Look what I just found :)

Sami, everyone knows that the best movie sound track is John Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13"... best ever!

This is my favorite from the soundtrack:


and the main theme:

I have been thinking which is the best soundtrack I can remember and I picked one from a TV show, Perry Mason! I know it's old fashioned but what can I do ? I like it!

Yes, Sami, "Assault on Precinct 13" is a movie from the 70's. It's the famous director, John Carpenter's first movie. If you didn't know, he, as well as being a great director, also wrote a lot of the music for his films:

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

They remade "Assault on Precinct 13" a few years ago:

Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)

... but it's no where near as good as the original. I wish they'd stop remaking good movies

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about The Master music either. On the one hand it's absorbing and emotive, but on the other hand it's crescendo is disturbing and painful. It certainly created a mood for me. A few moods actually. Brought to mind the music from Hitchcock and the old Hollywood noir films, where the music was just as integral to the film for creating an atmosphere as the plot, dialogue, cinematography or acting.

A few words which come to my mind about the music, but in no particular order: melancholia, sanctuary, hypnosis, discord, release, suspense, danger, discord, psychosis.

Thank you Sami for writing this; it really gave me a lot of food for thought and far more thoughts than can be condensed into a couple of paragraphs.


I get what you’re saying about the score telling a story, Sami: I think this is what I was hearing when I first listened to it, though I don’t really know what the story is. The word ‘love’ came to my mind at the time too, though I don’t think the score is a reflection of a conventional hearts and roses love. Music is such a personal thing, isn’t it? What one person finds happiness in another finds earache. This music is the score for a film though so in context ie: listened to with the film, will most likely be a different experience for me to listening to it on its own.



Joaquin's films, especially in recent years, do tend towards this, I agree. I don’t think Joaquin wants to get any messages across with his choice of films (except perhaps with ISH) but he chooses characters which allow him to explore these things. I think ultimately Joaquin is interested in what he can get out of it.



I am curious that you say serious composers didn’t want to be hypocritical so didn’t write happy music after the war. Are you saying that happier music produced at that time was hypocritical? I think I would tend to the idea that popular music after WWII came from a sense of relief that it was all over, that people could get on with re-building their lives and maybe even a sense of celebration that the war had been won. This music was maybe catching a mood of the time? Not sure that jazz and show tunes were the popular music in post-war Britain but I don’t think it was all doom and gloom either.

Maybe the jazz and show tunes after the war were manufactured to a degree – although not entirely because people have always made music and what comes after is surely influenced by or a progression of what has gone before? – and maybe also for good purposes because otherwise people would have fallen into deep depression because of their experiences and what the war brought. Kind of like a psychological ploy to lift everyone out of the horror and onward to better times. A novel I’m reading at the moment has this line in it: “I tried to persuade him to live from the depth of his wound rather than to pine away from the pain of it” which I think conveys what I’m trying to say.

The same kind of thing happened with the entertainers who entertained the troops during WWII I think. It was respite from what was happening and what they were facing; a re-connection to normal life; something to raise the spirits and keep them from cracking up. I’m not saying this is right or wrong; I’m just looking at it from a different angle. I haven’t studied music so these are just a few of my own thoughts but I’d be happy to hear your further comments from a musician’s perspective.

Anyway, I don’t know if you have ever heard of the ‘forces’ sweetheart’ (Dame) Vera Lynn, but since The Master is set in the war years and afterwards I thought I’d post one or two links to her famous tunes from that time. I wasn’t around during WWII or the post-war years but my grandparents have told me that these were the kind of songs they’d listen to amongst others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Drw4aZhdT8

http://www.youtube.com/w...R1tg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/w...s_QI&feature=related


Here’s a link to the playlist for The Master:

http://www.nonesuch.com/...ms/the-master-soundtrack


Here’s a link to a review of the music:

http://www.mtv.com/news/...k-johnny-greenwood.jhtml


Will you let us know your thoughts on PTA’s use of music in the film? I’d love to hear what you think of his choices and how they are used in context: if you are able to do this without revealing too much.

I've been busy listening to other things but next in my list is Jonny Greenwood's soundtrack .


If I'm correct that's the London Symphony Orchestra , playing

Edited by user Tuesday, February 5, 2013 1:10:59 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified