Bruce Broughton
David Newman

I generally find it hard to like any Golden Age scores.

Urs

handstand, October 22, 2006; 7:39 PM

Except a few scores ( Lonely are the brave, Chinatown, First blood,Gremlins and
Explorers )
I am not a big fan of Jerry Goldsmith average work (on keyboards for exemple ) .
But I do respect the talent and the productivity of the man .

michel, October 22, 2006; 9:16 PM

Elliot Goldenthal
Howard Shore (even after LOTR)
Elia Cmiral
Michael Kamen
Elmer Bernstein
Cliff Eidelman
Gabriel Yared

Although I do actually own a few Michael Kamen scores, most of his work just doesn't do it for me.

satanbug69, October 23, 2006; 8:42 AM

Hans Zimmer
James Newton Howard
Howard Shore

Zob10701, October 23, 2006; 10:54 AM

believe it or not, but for me it is John Williams.
I own some of his works, e.g. Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., The Empire Strikes Back and A.I. - these are my favorites, really great scores, the only ones I listen to by J.W. - but I cannot get myself to listen to the rest of his works somehow. I do not know, I have tried so many times, but it just does not work (except the ones I mentioned)

karol, October 23, 2006; 11:47 AM

Hi David,

Not really an answer to your posting - I find that if there's a composer whose work doesn't attract me, I'll not buy it: my collection is lacking many of the names listed by you and others for this very reason.

I suppose I could name Quincy Jones (though I like his score to In The Heat Of The Night).

I have replied though to draw your attention to a couple of examples where I cannot agree with your list - accepted that we all have our own likes and dislikes so I apologise if you think I'm out of order.

I've liked Roy Budd's music almost from the start - so many early 70's scores carried his name he was so prolific and it was so sad that he died so young. As a fan of Michael Caine in those days I saw most of his movies and there was the name of Roy Budd too:

Kidnapped - simply superb melodies and so moving
Black Windmill / Marseille Contract / Get Carter - great action music (though I've always thought the Get Carter score is overrated beyond its fabulous main title theme)
and others:
Stone Killer / Fear Is The Key / Who Dares Wins

Perhaps his great years were short - he did not have that many big projects in his last few years but I'm always willing to add another Roy Budd release to my collection.

And: James Horner
I know he has many detractors and with such a large portfolio of work there is repetition and "lesser" efforts. However, in case these passed you by I would highly recommend
Sneakers - just real good joyous fun
Beautiful Mind - a score I could play almost daily (though I didn't like the movie)
Cocoon - what a fabulous theme!

Mitch, October 23, 2006; 12:38 PM

My first vote: Pino Donaggio

I'm also not much fond of Roy Budd - I have some scores and I find this Budd sound (The Marseille Contract, The Stone Killer, Fear Is The Key, Foxbat etc.) to be too repetitive and too tiresome with all the percussions and fast tempo etc.

I would surely also include many of today's composers whom I cannot tell one from each other.

42zaphod, October 23, 2006; 2:41 PM

Alex North and Quincy Jones are true innovators. At least Q was years ago. Much of what he is up to nowadays is worthless.

A Streetcar Named Desire/Alex North; I can't understand how anyone interested in film music could not acknowledge that one to be one of the best.

Pawnbroker/Quincy Jones; Moody and somewhat depressing score. Interesting as hell and a fine film as well.

Danny Elfman I personally don't care for. As well as many of the recent emulators of the past.

victoravalentine, October 23, 2006; 4:47 PM

.............John Barry..........

Please don't throw rocks at me!



vodka_kayou, October 23, 2006; 8:23 PM

Could I use fireballs instead v. k.? :- )

I can name specific scores but to single out composers as unfit for my personal daily moods and fickle taste without having listened to the majority, if not all, of their compositions is unfair.

serifiot, October 23, 2006; 9:11 PM

Hello,

Thank you all for answering my post. for those who take issue with me regarding Roy Budd, Quincy Jones, and Alex North all I can say is my list is just one man's opinion, I do own some scores from everyone on the list and I like them, I do admit they have talent, I just am not a big fan of thier scores overall. Some of the composers mentioned by others on this post I happen to like, But I understand they may not and thats the way it is. Thanks again


Best Regards,
David Phoenix, AZ.


deg63iami, October 23, 2006; 9:24 PM

(No rocks, fireballs etc please- remember this just leaves more cd copies available to the rest of you that like these folks!) Badelementi, Desplat, Newman..just don't care for them. Zimmer is a hit or miss- love him best when he is working with someone (like Lisa Gerrard or Harry Gregson-Williams). I don't care for just Zimmer alone.

I can safely say no single composer has a 100% hit rate with me. Close is Cliff Martinez or Basil Poledouris, but they both have some I just don't care for.

Kim

emt8134, October 24, 2006; 12:32 AM

David,

I find it very hard to pick a composer that "just doesn't do it for me". What I mean by this is that I would like to think that a composer doesn't do the same type of music throughout every film. I realize that it might be difficult to do dozens of movies with a completely different sound. To me, the score a composer does for a movie is his interpretation of that film in what he sees or in what instructions he was given to kind of follow from the director. I'm a huge fan of James Horner, Hans Zimmer, Jerry Goldsmith, Joseph LoDuca, Tyler Bates, and others; but I'm not saying that I like every piece of work that they do. Guess it's too hard a question for me, cause with most composers, I have a body of work they produced that I do like. So that makes it hard for me to say that they don't do it for me.

A perfect example of this is the score of Cabin Fever done by Nathan Barr. I really liked it. But completely hated the score he made for Hostel. In my opinion, the score is a powerful tool in a horror film, and I thought that the score of Hostel was goofy and very off from the scenes. Kinda sucks too, I really loved the work Barr and Eli Roth did on Cabin Fever (I would say Eli's crowning achievement). I mean, Eli worked for years to get that movie backed up by a production company. But now Hostel is the big favorite.

drakemarone, October 24, 2006; 4:00 PM