I’m listening to his Amazing Spider-Man score now, and I just can’t help but feel he left us way too soon. There was so much more he could’ve gifted us.
People should listen and talk about this soundtrack more. I know I'm coming across as pretentious but I'm surprised no one talks about this album when it comes to James Horner.
It has a very haunting and intense feel to it. Some of the tracks make me feel like I'm on a journey of self-reflection.
Horner works best with strings and piano, he uses both of them to their full capacity and in abundance.
The strings are absolutely beautiful and the piano notes compliment them excellently. The icing on the cake has to be the usage of female vocals.
He resorts to some cliched Chinese instrumentation but I'm not complaining as they do not have a major role to play and when it's there it fits quite well (Mei Ying's Kiss, Ancient Chinese Medicine).
The best part is that Horner reinvents his music and there is a certain sense of new style to it and it is clearly evident in some of the action/fun scores (Hard training, Hans Kung Fu, Looking for Mr Han Jacket on and Jacket off).
During the latter, Horner doesn't go full action but resorts to some strings and references to add a sense of victoriousness (Final contest, Tournament time) which makes it amazing if you listen to the album as a whole.
Some of the filler tracks are alright at best while the others are beautiful and very melodic.
There is a reference to Avatar in one of his tracks (backstreet beating). However, I genuinely feel that it is a great soundtrack to listen to when you need to reflect, study or write or in general have a good listen.
Some Individual tracks that caught my attention
Looking for Han, Hard Training - Both of these tracks show Horner at his creative best. I actually could not believe Horner pulled this off.
It's very catchy, fun and has a sense of adventure to it. The beats and percussion is spot on giving a playful feeling (Looking for Han) while also giving an action feel (Hard training).
The Lunchroom - It starts off with a low flute-like sound and has some traditional percussion-based instrumentation. It's a very beautiful and peaceful listen, Nothing special, yet beautiful. Suddenly, the tune gets haunting to accommodate the scene in the movie.
Han's Kung Fu - is a very good action score that is not your typical Horner score.
It has a feeling of tension and some pacey beats and percussion.
The journey to the spiritual mountain - Starts by giving a sense of adventure and transitions to something very haunting and reflective. The female vocals gave me shud
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Their music is powerful, intimate, soft, emotional, and warm. They give me a sense that life will get better. I cry to these themes lol. I'm pathetic. Here, take a listen; they'll give you a peace of mind:
James Horner (fanmade version) - https://youtu.be/4acdGAVxPRg
Danny Elfman - https://youtu.be/_jD6SoXMNy4
James Horner (official version) - https://youtu.be/FBoMmsnt0O4
https://youtu.be/yHecfJydu1Q
Haven’t watched this movie all the way through since it came out in 1983.
Saw something similar about Hans Zimmer so I thought it would be nice to know about James Horner too. Anyway, my top three tracks are:
1 - For the love of a princess (Braveheart)
2- Take her to the sea Mr Mudroch (Titanic)
3- My Family is my life (The mask of the Zorro)
Honourable mentions: Rose (Titanic), The Ludlows (Legends of Fall), Pure spirits of the forest (Avatar), Journey to the spiritual mountain (Karate kid 2010)
In the extras of the DVD release of Aliens (1986), composer James Horner describes how he composed his way into hospital for the movie, causing damage to his back because he 'embodied' the tense music he was writing for the movie.
Horner then said that he afterwards got some training to make sure that the tension would be in his music for future commissions, and not in his body, though he didn't explain much about this process.
I have been thinking about this the last ten days, as I've been intermittently laid up with a mouth ulcer so painful that I'm unable to do my job (writing articles about AI and machine learning).
First I would rest a day, and the mouth ulcer abated. Then the next day I would be all 'Right! Time to get back to it'. And I'd get back to it. The following day, the ulcer would be back, and I'd be laid up again, consumed with the pain.
This happened four times before I finally realized that every time I would work for more than an hour, I would resurrect the mouth ulcer for a full 24 hours afterwards.
And it made me realize what my work (that I love!) is doing to my body; the coffee, the competitiveness, the inner spur to achieve...all these seemed like good things to me, and I love it when it's going well, and I'm doing good work and getting results.
Yet, the fact that I have this temporary Litmus test in my mouth makes me realize the hammering I am giving my body, just seated and writing and engaging in 'useful' stress.
I'm currently forcing myself to lie down and just watch movies and TV all day. I've put my web browser back on just to post this, but more than twenty minutes even of online activity seems enough to re-provoke the mouth ulcer (it's going down, and I have medication, and plenty of the appropriate vitamins, etc.).
I hope to start work again next Monday, so long as the ulcer is completely gone by then (since it can rise back up like a mustard seed).
Anyway, I wonder if anyone here has done as James Horner did, and found a way to do excellent work and 'keep the tension' in the work and not the body...? If so - how? It seems to me that without some kind of 'killer instinct', the best work is hard to achieve.
This is a classic score that a lot of people have been hoping for a proper release for a long time, and it appears that the full Intrada 2 disc set from last year has been recently uploaded to most of the major streaming sites as well as for download on Amazon and Apple.
https://open.spotify.com/album/2mgkd00677MkIIw09g0kss?si=WjxrGHZASpCb9Kop9Ui4Ew&dl_branch=1
https://music.apple.com/au/album/the-rocketeer-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/1568022973
https://www.amazon.com/Rocketeer-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/dp/B095JHKS6H
