Sunday, July 31, 2005

Randomize the music!

I haven't done one of these "Friday Ten" things in a while, and since it's Sunday, well...I suppose we'll call it a "Sunday Ten". Or something. Anyhoo:

1. "Love is Everything", k.d. lang. From Hymns of the 49th Parallel, one of the best CDs I've ever heard.

2. "A New Ending", Jerry Goldsmith, from Star Trek Nemesis. I sold my copy of the CD a while ago, but I ripped it to the computer before I did. This was more out of my allegiance to film music in general than out of any particular love for this score, because I consider it to be one of Goldsmith's few duds. (The FSM Board freaks adore this score, for reasons passing understanding. It never moves me above the level of "meh".)

3. "John Quincy Adams addresses the Supreme Court", from Amistad. I actually downloaded this speech from the Movie Speeches section of AmericanRhetoric.org. Not the best movie ever, but it is a really good speech, delivered wonderfully by Sir Anthony Hopkins. The underscore is, of course, by John Williams. It's pleasant Americana, nothing to write home about, really.

4. "Every Sperm is Sacred", by Monty Python. This is self-explanatory, I suppose.

5. "S'Wonderful", from An American in Paris, performed by Gene Kelly and Georges Guetary. I would have liked this movie a lot more if they could have paired Kelly with anyone other then Leslie Caron, with whom he has no chemistry at all. Good Gershwin songs, though. (Except for "I Got Rhythm", which I've never liked.)

6. "Concerning Hobbits", from The Fellowship of the Ring, by Howard Shore. I've done the Blogistan equivalent of spilling rivers of ink in praise of this stuff, but what's a little more? Sheer genius. I love how the first time we hear the Shire theme, it's given the Percy Grainger treatment.

7. "Rescue of Dances With Wolves", from Dances With Wolves, by John Barry. This is an absolutely magnificent score, beginning to end.

8 and 9. "The Time is Now", III and I, from Millennium, by Mark Snow. Moody, wonderful, brilliant TV music. I'm surprised two selections from this came up in the top ten here.

10. "A Blind Eye", from Road to Perdition, by Thomas Newman. I like Thomas Newman a lot. He's one of film music's most interesting new voices.

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