Twilight Time Says Goodbye; $4-$11 Price Reductions

[DavidBanner]

Salvador is notable for a great lead performance by James Woods as Boyle. He had no chance to win the Oscar against Paul Newman that year, but it was nice that he got nominated.

[John Johnson]

UNDER FIRE (1983) BLU-RAY - Oct 14th[/b]

Great, overlooked movie...I wonder if this means that Goldsmith's phenomenal score might not be getting an expanded reissue with the actual film cues, given TT's penchant for isolated score tracks.

Unfortunately this score was recorded as CTS, whose tape archived was mostly junked when that studio closed.

I see the FSM posters are getting into a state over the isolated score.

[mkaroly]

I never really cared for the UNDER FIRE score - it ranks up there as one of my least favorite Goldsmith scores. It just doesn't really do anything for me musically or otherwise.

[Monterey Jack]

I never really cared for the UNDER FIRE score - it ranks up there as one of my least favorite Goldsmith scores. It just doesn't really do anything for me musically or otherwise.

[AndyDursin]

While it's certainly not my least favorite Goldsmith score, I do find it a bit overrated by the Goldsmith fans myself.

[DavidBanner]

Under Fire is a solid, middle period Goldsmith score. It has a lovely main theme and some nice guitar shadings throughout.
I wouldn't put it in the same breath as his scores to Patton, Alien, The Omen or Planet of the Apes.
More along the lines of Capricorn One, Poltergeist and Hoosiers - fine work and pleasing to hear.

[Paul MacLean]

For me The Omen is a bit overrated; it's notable for the savage choral writing (never heard in a film up to that point) but I find Poltergeist the more interesting and varied score.

Under Fire has some great moments, like the "mini concerto" for guitar (composed expressly for the album), but Goldsmith leans a bit too heavily on the synths in the rest of the score for my taste. I also felt the big, brassy fanfare that opens the end title was a little incongruous to the score's otherwise more ethnic style.

[AndyDursin]

I feel the same as Paul. POLTERGEIST, musically, is much more diverse and colorful -- and dramatically varied -- than THE OMEN. The latter won an Oscar but it's a very straightforward, one-note horror score compared to POLTERGEIST which is absolutely IMO one of his best scores.

For me, despite its reputation, I'd rank "The Omen" below DAMIEN OMEN II and especially THE FINAL CONFLICT of those three musically. THE FINAL CONFLICT is much more of a "Goldsmith score" than THE OMEN, which just has a straight-ahead horror tone to it, whereas THE FINAL CONFLICT is layered with thematic material and a grand, symphonic grandeur absent from its predecessors. Now THAT score I do listen to repeatedly

[Edmund Kattak]

I feel the same as Paul. POLTERGEIST, musically, is much more diverse and colorful -- and dramatically varied -- than THE OMEN. The latter won an Oscar but it's a very straightforward, one-note horror score compared to POLTERGEIST which is absolutely IMO one of his best scores.

For me, despite its reputation, I'd rank "The Omen" below DAMIEN OMEN II and especially THE FINAL CONFLICT of those three musically. THE FINAL CONFLICT is much more of a "Goldsmith score" than THE OMEN, which just has a straight-ahead horror tone to it, whereas THE FINAL CONFLICT is layered with thematic material and a grand, symphonic grandeur absent from its predecessors. Now THAT score I do listen to repeatedly

This is also the case with me. I find myself over the years listening to THE FINAL CONFLICT more than any of the other two. One of the best cues, "TRIAL RUN," has this very spiritual - almost ethereal - quality that I can't describe. The transparent string writing (inaudible to my ears on the LP and CD releases prior to the Deluxe Edition), is wonderful - something that I think very few (if any) composers today would even do, much less know how to do. This is what I miss from film music today - that level of detail.

[AndyDursin]

Ed, when I hear THE FINAL CONFLICT, it's much more of a grand, thematically rich Goldsmith score than THE OMEN. It almost has more in common with his sci-fi/fantasy scores (like ST TMP or Poltergeist) than a horror score in terms of its approach. Even the Damian theme is a more mature, developed, interesting piece of music than the "Ave Satani" cue from the first movie, which -- while more "celebrated" I suppose -- really is just kind of silly "horror movie music" to me. There's no complexity to it. It's effective, yes, and memorable, but it's not that interesting musically. Even if the film was a mixed bag, THE FINAL CONFLICT score is like the icing on the cake of that trilogy -- it's just outrageously good film music, the kind of score I wish we heard all the time today...but never do.

Yes, detail is what's missing today from modern film music. And it's also the whole style. Thematic, romantic writing that isn't just a PERCUSSIVE MACHINE WITH A THROBBING BEAT EVERY SECOND.

I'm so TIRED of modern film music. As in, it actually exhausts me. Most of it is like hearing music for a 2-minute trailer -- stretched out to 2 hours! It's incessant, non-stop, and has nothing memorable to distinguish the lot of it.

[mkaroly]

I used to not care much for THE FINAL CONFLICT, but on last listen I really really liked it and would rank it the best of the three OMEN scores. Goldsmith has a "spiritual sound" in many of his scores, like ST:TMP and POLTERGEIST (two of his most outstanding scores), though I can't quite describe it. It isn't a "theme" he goes back to but a way of composing (and orchestration has a lot to do with it too) - he just makes the orchestra sound so "other-worldly" and inspiring and it connects some his scores to others - you can hear it in the aforementioned scores, though I am struggling to define it. These are among his best moments and one of the ways in which he was most unique. Maybe someone can define it better??? When he opened an orchestra up full throttle, the power he could generate in the performance was stunning. The three scores above do just that (for me anyway).

[DavidBanner]

Of the Omen movie scores, I've always enjoyed the first one best. It's more than just a simple horror score, in that it also incorporates a theme for the family in the middle that's very nice. And it's a great piece of choral work. Not to mention being extremely witty.

Damien: Omen 2 mostly recycles the motifs from the first movie, but does have one really great cue for when Lew Ayres falls through the ice and a driving cue for the train kill late in the movie. I don't care for its main theme, and the "crow sound" doesn't work for me.

Final Conflict is a step up from the 2nd movie in that it discards the earlier motifs and tries some new ones. The main theme is a strong one, but I never liked the constant use of it throughout. For example, I love the beginning of the cue for the fox hunt, but when it suddenly surges into another rendition of the main theme, the cue ceases to be that interesting to me. The lyrical passages for the monks and their quest are nice but sound like the same kind of spiritual cues Goldsmith used in sections of Star Trek TMP and Poltergeist. Frankly, I think those cues worked better in Poltergeist.

I'm a big fan of Goldsmith's music - even what I see as his standard action scores like the Rambo movies or Cassandra Crossing have nice passages in them. His two Hyams movie scores each have some really inventive touches. Capricorn One has a wonderful cue as played in the film, "Breakout", where the orchestra keeps surging and then silencing. His final Star Trek score, "Nemesis" has some great action cues as well - I very much enjoyed the wall of music surrounding the entire final confrontation between the two ships.

[AndyDursin]

Might want to move on this quickly...

THE TRAIN is now limited to one copy per person. The title is moving very fast and at the current rate of sale might only last another week or two.

[Eric Paddon]

Ouch. This is not a good time for me to move on it until I get a paycheck. I may have to charge it.

EDIT-Moments later, I finally get some info that payment is about to be made so that meant I could grab it!

[John Johnson]

This title is still listed at SAE, so The Train hasn't left the station just yet.