Back to the Future/Lord of the Rings (1 Viewer)

[Henry Gale]

If you have both of these soundtracks, would you give them a spin and tell my why one sounds so much like the other?

If Howard Shore's work was worth a gold statue, how about Alan Silvestri's compositions in BTTF?

 

[Andrew 'Ange Hamm' Hamm]

Hm. I don't think they sound terribly similar at all, actually. You think so?

 

[Craig S]

??? Sorry, I don't hear this at all. Is there a particular cue or cues you are referring to??

Silvestri's themes in BttF have a bold, brassy sound - a very 80s sound to me. In my (admittedly brief) relisten, I can hear no resemblance to Shore's more "classical" work. That's not even taking into account Shore's extensive use of choral elements, and incorporation of non-traditional (for an orchestra) instruments like the hammered dulcimer & the hardanger.

 

[Jeremy Stockwell]

Jim seems to be referring to these two soundtracks as a whole being similar, which I don't see.

However, for what it's worth, as soon as I heard the "Fellowship Theme" from LOTR, I thought to myself, "That sounds like a theme from BTTF." I don't own the BTTF soundtrack so I can't reference a time from the CD, etc., but on The standard Soundtrack from Fellowship, track 11 "The Ring Goes South" check around the 1:20 mark, the trumpet lead there is the theme that reminds me of a cue from BTTF. It's one of the main themes from BTTF, kind of the hero theme.

Not many other similarities between the two soundtracks, but perhaps that's what Jim was hearing?

JKS

 

[Henry Gale]

Thanks for sort of bailing me out on this one Jeremy.
Last week I heard some section of each being played on the public station in Austin. I thought I was just listening to LOTR music, but in back announcing the set the DJ mentioned that he had started with BTTF and "Weren't those themes very simular?"
Both films are so popular that I was sure I could start a discussion on the topic here, but of course, far fewer of us explore the MUSIC forum.

Jim

 

[Craig S]

So are we just talking one particular theme then? I know which theme we're talking about in FotR. It would help if someone could give an exact BttF reference, either in the film or to a CD track.

I don't have the BttF soundtrack, but I popped in the DVD this morning and re-familiarized myself with some of the main themes, including what I would consider the "hero" theme. There MAY be a match of the first three notes, but the context is so different that even after listening to each several times I still can't say one reminds me of the other. So I must be listening to the wrong thing.

 

[Kraig Lang]

One other thing to consider is that Alan Silvestri decided to go with a very large orchestra on BTTF. You can see more on this on the DVD. Very seldom do you hear arrangements for that many pieces.

This lends itself to the "Grand Scale" of the event.

 

[Craig S]

Something else I realized while digging around last night - there was never a BttF 1 score CD released. The soundtrack album had only two tracks of score music.

Back to the original post:
I don't understand how or why you're trying to tie Shore's Oscars this year and 2 years ago into Silvestri's lack of same 18 years ago, but you'd have to ask the Music branch of the Academy - they declined to even nominate Silvestri's score. The nominees that year were Agnes Of God (Georges Delerue), The Color Purple (Quincy Jones & others), Out Of Africa (John Barry), Silverado (Bruce Broughton), & Witness (Maurice Jarre). John Barry won.

 

[ThomasC]

Good scores that compliment popular movies don't usually get nominated, AFAIK.