FILM MUSIC REVIEW

Presents...

 The Best and Worst Film Music of 2003  

Each year it's time for the Best and Worst film  soundtracks and compilations of the previous year.

The choices are the opinions of FMR reviewers Roger Hall and Steven Kennedy.

Each reviewer has provided remarks about his choices.

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To read FMR reviewers previous picks, go to:

1st Annual Best and Worst List (2000)  

2nd Annual Best and Worst List (2001)

3rd Annual Best and Worst List (2002)

The 16th Annual Sammy Awards for film music announced on 15 February 2004

For more information, go here:

The Sammy Awards

4th Annual Best and Worst List

Best & Worst of 2003

Selected by Roger Hall

Introduction

Last year I had 40 selections and this year it's down to 32.  What that means to me is this past year hasn't been so great for film music, at least for new soundtracks.    

Rather than write in detail about each film on my list, I suggest you click on the links to read the complete reviews.  Only those soundtracks which I've reviewed are eligible for my list.  You can read much more in Steve Kennedy's extensive comments  below for the soundtracks he picked that weren't reviewed on the FMR site.

There may not have been many great new soundtracks, yet it was a banner year for restorations and re-recordings. That's why I selected 10 instead of 5 soundtracks for them. Special praise goes out to all those who have labored so hard to make these worthwhile releases a reality.    

There were some surprises this year.  For example there was GODS AND GENERALS, a film that many critics absoulutely hated and some didn't like the score either.  I completely disagree with them.  I thought it was a well made film, though a bit slow moving at times. The DVD has many informative extras but nothing about the terrific score by John Frizzell and Randy Edelman.  I gave the soundtrack CD my highest recommendation and still think it holds up extremely well.  This was a good year for Hans Zimmer with MATCHSTICK MEN and THE LAST SAMURAI (Editor's Choice for January 2004). One of the most talked about events was Howard Shore's completion of his massive LORD OF THE RINGS score trilogy with a very good score for the excessively long RETURN OF THE KING.  And then there's that film which, like the race horse, was a come from behind winner: SEABISCUIT.  Some critics didn't like Randy Newman's score. And again I disagree with them. I believe he did an outstanding job in scoring what I believe to be the year's best film.    

Lately, there has been much buzz about COLD MOUNTAIN and it's use of traditional folk songs and the Liberty Church Sacred Harp chorus (a very spirited group indeed).  The songs are mostly fine, but  I think Gabriel Yared's score is too meandering and mushy, similar to what I thought of his ENGLISH PATIENT score.  I didn't choose his COLD MOUNTAIN for my best list but it'll probably be Oscar nominated and perhaps even win.

There were some good compilations in 2003.  One of the best ones was for A MIGHTY WIND with a whole bunch of well written songs, even if they were supposed to be parodies of the '60s folk era.  Rhino Handmade has continued with its outstanding restorations of vintage musicals, especially BROADWAY MELODY OF 1940 and IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER.  And Erich Kunkel continues to roll along with well planned Telarc compilations like this year's one titled simply:  EPICS.

In addition to soundtracks and compilations, I've selected some DVDs that I recommend because of their outstanding score and the extra features.  One note of continued frustration for me is the horrible packaging of DVDs.  There is no uniformity of box size and those sticky clear tape "Security Labels" are really annoying. Are these labels really needed on three sides of a DVD case?  They only make it difficult to remove them without putting nicks in the DVD box.  My plea to manufacturers:  come up with a better way to package DVDs!

The soundtrack and compilation named to the worst category speak for themselves in terms of their poorly executed music.  THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE is extremely dull and devoid of any thematic interest. BEYOND IMAGINATION is the worst exploitation of classical themes I've ever heard. It's beyond comprehension!

Now on the Best...

Top Film Composer of the Year:  Danny Elfman

In considering all the film composers who produced new scores, there is one who I believe has  contributed the most to a rather lackluster year.  He has already had many previous successes like BATMAN and EDWARD SCISSORHANDS.  But in 2003 he really hit his mark, first with the badly executed film HULK, and then with an better score for the wonderful film, BIG FISH.      

Best New Soundtrack Releases of 2003

Listed in alphabetical order:

BIG FISH - Danny Elfman

GODS AND GENERALS - John Frizzell and Randy Edelman

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING - Howard Shore

MATCHSTICK MEN - Hans Zimmer

SEABISCUIT - Randy Newman   

Best Restorations and Re-Recordings of 2003

Best Vintage Soundtracks in alphabetical order:

ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD - Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Marco Polo)

BERNARD HERRMANN: The CBS Years, Vol. 1: The Westerns (Prometheus)

THE BIG SKY - Dimitri Tiomkin (BYU Film Music Archive)

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL - Bernard Herrmann (Varese Sarabande)

HAWAII - Elmer Bernstein (Varese Sarabande)

ON DANGEROUS GROUND - Bernard Herrmann (Film Score Monthly)

PLYMOUTH ADVENTURE - Miklos Rozsa (Film Score Monthly)

RED RIVER - Dimitri Tiomkin (Marco Polo)

SOMETHING WILD - Aaron Copland (Varese Sarabande)

SUNSET BOULEVARD - Franz Waxman (Varese Sarabande)

Best Compilation Releases of 2003

BROADWAY MELODY OF 1940 and ROSALIE (Rhino Handmade)

EPICS  (Telarc)

IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER (Rhino Handmade)

A MIGHTY WIND (Sony)

VARESE SARABANDE - A 25th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION (4 CDs)

Best Record Labels and Album Producers of 2003

Film Score Monthly (Lukas Kendall)

Marco Polo (John Morgan and William Stromberg)

Rhino Handmade (George Feltenstein)

Varese Sarabande (Robert Townson)

Best DVD Releases (Multi Discs and Single Discs)

4 Disc DVD Set: ADVENTURES OF INDIANA JONES - music by John Williams

2 Disc DVD Set (Vintage): ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD - music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold

2 Disc DVD Set (Musical): YANKEE DOODLE DANDY - songs by George M. Cohan

2 Disc DVD Set (Recent):  MINORITY REPORT - music by John Williams

Single Disc (Vintage): THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR - music by Bernard Herrmann

Worst Soundtrack and Compilation of 2003

Soundtrack: THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE - music by Alex and Jake Parker (Decca)

Compilation:  BEYOND IMAGINATION - Opera Babes (Sony)

And now for another opinion...

Best & Worst of 2003

Selected by Steven Kennedy

General Comments

Yuck—that about sums up my thoughts on film music for the year and most of the films that went with them. I cannot recall a year where there was so little outstanding product. Perhaps it was a result of the economy or the massive blockbuster exhaustion of 2002. There was really so little to entice me into the theater at all this year and most of what did arrive was not worth shelling out much money for at all.

I liked FINDING NEMO and felt it interesting that Thomas Newman provided a kind of AMERICAN BEAUTY score to accompany this animation feature. But it was the technique that was on display more than the storytelling. THE MATRIX sequels proved that any elementary school student can write dialogue and that you can blatantly copy the story arc from another more famous sci-fi sequel and not be sued. I still do not understand how a film as bad as X-MEN garnered a sequel though John Ottman’s score was the best superhero genre music of the year. THE HULK was a gaping mess that left me wondering how I could get my money back! It kept me from feeling the need to see much else the rest of the summer even though Elfman’s score was quite an amazing last minute effort.

I will say that things looked great last winter with the toss away DOWN WITH LOVE. It was no earth shattering film and even had some glaring historical problems. Yet Marc Shaiman’s score brought back memories of Mancini and those who wrote for domestic comedies back in the 1960s. A MIGHTY WIND is one of the best films of the year. The heart and good-natured humor of Christopher Guest’s latest "mockumentary" is delightful and the extent of the creativity is thoroughly enjoyable on the CD of selected original songs for the film. As we got closer to Oscar season there seemed as if there was little or nothing to change the pace. Having read COLD MOUNTAIN I have to admit being hesitant to see a film that seemed to have no clear raving from a director whose previous films I have disliked. The children’s films THE CAT IN THE HAT and PETER PAN seemed to have disappeared before they arrived in most theaters. Howard’s score for the latter is wonderful music. The Golden Globe announcements in December pretty much confirmed what I already felt, that THE RETURN OF THE KING was the best picture of the year—though the theatrical release was still a butt numbing experience.

As a result my own bests of the year are still adjusting their placement. I have not heard three of the five film scores nominated in the Golden Globe score category which is nothing terribly new but the fact that even critics in the international press narrowed down to five says a bit about the few good scores released this year. Of course, they have a penchant for looking at movies only released within the last half of the year. At any rate, my "reduced choices" follow for the year...

Top Film Composer of 2003: John Debney

This is the first year that I found it difficult to choose someone. Debney had one very high profile film in BRUCE ALMIGHTY for which he provided an excellent score. His music for ELF was top notch and one of the year’s highlights. On top of this he stood in for Jerry Goldsmith to add some music to LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION. This can only bode well for a composer whose music has a heart no matter what the subject matter. Recent webtalk has the composer pegged as the composer for Gibson’s PASSION film. Perhaps his day is coming.

Best New Soundtrack Releases of 2003

1. NOWHERE IN AFRICA (Niki Reiser) - Higher Octave

2. A MIGHTY WIND (Guest, Levy, McKean, et al) - Sony

3. SINBAD: LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS (Harry Gregson-Williams) - Dreamworks

4. SECOND HAND LIONS (Patrick Doyle) - New Line Records

5. ELF (John Debney) - Varese Sarabande

Very rarely do those of us in the US get to hear the amazing scores of foreign films. We have the rare opportunity as reviewers to catch a few now and then beyond the normal familiar names. Niki Reiser will hopefully become one of them in the future. This wonderful score for Caroline Link’s film NOWHERE IN AFRICA mixes native Kenyan vocals and percussion with traditional orchestral music in such a musical way that makes for one of the more satisfying listening experiences in some time. Reiser’s score received the Golden Lola at last year’s German film awards. The film was this year’s Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film. Somehow Reiser manages to treat all his musical materials on an equal basis so that they become a part of his entire orchestral texture with no one thing overwhelming another the way so many Hollywood scores tend to do when transplanting themselves to the dark continent. Higher Octave is known primarily for their extensive world music catalogue, but their foray into foreign film scores will hopefully pay off with their release of this worthy score.

Christopher Guest’s "mockumentary" A MIGHTY WIND does for folk music what THIS IS SPINAL TAP did for heavy metal music. Here three "classic" folk groups gather to sing their hits and the album is kind of a memento of the film and the artists. That the songs are both well-crafted musically and manage to be humorous, bittersweet, or just plain fun is a mark at the genius behind the concept at hand. It may not be a score CD, but the music is so much fun, and I listened to this CD more than any of the score CDs that it makes it very easy to recommend this even for those die hard music fans.

Harry Gregson-Williams’ score for Dreamworks’ latest animated feature is a great adventure score. The impressiveness continues to last far beyond its first hearing. The various scored scenes are truly great moments in and of themselves. The "Sirens" is a personal favorite as is the "Surfing" track. The latter is a good mix of much of what the score has to offer. The CD tracks are extensive and there is not a song in the bunch to mar ones enjoyment of the orchestral music.

Out of all the new scores releases in 2003, Patrick Doyle’s work on SECONDHAND LIONS was one of the few discs I instantly replayed upon its finish. Mixing swashbuckling adventure of Korngold and traditional melodic writing, Doyle’s score is the first truly enjoyable score of the year. Odd that we had to wait until the Fall to get something that anyone could get this excited about. The performances by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra are near perfect with only some intonation problems in a couple of exposed tremolo sections. The enhanced CD is filled with extras including reviews, photographs from the recording sessions and a printable two-page piano score of themes. What more could you ask for from a musical voice heard far to little. Not since Doyle’s score for EST-OST have so thoroughly enjoyed the work of this master film composer.

Who would have thought that a film staring Ed Asner as Santa Clause and Will Ferrel as an elf could be so good? ELF is a rare film these days. I could not believe that anyone could still make a film without bad language, gratuitous nudity, or overt violence. That ELF is a film with a big heart and intelligent writing is to Jon Favreau’s credit. John Debney’s score is a sheer delight. It has a decidedly 1960s reference point that continues the mood that has arisen in several recent films. It is a beautifully orchestrated score that manages to be an infectious concoction of holiday cheer. The music for the Central Park Rangers is delightfully ominous. The "Main Title" music has a Rankin-Bass feel to it that is reminiscent of the classic song "Jingle, Jingle, Jingle." I loved Debney’s score for CATS AND DOGS and this score instantly becomes one of my personal favorites of the year.

FIVE HONORABLE MENTIONS:

1. X2 (Ottman) - Trauma

2. HULK (Elfman)  - Decca

3. TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES (Beltrami) - Varese Sarabande

4. SEABISCUIT (R. Newman) - Decca

5. FINAL SOLUTION (Sponsler & Gire) - Magicbox Music

Best Restorations or Re-recordings of 2003

1. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (Bernard Herrmann) - Varese Sarabande

2. HOME FROM THE HILL (Bronislau Kaper) - Film Score Monthly

3. SOMETHING WILD (Aaron Copland) - Varese Sarabande

4. FROM BEYOND (Richard Band) - La-La Land

5. KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE/THE KING'S THIEF (M. Rozsa) - Film Score Monthly

6. THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (Jerome Moross) - Film Score Monthly

7. THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (Erich Wolfgang Korngold) - Marco Polo

8. TOYS IN THE ATTIC (George Duning) - Film Score Monthly

9. THE BUCCANEER (Elmer Bernstein) - DRG

10. ON DANGEROUS GROUND (Bernard Herrmann) - Film Score Monthly

While it may not have been the score most needing a re-recording, Joel McNeely’s latest Herrmann recording makes one for a most fascinating listen. DAY is a difficult score in many ways because it has such a distinct sound. That sound is somehow recaptured vividly here in a stereo image that was not possible for the original recording sessions. The studio orchestra put together here makes an excellent attempt at revisiting the textures and sound of Herrmann’s greatest sci-fi score while correcting some of the mistakes that have become a part of the musical heritage of this score. The only real bad part of the release is its brevity. It is too bad a few additional items could not have been included as they were for McNeely’s FARENHEIT 451 disc.

It is not uncommon to find a few of the limited Film Score Monthly limited edition releases in ones’ "best" lists. HOME FROM THE HILL (1960) is one of those scores that would easily have been overlooked in the barrage of re-released or first released classic scores. Bronislau Kaper is not a familiar name to most, but he is one of the true masters of film scoring. His most famous score for MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY would perhaps seem a far cry from this more intimate Southern drama. However, anyone who revels in the music of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD or PEYTON PLACE will find much to enjoy in Kaper’s multi-thematic score. It is a score that provides for great listening and is filled with examples of dialogue scoring that will be lost on those who have never seen the film. Nevertheless, it is worth every penny to be able to enjoy the superb production here that presents nearly 80 minutes of music with excellent documentation and loving preparation by the FSM team.

It did not seem possible that Aaron Copland’s penultimate work, and final film score SOMETHING WILD, would ever see the light of day. A series of circumstances led to the recording’s discovery and we have Nick Redman and Robert Townson to thank for releasing this important score in the Copland discography. While many will find the harshness of the score a surprise, it fits in greatly with the shift of Copland’s style that took place at the end of the 1950s and is exhibited in works like CONNOTATIONS FOR ORCHESTRA. The CD has been excellently mastered with the music coming across in great detail. This would be a must for any serious music collector even if it had been parts, but like Varese’s exemplary HAWAII release, this release continues to prove why commercial labels like Varese are important to all music lovers. The film may be one of those "unkown" quantities, but the music will be well worth anyone’s close and repeated attention.

I began listening to Richard Band’s excellent score for FROM BEYOND (1986) ready to immediately dismiss it as typical low budget horror music. I was way off in my expectation and continually impressed by the diversity of textures and ideas that excellently melded electronic music (mostly melodic) with pure symphonic ideas. The lyricism inherent in the motivic ideas, offset by more avante-garde horror music techniques made for a perfectly unsettling experience that is well worth your time and effort to seek out. Band’s score received the Best Score award at the Barcelona Film Festival beating out the likes of ALIENS, BLUE VELVET, and STAR TREK IV. After having a chance to listen and enjoy this score, it was not hard to move this to my personal list of top five scores for 1986. Though the CD clocks in under 50 minutes, it manages to pack a lot into that time. Highly recommended for genre fans and even Goldsmith fans looking for a kindred spirit.

Film Score Monthly’s double disc set of swashbuckling Rozsa scores is a welcome addition to the catalog. With both discs running near two and a half hours of music, there is plenty to be enthralled by here. THE KING’S THIEF for me was the more enjoyable of the two scores, mostly due to its gorgeous love theme. But KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE has its share of themes and makes an excellent companion disc. This is the first time either of these scores has appeared apart from an earlier Marco Polo recording with Richard Kaufman and a snippet of music on Gerhardt’s RCA series. FSM has released a ton of Rosza in the past year and fans of his music must be feeling overwhelmed by now. This set is recommended for those still hesitant to explore some of those other releases.

Released in July, Film Score Monthly’s Golden Age Classic release of THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (1960) was a sheer delight. If you love THE BIG COUNTRY then this is worth seeking out. There is practically nothing available of Jerome Moross’ film music on CD and this complete presentation of the score is great music on its own without the film connections it comes with anyway. It is a great blend of Americana with a little blues and jazz thrown in sounding a bit like Gershwin’s art music. Also included are songs by Burton Lane and Alan J. Lerner who had written these for an earlier planned MGM musical in the 1950s. At almost an hour the CD manages to be just enough of a good thing and it is excellently reproduced. This is another limited edition of 3,000 copies and it deserves to sell out!

John Morgan and William Stromberg’s amazing recording of THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD is the diamond in their ongoing film series for Marco Polo. Though at times a bit bass heavy (easily corrected) this is a definitive document of one of Hollywood’s greatest scores. If you are familiar with any of the previous incarnations of this music, you will be pleased at the superb accompanying notes that explain where Korngold altered the music for concert presentation. This is a score that has many excerpts recorded vividly and here Korngold lovers will find nuances missing from other re-recordings. This disc is a must have for any serious music collector!

If you are a frequent visitor to Film Score Monthly’s site, you may have been underwhelmed to hear that they had produced a limited edition run of George Duning’s TOYS IN THE ATTIC. A picture of Dean Martin and the information about it being a drama in the style of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE may not have been huge selling points either. But, this is one of those truly beautiful scores from the early 1960s that would have easily made people’s top ten lists of that or any year. With so little of Duning’s material available, it is great to know that the composer of the awesome score of PICNIC has so much more to offer. Make this one an addition to your collection so that it may encourage FSM to plumb further Duning depths!

While DRG’s release of THE BUCCANEER is nothing more than a re-pressing of the original Columbia release, it still stands as a reminder of the connections and musical sound that had been handed down to the generation of Elmer Bernstein. THE BUCCANEER is one of those great swashbuckling scores featuring an awesome main title and recurring motifs that help bind the music together. It makes for a great listening experience even here with the heavy tape hiss that wears its datedness proudly. While a more complete remastering would be revelatory, this release in DRG’s "Hollywood Collector’s Series" is a real standout offered at a fairly reasonable lower cost.

As the year came to a close, Film Score Monthly released one of Bernard Herrmann’s masterpieces ON DANGEROUS GROUND. If you were to buy this CD to simply hear the amazing "Hunt Scherzo" or the rousing horn section playing throughout "The Death Hunt" it would be well worth your dollar. The beautiful track, "The Searching Heart," adds the colorful sound of the viola d’amore to the texture making for an extraordinary sound. If you never had to listen to an LP or 78 you will likely be distracted at times by the resulting source material used for this recording. There are plenty of warnings on FSM’s site and on the disc including a money back guarantee for those who simply cannot hear the music from its historical value. If you are a Herrmann fan you own this already. If you love great film music this is one of the few truly must haves for your collection. There are moments when you will hear snippets of musical ideas Herrmann would explore more fully elsewhere. As his only entry in the "film noir" genre, technically, it manages to bring that sound to a new dimension.

Best Compilation Releases of 2003

1. Something Here: The Film Music of Debbie Wiseman - Silva

2. Sci-Fi in Hi-Fi Audio Fidelity

3. Epics  - Telarc

4. La Leggenda della Pianista: Music of Ennio Morricone - Digitmovies

5. The Best of Italian Film Music  -Digitmovies

Right out of the gate at the beginning of 2003 was Silva’s amazing compilation of music by British film composer Debbie Wiseman. Well most film afficiannados will be familiar with her work on WILDE (1997) or TOM AND VIV (1994), this disc brings music from those and nine other scores. In addition, Wiseman includes a work for narrator and orchestra based on Hans Christian Andersen’s THE UGLY DUCKLING. The composer conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra here in performances of great musicality that rivals many purely classical recordings by this orchestra. This is probably one of Silva’s best discs to ever be in their catalog. It is a worthy addition to any film music library and we can only hope that Wiseman’s name will become more familiar to more music lovers soon!

Neil Norman will have many fans clamoring for this High Fidelity SACD mastering of the Cosmic Orchestra’s classic renditions of popular science fiction themes. The most successful recordings are those for classic television themes like SPACE:1999 (second season), THE PRISONER, UFO, and "Airwolf." Not an album for purists but this is a good way to pick up a sample of Norman’s work on one CD. Previously unreleased versions of music from Herrmann’s score for MYSTERIOUS ISLAND and Williams’ music for THE LOST WORLD are interesting to hear. Norman’s arrangements manage to stay faithful to the spirit of the music even while tweaking it a bit for the younger crowd. It is the professionalism on display here that makes this one of the best compilations of the year.

There are very few new depths plumbed in this year’s Cincinnati Pops compilation but it makes for a great pops concert listen. With music from GONE WITH THE WIND to MINORITY REPORT we have a chance to hear a lot of interesting music that somehow works well in this production. The performance of "Hedwig’s Theme" is truly a highlight as is the "Overture" from LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, and the "Love Theme" from SPARTACUS, though the Jarre is not as rambunctious as the John Williams conducted performance on Sony a few years back. Many film music fans will likely find the vagueness of "themes" and "suite" annoying but these rearrangements serve the music well in their own way. This is a great gift disc for those who can help spread the love of this music around.

Recordings of piano recitals can sometimes result in terrible listening experiences. This Italian concert from 1998 is an exception to the rule. It features music by the legendary Ennio Morricone performed by pianist Gilda Butta. Ms. Butta was the pianist hear on Morricone’s superb score for THE LEGEND OF 1900. Five of the solo piano pieces from that film are included here in exquisite performances. The disc includes about ten minutes of Morricone’s comments to the audience which are translated into English in the booklet. That still lives over an hour of amazing music. The disc includes FOUR ETUDES FOR PIANO composed between 1983 and 1989 and RAG IN FRANTUMI (1986). Both are interesting classical works in a free atonal style. The remainder of the disc is devoted to single thematic renditions from ten Morricone films. This disc is well worth seeking out and can be found at www.digitmovies.com. It is evidently a limited edition release.

Lovers of Italian film music will also want to rush to the Digitmovies website to find this limited edition pressing. It features 21 selections from as many of Italy’s finest composers. The music covers the early 1960s through the 1980s and reads like a who’s who of Italian film. Some of the films may be instantly forgettable but half of the disc’s hour playtime is given over to previously unavailable music. Worth seeking out for a great overview of music and a joy to listen to as well with excellent remastering from the EMI originals.

1. Robert Townson—Varese Sarabande

2. Lukas Kendall—Film Score Monthly

3. Ford Thaxton—LaLa Land Records

While most of the CD Club releases have not been as exciting to me personally, Varese has produced some excellent scores and consistently provides an opportunity for music to be heard that otherwise would languish. The productions of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL continued their excellent rerecording series which seems to have all but stopped otherwise. The release of Copland’s SOMETHING WILD was a welcome surprise as well this past summer. One cannot also help but pull for a label that continues to produce more film music than any other.

Lukas Kendall and the folks at Film Score Monthly have consistently turned out fine product for so long now that you have to wonder if it is too good to be true sometimes. Yet, after a long string of Rozsa scores, the hard work and dedication of those involved in these projects continues to shine through. There are so many gems this year that I had to limit the number I chose myself in my best of the year lists.

Say what you will about horror movie scores, the folks at La La Land have produced many great discs this year that are filling an important niche market. While some of the music may not seem to come from the A-list, there are great scores to be discovered here of which one made my top ten list this year.

Worst Soundtrack Release of 2003

ZOO (Marco Werba)

It is not often that I bother to include a foreign film score in a worst releases section because for most readers there is no point in wasting space. But here I must include this Hexacord release that made my list already in January. At a time when so much really great music lies wasting in pits, this score for a 1988 Italian fantasy film manages to take the cake when it comes to navel gazing. With almost half of the CD’s forty minutes rehashing a very boring main title in various "versions" this makes for one of the dumbest and useless releases I have had to review in the past three years.

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