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LOG IN Forgot Login? Register General Discussion • Trading Post • Non-Film Score Discussion  Profile • Preferences • Community Rules • Help/Contact • Search Board Search Terms:  Search Within:  topics posts since 2019 2018 posts 2017 posts 2016 posts 2015 posts 2014 posts 2013 posts 2012 posts 2011 posts 2010 posts 2009 posts 2008 posts 2007 posts 2006 posts 2005 posts 2004 posts 2003 posts 2002 posts 2001 posts 2000 posts users  search tips  You must log in or register to post.   Go to page:  1 2 3      General Discussion: How much do reviews influence your collecting?     1 2 3    NEXT   LAST   Last Post   Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 2:03 PM     By:   Chris Avis   (Member) So I've been going through Horner's discography and have been checking out scores of his that I've never listened to and have found myself really engaged by two scores I'd never listened to: Field of Dreams and House of Sand and Fog. Both of these scores I'd mentally written off as a result of having read negative reviews. My early collecting started in the mid-90s at a time when it was much harder to sample scores than it is today. You were lucky if you got a couple of 30 s Real Audio files for a score, never mind being able to listen to the whole thing on Spotify or Youtube as you can today. Early in my collecting, I read a substantial number of reviews at Filmtracks and, while my tastes have evolved somewhat so that I don't hold Christian Clemmensen's reviews as necessarily a good barometer of my current tastes, I've ignored many scores that he gave 3 stars or less to. More recently, I've found that James Southall's Movie Wave quite closely matches my own tastes and I'll still pass over scores that he pans without checking them out fully. On occasion though, I'll later follow up with a score that got a negative review and be shocked at how much I like it. I mean no disrespect to either Clemmensen or Southall - I know they're just giving their own opinions and that's all they can do - it's just been an interesting observation to find out how heavily influenced I am by reviews. How much do reviews inform your own collecting habits? Chris    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 2:11 PM     By:   Solium   (Member) None whatsoever! I find I can't even rely on ppl whom have similar tastes. It just such a personal thing. Now if someone recommends a score and really raves about it, I'll find a way to preview it, either by online music streaming or Youtube. Sometimes I discover a gem, other times its a bust for me.    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 2:12 PM     By:   Ron Pulliam   (Member) Reviews of movie scores mean NOTHING to me. Don't read them. I know they're out there somewhere, but I don't seek them out. Everything is so subjective. All I had to do was watch "Field of Dreams" to hear that Horner's score was sublime. Anyone else's thoughts were "moo points"....not worth a cow's opinion, in other words.    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 2:17 PM     By:   Sean Nethery   (Member) I wrote this a month or so ago on another thread, but it belongs in this one: I learn something from positive reviews that give me a sense of why the music is appealing to the listener, what there is in the music that draws attention. This can apply even to music that I'm not that partial to, and has helped me expand my horizons. But by and large I don't learn anything useful from negative reviews, because most of the substance of the review is an intensely personal dislike about something the reviewer disagrees with - the choice of composer, the kind of music they write, the arrangement of the album, etc. If my taste does not exactly match the reviewer's own, what they say doesn't matter to me at all, and if our taste does match, then I'm just in lock-step agreement - finally, someone who gets it! Either way, not useful. This is very different from reading negative reviews of books, movies, etc. - those are often as useful to me as positive reviews. For me, music is in a very different category, and I find this to be true about all genres. Another way to say it - what Solium said!    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 2:22 PM     By:   Jim Phelps   (Member) Not at all. If I had heeded the words of the well-known critics who frequent this board, I would have been denying myself some highly enjoyable recent scores (and their films). Sometimes I wonder if these critics just write negative reviews so they can use the clever putdowns they've been dying to put into print.    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 2:27 PM     By:   Chris Avis   (Member) Wow... maybe I'm a bit of an anomaly here. In defense of reviews, however, I'll point out that I've picked up some fabulous scores that I would never have thought to check out as a result of a glowing review and have found aspects of scores I already owned that I hadn't perceived as a result of an well written review. Chris.    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 2:36 PM     By:   Jim Phelps   (Member) I'm one who tends to see the movies of the scores being reviewed. If I'm taking notice of the music in a positive way during the film, chances are I'm going to pick up the score CD. I may read reviews afterwards, but some of them make me wonder if the reviewer even considers the score in its intended context. I get the impression that some reviewers are album reviewers first and movie fans second. I should point out that some reviews can be quite helpful if they inform the reader as to which cues have been omitted from the album, as that attention to detail is most appreciated (I'm pretty sure Jeff Bond and John Takis have done that often), but it still doesn't affect my collecting, since we film score dopes tend to "infinity dip" on many a score anway.    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 2:43 PM     By:   JohnnyG   (Member) Who could write a negative review for FIELD OF DREAMS??    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 2:45 PM     By:   Ron Pulliam   (Member) I KNOW! RIGHT?    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 2:56 PM     By:   Jim Phelps   (Member) Jeff Bond may very well have the greatest opening line in a film score review; from Jurassic Park III: "You have to admire Don Davis' balls..."    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 3:33 PM     By:   Chris Avis   (Member) Who could write a negative review for FIELD OF DREAMS?? Ahem: http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/field_dreams.html    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 3:45 PM     By:   CinemaScope   (Member) Yeah, not at all. I know what I like & what I want, & at $20 plus p&p I don't blind buy. In fact I can't even remember reading a review of a soundtrack CD. I like to read reviews of a Blu-ray release before I buy it, but that's it.    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 3:46 PM     By:   joan hue   (Member) What impacts my buying a score the most is hearing it when watching a movie. However, there are times when I’m so involved in the movie that I don’t notice the score much until a second viewing where I can tune my ears to the score. Like the captain, I am impacted some by critical reviews. Sometimes the reviews talk about the kind of music that I love. Thematic action riffs, rousing themes, gorgeous melodies, etc. When I read reviews about such music, I try to seek out those movies to hear the score. Such reviews guide me towards seeking out the movies or make me listen to samples. Reviews are like roadmaps for me that may lead me on a joyous journey.    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 4:00 PM     By:   Solium   (Member) Who could write a negative review for FIELD OF DREAMS?? This is a classic example where hearing the music in the film makes all the difference. First off at this time Horner was doing a lot of bombastic scores, (which were my favorite) I purchased this score blindly, because it was Horner. It was so minimalistic and atmospheric. It had some country twang music in it. I hated it! I sold the CD. Many years later I saw the film and heard the music in context of the film and totally fell in love with it. I couldn't wait to run out and repurchase the score.    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 4:14 PM     By:   JohnnyG   (Member) Who could write a negative review for FIELD OF DREAMS?? This is a classic example where hearing the music in the film makes all the difference. First off at this time Horner was doing a lot of bombastic scores, (which were my favorite) I purchased this score blindly, because it was Horner. It was so minimalistic and atmospheric. It had some country twang music in it. I hated it! I sold the CD. Many years later I saw the film and heard the music in context of the film and totally fell in love with it. I couldn't wait to run out and repurchase the score. Totally different case here - I fell in love with the score before watching the film (some years later).    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 4:23 PM     By:   Thor   (Member) I don't read reviews.    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 4:31 PM     By:   Superman1701   (Member) Reviews affect absolutely nothing. I buy what I like    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 5:15 PM     By:   Jon Broxton   (Member) Well, time to close down the site then! It's been a fun 18 years...    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 5:28 PM     By:   JohnnyG   (Member) Well, time to close down the site then! It's been a fun 18 years... Good luck in your future endeavors, Jonathan!    Posted:   Jul 1, 2015 - 5:53 PM     By:   pete   (Member) On occasion, I've sought out scores after positive reviews. Now it's easier to get a taste of scores on Youtube etc, but about ten years ago, that wasn't possible. Glowing reviews of Hisaishi scores (in particular Princess Mononoke and Summer) and Bear McCreary's first Battlestar Galactica CD led me to purchase those scores. Those were my first purchases of music by those composers, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. I have a lot of scores I haven't fully explored yet, so I am always interested to read reviews of those scores. I revisted To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday yesterday and enjoyed it. It was one of those mid-late 90s scores I got when it seemed like there was a new Horner score out every week. As a result, I barely gave it a listen when I first bought it. Thanks Jonathan^     General Discussion: How much do reviews influence your collecting?    < 1 2 3  > >>  Go to page:  1 2 3   First Post    General Discussion • Trading Post • Non-Film Score Discussion  Profile • Preferences • Community Rules • Help/Contact • Search Board You must log in or register to post.   Go to page:  1 2 3

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