Flame On: Goldsmith!

Inflammatory Letter Selected by Lukas Kendall

Dan Miles sent us the following:

From: Dan Miles <djmiles@uswest.net>

I liked Goldsmith's scoring in the 60's, but since then he has composed a lot of hard-to-listen-to-rubbish. This guy obviously goes for quantity not quality. Is he trying to beat Max Steiner's film-scored record? His music is nowhere near that of Mr. Steiner's. I can't listen to his crap anymore . . . give me Mancini, Waxman or Herrmann anyday. . . . PLEASE! Goldsmith's sound is so tired and worn out!!!! I'll take "The White Dawn" by Mancini over any Goldsmith score. He really needs to change his style, if you can call it that! If I hear more trash like "Total Recall", I'll puke! God, Jerry, get rid of the harsh un-melodic sounds . . . your themes are not listenable nor memorable. Please remember that more is not better. Attempt to live up to the standards of Mancini, Waxman & Herrmann. Maybe the ponytail should go. After all, we're not living in the 60's anymore.

Wow! I have thoughtfully corrected Mr. Miles spelling before printing the above, or else it would be riddled with "sic" marks.

OK... I know what MY reply is, but I'm interested in seeing what the readers think.

Fire away!

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