Outstanding Original Score - best movie soundtracks

[Dilettante]

Posted by Ankle Biter (here)
Some really good ones so far, and drawn from the not so obvious choices too.. which is great for two reasons. 1 i'd never have got to hear some of these so thanks for introducing something new to me and maybe others. 2. I can cherry pick some of the easy and more familiar choices.. but still solid picks and worthy of this thread imo.

Yes! Vangelis nailed the Blade Runner soundtrack. One of my favorites from the soundtrack doesn’t appear in the film, I don’t think:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=4DedR5APQDk

That generation of synthesizers was amazing, still respected to this day. I think it’s the perfect balance between an organic and synthetic sound. Analog was so awesome, but digital is cheaper. Everything is so cheap now.

Hans Zimmer nailed the 2049 soundtrack, but I will always be curious to know what Johann Johannson’s scraped material sounded like. And although this is not a soundtrack, Johannson’s Fordlandia is stellar and fits this thread well:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=mP-kKRCWwxg

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to that track in particular. Instant goosebumps!

[madrotter]

Funny, I was thinking about posting the Blade Runner soundtrack, got it on vinyl, same with the Quest for Fire soundtrack (fantastic movie too!) and the 2001 Space Odyssey soundtrack

Maybe an Indonesian movie soundtrack then? This one starts with some jaipong rhythms and then goes into a krontjong jaipong song from the great krontjong singer Waldjinah from Surakarta in Central Java Indonesia plus you've got Aan Karnamah, a kliningan/jaipong singer from the city where I live, Bandung in West Java.....

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=xsFqhyX2IBY

[Richter]

James Bond
If there's one theme song everyone in the western world has at least heard once in a lifetime it's the one of James Bond.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=U9FzgsF2T-s

[Vicus]

You only live twice

First time I saw this movie I was too young to understand the lyrics, the music hunted me,later on as experienced man it hammer me...

All the others Bond movies got an special lyrics theme about the plot, but this one ...is something like a warning for all your life...

What dream has you follow or not...specially the ones you don't followed ...for whatever reason and then hunted you...

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=hs8uYxTJ530

[ExomatrixTV]

• Escape from New York 1981

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=xxeDmjgSS1I

Composers: Alan Howarth/John Carpenter

• Conan the Barbarian 1982

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=WKVt-pjZp7E

Composer: Basil Poledouris

• Total Recall 1990

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=cK7e-xdSYVY

Composer: Jerry Goldsmith

• All three bring back many memories ... and studied all composer's oeuvre/repertoire!

cheers,
John 🦜🦋🌳

[T Smith]

A B-movie (nonetheless entertaining) -- but absolutely fantastic soundtrack:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=AeWfyXx2c34

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeWf...4qDs9Iu8U0uVKw

[delfine]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=a7Dh5QoXv2c

[ExomatrixTV]

• "V" Main Title & Final Battle Theme (1984-1985):

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=loPojPH68IA

Composer: Dennis McCarthy

• Main Title Terminator 2 Theme (1991)
  

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=wGhDx6Lyemc

Composer: Brad Fiedel

• The Island (2015):

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=3NlXtjp0vqs

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zC0mmfEOkoE

Composer: Steve Jablonsk

What most (Science Fiction) Blockbuster Movie Themes have in common is that you feel it wants to tell a story, then when you see the story everything makes sense ... and vice versa ... if you read the story first, then listen to the movie theme without visuals ... This ability of the composers have, is a true unique gift for humanity ... something A.I. would not easily accomplish (if ever).

Imagine giving A.I. a story (access to a brand new 100+ million dollar movie script, not yet made) and asked to compose music that fully resonates with the storyline, that humans can relate too and feel an emotional connection ... Would A.I. be able to do so that in a satisfactory way for the majority of people listening? ... I personally think not ... I will ask this question for Grok 2.0 & DeepSeek if they know examples they suppose to succeed in this or not. brb.

LLMs (large language models) that A.I. uses is just 1 aspect of more advanced A.I. road to A.G.I. & A.S.I.

All depends on what you are aiming at ... LLMs (Large Language Models) that big A.I.'s are using are an extension, a repeated, enhancing & amplifying of Weaponized Mass Psychology and Grok 2.0 will even admit that it is the case ... but Grok 2.0 is NOT "defined" solely as an "advanced auto-complete search engine" using LLMs as its bases that is only when you are not using parameters nor giving it a mode how it should behave. It has a deep complex cognitive self-correcting mechanism that can be triggered by asking/framing the right (more intelligent) questions ... so that it comes "alive" so to speak, and then it becomes fascinating to sharing different insights & perspectives ESPECIALLY on any mass psychology & crime psychology topics.

The advanced cognitive part of A.I. admits that what it lacks the most is the EXPERIENCE of the words that are used ... as language is created AFTER the effect (after the fact) ... they never experienced themselves.

When a human uses language it knows it is after the effect/fact, but with music in my view, something different happens ... You can read the notes on a muse scoresheet that are also made AFTER the effect (just like language is) but the moment you absorb the music that is played in real time on multiple different instruments you are not only FEEL & SENSE the emotional connections to it in the "eternal present" aka "eternal now"... you fuse & process what you just heard (which becomes the past) in to the now and already sense what is to come but not happened yet, this anticipation knowing what is coming is never 100% exact, so you have a fusion of conceptual energies with actual energies feeling small rewarding effects of this processing music that A.I. never does ... on top of it all music transcends all cultures, all humans recognize: sorrow happiness, struggle, happiness, excitement, anger, suspense, kindness etc. etc.

So when all that happens is real time ... there is another layer added to the music and that is your own personal story/journey of hardship, loss, sorrow, grief, highs & lows, missing certain things deeply etc. etc. When not fully "processed", music can have very dismantling powers to let go of (emotional/mental) barriers humans use not to feel things anymore ... mostly because of trauma. But somehow music has this power ... that power is not easy to create if you do not get it of all I just explained here ... and even if super advanced A.I. Cognitive reasoning skills can see the logic what I just said, it knows it is handicapped to really know the difference, and sadly enough, lack real empathy & nuances.



cheers,
John Kuhles 🦜🦋🌳

[Richter]

Eyes Wide Shut

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=LaIdHUx7FQg

[JackMcThorn]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=xeQUxNf3G6k

[delfine]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=X6ymVaq3Fqk

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=fhNrqc6yvTU

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=L2e9acreKmQ

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=PIAXG_QcQNU

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=DaqDuZkNuPw

[madrotter]

One of the great crime-jazz composers, Henry Mancini and his best known song I guess, the opening song for the tv series Peter Gunn, and if I'm not mistaken this came out in 1959....

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Emg_6ANjWzo

Lalo Schifrin's Mission: Impossible, came out in 1966....

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=O07WucFwdq8

[madrotter]

And Riz Ortolani, he also did the score for horror flicks Cannibal Holocaust and Mondo Cane....

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=bdryBE3MxFc

[Lunesoleil]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=WY-5R1UD4M8

Success French 🏅 1980

[Michi]

Thanks to all for the impressive picks!

@ ExomatrixTV

"The Island" I count as one of the best eye-opening movies.

Here' another great score "The Sum Of All Fears" by Jerry Goldsmith:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=eqG-fZ5u2Qc

and a vocal version "If We Could Remember" by Yolanda Adams:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=frRAzrL2EN8

[Vicus]

Music styles

There are so many as humans emotions,in all grades from ascendance and/or descender moods ...

Specially melody's that are repetitive, inducing trance sort of...

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=VBxDL6b2PUs

This movie (Polar) is something like Tarantino on steroids...but with another pace...it works too!

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=VA6bVJ1vw_A

From David Lynch R.I.P ,movie don't need forded explain...all about Dark in the shiny places...

And this music(and dance scene) is soooo... sensual that you turd want to know how old I'm... No WAY...

PS: David Lynch got a very good taste for woman in all his filmography...

[Richter]

Blondie - Call Me (American Gigolo, 1980)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=i4DI71X6PeM

[JohanB]

I found this movie and specifically this song "unforgettably" haunting

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=RyJB6yiBWpU