THE BIG ORCHESTRAL ACTION MUSIC THREAD!

[arthierr]

Hello everybody,

I'm starting this thread because my favourite type of music is, by far, big orchestral action music. By action I mean not only combat music, but also upbeat and fast-paced cues. I love the energy, the power, the intensity of this kind of music. It really boosts you up, and stands as a great challenge for composers. So I've decided to start a thread to share that with other people. And I'd also very much like to listen to your suggestions.

I only ask you 2 things :

-As much as possible please don't only mention your favourite cues, upload them, as I do myself, so that everybody can share the joy.

-The music must be orchestral, but a modern beat into it is also welcome (as in the Matrix Reloaded or recent James Bonds)

Here is a first selection of some action cues I have much appreciated to start with, I'll upload a lot more if this thread has enough feedback. And believe me when I say that I have truly rare wonderful gems to share with you.

Army of Darkness - 27 - Building the Deathcoaster

Atlantide - 16 - Just Do It

Cutthroat Island Complete (CD 1) - 09 - The Carriage Chase

Dinosaur Complete -11- Raptors - Aladar Meets The Herd

First Knight (Complete) - 01 - Night Battle

Johnny English - 08 - Parachute Drop

Krull complete score disc 2 - 08 - Inside The Black Fortress

Lady In The Water - 11 - The Great Eatlon

Powell & Gregson-Williams - Shrek - 14

Robocop - 15 - Showdown

Sahara - 01 - Ironclad

SeaQuest DSV - 02 - Preparing For Battle

Spy Hard - 08 - Track 8

Spy Hard - 23 - Track 23

The Fast and the Furious- Tokyo Drift - 02 - The Fast and the Furious- Tokyo Drift

The Matrix Revolutions - Complete Score - 08 - Sin, Toil, Extra Vermouth

The Never Ending Story - 06 - Bastian's Happy Flight

[Hidden link. Register to see links.]

As you can see, it's only western music this time. Next times I'll add eastern composers. Anime music contains countless superb cues in this genre.

Enjoy! And please allow me to enjoy yours.

Edit from the 10-01-2008:

This thread has much evolved since its debut. It has now become a thread devoted to orchestral music in general, not only action music (although I do prefer by far action music, it would be a pity to exclude great non-action cues).

Moreover, from now on you'll occasionally be able to find whole scores here, even though making personal selections of favourite music still stands as the main purpose of this thread. So if you have some orchestral scores you really enjoy and wish to share with other orchestral fans, please post them here because you can be sure it's a place where they will be much appreciated.

Thanks again to all the contributors who posted their wonderful music here, and let's continue to share some great music.

[UmbreChan]

Album: Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn OST - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]


Album: Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn OST - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]


Album: Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn OST - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]


Fire Emblem has some epic orchestral music. the stuff you uploaded is glorious, thank you so much!

they are very different to the ones you uploaded, but still orchestral, orz.

[prestonjelmet]

The Matrix Revolutions - Complete Score - 08 - Sin, Toil, Extra Vermouth

I don't see this track on the 2CD complete score. Is it an alternate track title?

[tangotreats]

Nice, very nice compilation! I don't particularly go for the beat stuff - Tyler, Mansell, etc, but otherwise I think all this is great. Good job on the Seaquest DSV and Army of Darkness -- two of my favourites and I didn't know anybody knew they existed!

I think you should make another rule though... That when you say "orchestral" music, you mean music "played by an orchestra" - not crummy synthesiser tracks...

prestonjelmet: That track is on CD1, track 8 of my 2CD promo album of Matrix Revolutions. I'd be interested to see what the tracklisting is on yours...

[diamondback]

thanks

[tangotreats]

Here are five of my favourites - all from Western movies again.

1. Lee Holdridge - Star Battle (Star Command - 1984) - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
2. Basil Poledouris RIP - Tango Urilla (Starship Troopers - 1997) - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
3. Jerry Goldsmith RIP - Breakout (Capricorn One, 1979) - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
4. Bruce Broughton - Chopper Chase (Narrow Margin, 1990) - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
5. Alan Silvestri - Clocktower Part 2 (Back To The Future, 1985) - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Enjoy

D

[arthierr]

Nice job, mates!

Of course I do prefer by far a real ochestra performance, but I have nothing against the fact of listening to some good synth music composed in an orchestral style : for instance Sakimoto's music or Motoi Sakuraba's last Star Ocean's scores.

Anyway it's not to me to decide what people upload. What I ask you is to remember some good orchestral action music you loved, that really moved you, that took you to the guts, and to upload it so that all of us can enjoy it.

[arthierr]

Oh! Another thing.

As much as possible please use the format I used :

Album - Track - Title

It's easier for sorting. But of course, on top of this you can also add Author and Date.

[tangotreats]

I have nothing against the fact of listening to some good synth music composed in an orchestral style : for instance Sakimoto's music or Motoi Sakuraba's last Star Ocean's scores.

*grumbles*

Fair enough... You'll only get real outta me though...

Anyway it's not to me to decide what people upload.

You seem to be placing rules and restrictions over just about every other facet of the process...

Oh! Another thing. As much as possible please use the format I used :Album - Track - Title It's easier for sorting. But of course, on top of this you can also add Author and Date.

There's no rhyme or reason to the way you laid out yours... Sometimes you've used Album Title - Track Number - Cue Title. Sometimes you've used Film Title - Track Number - Cue Title. Sometimes you've used Composer - Film Title - Track Number - and variants thereon.

Wouldn't you say it was more of a necessity, than an optional extra, to include the name of the poor sod who actually wrote all this wonderful music?

That said, if I contribute anything more to this thread, I will use your convention. Is this applicable to the filenames as well, or are you just interested in the way it is presented here? Because everybody likes these things differently anyway - the way you organise your stuff isn't the way I do or somebody else does - so invariably everybody will rename and retag everything the way they like it...

[arthierr]

*grumbles*

Fair enough... You'll only get real outta me though...

My english isn't good enough to understand this sentence...

There's no rhyme or reason to the way you laid out yours... Sometimes you've used Album Title - Track Number - Cue Title. Sometimes you've used Film Title - Track Number - Cue Title. Sometimes you've used Composer - Film Title - Track Number - and variants thereon.

Fair point (I've been a bit careless with Shrek), so I precise :

Album OR movie - Track - Cue Title

Wouldn't you say it was more of a necessity, than an optional extra, to include the name of the poor sod who actually wrote all this wonderful music?

You're right. I was only thinking to myself here because 95% of the time I know who composed what without having the information. But it's in fact important to mention the author because perhaps it's not obvious for most people who aren't hardcore score listeners.

[tangotreats]

My english isn't good enough to understand this sentence...

I meant that I would only upload things played by real people. Sorry!

You're right. I was only thinking to myself here because 95% of the time I know who composed what without having the information. But it's in fact important to mention the author because perhaps it's not obvious for most people who aren't hardcore score listeners.

So much music passes by and nobody ever mentions the name of the composer. It's absolutely awful. I think the composers are owed at least the honour of knowing their name has been mentioned. It also means that if somebody likes a piece, they might want to go out and search for more stuff by the same person.

[arthierr]

2. Basil Poledouris RIP - Tango Urilla (Starship Troopers - 1997)

That's an obvious choice. I've long hesitated whether I put this very one in my first selection or not (I initially chose 30 something). At the last moment I chose Robocop instead. I'm happy to see we think the same way!

[tangotreats]

Nothing wrong with an obvious choice - it's a very fine track. Actually, seeing Robocop (one of those masterpiece scores that really made me sit up and listen, and helped get me interested in film music) in your compilation made me think of other Poledouris scores, and then my mind just started playing Tango Urilla in its entirety... So I thought I'd add it to the pile.

I love the whole cue (well, I love the whole score) - when it bursts into that gorgeous fanfare at 1:44, it just puts a massive grin on my face, and the off-rythym brass interlude at 2:41 makes me jump up and conduct, every single time.

If you'd like to avoid the more "obvious" choices and go for less well known things, that's good too. I tried to make my selection a nice mix of obvious, (Starship Troopers, Back To The Future), not-so-obvious (Capricorn One), and pretty obscure (Star Command, Narrow Margin).

[Edit: Interesting story behind Robocop - for some reason Poledouris didn't conduct. The score was recorded in the UK by the Sinfonia of London (SUPERB orchestra) and was conducted by Howard Blake - a fine composer in his own right, and a very friendly fellow. I sneezed on him at a concert in London as he was leaving the podium and he turned round to me and said "Bless you!" Anyway, when he arrived for the session and saw the film he was involved with, he almost turned around and left, as he absolutely hated the film, hated violence in cinema - thought it was absolutely disgusting, bordering on pornography. He was persuaded to stay, and he eventually agreed to conduct the score - under extreme duress - on the condition that there was no playback. He conducted the cues as he wished to, ignored the click track, and almost pretended there was no film there at all. Even with that level of friction at the session, the score came out as one of Poledouris' best, and an absolutely FLAWLESS performance by the orchestra.]

[katie price]

Noooo! not neverending story, that's giorgio moroder, doesnt he only do electronic scores.

This thread is such an awesome idea. i will contribute by posting harold faltermeyer theme to beverly hills cop and wendy carlos music for clockwork orange.

Hahaha at spy hard tracks. i just watched that movie, i didnt notice it had orchestra score. does the soundtrack comes with weird al yankovic song and the indian desi song played from the car radio. if so could you post the indian song.

Brian tyler did some orchestra music for tokyo drift ?

By the way, i will be traveling to the future in my toaster time machine to retrieve new orchestrated film scores from jerry goldsmith, michael kamen, basil poledouris, georges delueres, nina rota, elmer bernstein, jerry fielding, bruno nicolai, malcolm arnold, ralph vaughan williams, angelo francesco lavanigno, alex north, bernard herrmann, les baxter, and max steiner.

ps. I was joking about posting those music, i was not joking about my time travelling.

[arthierr]

By "obvious" I didn't mean "easy", but "important", "naturally among the first to be chosen", "unavoidable"...

I also agree on the fact that this thread will help people discover new scores (starting by me!), including the obscure ones you mentioned.

[tangotreats]

Noooo! not neverending story, that's giorgio moroder, doesnt he only do electronic scores.

The crazy thing is, I actually enjoyed that cue too. I'm almost ashamed to say. The orchestral(ish) parts are by Klaus Doldinger.

i will contribute by posting harold faltermeyer theme to beverly hills cop and wendy carlos music for clockwork orange.

I love both scores dearly (I was blasting Axel F out of my car on the way home from work this evening) but I don't think even the broadest interpretation of "orchestral" could be applied to either of these. Axel F is 80's pop electronica, and A Clockwork Orange is experimental 70's synthesiser interpretations of (mostly) pre-existing classical pieces... (Except Carlos' stunning Timesteps piece... WOW...) [Edit: Timesteps, not Timescapes... I really need sleep.]

By the way, i will be traveling to the future in my toaster time machine to retrieve new orchestrated film scores from jerry goldsmith, michael kamen, basil poledouris, georges delueres, nina rota, elmer bernstein, jerry fielding, bruno nicolai, malcolm arnold, ralph vaughan williams, angelo francesco lavanigno, alex north, bernard herrmann, les baxter, and max steiner.

You've just listed almost all my favourite composers - and reminded me how bloody dreadful it is that they're all dead...

ps. I was joking about posting those music, i was not joking about my time travelling.

Can I borrow your time machine then? I have some things I'd like to do...

[arthierr]

Noooo! not neverending story, that's giorgio moroder, doesnt he only do electronic scores.

Hahaha at spy hard tracks. i just watched that movie, i didnt notice it had orchestra score. does the soundtrack comes with weird al yankovic song and the indian desi song played from the car radio. if so could you post the indian song.

Brian tyler did some orchestra music for tokyo drift ?

I red your reply several times and I really don't get what you mean...

When a music is played using a string ensemble, brass ensemble, woodwinds, some timpanis, harps... YES, it IS orchestral, even though synth or modern percs are added to the mix.

[Kreachure]

I LOVE this type of music too! Very nice idea.

I have a bunch of "orchestral action" songs in my playlist, so I'm gonna share the ones I think you'll like. Some of these have a definite "modern" feel, but they're all pretty much orchestral (as in performed by an orchestra). And action-ey too, obviously.

I'm sure my song list is going to seem pretty crazy because of all the variety; but please don't pay attention to the song names, simply listen to them. I guarantee you'll enjoy them if you like this style.


ORCHESTRAL ACTION MUSIC PACK!


(NOTE: some of these are personal edits and/or have names made up/modified by me, sorry )


1. Chrono Cross - Time's Scar (2:29)

2. Final Fantasy VIII - Battle Theme (Orchestrated) (3:45)

3. Star Wars Trilogy - John Williams - Hyperspace (3:47)

4. SWT - John Williams - The Asteroid Field (3:11)

5. SWT - John Williams - The Battle of Hoth (11:42)

6. Metallica - The call of Ktulu (Instrumental, S&M album ) (9:34)

7. Evangelion the Movie 1.0 - Shirou Sagisi - Battaille Decisive (4:44)

8. Neon Genesis Evangelion - Shirou Sagisi - Decisive Battle (2:21)

9. N.G.E. - Shirou Sagisi - The Beast (N.G.E.) (1:36)

10. Pokemon - Battle! (1:03)

11. Pokemon - Spirit (1:45)

12. Super Smash Brothers Melee - Pokemon Stadium (1:48)

13. RAGE - Alive But Dead (Instr. Orchestra Version) (6:06)

14. RAGE - Alive But Dead (5:55)

15. Requiem for a dream theme (6:24)

16. Saint Seiya - Galaxian Wars (1:40)

17. Saint Seiya - Glide! Pegasus (1:43)

18. Saint Seiya - Golden Warriors (2:13)

19. Saint Seiya - Intense! Cosmo (0:35)

20. Saint Seiya - Revenger Phoenix (1:16)

21. Saint Seiya - Sanctuary, Precept of Death (1:09)

22. Saint Seiya - Seven Generals (1:47)

23. Scorpions - Crossfire (instrumental) (Moment of Glory album) (6:47)

24. Scorpions - Deadly Sting Suite (instrumental) (Moment of Glory) (7:19)

25. Superman the Animated Series - Main theme (1:00)

26. The Real Adventures Of Johnny Quest- Main theme (1:00)

27. Batman the animated series theme (1:01)


[Hidden link. Register to see links.]


I hope you like them as much as I do! (And if you did like them, please say so! )

[arthierr]

WOW! This is going to be fun, I can tell you!

I can say a word about all your choices, but I'm too lazy, so I'll comment only some:

-Saint Seiya : Oh no! You doubled me on this one! It was meant to be my next upload. Well, I don't know how people can read in my mind like that... This is an absolutly great choice. People MUST know Saint Seiya's music, and not only the action stuff, but all of it.

-Scorpions : excellent choice! one of the most bombastic cue I've heard.

-Pokemon : unavoidable. Can't bear the anime but indeed superb music. The action cues are incredibly upbeat. Listen to this if you lack energy, it's better than 3 cups of coffee.

I'll do more comments later on... Just now I'm sleepy.

Thanks a lot!

[arthierr]

May I ask you another favor?

Please don't upload too many cues in a same post (yes I know, I did it myself, but it was only to make a good starting point). With too many tracks people are overflooded and can't "digest" all the music. A better way is to upload one or a few tracks at a time, so we can concentrate on it and appreciate it as it deserves.

And then you can post again later other cues that matters to you, and so on.

[ThePhotoshop]

This is my favourite kind of music too, and I have a whole bunch that I'll get to uploading in a bit.

[arthierr]

[Edit: Interesting story behind Robocop - for some reason Poledouris didn't conduct. The score was recorded in the UK by the Sinfonia of London (SUPERB orchestra) and was conducted by Howard Blake - a fine composer in his own right, and a very friendly fellow. I sneezed on him at a concert in London as he was leaving the podium and he turned round to me and said "Bless you!" Anyway, when he arrived for the session and saw the film he was involved with, he almost turned around and left, as he absolutely hated the film, hated violence in cinema - thought it was absolutely disgusting, bordering on pornography. He was persuaded to stay, and he eventually agreed to conduct the score - under extreme duress - on the condition that there was no playback. He conducted the cues as he wished to, ignored the click track, and almost pretended there was no film there at all. Even with that level of friction at the session, the score came out as one of Poledouris' best, and an absolutely FLAWLESS performance by the orchestra.]

Please more!!

I just love all this trivia stuff. It makes any subject more lively. Music isn't something that falls from the sky but is made by real persons, with their flaws and qualities.

If you have more "fun facts" like that, please express yourself again.

By the way, how many orchestras has this city ? And not only are they numerous, but they are also very good!

[prestonjelmet]

prestonjelmet: That track is on CD1, track 8 of my 2CD promo album of Matrix Revolutions. I'd be interested to see what the tracklisting is on yours...

Comparing to what I have, it's a shortened version of "Tetsujin." It's missing the first minute and twenty seconds.

[ThePhotoshop]

I had to split these into smaller packs since I have a really slow upload speed. I also don't know the composers so I'll just list the album / game / movie it came from.

Pack 1: [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Advent Rising - Stolen Transport

Advent Rising - Bounty Hunter

Lair - Diviner Battle

Metal Gear Solid 4 - Metal Gear Saga

Metal Gear Solid 3 - Virtuous Mission

World of Warcraft - The Shaping of the World

Pack 2: [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

God of War II - The Isle of Creation

Smash Bros Brawl - Ike's Theme (Fire Emblem)

Kameo: Elements of Power - Danger in the Sky

The Bourne Supremacy - Bim Bam Smash

Battlestar Galactica - Prelude to War

Ninety Nine Nights - Defender of Truth

Pack 3: [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Battlefield 2142 - Main Theme

Metal Gear Solid 2 - Main Theme

Transformers 2007 - Optimus vs Megatron

Transformers 2007 - Arrival to Earth

Snow falling on Cedars - Tarawa

Appleseed Ex Machina - Synchronicity

[arthierr]

Excellent choices! Thanks a lot.

Here are some composers I know in it :

-Advent Rising : Tommy Tallarico
-Lair : "big" John Debney
-Metal Gear Solid 3-4 : maybe Gregson-Williams, needs confirmation
-World of Warcraft : Jason Hayes, Glenn Stafford among others
-Snow falling on Cedars : the great James Newton Howard
-The Bourne Supremacy : John Powell
-Transformers : Steve Jablonsky

Someone correct me if I'm wrong

I'll listen carefully to your list, and I'll post my comments when I'm done.