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Yes, he did a score for this, but as we’ve already talked about in this thread, it was rejected at the last minute. The current score is by Tangerine Dream member Paul Haslinger. I don’t know if Elfman’s score will see a CD release, but I surely hope so.
To be honest, I don’t think it sounds much like Elfman at all. It’s basically just a rising figure, which has appeared in music for hundreds of years. Sorry.
Very interesting! I have several of those songs in other versions, and I have the same “California Girls” version, but other than that, most of these were new to me too! And I agree, the sound quality was very good compard to the shoddy bootleg quality of the other tracks (or perhaps they could be the same tracks, only the sound so much better that you think they are different versions?).
In any case, like you I’d love to find out where one can get hold of the full songs.
Actually, BABEL was a superb score, brilliantly used in the movie, even though I understand the controversy regarding the fact that a couple of the cues were taken from previous Santaolalla albums.
I’m the opposite.
Subdued scores are my favourite these days. I’m less keen on the kinetic action scores, whether it’s from Elfman or anyone else. I love stuff like MILK, SOP, TAKING WOODSTOCK, even THE KINGDOM. Less keen on HELLBOY 2, WANTED, much of TERMINATOR, 9 etc.
The calmer, the better.
Yes, I know. Failed sarcasm on my part. Last year saw the win of SLUMDOG, of course, which was more “celebratory” than previous ones. I was SURE Elfman would win with MILK, as it follows in the tradition of more lo-fi, restrained drama scores that have won in recent years – BABEL; BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, ATONEMENT, FINDING NEVERLAND…
Yes, it’s a great score. I think it has fair chances at the Oscars too. It’s a type of score that the Academy loves these days.
I think he has a very good chance in that company, the biggest competition being Desplat’s BUTTON.
But then again, Elfman doesn’t care much about awards (and neither do I), so I’m not sure it makes much difference.
I just got this soundtrack and must say that I’m very disappointed. Basically just a long string of dark chords and some heavy percussion (“boom, boom, boom!”), none of it with any sense of direction. At least not as a listening experience. I’ll wait untill I’ve seen the film and comment on how it works in context. I doubt this will get many spins around here.
Nick Parker Wrote:
> Very interesting that you mention that score, I
> was listening to it the other day. I am
> particularly fond of “Fifty Miles of Desert”, I
> love that staccato piano stuff that John Williams
> loved to write back in the 1970’s (the Main Titles
> from Earthquake perhaps being my favorite).
>
> Now Playing: Peter Gunn from Henry Mancini. One of
> his best.My favourite part is actually the baroque jazz melancholy of the main theme. That piano line resembles a piece I wrote myself as a teen, way before I owned this score. Curious coincidence.
NP: THE MUMMY (Jerry Goldsmith) <– my fav Goldsmith soundtrack
As long as we’re talking about credits, does anyone remember how the credits read on CHICAGO? And the PSYCHO remake? I never remember that stuff.
TenderLumpling Wrote:
> Well, Elfman DOES have an “associate producer”
> credit in addition to his composer and singing
> credit, let’s not forget that.
>
> Ha, ha. I JUST mentioned that, Thor.So you did! Serves me right for reading too quickly.
Well, Elfman DOES have an “associate producer” credit in addition to his composer and singing credit, let’s not forget that.
Yes indeed. An interesting cameo. Speaking of which (and if you’ll allow this shameless plug), perhaps you’d be interested in reading my comprehensive discography of Oingo Boingo appearances in films and TV:
http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/daily/article.cfm?articleID=6311
Now THERE’s a rant!
People separate Danny’s career in different epochs, but personally I’ve always put MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE as THE major turning-point score after his more straightforward 80’s and early 90’s material (with lots of Herrmann and Rota pastiche). That’s where he got all hung up in counterpoints with conflicting melodic lines and harmonies and complex textures and all that, what some critics label a “noisy soundscape”. And in a way, I agree with them. The period between M:I up to, let’s say, CHARLIE (appr. 10 years) is filled with such scores that are overly noisy and dense, stuff that can even be grating if you get too much of it (MARS ATTACKS, FLUBBER, THE FRIGHTENERS, MEN IN BLACK, HULK and the SPIDERMAN scores are good examples). There are obviously exceptions to the rule, but that’s the overall trend.
Then from CHARLIE, you have stuff like….well, CHARLIE, CORPSE BRIDE, WANTED, S.O.P., THE KINGDOM, TERMINATOR, MILK….they’re all either very playful or very mature, a kind of merger between the 80’s/early 90’s Elfman and his more recent style. I’m sure his venture into the concert world around then has something to do with it too.
So if you call this recent period his fourth (first there was the Mystic Knights period, then the 80’s/early 90’s scores, then the “noisy” period from 1996 to 2005, then the playful/mature period), well then I think it’s safe to say that we’ve not seen the last of Elfman’s musical development.
I think that he’s entering his peak as an orchestral composer right now – in his 50’s and into his 60’s.
I think EDWARD would be the greatest contender for this. After all, they’ve already made a ballet out of it. Did they take that out on tour, btw?
He got much of his musical “education” in the days of the performance/musical troupe Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo (mid to late 70’s), which usually only performed music from or in the style of 30’s and 40’s jazz. Elfman wrote some pieces like this, and also “practiced” by transcribing pieces by the likes of Duke Ellington or Prokofiev. He’s especially fond of the Russian maestros. He even wrote a Prokofiev-inspired piece called “Piano Concerto No. 1 1/2” in these days. So that by the time he did his first orchestral score, PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE, he was already equipped with knowledge and skill in orchestral writing.
It was also within the Mystic Knights group that he learned to play various instruments. In his late teens/early 20’s, he travelled around Africa and picked up various types of percussion stylings and techniques.
All in all, it was basically an approach of experimentation and exploration – and of course being very “musical”, picking up pieces here and there.
I am NOT sure if he ever took a college course in music, though (or anything similar), if that’s what you’re looking for. Nor what BOOKS he used. The above information is all culled from his own mouth in various interviews throughout the years. One of the most informative is one that was conducted a couple of years ago, by Daniel Schweiger.
Ha! Really, wasn’t that in the movie? I somehow remember the main titles ending in the Fiedel theme, but perhaps that was the end titles instead.
