Movie Soundtracks

[Manwe Sulimo]

This has probably been done before, and if it has, i apologize for making a new thread for it... it is just that I didn't find a thread when I looked through this forum, so...

Anyways, my question is, what movie has the best soundtrack, in your opinion?
What does it take to make a soundtrack good?

The reason I started thinking about this, is that I am listening to a CD I got with lots of Bond-themes recorded by The City of Prague Philharmonic, great music really... (all instrumental, off course, really relaxing...)

[webwizard333]

I don't typically get soundtracks from movies, so I wouldn't be able to give you examples. But a good one would be able to elicit the same feeling you had when you watched the scene the music is from.

[bmilder]

The Star Wars series. John Williams is a genius. Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, and E.T. are also very good by him. Another decent score is Gladiator.

[anduin]

Harold and Maude....soundtrack by Cat Stevens.
O Brother Where Art Thou?.....various bluegrass tracts and some "work" songs.....what do you call them? "Chain gang" songs??
Swingers.....swing music (what did you expect?;) ) among others
Purple Rain.....Prince and the Revolution
2001, A Space Odyssey.....can't remember the composer....anyone?

[gdl96]

The Matrix had a great rock soundtrack.

But if you're talking about orchestra type of music, I'd have to go with soundtracks done by John Williams. I also loved 2001's soundtrack.

[Shanamir Duntak]

I love Gladiator, Braveheart and The Red Violin

[Manwe Sulimo]

I agree, Star Wars had great music...Gladiator as well...
The socalled Matrix soundtrack(which is in fact named "Music from and inspired by the motion picture") is just a compilation of some songs from the movie, and some that are not...
I was not thinking especially of classical soundtracks, just anything...

[Darth Tater]

Gladiator, ESB, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and of course Braveheart are some of my favorite classical soundtracks. But my all time favorite movie soundtrack has to be Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

[jediguy]

IMO - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon had a fantastic soundtrack. So fantastic, in fact, that it compelled me to buy my first CD in a year...

[anduin]

Oooh Tater, you like O Brother....too? I didn't realize that you liked bluegrass and the such. :) Cool.

[Darth Tater]

I hate Bluegrass and such, I just love that movie and that soundtrack ;) go figure

[Shanamir Duntak]

Never trust Tater to be normal

[Darth Tater]

Amen to that!

[Theodred]

Definitely Gladiator!

That is the best soundtrack ever, it kills John Williams!

I still like John Williams, but I like Hans Zimmer the best!
He wrote the music to Gladiator, Crimson Tide, and Backdraft which all had great soundtracks!

[Darth Tater]

I love that score, find myself humming it ALL the time. Oh theodred, we live in the same city!

[AACHOO]

Heavy Metal:Music from the Motion Picture

Phenomenon---------

Pulp Fiction-----------

Grosse Pointe Blank

2001:A Space Odyssey

[Darth Tater]

Hrmm, interesting choices.

[poppy]

Good movie soundtracks have to be Rocky Horror picture show ...Lostboys Trainspotting... Roadtrip...Gone in 60 seconds and any Beatles film:D oh and Most Disney films.

[Theodred]

Cool Tater!
I don't actually live in the city, but a close suburb though!

Yes 2001 did have good music, I find it sort of haunting in a way.
I kinda disagree with Gone in 60 seconds though...

[Marguerite]

My favorite soundtracks are: "The Patriot" and "Far and Away."
I also really like "Ever After"
My favorite movie composer is. John Williams.

[Renille]

Originally posted by poppy
Good movie soundtracks have to be Rocky Horror picture show ...Lostboys Trainspotting... Roadtrip...Gone in 60 seconds and any Beatles film:D oh and Most Disney films.

I love Disney Movie Soundtracks!! :)

I like the Star Wars music too.

[fireworks19]

Really really really really good soundtrack:
Requiem for a Dream

Its all really cool violin music. The movie is really good too, I'd advice everyone to see it...well, I take that back. Its a little graphic, so....If you think you can handle it, see it. Its about all the really horrible stuff that can happen to you if you get addicted to any type of drug. You'll never ever want to do drugs after you see it...Not to imply anyone wanted to in the first place ;)

I like the O, Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack...scared me at first though...bluegrass...*shiver*

I like the one from 10 Things I Hate About You, too.

[Fat middle]

The best soudtrack i'e listen to recently is "Hannibal", i think it's by Hans Zimmer. But i don't generally like his music.

For me, the best author of soundtracks nowadays is Elliot Goldenthal: "Michael Collins", "Heat", "Titus"... he can do soundtracks of very different sorts... and always amazing :)

[Bregalad]

There are so many soundtracks that I like.
In the more classical genre:
Hook
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Somewhere in Time
Nightmare Before Christmas

In the songs type:
Dick
Highlander
Heavy Metal (the first one)
Oh Brother Where Art Thou?
West Side Story
Little Mermaid

[anduin]

Bregalad....after looking at our choices, I can't believe neither one of us chose Sense and Sensibility.....I mean, we listen to it at least once a day at work! :p

[Darth Tater]

Ya learn something new every day...

[Bregalad]

Anduin ... You know, I almost did put it down, and I love that movie! But the truth is, you and our fearless leader like that soundtrack more than I do! I don't mind that we listen to it so much, mind you, but I like the ones I listed before better! :p

[Darth Tater]

Oh my god you're actually using the pic

[Bregalad]

Darth ...of course I am!! It's the absolutly coolest one on entmoot, and thanks to you it's all mine! As you can see, I'm quite proud of it. :) There may be other Bregalads, but they don't have a cool pic like mine! :p Being computer impared, I'm lucky to have a friend like you!

Hmm....I'm supposed to be saying something about soundtracks aren't I? What do you all think about Bill Conti?

[noldo]

My favorite movie soundtracks are from my two favorite movies ever: The Virgin Suicides and Requiem for a Dream.

The Virgin Suicides OST was made by the French electric duo Air and sort of creates a very dreamy and haunting feeling to the film with it's mix of church organs, cheesy 70's rock and soft electric sounds.

Requiem for a Dream's score is an immense masterpiece made by the Kronos Quartet. Very cold and beautiful, just like the movie.

[Steerpike]

GOBLIN, Italian prog-rock masters who pretty much introduced the idea of rock music as serious soundtrack material in the Seventies. They have a small but fiercely loyal fanbase, of which I am one. DAWN OF THE DEAD, DEEP RED, SUSPIRIA...they pretty much made those last two films what they are.

Pretty much any of the Italian horror/suspense films of the 1970s and early Eighties.

The AMELIE soundtrack is fantastic. Some of my other favorites are BLUE VELVET, SANTA SANGRE, and most of the Bond films. I prefer the original songs to any of the later orchestral interpretations. I was lucky enough to snag a 30th anniversary collection of just about all the original Bond material up to 1992. It's out of print, but I found it on Ebay for fairly cheap, so I don't think it's that hard to find. I love all of the Bond stuff until the Eighties, when the theme songs just became standard radio pap. John Barry's On Her Majesty's Secret Service is probably my favorite. It's the only instrumental Bond theme, because they couldn't figure out a way to write a song with that unwieldy title in the lyrics!

Love that Air Virgin Suicides soundtrack too. I love anything by Air!

[Finglas]

I really liked the music for 'O Brother, Where art Thou?'. Was it Ralph Stanley who did the singing? I know that he wrote it.

[Mercutio]

I just ordered "O Brother, Where art Thou?" and a few weeks ago I bought "The Mission" (composer Enrico Morricone). I love both of them. I also have 10-15 assorted musical cd's (Favorite at this moment is West Side Story).

[Hanza]

moulin rouge def my favourite. always brings a smile to my face. although some of the songs can also bring me to tears. gladiator one is also really good.

[Rosie Gamgee]

I love almost anything recent by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. Hans Zimmer is my all-time favorite. His music says 'adventure' all over it, and it just so catches you up. James Newton Howard's music pulls vaguer (is that a word) strings, and works on a more subconcious level; very effective as well.
Other favorite movie composers are Jerry Goldsmith *little tear*- his work is so unrecognizable, which I like a lot- Thomas Newman- very good at period themes, I think, and at capturing atmospheric themes.
For the record- I don't like John Williams that much. :p

[Lady Ravyn]

my dad loves the o brother where art thou? soundtrack
my personal favs (besides the lotr ones ;) ) are spiderman, scorpion king, and the smallville soundtrack

[Rûdhaglarien]

(summutha) Best Movie Soundtracks EVER:


The Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack (Something's up with Jack)
And almost anything else done by Danny Elfman (mmmmb...)
The Lion King Soundtrack (Can you feel the love tonight...)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack (I am the man of constant sorrow...)
Cherish Soundtrack (Good old rock music)
The Piano Soundtrack (Pretty obviously, beautiful piano solos played by Holly Hunter)


Hey guys, how about The Lord of the Rings soundtracks? I find them quite lovely. Especially Gollum's song on TTT ST.

[HOBBIT]

woah - an old topic.


My favorite movie soundtracks and their composers:
____________
John Williams

faves by him: Star Wars (all the work he has done for all the movies), Indiana Jones, Jurasic Park.

His other works are good as well (ET, Close Encounters of the third kind, Harry Potter, etc, etc). I enjoy anything by him.
______________________

Howard Shore

Lord Of The Rings Soundtrack - amazing.
__________________
David Arnold

Stargate Soundtrack - very good stuff
____________
Jerry Goldsmith

All the Star Trek movie soundtracks - great stuff.

[FoolofaTook]

I really like the Requim for A Dream soundtrack, along with almost any Tarantino soundtrack; in particular Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs.

[Beruthiel's cat]

I like James Horner's soundtracks. Titanic is very good (I am a terribly sentimental sap :eek: ...forgive me... :rolleyes: ) but I also like the soundtrack of The Perfect Storm, which is very evocative. Also, I liked the soundtrack of Mighty Joe Young, which he also composed.

[Rosie Gamgee]

______________________

Howard Shore

Lord Of The Rings Soundtrack - amazing.
__________________


You know, I was watching the movie (FotR) not too long ago, and- although I really love the music- it occured to me that there was TOO MUCH of it in the movie. Music should be spare, if not nonexistant when dialogue is going on. And yet there is almost constant music in FotR. Watch the Council of Elrond. I was amazed that the music hardly stops during that whole scene. I think it's bad and distracting.

[Nurvingiel]

That annoys me in any movie that does that - it suggests the characters aren't carrying the movie.

I totally want the soundtrack the "The Blues Brothers"! :)

[Rosie Gamgee]

Exactly.

Is that the one with John Goodman?




Hey, does anybody have the soundtrack to The Alamo (new one, with Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Quaid)? I was just wondering, because I'd really like to know if it was really Billy Bob playing the fiddle on those tracks.

[Rosie Gamgee]

I've been listening to the soundtrack to Finding Neverland. Nice!- although I haven't seen the movie yet.

[Snowdog]

The soundtrack of Easy Rider is a classic great.
Also, We Were Soldiers has a good one.
The movie Dead Man has an interesting score performed by Neil Young.

[Lotesse]

Rosie, what you mentioned above about soundtracks being distracting - I could not agree with you more. That has always been a big pet peeve with me, also. Whenever music is heavily and/or constantly used, it suggests to me that the filmmakers are trying to cheaply manipulate the audience's emotions, as if the audience were incapable of understanding what they "should be feeling" by watching the film as is. Musical embellishment is often beautiful, but in my mind it should be just that - an embellishment, not one of the starring characters. So insulting.
But stuff like Easy Rider, on the other hand, or Blues Brothers - that's just terrific embellishment - wish I had those soundtracks.

[sun-star]

I've been listening to the soundtrack to The Chorus a lot - it's wonderful, and it fits perfectly in with the film because some of it's part of the action.

[Lotesse]

I just saw "The House of the Flying Daggers", and highly recommend the soundtrack-utterly beautiful music.

[Finrod Felagund]

Lord of the Rings
Gladiator
Star Wars
Braveheart
Troy
Shrek I & II
Garden State
Chicago
Grease
Moulin Rouge

[Snowdog]

I know this is an old TV series, but the original airing of Tour of Duty had such great music in the episodes. Now withthe series coming out on DVD, they replaced the music with a sort of ajngly, Asian-sounding music. Its not bad, but it isnt the original. My old VHS recordings have just become evermore precious, and I need to get that high end computer to edit them onto DVD to save them.

I guess the issue is the cost of royalties. The original license only allowed for original airing, not syndication or video release.

[hectorberlioz]

2001, A Space Odyssey.....can't remember the composer....anyone?

Johann Strauss, Richard Strauss, Gyorgy Ligeti...

[hectorberlioz]

I love Gladiator, Braveheart and The Red Violin

That would be Hans Zimmer, James Horner, and John Corigliano (mostly a "serious" composer. His Clarinet Concerto is very famous).

[Rosie Gamgee]

Three cheers for Hans Zimmer!!! I love this guy's music.

I got the soundtrack to Kingdom of Heaven. Love it.