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Post by drbill on Jun 23, 2015 22:08:06 GMT -6
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Post by b1 on Jun 24, 2015 2:04:58 GMT -6
Ah, this is sad to hear. James put out a great many scores. He will be missed.
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Post by b1 on Jun 24, 2015 2:31:43 GMT -6
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Jun 24, 2015 7:32:00 GMT -6
A sad day indeed, we have lost a great one.
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Post by mobeach on Jun 24, 2015 9:32:33 GMT -6
I'll always remember him for the first two Star Trek movies. RIP. (edit: 2nd and 3rd.)
Breaveheart was a great one as well.
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Post by swurveman on Jun 24, 2015 12:56:53 GMT -6
Sad. RIP to a great talent.
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Post by wiz on Jun 24, 2015 15:11:52 GMT -6
RIP
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Post by donr on Jun 24, 2015 18:22:51 GMT -6
From James Horner's Wikipedia page referencing the "Titanic" soundtrack:
>Director James Cameron originally intended Enya to compose the music, and in fact put together a rough edit of the film using her music as a temporary soundtrack. After she declined, he approached James Horner. Their relations were cold after their first cooperation in Aliens, but the soundtrack of Braveheart made Cameron overlook it. Horner composed the soundtrack having in mind Enya's style; Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebø performed the wordless vocals on the soundtrack.
Horner knew Sissel from the album Innerst i sjelen and he particularly liked how she sang the song Eg Veit I Himmerik Ei Borg ("I Know in Heaven There Is a Castle"). Horner had tried 25 or 30 singers and, in the end, he chose Sissel to sing the wordless tune.[4]
Céline Dion, who was no stranger to movie songs in the 1990s, sang "My Heart Will Go On", the film's signature song written by James Horner and Will Jennings. At first, Cameron did not want a song sung over the film's ending credits, but Horner disagreed. Without telling Cameron, he went ahead and wrote the song anyway, and recorded Dion singing it. Cameron changed his mind when Horner presented the song to him. "My Heart Will Go On" became a worldwide smash hit, going to the top of the music charts around the world.[5][6] "My Heart Will Go On" also ended up winning the 1997 Academy Award for Best Original Song as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1998.
Other artists were invited to submit songs for the movie including contemporary Christian artist Michael W. Smith. He mentions in the liner notes to the song "In My Arms Again" from his 1998 album Live the Life;[7] "Inspired and written for the movie Titanic, grateful for the opportunity to send them a song; grateful it landed on this record."
For the choral background of certain tracks, Horner made use of a digital choir instead of a real one; after the orchestral music was recorded, Horner personally performed the synthesized choir over a playback of the recording.[8][9] The idea behind using electronics, rather than a real choir, stemmed from Horner wanting to avoid a 'church'-like sound.[10]<
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I like and respect "My Heart Will Go On." It's just about perfect for the placement and usage, and holds up as a free space pop tune. Of course it helps to have the movie promoting it, after your heart's been broken watching the Titanic sink, and the movie being so successful at the box office. And I'm sure the song, and Celine Dion's performance, made it the hit it was/is.
How lucky is Michael W. Smith? He got a song onto that album, and it sold 30 MILLION COPIES. That breaks the previously lucky record
AFAIK of Ralph McDonald, who got "Calypso Breakdown," an instrumental, on the "Saturday Night Fever" LP. Only in America.
I respect Celine Dion as singer, especially in the "Diva" category, (but it's really material dependent with her, either she or her husband has chosen some bum tunes,) and let me further sully [only here, in this context,] my BOC reputation by saying I generally like how Hellen Reddy sang.
(I don't at all like 'genre' segregation of music. My only criteria for music is, would I like to hear that song again?)
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It's bum that James Horner is gone. Last light plane crash I remember was John Denver's. I miss him too, as nobody has replaced what he brought to the pop music party.
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Post by ionian on Jun 25, 2015 19:42:27 GMT -6
Sad to hear it.
If there's anything that history has taught us is that musicians and small planes don't mix. It's so weird, like a week ago, after a gig, a sax player said exactly that to me after a gig while we were having a discussion about Ritchie Valens which is why it's the first thing that popped into my head.
Always a shame to see a life cut short, although in this instance he did tempt fate. But I guess it's better to die younger but living a full life rather than dying old and not having done anything.
His early scores always always blow me away. Star Trek II still amazes me...really daring and creative. Later on I think he got a lot less hungry and took a lot less chances. Most of his later scores lost a lot of that creativity and edge and just all sounds like first drafts pumped out without thought. If I listen to Braveheart or Titanic and then listen to Star Trek II, I can't even believe it's the same composer. All of his early stuff - Brainstorm is fantastic. Krull is huge and fun. Aliens is creepy as hell.
Or maybe he just got stuck in that bad trap where your own success limits you because people only hire you to repeat what you've done and not take chances. Kind of how all Hans Zimmers stuff sounds like he just copies himself endlessly (there's one piece in Pirates of the Caribbean that sounds like it was just taken out of Gladiator and pasted there) or every Danny Elfman score is just endless roots and fifths on a piano's low octave in quarter notes. Once you get known for a sound, you can end up locked into that.
Vince DiCola, who scored Rocky 4 and the Transformers movie and does all those bold "hero" sounding synth scores said in an interview that after the success of Transformers and Rocky 4 that's all people wanted him for was that sound and he wanted to prove he was more than that but no one was interested and so his career dropped off. If he had it to do over again, he would just pump out endless "hero" sounding synth scores instead.
Either way, it's a shame he's gone. Who knows - maybe one day he would have had enough of directors asking for the "Horner" sound and maybe he would have just exploded and instead written one more crazy, cutting edge score the likes of which no one would have seen since Wrath of Khan!
Is it me, or is James Cameron really huge or James Horner really tiny? That picture in the article is crazy...
He definitely made a mark in film composer history, that's for sure, and my CD collection is the better for it.
RIP James...
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Post by matt on Jun 25, 2015 20:08:44 GMT -6
and let me further sully [only here, in this context,] my BOC reputation by saying I generally like how Hellen Reddy sang No worries Don, you are safe here with us - and anyway, your reputation precedes you: Back on topic, I deeply respect anyone who has the skill and drive to score film, and become a massive success on top of it all. Just might have to start a Horner film festival tonight here at Saint John Studio. What a talent! |
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Jun 26, 2015 4:35:26 GMT -6
Sad to hear it. If there's anything that history has taught us is that musicians and small planes don't mix. It's so weird, like a week ago, after a gig, a sax player said exactly that to me after a gig while we were having a discussion about Ritchie Valens which is why it's the first thing that popped into my head. Always a shame to see a life cut short, although in this instance he did tempt fate. But I guess it's better to die younger but living a full life rather than dying old and not having done anything. His early scores always always blow me away. Star Trek II still amazes me...really daring and creative. Later on I think he got a lot less hungry and took a lot less chances. Most of his later scores lost a lot of that creativity and edge and just all sounds like first drafts pumped out without thought. If I listen to Braveheart or Titanic and then listen to Star Trek II, I can't even believe it's the same composer. All of his early stuff - Brainstorm is fantastic. Krull is huge and fun. Aliens is creepy as hell. Or maybe he just got stuck in that bad trap where your own success limits you because people only hire you to repeat what you've done and not take chances. Kind of how all Hans Zimmers stuff sounds like he just copies himself endlessly (there's one piece in Pirates of the Caribbean that sounds like it was just taken out of Gladiator and pasted there) or every Danny Elfman score is just endless roots and fifths on a piano's low octave in quarter notes. Once you get known for a sound, you can end up locked into that. Vince DiCola, who scored Rocky 4 and the Transformers movie and does all those bold "hero" sounding synth scores said in an interview that after the success of Transformers and Rocky 4 that's all people wanted him for was that sound and he wanted to prove he was more than that but no one was interested and so his career dropped off. If he had it to do over again, he would just pump out endless "hero" sounding synth scores instead. Either way, it's a shame he's gone. Who knows - maybe one day he would have had enough of directors asking for the "Horner" sound and maybe he would have just exploded and instead written one more crazy, cutting edge score the likes of which no one would have seen since Wrath of Khan! Is it me, or is James Cameron really huge or James Horner really tiny? That picture in the article is crazy... He definitely made a mark in film composer history, that's for sure, and my CD collection is the better for it. RIP James... Tell me about it , for years I looked out my window at the lake where Otis Redding Lay ! |
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