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

[packerbacker180]

Yep, Elfman certainly has a sound that stands out. Even in something like Proof of Life where you say his sound changed, there's still a hint of something familiar that sounds like an Elfman score.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Thanks PB, I'm sure glad your keeping up here Yes, Elfman upped his game, even though his stuff changed a bit he was still very recognizable and personally I liked it arguably more than his older style. Many composers do change & evolve their style, there are some that morphed into completely different sounds, I sometimes are even surprised when I listen to their early & later stuff and compare them.

So here is part 4 of Elfman in the 2010s, its great and as he is getting older he get's better!

The Wolfman (2010) - You'd swear the film was a Burton movie but nope it was by special effects guy Joe Johnston. The film is during the era where movies were still gory & a bit hardcore before the downgrade. This movie was huge for Me & My Mom, it was such a great spectacle. Elfman really knocked it out of the park here, he has a great choir, this is a superb one to listen to around Halloween time and I just don't mean this cue, I mean the whole score



Men in Black 3 (2012) - Oh amazing he did three MIB movies in 3 different decades This main title is superb, I loved the pounding he did and how it got even more creative with especially with his guitar! The strings such as the violins sound so good and again, great choir, this one really rocks!



Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) - Here is his take of the prequel to The Wizard of Oz.. Its a terrific one with a great choir!



Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) - He's still with Marvel but briefly. He co-composed this with Brian Tyler who is one of the biggest younger composers today. He's so incredible and done such hugely fun & epics scores for like The Hunted, Timeline, Darkness Falls, AVP2, Battle L.A. The Mummy 2017, The Furious Franchise and so much more. Just you wait till I get to him Elfman & Tyler replaced Alan Silvestri for this one and very briefly they twist his theme around here. Its a superb piece of music but Silvestri would be back for the next ones



Goosebumps (2015) - I never read the stories in the past but when I saw they were making a film I thought I'd give it a shot and then when I found out Elfman was doing the score I was pretty excited. The film was great and Elfman scored it perfectly with old 50s/60s sounds like his Mars Attacks! score. It's so fun and it's really cool to listen to around the spooky Halloween season time

The Girl on the Train (2016) - Now normally when I go to the show, I don't see erotic thriller mysteries but only once in a while if they looked good. This one looked good and it was. Elfman's score is quite different here but clearly it's him!



The Justice League (2017) - Since they rebooted the DC movies with Man of Steel and followed them since and hearing the scores by Hans Zimmer, "Junkie XL" Tom Holkenborg & other Media Ventures, I enjoyed their scores but I was absolute stoked that Elfman was coming back to DC and out of the Marvel picture. I was so excited about it. I saw the film twice at the show and it was incredible hearing the music. He uses a huge epic orchestra and a superbly driven choir...I LOVE HIS CHOIRS! I love how clever he was here too. He put in Junkie XL's Wonder Woman theme in the film, wrote NEW themes for Aquaman, the Flash & Cyborg but this track that I have chosen has John Williams's Superman theme present and Elfman's OWN BATMAN THEME from 89 & 92 It was was really rad that Elfman decided not to use Zimmer's Superman that he had already established 2 movies a go...Elfman is a genius, pure genius! Listen to this grand epic track!



Dr. Seuss' The Grinch (2018) - Another great Christmas score, it was so cool he was chosen to do this, listen to that choir!



Dumbo (2019) - Burton returns with Elfman and this was really fantastic, another great choir!



Men in Black: International 92019) - He co-composed this with Chris Bacon (Bates Motel TV Series). They would soon rejoin each other in 2022 this year and co-compose Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness which I have no clue as to how it is yet. This MIB entry is really cool and its very fun overall.



So there is part 4 of Danny Elfman, wow, moving right along here. I hope you liked these. I hope you especially liked the Justice League and what I said. Keep in mind he's done a lot more movies then this over the decade, I just select certain ones. Next up will be part 5 which will conclude his entries as it will be a special bonus of what i didn't include in the 80s & 90s. Until then

[BrandonDaCollector]

OK, here is part 5 of The Elf which is a special section of ones that skipped before but thought I should include anyway...I'll probably do this for every entry I post for now on if I deem it necessary

Big Top Pee Wee (88) - In the same vain as his previous hit, this is really good!



Midnight Run (88) - Oh here is a very different one for him, I love how versatile he is. This followed in the footsteps of other composers from the 80s who did comedies & buddy cop films. It's sounds so fun & cool!



Scrooged (88) - Ah, here is one of his "true" classics. I loved the film, one of the best Christmas movies ever and when I first saw this movie I just loved the film an dI was like it's the same guy that did Beetlejuice It's really good... DO NOT MISS THIS



Army of Darkness (93) - Not sure how familiar you are with the Evil Dead franchise with Bruce Campbell. It was what got Sam Raimi his start. He used horror composer Joseph LoDuca (MOTU 2002 Cartoon, Cult of Chucky) to score the trilogy, however, Raimi had a friendship with Elfman as well and wanted to work with him some more as Darkman was their first together so he gave him the opportunity to write the theme for the Deadites and it was called "March of the Dead". It's great and sounds a lot like his previous works, My Grandpa PoPo loved



Nightmare Before Christmas (93) - Another one with Burton. Here is a big score part of it, Elfman is the "singing" voice of Jack Skellington but I'm choosing the actual score here for now



A Simple Plan (98) - Its a fairly good score and its a quiet one compared to his others, it helps with the nature of the film.



Psycho (98) - First off, I never really said anything about the golden & silver age composers...well I love them too...My favorite was Bernard Herrmann, nobody, but nobody ever had such a dynamic sound like him, before or after. One day I will focus on the classic guys cause their wonderful too. So, Elf was chosen to "adapt" the score of the remake of the classic 1960 film Psycho. Elfman and fellow Oingo Boinger Steve Bartek took the job and done it very, very well. As good as this is, My favorite version is by Joel McNeely who did Shadows of the Empire (96)& Virus (99)!



Well, I don't know if you gave the previous update a chance or not but I hope you cause you didn't want to miss how Elfman did the Justice League & Hellboy 2: The Golden Army and I hope you do with this update too. Next up will finally be Alan Silvesti, until then

[AcidDragon]

So that's why I keep getting all my Oingo Boingo recommendeds on Youtube. Keep it coming!!!

[BrandonDaCollector]

Gosh Acid, long time since you've been here. I've posted a lot since you were last on but don't know what you have seen. I hope you have been following this topic and listen to all of Elfman's great stuff as well as Goldsmith & Williams. How well are you accustomed to movie composers & movie scores Its such a very rare thing that I talk to people about this since it seems to be such subject most people least talk about it for whatever reason despite it is like the most important aspect of films. If your just now seeing this then get to the beginning of this touch so you can can catch up, wait until you hear Jerry Goldsmith's Supergirl, it'so fantastic Many of these guys did DC music, I posted a lot already

Well I plan on keeping it coming and would post of it more regularly but I'm not informed about what your favorite tracks & why and that you heard it all and tell Me ok move on, who's next so it delays Me. So if you mean more Elfman I'm done with him for now, I already did 5 parts of him and I already did Oingo Boingo in the song topic. Alan Silvestri will be next whom did Back to the Future, Predator, Judge Dredd, Volcano, The Mummy Returns & Van Helsing, The Avengers and so much more. He's also a tremendous composer and one of My favorites but just you wait till I get to James Horner which he will follow after Silvestri

[BrandonDaCollector]

So here is the next entry in My composers topic and it's none other than Alan SIlvestri. Unlike Elfman, he doesn't have a big back story except for a few things. After he was a drummer for a brief time in the 60s with Teaneck-based rock band The Wildcats, he moved on to Hollywood and didn't have any goals whatsoever. He went where it took him and that would be to great heights. He was born March 26, 1950 and he's 72 years young already, seems like only a few years ago that I discovered him when it's actually been nearly 40 He is a licensed pilot as he flies his own jet aircraft from time to time. This scares Me because fellow great &7 legendary composer from the same era James Horner was too and he crashed & died in 2016, it was so sad for Me Silvestri is listed as 6 foot 2 but he always seems taller. A very handsome man and back in the day had black hair. Unlike Elfman, he just doesn't compose, he conducts & orchestrates his scores too which is a big feat for a composer. So basically that is all I can say as of a bio for Alan Silvestri.

Here is his wiki if you want to know more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Silvestri

So How I discovered him was none other than Back to the Future way back in the mid 80s. I knew him actually not too long after I knew Jerry Goldmith & James Horner (both did Star Trek films) & before Danny Elfman and then it seemed like one film I was seeing at a young age right after another. He has a such a very distinct sound where you KNOW ITS HIM. If you know the BTTF trilogy and you know its theme then you've heard Alan SIlvestri before but just didn't know who he was by name. Many people do that sort of thing. He actually became a huge household name with My Family more so than the previous greats I mentioned above, even more than John Williams. Like most composers, I follow what they have done and what's next for them . It was always fun following Silvestri. I have a big collection of his CDs. His style changed a bit like Elfman as I have pointed out in his 2000s section. Silvestri's absolute best was in the 2000s as well but his works in the 80s will always be his big milestones or at least for Me

One correction I must add before we actually get started is when I spoke about the A-Team, I got that mixed up with ChiPs, he composed music for about 76 episodes so mix ups & mistakes happen I never got into this series, It's very 70s-ish but later he would change his style.



So here is Alan Silvestri's actual big films.

Summer Rental (85) - Me & PB just got done talkin' about this film over in the Movie Trailer Section but I was waiting for this moment to mention the score. Summer Rental was actually his first big one and it has an early 80s type of sound to it. The theme is really nice but Silvestri is got a long way to go before the man found his GROOVE



Clan of the Cave Bear (85) - Again same as above. Now one extremely important note here is that he replaced John Scott. I just talked about him My recent Odds & Ends spot when I showcased My special time at General Grant's Farmers Market near Crestwood. I hope you check it out cause I got Scott's King Kong Lives Cassette Tape. If you never heard any of Scott's music then boy oh boy are you missing out, he's arguably the greatest of all-time and has such beautiful & epic music. As great as Silvestri would become, even today I still have no clue how he beat Scott and what the heads of the film was thinkin', sometimes movie directors make some really dense mistakes, for example Han Zimmer's K2, need I say more



The Delta Force (85) - Great but his sound isn't there yet.



Romancing the Stone (85) - Oh he's close, he was experimenting with it here, listen close you can hear it being born right from the start of the classic film cue

NOTE: I say that about it being born because every composer has a sort of DNA about him and her...that HOW YOU CAN TELL WHO IS WHO



Back to the Future (85) - Now we're here. This IS THE SOUND that everybody knows from BTTF This would become his standard even to this very moment as I speak. This sound is one of the reasons that got My attention towards the film. He would continue this and get better & better just not for the next two sequels but for so many other films This was his first collaboration with Robert Zemeckis. Listen how this builds up, its such a fun ride



Predator (87) - Ah, here is the one. I was already an Alien fan then Predator came out later and little did I know that Fox & Dark Horse would cross them over in 1990...gosh that was so cool. So legends Jerry Goldsmith would score Alien in 1979 and James Horner would score Aliens in 1986 and then Alan Silvestri would do Predator in 1987...oh man that list has always been so great and these are some of the reasons why I'm such a huge AvP fan. This was always big around the household even more so than Star Wars at times. The Predator theme is one of the most used and recognizable themes even if your not a fan which is a shame if you are not. In fact Silvestri sometimes is actually credited with the Predator theme more than his BTTF Theme. Ask other composers and they'll tell ya how iconic it is. Modern greats like John Debney & Henry Jackman used the heck out of the theme for their Predator sequels. He won a Saturn Award for it in 87 Just listening to it I can picture Arnold & Jesse in the Choppa, My heroes of My childhood. If you never really thought about Silvestri well listen to this masterpiece, he is a genius and had pure action



Mac and Me (88) - Oh I fell in love with this film, disregard what others say about it being a copycat of E.T., its much more than that. Anyway Silvestri is at again and even more so with this super joyful & emotional score. It has his BTTF/Predator sound but it has so much creativity to it as well. Its really remarkable. If this doesn't make you jolly and shed a tear or two then...well its a wonderful piece of music that I have always adored



Who Framed Roger Rabbit (88) - His second one with Robert Zemeckis. Ah hah, one of his most creative ever The film just wasn't revolutionary but the music was too. He wrote so much for it. It was one of the rarest & most expensive to get CD, I had to settle with the Japanese version long ago. He has his now standard sound but it sounds so classical from the 1940s and Silvestri made it sound so authentic...Silvestri makes his scores so memorable and WFRR is just only a sample of that



Back to the Future: Part II (89) - Here we go, his first sequel and third collaboration with Robert Zemeckis and he just didn't make this score like the first one, he made it even better There is a ton of new material here from one of the greatest sequels ever. He created new themes for Biff and the alternate timelines...oh it was so sweet. If you love BTTF's music then you'll really love this one



The Abyss (89) - This was Silvestri's only time with James Cameron as he used James Horner for Aliens prior and would use him again for Titanic & Avatar. This score was Silvestri's third film that had to do with alien life in only a three year period which is amazing Its a tremendous score and he experiments with new things here which 1989 was when he started playing around with new techniques for future scores including using choirs. Me & My Family saw this at the Kenrick when it came out, it was a big deal then. The score is superb for this epic



So that will do it for Alan SIlvestri's Part 1, at last I posted about him. I hope you give him a chance and listen to his works. Make sure you read it from the beginning for his pic I made & little bio I wrote and how you can gradually see how his music evolved to what it is today. Also to read about the stuff about James Horner here because that is important as well which you might be shocked which plan on featuring him after I'm done with Silvestri. I hope you enjoyed this. If you got any questions about movie scores or whatever about it don't hesitate to ask Me I will being doing part 2 of Alan Silvestri of the 90s soon, until then

[BrandonDaCollector]

I hope you gave Alan Silvestri a shot here. You never said anything PB how you liked his Back to the Future theme. Your a big BTTF fan right How about the Roger Rabbit, Predator theme & Abyss music Let Me know what you think about him & his sound. I'll be posting his part 2 soon. In the mean time here is a pic of him with BTTF's director Robert Zemeckis

[BrandonDaCollector]

I just found out that legendary composer Angelo Badalamenti that did National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation...we were just talking about this great movie

They never ever released his music officially from the film, just songs Even though there's only 3000 people or less out of 8 billion + that buys movie scores (so pathetic, I always thought this for decades) Varese or La-La Land needs to release a special edition of 2000 copies right away even though he could only write a handful of cues (things didn't allow him to do more) Angelo was such an underrated composer as he composed the likes of Dark Water, Cabin Fever, Arlington Road and many others.

Here is his Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Badalamenti

There's only a few of composer legends left out there like John Williams (Star Wars), John Scott (King Kong Lives) & Lalo Schifrin (Mission Impossible Theme) but Christopher Young (The Fly II & Spider-Man 3, Hans Zimmer (Gladiator & DKT), Danny Elfman (Beetlejuice & Batman 89) & Alan Silvetri (Back to the Future & The Avengers) are getting up there as well but they still seem young to Me even though I've known them for decades

Lets talk more about "actual" movie music more often, I'm the guy that knows most of this great stuff and made this great topic that hardly get's any attention which nobody ever said about Alan Silvestri's Back to the Future or anything. Just listen to his BTTF & Who Framed Roger Rabbit tracks, I have provided his cues above, their so good and talk to Me about them soon, there's so much to talk about and questions you can ask Me too

So here is Angelo's little bit of music that he did for Christmas Vacation (he was very limited at what he could put in there cause the studio had to have songs like usual)



May Angelo rest in peace

[packerbacker180]

At least his music will live on in a movie that will be a yearly staple for Christmas. RIP.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Indeed PB, indeed