record of the Lodos War OVA

 

Going to disagree with you on several of those:

Best Fantasy:
Conan the Barbarian

Best Nautical:
Probably either some good ol' Korngold, or Debney's CutThroat Island.

And though it wasn't one of your categories, Best Action:
Total Recall

 

The Healing Process by Jerry Goldsmith (Star Trek: Insurrection, has a good blend of powerful action and slower stuff. Logan and Rogue off of X-Men is one of the most powerful pieces of music I have ever heard. It's so sad.

 

If you want the best then Ennio Morricone(Once Upon A Time In The West,The Good The Bad And The Ugly,A Fistful Of Dollars,For A Few Dollars More,Once Upon A Time In America etc etc..) is your man.Toru Takemtsu's Ran soundtrack is fantastic also.

 

Blown To Bits (Jaws) I like how Brody's theme is played, and then overrun by the shark's theme. Has a nice "last hope of civilization vs. the barbarian horde" feel to it.

Bishop's countdown (Aliens) Definitely most-used music for action-movie trailers. Also good music for an American Airlines "Fly The Friendly Skies" commercial.

Dawn Of The Empire. (Star Wars Epis...oh, like I need to tell you what this is from.) What Neo was talking about when he said "whoa." Best piece of prequel music so far.

Suite from X2 (X-men 2) This is a great meld of the major music from the movie. I like it quite a lot. Almost as much as..

The Dark Side Beckons (Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi) The culmination of almost forty years of conflict and deceit at the hands of Palpatine and the Sith..and it's ultimate undoing.