Settling scores
December 1, 2018 6:01 PM   Subscribe

Because it's raining, and without further ado:
Bernard Herrmann's last film score, the Theme from Taxi driver
Jerry Goldsmith's Chinatown soundtrack
Miles Davis for Louis Malle's 1958 Ascenseur pour l'échafaud
Ennio Morricone's Cinema Paradiso
Hand Covers Bruise by Trent Reznor for The Social Network
Ryuichi Sakamoto's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
Vangelis Blade Runner
Up by Michael Giacchino
Hans Zimmer's You're so cool from True Romance

Ry Cooder's Paris Texas

Dexter Gordon in Harbie Hancock's Around Midnight

Nino Rota's Godfather 2 theme

Mia Farrow sings the lullaby from Rosemary's Baby

American Beauty by Thomas Newman

Love theme from The Bridges Of Madison County

The Seven Samurai

Wikipedia

Extra: "Chega de Saudade" / "No More Blues" by Antonio Carlos Jobim (considered to be the first recorded bossa nova song).

Add your own in the comments.
posted by growabrain (57 comments total) 41 users marked this as a favorite
 
Erik Satie: First Gymnopedie
posted by silby at 6:07 PM on December 1, 2018 [2 favorites]


How could I forget?!?! The score for One Small Step. Bonus for anybody who missed it.
posted by growabrain at 6:19 PM on December 1, 2018


It’s possibly fodder for an AskMe, but it seems relevant to this thread: I’ve been trying to place a soundtrack’s use of a particular song.

E.S. Posthumus’ song Cuzco is a song I am absolutely certain I have heard somewhere in a trailer or film. But google tells me that song has only been used for the trailer for Tuck Everlasting, which I am equally certain I’ve never seen.

Is Cuzco just so similar to the orchestral swells used in many films that it seems super familiar to me? Or is there, indeed, a film that has used it, but which is not yet attributed?
posted by darkstar at 6:33 PM on December 1, 2018 [1 favorite]






Boyd’s Journey by Damon Albarn from Ravenous.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 6:52 PM on December 1, 2018 [1 favorite]


James Horner's The Land Before Time

I saw the film for the first time on Netflix recently, and while I'm probably too old to appreciate it now, I was impressed by the music.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 6:57 PM on December 1, 2018


I love Miles Davis’s work on Ascenseur pour l’échafaud in part because of its atmosphere but even more because, knowing his music, those sounds are just so easy for him. It reminds me of that live album that Jaco did where it’s just him and a loop pedal and he riffs on Hendrix and the Beatles and his own “Portrait of Tracy” and if you know his stuff you know that what he’s playing is basically an extended-length bedroom solo, but he’s such a good musician that it’s still great listening.

Also, Ry Cooder’s Paris, Texas soundtrack is a sublime accompaniment to a sublime movie, same with Jonny Greenwood and There Will Be Blood. In the latter case I’m especially impressed by how well a rock guitar player (granted one with an especially good ear) negotiated the orchestration challenges of composing for a string ensemble.
posted by invitapriore at 7:15 PM on December 1, 2018 [1 favorite]


The Thin Red Line (Hans Zimmer)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (various Leoš Janáček and traditional Czech compositions)

Barry Lyndon (various)

John Glenn's Friendship 7 launch and orbit in The Right Stuff (excerpts from Holst's The Planets and Mancini's The White Dawn)

bonus: final scene of The New World (prelude from Wagner's Das Rheingold)
posted by theory at 7:19 PM on December 1, 2018 [1 favorite]




L'Escargot from A Zed & Two Noughts (Michael Nyman)
posted by theory at 7:40 PM on December 1, 2018 [1 favorite]


"Man from Reno" - Scott Walker and Goran Bregović from Toxic Affair
posted by elsietheeel at 7:50 PM on December 1, 2018 [1 favorite]




A preemptive fuck yes for Lee Hazlewood, but also I came here again because I can’t believe that Marvin Gaye’s Trouble Man hasn’t been mentioned yet.
posted by invitapriore at 8:07 PM on December 1, 2018 [3 favorites]


Nino Rota is more than just the Godfather scores, of course: he was also responsible for the music in much of Fellini's work. Examples: 8 1/2, La Dolce Vita, Amarcord, Le Notti di Cabiria.
posted by gimonca at 8:30 PM on December 1, 2018 [2 favorites]


elsietheeel, this is one great ballad - I posted this film to fanfare years ago
posted by growabrain at 8:34 PM on December 1, 2018 [1 favorite]


I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to mention Robert Emmett's Norman Bates Memorial Soundtrack Show which comes on every Saturday morning. You missed catching it live today but KFJC keeps archives of their shows for two weeks.
posted by pagrus at 8:46 PM on December 1, 2018 [1 favorite]


It reminds me of that live album that Jaco did where it’s just him and a loop pedal and he riffs on Hendrix and the Beatles and his own “Portrait of Tracy”

Oddly enough, Youtube, perhaps having spied on me reading a post on Reddit recognizing what would have been Jaco's 67th birthday, served up this earlier
posted by thelonius at 9:04 PM on December 1, 2018


A couple from the mid 80s...

"Old Inuit Song" from Never Cry Wolf (Mark Isham) -- and here's the full soundtrack

"Building the Barn" from Witness (Maurice Jarre)
posted by theory at 9:07 PM on December 1, 2018 [2 favorites]


Joe Jackson's score for Tucker: A Man and His Dreams
posted by Cris E at 9:15 PM on December 1, 2018 [2 favorites]




You’re So Cool always makes me smile.
posted by roger ackroyd at 10:20 PM on December 1, 2018 [1 favorite]


Love Cinema Paradiso.

Here's another great, atmospheric score from Ennio Moricone for Hateful Eight.
posted by hydra77 at 10:29 PM on December 1, 2018 [1 favorite]




ctrl/f Pat Garrett = 0

this thread needs more Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
posted by philip-random at 10:44 PM on December 1, 2018


David Shire - The Conversation
posted by ouke at 11:26 PM on December 1, 2018 [3 favorites]


Mica Levi Under the Skin_-----________LOve
posted by markbrendanawitzmissesus at 12:08 AM on December 2, 2018 [2 favorites]


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_Cc20I-maM
posted by markbrendanawitzmissesus at 12:11 AM on December 2, 2018


Also good for a rainy day, the music composed by John Lewis for the Harry Belafonte movie Odds Against Tomorrow.

A recent discovery for me: Duke Jordan's music from the soundtrack of the 1959 version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

In a different vein altogether I've lately been enjoying Paul Giovanni's songs composed for The Wicker Man: notably Gently Johnny & Willow's Song.
posted by misteraitch at 12:19 AM on December 2, 2018


score from Naked Lunch (1991) by Ornette Coleman & Howard Shore

score from Round Midnight (1986) by Herbie Hancock

End Credits from She's Gotta Have It (1986) by Bill Lee

"Theme de Yoyo" from Les Stances a Sophie (1970) by Art Ensemble of Chicago

score from Bullitt (1968) by Lalo Schifrin

score from the Thomas Crown Affair (1968) by Michael Legrand

"The Naked Camera" from Blow-Up (1966) by Herbie Hancock

score from Alfie (1966) by Sonny Rollins

"Theme from The Cool World" from The Cool World (1963) by Mal Waldron (performed by Dizzy Gillespie with James Moody Kenny Barron)

score from I Want to Live! (1958) by Johnny Mandel

score from The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) by Elmer Bernstein
posted by theory at 12:38 AM on December 2, 2018 [3 favorites]


I like the whole soundtrack, but Dieter's Theme (and its reprise) from Klaus Badelt's score for the Werner Herzog film Rescue Dawn is truly nonpareil.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 3:49 AM on December 2, 2018


I'm obsessed with Mica Levi, and her score for Under the Skin is incredible.

See also: Dan Lopatin's score for Good Time, including The Pure and the Damned, an absolutely unforgettable dirge about love featuring Iggy Pop.

Do game soundtracks count? Because Jessica Curry's exquisite choral score for Everybody's Gone to the Rapture murders my heart whenever I hear it.

Also, Martin Stig Anderson's haunting soundtrack for the game Inside was recorded through an actual human skull.
posted by nerdfish at 3:55 AM on December 2, 2018 [1 favorite]


Thread is incomplete without Danny Elfman (oom-pa oom-pa BEEE-tle-JOOOOOOOCE) and Inception (BWAAAAAAHM!). Or did I overlook a comment?
posted by zaixfeep at 3:58 AM on December 2, 2018


Some of my favorite themes:
Henry Mancini: Charade
John Barry: On Her Majesty's Secret Service
John Barry: A Man Alone (The Ipcress File)
John Barry: Midnight Cowboy
Cliff Martinez: Eddie's Dead (Kafka)

And scores:
Philip Glass: Koyaanisqatsi
John Ottman: The Usual Suspects
Alain Goraguer: Fantastic Planet
Ennio Morricone: Once Upon a Time in the West
Massive Attack: Unleashed/Danny the Dog
Mychael Danna: Exotica
Seattle Music: Way of the Gun
Toto: Dune
Mark Isham: Romeo is Bleeding
Biosphere: Insomnia (1997)
The Dust Brothers: Fight Club
posted by heatvision at 4:22 AM on December 2, 2018 [2 favorites]


And while I loved Thomas Newman's American Beauty score, it has since been so riffed on and copied (remember House?) that I hope he reincarnates as a marimba so I can take a couple of xylophome mallets and beat the hell out of him for the earworm hell he created. Likewse for the Arrested Develp[ment ukulele guy so I can Belushi-bash that cursed Fun-Size parody guitar.

While I'm here, also acknowledge criminally underappreciated tin-pusher Anne Dudley or GTFO.
posted by zaixfeep at 4:29 AM on December 2, 2018


I was fond of Alexandre Desplat's score for Syriana

Thread is incomplete without Danny Elfman
we've all heard that shit
posted by thelonius at 4:36 AM on December 2, 2018 [1 favorite]


Derezzed by Daft Punk from TRON: Legacy
posted by JoeZydeco at 5:02 AM on December 2, 2018 [3 favorites]


Howard Shore hit the big time in Hollywood long ago, but some of his best scores, as collaborations, are to David Cronenberg's films.

The Brood (1979)

Scanners (1981)

Videodrome (1982)

The Dead Zone (main theme) (1983)

The Fly (main theme) (1986)

Dead Ringers (1988)
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:13 AM on December 2, 2018 [2 favorites]


I was first introduced to Jerry Goldsmith via ST:TMP. Gotta love that Blaster Beam.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:32 AM on December 2, 2018


Siesta: Miles Davis, Marcus Miller
Kansas City: various players
posted by philfromhavelock at 7:03 AM on December 2, 2018




Cavatina from The Deer Hunter
posted by growabrain at 8:10 AM on December 2, 2018 [1 favorite]


What an amazing post and thread! Here is my humble contribution:

James Horner, Legends of the Fall
posted by JohnFromGR at 10:08 AM on December 2, 2018




Dario Marianelli, Atonement - The typewriter noises incorporated into the score are so beautiful and perfect.
Wojciech Kilar, Dracula - Best part of a bad movie.
Randy Edelman, Dragonheart - For that one swelling, sentimental piece that makes me cry.
posted by gladly at 11:02 AM on December 2, 2018 [1 favorite]


And of course it would be a crime to forget Richard Einhorn's Voices of Light, the perfect score for Carl Theodor Dreyer's silent masterpiece, The Passion of Joan of Arc. I'm pretty sure it's paired with the film on the most recent release.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 2:24 PM on December 2, 2018


John Corigliano, Altered States
Neil Young, Dead Man
posted by mubba at 2:26 PM on December 2, 2018 [1 favorite]


Fave French artists:

Francis Lai: Vivre pour Vivre
Maurice Jarre: Lara's Theme, Dr. Zhivago
Michel Legrand: I Always Love You, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg
posted by ovvl at 3:59 PM on December 2, 2018


Vertigo soundtrack by Bernard Herrmann gets a lot of play here.
posted by ovvl at 4:02 PM on December 2, 2018


White Sands soundtrack by Patrick O'Hearn

I sought out the movie because of a random reference in an Unsolved Mysteries disappearance, but the weird, ominous soundtrack also hooked me (as did the New Mexico settings, but I digress). [Trailer, Wikipedia, IMDb]
posted by filthy light thief at 8:04 PM on December 2, 2018


Also the Manhunter soundtrack is killer.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 3:06 AM on December 3, 2018 [1 favorite]


Tom Twyker, Reinhold Heil, and Johnny Klimek, Cloud Atlas
John Carpenter, The Fog
James Horner, Apollo 13
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:53 AM on December 3, 2018


Neil Young, Dead Man
posted by mubba


It was on TV recently here. Love that score.

-------------------

Stewart Copeland on Coppola's Rumble Fish.
posted by Pouteria at 8:49 PM on December 3, 2018


FORGOT! Deer hunter cavatina
posted by growabrain at 6:13 AM on December 4, 2018


Once Upon A Time In America --- Morricone
All The President's Men -- David Shire
and really, no Carter Burwell? How about The Spanish Prisoner?
Jules et Jim -- Georges Delerue
North by Northwest, ETC -- of course-- Bernard Hermann
Body Heat -- John Barry
posted by DMelanogaster at 7:37 PM on December 4, 2018


May I just express my love for everyone who has contributed to this thread?
posted by mkhall at 11:53 AM on December 5, 2018 [2 favorites]


Horner's score for Wrath of Khan is on Spotify and it is fucking gold, even if it's gold that borrows liberally from Prokofiev in a spot or two.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 12:05 PM on December 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


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