Nicely done buddy and an enjoyable commentary.

All the best

> 1. Masters of the Universe: Revelation
> 2. Tale of the Sleeping Giants / Tunturin tarina
> 3. Coppelia
> 4. The King's Man
> 5. Ghostbusters: Afterlife
> 6. Rumble
> 7. Encanto
> 8. WandaVision
> 9. Hawkeye
> 10. Lost in Space Season 3
>

> ***** for #1 & 2. ****½ for the rest (#3-5 would round up to 5 stars;
> #6-10 would round down to 4).

> My **** runner-up is Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - it
> is ENTIRELY because of this site’s review that I even bothered giving that
> album a second chance. The Curse of Turandot and Jungle
> Cruise were also in contention.

> The rest of my top 20 - Black Widow, Benedetta, Call of
> Duty: Vanguard, Eternals, Foundation Season 1, The
> Last Duel, Qinghai: Our National Park

> Other **** - Buckley’s Chance, Claret, The Cook of
> Castamar, Fear Street Part Two: 1978, Finders of the Lost
> Yacht, Gunpowder Milkshake, Luca, Lupin, The
> Potato Venture, What If…? - and Spirit Untamed which I
> didn’t get to until Feb. 10th…oops!

> ***½ (round up to 4) - Camellia Sisters, The Claus Family 2,
> Don't Look Up, Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island, Godzilla
> Singular Point, Julia, June Again, No Time To
> Die, A Perfect Planet, Raya and the Last Dragon,
> Reach Beyond the Blue Sky, Star Wars: Visions, 30 Coins
> Season 1, This Game Means Murder, The Wheel of Time Season
> 1

> ***½ (round down to 3) - The Age of Awakening, Army of
> Thieves, Being the Ricardos, The Champion of Auschwitz,
> Cruella, Fear Street Part One: 1994, Fear Street Part
> Three: 1666, Halo: Infinite, The Last Warrior: Root of
> Evil, Loki Season 1, Mortal Kombat, My Country My
> Parents “Windriders” segment, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart,
> The Red Sleeve, Spider-Man: No Way We’re Putting Fewer Than 3
> Villains In This, The Starling, Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1
> Part 1, To Olivia, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Wish
> Dragon

> *** - The Arctic: Our Last Great Wilderness, The Artful
> Escape, The Choice 2: Men of Shadow, The Courier,
> Delicious, The Green Knight, The Last Letter from Your
> Lover, Man of God, Masquerade Night, The Most
> Reluctant Convert, Reminiscence, Ron's Gone Wrong,
> The Rose Maker, Silent Night, The Tomorrow War

> Eh - Secrets of the Whales

> Meh - DOON

> Oh dear - Rurouni Kenshin: The Final, Rurouni Kenshin: The
> Beginning

> Not a score, but still got a lot of airplay - Minima_Rhythm IV

> Not music, but still a terrific read - Picture by Lillian
> Ross. Bronislau Kaper shows up a few times!
>
>
> Composer of the year
> Bear McCreary - score of the year + two in my top 20 + 2021’s
> strangest album.

> Christophe Beck (two in my top 10), Panu Aaltio (three
> strong scores), and Lorne Balfe (lots of goodies) contended.

> Unlike last year, there was no temptation to write ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
> instead.
>
>
> Random thoughts
> What a back-loaded year! 7 of my top 10 didn’t come out until after
> Thanksgiving, and an 8th I didn’t get to until that period as well. Three
> of them were discovered while driving cross-country (basically doing the
> John Madden bus drive along I80) after testing positive for COVID on a ski
> trip.

> It was tempting to place 30 Coins higher given that I prefer my 77-minute
> highlights playlist to the “Goldsmith nostalgia bait” fun of Fear Street
> Part 2. But there’s an upper bound to how high I can rank a score I have
> to cut 4 hours out of to tolerate.

> 2021 was arguably the best year for Marvel thematic continuity ever, even
> with my (our?) disappointment with No Way Home (where you still get token
> Elfman/Horner nods, a Mysterio cameo, and one kickass Dr. Strange track -
> AND a surprise IFMCA nomination).
> - Beck referencing Giacchino, Silvestri, and Balfe themes
> - Jackman revisiting his own material
> - Karpman putting new spins on, like, everything (and writing a Doyle-like
> Thor / Jane love theme) - bring on The Marvels!

> 3 Fast 3 Spiders wasn’t the year’s most disappointing score though. That
> honor goes to Masquerade Night, the score that took “Sato sequel score cut
> & paste” to its Übermensch stage and almost tricked me into putting
> its penultimate track on my favorite tracks runner-up list until I
> realized it was a carbon copy of a track from its predecessor.

> I would not have predicted that 2021 would have a non-Ghostbusters score
> using an ondes martenot.
>
>
> 10 favorite tracks, in no particular order:
> - Having the For Eternia quintet take up half the mentions would be
> unfair, so I’ll instead cite two MOTU: R Vol. 1 tracks that I couldn’t get
> enough of - the larger-than-life thrills of 1) The Power of
> Grayskull and the rocking 2) Roboto Reforges. McCreary also
> knocked the emotional 3) Gall Leaves Synnax out of the park.

> - 4) Grand Finale from Coppelia…grand indeed.

> - Lorne Balfe injected Arnold-esque brass accents into the high energy
> 5) Natasha Soars and hit the perfect intersection of coolness and
> cheesiness with 6) This is Monster Wrestling!

> - The resplendent 7) Xu Shang-Chi was the year’s best end credits
> piece.

> - 8) Riddles from Buckley’s Chance…so good you have to hear it
> twice (and you basically do if you explore the rest of the album)

> - Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s 9) Reconciliation is the cherry on top
> of a “love letter to 80s scores” sundae, complete with impressive
> variations on Bernstein’s original main theme.

> - 10) The Message from Tale of the Sleeping Giants. It’s a hoot!

> The next batch:
> - The apocalyptic climax of 30 Coins - Ritual / The Proclamation /
> Flight
> - The celebratory Antonio’s Voice and the outrageously catchy
> Mirabel’s Cumbia
> - The clash of hero themes in Sling vs Bling
> - The gargantuan For Eternia quintet (warning - likely to cause
> conducting)
> - The hilarious Save the City, a welcome return from
> pseudo-retirement for Marc Shaiman
> - The noble Opening Theme, the soaring Everyone’s Economy,
> and the WTF big band insanity of Civilization and Enlightenment
> from Reach Beyond the Blue Sky
> - The relentless Message from an Old Friend and Cuba Chase
> - The resolute The Aftermath and the lovely Celui Que Je
> Désire
> - The virtuosic Polina’s Vengeance and the ferocious BWAM-BWAM
> guilty pleasure The Gun Battery

> Just missing out: Claret Main Theme, The End of a Dream,
> The Final Battle from Windriders, Fly Free, Genesis
> from WandaVision, Hawkeye Theme, O Nyghtegale, Turandot
> Theme, Zha the Rafter, the climactic action material from
> Spirit Untamed (especially when it goes full-spaghetti Western in I Am
> The Train), and probably 3-4 tracks each from King’s Man and Tale of a
> Sleeping Giant.

> And, heck, might as well have a whole Star Wars: Visions category -
> Ronin’s Theme from “The Duel”, Prologue + Kara and
> Father from “The Ninth Jedi”, and dang near all of “The Twins”.
>
>
> 2021 specialty releases:
> 2021 had a few re-releases of great scores with minimal-to-no new music -
> Legend, Lionheart, The Matrix, The Private Life of
> Sherlock Holmes (with the first CD release of a Rózsa Polydor
> recording!), Rio Conchos, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of
> Khan.

> It also gave us two volumes of The Time Tunnel, which had very
> little previously released music (5+ hours more than the 90s GNP CD) but
> were rather challenging to listen to.

> It was nice to have Babe without dialogue AND the film recording of
> The Eiger Sanction (even if the LP recording is a superior
> experience) AND a legitimate release of Brian Tyler’s Lego
> Universe. Hard Rain is a blast, especially with the expansion’s
> improved sequencing. The 60s were well-represented by Banning and
> The Flight of the Phoenix. And all must hail the divine temp-track
> idolatry of The Orville Season 2.

> But in the end there were only a few contenders:
> 3. The complete release of Glory.
> 2. A tie between La-La Land’s The Diary of Anne Frank, one of the
> best-sounding original recordings of an Alfred Newman score ever released,
> and the same label’s absurdly comprehensive Fiddler on the Roof
> release.
> 1. The Deluxe Edition of Paycheck, which took a “this has its
> moments” high-end ***½ work to an “ermahgerd” ****½ work that might’ve
> gotten the most airtime of anything I bought in 2021.

> Note: If the full set of Rózsa Polydor recordings (maybe my sole remaining
> “holy grail”) gets released in 2022, it wins the year. Game over. It’s in
> the rulebook.
>
>
> The best older works I discovered:
> *****
> 1. In Search of Peace (2001) - Lee Holdridge
> 2. Fiddler on the Roof (1971) - John Williams adapting
> 3. Since You Went Away (1944) - Max Steiner

> ****½
> 4. The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) - Alfred Newman
> 5. Incognito (1997) - John Ottman
> 6. Portrait of a Lady (1996) - Wojciech Kilar
> 7. Tours of the World, Tours of the Sky / Tours du monde, tours du
> ciel (1991) - Georges Delerue
> 8. Titus (1999) - Elliot Goldenthal
> 9. Pan Tadeusz (1999) - Wojciech Kilar
> 10. Murder in the First (1995) - Christopher Young

> Runner-up: The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Season 2
> (1992-1993) - Laurence Rosenthal & Joel McNeely

> Other ****1/2 scores:
> The Black Dahlia (2006) - Mark Isham
> The Fountainhead (1949) - Max Steiner
> A King for Burning / König der letzten Tage (1993) - Wojciech Kilar
> The Leper / Trędowata (1976) - Wojciech Kilar
> The Most Dangerous Game (1932) - Max Steiner
> On the Beach (1959) - Ernest Gold
> The Roots of Heaven (1958) - Malcolm Arnold
> Son of Kong (1933) - Max Steiner

> Winning my second annual The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - The Monks of St. Thomas
> Affair Award for a score discovery that rated below 4.5 stars but provided
> some highly addictive tracks is Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
> The Bad Guys / Hit Me / Car Trouble / Flying High was some of the
> most entertaining stuff I heard last year.

> Breakdown:
> New scores: 126 (with 29% coming from the 90s)
> 2020 catch-up: 12 (5 of which made my 2020 top 12)
> Expansions of stuff I already had: 11
> Classical music: 10
> Compilations: 7
> Additional / film recording: 6
> Solo albums: 3 (all Armstrong)
> Theme park music: 1 (lol never had this category before)
> Stage work: 1 (the worst album I’ve heard in years)