Soundtrack Review: The Lord of the Rings (The Complete Recordings) by Howard Shore (2005-2007)
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This is a review of the motion picture score for The Lord of the Rings (The Complete Recordings) by Howard Shore.
Welcome to “This Is Your Life” Howard Shore. What defines you? The Lord of the Rings. It has to be like that surely. He will always be remembered for his work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but that is not a bad way to go. Think about it, if you wanted to be remembered for something, being the composer for these scores would be pretty damn cool. There are six scores, three 1cd versions, then you have these complete recordings which contains nothing less than 10 CDs and 3 DVDs with the complete score in 5.1 Digital Surround.
What’s the difference between The Complete Recordings and the normal versions? Quite a lot. The original versions have 57 tracks and a total playtime of 3 hours and 36 minutes. The Complete Recordings have 135 tracks and a total playtime of 10 hours. Howard Shore must have worked day and night on scoring for these films. With 10 hours of music, it’s like scoring for 13 movies on average. So I bet many of you have the original 1CD version and wonder if you should get the complete recordings. I would say that if you love the 1CD version, you will want these because they offer so much more. Sometimes when you get the expanded or complete score, there’s a lot of fillers “not good enough” for the original 1CD release. I can assure you that this is not the case here. Every single cue here is of the highest quality and they all offer something different, yet remain the same. Let me explain…
It’s true that the 135 tracks play on various themes like the light The Shire themes and then there’s the heavy war theme of the Uruk-Hai and the Gollum variations. There are of course many more, but you’ll hear variations on these throughout the score, but really, after listening to the Complete Recordings, you’ll never go back to listen to the original 1CD versions. It’s like comparing a Fiat Punto and a Ferrari Testarossa, or a 2 room flat and a 25 room mansion; it’s just bigger and better, a lot bigger and better.
For me, this is Howard Shore’s greatest work. I would say these scores defines the word “epic” for me. These are epic sounding scores that are tremendously large sounding, just like the movies were, huge and epic. It’s also interesting to listen to these scores as they go from light to dark. In “The Fellowship of the Ring”, there are quite a few variations of the light “The Shire” themes, and you can even hear Gandalf sing on a couple of cues. It gets dark pretty quick, and “The Two Towers” and “The Return of the King” are pretty powerful stuff to listen to.
The price of The Complete Recordings are $53.99 for “The Fellowship of the Ring”, $68.49 for “The Two Towers” and “The Return of the King” who is currently unavailable would go for maybe $70. It’s a lot of money to shell out for music, but it is definitely worth it. Not only do you get 10 hours of the most epic music you’ll ever hear in your life, you also get 10 hours worth of amazing music in full 5.1 Digital Surround so you can listen to them on your home cinema. I can just imagine what that must be like, it must be heaven. Do yourself a favour and start saving, because I guarantee you that once you buy one of them and listen to it, you will have no choice but to get the rest. Howard Shore has made a huge contribution to my happiness and enjoyment of movie scores and for me these scores are priceless and timeless. It is no less than a masterpiece worthy of everyone’s attention. Listen to The Lord of the Rings (The Complete Recordings) below:
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Comments
I love the Uruk-Hai theme, its so powerful. It is truly epic and masterful in every respect. I love it all.
Wow, five stars. I loved the soundtrack in Lord of the Rings, but I don’t have a trained ear like you so I was not sure that it would really have the same applause. I am glad to hear that my taste for sound is shared by others. I really want to have this trilogy on Blu-ray (I know that was off topic, but I really really do).
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Dave: You don’t need a trained ear to enjoy it, which I’m sure you do. I don’t know who was responsible for giving Howard Shore the gig, but there should be a statue of that person someplace fancy.
Nick: Thanks :). Nick, what an awesome gift! I tell you what, they say things can’t buy love, but I would probably love whoever got me a gift like that for eternity.
Without a doubt, the most complete and enjoyable movie score of my lifetime! Amazing, powerful, touching, compelling, energizing, ethereal…so many emotions when listening to these complete recordings! Worth every penny.
It’s stunningly massive or massively stunning. Either way, the price of these amazing scores may be high, but they still sell extremely well, so well in fact that they couldn’t produce them enough and they went out of stock. Rumors were flying about that the series had been discontinued, but luckily it was a false alarm and they are back in business.
Words detract from the musical beauty. Best three scores ever…and that’s all one has to say. That, and a review would take 20 pages. 5/5 (can I please make it six?)
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In Fellowship, I love the music at Isengard, when the new Urcs are created and when they are seen running. The trumpets and the drums are outstanding. I never thought the music would be that good in the film.
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