Category: Music Reviews
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On Music: My 10 Favorite Songs by Glenn Miller
“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship Boy, the way Glenn Miller playedsongs that made the hit paradeGuys like me we had it madeThose…
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On Music: But…But…I LIKE Oldies!
When I was in my early teens – way back in the late 1970s – I knew that in a world where Funk, Soul, R&B, Pop, Hard Rock, Soft Rock and Disco were the dominant music genres, I was an odd duck. Even as a child growing up on two continents – I was born in…
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On Music: My Top 10 John Williams ‘Star Wars’ Themes
I have been a fan of John Williams’ symphonic scores ever since I saw the original Star Wars – aka Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope – in the autumn of 1977[1] For me, Williams’ swashbuckling, neo-Romantic themes and action cues sold the rest of George Lucas’s out-of-this-world space-fantasy about “a boy, a girl,…
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On Music: Happy 89th Birthday, John Williams!
John Williams “So much of what we do is ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves, so it’s gratifying to have something you have done linger in people’s memories.” Hi, there, Dear Reader! It’s early afternoon here in New Hometown, Florida on Monday, February 8, 2021. Currently, the temperature is 75˚F (24˚C) under cloudy skies;…
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Music Album Review: ‘Saving Private Ryan: 20th Anniversary Limited Edition’
In 2018, La-La Land Records released Saving Private Ryan: 20th Anniversary Limited Edition, a commemorative – and slightly updated – reissue of John Williams’ 1998 soundtrack featuring most of his score for Steven Spielberg’s widely-acclaimed World War II drama set amidst the backdrop of the June 6, 1944 Normandy landings and the first week of…
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Music Album Review: ‘Saving Private Ryan: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack’
On July 21, 1998, Dreamworks Records – the now defunct label founded by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen in 1996 as a subsidiary to their film studio Dreamworks SKG – released Saving Private Ryan: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, a one-hour-long soundtrack album with music composed and conducted by John Williams.…
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On Music: My Top 10 Favorite Movie Themes (Not Composed by John Williams)
If you are a regular reader of A Certain Point of View, Too or its Blogger antecedent, A Certain Point of View, or if you know me “in real life”, you’re probably aware that one of my favorite music genres is the symphonic film score. And although I didn’t start collecting movie soundtracks until I…
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On Music: My 10 Favorite Non-Star Wars Themes by John Williams
I have been a fan of composer/conductor John Williams since I first watched Star Wars in a crowded theater in October of 1977 at the Concord Mall in South Florida. I didn’t know it at the time – I was a 14-year-old at the time and rarely paid attention to the “Music by” credits in…
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Musings & Thoughts for Sunday, December 27, 2020, or: A Few Words About ‘Pops in Love: John Williams & the Boston Pops’
Hi, there, Dear Reader. It’s Sunday, December 27, 2020, and it is early afternoon here in New Hometown, Florida. Currently, the temperature is 66˚F (19˚C) under partly sunny skies. With the wind blowing from the east at 9 MPH (15 KM/H) and humidity at 49%, the feels-like factor is 66˚F (19˚C). Today’s forecast calls for…
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Music Album Review: ‘Lee Holdridge Conducts the Music of John Denver’
In 1976, Windstar Records – a Colorado-based record label founded by the late John Denver – released Lee Holdridge Conducts the Music of John Denver, an LP album featuring all-instrumental presentations of some of Denver’s best-known songs, including Rocky Mountain High, Annie’s Song, Sunshine on My Shoulders, My Sweet Lady, and two medleys – Follow…
A Certain Point of View, Too 