Hans Zimmer - The Dark Knight Rises

[Jay 39,585]

The OST CD is coming out on July 17th. Here is the cover:



(click here for 1500x1500 version)



In another JWFan EXCLUSIVE, here is the track list for the first time:

01. A Storm Is Coming (0:37)
02. On Thin Ice (2:55)
03. Gotham's Reckoning (4:08)
04. Mind If I Cut In? (3:27)
05. Underground Army (3:12)
06. Born In Darkness (1:57)
07. The Fire Rises (5:33)
08. Nothing Out There (2:51)
09. Despair (3:14)
10. Fear Will Find You (3:08)
11. Why Do We Fall? (2:03)
12. Death By Exile (0:23)
13. Imagine The Fire (7:25)
14. Necessary Evil (3:16)
15. Rise (7:11)
TOTAL TIME: 51:20

You can order it from Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.co...E/?ref=jwfancom

[Wojo 2,456]

Nice cover!

Although if the arrival of Bane is enough to borrow the phrase "A Storm Is Coming" from Return of the King, then Gotham City must not get much rain.

[tannhauser 101]

I have a slight hunch that "Rise" will be good.

[Jay 39,585]

I think it's interesting that the OST CD is shorter than both previous OSTS (which were 60 minutes and 73 minutes respectively). I wonder if there was also less music written for the film overall (even though the film is the longest of the three), or if Mr. Zimmer really just felt that these 51 minutes were the only pieces he wanted out there.

Realistically though, they are probably just saving more highlights for the eventual 2disc "Deluxe Edition"

[Neimoidian 14]

Are there going to be techno remixes like in case of PotC 4?

[Score_Fan 36]

51 minutes? I dont want to sound ungreatful or anything, but WTF.

That's barely a 3rd of the score

[Jay 39,585]

You know how much music was recorded?

[BloodBoal 7,541]

[Koray Savas 2,254]

It's whatever, the sessions will leak like the others.

In another JWFan EXCLUSIVE, here is the track list for the first time:

Guess you weren't the only one WB gave it to

[Not Mr. Big 4,739]

Is it just me or does the bat on the CD cover look like bird droppings?

[BloodBoal 7,541]

[KK 3,308]

Nope. Looks like bat droppings to me.

Bingo!

to borrow the phrase "A Storm Is Coming" from Return of the King,

Yeah, that's cheap. Zimmer thinks he's Howard Shore. That makes me sick!

I think there's a conspiracy afoot...same opening cue title...could it be a hint? Perhaps its Zimmer's way of letting us know that he'll be replacing Shore for The Hobbit!

[Wycket 36]

Right. The whole fact that Hathaway says that line in a trailer must have been Nolan's nod to Jackson that Zimmer should take over the music duties. I can't wait.......

[lonzoe 19]

Probably a lot more thought was put in that cover than the score itself.

[John Dutton 7,421]

ZING!

Is the cover supposed to be graffiti on a wall or something? Sorry to discuss the cover and not the score, but I'm sure the score will be pure shit anyway.

[Jay 39,585]

It's chalk, you see it being drawn in one of the trailers

[KK 3,308]

We already established this. They're bat droppings!

[Red 75]

Doesn't look like the album will be in sequential order.

[Jay 39,585]

Has there ever been a Zimmer OST that was?

[Koray Savas 2,254]

I'm expecting this to be on At World's End level. We'll see. Third time's the charm, right?

Then again, I have no problem with his first two efforts.

[KK 3,308]

I'm expecting this to be on At World's End level. We'll see. Third time's the charm, right?

Then again, I have no problem with his first two efforts.

That certainly was the case with At World's End. However, I'm not sure if he can pull it off...

For the past few years, I've been hoping Zimmer would pick up his career, but he kept disappointing. I was thinking we'd get an epic score for POTC 4 but that didn't happen. And then there was Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows where I was hoping he would channel that refreshing creativity and genuine fun of the first score, but he disappointed there too.

I'm curious to see if he'll surprise with this score, but I don't have much faith.

[indy4 155]

I'm just excited to hear myself in the virtual chorus on the soundtrack. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get a billing on the OST cover, but oh well. The cover art itself is nice.

[Koray Savas 2,254]

I'm expecting this to be on At World's End level. We'll see. Third time's the charm, right?

Then again, I have no problem with his first two efforts.

That certainly was the case with At World's End. However, I'm not sure if he can pull it off...

For the past few years, I've been hoping Zimmer would pick up his career, but he kept disappointing. I was thinking we'd get an epic score for POTC 4 but that didn't happen. And then there was Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows where I was hoping he would channel that refreshing creativity and genuine fun of the first score, but he disappointed there too.

I'm curious to see if he'll surprise with this score, but I don't have much faith.

Well he explicitly stated that he was done once Verbinski left, but I guess they convinced him to go on for one more. His heart obviously wasn't it in, what with most of the score being composed by others. I agree that it isn't very good, but it was great to finally see him work with Rodrigo Y Gabriela. Been a fan of theirs for quite awhile, and they add a nice new flavor to the material.

As for Game Of Shadows, I haven't seen the film so I cannot comment on how the music works there, but on album it's a much darker approach, which could explain the lack of energy that was present in the first.

[ManofDestiny 82]

I am considering saving my money and wait for a 2CD incomplete release. If it eventually get release, it will cost at least $40 you know.

[lonzoe 19]

I'll take my time with this one. I won't rush out and get it. That only depends on how good it is in the film.

[paleo 70]

Sorry if this was discussed elsewhere, but whatever happened to James Newton Howard? He made the other scores listenable (although they disappeared from my ipod quickly and I never missed them since).

[ManofDestiny 82]

He...he......no. It's just too hard. Don't make me say it. I am too sad to tell you what happened to Mr. JNH.

[paleo 70]

Well, I know that he did write the maybe not great, but enjoyable Snow White score ;-) Maybe he found his dignity and ran away from TDKR as fast as he could? In any case, this album is not on top of my wish list...

[Richard P 4,211]

Sorry if this was discussed elsewhere, but whatever happened to James Newton Howard? He made the other scores listenable (although they disappeared from my ipod quickly and I never missed them since).

I'm happy he isn't - the less he's forced to write like Zimmer, the better, in my book.

I'm not exactly enthralled at the prospects for this score - the film doesn't call for the sort of material that would inspire a great thematic score, and it's evident by now that Nolan doesn't want that anyway,

Most likely scenario is that one or two cues somewhere in the middle of the film will catch my attention (I like 'Like a Dog Chasing Cars' and 'Watch the World Burn' from TDK, plus Howard's Dent material).

Having said that,I'd rather Zimmer than a clone any day.

[BloodBoal 7,541]

[Koray Savas 2,254]

Howard's voice is very clear in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight to me. He may sound more derivative and generic in his other Hollywood projects like The Green Lantern and The Hunger Games, but it honestly doesn't sound like Zimmer in the slightest. It's simply uninspired Howard.

[Brónach 1,306]

Howard's voice is very clear in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight to me. He may sound more derivative and generic in his other Hollywood projects like The Green Lantern and The Hunger Games, but it honestly doesn't sound like Zimmer in the slightest. It's simply uninspired Howard.

Yes and yes.

And his parts where the best part of the Batman scores.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRYKyhof6b4

[KK 3,308]

Are there going to be techno remixes like in case of PotC 4?

You want remixes?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOB8pSkJPZk

[indy4 155]

Howard's voice is very clear in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight to me. He may sound more derivative and generic in his other Hollywood projects like The Green Lantern and The Hunger Games, but it honestly doesn't sound like Zimmer in the slightest. It's simply uninspired Howard.

His recent blockbuster works are definitely derived from Zimmer's sound. It doesn't mean they're interchangeable, but without Zimmer's influence on film music JNH's works would sound very different than they do.

[Koray Savas 2,254]

Well who knows what the temp tracks were. Obviously studios and producers request a more contemporary, textural sounding score, in part due to Zimmer's popular sound, but that doesn't Zimmer is the direct influence.

The man can always choose to pass on projects, after all. In the liner notes for Snow White though, the director comments that Howard put his all into it and had a long time to work on it, so I prefer to stick with my theory that his writing takes a stylistic change with each decade. Maybe working with Zimmer on Nolan's films got him onto it? Yet they've been acquainted since the early 90s.

[indy4 155]

Well who knows what the temp tracks were. Obviously studios and producers request a more contemporary, textural sounding score, in part due to Zimmer's popular sound, but that doesn't Zimmer is the direct influence.

Yes it does. If JNH's change in style is a result of studio producers asking him to write more like Zimmer, it doesn't change the fact that his style is sounding more like Zimmer's.

The man can always choose to pass on projects, after all. In the liner notes for Snow White though, the director comments that Howard put his all into it and had a long time to work on it, so I prefer to stick with my theory that his writing takes a stylistic change with each decade.

I'm not disputing that, I'm saying that this change in style has brought JNH closer to Zimmer than he was before.

[Koray Savas 2,254]

Well who knows what the temp tracks were. Obviously studios and producers request a more contemporary, textural sounding score, in part due to Zimmer's popular sound, but that doesn't Zimmer is the direct influence.

Yes it does. If JNH's change in style is a result of studio producers asking him to write more like Zimmer, it doesn't change the fact that his style is sounding more like Zimmer's.

Nah, that's an indirect influence

But it really doesn't sound like Zimmer. If you want to hear someone emulating Zimmer perfectly, look no further than James Dooley's SOCOM 3. There are a couple other examples, that I can't think of, too. The approach might be more Zimmeresque in that its less thematic, more textural and functions like sound design, but the writing in itself couldn't be more different.

[indy4 155]

He doesn't perfectly emulate Zimmer, I'm just saying Zimmer has largely influenced his current style.

[publicist 4,647]

In the liner notes for Snow White though, the director comments that Howard put his all into it and had a long time to work on it, so I prefer to stick with my theory that his writing takes a stylistic change with each decade.

Sadly, his 'all' in this case consists of pleasant but interchangeable LADY IN THE WATER/I AM LEGEND-leftovers and obnoxious trailer music for the action sequences. If this is what comes out if he's got a long schedule, i'm all for KING KONG's 4 weeks.

[Richard P 4,211]

I really don't think schedule has anything to do with it - the director of Snow White asked, and he received.

Honestly, I think it would just take a director wanting a completely traditional score, to bring him back down to earth.

[Koray Savas 2,254]

You mean Shyamalan? I'm looking forward to After Earth.

[crocodile 8,539]

Samples.

Karol

[Incanus 5,816]

Damn I am even less interested in this than I was before after hearing those samples.

[Brónach 1,306]

It's sooo boring.

Other than the Catwomany theme in Mind if I cut In?, everything else in the samples sounds almost nonexistent. Or a retread of The Dark Knight in a pair of samples. Zzzzzz.

I see an epic failure in the works. Hey rock bottom, nice to meet you.

[Hlao-roo 389]

A work of brutal conviction and breathtaking complexity. While his peers merely ply familiar conventions, Zimmer courageously pushes the boundaries of the genre with a masterful score that will redefine film music for whole new generation of listeners.

[Incanus 5,816]

Indeed! And Zimmer is such a masterful composer that he does this by applying the sound of his previous scores into this one, creating a multiparallelism of subtextual interpretation where worlds of several ostinati and sound design film scores, genre breaking and revolutionary in their bold challenge to the listeners and viewers, meet and collide to produce a nuanced commentary of the dark heart at the center of this psychologically most complex Batman story. This trademark sound that been used in legions of other film scores today is set apart by the fact that it is written with Hans' indelible craftsmanlike touch that reaches for the cynicism and realism hungry youth crowd begging for release from emotionally driven, obvious and time worn conventions of film scoring and ideas of centuries old dramatism, forging bravely a new way of listening to music, perhaps redefining music in film itself for all time.

[Score_Fan 36]

I think it sounds wonderful. No sarcasm.

[BloodBoal 7,541]

[Incanus 5,816]

Moussak, moussak, moussak, moussaka!

I did not spot this particular topical reference to Greek's financial troubles in Europe on my first listen on the samples BloodBoal. Obviously need to listen to this more deeply. This music is delving deep into the wounded psyche of modern times.

[BloodBoal 7,541]