Descent [CD-single]

Descent [CD-single]

Track Listings
Disc: 1

1. Descent

Disc: 2

1. Descent [Decoder Remix]

Tracks:

Excerpts From: Pee Wee's Big Adventure
Excerpts From: Batman
Excerpts From: Dick Tracy
Excerpts From: Beetlejuice
Excerpts From: Nightbreed
Excerpts From: Darkman
Excerpts From: Back To School
Excerpts From: Midnight Run
Excerpts From: Wisdom
Excerpts From: Hot To Trot
Excerpts From: Big Top Pee Wee
Excerpts From: The Simpsons
Excerpts From: Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Jar
Excerpts From: Tales From The Crypt
Excerpts From: Face Like A Frog
Excerpts From: Forbidden Zone
Excerpts From: Scrooged

Customer Reviews:

Great compilation - and that's just the first half........2005-09-14

I first got this on cassette in the summer of '94 and listened to it every day, drawn by its thematic range and compositional depth. And that was just side-one.

Elfman pioneered the sound that drives today's movie adaptations of comic-books and darker-themed children's stories. Side-One kicks things off with a rollicking, hyper-cartoonish theme from the first Pee-Wee movie - the one where Pee-Wee searches for his beloved bike. Elfman's theme contains layers of different rides - on tightropes, highways, in the middle of a NASCAR rally - which rudely yet melodically crash into each other.

The Batman entry actually contains several pieces - the opening credits, the extended sequence in the cathedral and the climax - which show Batman's darkened extreme at its "Frank Miller" best. (Dir. Tim Burton couldn't sustain the mood in the next sequel, and the franchise took a turn towards the camp of the TV series with the next 2 movies.)

The theme for "Dick Tracy" is perhaps the most romantic on this disc, a quality that surpasses the theme's comic-book origins, but ends on an ironic note that's pure Elfman.

"Beetlejuice" (opening & closing credits) gives Elfman's childish ID a chance to stretch its legs, or in this case, slam-dance.

"Nightbreed" is an enigma wrapped in a dark mystery, and that's just Elfman's score. Elfman's work on this movie is as good as the movie wasn't, having a more powerful narrative than the script - easily the best track on the entire disc, one likely to exceed the movie in its dose of chills.

"Darkman" doesn't quite rise to the occasion, though the score may be hobbled by the movie itself, which seldom surpassed one of the many "Batman" clones of the early 1990's. "Darkman" (the movie, I mean) excelled as a parody of many comicbook staples (the wronged hero, the relentless villain, the scientific breakthrough with just one flaw), but not enough to escape being largely anonymous. Within those constraints, it's still a moving if scary piece.

When is Elfman not like Elfman? When he was in the mid-late `80's and scored "Back to School" (A Rodney Dangerfield vehicle) and "Midnight Run". Horns in "School" bring it closer to Elfman's over-the-top style, while "Run" sounds like a love-theme for the run-down, out-of-the-way parts of America that seldom appear in Elfman-movies. "Run" is a fun score for a fun movie - it's nothing like Elfman's previous work but it perfectly captures the on-the-road-without-a-map craziness of the movie.

To this day, I don't know why I never ventured to Side-two, but it's irrelevant. Even half this disc is worth it

The best of Elfman!!!.......2005-09-05

I was obsessed about getting this CD right from when I heard about it. I found it at the library and was so excited about it, and it didn't let me down. In fact, it was a lot better than I expected. It's a fun and creepy (strange mix, but it really works!) collection of Danny Elfman's film and television soundtracks. The first track, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, is probably my favorite. Also, I really like Batman and Wisdom. Batman is creepy and dark, and Wisdom is just weird, in the best possible way.
I'd recommend this to anyone who likes film music, or everyone who is even the tiniest bit an Elfman fan. It's amazing!

Great Collection, A LIttle Too Eclectic.......2003-08-19

You should be able to tell from the movies and TV shows listed here whether or not you'd be interested in this collection. It's a little too eclectic for my tastes (hence only 4 stars) but better than volume 2. I think thatthe miscellaneous collected ites here along with the previously unreleased stuff should make this worth buying. Especially if you're a fan of Elfman's movie soundtrack work.

What Great Music.......2003-05-11

I fell in love with the music of Danny Elfman when Beetlejuice came out. There was something different about the music that he made. When Edward Scissorhands, and then Nightmare Before Christmas - I knew this man was a musical master. Its the verbal form of surrealism.

super.......2003-04-17

What a great CD. Danny's music is so original and inventive. this CD contains his pre 90's quirky, gothic music. it's all very well written and beautifully orchestrated. batman and darkman contain some really excellent long, dark, gothic cues that really take u away from reality. in my opinion no one, apart from howard shore, is as inventive and original as danny in the world of filmmusic. he far surpasses the repetitive works of williams or horner. buy this, and volume two, and keep supporting one of the greatest film composers of all time.ohh...and buy fellowship of the ring and two towers by howard shore....amazing work!

Average customer rating:

Another World
Yet another forgotten musical genius. Beautiful music
A Monument of Early Violin Music
An Inordinately Beautiful Recording of the Biber Mystery Sonatas
Hauntingly beautiful Baroque fare

Biber: The Mystery Sonatas

Manufacturer: Angel Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Biber: The Rosary Sonatas

ASIN: B00005UNXG
Release Date: 2002-12-23

Tracks:

Praeludium
Aria And Variations
Adagio
Finale
Sonata
Presto
Allamanda
Presto
Sonata
Courente
Double
Adagio
Ciacona
Praeludium
Allamanda
Guigue
Sarabanda
Double
Lamento
Aria
Adagio
Allamanda
Variatio
Sarabanda
Variatio
Sonata
Presto
Guigue
Double I
Double II
Sonata
Courente
Doubles I & II
Finale
Praeludium
Aria
Variatio 1 - 2
Variatio 3 (Adagio)
Variatio 4 - 5

Tracks:

Sonata
Surrexit Christus Hodie
Adagio
Intrada
Aria Tubicinum
Allamanda
Courente
Double
Sonata
Gavotte
Guigue
Sarabanda
Praeludium
Ciacona (Aria)
Guigue
Sonata
Aria
Canzona
Sarabanda & Double
Passagalia

Customer Reviews:

Another World.......2007-03-29

Biber heartily embraced gypsy tavern violin virtuosity long before Dvorak or Brahms. This is magnificent music full of elegant and earthy contrasts. The sonatas that employ unconventional tuning open up new worlds of harmonic splendour, yet the crowning piece, the Passagalia, which does employ conventional tuning but isn't part of the Mystery Sonatas, is thankfully included as the final work of a two disc journey that soars the heights of heaven and plunges the depths of human experience. I have the original release of this music with its sumptuous and informative booklet: booklet or not, these are exceptional performances combined with an exceptional recording.

Yet another forgotten musical genius. Beautiful music.......2007-03-04

Heinrich Ignaz von Biber was a wonderful composer. The so-called "Mystery Sonatas" also known as the "Rosary Sonatas" have an aire of perfection rarely seen in classical baroque music. Biber has been all too conveniently forgotten and I am not sure why. As with Erik Satie (another of my favorite, yet unknown composers) Biber has managed to shrink in to the darkness of history while his legacy of work should be celebrated.
His work is haunting, exhilarating, enriching and somber. His music conveys a sadness and a joy that few musical works are able to convey. Biber's understanding of orchestration, the workings of instruments in compliment of each other, is astonishing to me. He had an ability, a gift, that only God himself could have given him. If you don't believe in God, then just accept that he was a prodigy of the finest degree and his work was sent from a deep place inside that immediately crawls inside of you. I, personally, call it a religious musical experience.
Absolutely stunning music.

A Monument of Early Violin Music.......2006-12-17

This version of Biber's stupendous ROSARY SONATAS (this is the more correct translation of the original German title) is marked first of all by the stunning virtuosity and graceful lyricism of violinist John Holloway. Simply to master the notes of these sonatas is an immense task in itself: playing scordatura is sort of like ventriloquism, since you are miming a certain set of notes while other notes are sounding. To have worked up these difficult pieces into an intensely expressive, dramatic experience, as Holloway has, is breathtaking. Then there is the variety of continuo instruments arrayed for each sonata. In various tracks we hear organ, harp, lute, violone, lirone (a gamba viol sounding to these ears somewhat like a harmonica) and regal (a small, portable organ with a rasping, nasal sound, used to great effect in the "Crowning with Thorns" sonata). Finally, the fact that this recording is priced far lower than any of the other major versions (Goebbel, Manze) makes it doubly attractive. I was disappointed by the scarcity of program notes, understandable given the budget price: we are not informed, for example, of the scordatura tuning of the individual sonatas, and I would have liked a more detailed discussion of the pictorial and symbolic elements used by Biber in the sonatas. However, the notes include a link to Virgin's website promising "a more detailed introduction".

Perhaps it's best not to take in this colossal work all at once. For a sampler, try tracks 14-15 of CD 2 (the "Assumption" sonata) and hear some of the most buoyant, joyous violin playing in existence. You'll be instantly mesmerized.

An Inordinately Beautiful Recording of the Biber Mystery Sonatas.......2006-09-22

Much can be written about the difficulty of this music form the 17th Century by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber - and other reviewers here have given superb descriptions of those complexities - but the end result of works such as this is in the response it produces in the listener.

Biber wrote these Mystery Sonatas to represent the three sets of mysteries from the Bible: the Birth, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection of Christ. The recording is by Tragicomedia with Davitt Moroney and John Holloway in this impeccably performed recording of impossible music: the music is impossibly difficult to play and impossible not to draw and emotional response from the listener. Some may find this version a bit dry sounding, but for this listener that only enhances the other-worldly sense of the music.

The sixteen sonatas are named as follows: Part I: The Annunciation, The Visitation, The Nativity, The Presentation, The Finding in the Temple Part II: The Agony in the Garden, The Scourging of Jesus, The Crowing of Jesus with Thorns, Jesus carries His Cross, The Crucifixion Part III: The Resurrection, The Ascension, The Descent of the Holy Ghost, The Assumption of our Lady, The Crowning of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Passacaglia. With the simplest combination of instruments Biber was able to elicit the feelings of each of these mysteries.

For those who love Period Music this recording is a complete success and a treasure to own. For those who have yet to step into this ethereal world, this is a very fine beginning. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, September 06

Hauntingly beautiful Baroque fare.......2004-02-23

I own three versions of Biber's Mystery (Rosary) Sonatas, and a fourth recording (by Manze) of other Biber sonatas along with the famous passacaglia that concludes the set. All of the versions (the other two being by Rheinhard Goebel on Archiv and Suzanne Lautenbacher on VOX) are beautiful, because the music is. Perhaps the passacaglia is the most beautiful 8 to 12 minutes (depending on performer) in the entire musical library. I rate the Holloway version as the best in terms of the passacaglia. The pacing seems perfect (Goebel is fast and almost dancelike, Manze quite slow but with more flare) and is about the same as that of Lautenbacher, the latter being performed on a modern instrument with her usual good taste and limited vibrato. Certainly the Holloway version has the most delicious ending to the passacaglia, when the minor key resolves to a major that brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it. The Goebel and Manze versions both have a decorative flourish on the final note that, while beautiful, detracts in my opinion from the simple beauty of the key resolution. How two reviewers could give this recording only a single star is beyond comprehension! Even if one grants that Moroney is not as "lively" a harpsichordist as the performers on the other versions, my response is, "So what?" Maybe if you're a harspichord fanatic you drop the ranking from five stars to four, but the work is overwhelmingly a violin piece with harpsichord ACCOMPANIMENT. To downgrade the ranking of the entire recording to one star completely ignores the fantastic beauty, technical perfection, and haunting introspection of Holloway's performance on the violin. Besides, it's not as if Moroney actually is "incompetent." The descrition I would use is "tastefully understated, recognizing that this is primarily a violin recording." In contrast to the fun Goebel version and the good but more yeoman (yeoperson?) Lautenbacher version, Mr. Holloway plays with greater sensitivity but still with plenty of guts (not referring to the strings here) when drama or a discordant double-stop are called for. Again, ALL of the versions I've heard are great, and I'm tempted to buy yet another, but I always recommend the Holloway to my friends.

Average customer rating:

Some of his best work
Angels in America - Always Great!
GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Celestial Xpression of Thomas Newman
Amazing work

Angels in America
Thomas Newman
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000TAZB0
Release Date: 2003-12-02

Tracks:

Threshold of Revelation - Thomas Newman
Angels in America (Main Title) - Thomas Newman
Lesionnaire - Thomas Newman
Ellis Island - Thomas Newman
Acolyte of the Flux - Thomas Newman
Umdankbar Kind - Thomas Newman
The Ramble - Thomas Newman
Ozone - Thomas Newman
Pill Poppers - Thomas Newman
Quartet - Thomas Newman
Solitude - Duke Ellington
Bayeux Tapestry - Thomas Newman
Spotty Monster - Thomas Newman
Mauve Antarctica - Thomas Newman
Her Fabulous Incipience - Thomas Newman
The Infinite Descent - Thomas Newman
A Closer Walk With Thee - Lewis, George & His Ragtime Band
Broom of Truth - Thomas Newman
Submit! - Thomas Newman
Plasma Orgasmata - Thomas Newman
Delicate Particle Logic - Thomas Newman
The Mormons - Thomas Newman
Prophet Birds - Thomas Newman
More Life - Thomas Newman
Black Angel - Thomas Newman
Garden of the Soul - Thomas Newman
Heaven - Thomas Newman
Bethesda Fountain - Thomas Newman
The Great Work Begins (End Title) - Thomas Newman
Tropopause - Thomas Newman
I'm His Child - Zella Jackson-Price

Amazon.com

Playwright Tony Kushner adapted his sprawling meditation on the AIDS epidemic of the 80's into an equally epic, Mike Nichols-directed HBO miniseries. But while Thomas Newman's score spans that dramatic landscape with rich stylistic diversity, the young champion of the daunting Newman family musical tradition (his father was Fox legend Alfred; his brother fellow film scorer David; his cousin songwriter/composer Randy) never lets musical bombast get in the way of compelling emotional introspection. Anchored by a delicate wind and string-driven main theme that's as mature as it is bittersweet, Newman proceeds to explore some of the same adventurous, rhythmically restless soundscapes that characterized his work on Erin Brockovich and American Beauty. But that typically moody experimentalism is leavened elsewhere by moments of neo-baroque choral exultation, smokey 30's jazz (courtesy of George Lewis and his Ragtime Band and Duke Ellington) and even flashes of gospel and orchestral post-modernism, all of it served up with a masterful sense of irony-free restraint that's become one of the composer's most refreshing hallmarks. It's easily one of Newman's -- and 2003's -- most accomplished and satisfying film scores. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews:

Some of his best work.......2007-06-12

Most of us know Thomas Newman for his work on his more famous films like American Beauty, Shawshank Redemption, Scent of a Woman and Meet Joe Black, but this soundtrack to the HBO film is right up there with his best pieces of work. The whole album goes through various feelings, shades and emotions, the best tracks for me being Mauve Antarctica and Tropopause. If you're a Thomas Newman fan then you need this in your collection.

Angels in America - Always Great!.......2007-01-03

Love the film, the play and the soundtrack. If you find the topics of Angels in America interesting, thought-provoking and warm to your heart, you will LOVE this. As a man battling HIV, I find it outstanding. Thanks Amazon, for offering all the Angels in America products.

GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2005-11-01

There are not enough stars on the selection for me to say how good this CD is! It is so beautiful and like classical music. I listen to it all the time!

The Celestial Xpression of Thomas Newman.......2005-08-31

...well, to only write a review is not enough to describe the impressive sound in this record. it is necessary to listen to it. Thomas do not scrimp in efforts to assemble this wonderful musical work. in fact, each one of the melodys, agreed, and instruments (mainly those of wind and strings) even are perfectly connected and performed in litle some more of 70 minutes of music. Transitions from the quietness of a melody to the loudest human chorus, may be hear is this soundtrack (tipically from the original Serie, that I have too in DVD). But everything is not perfect. Must be had included the Henry Mancini song: "Moon River" contained in one of the most sentimental scenes in the film/serie (that i think at least). In a plus, if you are an lover of this kind of productions, it does not have to lack in its collection the "Angels in America Soundtrack". Buy and enjoy it..!

Amazing work.......2004-11-28

After working in film scoring for the past decade, Thomas Newman has finally achieved his masterwork with the soundtrack to "Angels in America." It is a culmination of the different techniques and themes he has worked on in the past, along with a completely new orchestral sound that perfectly underlies the depth and scope of the film. It is a very rare score in that it conveys all the happiness, pain, pessimism and hope that Kushner's work is all about, simply through the nuanced way Newman has written and arranged it. It is an incredibly entertaining score that stands well on its own. A must for any fans of Newman or the film.

Average customer rating:

Excellent. Some of Samhain's best
The final descent for Samhain
NOT THE FINAL DESCENT
Not Samhain's best, but pretty damn good!
this cd needs to be rereleased

Final Descent
Samhain
Manufacturer: E-Magine Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Unholy Passion
November-Coming-Fire
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777: I Luciferi

ASIN: B00005AVNJ
Release Date: 2001-05-08

Tracks:

Night Chill
Descent
Death... In Its Arms
Lords Of The Left Hand
The Birthing
Twist Of Cain
Lords Of The Left Hand 2nd Version
Trouble
Possession

Customer Reviews:

Excellent. Some of Samhain's best.......2005-11-28

Every Samhain album is solid gold, but Final Descent may be my favorite. It fuses what was best about Samhain and what is best about Danzig into one unholy beast! It has Danzig's good production values and a heavier Danzig-esque sound while keeping the some of Samhain's general "vibe" and attitude. In my opinion Lords of the Left Hand, Death...In It's Arms, Descent, Night Chill, and Unholy Passion (that infectious as hell drum beat!!) are among Danzig's best stuff ever. I don't get why this album is routinely snubbed in favor of the albeit excellent Initium and November-Coming-Fire. If you like anything Danzig has done, outside of Misfits (casual misfits fans who don't like danzig's followup stuff, AVOID!) pick this up! I COMMAND YOU!

The final descent for Samhain.......2003-02-10

Like others have said before, this is not Samhain's best work. The original version of "Final Descent" contained the first five tracks on this CD and the rest was filled out with the "Unholy Passion" EP. But now "Unholy Passion" is available on its own (and is worth picking up) and this CD is rounded out with 4 demos, 3 of which ended up becoming Danzig (the band) songs. To me, most of this sounds like it could be a Danzig demo or outtake CD more than a Samhain album. Any one of these songs, with a little work, could have ended up as a Danzig tune. In fact, original Danzig guitarist John Christ is featured on 4 of the first 5 songs (and original Danzig bassist Eerie Von was the only constant member of Samhain, aside Glenn Danzig himself). Danzig himself plays drums, guitar, keyboards, and sings on the first 5 songs, too. As for the new demos tacked on, I believe Steve Zing and Damien are playing with the band, but I'm not sure. There are no credits on this re-release.

This one is really for Samhain and Danzig enthusiasts. Anyone interested in getting into Samhain is best off starting anywhere else.

NOT THE FINAL DESCENT.......1999-11-17

If you've found previous SAMHAIN works to be to your liking then you won't be disappointed with FINAL DESCENT. This album doesn't diviat from the other SAMHAIN releases & actually contains the whole EP-UNHOLY PASSION (tracks 6-9 & 11 were released as the EP UNHOLY PASSION back in 85 but in different versions). FINAL DESCENT is well worth the price escpecially if you don't have the UNHOLY PASSION material tacked on the end of your INITIUM tape (released in 86) or on the CD version from 87. Other than those repeat songs the other 6 tracks had never been released before. Look forward as well to the much anticipated SAMHAIN BOX SET which will be packed with all previous releases, unreleased material (SAMHAIN recorded most of DANZIG's first album, let's see how they sounded before RICK RUBIN got ahold of them) & a live video!

Not Samhain's best, but pretty damn good!.......1999-10-09

If you love Samhain as much as I do, You'll really dig the tracks Descent, andDeath...In It's Arms. Lords of the Left hand and The Birthing are pretty cool too.

this cd needs to be rereleased.......1999-08-22

if anyone has this cd. you could make a lot of money bootlegging it

Senku - Piano Music by Composers of African Descent

Average customer rating:

An impressive collection, stunningly performed
Colorful, Creative, Brilliant!!!

Senku - Piano Music by Composers of African Descent

Manufacturer: MSR Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000WZY5O
Release Date: 2003-10-21

Tracks:

Ukom
Lulu
Egwu Amala
No.1
No.2
No.3
Scherzo
Deep River
Troubled Water
Variations on an Egyptian Folksong
Prelude: Night
His Song
Honey: Humoresque
Barcarolle: Morning
Dance: Juba
Earthbeats, Op.22

Album Description

William H. Chapman Nyaho, a Ghanaian American, was schooled in Ghana, and later received degrees from St. Peter's College, Oxford University, Eastman School of Music and the University of Texas at Austin. He also studied at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève. Following a four-year residency as a North Carolina Visiting Artist, Chapman Nyaho taught at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He was the recipient of the 1998 University of Southwestern Louisiana Distinguished Professor Award and the 1998 Acadiana Arts Council Distinguished Artist Award, and held the Heymann Endowed Professorship.

Chapman Nyaho's performing experience includes recitals in Africa, Europe, North America and the Caribbean. He has performed as soloist with orchestras across the southern United States. Among his engagements, which include performing chamber music, Nyaho performs regularly as duo pianist with the Nyaho/Garcia Duo which has released a compact disc titled "Aaron Copland: Music For Two Pianos". Chapman Nyaho has been featured on radio and television broadcasts in Ghana, Switzerland, and National Public Radio in the USA. He developed and hosted The Bach Show for the classical radio station KRVS in Louisiana.

Chapman Nyaho is presently an independent scholar, teacher and concert pianist residing in the Pacific Northwest of the USA. He is a regular guest clinician at colleges and universities, giving lecture-recitals and holding workshops advocating music by composers of the African Diaspora. He also serves as adjudicator for national and international piano competitions.

Customer Reviews:

An impressive collection, stunningly performed.......2004-04-07

Since others have addressed Nyaho's stunning performances, I'd like to address the collection itself. These are not merely works by composers who happen to be of African descent; they are inspired and informed by ethnic influences. Joshua Uzoigwe's (Nigeria) "Talking Drums" juxtaposes the rhythmic and melodic characteristics found in African master drumming on the Ukom, Iyalu and small slit-drums, and are based on the Ukom scale and harmonic system. Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson's (USA) "Scherzo" is inspired by Chopin, blues and jazz. Gamal Abdel-Rahim's (Egypt) "Variations on an Egyptian Folksong" is compelling and intricate.

But don't get me wrong...these are not intellectual exercises in nationalism. Each piece stands on its own musically, and the variety here makes this a compelling and wonderful CD from start to finish.

Colorful, Creative, Brilliant!!!.......2003-12-03

Every now and then a recording comes along that is as important as it is unique.

This is such a recording.

I approached this CD with a desire to explore a back road of art music, in the hopes that I might find a hidden gem of inspiration, or even a piece to perform myself (I am also a pianist). What I found instead was a superhighway of talent and creativity that has somehow remained overlooked by the "mainstream" art music world.

Pianist Nyaho Chapman presents us with an astonishing variety of compositions, ranging from the more conservative "In The Bottoms Suite" of Robert Nathaniel Dett or Margaret Bond's Troubled Water, to the more abstract "Talking Drums" of Joshua Uzoigwe or Earthbeats of Gyimah Labi. Mr. Chapman's performance of Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson's Scherzo surely proves him as one of the more brilliant pianists on the circuit. The piece is as relentless as it is physically demanding. And, like the other works on this disk, it is recorded with clarity and precision.

I highly recommend this CD to anyone wishing to enrich their musical life.

The Descent
Average customer rating:

So-so movie, but great soundtrack!

One of the best reent horror scores!

If you loved the movie...

Great horror soundtrack for a great horror film

One of the best recent horror scores!

The Descent
David Julyan
Manufacturer: Cooking Vinyl
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Lady in the Water

Abominable

ASIN: B000EYK29G
Release Date: 2006-05-29

Tracks:

Opening
White Water Rafting
Nightmare In The Hospital
The Mountains
Drive To The Cave
Into The Cavern
Down The Pipe
The Tunnel Collapses
Crossing The Crevasse
Cave Paintings
Sarah Sees A Crawler
The Bone Dam
Reunited With Juno
Sarah Makes A Torch
Sarah Finds Beth
The Lair
Juno Climbs
The Crawlers Attack
The Descent
Alone

Album Details

The Film Won Best Director and Best Technical Achievement Awards at the British Independent Film Awards in 2005, and was also Nominated at Ifta Award (Irish Film and Television) that Same Year.

Customer Reviews:

So-so movie, but great soundtrack!.......2007-02-25

Even though I didn't think the movie was that great, the soundtrack is!
it just goes to show, that a great soundtrack can come from a mediocre movie. I've had people compliment the music when I play it, and when I tell them it's from the Descent they can't believe it!

One of the best reent horror scores!.......2007-01-31

The track titled "The Descent" is one of the most amazing, awe-inspiring pieces of music I've heard in years. The score is simeltaneously haunting, brooding, mabient when needed, scary, action-driven, and beautiful. Highly recommended.
I'll be looking for more of Mr. Julyan's work in the future.

If you loved the movie..........2007-01-28

then this will make the perfect addition to your "The Descent" collection.

"Down the Pipe" was the first noticeable track when I saw the movie.

"Cave Paintings" when you get to a certain point in the track reminded me of John Carptenter's "The Thing".

"Crawler's Attack" is a fun track too - I can see this track being used for future movie trailer tracks.

"The Descent" track is the 'theme' of the film.

Great horror soundtrack for a great horror film.......2007-01-25

If you loved the movie, or are a fan of horror movies, you have to get this soundtrack. Julyan brings a subtle terror to this score, which is present in almost every track, especially in "The Lair". Overall, this a very eerie soundtrack, and I encoruage any horror fan to pick it up.

One of the best recent horror scores!.......2006-10-03

I urge any horror fan who has an interest in film scores to pick this one. It's great and eerie! Sets the tone that was present throughout the movie.

Average customer rating:

This is just awful - I was suckered by the excellence Reich Remixed
a huge letdown...
The Ever Recyclable Glass
Pop music with only a hint of Philip Glass
Sound Effects

Glasscuts, Philip Glass Remixed

Manufacturer: Orange Mountain Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Symphony No. 6, Plutonian Ode
Philip Glass : Orion
Roving Mars
Philip Glass : Symphony No. 8
Philip Glass : Les Enfants Terribles

ASIN: B0009Y8I0G
Release Date: 2005-09-13

Tracks:

Another Look at Harmony
Piano Etude No.2
Saxophone Concerto
Tirol Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Etude No.1
Houston Skyline
Dance from Act II, Scene III of Akhnaten
Etude No.5
Channels and Winds
Why Are We Here?
Thin Blue Line
Saxophone Concerto
2nd Perception of Light, Moon, Mist and Rainbow

Album Description

It has been said that Philip Glass is the `Godfather of Trance' and evidence of that is found in the remixes that a number of young producers/musicians began sending to Orange Mountain Music as early as 2002. These unsolicitated mixes became the genesis for Glasscuts, Philip Glass Remixed (release date Sept 2005). This CD presents a very diverse program without any one dominant style. The artists are Androoval from Uruguay, Robert Bell from Australia, Brian Bender from the US, Hector Castillo from Venezuela, Taylor Dupree from the US, Sebastian Escofet from Argentina, impLOG, from the US, Woody McBride DJ ESP from the US, Marcos Romero from Uruguay, Kate Simko from the US, Dietrich Schoenemann from the US, Luciano Supervielle from Uruguay and Dave Wesley from the US.

We invite you to immerse yourself in Glasscuts, Philip Glass Remixed with open ears to experience a Glass that is reminiscent of the past, but with an adventurous contemporary twist.

Customer Reviews:

This is just awful - I was suckered by the excellence Reich Remixed.......2006-07-23

I just assumed that this would be as equally wonderful, and that Glass' music would be even more translatable into the "trance" genre, or whatever the kids are calling it nowadays.

Sadly, it seems that this was done by junior high kids with a computer and Acid Foundry or whatever that cheap software is.

No creativity, and, oddly enough, not even any real sense of Glass' music still being in the "remix".

I am a huge fan of Glass; I am not a fan of this kind of music, but since I am also a fan of Reich and since, to my total surprise, I am quite enthralled by the Reich Remixed CD, I figured I really needed to give this CD a shot.

What a waste. This is totally amateur, but without the occasional genius that some amateur can manage. Strictly, totally, and banal amateur yuckiness.

a huge letdown..........2005-12-21

Yeah, it's fun and easy to beat up on remix albums since there are so many mediocre and terrible ones out there... but, wait: here's a great idea... let's give the pioneering, repetitive, trance-like minimalist music of Philip Glass the remix treatment... after all, Reich: Remixed was fabulous... surely the same kind of creativity can be unleashed in this project... But alas, something went terribly wrong here... these are mostly unbearably monotonous, grating, overlong, amateurish productions by remixers who don't seem to even GET (or enjoy?) Glass' music. A real missed opportunity and a huge letdown... ick...

The Ever Recyclable Glass .......2005-11-20

This is just another insipid release from the Orange Mountain label, which keeps putting out anything with the Philip Glass
name on it - even if it is flagrant garbage. Several releases have been issued which about 90% have the same old songs, just performed by different people. In fact, Philip Glass has become more banal and bovine in the last few years because he knows anything with his name on it will sell to the trendy modernistic music crowd. Overall, I believe it is time to stop
recycling Glass.

Pop music with only a hint of Philip Glass.......2005-10-28

This music should be categorized under the "popular music" category, not "classical". All the pieces have an incessant drum beat typical of popular music. This is unlike any other Philip Glass CD that I have and I have about a dozen of them. Where can I get rid of this?

Sound Effects.......2005-09-24

When this album was announced, I was quite looking forward to it; before hearing anything, I compared it to the wonderful work done on "Reich Remixed" which takes some daring approaches to Reich's music and does an excellent job (with a few exceptions) of being new and exciting. Unfortunately, Glass Remixed isn't as daring or as good.

Much of the music is overshadowed with Glass's music and themes. It's as if someone was playing the original music in the background and sound effects were added to it. Throughout listening to Remixed, these sound effects got in the way of the music and I ended up digging out the original pieces and listening to them. However, there are some excellent pieces of interpretation contained within: Etude #2, the Tirol Concerto, and the Saxophone Concerto stand out (especially the Saxophone Concerto since I don't care for the original piece).

The other mark against this effort is all the work had to come from the Orange Mountain Music catalog due to ownership complications. This is not to say there aren't outstanding pieces in the catalog, but this restriction limits most of Glass's seminal works from being considered.

As a huge Glass fan, I was mildly disappointed, but I applaud the effort and the concept behind it.

Average customer rating:

"The blizzard goes on but still they must fly"
Where Eagles Dare / Operation Crossbow

Where Eagles Dare/Operation Crossbow

Manufacturer: Film Score Monthly
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Movie Scores | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

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The Battle of the Bulge: The Original Score by Benjamin Frankel
A Bridge Too Far: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack [Enhanced CD]

ASIN: B0006SSR9W
Release Date: 2005-01-04

Tracks:

Main Title
Before Jump/Death of Harrod
Mary and Smith Meet/Sting on Castle/Parade Ground
Preparation in Luggage Office/Fight in Car
Booby Trap
Ascent on the Cable Car
Death of Radio Engineer and Helicopter Pilot
Checking on Smit/Names in Notebook
Smith Triumphs Over Nazis
Intermission Playout
Entr'acte
Encounter in the Castle
Journey Through the Castle, Pt.1
Journey Through the Castle, Pt.2
Descent and Fight on the Cable Car
Escape from the Cable Car
Chase, Pt. 1 & 2
Chase to the Airfield
Real Traitor
End Playout

Tracks:

Main Title
Flying Bomb
Funeral/Spitfire/Photograph
Peenemunde
Reitsch's Flight
Parachute Training
Up the Rhine/Air Raid
Nora/Frieda
Erilk/Promises
Confession/Execution
Farewell/Nora's Death
Secret Base
Research/Rocket Launch
V-2
Launching Section
Power House/One Minute
Countdown/Switch R-9
End Title
Waltz [Source Music]
Polka [Source Music]
Accordion Band [Source Music]
More Accordion [Source Music]
March [Source Music]
Tango [Source Music]
Beguine [Source Music]
Slow Waltz [Source Music]
Fox Trot [Source Music]
Polka [Source Music]
Ascent on the Cable Car [Original Version]
Descent and Fight on the Cable Car [Original Version]

Customer Reviews:

"The blizzard goes on but still they must fly".......2007-05-14

I'm sure you remember the opening sequence. A lone German transport aircraft flies past snow-capped mountains. The credits appear, in a blood-red Gothic font. We hear martial drums that slowly gather in volume, and then with a loud blare the orchestra starts playing a grandiose melody that sounds as cold and forbidding as the scenery. Where Eagles Dare is a suspenseful, exciting film, and the music really lifts it up.

This is a two-disc release of Ron Goodwin's soundtrack, put out by Film Score Monthly, and available both here and on their website. It is a limited edition, but it is not too expensive, and it is still in print. It sounds great on headphones. The second disc has Goodwin's music for Operation Crossbow, I film I have not seen. I have only skimmed through the second disc. There is some source music from Where Eagles Dare at the end of the disc, and two alternative takes, which have different percussion arrangements to the original tracks. The album has several pages of annotations and a little biography of Ron Goodwin. I like to smell the booklet.

The music for Where Eagles Dare can be divided into two halves. The first half of the disc has the most variety, and is the easiest to listen to in one sitting. The second half of the disc suffers from having too many minor variations of the Main Theme. It is a wonderful Main Theme, though. It consists of a dramatic brass fanfare followed by a loud Morse code freak-out towards the end. Both of these elements are used throughout the score, although with a "suspense theme" that appears most purely in the "Intermission Playout". "Before Jump / Death of Harrod", "Death of Radio Engineer", and "Smith Triumphs over Nazis" are quiet and cold and mysterious, with churning strings and rumbling kettle drums. A lot of the music reminds me of John Williams' score for Raiders of the Lost Ark; perhaps Steven Spielberg asked Williams to channel the still-living spirit of Ron Goodwin.

Whereas the first half of Where Eagles Dare has lots of suspense, the second half of the film consists of gunfights and chases and explosions, and the music reflects this. Unfortunately the second half of the disc is a bit numbing, because it is basically a rehash of the music from the first half of the disc. The two elements of the Main Theme are repeated several times, with only minor orchestral variations. "The Chase", "Journey Through the Castle" and "Escape from the Cable Car" are all cut from the some cloth, and they don't add anything to the music you have already heard. The only real deviations are "Chase to the Airfield" and the slower "Descent and Fight on the Cable Car". "Chase to the Airfield" is a variation of the Main Theme, but it is a creative variation rather than a slightly shorter repeat. You could easily condense the album down to half an hour of core musical material.

Still, this is nitpicking - you don't have to listen to the album all the way through (it's one and a quarter hours long). With the right sequencing it is a cold, atmospheric piece of music that barely sounds almost forty years old.

Where Eagles Dare / Operation Crossbow.......2005-10-01

Ron Goodwin is one of my very favourite composers and the release of two of his recordings is definitely cause for celebration. These are original recordings thus the sound quality betrays its age. Nevertheless, it is highly recommended if only for what I believe is the very first release of the Operation Crossbow soundtrack. You can almost feel yourself strapped in the tiny cockpit of a V-1 manned flying bomb, or tremble at the terrible sight of the first V-2 ballistic missile liftoff. If anything, Operation Crossbow should be the subject of a new recording (Where Eagles Dare already has).

Average customer rating:

Metalfest Milwaukee Compilation
Chthonic , Beyond Therapy , Forest Of Impaled , Grey Skies Fallen , Lunatics On Parole , Autumn's Descent , From The Depth's , Self Inflicted , Sarcophagus , and Nihilist
Manufacturer: NightFall/Terrorizer Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000LUMNVS

Product Description

1.Intro-Chthonic 2.Floated Unconsciously in The Acheron-Chthonic 3.Fingers-Beyond Therapy 4.Thy Mighty Servant-Forest Of Impaled 5.The Purest Form-Grey Skies Fallen 6.#3-Lunatics On Parole 7.Disillusioned-Autumn's Descent 8.Separation-From The Depth 9.Live Alone-Self Inflicted 10.The Dark Lord Of Impurity-Sarcophagus 11.Destroyer-Nihilist 12.Shattered-Chillwind 13.Endless Decay-Baghead 14.Fall Into Dilemma-Defiled 15.Nomadic Hordes Of Pestilence-Avulsion 16.Moronic Inclinations-Avulsion 17.Slave Of Darkness-Metal Militia 18.To Rise Above-Cromlech 19.Numb-Insurrection 20.Exhumed Remains-Cephalic Carnage 21.Cum Sh**ing Whore-Anal Blast 22.Dark Shades Of The Astral World-Forest Of Impaled

Average customer rating:

Bruce and the ring.
Game of Death:5, Night Games:0
"film music genius and composer extraordinare ~ John Barry"

Game of Death/Night Games

Manufacturer: Silva America
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Enter the Dragon
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Enter the Dragon
Rocky Balboa: The Best of Rocky
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

ASIN: B0000CD5HC
Release Date: 2003-10-07

Tracks:

Game Of Death: Main Title/Set Fight With Chuck Norris
Game Of Death: Will This Be The Song I'll be Will Singing Tomorrow
Game Of Death:Three Motorcycles/Stick Fight With Santo
Game Of Death:Billy's Funeral Dirge
Game Of Death: Garden Fight
Game Of Death: Billy And Ann's Love Theme
Game Of Death: The Big Motorcycle Fight
Game Of Death: Goodbye Dr. Land
Game Of Death: Will This Be The Song I'll Be Singing Tomorrow
Game Of Death: Game Of Death-End Title
Game Of Death: Stick Fight/Main Title(Reprise)
Night Games: Descent Into Decadence
Night Games: The Lesbian Tango
Night Games: The Wet Spot
Night Games: Water Sports/The Dominatrix's Waltz
Night Games: Phantom Of The Orgasm
Night Games: AfterPlay

Customer Reviews:

Bruce and the ring........2006-11-06

The basic track sound is great (I'm referring to game of death) but, differently from the orignal version you can listen in the Bruce Lee's movie, they added the sound of a bell (it souds like a triangle) which rings along all the traks and impede you to really enjoy them!

Game of Death:5, Night Games:0.......2005-03-21

Well...to keep it short & sweet, I've been a Bruce Lee addict since the 2nd-3rd grade, and while Game of Death wasn't a REAL Bruce Lee flick, the motion picture score really made up for the absence of Lee in 20th Century Fox's version of Game of Death, keeping the focus on the action as opposed to the obvious snippets from past Bruce Lee flicks and the UNCONVINCING double.LOL! But as it relates to the 2003 soundtrack reissue, it's all about tracks 1-11, I love the Game of Death theme, the fight themes(particularly the stick fight with Dan Inosanto), and WILL THIS BE THE SONG I'LL BE SINGING TOMORROW is addictive for life. Beyond the 1st 11 tracks are tunes from Night Games, a movie I've never seen or heard of...so I seldom listen through all of those. However, the ONE reason I didn't give the album a 5 is because they left out the Bruce Lee yell that was supposed to start the opening track. But overall, the GODeath sdtk is a classic.

"film music genius and composer extraordinare ~ John Barry".......2003-10-11

There is no disappointment in this latest performance from John Barry ~ "Game of Death" and "Night Games", both on Silva America label with brilliant remastering by Rick Clark. The composer John Barry arranged and conducted this masterful score from not to be forgotten Bruce Lee film. Both films can be relived from a passionate and compelling soundtrack that reaches down into the pit of your very soul, as only Barry can do!

Entire album has all the ingredients within every cue to recapture the moments from the screen to the listener at hand ~ found this score to be haunting and deeply suspenseful. Barry's score will transport you into significant areas of your mind which transcend into loving and exciting feelings through his signature style. Sonic quality is outstanding ~ just take a listen and be enticed with "WILL THIS BE THE SONG I'LL BE SINGING TOMORROW", both instrumental and vocal tracks are worth a "film-score-buffs" attention and then some.

Opening track is a delicious composition "THE LESBIAN TANGO", from "Night Games", great solo violinist takes you into a latin ballroom filled with beautiful ladies that will make your heart flutter ~ followed by "WATER SPORTS/THE DOMINATRIX'S WALTZ", typical Barry counterpoints give you a sensation of drifting into the stratosphere ~ let the waltz begin as main theme counter melodies bring harmonious orchestra sections into full swing...gotta love it!

Hats off to Silva America, James Fitzpatrick and David Stoner (album release supervisors), Reynold da Silva (executive producer) and of course the legendary composer, conductor and producer ~ John Barry.

Total Time: 68:08 on 17 Tracks ~ Silva America 1154 ~ (10/07/2003)

Music: