78th Academy Awards Nominations

This morning, the nominations for the 78th Academy Awards were released; here are the soundtrack related categories and nominees:

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score):
1. “Brokeback Mountain” (Focus Features) Gustavo Santaolalla
2. “The Constant Gardener” (Focus Features) Alberto Iglesias
3. “Memoirs of a Geisha” (Sony Pictures Releasing) John Williams
4. “Munich” (Universal and DreamWorks) John Williams
5. “Pride & Prejudice” (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song):
1. “In the Deep” from “Crash” (Lions Gate)
Music by Kathleen “Bird” York and Michael Becker
Lyric by Kathleen “Bird” York
2. “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from“Hustle & Flow” (Paramount Classics, MTV Films and New Deal Entertainment)
Music and Lyric by Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman and Paul Beauregard
3. “Travelin’ Thru” from “Transamerica” (The Weinstein Company and IFC Films)
Music and Lyric by Dolly Parton

I heard a couple pieces from "Brokeback Mountain" and was very impressed but I am unfamiliar with both "The Constant Gardner" and "Pride & Prejudice" and I have never heard any of the songs nominated. I may have to hunt those down and check them out.

Once again, I am a huge John Williams fan and "Memoirs of a Geisha" was one of my favorite scores last year; I also really enjoyed his music for "Munich". After winning the Golden Globe for "Memoirs", I hope that score takes the Oscar as well. Good luck JW!

You can check out the nominees in all categories by clicking here. The 78th Academy Awards will be held and televised on ABC on Sunday, March 5th.

Alexandre Desplat scores Firewall

On February 14th, Varese Sarabande will release Alexandre Desplat's score to the new Harrison Ford thriller Firewall.

Here is the track listing:

1. Firewall (3:16)
2. Surveillance (3:38)
3. Breaking In (2:56)
4. The Bank (:57)
5. First Night (1:21)
6. Hostages (3:24)
7. The Camera Dances (3:47)
8. The Epi-Pen (3:59)
9. The Family Theme (1:21)
10. Escape From The Bank (10:23)
11. Looking For Help (3:04)
12. Exchanging The Files (2:10)
13. The Fight (7:14)
14. Rainy Day (3:15)
15. Together Again (1:20)

I really liked Desplat's score for Syriana so I'm excited about this.

Click the post title to be taken to Varese Sarabande's web page for the soundtrack.

Free Music Saturday(?): George S. Clinton

George S. Clinton's most notable contribution to the world of film music up to this point is probably the Austin Powers movies. A stylish mix of 60's meets 90's, the music of Austin Powers really helped set the tone and, I feel, elevated the sometimes overly silly plots.

Click here to download select tracks from over 30 of his scores. Highlights are the Austin Powers movies, the Mortal Kombat movies and The 4400 mini-series.

A solid composer who seems to dance at the edge of the A-list.

Check him out and let me know what you think at soundtrekmail@gmail.com.

Free Music Firday: More Jeremy Soule

My wife gave birth to our second son this morning and I'm wiped out.

If you enjoyed the Star Wars: Bounty Hunter tracks I recommended a while back then click here and check out a few pieces of Jeremy Soule's score to the game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Also, I picked up the score for Syriana by Alexandre Desplat. I hope to get a review up soon but I'm already behind a few scores and with the new baby, I'm not sure when I'm going to have the time.

Here's to the power of positive thinking!

Later.

2006 Golden Globe Winners Announced

As posted yesterday on SoundtrackNet:

Release Date:(01/16/2006)

Tonight in Beverly Hills, the 63nd Annual Golden Globe Awards were handed out. Winning for Best Score was composer John Williams, for his music to Memoirs of a Geisha. Williams has always been a contender for the Oscars this year, and now the question is whether or not he'll get nominated for Munich in addition to Geisha. His score for Memoir of a Geisha was also listed on SoundtrackNet's Best of 2005.

I can't say I "predicted" this but Memoirs was one of my favorite scores of last year and possibly John Williams' career. I knew to expect great things.

Congratulations to JW and lets hope for a repeat at Oscar time!

New Email Address!!!

We finally have an email address: soundtrekmail@gmail.com!

If you have any questions or comments regarding anything you read here please take a minute to let me know.

Free Music Friday: Jeremy Soule

I started writing this on Friday, I swear!

You've probably never heard of Jeremy Soule, but he has scored a number of video games including the first 3 Harry potter games and Star Wars: Bounty Hunter.

In Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, you assume the role of Jango Fett, the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy. Click here to download 4 tracks from Bounty Hunter and this post's title links to his official site.

There are no clips of Jeremy Soule's music available on his own site.

See you next time!

Mann Hunter

Any one know where I can find this?

One of my favorite movies of the 80's, Michael Mann's version of the novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris is a stylistic thriller that, while visually dated, still holds up very well as a crime drama.

The soundtrack was released on record and cassette but never officially on cd. Also very much of the 80's (with the noteable exception of Iron Butterfly), the soundtrack is synthy and moody and great.

Here is the track listing of the official release:

Strong As I Am by The Prime Movers
Coelocanth by Shriekback
This Big Hush by Shriekback
Graham's Theme by Michel Rubini
Evaporation by Shriekback
Heartbeat by Red 7
Lector's Cell by The Reds
Leed's House by The Reds
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly

I'm trying to find this soundtrack so if you see it or have it, let me know.

Later.

Free Music Friday: Basil Poledouris

I'm just sneaking this one in on Friday... barely.

If you've never heard Basil Poledouris' score for Conan The Barbarian, then run out now and buy it. One of my favorite scores from the 80's, it is primal and bombastic music that appropriately represents a fictitious pre-history filled with sword and sorcery.

Unfortunately, Basil's web site doesn't contain any samples from that score or the sequel (or Robocop either) but it does have many more that provide a decent overview of his career. Highlights include The Hunt For Red October, Red Dawn and Starship Troopers.

Check out his music and leave me a comment letting me know what you think.

Enjoy!

King Kong by James Newton Howard

James Newton Howard is a decent composer and that is exactly what King Kong is; a decent score. He replaced Howard Shore after Shore’s score was rejected by director Peter Jackson (citing creative differences) and JNH had only 5 weeks to write 2 hours 48 minutes of music for the film.

I’ve never been a big fan of James Newton Howard; in fact, the only other scores I own by him are Unbreakable and Batman Begins with Hans Zimmer, both of which fall somewhere between decent and good. Even though I was underwhelmed with the music as I heard it in King Kong, I decided to give it another chance.

I am still underwhelmed.

It’s not that the music isn’t serviceable and one could argue that not noticing the music through most of the movie is the mark of a good score. But, in a manner of speaking, I’m not noticing it on the album either.

The “main title” is uninspired much like the art decoish main title sequence in the film. Most of the action cues don’t seem to have much adrenaline behind them. The quiet moments are pleasant and there is some nice piano work sprinkled throughout.

The album’s “centerpiece” is the five part “Beauty Killed the Beast”, which encompasses the battle on the Empire State Building. This is the best part of the album; not only is the music more exciting than anywhere else and some other themes from the score are intertwined nicely but the orchestration seems more involved and better layered than in previous pieces. I like the choral parts too; nice use of the solo voice as Kong plummets to the street below. My only complaint is that some of the cues are only a couple of minutes long; couldn’t this have been edited into one long track?

I’m not sure if it’s the production or the mixing or even the orchestration, but the score sounds flat. There is little or no depth to the “sound” of the music and the fact that most of the score itself isn’t particularly dynamic to begin with makes the sound’s lack of dimension even more noticeable. Perhaps they felt that they had to rush to get the cd released before the movie. I hope if they decide to do an expanded album at some point that they remix the music.

I give King Kong by James Newton Howard TWO and a HALF stars out of FIVE.

Memoirs Of A Geisha by John Williams

This score is so utterly different from anything John Williams has done before, it doesn't even sound like him. But, that's not a bad thing; I find it refreshing.

Don't get me wrong, I love John Williams' music (I have 36 albums of his), but he had begun to repeat himself a bit in the last few years (Episode II, AI and Minority Report all had a few cues that could have been interchanged).

In 2005, JW scored 4 films; Revenge of the Sith, War of the Worlds, Memoirs of a Geisha and Munich. Being a huge Star Wars fan, I'm already predisposed to Episode III but I think my next favorite is Memoirs. Featuring the solo work of Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinist Itzhak Perlman (one might think that having two world-renown soloists on one album would be overkill, but I never felt that the music became "busy" or "crowded"), this score is lyrical and haunting with probably my favorite theme of the year in "Sayuri's Theme".

JW's last two forays into this territory (Empire of the Sun and Seven Years in Tibet) still sounded very much like John Williams symphonic scores; Memoirs is very "Asian" in its instrumentation and styling. It seems like JW has take a cue from recent popular Asian scores such as Tan Dun's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (also featuring Yo-Yo Ma) though I feel Williams' Memoirs is a smoother listen overall especially for American audiences.

The cd contains 18 tracks for a total of 61:01 minutes.

Not having seen the film, I cannot comment on how the music plays there but I continue to find the soundtrack album an enjoyable listening experiance.

I give Memoirs of a Geisha by John Williams FOUR out of FIVE stars.