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Rank the composers

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Comments

  • ProfJoeButcherProfJoeButcher Bless your heart
    edited July 2020 Posts: 1,711
    1. John Barry, of course.
    2. George Martin.
    3. Michael Kamen. Apparently it's not for everyone, but I find just about every note of his score evocative and memorable. And for my money he used the Bond theme better than anyone.
    4. David Arnold. He's only this high because of QoS, which is magnificent. And if all his work were that good he'd be number one. I just find a lot of it too busy and bombastic.
    5. Thomas Newman. I'm surprised I have him this high, as his work is unfortunately not very Bondian at all. But they are both great scores. Can't imagine listening to the soundtracks apart from the films though.
    6. Bill Conti. A lot of his score is great, actually, but--and I'm not great at describing music--the horns often sound a bit too militant, or uptight or something. He could have let it swing a bit more.
    7. Marvin Hamlisch. Really scattered effort. Hate the music in Kalba's club. The disco elements are probably the best bits. Well, that and Nobody Does It Better of course.
    8. Eric Serra. I like his gunbarrel, the PTS music, and a couple other bits--i don't even mind "Ladies First". It's his maudlin, corny AF string work that kills me. The music at the casino, on the beach... All dreadful.
    9. Monty Norman. Great tunes, but every note of his score is uninspired crap.
  • marcmarc Universal Exports
    Posts: 2,610
    Since I like George Martin's LALD score so much, perhaps someone can recommend similar soundtracks or pieces of music (instrumental, not vocal), by Martin or other composers?
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    1 John Barry
    2 Thomas Newman
    3 David Arnold
    4 Burt Bacharach
    5 Hans Zimmer
    6 Monty Norman
    7 Michael Kamen
    8 George Martin
    9 Marvin Hamlisch
    10 Bill Conti
    11 Eric Serra
    12 Michel Legrand
  • ToTheRightToTheRight
    Posts: 16,170
    1. John Barry
    2. George Martin
    3. Marvin Hamlisch
    4. David Arnold
    5. Monty Norman
    6. Michael Kamen
    7. Bill Conti
    8. Burt Bacharach
    9. Michel Legrand
    10. Eric Serra
    11. Thomas Newman
    12. Hans Zimmer
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    Posts: 3,789
    My rankings (haven't heard Burt Bacharach yet).

    1. John Barry
    2. Martin Hamlisch
    3. Thomas Newman
    4. Monty Norman (for the original Bond theme alone).
    5. David Arnold
    6. George Martin
    7. Bill Conti
    8. Michael Kamen
    9. Hans Zimmer
    10. Eric Serra
    11. Michael Legrand

    It could still change upon re-listening
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,139
    1. John Barry
    2. Éric Serra
    3. Michael Kamen
    4. Bill Conti
    5. David Arnold
    6. Marvin Hamlisch
    7. George Martin
    8. Burt Bacharach
    9. Michel Legrand
    10. Thomas Newman
    11. Monty Norman
    12. Hans Zimmer
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    edited November 2022 Posts: 9,041
    Wow, another thread revived from ancient history...four years before I joined this forum.

    So here's my take on this:

    1. John Barry (of course)
    2. George Martin
    3. David Arnold
    4. Michael Kamen
    5. Burt Bacharach
    6. Michel Legrand
    7. Marvin Hamlisch
    8. Thomas Newman
    9. Eric Serra
    10. Bill Conti
    11. Monty Norman
    12. Hans Zimmer's computer :-)
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