Sorry, I don't really hear what you're hearing, Paul. Horner has written some of the most brutal, visceral action and suspense music in all of history, as far as I'm concerned.
Sorry, I don't really hear what you're hearing, Paul. Horner has written some of the most brutal, visceral action and suspense music in all of history, as far as I'm concerned.
Sorry, I don't really hear what you're hearing, Paul. Horner has written some of the most brutal, visceral action and suspense music in all of history, as far as I'm concerned.
His scores definitely work (and they're certainly better than things like The Terminator or The Running Man)
But for me, they don't reach that level of (if you'll permit my use of an Old Norse term) berserker testosterone which is gushing forth from First Blood, The Road Warrior, Conan The Barbarian, Predator, RoboCop, Total Recall, etc. I couldn't imagine Horner serving those films nearly was well as the people who scored them.
I think Paul is largely correct, nothing to insult Horner has a skilled film composer. But his effort at his most aggressive gut punch action scoring is still about medium strength coffee. Emotional, pastoral writing was his strength. And you can see the the riffs that he repeated and reused the most were usually in the category of action, tension, suspense, his danger motifs were his most reused, dozens of times, and I think it is because it was just not his natural strengths. It largely did not matter, but his skills otherwise were so good, but I would say his recurrent motifs were sometimes a weary.
Sorry, I don't really hear what you're hearing, Paul. Horner has written some of the most brutal, visceral action and suspense music in all of history, as far as I'm concerned.
Totally agree. James Horner could compose action music as good as, and in some cases better,than Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams. All three are truly amazing composers who excelled at action scoring.
Sorry, I don't really hear what you're hearing, Paul. Horner has written some of the most brutal, visceral action and suspense music in all of history, as far as I'm concerned.
Just again want to point out that some of the most aggressive cues Horner wrote for ALIENS did not end up on the original soundtrack album but only on the expanded release.
Horner's ALIENS was always a "good" score, but it was in its expanded form that it became an actual favorite Horner score of mine. It's a better rounded composition and therefore listening experience in its expanded release.
It's pretty much pitch perfect. Not a wasted note... each note has a purpose, and each cue flows from one to the next with such ease. It's a brilliant score, and the deluxe edition is a brilliant release!
It doesn't ruin the film (which I love). But a different composer ought to have scored Aliens. I wish Silvestri had done Aliens, and Horner done The Abyss.
But since James Horner had a truly horrible experience with Aliens, and James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd (Producer and Then Current Wife of Cameron) And the Equipment Set Up..and Cameron and his team not ready to show Horner any cues or rewrites! So Horners experience was truly awful. So when James Cameron was editing The Abyss in 1989! He either called James Horner or contacted Horners Agency ..Gorfaine/Schwartz asking would James Horner be interested in composing The Abyss..in 1989..just three years later. I guess Horner was still stressed out from his Aliens Experience! When either Horner or his Agency Gorfaine and Schwartz ..He said No!
It doesn't ruin the film (which I love). But a different composer ought to have scored Aliens. I wish Silvestri had done Aliens, and Horner done The Abyss.
I don't. I'm sure the switch would have worked, why not, but I think ALIENS is as good a film score as Horner ever composed, and certainly demonstrates that he was capable of conjuring up really nightmarish cues. And I very much like Alan Silvestri's score for THE ABYSS.
Sorry, I don't really hear what you're hearing, Paul. Horner has written some of the most brutal, visceral action and suspense music in all of history, as far as I'm concerned.
His scores definitely work (and they're certainly better than things like The Terminator or The Running Man)
But for me, they don't reach that level of (if you'll permit my use of an Old Norse term) berserker testosterone which is gushing forth from First Blood, The Road Warrior, Conan The Barbarian, Predator, RoboCop, Total Recall, etc. I couldn't imagine Horner serving those films nearly was well as the people who scored them.
Listen to: • The Ambush from Clear and Present Danger • Al Bathra from Courage under Fire • Commando • Following Kirwell from Gorky Park • Slayers Attack from Krull • Samuel’s Death from Legends of the Fall
James wrote some good action pieces, but it was certainly not his specialty, I do not think it is such an outlandish thing to say. And almost all of his action pieces come back to sharing some of the same components, repeatedly, which was the Achilles heel of his career output. And, yes, I have quite a few of his scores.
I can't think of a single film composer where I'd say action music was their specialty, with the exception perhaps of Jerry Goldsmith (but then, he had so many specialties that it would be a shame to act like action music was his main one).
When it comes to James Horner, it may not have been his specialty but he was very, very good at it:
Still one of the greatest action tracks ever released on album.
What Paul MacLean wrote is something different than saying ‘action wasn’t Horners speciality’. I could agree with the latter (I consider his speciality to be spotting, and reading the emotional canvas of the movie).
I believe Horner wrote less ‘visceral’ and ‘raw’ action music than Goldsmith for example because he choose to. He just picked different movies when he could. But there are fine examples of major ‘visceral’ action scoring (next to other prime examples of action scoring in Star Trek II, Balto, Willow, Braveheart, Glory and Zorro as Yavar already mentioned) in Horner’s oeuvre. Especially in his urban action scoring (which is a genre on itself). The best example might be his rejected score for Streets of Fire — I really hope that sees the light of day sometime.
What Paul MacLean wrote is something different than saying ‘action wasn’t Horners speciality’. I could agree with the latter (I consider his speciality to be spotting, and reading the emotional canvas of the movie).
I believe Horner wrote less ‘visceral’ and ‘raw’ action music than Goldsmith for example because he choose to. He just picked different movies when he could. But there are fine examples of major ‘visceral’ action scoring (next to other prime examples of action scoring in Star Trek II, Balto, Willow, Braveheart, Glory and Zorro as Yavar already mentioned) in Horner’s oeuvre. Especially in his urban action scoring (which is a genre on itself). The best example might be his rejected score for Streets of Fire — I really hope that sees the light of day sometime.
I can't think of a single film composer where I'd say action music was their specialty, with the exception perhaps of Jerry Goldsmith (but then, he had so many specialties that it would be a shame to act like action music was his main one).
Still one of the greatest action tracks ever released on album.
Yavar
I suppose I would say Kamen was an action score specialist. He did other stuff, but I think that was his core, his best work.
I suppose I would say Kamen was an action score specialist. He did other stuff, but I think that was his core, his best work.
Now THERE, I think the opposite. I'm not a big fan of Kamen's sometimes staccato action writing, but when he went all out with long-lined themes, that's where he truly shone.
There are few other composers who can be as raw and visceral and tense as Horner when he went all out. A famous cue like "Bishop's Countdown", for example, used in so many trailers at the time, with that super-tense layering of brass and percussion. Or even BRAINSTORM, to pull it back to that, when the theme suddenly turns "sour" and dissonant. Major spook chills!
I can't think of a single film composer where I'd say action music was their specialty, with the exception perhaps of Jerry Goldsmith (but then, he had so many specialties that it would be a shame to act like action music was his main one).
There are numerous composers like Goldsmith, who have many specialties, including action. That's just what a great composers do. Having said that, Silvestri's action material is AAA-grade stuff!
