> Kinda surprised you didn't cover this one, it's a quite lovely little score -- though something I imagine Rachel Portman could have written, and possibly better.

The simple answer is I forgot about it.

The follow-up answer is that I probably could've snuck it in but was getting a little fatigued by lesser works at this point (note the absence of Deadpool).

Maybe it'll end up in a catch-up round with the others I didn't get to in the spring. That Thelma and Louise jewel case should be used for something other than collecting dust!

> This one I wanna hear what two scores sounded like: Horner's unrealized one and Debney's tossed one. Why Debney's got tossed astounds me, given that his chameleon abilities meant he should have delivered what RGW did (and possibly better).

It's an interesting quirk in Debney's 'chameleon' qualities as you put it: he is very good at emulating the style of others (Silvestri, Horner, maybe Williams), but he seems to rarely be asked to channel the MV / RC sound - and why would he be, when you can just hire those guys for likely less money?

At the same time, I know other composers have spoken about the challenge of getting so far down the writing rabbit hole and then having to start again from scratch. Sometimes it's just easier to bring someone else in; this is exactly what happened to Marc Shaiman on Team America.

> Much has been written on Bleeding Fingers as a brand move (it replacing Alf Clausen on The Simpsons especially stung, though I'm not sure if one should blame Zimmer or the showrunners more for that)

It was fascinating to cover The Simpsons Movie and find Alf Clausen quoted grousing about Zimmer doing the movie. Those were the good old days...

> Also, heh, love that unattributed quote. Hey, if it supports the experience!

That magnificent quote came at the end of interview Shea and Klebe did with Vice. You do have to love how the reporter basically says 'we're Vice, so we have to talk about drugs at some point'...#knowthyself

> Strongly(ish?) disagree on this one (though I suspected this rating was coming, given your prior comments).

A simpler way to justify my rating would be
a) It's not as good as Bourne Identity and I have that at ***
b) It has nothing as wild as Bim Bam Smash or even Tangiers

It's basically the Superman II of spy sequel scores.

> I still wonder whether Powell was attached first and Buckley came on or vice versa (I tried to find what you wrote before but couldn't remember what score you provided commentary on).

Never mind what I said about not being able to find any comments from Powell. There is shockingly little from Buckley on the record as well. I've only found only a few comments in a video interview with Daniel Schweiger, though it's possible he may have commented on it when doing press for The Sandman.

> Incidentally, I hope you're going to cover Powell's oratorio!

Yup. The holiday break is coming at a nice time though, as all three works on that album have write-ups in varying stages of incompleteness. That's not as much writer's block (I have made decent headway into 2017-19) as it is two things:
a. All three are decidedly atypical work in this rundown, and it's hard to figure out how to approach them
b. My wife is generally pretty tolerant of my musical interests, but she loathes the final track of the requiem (The Gift), specifically those call-and-response laments from the soloists

Nonetheless...SLACKER!

> Love, love, love this series! Each installment is such a treat!

Thanks!