Rank the Soundtracks

[Balrog]

Trek has some of the best music. It harkens back to the first golden age of movie music from the 30s and 40s.

So, from 1 to 10 (or 11 if you'd like), what's your list? Here's mine:

1.) TMP
2.) TSFS
3.) TFF
4.) TWOK
5.) FC
6.) TUC
7.) GEN
8.) STXI
9.) NEM
10.) TVH
11.) INS

 

[RyanKCR]

TMP
TWOK
TSFS
NEM
FC
TFF
TUC
ST09
GEN
INS
TVH

 

[Harvey]

TFF
TSFS
TMP
TUC
TWOK
FC
ST09
TVH
NEM
INS
GEN

The list changes a lot, though. I love most of the scores, and at least like them all.

 

[Maurice]

1. TMP
2. TFF
3. TUC
4. FC

I'm blah on the remainder.

 

[Therin of Andor]

1.) TMP
2.) JJ's ST
3.) INS
4.) TWOK
5.) TVH
6.) TUC
7.) FF
8.) TSFS
9.) NEM
10.) FC
11.) GEN - utterly forgettable

 

[WarsTrek1993]

1. TWOK
2. 2009
3. FC
4. SFS
5. TUC
6. NEM
7. TVH
8. TMP
9. TFF
10.INS
11. GEN

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

1) TMP
2) TFF
3) ST09
4) TUC
5) GEN
6) FC

Not much of a fan of two-note Horner even though I enjoy a couple of TWOK tracks.

 

[Caligula]

It was TWOK & TSFS which began my love affair with the music of James Horner. So it is that I must rank BOTH of Horner's contributions at #1:

1. (tie) TWOK
1. (tie) TSFS
3. TMP
4. ST09
5. FC
6. TVH
7. TUC
8. TFF
9. GEN
10. INS
11. NEM

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

TMP
FC
TWOK
TVH
NEM
TSFS
TUC
INS
TFF
GEN
ST09

 

[Ssosmcin]

1-2) TWOK & TSFS - taken together, they are a very lovely single composition that advances and matures.

3) TMP - amazing Goldsmith

4) TFF - more amazing Goldsmith.

5) GEN - totally underrated score, which brought loud music and melody back into the franchise after Rick Berman pushed it out a few years earlier.

6) NEMESIS - also underrated. The official album does it no favors, but the complete score is outstanding. Amazing final Goldsmith Trek.

7) FC - a little disjointed because of two composers, but some great stuff. Flight of the Phoenix needs official release. The best piece in the score: way to go Joel!

8) TUC - a little too dark for me, but still some great stuff.

9) INS - A sweet score, but the action material is right out of US Marshals.

10) ST 09 - overrated, over baked and tiresome. It doesn't have the same repeat value for me as the others.

11) TVH - too eh.

 

[xortex]

Every now and then I go over to the piano and play the FC theme and include TFF ending scene bits into it and it gets very poignent and god like - or I should say righteous and moralistic as well as sad and bittersweet. TMP was incomparable. An amazing seminal achievement. Too bad the movie wasn't better. It was just so appropriate to the thematic material. Horner too of course is known for being appropriate and even mystical in his approach. TUC was neat and a little too appropriate. They were looking for 'The Planets' by Gustav Holst and got something very similar but nice. Berman's TNG stuff was appropriately forgettable except for FC of course, just the main theme. A movie score is invariably going to reflect the inherent quality of the movie, hence Trek '09 sucking.

 

[Caligula]

After careful consideration, I am revising my ranking of the Trek '09 score. Loved the movie, but really the only thing I loved about the soundtrack was the inclusion of the original TV theme in the end credits.

1. (tie) TWOK
1. (tie) TSFS
3. TMP
4. FC
5. TVH
6. TUC
7. TFF
8. ST09
9. GEN
10. INS
11. NEM

 

[RAMA]

After careful consideration, I am revising my ranking of the Trek '09 score. Loved the movie, but really the only thing I loved about the soundtrack was the inclusion of the original TV theme in the end credits.

1. (tie) TWOK
1. (tie) TSFS
3. TMP
4. FC
5. TVH
6. TUC
7. TFF
8. ST09
9. GEN
10. INS
11. NEM

1. STTMP
2. STII
3. ST09
4. STVH
5. STVI

RAMA

 

[Lord Garth]

FC
TUC
TMP

FC, TUC, and TMP are really close together. So close they're within the margin of error and could change places depending on my mood and what I feel like hearing.

ST (2009)

A solid soundtrack but not like the three above.

NEM

This is a dark, stark, depressing, theme with some dynamism, melancholy, a sense of time passing thrown in. It's an aquired taste but once it is acquired... Spinal Tap has to be the best track.

INS
TFF

These are also interchangeable. Jerry Goldsmith's lesser scores but still good.

GEN

Some of this is outstanding, some of it sounds TV-ish. The two cancel each other out.

TWOK and TSFS

I'm actually not too big on James Horner and some of the music is too bombastic.

TVH

Ehhh... It's just there. The Christmas sounding music is nice.

 

[Lord Garth]

Good thinking..

^ I didn't give deep insight into my views on the compositions, the presentations, the direction of the musical pieces, how the emotions conveyed what was being shown on film, or how they related scenes they were matched with. Also, since James Horner is musically well regarded by most, the burden of proof is on me to explain why I didn't rate the scores of TWOK and TSFS higher.

My post was surface level only, so it doesn't warrant a "good thinking" comment any more than anyone else's.

I think the Christmas music of TVH might go good with spam, emphasis on might, since I think it's a ham product, but I don't eat spam. One thing I do know is it definitely went well with the holiday season when it was released in a late November. I know that, but not about if it goes well with spam.

 

[CaptainMatt]

I like the sojndtrack to STV and indeed it is the only soundtrack from the films that I actually own. This is largely becauise of the song playing when Commander Uhura does her dance on Nimbus III. A version of this music, entitled "The Moon's A Window to Heaven", is Track 10 on the soundtrack. It is my favorite along with The Undiscovered Country's opening even though I do not own that to date.