Movie Score Cues of the Moments: RIP Quincy Jones :(

[BrandonDaCollector]

OK, well, since we're posting all of this music, I'd thought I would do what I said about months ago. I never got an answer from you PB but you statred the wrestling theme topic which I had in mind a while back but wasn't sure if you liked music or not. Anyway, I love film music, it seems like it is such a form of music that people just doesn't pay attention to and I've never understood why? For decades when I used to go to the theater, I always saw people leaving the show during the credits and I'm like why in the heck doesn't anybody ever stay to listen to that great music? I always stayed for it! Movie scores are quite important for films.

Long story short, when I was a very little youngster, My Grandpa whom loved movie music for all of his life, he taught Me about it and how to appreciate it and ever since I have loved it, I know all of the older composers and of course the newer ones. It became a passion and I had developed My own liking and took it a step further. I have a huge CD collection as well.

So with that being said, here is some that was one My mind. I have a ton in store for later...here we go.

Batman 89 by Danny Elfman - Oh this is so great, its so haunting. My Grandpa was anticipating the film and especially the music, I remember being with him when he bought the original score on vinyl at Sound Warehouse



First Blood (82) by Jerry Goldsmith - He loved Goldsmith and Goldsmith became My fave composer of all-time. He had really long white hair in a ponytail, truly one of a kind compser! My Grandpa got the record and this was one of the first ones I started noticing and kid-jammin' to when I was only about 3 years old. It's one of the best scores ever IMO.



Star Trek 2: the Wrath of Khan (82) by James Horner. Oh My Grandpa loved Horner, this is one of the most fantastic pieces ever in ST history!



Back to the Future 2 (89) by Alan Silvestri - How can anybody NOT fall in love with this?



Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (96) by Joel McNeely - Written for the huge multi-media project I showcased earlier, listed to that greatness!



The Peacemaker (97) by Hans Zimmer - Oh I love how action packed this is...I've listened to this countless times!



Well, that's it. This is just samples of the 80s & 90s. I have a ton in mind. If you have any in mind that you liked or loved then add your own from any era. I do like soundtracks too with movie songs. Many composers write the songs too, sometimes I don't prefer them over score however! Not sure if this topic is gonna go over or not

By the way, I'd love to spotlight composers too. I have a couple more ideas for topics when music is concerned, maybe I'll start them too soon

[packerbacker180]

Interesting. I know the iconic themes from movies like Star Wars and that, but I don't know many composers outside of the big names like Elfman and John Williams. But I look forward to learning more. Great themes are such that as soon as you hear it you instantly recognize them. Star Wars, Back to the Future, Superman (Chris Reeve), etc. you could win Name That Tube with just a couple notes.

[BrandonDaCollector]

OK, great PB, I will post more and from time to time check it out and all of that. I may present this in a different way as I gotta new idea

[BrandonDaCollector]

So, I decided to present the composers one by one instead in groups or whatever. I know composers & movie score like I know wrestling, its a great passion of Mine! It would be very apropos to present My fave of them all, Jerry Goldsmith!



Now I had already explained a bit earlier about him so I will expand upon that. I just loved his First Blood, the sound just synced with Me instantly when I was so young. He has such good sound and writing. I know people always talk about John Williams (even the novice) and while I love his music, I have always found Goldsmith to be funner.

He was born in 1929 in L.A. California and passed away in 2004...he died at age 75. When he passed I was so sad. He also has a son named Joel Goldsmith, he is also a composer, he did the Stargate series and unfortunately his passed away in 2012 as well Jerry trained great composer horror composer Marco Beltrami. Jerry has composed so many great scores such as the original Planet of the Apes, the Omen, Poltergeist and so much more. I loved his long white here and he was a bit of comedian at times and quite clever in many ways.

I love it when a composer can write all kinds of music from action, sci-fi to comedy to horror and especially when they conduct their own and Goldsmith did ALL of that! He was so versatile!

To read his discography and more about this legend then please visit his WIKIPEDIA Page!

Here is some selections of My choosing of some of My favorites, a few that are crucial plus a VERY special bonus! There's a bit here so please take your time cause this is gonna be a journey your gonna like and not soon forget

Planet of the Apes (68) - This was really his first major score! It was still the 60s before all the action stuff that would become the norm



The Omen (78) - Yes, the iconic horror score...nuff said!



Alien (79) - I am a huge Alien fan, Me and My Grandpa watched this and Aliens (James Horner - 86) countless times together. He loved the score and I learned to adore it as well. Any Alien fan will recall this music as its the one that started it all!



First Blood (82) - Oh this is it, First Blood was the one!



Supergirl (84) - Yep, Goldsmith did the spinoff of Superman. I have always found this music extremely wonderful and very emotional.



Gremlins (84) - Ah, one of his great comedy scores, its a classic!



Legend (85) - This was huge, like many film directors, the score is very imperative to them and director Ridley Scott chose Goldsmith to do his film (Alien was his previous other one - Legend is one of My most cherished films EVER!) but Hollywood didn't want the European music in the film so they chose quickly chose Tangerine Dream. Goldsmith's score wouldn't be heard for over a decade till special CD release. There is 2 VERSIONS of the movie, 1 with each score and it is basically watching 2 different movies because the music makes the movie! I got the special DVD set when it first came available!



Explorers (85) - Ah, another great fun one, they released a special deluxe CD of it in the early 2010s and it was great to get, I had waited for them to make a special one for a very long time!



The Burbs (89) - Yep, this is one of the greatest comedies of all-time! When I first saw the film I loved it and just loved his music, its so fun to experience it!



Star Trek V - My fave ST film, Goldsmith did a lot of ST movies, in fact he composed the final 3 of the original film saga!



Total Recall (90) - Arguably My fave Arnold movie and My fave Goldsmith score...this was huge for Me then!



The Mummy (99) - Arguably the greatest movie score ever composed! I loved the movie but even more so the music, I have a few different versions of this score!



Hollowman (2000) - This was a great sci-fi/horror score. Many parts of the score bring tears to My eyes because it sounds so great!



SUPER BONUS!

Here is Jerry Goldsmith's cameo appearance in GREMLINS 2 IN 1990! I totally flipped out when I saw him for the first time!



So there is Jerry Goldsmith. I may revisit him later because he's done so much more than this. I know this is quite a bit but after you have checked it all out and listen to them all, tell Me what you think. Does any of these ring a bell? What was your fave of the bunch? Were you familiar with the films? Any you have seen/not seen? Got questions for Me? Talk to Me and let Me know when you are completely done here so I know when to add the next entry. Again, please take your time, it's no rush but do please let Me know

By the way, I some ideas for other music topics in the future

[packerbacker180]

Man, Gremlins 2 is such an underappreciated film. So many cameos, and such a crazy storyline. I love it.

I can visually see John Rambo running through the woods just hearing that theme,

[BrandonDaCollector]

Indeed, the movie was crazy. Yep, hearing movie scores can help in many ways, their so fun and you can envision stuff like that. I also just love listening to them and then watching a movie that what you just heard belongs to...to hear in and find out or rewatch a movie or a scene be like oh so that's what's going on or what happen during that cue I always did that before I saw a film at the show. The next entry will be here soon Thanks PB

[BrandonDaCollector]

OK, well here is the next entry, it's JOHN WILLIAMS! I know even the most novice of people that doesn't even have a clue about movie music knows who he is and hums his themes or it used to be that way. I have always loved his music too. I'm not biased on just Jerry Goldsmith mind you, I love MOST COMPOSER'S because they all have something different to offer especially if you have dependable moods! As you saw in My Star Wars topic, I have the original special score set on CD, in fact I have way more than that of John Williams! I have just about every big album of his from many decades!

He is one of the LAST of the greats and has composed music for ALL 9 Episodes of Star Wars movies that spans from 1977 to 2019

Here is his Wikipedia Page! You can find out all about him and all his scores!

So since he is known for so much, I will present some of his famous stuff first and will revisit him at a later date!

Jaws (75) - This is THE ONE that got him his acknowledgment with the public and with good reason! When My Grandparents first got the original score on record when it came out, they fell in love with it



Close Encounters (77) - I have a very personal attachment to this one. I have the big expanded score on a superb CD release! This is actually one of hist ever that gets so over looked!



Superman (78) - Probably the most well known superhero themes next to Danny Elfman's Batman. Its a great one indeed. I always love to hear it back to back with Goldsmith's Supergirl that is My fave of the two however (it get's so overlooked), they go good so well back to back! I always wondered for decades how it would have been if Goldsmith & Williams would have switch scores...



Dracula (79) - Oh this is one of the greatest scores EVER! This is My Mom's favorite William's score and Dracula movie...its all so wonderful!



Star Wars: Ep 5 (80) - Now not exactly showing his SW yet but this is one of his most crucial scenes of all SW movies!



Raiders of the Lost Ark (81) - Oh boy, I have always loved this one, it's so tremendous. I have a special box set of ALL of the Indy scores together that is so fun!



E.T. (82) - This is one of his best ever, it's so grand and wonderful. You can picture everything in the film when you listen to this! This is so emotional, I think this could move just about anybody!



Jurassic Park (93) - His theme is superb and so beautiful, how can anybody not love this?



Star Wars: EP1 (99) - Ah, the fantastic end credits with Duel of the Fates! When I first heard this back in 99 I couldn't believe it how epic it was



War of the Worlds (05) - WOW! When I bought this score back then I couldn't believe how magnificent this was! You can just picture Boston getting destroyed and them bridges getting demolished. So emotional!



Star Wars: EP 8 (2017) - Now there is some really critical and downright harsh composer critics out there believe Me, I know most of'em and I stay away from'em. Many hated this score...well, I got news for them jerks...THEY DON'T KNOW GREAT MUSIC! IMO this is one of his best ever and don't forget Williams was about 86 YEARS OLD when he WROTE THIS awesome fun piece! I bet I have listened to this track more than any other Williams cue..I kid you NOT



Well, I think that'll do it for now. THERE'S a ton more of his but I didn't want to do too much so these are only samples. Please give everything a listen. There's no rush, again just tell Me when your done with your thoughts and I'll move on to the next entry which I already have him in mind

By the way, just in case if your wondering if there is any female composers...to answer that YES there is but not many. 2 of them are actually a couple of My faves but I'll get to them soon enough

[BrandonDaCollector]

OK, so we've been talking about movies and trailers and such. One thing that I've never understood is why most people never mention the score. Like I said before, everybody is always in a hurry to leave the theater and never listen to the end credits while I always stayed. I bought the scores and so forth. Many people don't understand that a score can make or brake a film..without a musical score the movie would be be quite dull. I mean could you imagine how Star Wars would be with no music See, its arguably the most important factor of factors. Ask any movie director, they'll tell ya. Lucas & Spielberg always wanted John Williams. Joe Dante always wanted Jerry Goldsmith. Robert Zemeckis always chose Alan Silvestri & Tim Burton always chose Danny Elfman. J.J. Abram's always want Michael Giacchino!

I have hardly talked to any friends about movie scores because they didn't care. I had 2 online on WinMX that knew how great it was as we traded music scores and then I lost contact with'em and one guy who named himself after Max Rebo who was a total liar that was so bad of how that went down and that was over 20 years ago. It's been so pathetic. Record labels such as Varese Sarbande & La-La Land only makes 2000 - 3000 copies of special releases & editions. For such a long I have thought that's so deplorable when there's over 7 billion people on this Earth

So with My rant over, did you check out them John Williams cues that I provided months ago PB? I have waited months to see what your favorites was and so forth that I chose and I didn't want this topic to get in the shuffle nor overlooked because this is one of My most biggest passions to listen to movie scores and just not soundtracks, wrestling themes, video game music, rock bands and so forth.

Did I post too much? Should I only post a couple at a time like I do the other ones? Tell Me, what should I do here? My next entries are gonna be Danny Elfman & Alan Silvestri to give you a big hint. So let me know PB

[packerbacker180]

I'll admit I'm guilty of not paying much attention to the score. I mean, I know John Williams, who doesn't. And Danny Elfman. And I realize the importance for mood that music plays in a film, I just never paid it much attention outside of that, though. Movie soundtracks? Yeah, if they had some songs, I liked I'd occasionally pick them up. But to me, scores were those things you had to begrudgingly sit through to see if there was a post credits scene.

John Williams, though. It doesn't get any bigger than that. He's like the Ted Williams of movie composing. All the iconic themes he's created, he's up there with the great composers in all of history.

We saw the live Indiana Jones show at Disney a few years ago, and my kids have never seen any of the films, but they still dug it.



Good stuff. I think it's just something that many, like myself, take for granted because there's no lyrics to sing along to and so much of it is a part of the film as opposed to a song with lyrics that you can take out of the movie and it's something unto itself. Like what I'm trying to say is, if you're in an Indiana Jones mood, most people would turn to the movie and not so much the score. But I can rock out to Eye of the Tiger without wanting to watch Rocky III (though might). So, I don't think many fully appreciate scores because there isn't a singer or a refrain to latch on to. Make sense? Scores evoke more of a moment than an emotion, so they aren't as appreciated. I might just be rambling here.

[packerbacker180]

Don't read that as me trying to dissuade you from continuing the topic. Far from it. It's just not a topic I'm going to be able to add much to. You want to talk cartoons? Movies? Comics? Sports? Sitcoms? Fiction? I'm your huckleberry. But I've never been really musically inclined. In elementary school I tried playing the clarinet. Back then we walked to school and after about three weeks of lugging that case to and from school I decided instruments weren't for me. Music is like poetry. I know what it is. I think I can mostly discern when it's done well. But i can't really discuss the finer intricacies of it, because I'm very much a layman on the subject.

So, carryon my wayward son. I'll probably learn some stuff along the way. Sadly, the composer I'm most familiar with is the great Leopold.