Preview of the End Credits Song for The Battle of the Five Armies

Here is a preview of the final song in The Hobbit Trilogy called The Last Goodbye sung by Billy Boyd (Pippin). Also below is the full track list for the soundtrack which is set for release on December 12. You can pre-order the album now from Amazon.

Disc 1:

"I See Fire" TV Spot and Capella Clone Cover

The credit song for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is the great single "I See Fire" performed by Ed Sheeran. The song is used in the latest UK TV spot for movie. In addition Peter Hollens does creative editing to create a capella cover of the track using himself times 1 to 13 depending on section.

Even More from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Score

WB's Watertower Music has once again bumped their sampling from the score of The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. It started at 30s, then 60s and now its 90s sample for each track. The full score will be released on December 10th and now available for pre-order: special edition | regular edition

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug TV Spot #9, Two Posters and Cover Song

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is about three weeks away from release and the marketing campaign continues. The latest TV spot has air (below) that teases more of Smaug himself. Also two new posters were found that look similar to previous posters to point that I am not entirely sure if official or not. Thanks to Mathieu G. for the link. Last but not least is cover version of Ed Sheeran's "I See Fire" for the movie as performed by Matthew Jordan with Ginny Luke. Probably the first of many covers for is actually a pretty solid song once give it a few listens.

More Score Samples from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Soundtrack

A few days ago WB's WaterTower Music provided 30 second samples from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Soundtrack as composed by Howard Shore. Now they have doubled the length to a minute from each track for 30 minutes of music. The full score will be released on December 10th and now available for pre-order: special edition | regular edition

Score Samples from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Soundtrack

One of the joys a new edition to The Hobbit trilogy is it means a new edition to the excellent series of scores from composer Howard Shore. Just like last year, the soundtrack for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will come in two editions - the regular version and the special edition that will be released on December 10th, just days before the movie itself. Amazon has just the special edition and regular edition available for pre-order but really there is no reason to get the regular edition.

To tease the upcoming release, WaterTower Music (part of Warner Bros) has released a sampler with the full track list for the special edition (below) that lets you here snippets from each of the tracks. To no surprise it sounds excellent and makes me look forward to hearing the rest. You can also listen to "A Feast of Starlight" on the official website.

Desolation of Smaug's "I See Fire" End Credits Song

Peter Jackson has posted a music video/making of for the end of credits song for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Titled "I See Fire" and performed by Ed Sheeran, the track will be part of the soundtrack when its released in a few weeks. While not as good as The Lord of the Rings credit songs, its still a solid addition. For some reason it reminds me of something Tracy Chapman would perform.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Soundtrack Out Now

Just a friendly reminder that the The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey soundtrack has been officially released. You can find the regular edition or extended edition in stores or can download digitally. If decide to order from Amazon please use links above so site gets credit. The extended edition has six additional tracks and longer versions of seven tracks then the regular version. Below is one of the tracks (and a scene) from the movie. Just three days to go...

Creating the Music of the Hobbit

Below is a video with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey composer Howard Shore as he discusses his process for creating the score to the movie along with watching the orchestra as they work on it. Worth watching if a fan of the music. You can listen to the tracks from the soundtrack here. The extended edition and regular edition are available for pre-order and will be released on December 11th.

The Hobbit: AUJ Entire Score Separated In Tracks

A few weeks ago The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey soundtrack was posted as a preview for its December 11 release. However, the player would not allow you to pause or skip tracks. Now Rolling Stone has reposted the soundtrack in a new player that devices the music into its tracks and gives you pause functionality. If interested in replaying some of your favorite tracks, you can find the player here. You can pre-order the extended edition and regular edition at Amazon.

Howard Shore Audio Interview

ClassicFM has posted a new interview with The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings composer Howard Shore. In the interview he discusses writing the music for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, working with Peter Jackson again, the influence the novels have on his writing and finishing the movie score. The 11 minute interview can be found here. The soundtrack will be out on December 11th in standard and extended edition. You can also preview it. (via TOR)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Full Soundtrack Preview

Empire Magazine has posted the full soundtrack to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey online. A previous post provided a minute preview of each track but this time its the entire thing. Sadly the widget does not allow you to skip around but still cool to hear if only to rev you up for the movie. If decide to pre-order the soundtrack use these links so the site gets credit - extended edition and regular edition. The soundtrack will be released on December 11th. If just curious about Neil Finn's credit song, you can find that below thanks to Rolling Stone.

New The Hobbit Track, Preview Entire Score

A new track from the Howard Shore composed sountrack to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has been released called "The Adventure Begins" which echos themes from The Lord of the Rings soundtrack. A previously released track, Radagast the Brown, can be found here. In addition below are three "videos" that give you about a minute preview of every track on the extended edition of the sountrack. There are two editions, the extended edition and regular edition with the main differences being longer versions of some tracks and a few additonal tracks. Full details on those editions are here.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Soundtrack Cover, Tracks

Today the details for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Soundtrack composted by Howard Shore confirming previously leaked info including that Neil Finn performs the closing credits song called "Song of the Lonely Mountain". There are two editions of the 2-disc soundtrack, a regular edition and special edition. The special edition has four additional tracks and six extended versions of selected music. The sets will be released on December 11th, just a few days before the movie is release worldwide. Below is the track list but spoiler warning as the titles do hint at movie events. If plan on purchasing, use one of the edition links above so the site gets credit.

Press Release:

Singer Chosen for The Hobbit End Credits

According to the NeilFinn.news website, it seems that Peter Jackson has chosen the singer to the end credits sound for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  Neil Finn is a New Zealand singer who was part of the band "Crowded House".  It seems he has done well in New Zealand and UK but an unknown in the United States.  YouTube has some videos if interested in sampling his music. The Lord of the Rings trilogy end credits were "May It Be" by Enya (Fellowship of the Ring), "Gollum's Song" by Emiliana Torrini (Two Towers), and "Into the West by Annie Lennox (Return of the King). While this news has not been officially confirmed, it does fit Peter Jackson's tendency to want to showcase New Zealand talent and locations whenever possible.

The Hobbit Score Recording Begins

There are many things that made The Lord of the Rings trilogy a true classic of cinema. One of them is the brilliant and beautiful score of Howard Shore. His work on the film is that rare cinema score that sounds just as good playing solo as it does when part of the film. Doug Adams, author of The Music of The Lord of the Rings Films (and future book The Music of The Hobbit Films), has posted on his blog that Howard Shore and the London Symphony officially start recording the score for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. His full post can be found here, main part below.

This post is going online on Monday, August 20, 2012. Why? Because today marks the official start of The Hobbit recording sessions in London. Today the musical world of Middle-earth begins expanding once again. Today, you can no longer say that you know every note of Shore's music for Tolkien's world. In fact, you only know about half of it. (This is a ballpark figure; I have no idea how long the three Hobbit films will be!) Today the subject of The Music of the Hobbit Films exists not just in concept, but in reality. Today a new journey begins ...

(via TOR)

The Lord of the Rings Symphony: Six Movements for Orchestra & Chorus

Below is a 50 minute video from "The Lord of the Rings Symphony: Six Movements for Orchestra & Chorus" tour which was composed by Howard Shore who will be returning to Middle-Earth for the Hobbit films. If a fan of the music, just worth watching for the "live" orchestra and chorus as this beautiful music plays. The live performance is available as CD or for download.

Lord of the Rings Symphony Album Coming

IGN UK reports that a new double album will be released on September 13th for Howard Shore's score for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Called The Lord of the Rings Symphony: Six Movements for Orchestra & Chorus that was recorded during from a February concert in Lucerne, Switzerland. From IGN (via TOR):

The music was performed by the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, under the direction of Ludwig Wicki; who personally selected the musicians for this recording. Shore commented, "Over the past four years he has perfected this music in Lucerne, Switzerland. His precision and supreme musicianship is evident throughout the recording. I congratulate him on his success and thank him for his masterful approach in bringing this score to life."

The six-movement piece is crafted from the three film scores Shore created for the trilogy, totaling nearly twelve hours of music. The six movements found on the two cd set reflect each of the six books comprising J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings.

Shore Returns to Middle-Earth

Academy Award winning composer Howard Shore is returning to Middle=Earth to score The Hobbit for Peter Jackson in an interview in The Province. Shore was the composer for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The interview was part of a promotion for next week's performance of his score from the trilogy by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. (via One Ring)

And now it looks like Shore is going back to Middle Earth with Rings director Peter Jackson. The long-awaited two-part movie adaptation of Tolkien's The Hobbit is in the works.

"We've talked about making these movies for many years, at least since 2002," Shore says.

"It looks like finally it's going to be happening. I'll be working on it for the next three years -- it's going to consume a lot of my time and work now."

Rings Composer Howard Shore Interview

AICN has posted an interview with Howard Shore, the composer of the score for The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Howard Shore is going to the "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings Score Spectacular" at the Radio City Music Hall this weekend. In the interview he discusses the upcoming performance and how the live performances of the score got started. Below is his response to working on The Hobbit films with the full interview here.

IR: How about The Hobbit films? Are you already thinking about how you are scoring it or what you may do different from the previous work?
HS: There's lots of discussion going on. I've been in a ton of meetings. There's been a long period of reading, research, and just getting ready for the several years that I'll be back in Middle Earth - a place that I love. It's a great world to go into and I just want to finish all the projects that I'm doing so I can just enter back into that world.