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Film Scores & Soundtracks

Started by Andy Lambert, 28 May, 2017, 11:52:11 PM

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Andy Lambert

As much as I love popular music, there's something about the occasional movie score that gets me in places those pop songs fail to reach. At times, they can act as beautiful chill-out music, other times they can be soaring and rousing or just toe-tappingly catchy.

What themes and scores have caught your attention? Does the Star Wars theme give you goosebumps?
Do you like to be shaken, not stirred by a Bond song? Perhaps you can suggest some that I can add to my playlist below.
Please forgive my indulgence but I LOVE listening to this playlist - it's really helped to influence and inspire when I've been working on a drawing or painting. It's mostly sci-fi/fantasy based, and there'll be some tunes very familiar to you, or should you check out any of the links, you might come across something new that hits you in the right spot... ;)

(Two Steps From Hell tracks aren't used in any films or tv programs that I'm aware of but they have been tailored for and used for scoring trailers)

01, Steve Jablonsky The Island Awaits You The Island
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFK1gT3papE
02, Jeff Wayne The Eve Of The War The War Of The Worlds
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyRWl_1baMA
03, Akira Ifukeube Godzilla Theme Godzilla (1954)
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE-JwmDrTNI
04, Harald Kloser Main Theme The Day After Tomorrow
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBqnw-rYhcM
05, Hans Zimmer Time Inception
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxabLA7UQ9k
06, Jerry Goldsmith Main Title Star Trek: First Contact
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhoa7oWPPhk
07, Hans Zimmer Main Theme Man Of Steel
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX3coWDnTrU
08, Jerry Goldsmith The Dream Total Recall
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvC5-SXlk2g
09, Henry Mancini Theme From Lifeforce Lifeforce
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsV7TuNMr5M
10, Jeremy Soule The Streets Of Whiterun The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo3VAltxlr8
11, Jamin Winans The City Surf Ink
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8W44OvV8mQ
12, John Murphy Sunshine (Adagio In D Minor) Sunshine
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQXVzg2PiZw
13, Javier Navarrete Lullaby Pan's Labyrinth
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19bBGxf5k6k
14, Jamin Winans Who You Were Ink
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lqFWu0qeyY
15, Steve Jablonsky Bumblebee Transformers
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8foTMjFqIk
16, Jamin Winans Ayúdame The Frame
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJcD_rmxPak
17, Jeremy Soule Kyne's Peace The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gC-UsVHtg8
18, Daft Punk Father And Son Tron Legacy
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_6ppCa_Xks
19, Two Steps From Hell None Shall Live Battlecry
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPHeW7MLBbw
20, Steve Jablonsky Scorponok Transformers
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDFns0LA7O0
21, Tomoyasu Hotei Battle Without Honor Or Humanity Kill Bill Vol.1
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebMrRxK5S3U
22, Barry Gray Season One Themes Space 1999
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLhdY6_juDk
23, John Barry The Black Hole Theme The Black Hole
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI6VPFQw6BU
24, Barry Di Vorzon Main Theme V: The Final Battle
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqRuiqtoGjI
25, Paul Leonard-Morgan She's A Pass Dredd
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWfVfwz7rTM&index=1&list=PL8BoJZoO5JxKpA9kWFugZb_HUxVDBeBzM
26, Jamin Winans Intercept The Frame
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAJhoSeqi_A
27, Two Steps From Hell Protectors Of The Earth Invincible (Used in Doctor Who Series 6 trailer)
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASj81daun5Q
28, Annie Lennox Into The West The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoVaK2NXmJA
29, Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard Elysium Gladiator
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsvqd2QkrTA
30, Jamin Winans Breathe The Frame
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfIfIAFsNyA
31, Jeremy Soule Ancient Stones The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmp5fr4wUEA
32, Nicholas Hooper Dumbledore's Farewell Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeVyvwThCd8
33, Jamin Winans John's Walk Ink
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQXigiVjiMQ
34, Two Steps From Hell Tristan Invincible (Used in Doctor Who Series 6 trailer)
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVbjhw0ZxC0
35, Jamin Winans Design Of Chaos The Frame
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amfn8faYa-8
36, John Murphy In A House, In A Heartbeat 28 Days Later
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST2H8FWDvEA
37, Jeremy Soule From Past To Present The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5sTI_zBg40
38, Jamin Winans What Happened To You Ink
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhsxhCzeFPc
39, Jeremy Soule Secunda The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvsMn05WtaI
40, Murray Gold A Good Man (Twelve's Theme) Doctor Who
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfmmRHh6O5o
41, Two Steps From Hell Freedom Fighters Invincible
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJm6b-o2pTM
42, Two Steps From Hell Spellcaster Battlecry
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ZYUCUbGo4
43, Jeremy Soule Far Horizons The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga8KbMcUfm8
44, Steve Jablonsky My Name Is Lincoln The Island
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iu-t1n821M
45, Paul Leonard-Morgan Ma-Ma's Requiem Dredd
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyxC5eVO2GE

Professor Bear

Though considered a turd of a film*, John Debney's score for Cutthroat Island is rightly regarded as a classic of the swashbuckler genre.  The Carriage Chase theme is the absolute tops.

The Conan Theme is also great - so much so that thousands of years later, Conan's descendant Douglas Quaid re-used it.


* If I'm honest, a rewatch revealed that though it was a bit of a mess, the film is no more so than the baffling sequel-churning machine that is Pirates of the Caribbean.  And it doesn't star a wife-beating man-child, so there's that.

SuperSurfer

One of my favourite sci-fi films:
Queen Flash Gordon: Battle Theme
Queen Flash Gordon: The Hero
Underrated, in my opinion:
Stewart Copeland & Stan Ridgway Rumblefish: Don't Box Me In
Stewart Copeland Rumblefish: Your mother is Not Crazy

Andy Lambert

#3
Good choices, Professor Bear - very much my bag, and you're totally right about the Conan theme copied for Total Recall..! I had no idea, but upon hearing it, it's bloody obvious...!

I'm afraid I'm no fan of the Flash Gordon movie myself, but the Queen soundtrack is definitely the best thing about it.

There's another theme I haven't included in my playlist, and I really should - it's beautiful. It may be a bit overlong at over 11 minutes, but it's a piece that gradually builds to a pleasing finish. I've drifted off to sleep many times listening to this in bed...
Vangelis Pinta, Niña, Santa María 1492 Soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRaJvn3QBlI

There are obviously other great scores from Vangelis such as:
Bladerunner End titles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAwo7DPUFUM
In fact, the whole soundtrack for Bladerunner is pretty awesome.

Mutiny On The Bounty End Theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7piGHeUUS0E

I also really like John Carpenter's Reel 9 from The Fog:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESHAYehIo30
Skip to the 4:00 mark.

Supreme Pizza Of The DPRK

Duel Of The Fates is the best thing to come out of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Gets me going every time. But listen to it back to back with Beethoven's 9th 5th and I believe you can see where John Williams got his inspiration for the piece (at least IMO)

My top 5 soundtracks/scores off the top of my head would be

-A Clockwork Orange
-The Dollars Trilogy (I can't pick favorites, they are all gold)
-Blade Runner
-WH40K Dawn Of War 2 (great video game score)
-Hannibal (the TV series score)

I, Cosh

We never really die.

Magnetica

I have the Queen Flash Gordon sound track and not just one, but two Babylon 5 sound track CDs.

Colin YNWA

Quote from: I, Cosh on 29 May, 2017, 07:31:20 AM
Ghost Dog.

This is very close to being right, so very close (as if I'm honest if Queen's Flash soundtrack, just perfect for the film) and there are numerous Morricone soundtracks to Leone films that also grasp for the top (Once Upon a Time in America being my favourite) but for me its the soundtrack to Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou that wins the day.

Tony Angelino

I find it hard to look past Morricone and Barry.

The soundtracks to the three 'Dollar' westerns by Ennio Morricone are classics and feature great pieces of music such as the Ecstasy of Gold and Carillon. Once Upon a Time in the West is probably just as good. I saw him in concert in Belfast a number of years back and Ecstasy of Gold was the only one of his pieces that he played twice. I think that is probably his greatest work and yet its only used once in a scene in The Good The Bad and the Ugly.

John Barry's 007 theme is great and for me just as iconic as the James Bond theme.

Hans Zimmer's best scores for me were Black Hawk Down and the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I don't think he improved on these and find that his music now is just loud banging noises.

shaolin_monkey


Professor Bear


Supreme Pizza Of The DPRK

If I could only listen to one persons music again it would have to be Barry Gray of supermarionation. fame

The soundtrack of my (and probably of your) childhood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmAgk3d6ZjQ

Woolly

A few of my favorites

Lalo Schifrin - Magnum Force
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkas-NHQnsI

Morricone - The Ecstasy of Gold
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYI09PMNazw

Riz Ortelani - Cannibal Holocaust Theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf1Vt6r-sj8

Barry De Vorzon - The Warriors Theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1rBQgD9yLo

Francesco De Masi - New York Ripper soundtrack (New York One More Day)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxVkxAp9hfE
Version 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xMrAdMvoVs

The Sweeney opening theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGFoIpdv8wg
and the far superior ending theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mZE7BVlWO0

Cheech and Chong - Earache My Eye
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJW67QN24SA


Woolly


Tony Angelino

If you like film scores then you should listen to the El Diabolik podcast. It mainly features music from Italian cinema but that is no bad thing.

I'm not a big fan of horror and that's where I first heard the Cannibal Holocaust theme. Its a lovely piece of music but I wouldn't have connected that theme tune to that film.