On the VDT soundtrack I'm pretty much a fan of tracks 1-4, 11, 12, 20, and especially 28-30 are really moving. I think Arnold's done a beautiful job having to follow behind Harry Gregson-Williams. It's nice to hear a variant or reworking of the previous main theme especially when it's done well.

I love the VotDT soundtrack! it's awesome!
my favorite tracks are "The Painting" and "Into Battle"!

I'm really interested in knowing what Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard's opinions are on using pop songs!

I'm going to scour through the old soundtrack threads and see if I can find the specific quote/article for you, since Google is failing me. Anyway, they were asked in an interview why they didn't include a pop song in the credits of The Dark Knight, and they said it would have pulled people out of the movie, and, moreover, severely dated it.

(Also, this is a bit off-topic, but I think the TT credits song doesn't fit merely because of the singer's vocal styling. I've heard it played as a piano solo and it actually sounds much like the rest of Shore's score. If a different kind of singer had been used, it would have fit nicely. I would not say the same thing of the Narnia songs.)

EDIT: Found the article!

Excellent, thank you! . It was a great article. I actually attempted to google it earlier, and ended up reading about five different interviews with James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer about The Dark Knight.

You have a point about the singer for TTT. She was a bit too much like Jewel, or something. She had that "indie" pop style. Very mismatched.

Thanks for that article link, Lys. Zimmer is spot on in regards to the Prince music. Danny Elfman composed all of that lovely, quirky, semi-old-fashioned-but-in-a-good-way music for the score and then along comes an obnoxious pop song. So glad Zimmer/Howard chose to avoid that route and I wish more film composers would have the guts to veto the obnoxious pop music since Howard Shore seems to be about the only one who does a good job of blending the credits song with the film.

I'd tend to agree with the thoughts on Gollum's Song. With a different singer, I think it would have blended with the film much better. The problem really isn't with the lyrics or music.

I got the soundtrack as a Christmas present and I like it! I don't LOVE LOVE LOVE it, but the themes are very nice and it is one of my favorites (mostly by virtue of being Narnian). But, who knows, maybe it will grow on me. When I first listened to the "Braveheart" soundtrack I thought it was extremely boring, but now I like it.
I do LOVE #21, "Dragon Attack". It's definitely my favorite theme! And the Opening Title, with the horns, is great as well.

By the way, did anyone else notice that #25 is titled "Liliandil and Dark Island"? I thought it was "Lilliandil", with a double "l".

And who else is surprised and annoyed that Edmund has been arbitrarily promoted to High King?

I don't know if anyone's posted about this yet, but what about future "featured songs" (don't know what it's exact title is called but previous examples are Regina Spector's The Call, Alanis Morissette's Wunderkind, and Carrie Underwood's There's a Place for Us)??? All three movies had some sort of big-ish femal singer write a song for the credits. Who else could you see writing and singing another song for the credits? Or would you rather just more score music? Personally, I'd like to see Zooey Deschanel give it a shot, but idk for which movie...

And who else is surprised and annoyed that Edmund has been arbitrarily promoted to High King?

And all of a sudden we have a High Queen Lucy on the scene as well. It's one thing to put the line in the movie where it annoyed everyone, but then to have it on the back of the Soundtrack too? THEY ARE NOT HIGH KING AND QUEEN OF NARNIA!
*cough*
Any way, I don't think the Soundtrack is awful, but I don't think it tells the story of Narnia half so well as Harry Gregson-Williams' did.
And I'm not very keen on There's a Place For Us, though I vastly prefer Carrie Underwood's version to Joe Mcelderry's- YUCK. It was absolutely awful to listen to.

I really wish people would stop ridiculing Carrie Underwood’s “There’s a place for us.” I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I love the song. I don’t like country that much, but this song doesn’t sound country to me. I admit, it’s not as good as “Wunderkind,” “The Call,” or “This is Home” – the only songs I like for LWW and PC. Yet none of them made me cry. Carrie’s song makes me cry almost every time I hear it. And I’ve been hearing it in my head often for the last few weeks. I think the lyrics fit the movie. And the song is really for Ed and Lu. They’re the only Pevensie kings and queens in Dawn Treader. Caspian is also a king, but he doesn’t have to adjust to a non-Narnian world. Ed and Lu do. And “there’s a place for” them outside Narnia. They learn to adjust to life in England – permanently. I think the same can be said for the actors who play them. Skandar and Georgie will have to adjust to real life after Narnia. “There’s a place for” them in this world as well.

I have yet to listen to Arnold's soundtrack [or the international songs for DT]. Will I ever find the time? I don't know....

Don't worry 220chrisTian, I really liked "There's a place for us", I thought it fit perfectly with the mood of the ending.

Thanks, aragorn2.

I didn't really like the new composer for VDT. I wish it was still harry gregson-williams

I really wish people would stop ridiculing Carrie Underwood’s “There’s a place for us.” I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I love the song. I don’t like country that much, but this song doesn’t sound country to me. I admit, it’s not as good as “Wunderkind,” “The Call,” or “This is Home” – the only songs I like for LWW and PC. Yet none of them made me cry. Carrie’s song makes me cry almost every time I hear it. And I’ve been hearing it in my head often for the last few weeks. I think the lyrics fit the movie. And the song is really for Ed and Lu. They’re the only Pevensie kings and queens in Dawn Treader.

It's growing on me bit by bit...I think what made me not too keen on it at first was that a singer I personally don't like sung it for the end credits in my country. I'll readily say that Carrie's version is much better.

I finally listened to Arnold's soundtrack for Dawn Treader. It sounds great - but not on its own. I need to hear the music while watching the movie - which I haven't done yet. [Long story.] But I did hear one track that I now love and just keep listening to over and over. It's #12, "Duel." I love that fiddle!

I really liked the whole of the dark island sequence (Partically because it's a whole 11min.) I really liked how when the slew the dragon and the sound efx came down and the score got turned up, very powerful song.

I love HGW's Narnia soundtracks because there is a great sense of depth to the music. It has layers and levels and it's blended beautifully, and as I've listened over the past few years, I feel like some of the tracks have an ability to penetrate into the soul. It's a music you have to sit back and think about and reflect on in order to understand it. And it makes you want to sit back and think about it, because it's beautiful and mysterious.

I haven't listened to David Arnold's soundtrack all the way through, but having gone over a few of the tracks, I have to say that to be honest, it really lacks the depth that HGW's work does. It feels too thin and I can take it for face-value. The biggest weakness of HGW's soundtracks is probably that he changes the tone of the music too radically from light-and-airy to very dark in a matter of seconds. Arnold does this as well, but with far less skill.

Another problem with the VDT soundtrack is that the tracks themselves are so short, there's no time for the emotions of the piece to build and blend. I'm guessing the soundtrack is best listened to straight through, with each track building on the one before it, but something I love about the first two scores is that individual tracks are there own piece of art. You can listen to "Lucy Meets Mr. Tumnus", "The Kings and Queens of Old", or "The Door in the Air" and have a specific emotional journey because the track is longer and builds. On tracks where Arnold does take his time ("Into Battle" for example) there isn't much build-up and it isn't very satisfying when it meets a climax. It's mostly thin and noisy, instead of big and exhilarating.

But, I should really give the soundtrack a full listen. I'm sad that the soundtrack didn't stand out more to me during the film. There were some good moments but overall it was too much in the background.