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"The Yards"
"The Score"
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Cop Land
Seven
The Score
Panic Room
The Fly
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Hi Guys! My list of the best H.S. scores are:
1) LORD OF THE RINGS (TRILOGY)
2) CRASH
3) THE FLY
4) GANGS OF NEW YORK
5) VIDEODROME
LORD OF THE RINGS IS IN MY OPINION A MASTERPIECE IN THE FILM MUSIC HISTORY!
Absolutely agree with the last point, so it's the full trilogy for me too. And as I'm not familiar with his other stuff second place goes to Ed Wood.
Isn't it interesting that The Hobbit trilogy isn't on ANYONE'S list? Wonder why it is that it isn't a patch on the LOTR? The best piece in there isn't even his and as a result seems to not be represented on the albums. I missed at least one volume and don't even know which one without looking. Whereas I went to the trouble of importing all the LOTR Complete recordings, and have listened to the lot.
Wonder why he went off the boil with The Hobbit.....
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Big fan of Spider and Cop Land, also The Cell and Eastern Promises.
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My favorite Howard Shore scores? I always liked Howard Shore, I've been a fan since his early Cronenberg works, but there are some scores that are perennial favorites of mine, these are:
SCANNERS (1981)
The Cronenberg/Shore collaboration started with THE BROOD, but it was SCANNERS that really clicked when I first saw the movie. Musically, it's like an electronic template of material Shore would explore orchestrally in THE FLY, and it works great in the movie. The long final "Battle" cue is one of the most harrowing electronic film cues I've ever heard, really intense in the movie and also apart from it.
I wish there was a newly restored soundtrack edition of this score.
THE FLY (1986)
Another Cronenberg collaboration... the music has a touch of SCANNERS, but here with the full force of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. At that time, it was the culmination of Cronenberg's "bio-body horror" phase, and as a result also received the quintessential Shore Cronenberg score. I love it.
NOBODY'S FOOL (1994)
This score took me completely by surprise. Yes, Shore had done comedy and lighter scores, I know, but at that time, I still primarily connected the composer with dark thrillers and disturbing Cronenberg movies. NOBODY'S FOOL is nothing like that... it's a charming score, full of warmth and humanity, but never overly sentimental. It very much captures the essence of the movie, with Newman's Sully fighting small town wars with various townspeople, but in the end mostly with himself. Great movie, wonderful score.
SE7EN (1995)
Perhaps the darkest of all of Shore's scores, this music is a heaving, breathing ominous presence in the movie, it suggests dark thoughts and menace. Great, very interesting stuff, also apart from the movie, but definitely not if you expect your music to be cheerful. Or melodic. This music is condensed gloom.
THE CELL (2000)
What a unique and powerful score... it clashes seemingly disparate musical styles into one meticulously composed through film score, highly effective and a very unique listening experience. Shore has always been an effective thriller composer, but THE CELL was a hyper-visual film not so much "logical" but an exploration of dreamscapes and powerful imagery, and Shore's music was something one had not heard before. Amazing, but there was a time when film scores could be this inventive, kudos to the makers of this film they stuck with the concept and their vision. Nowadays, such a harrowing aural assault would probably be thrown out in favor of inoffensive wavering-drone music. If you're in the mood for relaxing background music, look elsewhere though.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS (2001-2003)
Wow, what a film score... it's a very operatic score, not coincidence the many comparisons (and differentiations) that were made with this and Wagner's RIND DES NIBELUNGEN. It's one hell of a rich score, with so many themes and motives, all excellently weaved together and used throughout the movie. There are various different styles used to present a rich and varied Middle-Earth, from gentle folksy tunes to choral blasts, from romantic melodies to avant-garde techniques, not to mention many different songs, this is one long, rich and well thought out film score. Bravo.
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Not a Shore-fan, but his scores for THE GAME and SE7EN fitted the films like a glove.
The electric guitars in CRASH were also kind of cool.
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Had to read some of other people's lists to remind me what he has done. Yeah, sorry to say I don't have anything new to add to lists before. The Fly, Dead Ringers and The Silence of the Lambs for me. Honorable mention to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
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Actually quite happy with The Hobbit praise coming in even if I don't see it myself. Though not sure about being better than LOTR. Unless you don't like so much thematic stuff.
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