Jurassic World

Jurassic Park was a great movie, and so was the score. John Williams scored the first two films and gave us one of the most memorable themes. Unfortunately, we are unable to listen to what John Williams would have composed in the third installment due to a job he was working on. On-the-other-hand, I should trust his recommendation of Don Davis and listen to the score sometime.

The series reboot from 2015 saw Michael Giacchino as the composer. I honestly was not sure what to expect, but being one of my favorite composers, I just had to listen to his take on the series. The film itself was good, but I absolutely love the music. I enjoyed it slightly more than the previous ones that I listened to.

I find his themes rich and catchy, especially the first six tracks. He beautifully incorporates Williams' theme throughout and at the perfect moment. He doesn't rely too much on it, but has created a vast array of original music while still maintaining the sound and feeling from the original film.

Below is a playlist of the entire score.

This album can be
purchased or streamed through Amazon Prime.

The Death of Soarin'

If you are a Disney fan who has had the opportunity to visit either the Walt Disney World or Disneyland theme parks, I'm sure you have heard that Soarin' has officially closed for refurbishment. A quick search will tell you that they are in fact changing the ride. This points to whether or not the music will remain the same.

I have my doubts. Based on a short teaser released by Disney, the music is different. This does not at all confirm that the music will change, but does pose a threat to its existence. In any case, I hope that you have had the chance to download my Soarin' compilation. I still love that catchy theme by long loved composer Jerry Goldsmith.

I will indefinitely leave the link up for grabs.

The Year Is 2007. It Is The Future.

Today's album is another fun album to listen to. It is from the game Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and composed by Power Glove. This game is supposed to be a cheesy, cliched game that takes all of those predictable 80's sci-fi movie story lines and wraps it up into one. Despite being released in 2013, the game takes place in 2007 and still claims that it is the future, which features cyborgs and everything else that does not exist, yet.

There is a difference between this music and the music from yesterday. Although themes like this that are from around 1980 can be considered classics, they have a sort of dated feel that if more humorous to return to than anything. When considering themes before that time, around 1930-60, the themes have a special feel to them that never seem to date the way the 80's themes do. This album has the 80's

This score is somewhat minimal throughout most of it, but when you encounter that strangely familiar theme that rules this game, it is really hilarious. Listen to the short playlist below. I like how the first track (Rex Colt) sets the mood, giving you a faded glimpse of the theme that follows.

This album is not available in CD form. I have the standard digital edition, but an awesome vinyl copy is ready for unwrapping.

007 Classics

I am going to listen to 1 album each day, going through my entire collection and whatever I can get my hands on through my music streaming service.

Today, I listened to "007 Classics: The Music From James Bond."
This is something that is just fun to get your hands on. It brings you through the themes throughout the years and really just sweeps you off you feet. It has that somewhat cheesy sound to it since it is the older themes, but really is not serious at all.

This is great if you are needing to relax and need something to cheer yourself up.

You can listen to this album with an Amazon Prime membership, which I highly recommend.

58% off Audio Technica ATH-M50x Headphones

Woot is offering a great deal on Audio Technica's M50x headphones. These are the best I have used, providing impressive clarity, though not designed to be enhanced in certain areas such as bass. These are designed for studio use, but if you are a fan of listening to a more natural and realistic sound, I would strongly recommend these. Even at full retail at Amazon ($120-159 roughly), they are much cheaper than others that I have seen. Anyway, check these out on Woot!. Currently the offer is at $99. They are listed as "new/open box" which is still not used, so you aren't really getting a used pair and you shouldn't worry about these being defective. You have the choice between white or black and there is just 15 hours left, or until sold out.

Update To The Soarin' Project

Thanks to some generous donation, I have received an acceptable quality specimen of track 18 which is the theme from The Great Whales. You can download this below and replace it with the current file. This new file is 320 kbps mp3 and has all the proper tags for the album. Enjoy!

Download from Mega.co.nz

Now, May I Present To You...

Finally, after nearly a year, I have finished collecting all the tracks that are featured in the ride Soarin' found at the Walt Disney World Resort. I have not looked into whether or not this is valid for Disneyland, but I'm sure that it is. Unfortunately it has been announced that Disney will be changing Soarin', which means re-composing the music in the ride. I do not know if this will affect the cue music, and there is a slight possibility that the music will remain the same. Until then, Jerry Goldsmith's theme for the ride will most likely be much better that the new theme.

A few interesting things you will notice in this album is that nearly all of the songs are from a film that was released during the 1980's, and all of them appeared before the 21st century except for tracks 33, 34, and 35. Another thing that you will notice is that you will find that the "J" composers appear more often that others, such as James Horner, James Newton Howard, Jerry Goldsmith, and John Williams.

All of these relaxing and sweeping melodies some to a close when track 35 is reached, which is the theme that is played in the ride when that seemingly infinite line is no longer in front of you. The epic conclusion and finale that leaves us all in that happy Disney feeling.

Whether you are a fan of this ride or would like a sample of some excellent music, this album is excellent. Don't forget to scroll to the bottom of this post to catch the link to download this for yourself until March 31, 2016.

Further work on this album would allow me to produce this album in a consistent lossless quality. Unfortunately this may take years and a significant amount of money. Anyway, here is the finished album in high quality mp3, for the most part. Some files are in a slightly lower bitrate and some tracks sound slightly incomplete, either in the beginning or at the end.

If you notice an issue with the track, please tell me and I will work on fixing it. I will also gladly accept a donation of either a replacement track in mp3 or a lossless one in flac so that I can present the final copy of this great collection and wrap up this project quicker.

Here is the full track-list and custom album art:

Playback: 02:45:32

Size: 385 MB

1. End Credits (from "Contact") - Alan Silvestri - 07:58 - 320kbps mp3

2. Re-Entry & Splashdown (from "Apolo 13") - James Horner - 08:52 - 320kbps mp3

3. Prologue (from "Hook") - John Williams - 01:33 - 320kbps mp3

4. Suite One (from "Band of Brothers") - Michael Kamen - 06:31 - 320kbps mp3

5. Main Title (from "The Musketeer") - David Arnold - 02:15 - 320kbps mp3

6. Main Title: Theme (from "Battlestar Galactica") -Stu Phillips - 01:32 - 320kbps mp3

7. Main Theme (from "Last Starfighter") - Craig Safan - 03:07 - 261kbps mp3

8. Awful Waste of Space (from "Contect") - Alan Silvestri - 01:42 - 320kbps mp3

9. Instrumental Suite (from "Indecent Proposal") - John Barry - 03:22 - 253kbps mp3

10. Flying (from "The Boy Who Could Fly") - Bruce Broughton - 09:36 - 320kbps mp3

11. The Broken Cloud (from "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery") - Cliff Eidelman - 03:41 - 320kbps mp3

12. Welcome Aboard, Sir (from "Air Force One") - Jerry Goldsmith - 02:10 - 320kbps mp3

13. The Trees (from "Medicine Man") - Jerry Goldsmith - 06:04 - 320kbps mp3

14. Rocketeer to the Rescue (from "The Rocketeer") - James Horner - 06:36 - 320kbps mp3

15. Yeager's Triumph (from "The Right Stuff") - Bill Conti - 05:33 - 320kbps mp3

16. Mr. Destiny (from "Mr. Destiny") - David Newman - 05:07 - 320kbps mp3

17. Dear Father (from "Jonathan Livingston Seagull") - Erich Kunzel - 01:18 - 320kbps mp3

18. Theme (from "The Great Whales") - Erich Kunzel - 04:03 - 128kbps mp3

19. Have A Nice Trip (from "Explorers") - Jerry Goldsmith - 08:11 - 320kbps mp3

20. Main Title Introduction (from "Steel Magnolias") - Georges Delerue - 04:43 - 320kbps mp3

21. Cody's Flight (from "The Rescuers Down Under") - Bruce Broughton - 06:02 - 320kbps mp3

22. All Systems Go / The Launch (from "Apollo 13") - James Horner - 10:03 - 320kbps mp3

23. Flying Away / End Credits (from "An American Tail") - James Horner - 320kbps mp3

24. Among The Clouds (from "Always") - John Williams - 08:35 - 320kbps mp3

25. Main Title (from "Dave") - James Newton Howard - 02:58 - 320kbps mp3

26. Dorinda Solo Flight (from "Always") - John Williams - 03:17 - 320kbps mp3

27. Main Titles (from "Grand Canyon") James Newton Howard - 03:41 - 320kbps mp3

28. End Credits (from "Field of Dreams") - James Horner - 04:08 - 320kbps mp3

29. End Titles (from "Arachnophobia") - Trevor Jones - 03:55 - 320kbps mp3

30. End Titles (from "Dave") - James Newton Howard - 04:16 - 320kbps mp3

31. The Land Race (from "Far and Away") - John Williams - 04:59 - 320kbps mp3

32. End Titles (from "Emma") - Rachel Portman - 04:21

33. Flight Through Neverland (from "Return To Neverland") - Joel McNeely - 02:43 - 320kbps mp3

34. Closing Credits (from "A Beautiful Mind") - James Horner - 01:38 - 320kbps mp3

35. Soarin' - Jerry Goldsmith - 04:42 - 320kbps mp3

Download: Soarin' on Mega.co.nz