No way is this score worthy of five stars! I didn't like the way it was used in the film, and it's nowhere near as memorable or effective as the score for Gettysburg. I missed the way that Gettysburg sounded. That score was original and it effectively brought me back to the Civil War era. This score is a major disappointment. Nothing about it stands out...there's bombast and patriotism but it's all of a generic war movie quality. When I saw the film, it made key moments laughable because they just didn't warrant that much fuss. Some people might be impressed by the big orchestra, but give me the smaller, warmer, and more harrowing Gettysburg any day.

> No way is this score worthy of five stars! I didn't like the way it was
> used in the film, and it's nowhere near as memorable or effective as the
> score for Gettysburg. I missed the way that Gettysburg sounded. That score
> was original and it effectively brought me back to the Civil War era. This
> score is a major disappointment. Nothing about it stands out...there's
> bombast and patriotism but it's all of a generic war movie quality. When I
> saw the film, it made key moments laughable because they just didn't
> warrant that much fuss. Some people might be impressed by the big
> orchestra, but give me the smaller, warmer, and more harrowing Gettysburg
> any day.

Although Gettysburg was appealing in its more limited and smaller style, Edelman simply relied too heavily on synthesizers in a score that really needed more real instrumentation. That mistake is corrected with the help of John Frizzel in Gods and Generals, which really is a unique one in of itself for a historic film score. Most scores for war and history films tend to become too repetitive with only minimal shifts in emotional content and tone. G&G was not like that. A close friend of mine, a music major, was most impressed with the effective and quite frequent shifts in tone present in G&G.

> Although Gettysburg was appealing in its more limited and smaller style,
> Edelman simply relied too heavily on synthesizers in a score that really
> needed more real instrumentation. That mistake is corrected with the help
> of John Frizzel in Gods and Generals, which really is a unique one in of
> itself for a historic film score. Most scores for war and history films
> tend to become too repetitive with only minimal shifts in emotional
> content and tone. G&G was not like that. A close friend of mine, a music
> major, was most impressed with the effective and quite frequent shifts in
> tone present in G&G.

Gettysburg was a better soundtrack. It has been said that the music in that film did not fit the scenes properly. They got me in the mood in whatever was going on. Isnt that what good music is supposed to do? Finally, we cant blame Randy for the fake strings, although alot of the instruments were real, due to lack of funding, they couldnt afford the full orchestra.

> Finally, we cant blame Randy for the fake strings, although alot of the
> instruments were real, due to lack of funding, they couldnt afford the
> full orchestra.

Actually, we CAN blame Randy because, much like Vangelis, Randy has always relied heavily on synthesizers. I hav eyet to hear a full, or nearly full orchestra score by him

> Actually, we CAN blame Randy because, much like Vangelis, Randy has always
> relied heavily on synthesizers. I hav eyet to hear a full, or nearly full
> orchestra score by him

Too true. And really, synthesized will never be the equal of full, regardless of how high tech it gets. There just isn't the same powerful element there. Probably the reason I tend to get sleepy everytime I here any battle scene music on the gettysburg soundtrack.

> Actually, we CAN blame Randy because, much like Vangelis, Randy has always
> relied heavily on synthesizers. I hav eyet to hear a full, or nearly full
> orchestra score by him

Yes the Gods and Generals had a bigger ochestra and was larger in scale, but the score to Gettysburg had a distinct sound to it. Gettysburg had emotional motifs in its score while it seems that Gods and Generals was all over the place. There were times while listening to the score and watching the movie when I had to roll my eyes at hearing a certain motif. It was like going throught he motions of war cliches. I was expecting a Gettysburg like score and instead got a notoriously boring score, much like the movie. Gettysburg had a better score and script and the two went together nicely. I don't understand what went wrong and why Gods and Generals gets five stars and Gettysburg only three. It should be the other way around.