Favorite Movie Soundtrack / Score?

[Olgar Shiverstone]

We've had favorite movies and favorite trilogies, how about soundtracks and scores?

To keep from the only answer being John Williams, I'll give my top 5:

1. Howard Shore, Lord of the Rings
2. John Williams, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
3. Basil Poledouris, Conan the Barbarian
4. Ennio Morricone, The Good, the Bad, & The Ugly
5. John Williams, Raiders of the Lost Ark

Honorable Mention: Daft Punk, Tron Legacy

 

[MarkB]

I really like the Wrath of Khan soundtrack by James Horner, just because of the way it uses the duelling Kirk/Enterprise and Khan/Reliant themes to almost narrate the course of the space battles.

 

[Mannahnin]

I tend to use "score" to refer to composed original (usually orchestral) music for a film, and "soundtrack" to refer to collections of songs used in a movie, whether original or pre-existing. Conan vs. Singles, for example. Though I know those aren't really the proper definitions. They're useful colloquially, though.

1. Howard Shore, Lord of the Rings
2. John Williams, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
3. Basil Poledouris, Conan the Barbarian
4. Ennio Morricone, The Good, the Bad, & The Ugly
5. John Williams, Raiders of the Lost Ark

I'm not sure it's possible to top this list, though obviously music is subjective.

One 21st century dark horse I like to bring up is the score to The Lives of Others, by Gabriel Yared and Stephane Moucha, which is just wonderful and one of the rare ones to stick with me like those by immortal composers like Williams and Morricone.

Another which I think may grow on people over time is Ludwig Göransson's score for The Odyssey, which I also really loved and appreciated for not using a traditional orchestra.

 

[jdrakeh]

Krull. Score by James Horner.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

"Singles," and it's not even close.

 

[Tonguez]

Superfly (1972) Curtis Mayfield provided a sophisticated Greek Chorus timed to provide moral contrast to the movie protagonist's actions. The Soundtrack is better than the movie itself

 

[Marc Radle]

Oh! I am a HUGE fan of great movie scores, so this is a topic near and dear to me!

Here are my top 5, in no particular order:

1. Howard Shore, Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. John Williams, Star Wars Original Trilogy
3. Hans Zimmer, Pirates of the Caribbean
4. Michael Giacchino, Lost
5. James Horner, Braveheart

Honorable Mention:
Basil Poledouris, Conan the Barbarian

 

[overgeeked]

Movie soundtracks.
The Crow.
Dark City. Especially the Anita Kelsey tracks.
The Mask.
Ghost in the Shell.
Nightmare Before Christmas.

Movie scores.
Conan the Barbarian.
Raiders of the Lost Ark.
City of Lost Children.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
The Rocketeer.

 

[Richards]

Wendy Carlos' A Clockwork Orange, with all that lovely, lovely Ludwig Van.

Oh, and the soundtrack to John Carpenter's The Thing.

Johnathan

 

[cbwjm]

Transformers 1986 has some music that I often listen to, soundtrack went harder than anyone at the time would have expected, even taking the original opening soundtrack and going full on rock and roll with it. Stan Bush's Dare and the The Touch are both classics.

Otherwise, not sure which soundtrack is my favourite but I know which movies had some tracks I enjoy. Pirates of the Caribbean, Jurassic Park, star wars (episode 1 duel of the fates is epic), basically anything by John Williams. I recall owning the 5th element soundtrack so maybe that was a favourite at the time.