A Discussion of John Williams by khambilo

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A Discussion of John Williams

POSTED BY: KHAMBILO
UPDATED: Sunday, November 29, 2009 23:20
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Thursday, November 19, 2009 1:20 PM

I've just allocated a couple of John William's soundtracks and I'm curious. Like his work? Hate it? If you like it, what's your favorite John Williams soundtrack? Or if you don't like him, do you have a favorite film composer?

Just curious.

Personally, my favorites would be his work in Star Wars (everything except episode III really) and the Memoirs of a Geisha soundtrack.

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Thursday, November 19, 2009 1:34 PM

CHRISISALL

Loved the dude since Lost In Space (Johhny Williams), and his scores for The Fury, Superman, Star Wars, & Temple Of Doom are my favourites.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Thursday, November 19, 2009 2:02 PM

KAREL

Flying on duct tape and a damaged registry.

http://www.moosebutter.com/lyrics.php/star-wars?videos

*snort*

"Whatever is wrong with you is so right for me." -- Marillion.

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Thursday, November 19, 2009 2:05 PM

KHAMBILO

Good picks. I also forgot to add the Raiders March from Indiana Jones to my list of favorite, but everything else from Indy (for me) is okay, but not standout. I think his work in War of the Worlds also deserves some mention.

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Thursday, November 19, 2009 3:19 PM

BYTEMITE

Probably one of the better composers of our time. His pieces with classical inspiration are his best.

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Thursday, November 19, 2009 4:14 PM

THESOMNAMBULIST

Great Topic!!!

Well I'd have to go with JAWS because let's face it the music IS the shark. I don't think I've ever gone swimming since and not had that theme resonante through my head when I've poke around a shadowy area of water... It just is so perfect.

Raiders of the Lost Ark theme is wonderful also and is sure to stir you up when you hear it. The only thing I'd say and I don't think this John Williams' fault but he obviously is asked to score very similar sounding themes.

Catch Me If You Can was a surprisingly 'different' sound for him and it was a great score.

Let's face it if you were a kid in the 80's and ouy went to the cinema there's a good chance you came out humming one of his many scores as you left. He just manages to hit the right chords.

Other great composers:

Bernard Herrmann - He did a lot of Hitchcocks films and often Hitch's best films are just that because of Hermann's scores North By Northwest, Vertigo, Psycho...

Danny Elfman has been a long time favourite of mine. Very flambouyant and orchestral and dark. Storyteller with his music. Edward Scissorhands is the standout as well as the Batman theme. Wow was that good!

Recently Marco Beltrami has climbed the ranks of the greats too. His score for iRobot was genius. He was given 17 days to come up with that and it's an incredible arrangement of sounds. He's working on 'V' at the moment. I hope he continues for a while yet on that show because it needs help.

Also Michael Giacchinoo. He's more commonly known for LOST but he actually does some brilliant themes for the Pixar films. He seems able to blend orchestral and 20's 30's jazz/swing into his compositions. wonderful stuff.

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Thursday, November 19, 2009 4:41 PM

CHRISISALL

AND, Jerry Goldsmth, legend.
Twilight Zone, Man From U.N.C.L.E., Shamus, Planet Of The Apes, Logan's Run, Star Trek TMP, OMG this dude did more stuff than I have time to list!!

The laughing Chrisisall

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Thursday, November 19, 2009 6:44 PM

KHAMBILO

Bernard Herman is definitely worth mentioning. I love the opening overture to psycho - just the frenzied and psychotic nature of it, it's almost as suspenseful as the actual film.

Michael Giacchino is good, too. His work in the new Star Trek movie was amazing!

And while on the subject of composers, (though not necessarily for film), I've always enjoyed Nobuo Uemastu's work on the Final Fantasy series. Also, Tommy Tallarico's score for Advent Rising was arguable the best part of the game (besides the story written by Orson Scott Card).

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Friday, November 20, 2009 12:30 PM

LWAVES

I would have to say that there are many great composers for film music out there, some of whom have been mentioned.
But for a piece (especially main themes) that is so instantly recognisable to just about anyone, even those that aren't necessarily fans of the films there can be none better than Mr Williams. His collaborations with Spielberg alone put him at the top.
When you hear his music you are instantly transported to that film and his film list comprises some of the great and classic films. I can say that I find that his music is as much a part of the film as any actor or director or writer could be.
His extensive, earlier TV work speaks for itself but I have to say that I don't know most of it as I wasn't around then.

To name my faves in no order:

The Star Wars Saga
Close Encounters
Jaws
Superman
The Indiana Jones Trilogy
E.T.
Saving Private Ryan
Jurassic Park
Harry Potter movies
Far And Away (okay the film's not great but the music is)
Schindler's List

I hope he continues for many years.

"I don't believe in suicide, but if you'd like to try it it might cheer me up to watch."

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Friday, November 20, 2009 1:17 PM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...

Yeah, in a way he was like Speilberg was for film, they sort of grew up in the business together. The only knock on him might be that he has been a bit over used and no matter how versatile someone is there's still "that sound." I was glad when the Harry Potter franchise gave someone else a try.

Others have mentioned some great choices - Steve Jablonsky & Bear McCreary of Island/Transformers and BattleStar Galactica are 2 others doing pretty good works.

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Friday, November 20, 2009 5:26 PM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by lwaves:
Far And Away (okay the film's not great but the music is)

His music came real close to making the movie great IMO.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Saturday, November 21, 2009 3:01 AM

IMNOTHERE

Quote:
Originally posted by pizmobeach:
The only knock on him might be that he has been a bit over used and no matter how versatile someone is there's still "that sound."

I wonder how much of that is down to JW's abilities and how much due to filmakers wanting "that Star Wars sound"?

I hadn't realised until reading this thread that John Williams wrote all those Irwin Allan themes - I guess producers don't ask for "That Time Tunnel sound" (even though it was a great theme).

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Saturday, November 21, 2009 3:16 AM

EVILDINOSAUR

He's awesome, I can't think of a john williams song I don't love. Some of my favorites include Superman, ET, Duel of the Fates, Battle of the Heroes, to name a few.

"Haha, mine is an evil laugh."

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Saturday, November 21, 2009 3:25 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...

Quote:
Originally posted by ImNotHere:
Quote:
Originally posted by pizmobeach:
The only knock on him might be that he has been a bit over used and no matter how versatile someone is there's still "that sound."

I wonder how much of that is down to JW's abilities and how much due to filmakers wanting "that Star Wars sound"?

I hadn't realised until reading this thread that John Williams wrote all those Irwin Allan themes - I guess producers don't ask for "That Time Tunnel sound" (even though it was a great theme).

A lot is certainly due to his abilities, and some to his popularity. Once a composer gets to be as popular as he did (mainly from Star Wars, but Hollywood knew about him from before that) he gets to be a part of the billing, almost as much as a guest star, or in his case, even higher. "Music By John Williams" is box office gold. It can also pigeon-hole a composer as much as a famous character/part can type cast an actor for future work.
So yes, he does have "a sound," all composers do even within their range, and yes, that is what typically gets them their next gig. Hollywood is where the next block buster starts with a 1 sentence screenplay pitch - they like it simple. It should be no surprise then that a producer or director would say, "we need that John Williams sound for this."
Time Tunnel Theme vs Star Wars? You're right, I don't think many people are asking him for TTT sound!

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Saturday, November 21, 2009 6:45 AM

IMNOTHERE

Quote:
Originally posted by pizmobeach:

Time Tunnel Theme vs Star Wars? You're right, I don't think many people are asking him for TTT sound!

Of course, for all we know, George Lucas might well have asked for "that Time Tunnel sound" back when he was starting on "A New Hope" - once he'd decided that the score for a Sci Fi film didn't have to feature a theramin...

(although, possibly, he asked for "that Holst: the Planets sound...")

Meanwhile - my vote for best score would be 2001 - but that was, of course, existing works by "various artists" (and pathologically eclectic, at that).

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Sunday, November 29, 2009 11:20 PM

SHINYGOODGUY

It's a dead heat for me between John Williams and Danny Elfman.

JW: Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

DE: Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice.

Need I say more?

SGG

Tawabawho?

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