One of the worst examples that comes to my mind...

is Pino Donaggio's score for Argento's "Trauma".

I am very biased with Argento movies, of course, being a looong time Argento and Goblin fan. But still, Donaggio did a decent (if not overly exciting) job on "Two Evil Eyes" - but the "Trauma" score is just plain wrong. This is the main reason i consider the movie to be part of the 3 worst ever Argento movies (together with "Phantom Of The Opera" and "The Card Player").

The score feels so completely out of place - like you were watching a movie and the neighbor next door listens to some composer on speed with the windows right open...

It's all just my opinion, of course...

Best,
Burnie


blinddoc, October 27, 2008; 3:55 AM

The one that comes to mind with me is "The Onion Field". A good film, well acted, directed and all that. Whoever decided to hire Eumir Deodato to do the scoring made the wrong decision. Deodato is a great musician and has made many good recordings but film scoring he knows nothing about in my opinion. Maybe if Jack Hayes had orchestrated the score it would have worked.

"The Onion Field" would have been a great film scoring assignment for Jerry Goldsmith.

victoravalentine, October 27, 2008; 11:21 AM

@whyaduck
I agree that Eric Serra didn't exactly compose a "Bond" score, but I'm really fond of it. However, as many composers do, he cannibalised his own work: the song "The Experience Of Love" was actually written for Luc Besson's "Leon" (at least the music, maybe the lyrics were new).

@blinddoc (Burnie)
You're picking my brain right now, why ever was Donaggio invited to do the score? Studio interference? Still, give "Trauma" a second chance, it actually is a great film.
"Two Evil Eyes" was a different kind of project, so here it is kind of acceptable.
"Phantom..." is Argento's worst effort ever imo, but Morricone crafted a beautiful score.
And yes, Simonetti solo is no Goblin! If you dislike the music for "Il Cartaio", I suggest you to skip "La Terza Madre" altogether.

rinse_dream, October 27, 2008; 1:31 PM

"For Your Eyes Only" has the distinction of being the only score I've ever heard that had me shaking my head, while watching the film. An overpowering and ill-fitting match to the picture in the action sequences, particularly the ski chase. Strangely enough however, the score is damn exciting and satisfying as an album!

I recall reading that John Barry himself suggested Bill Conti ( an under-utilized and talented man) for the job to Cubby Broccoli.

johnbarryisgod, October 27, 2008; 6:23 PM

The only James Bond score that's worth listening other than John Barry is "Live And Let Die" (George Martin).

victoravalentine, October 27, 2008; 8:40 PM

The only James Bond scores worth listening, are from Mr. Barry. The other composers (?) only
provided muzak of constantly declining quality.

coma, October 28, 2008; 6:37 AM

@ rinsedream:

Sorry, I may have caused confusion there... ;-) I very much like Simonetti's Cartaio score, as well as (parts of) La Terza Madre, Opera and Démoni etc., It's just the films that I don't like. Yes, Phantom must be the absolute worst. I tried Trauma - i think - four times during the past 10 years - and I can't get into it at all. A few good sequences - but that's it for me. Maybe I should watch it with sound off?

I'll have to give Il Cartaio a second chance as well - just watched it once and howled in pain when I saw these awful performances... almost (but not quite) as bad as in the current "The Happening" (which contains the worst acting I have ever encountered in a big production).

Best,
Burnie


blinddoc, October 28, 2008; 12:45 PM

Hey Burnie:
Sorry, I misunderstood your point.
Maybe I'm a bit frustrated witnessing the decline of Argento's work in every department, including the scores.
I was completely blown away by Goblin's "Nonhosonno", but although I love "Opera", Simonetti couldn't really convince me with either "Il Cartaio" or "Terza..."

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for "Giallo".

rinse_dream, October 28, 2008; 1:14 PM

I DISAGREE WITH YOU ABOUT FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. I think Bill Conti did a great job. The track on the album: "Run, Shoot, Jump" contains some of the best use of percussion I've ever heard in a film.

I do agree with you about GOLDENEYE though - dreadful score.

Away from Bond though, I think it was a major mistake for HANS ZIMMER to replace HOWARD SHORE on "HANNIBAL" (2000). SHORE's score to THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS was the one major element that made the film so disturbing. And 9 years later along comes HANS ZIMMER and composes (deep breath) a romantic score for Hannibal Lectre. Just plain wrong man!.

DannyBowes, October 29, 2008; 11:49 AM

Hey Rinse,

No problem at all. Yes, you're right about the decline of DA... though I must say it's going back and forth a bit, imo. I really quite liked (the film) La Terza Madre - except for a few silly scenes. Nonhosonno was great, a return back to form, i think. But of course he'll never be back to his old form like during his "golden age" '75 - '89. All of this in my opinion only, of course...

Yes, the score to Nonhosonno was brilliant, i wish it were a bit more complete (hopefully Cinevox is going to resurrect it with bonus tracks in their "new" series). I also quite like Il Cartaio, because it's a totally different approach for Simonetti and I think he quite mastered it. Not so with La Terza Madre, i think... I like the "Main Title" and really love the track "The Three Witches Book", but the rest is quite uninteresting to me. But i appreciate his symphonic approach - even if it doesn't "do" it for me.

Let's see what's coming up next ;-)

Best,
Burnie


blinddoc, October 30, 2008; 1:57 PM