Yes i agree,lately for every five average scores he makes one really good one.But you also have take in account what he is dealing with.
We are talking extreme pressure,contract obligations and limited amount of time,plus being a composer means you have to reinvent your work every time,using your imagination to make something out of nothing.
Its not an easy job,as a matter of fast its very hard.
Lots of hype indeed,but that goes generally for the whole movie/music business lately.
He has an impressive catalogue,even if you dont count his latest work,the guy is a great story teller and a magnificent song writer.

 

Yes, that's a job description of being a motion picture composer. No time and extreme demands.
That's what put me off working in such industry.

 

My choice would be:

"The power of one"

 

Crimson Tide was the one that started by interest in Zimmer My "first love" so to say, haha.

The Thin Red Line is a masterpiece, and unlike anything else. We used to play that one in the background with a friend while playing good old D&D pen and paper RPG, and the music was perfect for making the mood for those fantasy worlds. It was years before I finally saw the film. I must say, it's one score that I like much more on it's own than in the film. Not many scores are truly like that.

 

Cool thread in a while
Voted for interstellar and Pirates.

 

Last edited: Jul 17, 2016

Broken Arrow

''The Journey-Kopano Part III'' Tears Of The Sun

​

 

Thanks Ed,wanted to see how people rate his scores.

 

this is the only memorable thing that "The Frame" has ever written. All of his film work is forgettable bombast or forgettable dirge. Or both, if u ever watched Interstellar. Those uber-wanky, endless fucking 90s pad swells from Pearl Harbor still haunt the nightmares of anyone who has functioning ears. He' very much belongs to the "I got a synthesizer for Xmas" school of muzak

 

Ok seems like Gladiator is the nr. 1 choice here,with Pirates of the Caribbean and Interstellar as second and third favorite.
Couldnt add all his scores due to the limited number of options to vote for.

 

I also want to choose 'Man Of Steel' as my second choice because the theme was better than the whole movie.

 

What puts me off, is my severe lack of talent !!!

 

John Barry was (always will be ) My favourite

Barry Gray a VERY close 2nd.


Apologies for the 3 separate posts. I would have put them all together but I'd needed to have used multi tasking skills that I'm just not cut out for.
In fact only yesterday someone was asking for advice on Mastering and I had about 30 or so points typed out. I got sidetracked and wiped out the lot.

 

Last edited: Jul 25, 2016

Should have added Man of Steel instead of Madagascar or the Fan,
Cant edit any more.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jul 25, 2016

What i like the most of Zimmer's talent is the ability to take a nice score (lately made by others) and orchestrate it in an epic way and having those experiments synths etc.I like those gladiator and pirates themes but i can't compare them to the innovative sounds from dark knight,inception and the instrumentation of black hawk.

 

That's OK it wouldn't have won anyway:P

 

Even though your observations are pretty brutal, for some reason, I found myself laughing uncontrollably. Especially the line about "nightmares and functioning ears". Classic, man. There are so many big screen composers that are overrated. The list is too long to recount here.

 

UHE Zebra has an add on called The Dark Zebra,its great.
Zimmer`s sound designer(if im not mistaken?) created these sounds for him as they were used by Zimmer himself in the Batman trilogy and Inception.
https://www.u-he.com/cms/118-tdz-news

 

HZ was always ahead of other composers/sound designers(sound wise).
Check out this track from Days of Thunder.
Powerful drums and synths.
Synth sounds very similar to the bassy one in Inception and Batman.
This score is from 1990,although Intrada released it recently as a complete score with more than 20 tracks,its unbelievable how good it is.
Hit 4:25 (coles introduction)
Also listen to (5:13)Let me Drive,(7:48) Car buillding, (42:13) Victory Lane,(43:33) Main Titles-Featuring Jeff Beck on the guitar.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jul 25, 2016

David Coverdale ft Hans Zimmer and Jeff Beck.
Lyrics sound even more important today in these crazy times.
The Last Note of Freedom.

Here I am, burnin' man,
Singing the song of my open soul.
Will time pass me?
All my dreams a heaven knows.

I don't wanna be cheated,
I can't go on, in a world where love is beaten.

Rise up burnin' man,
Seize the wild take command.
Days of thunder see me shine,
All my dreams turn out fine.

I know the suffering will end, my friend,
When the last note of freedom is run throughout the land.
I know the hateful will burn,
When the last note of freedom is heard throughout the land.

I know the fear of dying,
Heard it from a meltdown blast.
I know that lord have mercy,
It soon will pass.
I know it.
I don't wanna be cheated,
I can't go on, in a world where love is beaten.
I can't go on.
Where love is defeated.
Can't go on.

(Solo!)

I know the suffering will end, my friend,
When the last note of freedom is run throughout the land.
I know the hateful will burn,
When the last note of freedom is heard throughout the land.

I know the fear of dying,
Heard it from a meltdown blast.
I know that lord have mercy,
It soon will pass.

We need love.
We gotta want it so bad.
We need it now,
So run for it fast.

I know it,
And the world will be cheated.
I can't go on, in a world where love is defeated.
I know it.
I can't go on.

No, no, no , no, no, no, no
Where love is defeated.
Can't go on, in a world where love's defeated.
Defeated.
No, no, no , no, no, no, no
No, no, no , no, no, no, no

 

Jesus, I heard most of this topic when I was held in Gitmo!

... your observations are pretty brutal... There are so many big screen composers that are overrated

I'm not sure that "brutal" is fair? Honest? I didn't even know people (musicians no less) rated him! I just tried 2 think of, from memory, one of Teh Frame's main themes. I would urge anyone not in his immediate family (like von Steyr) to try the same. Even for a composer (one who could be considered slightly hack and derivative like John Williams) it was fairly easy 2 recall much of his work. With Youtube prompting, I could only recall the Pirates main theme.

I dunno, i guess he doesn't have the balls to be simple (effective), or the wit to allude to more complicated emotions. But if u need something quick and (perenially) in fucking D-Minor (the saddest of all keys) that sounds a bit like a hastily-cobbled synth demo, he's ur guy! We need lists to emphasise this!