- This topic is empty.
- Posts
I find this funny….
The best music in BIG FISH, the music that really evokes the styles spanning over Elfman’s career, was never put onto the soundtrack CD. The “Witch’s Eye” segment is a great example of this (pure early nineties — i.e. Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman Returns, ect, ect). I didn’t think I’d hear anything like that again. Then we have all this great circus music (one piece of which can even be heard on the DVD menu screen) that never made it to the CD. That [the circus portion] was the best part of the whole score for me! It was like he revisited the entire Peewee scene. The orchestrations (if you’ve listened to Big Top Peewee) are the same, exactly. He even put in those sharp, bending guitar plucks I’ll always associate with Peewee and the cornier stuff like Face Like a Frog. I know that this stuff [this older style] is still in Elfman. I mean, It’s that “early” style that made me start to like his music, and music in general, to begin with.
I think the reason he’s been hiding stuff like that away in recent years is because he spent so much time earlier on in his composing career using it (and basing it off of the likes of Nino Rota and Bernard Herrmann). I remember a critic saying once that his early career was nothing but homages. That’s true but not totally true. His early Career was homages… but not plagarism. He made a patchwork from the styles of earlier composers (sped them up and darkened them up) and created a style that fans like us will totally agree is “all his own”. The droning electronics and the stuff we’ve been hearing lately is just him trying to expand beyond that into something else, something critics can’t call “formula copied”.
My opinion is that the Elfman style I know and love is indeed his “formula copied” byproduct… and other people think this too. It’s his! I hope we hear more of it again in the years to come, especially in Corpse Bride and Charlie. I think those are open invitations to that true “Danny Elfman” score.
I was hoping him working with Burton again was gonna be enough to evoke that style again, but I guess it was only enough to do it a little. Either way, it’s good, just not what made us love him in the first place. Like, if sme one were to listen to his past few scores that never heard him before, it’s hard to say that they would get a smidge of the same feelings they would get if they were to listen to the scores of, say, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, and…..hm…even Pee Wee for that matter. But hey, he’s still the man, and who’s to say he won’t get any better.
“That [the circus portion] was the best part of the whole score for me! It was like he revisited the entire Peewee scene.”
Who knows why that material wasn’t in the Big Fish Album. Perhaps Danny felt those cues were derivative enough of his earlier works to leave out.
The circus piece that accompanies the “giant colossus” is very reminiscent of The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Bingo. Vintage Elfman, indeed.
“His early Career was homages… but not plagarism.”
Agreed. Moreover, only Danny’s very early scores got into homage territory; I would say it stops after BATMAN.Am I the only person who thinks he wrote quite enough of this “early” style to keep the fans happy? If you like Beetlejuice, listen to Beetlejuice! Face it, Danny moved on. Rather than moving backwards in time, I’m happy to see him do something different again. He’s had opportunities to go backwards: Spider-man could have been Batman, and Flubber could have been Pee Wee – but he hasn’t, and that, more than anything has kept me a firm fan of his music.
Um, thought I should at least try to show a different opinion. Maybe I’ll be proved wrong with Charlie, but I think he might have a few surprises up his sleeve. At least I hope he does.
Blunt
Your right. Imean, I love ALL of the music cues in Big Fish (“the growing montage” with the choir; the growing and sweepign”Sandra’s theme”, etc.) But most of the best parts were left out. The circus music, the Witch’s Eye, a lot of great cues. Hopefully someone will release a soundtrack that will do it better justice.
When I saw the film for the second time I made note of my impressions of the unreleased music on these boards, but received no response. I’m happy that there are people here who also loved the unreleased bits. The montage scene with Edward Bloom working at the circus was one of the finest cues in the score, and imagine my surprise when I heard it used on the DVD menus (and I was even happier to hear it extensively used in the documentaries.
The first appearence of Jenny’s Theme when Bloom sees the naked fish lady and has his first real conversation with Jenny, as well as the piano waltz version of Jenny’s Theme when Will visits older Jenny, are also notable unreleased cues. I wish an extended version existed.
Blunt – count me in. As much as I love Batman and Edward, I’m really growing to appreciate the intricacies of POTA and Spider-man. Now, that’s not to say I have my “unfavorite” scores (*ahem* HULK). However, I, for one, adore Big Fish just as much – if not moreso- than Sleepy Hollow.
-E
oh no! don’t say “music is music” ever again. this thread will never end!!
what? did someone say “music is music”.
Nat
Music is music? No it’s not. A banana is music. Monkeys mating are music. The negation of music is music. Who needs logic! Abandon reason! Down with reality! Wheeeeeeee!!!
I’ve watched BIG FISH twice in two nights. This is a beautiful score that is made all the more gorgeous in it’s entirety. There’s always the hope that a more “complete” version of the score will trickle out there. It’s now at the top of my want list.
Ryan
I agree with everyone, especially Ryan, except I don’t really care for the circus music. I’ve never cared for any sort of circus music. But, I heard some cues in the movie that were so damn beautiful (the first appearance of the naked fish lady is one of them) that made me want them on CD.
By the way, I watched the movie for the first time a couple of nights ago. Not only is it absolutely fantastic, it was better than I thought it was going to be!
Music is a potato, music is a potato, music is a potato!!!!!!!!!!! Don’t be a —-ing critic!!!!!!!!!!!!
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.