Having wrapped up my survey of 2015 scores (as well as a few 2014 scores that became eligible for this year's Scoreboard voting after finally getting releases), it's time to throw my hat into the ring.

List:
1) Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2) Tomorrowland
3) Jupiter Ascending
4) Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Seasons 1 & 2
5) Da Vinci's Demons Season 3
6) Pan
7) San Andreas
8) Seventh Son
9) Cinderella
10) Victor Frankenstein

Composer of the Year: Michael Giacchino

Track of the Year: The Jedi Steps and Finale (Runners Up: Homecoming, Commitment, The Tank Yard)

Details:
1) Star Wars: The Force Awakens (John Williams) – This one took a few listens to grow on me, and then it was all I could listen to for days. It wiped the floor with the rest of the year.

2) Tomorrowland (Michael Giacchino)
3) Jupiter Ascending (Michael Giacchino) – These are ever so close together in quality. The glorious thematic statements from the former provide the tiebreaker, but the bombast and perfectly-constructed action cues of the latter are brilliant nonetheless.

4) Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Seasons 1 & 2 (Bear McCreary) – Gets included based on the strength of its many lengthy, energetic tracks from Scoreboard-eligible Season 1, as well as its rousing, ultra-cool main theme.

5) Da Vinci's Demons Season 3 (Bear McCreary) – The “weakest” album of this series is still a marvel, with McCreary continuing to deftly interpret his wealth of themes and the added sonic depth producing quite a few series highlights (namely the mammoth, quasi-liturgical The Tank Yard).

6) Pan (John Powell) – The year’s finest fantasy work, with the climactic battle material standing as one of the composer’s most addictive stretches.

7) San Andreas (Andrew Lockington) – Yet another gloriously thematic, powerfully orchestrated showcase for this guy.

8) Seventh Son (Marco Beltrami) – A speaker-shaking delight from start to finish; it’s the composer’s Van Helsing.

9) Cinderella (Patrick Doyle) – Regal, optimistic, and enrapturing.

10) Victor Frankenstein (Craig Armstrong) – My favorite Armstrong score to date.

If we were voting on purely 2015 releases (i.e., IFMCA-style), then SHIELD S1 and 7th Son would have dropped out, leaving room for Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and Jurassic World, the kings of the **** summer action scores. In very close contention were Christophe Beck’s Ant-Man; Thomas Newman’s Bridge of Spies; Maurizio Malagnini's Peter and Wendy; and James Horner’s Wolf Totem.

You really do need more than a top ten to do the year any justice. I heard 67 new scores in 2015 (69 if we count SHIELD S1 and 7th Son), and more than half were **** or better. So additional kudos to the following solid works:
Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate (Austin Wintory)
Belle and Sebastian: The Adventure Continues (Armand Amar)
Carlos, King Emperor: Season 1 (Federico Jusid)
Come What May (Ennio Morricone)
Creed (Ludwig Goransson)
Crimson Peak (Fernando Velazquez)
Far from the Madding Crowd (Craig Armstrong)
The Good Dinosaur (Mychael Danna & Jeff Danna)
The Hateful Eight (Ennio Morricone)
Human (Armand Amar)
The Hunt (Steven Price)
Krampus (Douglas Pipes)
The Martian (Harry Gregson-Williams)
Muhammad: The Messenger of God (A.R. Rahman)
Outlander Season 1 Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 (Bear McCreary)
Paper Planes (Nigel Westlake)
Persona Non Grata (Naoki Sato)
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Thomas Newman)
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising Tide (Geoff Knorr, Griffin Cohen & Grant Kirkhope)
Texas Rising (Bruce Broughton & John Debney)

(Message edited on Tuesday, January 19, 2016, at 11:41 a.m.)

> List:
> 1) Star Wars: The Force Awakens
> 2) Tomorrowland
> 3) Jupiter Ascending
> 4) Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Seasons 1 & 2
> 5) Da Vinci's Demons Season 3
> 6) Pan
> 7) San Andreas
> 8) Seventh Son
> 9) Cinderella
> 10) Victor Frankenstein

An outstanding list for the most part, but we part ways on Tomorrowland I'm afraid. The more I listen to that score, the more it comes across as an enthusisatic, moderately talented music major freshman trying his level best to write "the perfect 80s adventure score" and falling well, well short. There are certain chord progressions in there, particularly the theme that sounds like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, that make me want to tear my hair out at the roots at how awkward and viscerally "wrong" they sound. 3:33 of "Edge of Tomorrowland" is an example.

Unfortunately I can't put into words exactly what it is that bothers me so much about it. It just makes me feel like a cat that's been stroked the wrong way. I can't fault the enthusiasm, but it's weird for a composer with a nearly 20-year career at this point to put out something that strikes me as so blatantly...amateurish, somehow.

Is anybody else having the same issue with this score? Note that I don't have a problem with the "Pin-Ultimate Experience" material, which seems to "own" it simplicity in a way that feels more natural. It's really just that awful Henry Jones Sr theme that gets to me. Argh!

> An outstanding list for the most part, but we part ways on
> Tomorrowland I'm afraid. The more I listen to that score, the more
> it comes across as an enthusisatic, moderately talented music major
> freshman trying his level best to write 'the perfect 80s adventure score'
> and falling well, well short. There are certain chord progressions in
> there, particularly the theme that sounds like Indiana Jones and the
> Last Crusade, that make me want to tear my hair out at the roots at
> how awkward and viscerally 'wrong' they sound. 3:33 of 'Edge of
> Tomorrowland' is an example.

> Unfortunately I can't put into words exactly what it is that bothers me so
> much about it. It just makes me feel like a cat that's been stroked the
> wrong way. I can't fault the enthusiasm, but it's weird for a composer
> with a nearly 20-year career at this point to put out something that
> strikes me as so blatantly...amateurish, somehow.

> Is anybody else having the same issue with this score? Note that I don't
> have a problem with the 'Pin-Ultimate Experience' material, which seems to
> 'own' it simplicity in a way that feels more natural. It's really just
> that awful Henry Jones Sr theme that gets to me. Argh!

I'm sympathetic to this for three reasons.

First, Tomorrowland is a lot more dependent on its themes for success than Jupiter Ascending. Even if you think the latter's output is a little underwhelming on that front, the titanic orchestral and choral forces at its disposal more than make up for it. The former score is a bit more of a straightforward orchestral effort, so if you aren't a fan of the themes, there's less to get attached to.

I just happened to really like all of the themes. They really imbued the work with a consistent sense of wonder and optimism, and the final 10 minutes is an absolute feast.

Second, this isn't the first Giacchino work that has some structural ties to other Williams works, in particular The Last Crusade. It's a common point referenced when people discuss the earlier Medal of Honor scores. I am one to get annoyed with composers for overt self-references, as well as blatant mining of the works of others.

But those similarities never register when I'm listening to MOH; they come off as more "oh, hey, that" reactions then "whoa, this really sounds like this!" reactions. We're not talking 4-note-motif-of-doom here. The same is true with Tomorrowland, except that I'm even less aware of the quite minor similarities when it's playing.

Third, I tend to lean towards the positive for Giacchino more than the average voter on this board. That doesn't mean I love every Giacchino score (can anyone actually get all the way through Let Me In?), but I'm usually a fan of what he does thematically.

Tomorrowland is really just a superb take on elements that Giacchino has mixed together before, rather than a radical reinvention. So if you've ever had lower-than-average enthusiasm for the man's thematic constructs or how he deploys an orchestra, Tomorrowland isn't going to change your mind.

> (can anyone actually get all the way through Let Me In?)

Me.

But I think that's primarily because it reminds me of the film, which utterly captivated me. (And yes, I enjoyed Let the Right One In and its score as well.)

Man, I'll try to defend the score (again for the 392th time) but because I really love it. I think I know what you find in the theme that may be wierd, is it the second phrase of
The theme that sounds that it plays a note wrong? I think it is the same as his Star Trek theme, where one of the chords sounds off, but I don't know why, I just can't help it but love it! In "Edge of Tomorrowland" and in the great "End Credits" it sounds unpredictable and so cool. But even if the theme doesn't get you, I don't think the themes themselves are what makes the score so great, but how there are performed. It has so much energy and flows so well that I can't help it but smile!
The performances of every theme is so enthusiastic and shameless that makes it great for me. The theme may be simplistic but there is no way that the oschestration and the arrangements can be call amateurish. Every time I listen to it I have a blast, more than Horner's Rocketeer (that I really love). Let me ask.. Don't you get a kick out of "End Credits", "What an Eiffel" or "Tbe Battle Bridgeway" for their sheer energy?

> Man, I'll try to defend the score (again for the 392th time) but because I
> really love it. I think I know what you find in the theme that may be
> wierd, is it the second phrase of
> The theme that sounds that it plays a note wrong? I think it is the same
> as his Star Trek theme, where one of the chords sounds off, but I don't
> know why, I just can't help it but love it! In 'Edge of Tomorrowland' and
> in the great 'End Credits' it sounds unpredictable and so cool. But even
> if the theme doesn't get you, I don't think the themes themselves are what
> makes the score so great, but how there are performed. It has so much
> energy and flows so well that I can't help it but smile!
> The performances of every theme is so enthusiastic and shameless that
> makes it great for me. The theme may be simplistic but there is no way
> that the oschestration and the arrangements can be call amateurish. Every
> time I listen to it I have a blast, more than Horner's Rocketeer (that I
> really love). Let me ask.. Don't you get a kick out of 'End Credits',
> 'What an Eiffel' or 'Tbe Battle Bridgeway' for their sheer energy?

I like "The Battle of Bridgeway" just fine. Unfortunately "What an Eiffel" is partially ruined for me by that theme, which plays throughout it for six solid minutes. The arrangements and orchestrations are great, they do nod to The Rocketeer as you say, but man oh man is that theme ever not within spitting distance of The Rocketeer. That's actually part of what makes it feel so awkward for me. The arrangement is worthy of a much more melodically sound theme than what it gets. There's a massive disconnect there. It's the uncanny valley of film scores!

I think it's absolutely nutsoid that Clemmensen gives Tomorrowland a higher rating than The Rocketeer by the way.

> I like 'The Battle of Bridgeway' just fine. Unfortunately 'What an Eiffel'
> is partially ruined for me by that theme, which plays throughout it for
> six solid minutes. The arrangements and orchestrations are great, they do
> nod to The Rocketeer as you say, but man oh man is that theme ever
> not within spitting distance of The Rocketeer. That's actually part
> of what makes it feel so awkward for me. The arrangement is worthy of a
> much more melodically sound theme than what it gets. There's a massive
> disconnect there. It's the uncanny valley of film scores!

> I think it's absolutely nutsoid that Clemmensen gives Tomorrowland
> a higher rating than The Rocketeer by the way.

I literally did a spit take when I read this fact.

> That's actually part
> of what makes it feel so awkward for me. The arrangement is worthy of a
> much more melodically sound theme than what it gets. There's a massive
> disconnect there. It's the uncanny valley of film scores!

Story of his career, in my opinion. Beautifully arranged scores that evoke classics, without the thematic and melodic strength to back it up. And yes, I agree that Tomorrowland is one of the most blatant examples of this.

That being said, I found several moments to enjoy in Jurassic World and Jupiter Ascending. He's very often in the #15-30 range on the year for me, and will be again this year.

Oh my, a major divergence with Tommorroland. I thought this score was perfectly crafted and very enjoyable.

Life goes on buddy.