Middle-Earth Music, after all these years
 

SO it's been a while-- quite a while-- since the movies came out. There was a huge craze (during those lovely exciting early years) when everything Tolkien on ebay sold at high prices. Everything Tolkien on the store shelves sold out fast.

And some of us were looking, and looking hard, for Good LOTR Music. Good Tolkien Music.

Eight years later, what have you settled on? What are your favorites? Have you found anything new lately?

Do you have any favorite Bath Songs? Walking Songs? Drinking or dancing songs? Forest songs? Dwarf-heckling songs?

What Tolkien songs make you saddest? What Tolkien songs make you laugh the hardest?

Are there any songs of which you would say, "This is THE canonical version of this song?"

And what Tolkien songs are you still unsatisfied about, eight years later, still looking for That Ultimate Tune to fit the unbeatable lyrics?

Most here are familiar with:

Enya
Annie Lennox
Howard Shore

Have you heard these:
The Road Goes Ever On with Donald Swann
Starlit Jewel
The Hobbitons
The Tolkien Ensemble
Stephen Oliver

or lesser known projects such as

Alan Horvath's The Rings Project
Lingalad (Giuseppe Festa)
Andi Grimsditch (From Argentina)

...there are others... what are your favorites and why?

There is a great piece of work by a Finnish composer Toni Edelmann who composed a host of songs from the LotR to a Finnish theatre production of the book in 1989.

I've sent this link already somewhere else in the 'Downs but let it be re-linked. It is my version of "The Song of Boromir". The melody is the same as in the original but the arrangement is mine as well as the performance (the original was in Finnish and performed by a then leading actor of Finninsh theatre Taneli Mäkelä). It's a crippled one with only three stanzas of slowly growing instrumentation and the chorus coming only after them (unlike in the original where it comes after every stanza) but it will give you an insight into what the song is like.

I do think this is the most beautiful version of that song I've ever heard. The other compositions in Edelmann's work are at best almost as good as this is - and some are pretty bad. Sadly the record is no longer for sale as the Tolkien estate denied the reprinting of the record into a CD-format already during the early 21st century (the movie guys had clearly already bought the rights at that time?).

I still love and listen to Howard Shore's score...in specific, I love Aragorn's Coronation song, Pippin's song, The Council of Elrond, and The King of the Golden Hall. There are others, including the Enya and Annie Lennox songs.

There is also an amazing LotR inspired songwriter named Patrice Deceuninck that has created a score of LotR music...it is brilliant, in my opinion. I am not sure if Patrice still makes music or even when the music is from, for I found it when I was randomly searching the web some years ago. But I do know that songs like "Lost in Fangorn" and "A Night in Bree" are spectacular...

As far as canon like songs go...I would have to get back to you on that.

Aye, sometimes physically finding the music is a hunt on a heroic scale... I find myself blocked from the site you link to-- anything un-family friendly there before I override??-- I do hope to give the music a listen. Boromir was a big early favorite for me. I'm fond of both Starlit Jewel's version of Lament, and, TOlkein Ensemble's; so I'm curious to add a third tune to the collection!

Obtaining Starlit Jewel was a long search. In the end I was very lucky (blessed?) to find an obscure dealer who had one copy sitting on a back shelf, who charged me a reasonable price. Ebayers wanted small fortunes for that CD....

I hadn't thought of Patrick D for a long time-- I ran across his stuff long ago. I don't remember whether I have it in anyof my archives.

If I had to list my favorite Shore tracks... the Rohan theme is high on the list. SO is the entering Rivendell section, and entering Lorien. "Hope is Kindled" (lighting of the beacons) and the rescue scene from Mt Doom is also a big favorite.

And of course, Enya and Lennox also rate high.

My definitive Tolkien song, other than, you know, the Howard Shore/Enya/etc. crew (whom I adore), is Led Zeppelin's "Battle of Evermore." t can be interpreted in many ways (it has a reference to "the angels of Avalon," for example), but overall it's a LotR song. "Queen of light" being Galadriel, for example ("took her bow and then she turned to go" - passed the test, and departs from Middle Earth), etc. And the sound, oh man, the sound - the mandolin is terrific. And the lyrics:

And it's a song that's still being sung today. I'm pretty sure that Plant was singing it just this year with... uh... Alison Krauss, I believe.

Yes! Yes! I'm pretty sure they used to have a few available streaming back when I was still in high school!

And, you know, coming back to the Shore thing - my mobile ringtone is "Concerning Hobbits." :)

Yes, they did use LOTR stuff. This thread talks about it in more detail.

Yep. :)

I completely forgot about this amazing English band called Mostly Autumn. They are very inspired by Tolkien and back when the movies were coming out to theatres they released an album called Music Inspired by the Lord of the Rings. The album is truly great. Does anybody else have it? This band definitely captures the spirit of Middle-earth, especially in songs such as Goodbye Alone , Out Of The Inn , The Riders Of Rohan , and To the Grey Havens. Those are my favorite tracks on the album...

Has anybody else heard of them?

For my part, Howard Shore's music still very much occupies the top of the charts when it comes to music from Lord of the Rings.

David Arkenstone released an album, something about music from and inspired by Middle-Earth. It's been ages since I've heard it.

Interestingly, there's a famous group no one has heard of called Within Temptation. They have not specifically tailored any of their songs to Lord of the Rings (that I know of) but if you search on YouTube for "within temptation lord of the rings" and check out some of the options that come up, I think you'll agree the music fits rather well. The group calls their genre "symphonic/gothic metal" which is a very unique category, shared perhaps only by groups such as Nightwish, Epica and Evanescence. I've heard samples of the other groups, wasn't as impressed. There's still a very limited number of songs I enjoy from their discography, but many of their songs mirror the epic tragedy and bitter struggles of Middle-Earth.

And I'm not just saying that because I made one. :D

Here are some other recommendations:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lN2PR8vuPGA

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_6iL6kkACZ8

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nn3agxH3Qyg

http://youtube.com/watch?v=w5PQOcyY4Mo

http://youtube.com/watch?v=djhmQtw70v0

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LMdMPwH38Ts

FInally got through, and enjoyed it. Your voice has a strong, rich timbre; and very nice guitar work.

Glass Hammer plays Progressive Rock in the style of bands such as Yes and ELP. The musicianship is outstanding, featuring lots of extended soloing and particularly distinctive organ and guitar work. The songs sung in a dramatic high tenor, have an epic sweep to them.

More particularly, they have two distinct Middle-Earth-themed albums, Journey of the Dunadan, and The Middle-Earth Album. The latter is a favorite of mine, since it was recorded as if the band had somehow taken all their acoustic instruments (and some ethereal elf-music sounds) to Bree and performed a set for the patrons of the Prancing Pony -- complete with live small-audience sounds. (A between-song background argument between two audience members over a plate of taters is quite amusing.) The cover art alone is is almost worth the price of the album.
http://www.glasshammer.com/images/th...coverlarge.jpg

These albums are for sale on the Glass Hammer store site, here about halfway down the page. They also have a couple of C. S. Lewis-themed albums.

Yes the above mentioned Middle Earth Album is a fun one. But I very much like the track "As I Walk", which one of the more serious pieces.

I'm wondering if anyone can give a review of Ainur?
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=124660391.
I am curious about this prog. group, and only recently learned about their Children of Hurin album.