If you're the kind of person that likes slow, swelling, orchestral, non-action cues...

Don't get me wrong.  I fully appreciate the genre from top to bottom.  Arnold to Zimmer.  And I probably missed a few above and below, but I really don't mean to exclude them.

Action films are my favorite, so action scores are my favorite.  I REALLY like the synthesizer-with-small-orchestra sound (as you'll be able to gather from my reviews).

In Laymen's terms, old school is DEAD.

Also, all critics of film score will agree, there are scores that work well within the film only, scores that work well alone, scores that do both, and scores that do neither.

My main interest is in those that sound good alone.  As a collector, I don't like to have those that I plug into the CD player and subsequently get bored.  Scores from films such as Lawrence of Arabia and On the Waterfront do that.  Good thing I don't OWN them.

If you're insulting your computer screen at this time, you're probably also the kind of person that thinks that an artist like Rob Zombie records dull songs and that a group like Metallica has no talent.

My favorite composers are Hans Zimmer and those from his conglomerate including Mark Mancina, Nick Glennie Smith, Harry Gregson Williams, and especially up-and-coming film composer, former Yes guitarist, Trevor Rabin.  Also in the mix are Michael Kamen, Jerry Goldsmith, and older John Williams scores.

I've never scored a film, but I've tried to come up with stuff that would go well with a tale like 'Nimbus' (a film I'm currently writing;  read about it here).  Some sounded all right, but it is just not as full as most of the stuff I own.  I need a lesson in thematics, I think.

Philosophy on score collectors who hold fast to older scores as faves:  More power to them.  They know what they like.

Philosophy on unyielding guys who think that any score composed by men who weren't yet alive during the Cuban Missile Crisis is pure crap:  They can like the older stuff.  They really can.  They just have to realize they've got an aesthetic flagpole jammed somewhere in their anatomy and need to remove it post-haste.

I collect film and television scores, but I am not yet digging too deeply in my pockets to buy hard-to-find/out-of-print/man-that's-old scores.  No dough, no go.

I may revise this in time.  Maybe I'll become old school.

Maybe I'll also take a liking to getting kicked by horses.  Or grumpy film score fans.