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Ok… Well… I must admit I feel kind of stupid to have reacted so strongly, and so quickly after my first listen…
The more I listen to it, the more it grows. It is repetitive… But some variations are truely intersting. And the obsessive repetition really does grow on you.
I still can not listen to the whole cd, but some tracks are really, really good!
It’s interesting how our tastes and feelings can evolve. You just have to stay open minded…
My less favourite Elfman score so far remains “Kingdom” “Meet the Robinsons” and “Mr Peabody & Sherman”…
Thank you Ryan.
It’s interesting to see that he enjoyed writing this score.
The music makes more sense when you listen to Danny, explaining how and why he scored it this way.
The repetitive motives probably underline the obsessive aspect of their relationship.But stil… It is difficult to listen to the full album from A to Z.
Just got the cd and finished (thank god) listening to it.
It is, by far, the most uninteresting and boring Elfman experience I’ve had so far.
It’s generic, repetitive, and even irritating. The only other score that did that to me was Zimmer’s Batman movies…
The vibe of the movie probably needed something like this. So, maybe it does fit the movie.
But the monotony of the whole album drove me insane. Really hard to stand listening to the whole thing.
And that last cue, the variation, is the worst. Same motiv, again and again… Almost like listening to minimalist pop house music, only at a slower tempo….
I really hope this is an exception in Elfman’s carreer… Because if this is the direction where is heading, then, he better start working for Zimmer and his friends….
It’s really nice to hear a mix of typical Elfman harmonies, with more pop and modern Rythms and vibe.
I’m really excited to hear this now.My favourite online cd shop in Switzerland offers samples ; )
http://www.cede.ch/de/music/?branch_sub=1&view=detail&id=1221764&branch=1
Well, I just got a copy of the re-release of So-Lo.
The album has NOT been remastered. It’s an exact replica of the old MCA edition.
There’s a bonus track of “Gratitude”, supposedly in its single version, which appeared on the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. Which is a big LIE. It is a shorter version indeed, but it’s absolutely not the 7″single, nor the Beverly Hills Cop version. Those versions included a few spoken lines before the second verse :
“I used to eat people I knew for breakfast, I used to fly high up in the sky, I used to chew up rocks and spit out gravel, I had a heart as cold as ice”.This part is not included here. So, basically, there’s NO REASON for getting the re-release, except if you did not own the original album before.
From what Johnny Vatos, Oingo Boingo’s drummer said, Robin Williams was a fan of Oingo Boingo, specially during their earlier days, in The Mystic Knights.
He even mentioned that Robin had showed up at the whiskey a gogo during some rehearsals, and got thrown out, because they didn’t recognized him.
Apparently, after that, he came and hung out several times with the band…
So, they definitely met way before Good Will Hunting.
As strange as it may sound, it’s being released by VARESE SARABANDE !!!!
They’ve released some non-soundtrack albums in the past, and sometimes with a few bonus tracks…
Let’s keep our fingers crossed !!!
1985 – Back to the Future music. GREAT SCORE, the essence of adventure. We don’t hear themes like this anymore…
1988 – Rain Man. Never understood why this one was so popular…
1989 – I don’t even know who won the Oscar that year! Alan Menken won for the little mermaid. John Williams really deserved it for Born on the 4th of July or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
1990 – Miller’s Crossing music. Not so classic to me… Home Alone was probably the best score of that year
1992 – I love Aladdin’s soundtrack. This is definitely a nice Alan Menken score
1993 – Jurassic Park or Schindler’s List? Which was the better John Williams score? Both so different, and so good… One of the best years for Williams
1994 – Am I the only one who loves music from The Mask? I love the theme, but the rest of the score is poor in my opinion
1996 – Fargo. Better score than Simple Plan? Simple Plan is definitely more creative
1997 – Was Titanic’s music REALLY better than Men In Black? Titanic music was a typicall commercial success. Melodies are accessible, sweet and sirupy. I liked it, but got sick of it very quickly.
1999 – Anyone else love The Matrix music? Can not stand the Matrix music
2001 – Lord of the Rings. Nuff said. How about Harry Potter. I remember buying both cd’s the same week-end. I felt like a kid in a candy store
2002 – Minority Report. Good score or nah? Very disappointed when I heard it. Even the main theme is a repetition of many emotionnal Williams scores
2003 – X-Men 2. Good theme, bad score? It works perfectly with the movie… But the theme is poor, and the cd is boring
2004 – Passion of the Christ. Good score or nah? It was original to see Debney in this territory. But I never really got into that music
2005 – Brokeback Mountain. Good score or nah? ooh lala, WHY did SANTAOLALLA get an oscar for this ?!??
2008 – The Dark Knight. Good score or nah? No comment….
2009 – The Year of Michael Giacchino? Michael Giacchino’s ONLY score that pleased me was “the lost world” videogame. The rest is unconsistent in my opinion
2010 – Inception. Good score or nah? Nice sound design… This is not music to me… Only Sound design, and a damn good one
2012 – The Hunger Games? The Avengers? What else was released? Very poor year… Maybe Skyfall, or Dark Shadows…Wow, seeing Siouxsie sing “Face to face” live, with the orchestra and Danny around would be fantastic.
But I honestly doubt this will ever happen. Siouxsie said in a few interviews that her experience working on this song with Danny Elfman and Tim Burton was a nightmare… And Danny mentionned the relationship with Siouxsie was quite difficult…I couldn’t agree more!
Thank you so much Ryan. I don’t think anything could ever replace this website and its message board.
So, I think we should all be very thankfull to you.The concert was amazing. Elfman attended the whole concert, and then, came on stage at the end.
He sang “What’s this” as an additional encore.After the concert, he quickly came in the lobby and met the fans, took time to sign autographs, take photos and talk to the people. It was very nice. The next day, the orchestra played the complete Alice In Wonderland score, syncnronized to the movie, It was outstanding. At the end, again, Elfman met the audience in the lobby.
If you like film music, you definitely need to go to Lucerne to hear the 21st Century Orchestra play at the KKL.
Their professionalism, and their organisation is fantastic, and they make it easy to meet and talk to great composers.
Howard Shore, Michael Giacchino, Lisa Gerrard and Hans Zimmer are next!Here’s a link to the AUDIO recording of the Q&A with Elfman, in Lucerne :
Apparently, this has been published more than a year ago… I can’t believe we had not see this :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhlVDcXpP8M
-Eric
There’s actually going to be a Q & A before the show, and a meet & greet and signing session after the show…
They still don’t know if he’s going to sing. It has not been decided yet!Haha, according to Film Music Reporter, Elfman will attend these two events next week!!!!!
How cool is that?!??? Seeing Elfman three times in a year?!?!!!!Danny Elfman to Attend ‘Alice in Wonderland’ World Premiere Live to Projection Concert
I totally agree with you Lambegue.
It’s not only about the sound, but also about the object. I still collect some old Vinyls as well.
I love the artworks, the linear notes, the credits, and most of all, the fact that I have to put a disc in my cd-player and take the time to listen to the whole album.
I really hope that music will keep existing in its physical form, may it be cd, lp, or any new physical format…I dont know. The Royal Albert Hall seemed to be the nicest concert hall to film this. But they didn’t.
But I know there are copyright issues with European orchestras. So, there might be a possibility that they’re waiting to record this in the USA with the Hollywood symphony orchestra. Let’s hope. I can’t believe that this was maybe the one and only time we’d been able to see him in front of an orchestra….!And seeing his expressions, and moves and the way he was on stage really reminded me of his early Boingo days.
I’m still recovering of this wonderful, wonderful experience.Oogie Boogie Song :
Someone posted awesome videos.
So here’s the first one. Then, click on the links to see the other ones :I agree with you, not much was missing. We almost got all of the main themes. But I would still have loved to hear Remains Of The day, even the orchestral version, planet of the apes’ quiet flute-romantic theme, and Lydia’s theme from beetle juice.
Other than that, the selection was perfect.Your set list is in correct order. There are only a few things missing. Jenny’s theme from big fish (alternate new version), and young Ichabod’s theme from sleepy hollow.
I was seating at the right side of the stage, on the stalls, “G” area. I guess I was below you.
Man, I still cannot believe the quality, energy and beauty of what we’ve seen during this concert!!!
I was hoping it would be recorded. Since the Albert Hall is really magnificent and it’s acoustic is amazing. But sadly, I didn’t see any camera.
So, here’s a review of the concert.
It might be full of typos, since I’m writing this on an iPhone. I hope it will all make sense.The concert was everything I had hope for. The new arrangements were really clever and nice. The orchestra played beautifully. The choir was phenomenal. There was a real organ, and a theremin as well.
We got to see Elfman perform, as well as Helena Bonham Carter. Tim Burton was there too.
Most of the suites had newly written intros and outros.It started all with Charlie And the Chocolate Factory, along with some images of ALL the burton films.
There was a Theremin soloist, and this made the whole piece really interesting. The orchestra was fantastic.
The piece was pretty similar to the original one.Then, Pee Wee. The whole piece was re-orchestrated and rearranged. A masterpiece. We could really tell Danny had taken time to rework the piece with all the musical experience he’s gained through the years.
Beetlejuice was dynamic and fun. The day-o part from the beginning of the main titles was sung by a male choir, which made it dark and funny at the same time. Here again, the new arrangement was really nice. Both the main theme and the “grave” theme were there.
Sleepy Hollow : with a young boy soloist, the whole choir, and a real organ. The new arrangement was a mix between the young Ichabod theme and the end titles.
Very dark and powerful.Mars Attacks was fun, again with the theremin. We heard the Main Titles, pretty similar to the original piece.
Big fish was almost fully rewritten. All the themes were represented, but in new orchestrations. The violin was very present. Even Jenny’s theme was played by a piano dubbed by a country-like violin. Very interesting and fresh.
Batman/Batman returns started with the original main titles, then faded into Descent into Mystery, and Up to the Cathedral. Very big and powerful. With organ and chorus. The Joker’s waltz was enhanced. We then heard the penguin’s theme, followed by Selina’s theme. There were tiny parts of the Batman returns main titles as well. The whole piece ended with the grand Batman 1 finale.
After the interval :
Planet Of The Apes : they got away pretty good with the main titles. I was really worried about how they’d do it. There were some recorded samples, but a lot of the percussions were played live. The only problem is that they were too loud and we sometimes couldn’t hear the rest of the orchestra properly.
Corpse Bride was beautiful. The Victors Piano Solo finally got an ending. A beautiful, technically complex pianistic ending (a la Serenada Schizophrana).
Then, they played the wedding song, sung by the choir. It was nice, but I was hoping we’d get some jazzy tunes instead. Richard Kraft told me later that it would have been complicated playing the jazz tunes because they would have needed more musicians.Dark Shadows was very impressive. The sad theme, and the main theme were here, and it was loud, dynamic and GOOD!
Frankenweenie was nice. The synchronization between the images and the music was clever, but for some reason, I’ve never been a big fan of this score.
Then, at this moment, the orchestra was supposed to start playing Nightmare Before Chrismas (according to the beautiful program booklet) but they played Edward Scissorhands instead. For a moment, I thought Elfman had given up singing… But hopefully that wasn’t the case.
So, Edward Scissorhands was a very touching moment. Main titles, followed by the storytelling theme, some suburbia theme, and a wonderfully extended Edward Barber theme on the violin. That part was a real treat. It ended up with the ice dance, along with images of Kim under the snow. Beautiful.Then, Nightmare Before Christmas started :
The main titles, first. Then Elfman arrived and did Jacks Lament, and “something’s up with jack”.
Helena Bonhan Carter showed up and charmingly sang Sally’s song while Danny was seating in a chair in front of the audience, watching her.
Than, he sang “poor jack”. All this songs were arranged in a very smooth way, fading into one another. Christmas Montage was played at some point as well.
Danny’s interpretation was wonderful. I can’t see why he was so concerned. It was outstanding. I’d say it was even better than the originals. He really got into the interpretation and it was unbelievable.Then, the orchestra played the Alice in wonderland Ouverture (with lyrics).
After that, Elfman came back for an Encore. He talked to the public thanked us, and said this was probably the best moment of his life.
He took the microphone, and started singing Oogie Boogie song, while moving and dancing like he used to in the old Mystic Knights times.
A few times, he was going to walk in front of the stage but didn’t. It felt like his old Boingo reflexes were coming back.
His rendition of the song sounded like his version of Minnie The Moocher in Forbidden Zone, along with all the moves. it was outstanding!!!!
He seemed kind of shy in the beginning of his first song, but at the end, he looked amazingly comfortable in this very last song. Even the conductor John Mauceri put his Santa hat on, and sang the Santa Claus parts.After that, Tim Burton joined him on stage, with Helena Bonham Carter, and John Mauceri, and they said goodbye to the audience.
At the end of the concert, a lot of people waited (for a loooong time), and got to see John Mauceri, Richard Kraft and Danny Elfman. The three of them took time to sign, take pictures and talk with each and everyone. They were very nice and thankful.
Of course, filming and taking pictures were forbidden. But of course, pretty much everybody filmed parts of the show and took pictures. So, I guess you’ll end up seeing stuff on YouTube.
Can’t wait to hear about the next shows.
