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Post by indy2003 on Jul 30, 2013 5:37:01 GMT -8
What's really interesting is that, up until The Package in 1989, JNH was almost exclusively an all-synth composer, building on his career as an arranger for pop artists. We all think of him as the big orchestral guy, but the beginning of his career was not like that all. Some of those early synth scores are really interesting. I remember how surprised and delighted I was the first time I noticed his name listed in the credits of an Elton John album.
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Post by christopher on Jul 30, 2013 21:55:48 GMT -8
Great stuff, guys! Thanks. I'll have to check out some of these suggestions soon. Jon, you mentioned quite a few scores that I don't own and many that I've never even heard of. I'm not sure what their availability is, but I'll look around.
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Post by Jon Broxton on Jul 30, 2013 22:18:39 GMT -8
Christopher, based on what I know of you and your musical tastes, I would really recommend Dave, Wyatt Earp, Waterworld, Alive, The Man in the Moon, Restoration, The Fugitive, The Prince of Tides and Three Men and a Little Lady the most out of the scores I listed.
Most of those scores are lyrical, orchestral, strongly emotional, and Wyatt Earp, Waterworld and The Fugitive also contain a few kick-ass action sequences. The tracks I chose for my suites contain, in my opinion, the best cues from each score, and give a pretty decent overview of the main thematic content from them all.
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Post by christopher on Jul 31, 2013 8:02:11 GMT -8
Thanks, Jon. I do have Waterworld and Restoration. I'll check out the others!
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Post by synchrotones on Jul 31, 2013 11:11:31 GMT -8
You'll want some "The Postman" on that best-of list!
<s>
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Post by Pawel Stroinski on Jul 31, 2013 15:41:31 GMT -8
My top three scores by the man must be: 1. Snow Falling on Cedars (became very, very personal to me recently) 2. The Village 3. Unbreakable My favourite cues are definitely Can I Hold You Now (yes, not Tarawa or Evacuation, this one. The emotions coming in such a strained way, just pure beauty) and The Gravel Road.
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Post by gashoe13 on Jul 31, 2013 16:53:33 GMT -8
I reckon Swimming from The Water Horse is a better choice than The Jump, personally.
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Post by boden on Aug 1, 2013 4:48:41 GMT -8
I really need to explore the JNH back catalog. Love having all of the cue suggestions. A few unmentioned from the more recent stuff: Water for Elephants has some great cues. "The Circus Sets Up" and "Stampede/I'm Coming Home" SALT -- I think "Escaping the CIA" is the bettert cue. Duplicity --offers a bit of retro throwback experimentation, and it's great in the film. The opening title sequence is cool fun (those trumpets, bongos!). A bit unusual for JNH, but so good. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgTYx_XZ-0E
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Jon Lord
Ghostwriter
Calvinism and Hobbes
Posts: 321
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Post by Jon Lord on Aug 1, 2013 17:07:40 GMT -8
A lot of great suggestions thus far. "Thought I'd Never Call?" from Blood Diamond is one of my personal favorite tracks that hasn't been mentioned. But it's hard to be very objective about whether or not it should rank in an overall "best of" playlist because it accompanies a scene that is of the few I've ever watched to emotionally break me like Bane, haha. So that cue resides somewhere deep in my soul.
Speaking of Bane, in retrospect I really did miss a contribution by JNH in the Dark Knight Rises. It may have been somewhat limited in use, but I felt his work on the previous two Nolan batflicks provided some sort of balance to the overall soundscape that was lost in the third with his absence.
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Post by muckle dabuckle on Aug 2, 2013 4:34:08 GMT -8
One person already suggested this, but I love JNH's Peter Pan. It has an instantly memorable main theme that pops up in my head all the time and the flying music/action music is great too.
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jorgen
Scoring Assistant
Posts: 194
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Post by jorgen on Aug 3, 2013 12:02:01 GMT -8
I love "My best friend´s wedding", for its bittersweet feeling. Several tracks from this one. Also "the emperor´s club" 2 or 4 first tracks, if memory serves. And despite the start of the track, "The fishermen" from "Waterhorse"
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Post by indy2003 on Aug 5, 2013 10:30:52 GMT -8
Recommendation from Spotify: "If you like James Newton Howard, you might also like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds."
I have to admit, I find a bit of morbid delight in the notion of someone jumping from the I Am Legend soundtrack to something like Cave's Murder Ballads.
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Post by Paul Schroeder on Aug 5, 2013 11:18:27 GMT -8
Not a big JNH fan but I like most of the M. Night Shyamalan scores, "Waterworld", "Wyatt Earp", and especially "King Kong". The "Central Park" cue from "King Kong" is wonderful.
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Post by Southall on Aug 5, 2013 11:29:22 GMT -8
Not a big JNH fan but I like most of the M. Night Shyamalan scores, "Waterworld", "Wyatt Earp", and especially "King Kong". The "Central Park" cue from "King Kong" is wonderful. That's pretty much my list, too. Shyamalan plus those three plus Snow Falling on Cedars (which I hated at first for some reason - I remember my original review opening with "Boredom falling on Southall.") No other film composer is so hot and cold for me. When he's on he's really on, but there's a lot of junk too, more than you'd expect for someone with his undoubted talent.
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Post by Paul Schroeder on Aug 6, 2013 6:59:37 GMT -8
Not a big JNH fan but I like most of the M. Night Shyamalan scores, "Waterworld", "Wyatt Earp", and especially "King Kong". The "Central Park" cue from "King Kong" is wonderful. That's pretty much my list, too. Shyamalan plus those three plus Snow Falling on Cedars (which I hated at first for some reason - I remember my original review opening with "Boredom falling on Southall.") No other film composer is so hot and cold for me. When he's on he's really on, but there's a lot of junk too, more than you'd expect for someone with his undoubted talent. I saw the film "Snow Falling on Cedars" several years ago and the score didn't make any impression on me. "Signs" gets a lot of positives from folks on the boards but I agree with your review assessment -- it's good but not that great.
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