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Having found the BMI Repertoire thingy I figured I’d go through some of Elfman’s scores and highlight who has written what. I appreciate that a lot of you won’t care but Elfman’s my favourite musician so I like to know and I find it interesting.
I’ll start with Fifty Shades of Grey:
This is clearly a borderline solo effort from Elfman. David Buckley is indeed credited with ‘Bliss’ (which is incidentally listed as a source cue on the sheet), another cue called ‘Ana Leaves’ which is very minor, and ‘Red Room 2’ which is just a continuation of the Elfman cue (it goes on for maybe 30 seconds IIRC). Peter Bateman is credited for ‘Hardware Store’ but this is just a riff on the comedic material found in ‘Going For Coffee’ and ‘Art of War.’
For Alice Through The Looking Glass, Elfman is credited with all the tracks on the CD. T.J. Lindgren’s cues can be found here https://soundcloud.com/tjlindgren.
Likewise, Elfman is the sole composer credited for all of the cues on the Oz: The Great and Powerful CD, suggesting that Lindgren and Mounsey’s contributions are unreleased. Indeed, from what I can tell Lindgren ‘only’ contributed to the scene before the big battle where Knuck plays a fanfare.
For Frankenweenie Lindgren is credited as contributing towards Sparky’s Day Out and Mad Monster Party; the rest is Elfman.
I’ll tackle the harder ones (Avengers, Goosebumps, Mr Peabody) tomorrow.
Avengers: Age of Ultron:
1. Heroes – Elfman
2. It Begins – Elfman
3. Ultron – Twins – Elfman
4. Can You Stop This Thing? – Elfman/Bacon
5. Farmhouse – Elfman/Bacon
6. Inevitability/One Good Eye – Elfman/Lindgren
7. Ultron Wakes – Elfman
8. The Farm – Elfman/Bacon
9. Avengers Unite – Elfman/Bacon/Mounsey*
10. Nothing Lasts Forever – Elfman/Bacon
11. New Avengers – Avengers: Age of Ultron – Elfman*Mounsey is credited with 2.5% of the track; seeminingly a little touch-up of an already written cue.
Goosebumps
1. Goosebumps – Elfman
2. Ferris Wheel – Elfman
3. To The Rescue – Elfman/Bacon
4. Camcorder – Elfman
5. Ice Rink – Elfman/Bacon
6. Capture – Elfman/Bacon
7. Slappy – Elfman
8. Confession – Elfman
9. Slappy’s Revenge – Elfman
10. Bus Escape – Elfman/Mounsey
11. Lawn Gnomes – Elfman
12. Ghost Hannah – Elfman
13. Mantis Chase – Elfman/Bacon
14. Hannah’s Back – Elfman
15. They’re Here – Elfman/Lindgren
16. Farewell – Elfman/Bacon
17. Credit – Elfman
18. Something’s Wrong – Elfman/Lindgren
19. Champ – Elfman
20. Break In – Elfman
21. The Books – Elfman/Bacon/Lindgren
22. Instagram – Elfman/Mounsey
23. Floating Poodle – Elfman/Lindgren
24. Werewolf – Elfman/Lindgren
25. Lovestruck – Elfman/Bacon
26. Panic – Elfman/Bacon
27. On The Run – Elfman
28. Fun House – Elfman/Lindgren
29. The Twist – ElfmanMr Peabody and Sherman
1. Mr Peabody’s Prologue – Elfman
2. Reign of Terror – Elfman/Mounsey/Bateman
3. The Drop Off – Elfman
4. The Dog Whistle – Elfman
5. The Cherry Tree – Elfman
6. A Deep Regard – Elfman
7. Dinner Party – Elfman
8. The Petersons/Wabac Machine – Elfman
9. Off To Egypt – Elfman
10. The Wedding Exodus – Elfman
11. Hammer-Time – Elfman/Mounsey*
12. The Flying Machine – Elfman/Mounsey*
13. Trojan Horse – Elfman/Mounsey*
14, War/Disaster – Elfman
15. History Mash-Up – Elfman/Mounsey*
16. I’m A Dog Too – Elfman
17. Fixing the Rip – Elfman/Mounsey
18. Back to School – Elfman*Elfman is the sole contributer towards the album versions but Mounsey helped with the takes in the film; at least that’s what I can gather.
I can’t find info on the Aquarela cues.
Bateman’s cues seem very minor, one is simply ‘Stinger’.
Bateman contributed more tracks which didn’t make the album.
Chris Bacon contributed a track called ‘Fall.’
For Epic Elfman is credited with the entire CD. However, Mounsey is credited with a track called ‘Returning Heroes’ which is the second half of the ‘Rescue’ cue, Lindgren also contributed to this track (Escape Part
. Likewise, T.J. Lindgren contributed to ‘Selection Part C’, though I’m unsure of how this relates to the album track. Lindgren contributed to another cue or two but they weren’t on the album.Thanks for this, ddddeee!
I’ll continue to store these albums under Elfman solo, and listen to them that way, but it’s always interesting with some behind-the-scenes elements.
Sadly (depending on how you view it), Buckley’s “Bliss” is the best track on the FIFTY SHADES soundtrack.
Thor Wrote:
> Sadly (depending on how you view it), Buckley’s
> “Bliss” is the best track on the FIFTY SHADES
> soundtrack.Nothing new. Jonathan Sheffer’s helicopter ride from Darkman is a standout track that sadly isn’t on the album.
I never cared for that Darkman cue. Much like when Young used Elfman’s themes in Spider-Man 2/3, it just doesn’t feel ‘right’.
I really like Walker’s Nightbreed cue though.
Wow, a very comprehensive list, ddddeeee, and very informative. Any plans to continue?
I think it’s pretty much covered? Wanted, Hellboy II and Wolfman give track credit in the album booklets.
End of the Tour, The Unknown Known and Girl on the Train were all solo efforts. There’s nothing up for Fifty Shades Darker or Tulip Fever yet; I’ll update when more is available.
Tulip Fever (on album) is a solo effort from Elfman.
The end credits of the film credit an additional composer, but I’m confident that’s somebody who was brought in long after Elfman left. If you’re ever unfortunate to see the film you’ll hear someone trying to mimic Elfman’s score, but clearly with next to no budget.
The Justice League Theme – Logos – Elfman
Hero’s Theme – Elfman
Enter Cyborg – Elfman
Wonder Woman Rescue – Elfman
Hippolyta’s Arrow – 75% Elfman/25% Toprak
Story of Steppenwolf – Elfman
The Amazon Mother Box – Zanelli is credited with 17% of ‘Chasing The Box’, which is a part of this cue.
Cyborg Meets Diana – Elfman
Aquaman in Atlantis – Elfman
Then There Were Three – Elfman
The Tunnel Fight – Lindgren helped with ‘Part 4’ of this cue.
The World Needs Superman – Elfman
Spark of The Flash – Elfman
Friends and Foes – Elfman
Justice League United – Elfman
Home – Elfman
Bruce and Diana – Elfman
The Final Battle – Lindgren helped with ‘Part 2’ of this cue.
A New Hope – Elfman
Anti-Hero’s Theme – 75% Elfman/25% Zanelli.Outside the album:
Zanelli is credited with 25% of ‘Bruce Meets Arthur’ – a pretty short and nondescript cue.
Toprak is credited with 25% of ‘Paradise Island’ – I’d assume this is the opening of ‘Amazon Mother Box’?
Toprak is credited with 25% of ‘Geyser’ – I’ve no idea about this one.Fifty Shades Darker
1. Nightmare – Elfman
2. Christian – Elfman
3. On His Knees – Elfman
4. Panties – Elfman/Buckley
5. Bathroom Encounter – Elfman/Buckley
6. No Strings Attached – Elfman
7. Dossiers – Elfman
8. 1st Sex – Elfman
9. Vandalize – Elfman
10. The L Word – Elfman/Buckley
11. Texting – Elfman/Buckley
12. Red Room – Elfman
13. A Key – Elfman
14. Jack Attack – Elfman/Buckley
15. Danger Girl – Elfman
16. Chopper Crash – Elfman
17. Survive – Elfman/Buckley
18. Yes! – Elfman
19. Announcement – Elfman
20. Martini Face – Elfman/Buckley
21. Making it Real – ElfmanI listened to Darker again in light of this and have a few thoughts.
Buckley is credited with ‘Texting’ which is pretty much an arrangement of the beginning of ‘Danger Girl’ which Elfman wrote.
‘Bathroom Encounter’ accounts for two cues in the film – one is a brief, electronic cue with has that dissonant Jack sound, and the rest is for the scene with Basinger. As Buckley is credited with ‘Jack Attack’ (which makes prominent use of that sound) I’m inclined to think the rest of the cue is by Elfman.
I just checked ASCAP and it turns out that Buckley actually wrote ‘Vandalize’, ‘Danger Girl’, ‘Survive’ and ‘Announcement’ too, along with a litter of cues that never made the album.
So Elfman wrote less than half of the score it seems… really disappointing. At least we know why the first score is so much better than the next two I guess.
I know that it’s rough on composers these days with editing taking place at the last minute, but how come Desplat/Giacchino can stay so prolific and not require additional composers while Elfman needs someone to write half of the score to a sequel where (musically speaking) everything was already established?
Silvestri is older than Elfman and had two crazy big scores back-to-back this year and had no help, but Elfman needed help with a micro-budget, Van Sant indie movie?
Had Buckley simply been doing some arranging he would have got a specific percentage credit (like Lurie is credited with 12% of ‘The Dungeon’ from Alice), but he gets the standard 50% (Elfman getting the other 50% because his themes are being used) which means that Buckley wrote the cue. This isn’t ‘additional music’ at all. The same thing happened with Chris Bacon on Goosebumps.
Wait, are you talking about the 50 Shades thingy (I’m no expert of these scores) or “Don’t worry, he won’t get far on foot” ?
I do agree that with the limited amount of film scores he’s doing these days, most of them being smaller budget films that don’t require heavy orchestral writing, seeing so much of them being almost co-written with composers who don’t necessarily get the proper credit for their work is a major letdown. Especially coming from a composer who has always been very protective about his work.
I mean, if it was big budget movies, I would understand : schedules can be pretty tight and I could conceive that he’s doing them for the money, concert work perhaps becoming his main goal as a composer. But for indie films or films directed by one of his long time collaborators, it’s definitely disappointing.
If I’ll be spending most of time while listening to one of his recent scores thinking “I hope this track was written by Danny”, that will certainly hurt the experience a lot.
Alex Somers wrote a track for ‘Don’t Worry’ and Melisa McGregor did some arranging too. That’s admittedly a far cry from Darker, which should probably give Buckley a co-composer credit – it’s no different than what Zimmer does. But, like you said, it’s disappointing from the guy who always says he likes to work alone and had 10 years where nobody thought he wrote his own music. Now he’s often not writing the music and everyone thinks he is!
I’d say that I’d rather he scored smaller budget movies, but then Big Eyes had like 4 additional composers so…
It’s probably worth countering this with the fact that Wanted, Oz, Fifty Shades of Grey, Alice 2 and Justice League all had multiple additional composers listed, but those scores are almost all Elfman. But there seems to be a difference to having some guys come to help meet a deadline by scoring some nondescript scenes (the aforementioned scores) and literally farming out major cues (Big Eyes, Goosebumps, Fifty Shades Darker…I’m assuming Fifty Shades Freed too).
For any other composer I probably wouldn’t care. But Danny’s my favourite – I’d rather not get excited over the prospect of hearing some guys being paid to sound like Danny Elfman when the real guy is still there and prolific.
Yes, I’m still on this.
A picture from the Fifty Shades Darker session. Elfman is clearly credited with the string and piano parts, but the BMI credit Buckley too, so I guess Buckley did some of the electronic stuff on some cues while Elfman did the rest…
ddddeeee, you said Big Eyes had some additional composers. Were they featured on the digital album release?
David Buckley is credited on every Fifty Shades Freed cue bar ‘Seeing Red’ (Trouble in Paradise isn’t listed anywhere, though). Buckley is also a ‘producer’ of the score and Elfman thanks him in the booklet. Add this to the fact that the score sounds so different to the other two…
The first one is largely a solo effort from Elfman (and it shows IMO).
Elfman seemed to write 20-odd minutes of score for Darker, mostly choosing the bigger character scenes.
God knows what happened on Freed. It’s the first orchestral ‘Elfman’ score not to have Bartek as an orchestrator…ever? Philip Klein, who orchestrated the score, had never worked with Elfman before. Buckley was at the recording sessions and did orchestral arrangements for a fair few of the songs, including integrating Elfman’s theme into the new version of ‘Love Me Like You Do’.
Apparently getting a producer credit and a ‘Thanks’ in the booklet is RCP-code for ‘Co-composed by’ – but it seems like that’s still selling his role short.
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