Anyone getting tired of the Enya-like "Aaaaaaaah...aaaaaahhh..." scores? (1 Viewer)

[King Jeff]

I just can't stand movies in which the music has a person "vocalizing", just making random sounds, and I'm sick of it! It was kinda neat in Gladiator, but it just got overused. I came to this realization the other night when I was watching Troy. Even Crash has this nonsense! Anyone else who is sick of this reply and say which movies have it.

 

[Tino]

I don't mind it at all and I think Sissel did a great job "vocalizing" in Titanic. It adds an ethereal feel which greatly enhances the mood of the film imo.

 

[Don Giro]

Lisa Gerrard (vocalist on Gladiator" and half of Dead Can Dance) is amazing. This kind of vocalizing has a very soothing effect on me.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Heh, I remember bringing this up a few years ago.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Hey, that turned into an interesting thread. Let's join it.

M.

 

[Bob Turnbull]

The first time I heard Enya's music was actually in 1991's L.A. Story (with Steve Martin). I think most of the tunes used were from her Shepherd Moons album and they were most effective in the scene where Martin and Victoria Tennant become little children as well as in the scene where the traffic sign blows up in a shower of sparks. It added the right addtional feel of magic to those scenes.

 

[Malcolm R]

I don't mind it at all. What would you prefer? Does everything have to be 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, and Puffy/Diddy/Piddly/whatever?

That said, I wonder if they'll spoof it in "Epic Movie"?

 

[King Jeff]

Well in movies like Troy, the woman vocalizing is overused and makes the movie seem just like all the others from that genre, as most of them use this sound. I would prefer they just had an original score, without vocals.

 

[TedT]

Absolutely am sick of it. BUT a hip-hop or death metal soundtrack is REALLY out of place (ala Blade Trinity or Daredevil), distracting, and dated.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I probably stand alone, but I have the FF button ready for when I see Caprica. I hate the BSG wordless vocal theme, and especially when it shifts into the "action preview" segment with what sounds like a man grunting with exertion.

 

[King Jeff]

I just remembered one of the worst usages of this music: M:I2.

 

[Chris]

I love Enya in all forms.

 

[Nathan V]

The reason this type of music is used so damn often is mainly because it's damn effective. There's something about a woman's voice. But like all other cinematic innovations, it's overused by people (coughWolfgangcough) who seem to be using it just because their superior peers do (coughRidley, Mann, etc cough) in much more effective ways. That's my take on it.

Regards,
Nathan

 

[Mary M S]

Whether it is the ‘wail’ or words with that ethereal sound going on, I generally like it, but on a case by case basis. The editing of the visuals these vocalizations are paired with and where the emphasis is placed affects my opinion.

Vocals abused can be distracting but to my taste there are several times these were given front & center status and I found it effective.
One personal favorite: Rob Roy
Best swordfight, best example of a marriage, good use of song for impact.
“Ailein Duinn” a Gaelic love lament is sung while the editing flips you back and forth. A singer who is fireside where a village has gathered quietly after evening meal to a desperate flight through the woods where a man is being tracked and murdered.

Loved the scene (and vocals) enough to translate the song. The words were grimly suited to the foot race they contrasted.

 

[Edwin-S]

In my case, no. I don't have a problem with the use of female or male vocalizations. I'm more tired of the wall to wall soundtracks that are being used in movies now. I mean they score everything. Go to the bathroom to take a dump and there is music. Wash the dishes.....music. Mow the lawn ....music. I'm exaggerating, but a lot of times that is exactly what it seems like. Don't people who make films realize that sometimes silence really is golden.

Wall to wall music is why I never listen to the English track on "Kiki's Delivery Service". The Japanese track had large stretches where there is absolutely no musical accompaniment for what is occurring on screen and, IMO, the show was much better because of it. The show is meant for a young audience but the lack of music somehow made it seem more mature. When Disney had KDS re-scored it just seemed to dumb the show down and gave it a more "Saturday morning" feel.

I am biased because I really like music where the female singer has an extraordinary voice, so I have not tired of hearing strong female vocalizations in movies. Loreena McKennitt is a favorite of mine; although, as far as I know, she has never done anything for a film. She should have though. She should have been tapped to do LOTR. I think she would have been a perfect fit. Far better than Annie Lennox and the eminently forgettable "Into the West".

 

[Will_B]

I love it on Galactica.

To give some credit where it may be due, Xena Warrior Princess would go into the wordless vocalizations every time a character died...often sung by Lucy Lawless, who is now on Galactica (albeit without the singing).

And who can forget the vocalizations in the Farscape theme? When Galactica copied that, I think they were making a sensible choice since chanting could be made by people from any planet, but instruments seem more like the inventions of particular cultures.

 

[RickER]

Ditto, and its not overused.

 

[JeremyErwin]

There's quite a lot of choral and vocal music in my collection-- you could call it "Classical", but Hildegard von Bingen doesn't really fit the bill. I know some German, and some Latin, but when I listen to Haydn's "Die Schöpfung", I just don't bother translating

Maybe I'm not the intended audience--but I prefer it when I can't, and therefore don't translate the vocals. I know "Dies Irae" means "day of wrath"-- but a full translation would just drive home the point that Mozart is repeating certain phrases over and over. It's the variation on those repetitions that make the "song" interesting.

In a sense, I'm only interested in how the human voice is used as a musical instrument. Evidently, film composers are as well.

This didn't start with Enya and her imitators-- though I have heard that Enya tries to keep the obfuscation level high by using artificial languages. Hmm...

 

[Chris]

I like the tribal stuff too. You know, this will be odd because not a movie.. but the title track (menu track) to Sid Mier's Civilization IV... damn I love that.

 

[Don Giro]

She may not have written anything specifically for a film, but I remember "Night Ride Across The Caucasus" was used in the Kurt Russell film Soldier, and "The Mummers' Dance" was used in the trailer for Ever After, which was the first place I ever heard her music.

(Which reminds me, kinda off-topic: How many "romantic films" used Nina Gordon's "Tonight and the Rest of My Life" in their trailers a few years ago? I thought that song was gonna be enormous.)