Soundtracks and film scores - what's in your collection?

Vangelis' opening and closing themes from THE BOUNTY.

Perfect for sitting on a top floor deck with a drink in hand and watching the sun set over the city.

(The soundtrack to the 1984 movie was never officially released: http://www.lareau.org/btymusic.html )

99% of what I listen to are orchestral film scores. A full orchestra possess so much power and yet so much grace. It can be brutal, heroic, romantic, beautiful, sad, joyfull. The list goes on. It not only stimulates the emotions but the intellect as well. My CD collection is my most cherished possession. Here is what I have:



JOHN BARRY
Beyondness of Things, The (“The Horse Whisperer” rejected score)
Body Heat (re-recording)
Bond: Back in Action (re-recordings cond. by Nic Raine)
Dances With Wolves
**Goldfinger
Living Daylights, The (re-release/ expanded)
Mercury Rising
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (2000 re-issue)
Raise the Titanic (re-recording, cond. Nic Raine)
*Specialist, The

JERRY GOLDSMITH
Air Force One
Alien (Recorded from Offical Release)
Along Came a Spider
*Basic Instinct
Blue Max, The (re-release)
**Cassandra Crossing, The (Italian import)
**Coma
Congo
Deep Rising
Edge, The
Explorers
Extreme Prejudice (Expanded re-release 2005)
*First Blood
First Knight
Frontiers (Compilation)
Ghost and the Darkness, The
Great Train Robbery, The
Haunting, The
Hollow Man
In Like Flint / Our Man Flint
L.A. Confidential
Last Castle, The
**Legend (European Import)
Lionheart
Looney Tunes: Back in Action (Goldsmith's finale film score.)
Medicine Man
Mulan
The Mummy
*100 Rifles (Limited to 3,000)
*Outland / Capricorn One
*Patton (JG) / The Flight of the Phoenix (Frank DeVol) (Pressing Limited to 3,000)
Patton / Tora! Tora! Tora! (re-recordings)
Planet of the Apes (Expanded re-release)
Poltergeist (Expanded re-release)
*Rambo: First Blood Part II
Rambo: First Blood Part II (expanded re-release 1999)
Rambo III (complete score)
**River Wild, The
Rudy
Sand Pebbles, The (re-recording)
Secret of N.I.M.H., The
**Shadow, The
Small Soldiers
*Stagecoach/ The Loner (Pressing Limited to 3,000)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (expanded re-release 1999)
Sum of All Fears, The
**Supergirl (1993 expanded)
*Take A Hard Ride (Pressing Limited to 3,000)
13th Warrior, The
Timeline, Music Inspired by the Film (Rejected score)
*Tora! Tora! Tora! (Limited to 3,000)
** Total Recall (Original)
Total Recall - The Deluxe Edition (2000 Expanded)
Under Fire (German Import)
Wind and the Lion, The

BERNARD HERRMANN
*Bernard Herrmann, The Fantasy Film World of (24k Gold disc) (Limited)
Citizen Kane (re-recording)
Fahrenheit 451 (re-recording)
Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The (re-release)
Jason and the Argonauts (re-recording. Bruce Broughton, cond.)
Psycho (re-recording)
7th Voyage of Sinbad, The (re-recording)
Taxi Driver (re-issue) (Herrmann's finale film score.)
Torn Curtain (The Rejected Score)(re-recording)
Trouble with Harry, The (re-recording)
Vertigo (re-recording)
**Welles Raises Kane/ Obsession

JAMES NEWTON HOWARD
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Dinosaur
Fugitive, The
King Kong (2005)
Signs
Unbreakable
Vertical Limit
Waterworld

MICHAEL KAMEN
Die Hard (Varese Soundtrack Club; Pressing limited to 3,000 copies)
Iron Giant, The
Mr. Holland’s Opus
Open Range
Robin Hood: Prince of Theives

BASIL POLEDOURIS
Conan the Barbarian (Expanded re-release)
Conan the Destroyer
For Love of the Game
Hunt for Red October, The
*Jungle Book, The
Les Miserables (1998)
Lonesome Dove (expanded re-issue 1998)
Quigley Down Under
Red Dawn
**Robocop
**Serial Mom
Starship Troopers (Original blue cover)
*Switchback (Limited Release Nov. 2000)
**Under Siege 2: Dark Territory

ALAN SILVESTRI
Back to the Future Part 2
Cast Away (Compilation Album of Robert Zemeckis films including Cast Away)
Contact
Judge Dredd
Mouse Hunt
The Mummy Returns
* Predator (Varese Soundtrack Club; Pressing limited to 3,000 copies)
Predator 2
Van Helsing

JOHN WILLIAMS
Phantom Menace, The (1999 Original)
Phantom Menace, The - The Ultimate Edition (2-CD Set) (2000 Expanded release)
Attack of the Clones (2002) (TARGET store exlcusive. Includes bonus track 14.)
Revenge of the Sith (2005) (Film score and "Star Wars: A Musical Journey DVD")
**Star Wars (CD of Original LP release)
Star Wars, A New Hope - Special Edition (2-CD Set)
** Empire Strikes Back, The (Original)
Empire Strikes Back, The - Special Edition (2-CD Set)
**Return of the Jedi (Original)
Return of the Jedi - Special Edition (2-CD Set)
Star Wars Trilogy, The (1994 four-disc Boxed Set) (two sets)
John Williams Conducts John Williams: The Star Wars Trilogy
Imperial March, The (Single) (Darth Vader shaped disc)
**Raiders of the Lost Ark (Original release)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Expanded re-issue)
*Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom (Japanese Import)
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Always
Amazing Stories (re-recording) (Dorothy and Ben by Georges Delerue)
American Journey (2002 Olympic Winter Games)
Amistad
** Angela's Ashes (2000 Academy Award Promo - score only)
Born on the Fourth of July
By Request… (Boston Pops) (compilation)
Catch Me If You Can
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Expanded re-issue)
Cowboys, The (expanded re-issue)
*Dracula
Earthquake (re-issue)
** Eiger Sanction, The
Empire of the Sun
**E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Original)
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Expanded re-release)
Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen, The - Vol. 1: Lost in Space
Far and Away
Five Sacred Trees, The (Classical Non-Film w/ LSO)
Fury, The
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
*Home Alone
*Home Alone 2 (score only)
Hook
Jane Eyre (re-release)
**JAWS (Original)
JAWS - 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition (expanded release)
*JAWS 2
**JFK
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park: The Lost World
Memoirs of a Geisha
Midway (re-recording) (Rick Wentworth, cond.)
Minority Report
Munich
1941 (re-release)
Nixon
* Paper Chase, The / Poseidon Adventure, The (Pressing Limited to 3,000)
Patriot, The
*Presumed Innocent
Reivers, The (re-release)
**River, The
Rosewood
Sabrina
Saving Private Ryan
Schindler’s List
Seven Years in Tibet
Sleepers
* Sound & The Glory, The (Austrian pressing of Summon the Heroes)
Spielberg/ Williams Collaboration, The (Boston Pops)
*Stanley and Iris
Stepmom
Summon the Heroes (Boston Pops)
** Superman: The Movie (Original release)
Superman: The Movie (Expanded re-release, 2000) (2-CD set)
** Towering Inferno, The (Expanded / Pressing is Limited to 3,000)
War of the Worlds (2005)

VARIOUS COMPOSERS
20th Century Fox: Music from the Golden Age
Aliens
Aliens - The Deluxe Edition (expanded rerelease 2001)
Adventures of Robin Hood, The (re-recording)
Alien Invasion 2-CD Compilation
Alexander Nevsky (re-recording)
Alien Trilogy, The
American President, The
Batman (1966) (Pressing Limited to 3,000)
Batman (1989)
Batman Begins (collaboration with Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard)
Batman Returns
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Battlestar Galactica (re-recording)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (2-CD expanded release)
Brainstorm
Chronicles of Riddick, The
Cliffhanger
Count of Monte Cristo, The (2002)
Cruel Intentions (Unused score)
**Cutthroat Island (European Import)
Disasters!, The (Compilation) (cond. Nic Raine & Paul Bateman)
DragonHeart
El Cid (re-release)
End of Days
Fantasia / 2000 (Chicago S.O. James Levine, cond.)
Fantastic Journey (compilation conducted by Erich Kunzel)
*Fantastic Voyage (Pressing Limited to 3,000)
Film Scores of Miklos Rozsa (Spellbound, Ben-Hur, King of Kings, etc.)
Forever Amber
Gone with the Wind (Muir Mathieson, cond.)
Great Escape, The (re-release/ expanded)
*Incognito
Incredibles, The
Ivan the Terrible (Re-recording of the complete score, 2-CD set)
Jurassic Park III
King Kong (1933) (re-recording) (William J. Stromberg, cond.)
Korngold: The Warner Bros. Years (2-CD set)
Last of the Mohicans, The (2000 re-recording) (J. McNeely cond.)
*Last Starfighter, The
*Lord of the Rings, The (1978)
Lord of the Rings, The: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Lost in Space (Expanded)
Magnificent Seven, The (expanded)
Man from Snowy River, The
Matrix, The
Merlin
Mission: Impossible
Moby Dick
Panic Room
Phantom, The
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
*Prince Valiant (Pressing Limited to 3,000)
Princess Mononoke
* Return of Dracula, The (4 scores on 2 CD) (Pressing Limited to 2,500)
**Return to Snowy River
Rush Hour
* Saint, The
Sea Hawk, The (re-recording)
Serenity (based on the television show "Firefly.")
Shakespeare In Love
Silverado (Expanded)
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Sleepy Hollow
Snake Eyes
Soldier
Spartacus
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Wars and other Galactic Funk (Disco)
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Swing, Swing, Swing The Boston Pops Cond. By John Williams
Taras Bulba
*Terminator, The (Original)
Tombstone
Tomorrow Never Dies (original release)
Tomorrow Never Dies (expanded re-release)
Transformers The Movie
*Twister
Usual Suspects, The
** Wild Bunch, The (Limited availability through FSM. Released with Laserdisc collection)
** Willow (CD-R copied from original disc)
X-Files, The: Fight the Future
X2 (X-Men 2)

I'm in good company here! Quite the discerning lot! I love soundtrack scores! Without a question, they're largely responsible for introducing me to my other great love: classical music.

One of the last venues for modern orchestral composers to express themselves in a richly colourful, robust and emotionally satisfying late 19th and early 20th century idiom currently dismissed by the Ivory Tower snobs. Sometimes I wonder how I'd make it through the day without this stuff insinuating itself into the rhythm and cadence of my life.

Without seeming immodest, my collection is too massive to list them all here. I have the complete released CD discographies for Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith, Miklos Rozsa, Elmer Bernstein, Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Basil Poledouris' music plus signed documents and photographs of these composers in my collection. In addition, I own a sizeable, representative selection of scores by John Williams, James Horner, Alfred Newman, John Barry, Danny Elfman, Alex North, Maurice Jarre, Dimitri Tiomkin, Georges Delerue, Sergei Prokofiev and Dimitri Shostakovich, etc.

Some all-time favourites that get plenty of airplay around the old studio are:

- El Cid (Rozsa)
- Ivanhoe (Rozsa)
- Ben Hur (Rozsa)
- Quo Vadis (Rozsa)
- North by Northwest (Herrmann)
- Vertigo (Herrmann)
- 7th Voyage of Sindbad (Herrmann)
- Mysterious Island (Herrmann)
- Jason and the Argonauts (Herrmann)
- The Sea Hawk (Korngold)
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (Korngold)
- The Adventures of Don Juan (Steiner)
- Zulu (Barry)
- The Tamarind Seed (Barry)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (Williams)
- Dracula (Williams)
- The Final Conflict (Goldsmith)
- Papillon (Goldsmith)
- Tora, Tora, Tora (Goldsmith)
- Studs Lonnigan (Goldsmith)
- Total Recall (Goldsmith)
- Take a Hard Ride (Goldsmith)
- The Agony and the Ecstasy (North)
- Ivan the Terrible (Prokofiev)
- Alexander Nevsky (Prokofiev)
- Black Robe (Delerue)
- Flesh and Blood (Poledouris)
- Cherry 2000 (Poledouris)
- Conan the Barbarian (Poledouris)
- Lawrence of Arabia (Jarre)
- Honey I Shrunk the Kids (Horner)

My soundtracks from the flicks...

Road to Perdition
Gladiator I and Gladiator II
Last of the Mohicans
BraveHeart
Brideshead Revisited
We Were Soldiers
Band of Brothers
Chicago
Master and Commander
Titanic
Untouchables
Evita
Les Miserables
The Mission
Schindlers' List

LizzieMaine said:

I spent many years as a young'un taping favorite film scores off TV with my trusty cassette recorder -- I was then, as I still am, a huge fan of the early '30s Warner Bros. musicals, and still have a cassette I recorded off a late-night local TV showing of "Footlight Parade." Now that I can see the films of that era in bulk via TCM and DVD, I've realized just how much the distinctive musical style added to the entire Warner studio product during that era, not just the musicals. There's no mistaking a mid-thirties WB film for the product of any other studio -- and if anyone ever wants to do a CD tribute to Leo F. Forbstein and the Vitaphone Orchestra, I am the gal to produce it!

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That's amazing that someone else did that too! I thought I was the only teenager who taped stuff off the TV back in the days when soundtrack albums were few and far in between. We are currently living in the Golden Era of Soundtrack Collecting because so many previously unavailable scores have been finally released on commercial albums within the last 15 years.

Yes, Busby Berkeley's stuff is truly amazing! Lots of great childhood memories of watching those on TV as a kid . . . . And Leo Forbstein was an unsung hero at Warner Bros. As you know, the Warner brothers were notorious skinflints within the industry, but Forbstein begged, pleaded and cajoled Harry Warner into investing a huge chunk of change into engaging composers and orchestrators of the calibre of Max Steiner, Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Hugo Friedhofer. That was only one element of the "Warner Sound".

The other was more elusive. The sound departments at all the other major studios would incessantly screen Warner's movies trying to figure out why they had such a distinct and powerful sound profile to them. Did they have a leg up on some advanced sound recording technology, a new style of ribbon microphone?

After so much exhaustive analysis of their competitor's product someone finally made the breakthrough discovery that they merely turned up the volume on the music track when laying down the master! The voice of the music was allowed to speak - unobstructed and unattenuated - to hearts of its audience. And they responded. Strongly. If only modern producers would heed this lesson when mixing down their digital THX Dolby sound effects tracks to their own films . . . .

As composer Bernard Herrmann was quoted as saying, "Some people wonder what kind of champagne they've drunk when all you've done is handed them a cool glass of water."

I had to get the Indiana Jones soundtracks. The soundtrack for Empire Strikes Back will always be a favorite. When I was a kid I knew all the music by heart and could hum along to the entire record as if it was a pop album. Batman (the first one) by Danny Elfman was awesome, especially the "Attack of the Batwing" track. James Horner's Rocketeer score was beautiful, especially the first track. One of my favorite movie themes, however, is the theme from Brian de Palma's "Untouchables". It's a bit dischordant and triumphant at the same time. Good stuff.

Currently my collection holds:

Bride Of Frankenstein
Roy Webb Collection - music from the Val Lewton films
The Ipcress File
Profondo Rosso
Deliria
Inferno
Suspiria
Tenebrae
(I'm an Argento phile)
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Trainspotting
All James Bond main themes
Godfather
Hardware
Halloween 3

I've probably got more stuffed down the side of the sofa.

oh, and when I was twelve my mum got me a Top Gun LP. I've never seen the film to this day based on the appalling soundtrack.

I got:

-The Ennio Morricone collection
-A Fabio Frizzi collection (Italian gore horror music master)
-Blues Brothers and Blues Brothers 2000
-James Bond theme songs

99% of what I listen to is orchestral film scores as well. I own way too many to list, but Jerry Goldsmith tops the list as all time favorite composer. My top favorites include "Wind and the Lion," "The Blue Max," "Lonely are the Brave," "100 Rifles," "Masada," and I could go on all day about Goldsmith. Elmer Bernstein, Miklos Rozsa, James Horner, James Newton Howard are among my other favorites. I listen to mostly older scores, though I will buy new ones when they're by a composer I like. I avoid scores with songs on them like the plague. Orchestral only, please.

Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade, John Williams
Vertigo, Bernard Herrmann
To Kill A Mockingbird, Elmer Bernstein
The Passion of the Christ, John Debney
Halloween, John Carpenter

Yeah, it's a pretty modest collection. [huh]

I just got the soundtrack to "Brick"

Sad news to fans of Batman: The Animated Series - which given its brilliant retro-deco style, should be everyone on this board! - Shirley Walker, who personally composed many of the scores for the show, set its overall style, supervised its other composers, and conducted the orchestra during the recording of virtually every episode, died last week at 61.

She also worked on the follow-up Superman, Batman Beyond, etc., cartoon series, composed feature film scores (largely for horror and SF films), and orchestrated and conducted many other composer's scores, notably Danny Elfman's. She was widely respected as one of the first female composer/conductors to make her mark in Hollywood, and was an important mentor to younger composers. She was also, according to a lot of people, one of the nicest folks in the business.

See her site for her credits: http://walker.filmmusic.com/

Doctor Strange said:

Sad news to fans of Batman: The Animated Series - which given its brilliant retro-deco style, should be everyone on this board! - Shirley Walker, who personally composed many of the scores for the show, set its overall style, supervised its other composers, and conducted the orchestra during the recording of virtually every episode, died last week at 61.

She also worked on the follow-up Superman, Batman Beyond, etc., cartoon series, composed feature film scores (largely for horror and SF films), and orchestrated and conducted many other composer's scores, notably Danny Elfman's. She was widely respected as one of the first female composer/conductors to make her mark in Hollywood, and was an important mentor to younger composers. She was also, according to a lot of people, one of the nicest folks in the business.

See her site for her credits: http://walker.filmmusic.com/

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Another one! Her colleague, Basil Poledouris just passed away this November 8th at the same age of 61! I've heard many of the same things about her character too. Her loss is truly tragic. In the past 2 years the art of film scoring has lost most of its greatest advocates and practitioners. How very, very sad . . . .

Dixon's Dame said:

99% of what I listen to is orchestral film scores as well. I own way too many to list, but Jerry Goldsmith tops the list as all time favorite composer. My top favorites include "Wind and the Lion," "The Blue Max," "Lonely are the Brave," "100 Rifles," "Masada," and I could go on all day about Goldsmith. Elmer Bernstein, Miklos Rozsa, James Horner, James Newton Howard are among my other favorites. I listen to mostly older scores, though I will buy new ones when they're by a composer I like. I avoid scores with songs on them like the plague. Orchestral only, please.

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YES! I'll never forget the first time I heard Goldsmith's 100 Rifles. What an epiphany! The alchemy of snarling, bellicose brass, Bartokian harmonies, a hint of musique concrete experimentalism, savage Stravinskian meters and Mariachi instrumentation was a knock-out! And the achievement becomes even greater when you consider what a mediocre film it was composed for. There was little to play off of for inspiration. Jerry was doing the producers a real favour by accepting that commission because it increased the production value several times over!

And it's impossible to say enough great things about The Wind and the Lion, The Blue Max, Lonely are the Brave and Masada! Much the same goes for the music of Bernstein and Rozsa too.

Unlike many scores today, such music merits - and holds up brilliantly to - repeated listening. It's quite an extraordinary achievement when your music is tailored to - and successfully supports - a visual medium like film and can still entertain a life of its own outside of its original venue on recordings and in the concert hall. That's the magic of Goldsmith, Rozsa, Herrmann, Bernstein and so many other of their colleagues.

Condolences to the families.

It is a rare thing to see a talkie that doesn't have backround music. If you ever get to see the Log Cabin series for the Little Rascals (Our Gang) films there are usually a early episode on each tape. SOme are silent, but there are a few transitional episodes were they are talkies but no one had considered music for the effect. Initially music was used to cover the hiss of the early sound system, but was quckly employed for the emotional aspect.

For you Laurel and Hardy lovers and Our Gang aficionados I recommend the cd's from "The Beau Hunks" who have laboriously recreated in whole the music from Leroy Shields.

I just got the soundtrack from The Village on iTunes, and it has some incredible violin solos. Just a little FYI for my fellow string lovers.

I need to check out EVIL UNDER THE SUN soundtrack.

As for non-movie soundtracks - check out Bob Belden's "The Black Dahlia". It is not from the recent movie but a score to a 40's film that is only in Belden's head. Very atmospheric and moody.

BRS

Moulin Rouge
Chicago
Cabaret
Some Like it Hot
The Talented Mr Ripley (this one is great!)

I love love LOVE Danny Elfman...

...and for some reason I have the soundtrack to The Lost Boys[huh]

What? No one mentions Lalo Schifrin?




Murderer's Row is a great record that needs to be re-released. Schifrin has a lot of wild farfiza going on.


Oliviero and Ortolani's Mondo Cane seems to end up on the turntable a lot.



Barbarella, Psychadella. I tend to put this one on cold winter nights while I'm having my cocktail.



I like John Barry's early work rather than the orchestral scores he would later write. Most people don't know that he started out in rock and roll.





A given.



Scorebaby is a great site dedicated to soundtracks. http://www.scorebaby.com

Regards,

Senator Jack