Soundtrack Express

The Music Behind the Magic: A Decade of Pottering - Part 1

2011-08-21T11:39:00.000+01:00

Since the Harry Potter books and films all have such long titles, I figured I was allowed one for a rough, entirely incomplete and biased retrospective of a decade (more or less) of Harry Potter films and their music. The eight films have had four composers along the way, but I (rightly or wrongly) find myself grouping them in pairs and so I'll deal with them two at a time. I'm in the process of re-watching all of the films and so it'll probably take a bit of time to complete the entire retrospective but I'm sure it'll be mildly interesting to one person. At least.

I suspect few people will need persuasion to consider the first two films and their scores together. Both films were directed by Christ Columbus and scored by John Williams. As a result of their prior working relationship (Home Alone, erm, Home Alone 2 and Stepmom), one must imagine that Williams was Columbus' first choice. I think at that point in his career, no fan of the composer expected him to launch another musical franchise. Notwithstanding the Star Wars prequels which were a continuation (of sorts) of a franchise, not many of Williams' late 90's scores had themes that hit home in the way his late 70's to early 90's output did. Harry Potter changed that run and Hedwig's theme - the first few notes are enough for even the casual cinema goer's recognition - became the defining musical accompaniment to JK Rowling's world.

One comment I have made on a couple of occasions, most notably in my review of Harry Gregson-Williams' score to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is how easy it is to take someone of John Williams' talent for granted. Oddly named it might be, but Hedwig's Theme catches the ear instantly. Gregson-Williams can be a fine enough composer, but even a handful of plays of his Narnia score (and its first sequel) and I can barely remember any of the main themes. Williams' Potter music is, like so many of his classics, instantly memorable and not just to film score geeks.

Both scores are filled to the brim with other memorable melodies, but the tone is generally grandiose and there is little room for subtlety, but the insistence of the music gives both films much of their atmosphere. Almost every bit of Hogwarts seems to get its own theme - grand for the great hall, more gothic and scary for the outside - in a way that Williams has rarely done since the mid/late 90's. When it comes to taking composers for granted, it's too easy to forget that many of the B themes in Williams scores are better than a lot of composer's best material. True, after a while you can have heard a couple of the major themes one to many times and the dialled down use in later instalments was probably a wise move, but the series couldn't have started on a stronger musical footing.

Jig - Patrick Doyle

2011-08-06T19:19:00.001+01:00

Patrick Doyle is having a busy year with two of the summer's biggest films (Thor and the upcoming Rise of the Escape Beneath the Battle Beyond the Planet of the Apes), but one that is likely to go under the radar are the 40 delightful minutes of Jig. Given that it's a documentary about Irish dancing, I was fully expecting some full on Riverdance action but, of course, Doyle is scoring the human drama backstage, not the competition itself. Therefore, while the tone is very firmly entrenched somewhat typical, film music Irish territory, but managing to sound a lot more authentic than most.

The focus is on a small ensemble; guitar, flute, violin and piano, with a delicate subtlety that is welcome after the bombast of Thor. The delicacy of the textures means it's something of a Celtic version of La Ligne Droit, although it is perhaps a little less memorable. The album closes with the lengthy Final Results, followed by a song with lyric by Doyle Jnr (male) and performed by Doyle Jnr (female). The results, like the rest of the score, are most fetching. In the midst of a noisy summer schedule, a charming and low key alternative.

Dance your way across to Amazon and jiggle your mouse once there.

Captain America - Alan Silvestri

2011-07-22T22:01:00.000+01:00

Alan Silvestri is (and sorry to Mr Silvestri for sharing) 61. Yes, 61. I remember when he was one of the "young" composers. God, now I feel old. Given that he's now at a time when most people are starting to hope to retire soon, one can't complain that he's slowing his output, with only one 2010 release - The A Team (shame it wasn't a bit more inspiring, if I'm honest) and one for 2011. Captain America is yet another in the seemingly endless stream of comic book adaptations that Hollywood is spewing forth (not to mention the series that have or are soon to be rebooted - Batman, Spider-Man, Superman). After the slight disappointment of Thor (Patrick Doyle) and the considerably disappointment of The Green Lantern (James Newton Howard), Captain America is definitely a distinct improvement, music wise (and the film has been getting fairly decent notices too).

The one thing that Captain America has is a(n) heroic theme. Yes, a theme. Imagine that. A theme for a comic book superhero. It's even actually quite heroic. Having said that, it's rather short - more of a fanfare than a full blown theme - but it's still very credible and quite memorable. That it has a couple of short quasi-concert versions (the final, titular, score track, and, if you buy the iTunes version, a fun marching band version). As you might expect for an origin story (they all seem to be, possibly because so few get beyond that stage), the first half barely features the theme at all, being rather more dark and brooding. In common with Super 8, the first half features perhaps just a few too many short, none too exciting tracks that don't really add much despite a few genuinely effective suspenseful cues.

Once the action proper kicks in halfway through, the tempo rarely lets up and Silvestri's patented action scoring comes to the fore. Perhaps the closest antecedent is The Mummy Returns (and a touch of Van Helsing), although Captain America lacks that score's broad selection of memorable themes. In any event, it's his bustling, epic action that he's employed to generally fine effect over the last decade. It's nice to hear some action music that sounds like it was written with an orchestra in mind rather than on a keyboard and multiplied up. The album rounds out with a retro 40's musical style chorus number composed (unexpectedly) by Alan Menken. It's slightly cheesy, but good fun. One wonders what Menken might have done with the whole film, his underscoring these days is generally top notch. In any event, Silvestri's score is solid with a decent main theme, even if the secondary material is perhaps a little more workmanlike. Solid if not spectacular.

Toss your discus in the general direction of Amazon to buy it.

Super 8 - Michael Giacchino

2011-07-13T22:09:00.000+01:00

I think Super 8 was my most anticipated score of the summer. Giacchino has turned into one of my "must have" composers where I'll buy everything he puts out, confident of it being worth the investment, with Super 8 at the top of the 2011 list. Therefore, it pains me to say that it doesn't quite excite me like I hoped it would. Several listens later and the first half still feels rather patchy, not helped by an inordinate number of brief, unrelated, but occasionally not hugely exciting cues. True, 30 second tracks can be a miniature epic of condensed genius, but more often they are incidental and that is largely the case here. The first half is largely suspenseful and feels a little laboured with so many short bursts of murmuring.

Giacchino presents several major themes which are typically memorable and delightful, although for some reason put me in mind of Howard Shore's score to The Last Mimzy, particularly in the finale track, Letting Go, which seems to be heading for an ET style finale, but never quite gets there. The fact that Giacchino doesn't do a great deal with his themes doesn't help matters. Indeed, lack of variation and invention in the use of his themes is surprisingly problematic in Super 8. Compared to the dazzling invention in Up or Ratatouille where the main themes are contorted and played with all over the place, Super 8 feels surprisingly pedestrian. The aforementioned Letting Go should be the point at which the main theme (or themes) get a full and glorious workout, but they are merely presented a few times getting a bit louder each time.

Perhaps it's unfair to have ET so strongly in mind, but the film clearly echoes Spielberg's classic and has been marketed as a throwback to those movies. Further, the trailer made excellent use of James Horner's Cocoon and Horner, for his faults, does a lot more interesting things with what is a fairly simplistic melody than Giacchino manages here. Elsewhere there's some fine action writing, World's Worst Field Trip, The Siege of Lillian and Creature Comforts are the major contenders, although it's not as structurally satisfying as some of his Pixar work. A three note motif that puts in mind Cliff Eidelman's Star Trek VI score doesn't help.

Sometimes, despite my slackness of updates, I try to put out reviews quickly to be ahead of the curve but halfway through my review of Super 8 I was disappointed at what I was saying so hoped that giving it more of a chance might help. It didn't. True, the various motifs that run through the score become more apparent with familiarity, but don't really form a greater, satisfying and more unifying whole. However good we want a composer to be - especially on a particular project - you simply can't will the music to be better than it is. Super 8 is not a bad score; there's plenty of energetic writing and a collection of memorable melodic ideas, but it doesn't push the material to the same extent as I know Giacchino is capable of doing and that marks it as something of a disappointment.

Go online in the mothership to acquire Super 8 from Amazon.

Cars 2 - Michael Giacchino

2011-07-09T23:14:00.001+01:00

Pixar eventually had to make a film that didn't quite live up to expectations and general consensus is that Cars was that film. It's not that it's bad, but there's something that rings hollow about it; my money is on it not being set in a subset of our own world. Despite their fantastical settings, all other Pixar films somehow intersect our world so we can relate to them. With Cars, it's just cars living in a world that is otherwise like ours, but is filled with... well... cars. Fun, but difficult to relate to in any meaningful sense. Still, the kids loved it and even a classic films factory such as Pixar is allowed to make something a bit more fun.

Given that Cars was pretty much a self contained film, Cars 2 takes the characters and somehow turns it into a spy spoof thing. With cars. I hate to say it, but when a company can make something as inspired as Up, Wall-E, Toy Story or Finding Nemo, a spy film about anthropomorphic cars seems pretty weak. Guess I shouldn't prejudge, but hey, I'm a judgemental type. After Randy Newman's fine effort for the original, Michael Giacchino - who seems to be becoming in-house Pixar composer - picks up on the sequel. Given the lack of story continuity, the lack of musical continuity isn't especially problematic and Giacchino has form in the genre.

Perhaps expectedly, Cars 2 is a pretty fun action score with lots of 60's spy motifs running through it. Although other reviews have mentioned the British spy element, it sounds a lot less like Barry doing Bond than The Incredibles; maybe more the Persuaders or the Avengers. There's some comedy country for Mater (possibly Pixar's least endearing creation) and a little playful creeping about music which is something of a lighthearted take on his Mission: Impossible 3 music (a hint of M:I 4 coming out later in 2011 perhaps? OK, unlikely) to break up the action, but that does rather take centre stage.

The main three note theme gets a good work out (maybe a little too often, but we'll let it pass as it's good fun and is used in sufficiently varied ways to just about remain fresh) and the results are entertainingly action packed. After the Oscar success of the stunning Up and the gorgeous Ratatouille (his best for Pixar to date, for my money), Cars 2 wasn't likely to be another classic, but Giacchino rarely disappoints and Cars 2 is terrific fun; catchy, tuneful, carefully treading the line between pastiche, spoof and parody (if they aren't all sides of the same thing) with his usual consummate skill.

Drive on down to Amazon and buy it. Um... ok, maybe not drive, as such.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 - Alexandre Desplat

2011-07-01T17:57:00.000+01:00

...and so it came to pass, Harry Potter did (more probably than not, maybe he dies at the end... yeah, right) smite that bloke who can’t be named and probably will end up shacking up with some random C list character we haven’t previously seen much of and everything will be well. It seems like an age since the three variably talented kids set off on their magical adventures in Rowlingland. In fairness, they have got better (presumably much of Daniel Radcliffe’s improvement came from being on stage and undressed in Equus or being able to use his huge fortune to pay for acting lessons), but when it comes to the music, the series definitely front loaded when it came to talent.

The first four films had broad, dynamic and fantasty scores that set a tone that was then largely disguarded in the last four. Nicholas Hooper hardly set the world alight with his pleasant, but fairly slight efforts. After John Williams and Patrick Doyle, all but the best composers would have had trouble but Hooper seemed a pretty steep drop. We all hoped that Alexandre Desplat would provide a spike in quality when he took on the musical mantle for both parts of Deathly Hallows (HP7) but to many, part one was something of a letdown. Part two improves matters but it’s not the musical masterpiece everyone hoped for.

I’ve tried to work out exactly what it is that makes Desplat’s Potter contributions so disappointing and I think it’s that he takes it all a bit too seriously. Yes, these films are a long way from the frothy first couple but by parts 3 and 4, the films were pretty dark in places, yet Williams and Doyle, respectively, rose to the task admirably and managed to combine drama with fantasy. Ironically, Hooper's efforts for arguably even darker films are consirably lighter in tone. Desplat seems to have wanted to move into more gloomy territory and the result is that it's all a bit too subdued.

Even when the epic battles are playing out, Desplat sounds too restrained; whether it’s the orchestration or the mixing is hard to say. Even when the orchestra are going at it hammer and tongs with heavy percussion and brass, there’s a crystalline quality which isn't nearly as charming as it should be. A bit more density and heft might have worked better. Desplat’s penchant for delicacy serves him very well much of the time, but sometimes a bit of weight and grand guignol are required. You really do miss John Williams', erm, magical, touch. Even the slightly more promiment appearances of Williams' original themes only serve to emphasise how unmemorable Desplat's are. Only Patrick Doyle came close to matching the quality of Williams' work in this regard.

Having said all that and despite a couple of longeurs, HP7 part 2 is a distinct improvement on part 1. It is more heavily weighted toward an epic showdown rather than the low end noodling that plagued much of the first half. Then again, the (presumably) climactic battle between Potter and Voldemort still feels underwhelming. Compare it to (say) the climax of Revenge of the Sith and Desplat comes up short. Even compared to similar moments in earlier movies - notably Doyle's Goblet of Fire - and it's pretty listless. The final track is about as underwhelming as it's possible to get. The chiming brass finales of the earlier episodes may not be entirely appropriate, but the score just fizzles away to nothing.

This may all sounds like too much of a rail against Desplat, who is, after all, one of the finest composers around at the moment and one to give hope that film music isn't completely going down the pan, but it really isn't. Given that the director seemed happy with Nicholas Hooper's lightweight efforts (which are, I would add, actually very pleasing, just rather frothy and up against some strong antecedents), it's hardly surprising that Desplat's effort seems a little underpowered. Down the years, I would be surprised if much beyond Williams' original work will be remembered. Even now, film music concerts only include Hedwig's theme and that's hardly appeared for several movies, yet everyone still recognises it. A disappointing end to a once promising musical series.

Get on your broomstick and waggle your wand towards Amazon to acquire it.

Green Lantern - James Newton Howard

2011-06-17T07:47:00.000+01:00

I'm not sure at what point superhero/comic book scores started getting samey and kinda dull. My money is on Graeme Revell's average effort for Daredevil, but I could be wrong. If you work forwards from Superman, there's little drop in quality until well into the 90's after Messrs Elfman and Goldenthal stopped scoring for caped (or otherwise attired) heroic types. Perhaps only the X-Men franchise has kept its musical head above water, quality wise, although from the solid and edifying heights of John Powell, it's slipped down to the knock off Remote Control meets Powell by Henry Jackman (not singling Jackman out on purpose, just wrong place, wrong time). Even Patrick Doyle turned in a fairly average effort for Thor; still, I suspect he got a decent paycheck and it's no bad thing keeping ones profile high.

Having delved into the back issues of FSM, I've been slightly surprised at how highly rated James Newton Howard is. It's not that I think Howard is a bad composer, on the contrary, his Shyamalan efforts are excellent to terrific, but the rest is rather variable. He certainly didn't do a great deal to perk up Christopher Nolan's morose Batman pictures while working with Hans Zimmer and with Green Lantern he gets a solo comic book gig. At least Green Lantern is materially more exciting than his Batmans (Batmen?), with a broad and very Goldsmithian, fifth based brass theme. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear particularly often and even when it does, it doesn't quite hit the nail on the head.

One of Green Lantern's biggest problems (other than looking like, coming across as and generally appearing to be a second to third rate superhero and artwork that looks like it's from a spoof of the genre) is that good ideas in its score are swamped with electronics. Sections sound like the horrible overlays that plagued parts of Michael Kamen's otherwise rather good original X-Men score. Not that Kamen was responsible for them, merely obliged to suffer having them put over his orchestral score, but it was clearly a sign of things to come. Of course, while Howard has put the electronics in himself, they smother some fine orchestral writing. Green Lantern isn't terrible but it doesn't really distinguish itself in the pantheon of superhero scores. Once upon a time, each superhero had his (or her) own sound world, now there's not a lot that sets them apart. Here's hoping Alan Silvestri can do something a bit more memorable with Captain America. As it were.

If you can't find a CD shop with your lantern (green or otherwise), go and acquire it from Amazon.

The Tree of Life - Alexandre Desplat

2011-06-05T13:18:00.000+01:00

Despite some mild disappointment with his recent output - not so much a reduction in quality, more a lack of variation of style - Alexandre Desplat is a composer I will plump down my money for on almost every occasion. The Tree of Life was a no brainer of a choice. Terence Malick is one of Hollywood's most revered, but infrequent filmmakers so every effort is a big event. He's not a director who sticks to a composer, so after Hans Zimmer on The Thin Red Line and James Horner on The New World, Desplat gets his turn on The Tree of Life.

The best description of The Tree of Life I could think of is "epic chamber music". The orchestra is fairly small, strings and woodwind predominate, but the scope feels grand and somehow endless. There's more than a hint of Philip Glass or Steve Reich there from time to time, notably in the extended Circles, perhaps the score's finest single cue. Rarely has a cue sounded so much like its title; Desplat spinning short phrases one upon the other, but always with great clarity, never allowing the textures to become muddied. It sounds boundless and epic, but as my summary description suggests, is done with a fairly modest ensemble.

The Tree of Life is not an especially warm score, Desplat's harmonies are a bit too twisty to ever become truly satisfying. One feels that it could break out into something heroically uplifting, but it never does, minor key harmonies always pulling it back to a more nebulous harmonic framework. Apart from James Horner, few composers write long cues these days, but clearly The Tree of Life gave ample space for Desplat to craft well structured cues, albeit largely from smaller building blocks. A beautiful and elegant album that is sure to my one of the year's finest.

CDs don't grow on trees, so get it from Amazon instead.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - Hans & Friends

2011-05-23T20:55:00.000+01:00

Oh goody, a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean (POTC) movie. I'm not sure I'll ever bother finding out what is so strange about the tides in this one as the reviews have been largely crap and I was bored after half of the first one. No idea how or why I ended up seeing the two ear and eye bleeding sequels. Maybe I really have no willpower of my own.

The one thing that did improve after the first film (nominally by Klaus Badelt, but how come Badelt is never credited with "original POTC themes" in the later, Zimmer scores?) when Zimmer took over to deliver some occasionally jolly accompaniment. On Stranger Tides is more of the same, exactly what you'd expect; action music that sounds like Gladiator (really, Hans, something else, please?) and lots of Captain Jack's theme. Unfortunately, some of the whimsy of the theme is lost as it's ramped up too far, too often.

One significant redeeming feature is the inclusion of some gorgeous guitar cues performed by Rodrigo Y Gabriela (evidently Heitor Pereira is busy these days). The only downside is that they result in the album sounding like two scores mixed up; one intimate, Hispanic, the other trad Hans Zimmer. Still, it makes for a pleasing rest. The album is almost half remixes and other crap, best avoided. Fun enough and worth a punt if you like the previous POTC scores, but hardly essential.

Pieces of eight accepted at Amazon if you want to acquire it. Or they might exchange it for your parrot.*

*They won't, the lily livered bastards.

Thor - Patrick Doyle

2011-05-15T16:12:00.000+01:00

If Kenneth Branagh is an unlikely choice to direct a comic book movie, then Patrick Doyle is a mildly unlikely choice to score it, but I guess we should be grateful Branagh as able to engage his composer of choice. Films based on Marvel Comics have had variably good scores, the high water being Elfman's Spider-Man efforts, but with some fine entries from the X-Men films and John Ottman's decent scores for the Fantastic Four.

The most striking thing about Thor is that it doesn't sound a whole lot like Doyle most of the time. Much has been made of its Remote Control-ness, which isn't entirely unfair. There's a lot of sustained string lines and percussion; Frost Giant Battle is typical in this regard. It's all quite exciting and there's more going on than in the average RC (or Brian Tyler) score, at least the strings occasionally bounce around but it sounds from interviews that Doyle very much did what was expected without too much room for manoeuvre.

Outside of the action, the incidental scoring is action without the drums in a lot of cases. Long string lines and low registers predominate (another aspect Doyle commented upon in interviews). The main melodic material is fine enough at the time, but not exactly indelible afterwards. I'm sure it'll look good on his CV and keep his profile raised - I rather dreaded his music being rejected given that his scoring can be a touch intrusive at times (although this usually makes for a great album). Thor is certainly muscular (haha) entertainment, but the strictures of the studio and genre conventions don't really show Doyle at his best.

If you can find your magical hammer, sell it and go buy the score from Amazon.

Film Music Free Friday: Reboot the Music Part 3

2011-05-14T08:50:00.000+01:00

OK, a day late, but thought I should finish (probably) this particular column stream.

Not only do film serials get rebooted, but so too do TV shows and where better to look than two of the longest running TV shows in history and, in one case, the longest running sci-fi show in the world.

When Doctor Who started in 1963, I doubt anyone would imagine that Daleks would be running amok at the Royal Albert Hall while a symphony orchestra blasted out a ramped up version of Ron Grainer's ghostly theme (originally produced by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in a version that changed little for almost 20 years). For all the protestations that Doctor Who was a bit of a cult TV show, the original series actually had MORE viewers than it does today. Yet the BBC rarely considered it more than a show for kids and gave it a budget of about 49 pence per episode until being cancelled in 1989. Even then it regularly received as many viewers as the show does today but in 2011, it's deemed a smash hit.

Fortunately, the good Doctor made a return in 2005 with Russell T Davis rebooted Doctor Who after 16 years off our screens, save for the 1999 movie. Although I am not a fan of Debney's score to the TV movie, it did at least set some kind of precedent for Murray Gold when he took over scoring duties for RTD. The original Doctor Who went through an eclectic mix of composers, some independently engaged by specific directors, but often from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop when an electronic score was called for (or, perhaps more accurately, all they could afford). The original scores often seem rather hokey these days. If acoustic, the ensembles were small and the music fairly terse and unmemorable. The same goes for the electronic scores which were often difficult to separate from the sound effects.

However, Davis decided that in 2005, only big scoring would do, although I suspect few remember that the first series of the rebooted show was almost entirely electronic, albeit more synth orchestra than the kind of eerie bleeps of the original show. However, a small chorus for the first Dalek episodes gave a taste of things to come and by the first Christmas special, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales were performing a full orchestral score. If one had to imagine the opposite of the original show's music, Murray surely provided it. Bold, epic, tuneful, not to mention loud - indeed, loud enough to be spoofed for its occasional intrusiveness. However, it was just one element the show had always needed, although I grant that had the original episodes been scored in the same way, they would have come across as ridiculous, but with RTD's grand vision, it all seemed perfect. So it continues as Gold continues to score the show for Stephen Moffat.

While Doctor Who is going strong, Star Trek has stumbled badly and is only just picking itself up again after JJ Abrams' exciting new take. I'm not a massive fan of Abrams' film, at least not a fan of it as a Star Trek film; it doesn't seem to quite get the point of Star Trek, but on its own terms, is a thrilling ride. The franchise has had many reboots over the years, most notably when Jerry Goldsmith scored the first film and made Star Trek grand, but also reflected the mysteries of existence with his thunderous V'Ger music. The films and their music have felt rebooted over and over in some ways. James Horner took an entirely different approach for an entirely different type of Star Trek film in the Wrath of Kahn, although The Search for Spock retains more continuity.

Each subsequent film has felt a little different, until the final three Next Generation movies that almost seemed to undo what Goldsmith originally did with The Motion Picture, making Star Trek progressively less and less grandiose, rather more and more of a standard action/adventure in space. Goldsmith was only reflecting the movies he was given, but the rush of imagination that created The Motion Picture, or even Star Trek V. The latter may have been a terrible film in many ways, but Goldsmith was still composing for the film it should have been and the endless possibilities of existence rather than the disappointing action/adventure film it was. Michael Giacchino's first Star Trek outing was perhaps more successful than Goldsmith's last, Nemesis, but is still more firmly rooted in action and adventure rather than ideas, possibilities and the human condition. However, it'll be interesting to see what he does next. Here's hoping for a more memorable main theme, at least.

One thing Giacchino did with his score was bring the main theme full circle by including a sweeping version of Alexander Courage's original TV series melody. It made me think that Courage's tune wouldn't seem so hokey these days had it been arranged rather differently. It certainly feels a lot more adventurous, soaring between the stars than the bongos and soprano original. The original TV show had some of the best TV music of the 60's, orchestral and in striking contrast to the bleepy Doctor Who music of the same era. While somewhat of its time, it still stands up today and is certainly strikingly different to the broad washes of orchestra that characterised a lot of the Next Generation and early Deep Space Nine scoring.

Fortunately, the producers eased up on the Star Trek composers and some of the later Deep Space Nine and Voyager scores are genuinely rather exciting, although they don't match the best of the early Next Generation scores. Little beats Ron Jones' thrilling music for the classic two hander, the Best of Both Worlds. Should another series ever make it to our screens - which seems unlikely for the foreseeable future, Paramount are clearly happier letting the new film series bed down and make it a nice chunk of cash, more than any of the previous films - one wonders whether maybe it'll be more like Bear McCreery's music for the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica which went in a different direction to Stu Phillips' Star Wars Lite score for the original and replaced it with percussion loops, string elegies and even a little Celtic lilt here and there. It's certainly some of the most accomplished and effective scoring of the 2000's.

Reviews, reviews, where are you?

2011-05-02T16:21:00.000+01:00

Well hello my lovelies. So, how are you? Really? How interesting. OK, back on me.

Sorry to Miranda Hart for stealing her material there.

Apologies to you, the loyal reader(s) for the lack of updates of late. I'm moving back to Guernsey from London, where I have been living this past earth year. London, you may have heard of it? Fair sized down in the south east of the land of the Angles. Hopefully, once settled back into island life, updates will resume a little more often. Plus there's a few bits of good musical shit coming our way (even if the first of these, Patrick Doyle's score to Thor, has been a bit of a disappointment) which I clearly must pontificate on.

In the meantime, live long and prosper, bitch. As Vulcan youths say.

The Next Three Days - Danny Elfman

2011-05-02T16:12:00.000+01:00

Thrillers are a bit of a bugger of a genre to make interesting. If there's enough action, it's not too bad, but suspense is only interesting for so long. John Powell rarely let his Bourne scores get too boring, but it's the action music you remember the longest afterward and Alexandre Desplat made a good fist of his first forays into mainstream Hollywood scoring, notably Firewall and Hostage. Danny Elfman isn't perhaps the most obvious choice for a standard thriller, but he's scored a few in his time. I suppose Mission: Impossible counts and it's one of his finest scores, but the others - Extreme Measures and Article 99 amongst them - are fine enough, but don't musically set the world alight.

The Next Three Days is, however, rather more Extreme Measures than Mission: Impossible. The most striking thing is how little of it sounds like Elfman. Even outside of his most obvious mannerisms through the years, he has plenty of other musical fingerprints that give him away, but here I'd be hard pressed to identify the composer aside from on a couple of occasions. Indeed, the percussive suspense/action passages sound more like John Powell (perhaps a touch less percussion and more low key) than the tick-tick rhythms of Mission: Impossible. While it's not crucial that every score by a particular composer sounds like their others, when the tropes are as strong as Elfman's, they are missed when absent.

A lot of the score is actually fairly subdued, gentle piano and suspended strings are pleasing, albeit a touch slow going. Indeed, not a great deal happens until Breakout (where it becomes more readily identifiable as Elfman as well) and a good number of the earlier cues could have been dropped at no great loss. After the thematic delights and richness of Alice in Wonderland it doesn't immediately leap out of the speakers. Elfman is always worth a punt, but a bit of judicious pruning might have made for a more readily enjoyable album. As with the Bourne films, a couple of Moby tracks complete the disc and, as with the Bourne films again, compliment the underscore quite nicely.

Acquire within 72 hours from Amazon.com.

The Adjustment Bureau - Thomas Newman

2011-04-26T21:45:00.000+01:00

I think Thomas Newman scoring The Adjustment Bureau is a bit odd. Isn't it? I expected to see John Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams or ... Still, it's enough of a surprise to see Thomas and not Randy in the credits of Wall-E, but he did a fantastic job there. The Adjustment Bureau is another Philip K Dick adaptation; a writer who has done pretty well when it comes to turning his writing into celluloid - Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report amongst the best well known. As I noted in a previous review, brief, high concept stories are ideal for blockbuster movies.

The Adjustment Bureau is ostensibly a thriller, but based around a love story and the concept of fate being determined by some overseers; the titular bureau. However, the romantic aspect leaves Newman a bit more room for a somewhat gentler approach. There is suspense and action, but the textures are somewhat lighter and less intensely ominous than one might expect. Having said that, from the breezy guitar led The Girl on the Bus, Square-One Reset is considerably darker. Unsurprisingly, the romance is fairly underplayed, even Real Kiss is pretty tentative, but the lack of any kind of romantic completion does give the album a somewhat unresolved quality.

Newman albums more often than not have a couple of non-score tracks or songs amongst them, but usually well worked into the flow of the album. I suspect grumbles will go up about the entries by Messrs Ashcroft and Vaughan. Rightly in the case of the latter which is drivel (a dance remix of the classic song Fever forming 7 minutes of aural abuse), but Richard Ashcroft (he off of the Verve, still proving the drugs don't work) collaborated with Newman and, as such, those efforts fit quite smartly within the album. If you were expecting a John Powell type effort, you might be disappointed (notwithstanding the plentiful percussion) as Newman plays it a bit more low key, indeed perhaps a bit too low key. It leaves an impression, but a subtle one based on atmosphere rather than striking melody, but when so many scores can feel so workmanlike and lacking in style, Newman is still a welcome musical voice.

Adjust your bank balance by acquiring this disc at Amazon.com.

Jane Eyre - Dario Marianelli

2011-04-09T17:36:00.000+01:00

Oh goody, another version of Jane Eyre to go with the 432 other filmed versions, 100 weight of musicals, ballets and one in plasticine (possible lie). Where for Pride and Prejudice he filled the fairly large shoes of Carl Davis who did superb work on the 90's BBC version, Dario Marianelli is stepping into the epic galoshes of John Williams and Bernard Herrmann. Oh, and Roy Webb who scored the 1943 zombie version (not a lie).

I must admit that, lovely though his effort is, Marianelli's Jane Eyre is a bit, erm, dull. It's beautiful and delicate. It's exactly what you'd expect. But it isn't anything else. That's not necessarily a bad thing; even fulfilled expectations can be excellent. Marianelli seems to be in danger of doing a bit of a Desplat and remaining a consummate craftsman, but becoming rather samey. I'd be hard pressed to pick his Jane Eyre out of a lineup (especially if one of the suspects was his Pride and Prejudice up against the wall).

I know it's bad to benchmark too much, but both Herrmann and Williams filled their Eyres with drama and passion. Marianelli's is about as passionate as a Belgian taxi driver (I'm going to get letters), seemingly trying to never make too much of an impact. Of course it couldn't be scored in grand, melodramatic style given modern film making sensibilities, but it's wetter than Mr Darcy striding out of a lake. Sorry, wrong story. I have no doubt that it's gorgeous and apt in the film, but on disc you'd be hard pressed to notice it's there half the time. Undeniably gorgeous, but in need of a hearty dose of passion and drama.

Paul - David Arnold

2011-04-05T16:26:00.000+01:00

After the success of Shaun of the Dead and the almost as good Hot Fuzz, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost can do nearly no wrong and Paul seems to continue the trend (not that I've seen it, although the trailer didn't look hugely inspiring). It looks like a comedy version of ET, but starring Roger from American Dad, although Paul is not as camp as Butlins. David Arnold worked on Hot Fuzz and evidently buoyed by the coup of getting a top Hollywood composer, Pegg, Frost and Arnold reunited for Paul.

As a cross between a sci-fi and a road trip, buddy movie, Arnold's music takes both in its stride; quite literally with the perky, folksy Road Trips with a bit of guitar and harmonica. Campfire Confessions is a little darker while A Little Talk With Paul and 1st Contact are pleasingly underplayed. The finale, Goodbye, is a pleasing riff on grandiose sci-fi finales, although ET is the most obvious comparator, even if Arnold is considerably more subtle than Williams (had to happen sometime, I guess).

The album is filled out with an eclectic, but somewhat noncommercial selection of songs, including a cover of Williams' Cantina Band music from the original Star Wars. One supposes there's a good sight gag to go with this in the film itself. Sometimes short and sweet works very well for a score and while half an hour might have been better, 21 minutes of David Arnold's delightful music seems about right (and it's entirely possible there isn't much else of note).

Fly to another world or order it from Amazon.com.

La Ligne Droite -Patrick Doyle

2011-03-29T11:46:00.000+01:00

Patrick Doyle has evidently had a bit of time off with only a very obscure score for 2010 (Main Street), but is back with La Ligne Droite for Régis Wargnier, for whom he composed Indochine, Est-Ouest and Une Femme Francaise. La Ligne Droite is a little smaller in scale than some of Wargnier's other films and that extends to Doyle's intimate score, written for 11 players, a double string quartet, bass, piano and harp. The film is about a young runner released from prison who helps a blind athlete train and the music is delightfully lithe, with moments of introspection as the two bond during their training.

There is a distinct Philip Glass/Michael Nyman vibe running through the score, although it's not strict minimalism but Doyle weaves the fetching melodic content around repeated patterns. I've often felt that action music, or any music depicting motion and momentum can be achieved very - if not more - effectively with a smaller ensemble than a huge orchestra. Sometimes rows of horns, banging percussion and the rest of the 100 odd players pounding away cancels itself out and all you are left with is aural stodge. The clarity in La Ligne Droite is extremely refreshing.

As an aside, Doyle was interviewed (by his daughter) at Glasgow University in early 2011 and a video of it is available here. La Ligne Droite is mentioned and his comments about an 11 member chamber orchestra being recorded to sound big are especially interesting. He makes some fascinating comments about working on the then upcoming Thor, plus experiences of working with Kenneth Branagh on earlier films. As it's a bit less formal than a DVD extras type interview, the anecdotes and asides are especially interesting. In any event, if you only learn one thing from it, it's that Doyle is a delightful and charming chap. Thoroughly recommended for any fan of film music, whether you're particularly a fan of the composer or not. Which you should be, he's terrific and La Ligne Droite is another gem.

Apparently not yet available in Americaland, so run across to somewhere importing or European to acquire in haste.

Doctor Who: Season 5 - Murray Gold

2011-03-27T15:41:00.001+01:00

...and so it came to pass, David Tennant did regenerate into Matt Smith and Russell T Davies did regenerate into Stephen Moffat. For a show that, until 2005 (and ignoring the 90's TV movie), had a budget of approximately £3.96 an episode, the Doctor Who of 2010 seems almost improbably well made with a movie scope, even if it has a budget per episode that would make about 1.2 seconds of Avatar. For all the on and off screen change of cast, Murray Gold remains the show's in-house composer and doing a pretty good job at being the same, but different, for Matt Smith's 11th Doctor.

For my money, Matt Smith is every bit the equal of Tennant, although the writing has been disappointingly uneven and, despite delightfully sparky rapport with his new companion, Amy Pond hasn't quite hit Rose Tyler levels of popularity. Similarly unpopular is Gold's new arrangement of Ron Grainer's classic theme tune. The opening trumpet fanfare is a bit naff and makes it sound more like a kids' show theme, knocking out some of its more adventurous impact and almost completely neutering its mysterious quality. His new Doctor theme is, however, a lot more adventurous than Tenant's more wistful tune and right enjoyable it is too.

As ever, Murray traverses as much musical time and space as the show itself. From WWII heroics when Spitfires face the Daleks in Victory of the Daleks to unusual low end wind timbres for the Silurians (one of the less successful reincarnations of an old school Who monster, although the crappy new Dalek design... OK, don't get me started... back to the music) to eerie effects for the Weeping Angels (proving many is sometimes less scary than one) to the typically grand score for the season finale, Gold is still coming up with the goods.

The wild eclecticism of the previous albums is replaced by a more cohesive style, so there's less standout stuff but it does flow better. Call it a maturing of style or simply the new producers wanting a more through composed sound, but Gold has modulated his approach to some extent; the same but different. It is, fortunately, still by and large, rollicking stuff replete with full orchestra, choir, vocal soloists and everything fans of the show have come to expect.

Doctor Who: The Specials - Murray Gold

2011-03-25T21:22:00.000Z

The moment all Who fans thought would never come, David Tennant left the TARDIS after three years and a of occasional hour long specials, culminating in the understatedly titled The End of Time in which he made his last stand against the Master. Well, until they meet again of course... For his last year in time and space, Murray Gold's music receives the double disc treatment, with lengthy contributions from each Special score and over an hour from his last stand.

Tenant's last light hearted Christmas special was The Next Doctor; unsubtly playing with the audience's expectations over whether Tenant would leave sooner than expected. He didn't, but it was still a fine special, even if the Cyberking (a kind of Cyberman Iron Giant) was just a bit too silly. Gold takes the Victorian setting to heart with a grandiose main theme. Of course it's not long before it's going all action, although the swaggering Bondian brass is perhaps a touch incongruous, but Gold has always been good at setting styles off against one another. However, as the longest of the Specials outside The End of Time, it's rollicking fun throughout, although there's still time for a reflective pause in The Greats of Past Time.

Planet of the Dead was the weakest of the Specials, seemingly dragging out a serviceable mid-season episode to an hour of unnecessary asides, a Potter-esque flying bus and creatures that seemed dimly reminiscent of Pitch Black. Gold's score is fun enough, but rather inconsequential. Waters of Mars was a much better entry; a thrilling combination of grand horror, sci-fi, time travel, a moral dilemma and the Doctor believing he can start to play god. The suite emphasises the gentler moments, touching gently on the horror and action in By Water Borne. Something of a shame that some fine action scoring was missed out, but it's properly dramatic, notably The Fate of Little Adelaide which is quite gorgeous.

Not since Tom Baker's epic send off has a Doctor's end been quite so heavily foreshadowed - indeed, previous regenerations, especially in the original series, were somewhat perfunctory affairs. However, for his last story, Russell T Davies decided to pull out all the stops, bring back the Master, the Time Lords and make it a grand epic. As ever, some of it works, some of it doesn't but importantly, it's the bits that really matter that work the best. The Master's madness and the Time Lord's (brief) return are great bluster, but the emotional substance of Tennant's last stand is brilliantly pulled off, even if the denouement is a touch drawn out, although as he enters the TARDIS for the last time, there may well have been sobbing at Chez Tom.

Gold throws more or less every trick in his musical book into the mix; gentle choirs for the Ood, a little perky town music for Donna's granddad, Wilf, a terrifically portentous version of his Gallifrey theme from the third series for The Council of Time Lords and a reprise of his whirling Master music from the same series. The circular string motif (inspired by the Wicked Witch of the West's theme from the Wizard of Oz), coupled with the four note knocking motif, never ceases to impress as an ingeniously unhinged theme for an unhinged genius. It would have been so easy to assign a fairly standard villain motif, but Gold manages to capture The Master's eccentric madness quite superbly.

As the moment approaches, Four Knocks finally tells the Doctor that his 10th incarnation's time is up, leading to Vale Decem as his regeneration takes place. As perfect a scene as the show has ever produced, Tennant's regeneration is spine tingling and wonderful, Gold's music is no small part of the reason why. Yes, it's overwrought to some extent, but when you have a lead character turning into a new man amidst huge explosions, nothing less will do. Then, as on the show, it's swiftly onto this new man as the real New Doctor starts dealing with a crashing TARDIS...

Please Release Me (let me go) - Part 6

2011-03-22T23:10:00.000Z

Apologies for the lack of updates over the last week; lack of internet, but here's part 6 (possibly the final part as I'm running out of things I feel are desperately lacking...) of my summary of scores that could do with being re-released or released for the first time.

I feel kinda bad that I'm not desperately trying to get some obscure Alex North or Bernard Herrmann score released, but rather music written for films about submarines, bugs in space and psychotic toys. Having said that:

North by Northwest - Bernard Herrmann

Here's a puzzle for your little mind to dwell on, dear reader (the patronisometer is set to max, baby), how come the otherwise superb release of North by Northwest by Rhino is only let down by having variably crappy sound. Ok, it's a score from the 50's and there plenty enough scores from the 70's and 80's which haven't aged well (there's even debate, I recently learned, over the quality of the tapes on Elfman's Batman score, which is 1989. Worrying. It sounds fine to me, but maybe my ears are tin) but then there are plenty from the 60's which sound just great. However, in the specific case of North by Northwest, there is a DVD with the score isolated which sounds absolutely remarkable. Maybe there is some kind of mixing skulduggery at work here and they have somehow reduced the hiss by muddying the sound. I must confess my copy of the DVD is stuck across the seas in Guernsey but from recollection, it was neither muddy or hiss and certainly vastly improved on the Rhino release; in particular there are sections of the Rhino release where there was tape damage, but no such damage is obvious on the DVD. Presumably both were taken from different sources, but it would be rather jolly for a label to revisit those sources and perhaps give the tapes from the isolated score a spruce up for CD release. If anyone has any info on why there is such an obvious disparity in quality, I'd love to know. There is, of course, the fine re-recording conducted by Joel McNeely, but it's always good to have Herrmann conduct Herrmann.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - John Williams

OK, back to the magical, non-serious stuff again. While Williams' first two Potter scores provided the series with a core of famous thematic material, it was only with a change of director and tone on Azkaban that Williams could actually write something that didn't drench the film like treacle. There's an incisiveness to the music that simply isn't present in the first two scores which have a denseness that makes them quite tiring to listen to. I'm sure plenty of collectors would like expanded releases of all three of Williams' Potter efforts, but I'm not sure I could face 2 plus hours of the first two, but Azkaban has the scope to be of interest in a longer format. It's a rather unlikely prospect unless Warner Brothers decide they want to do an epic Potter music boxed set, not to mention the existing album is quite generously proportioned.

Sky High - Michael Giacchino
A rare, unreleased, but pretty mainstream effort from Giacchino for a good and somewhat underrated movie about a superhero school. It should be awful, but is surprisingly entertaining. Giacchino's score is a distant cousin to his wonderful effort for The Incredibles. Not quite as retro - indeed some of it is very modern - but his ability to tap into a bit of a John Barry vibe is still in evidence. Perhaps a bit of a lightweight effort compared to some of the other scores that have yet to see the light of day, but fun none the less.

Beauty and the Beast 2: The Enchanted Christmas (Rachel Portman)
Following up on Alan Menken's Oscar winning music for the now classic Beauty and the Beast was never going to be easy, but Rachel Portman's music for the straight to video (as was) midquel (i.e. the events are meant to take place during the original film) is a delight. The handful of songs don't quite hit Be Our Guest or Belle in their brilliance, but Stories and the title track, As Long As There's Christmas are both most charming. The latter is particularly interesting since the film version is a bouncing ensemble number (the film's Be Our Guest, I suppose) whereas it becomes a ballad for the end credits. I do (of course) prefer the film version. Only a better lyricist might have improved things. Unfortunately, the underscore gets possibly the shortest shrift in the history of soundtracks with a paltry 2 minutes and 19 seconds. Over 2 tracks, at that. Again, as another effort for Disney, the chances of more of Portman's charming score seeing the light of day are small, but we can but hope.

Film Music Free Friday: Reboot the Music Part 2

2011-03-11T10:12:00.000Z

Where Batman was very successfully rebooted by Christopher Nolan after the original series went wildly off the rails in Batman & Robin, the Superman franchise hasn't restarted with quite such success. Expectations for Bryan Singer's Man of Steel reboot were sky high given his track record with the X-Men films, but it never really quite got its act together. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what's wrong with it, but with its moniker as the most expensive film ever made - unofficially, of course - expectations were naturally ludicrously high. It was unlikely that John Williams would return - after all, he didn't score any of the sequels - but it was certain that John Ottman would take over given his working relationship with Singer. Ottman is a fine enough composer, but I've never been convinced that epic, orchestral scores are his forte. However, unlike Messrs Zimmer and Howard who didn't refer to Elfman's Batman music, Ottman used most of the major themes from Williams' classic original.

Much though he did fine work using the main theme and its simple, but memorable rhythm, which is a perfect lead in to any heroic act, Ottman did make the odd choice to reharmonise the love theme. Ottman is reported as saying that he felt it sounded rather old fashioned. Possibly, although he could simply have made it a little less sweeping and more delicate but retaining Williams' original harmonies. Any theme can be made more sensitive and understated with the right approach but just simplifying the harmony does nothing but make it sound, well, simple. Having said that, his decision not to use the original March of the Villains was decidedly sensible and his Lex Luthor material is far more dramatic than Williams' and gives Luthor the kind of menace he deserves.

After the relative failure of Singer's film, the franchise is being re-rebooted by Zack Snyder, he of 300 and Watchmen and, erm, that Legend of the Guardians film about talking owls. It's unclear who Snyder is likely to ask to write the music. His favourite composer is Tyler Bates, whose work, I have to admit, I have found to be largely risible. The only time it seemed decent was 300 and that's only because Elliot Goldenthal wrote it, but called it "score from Titus". Perhaps Bates can pull one out of the hat should Snyder go with him, but I have strong reservations and certainly doubt it would be done with the general reverence that Ottman brought to the material. Needless to say, I don't think John Williams is in any danger of being surpassed.

Spider-Man is another franchise that rather lost its way on part 3. The same could be said for the music, to some extent, although the problems began during Spider-Man 2 when Danny Elfman, for the first time ever, walked. Christopher Young took over for Spider-Man 3, but basing his music on Elfman's in large part, but the film was a critical failure and enough of a commercial flop that the plans for a fourth were canned. Instead, we have a Peter Parker: The Teenage Years type take on the material. Could be interesting (probably won't be). It seems unfortunate that Sam Raimi appears to have gone a bit off the rails as the original two films really were superb entertainment. Give me them over Nolan's self important Batman films any day, but also occupying a world that seems rather more plausible than Burton's. The choice of composer isn't exactly clear as reboot director Marc Webb (who is about 12) has only 500 Days of Summer on his CV and that was scored by Mychael Danna. A Mychael Danna superhero score could certainly be interesting, although my hunch is that they will go for a lot of songs and rather more incidental score. Elfman's material seems unlikely to make a return.

Next time, Treks through the Stars and time travelling Doctors.

True Grit - Carter Burwell

2011-03-09T14:07:00.000Z

Elmer Bernstein was at the peak of his western writing powers when he scored the 1969 version of True Grit, starring - of course - John Wayne. It was even Oscar nominated. For best song. Well, quite. The Coen brothers had quite a lot to live up with their 2010 remake, but have, by all accounts, acquitted themselves more than admirably and the film has received fine reviews. And yes, I must see it.

Carter Burwell's score was never going to be anything like Bernstein's, but is actually warmer and more lyrical than I had anticipated (something more along the lines of Beltrami's tense, but superb The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada was in my mind). The major melodic material is based on old hymn tunes, but of a fairly warm and homely sort. As Burwell noted, he and the directors were after "something that was severe (sounding). It couldn't be soothing or uplifting, and at the same time it couldn't be outwardly depressing." They are actually somewhat more pastoral and homely than that description suggests but there are hints of darkness with some subtle, but well placed bass notes. The delicate arrangements for strings and woodwind are very fetching.

The moments of increased drama - The Snake Pit and Taken Hostage, in particular - don't feel too intrusive in an otherwise surprisingly gentle album. The music merely surges to those points, then eases off again towards the low key finale. At a shade over 35 minutes, it's a surprisingly short album by 21st century film music standards, but it somehow feels just right. Western scores seem unlikely to return wholeheartedly to the Bernstein, Moross, Goldsmith, Broughton heyday and Morricone only ever seems to be referenced in parody, but this more sombre take on the genre is still highly recommended.

Shoot up varmints and git some of your cash over to Amazon.com to acquire it. Or steal it from a sheriff (just don't shoot the deputy).

February 2011 Round Up: Battle LA, The Eagle, Gnomeo & Juliet, The Mechanic

2011-02-27T12:48:00.000Z

Battle: Los Angeles - Brian Tyler

Brian Tyler used to be really promising, but seems to have got stuck with a lot of fairly crappy movies (Alien V Predator: Requiem anyone?), or at least movies that don't require much in the way of subtlety or skill. Battlefield: Los Angeles continues the trend. Imagine Tron: Legacy with all the subtlety taken out, even less in the way of memorable melodic material and action music that's largely indistinguishable from his other scores or ones from Remote Control. Still, it's the kind of scoring that makes what used to pass for a muscular score - Goldsmith's Total Recall or Poledouris' Robocop or Starship Troopers - seem positively wimpish in comparison and appear like masterpieces of nuance.

The Eagle - Atli Orvarsson

Atli Orvarsson might still count as promising and, for some reason, composers from Nordic and Scandinavian countries are usually ace (albeit more in the classical realm, Sibelius, Nielsen and Tviett wrote some of the 20th century's finest works. Oh, and Sigur Ros). Having seemingly appeared from nowhere to score Stuart Little 3 (even Alan Silvestri has to say no eventually), he has a decent CV of TV and movie credits to his name. His latest, The Eagle, is about a lost Roman legion... hang on, wasn't that what The Last Legion was about? Despite actually being a Remote Control composer, Atli's score is reasonably restrained, albeit not hugely distinctive. Large doses of highland pipes and fiddles abound which at least provide some decent flavour; it's set in Scotland... hang on, isn't that where The Last Legion was set? Of course, there are a few decent action licks, in a stolid, marching about kind of way although Out Swords! (which sounds just a bit naughty to me) has some surprisingly quasi-atonal violin skittering over the top of otherwise rather plain brass and percussion. Touches like this push it above average, just.

Gnomeo & Juliet - James Newton Howard & Elton John

The 2011 Oscar for "Film that looks least promising from its poster, concept description and trailer" must surely go to Gnomeo & Juliet, from the producing hand of Elton John and husband, David Furnish. Romeo & Juliet with gnomes. But, of course. Just what we always wanted. However, reviews have been pretty favourable and I might just about persuade the boyfriend to see it. Maybe. Surprisingly, most of John's contributions are from his back catalogue rather than new songs, although an ill advised redo of Crocodile Rock with Nelly Furtado is, well, ill advised. James Newton Howard and, erm, accomplice(?) Chris Bacon contribute a few score tracks to the album. It's fairly typical Howard stuff, but not really a patch on his previous animated adventures, although the titular track is fairly engaging.

The Mechanic - Mark Isham

Mark Isham has started releasing scores on his own label, the imaginatively titled Mark Isham Music, starting off with The Mechanic which, I have to confess, is one of his "oh bloody hell, why can't he stick to jazz and not action films" scores. It even comes in three versions. One short, "album" version, a complete version and a special edition which comes with a hand engraved model of his toilet seat (possible lie). Frankly the full version is a bit long but the suite format of the "album" version is interesting enough action/suspense stuff. It does have the benefit of not sounding like Remote Control, which is a start, but it's quite stark and dense stuff so isn't quite enjoyable in any meaningful sense, but is expertly written for what it is, just something of a tough listen to want to put on too regularly.

Film Music Free Friday: I Wouldn't Have Scored it Like That...

2011-02-25T11:07:00.000Z

A discussion on the FSM forum regarding the music of Star Trek (which, inevitably, descended into a Goldsmith versus Horner debate - for the record, I view the first two scores as equally superb, but totally different so barely comparable) and I made a confession. I would have scored the opening - or rather more precisely, the opening titles - to Star Trek: The Motion Picture differently. Rather than the vibrant version of the now classic theme, I'd have gone for mysterious and ominous, using hints of the V'Ger material. Keep Ilea's Theme as the overture (the last ever, as I'm sure every fan knows), but against the black screen and stark, white writing, rumblings from the blaster beam, low brass chords.

When I floated this idea on a message board (often a terrible mistake), the response was actually surprisingly moderate/positive. It's not that I think Goldsmith did anything wrong, I have no doubt that Paramount, Rodenberry and Robert Wise wanted a big, epic theme to start the film; remember, the original viewers had never heard the now classic theme and might well have expected Courage's original theme. Indeed, this was the only area of contention regarding my suggestion on the message board; fans seeing the film on the big screen for the first time in 1979 would be having enough trouble accepting vastly different music as it was, without the opening to the film with a non-heroic couple of minutes. Therefore Goldsmith did what was asked of him. However, it strikes me that it would be vastly more dramatically satisfying to set a menacing and mysterious tone from the outset and slowly reveal what the menace is. Then, by the time you actually get to Starfleet after the opening segments with the Klingons and on Vulcan, the arrival of the main theme starts to give that traditional, upbeat Trek reassurance that Kirk is on the case and things might turn out OK in the end.

I also rather like the idea of an opening that confounds expectations. If you're not going to use the original TV theme, then you might as well do something totally different. Goldsmith's theme is, of course, very different to Courage's, but it still springs from the same, radiant, positive, adventurous outlook. While I've no doubt a few Trekkies were disgruntled that Courage's theme wasn't pride of place (possibly, fortunately we're saved due to the non-existence of online message boarding in 1979) but if you're going to go different, go totally different. As an experiment, I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to track in some of the V'Ger Fly Over or Cloud music (a couple of minutes would suffice) that could happily segue into the existing Klingon Battle (it is literally just the opening credits music I would change) and provide just a little more tension.

The way that Dennis McCarthy scored the opening to Star Trek: Generations is perhaps the best comparative in the Star Trek pantheon. I do remember being disappointed that Goldsmith wasn't signed on and it was perhaps surprising that they didn't stick with Goldsmith's theme for the first Next Generation movie, but McCarthy did his own thing and was often more successful than fans give him credit. However, his almost free form, impressionistic opening titles music, leading to a heroic version of the Courage fanfare is a masterful stroke. It doesn't play its hand too early, keeps the viewer guessing (especially with the shots of the bottle spinning through space which is a nicely surreal touch in an otherwise pretty unimaginative and crappy film). It also means that the reveal of McCarthy's main theme a bit later on is that bit more distinctive and dramatic; "this is the main theme, it's for the Next Generation crew... we're off on an adventure with them." Of course it never returned in later films, but that didn't matter at the time.

I was thinking that maybe there were a handful of films or bits of films I'd come up with to score differently, but realised there wasn't one I felt so strongly about as the opening to Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The only other I had idle thoughts about was Williams' score to Saving Private Ryan. Yes, it's lovely music and the end credits hymn is terrific, but it's a film that probably needs almost no music. There isn't a huge amount by Williams/Spielberg standards (less than an hour), but it's just a little too warm and fuzzy, overselling the gooey feeling inside you're meant to have from time to time. Fine in something like E.T. which is meant to tug at the heart strings like a steam train, but for Saving Private Ryan, one can't help but feel we should react from the stark realities of the situation and characters, not be spoon fed emotionally by the music. Shorter cues, rather than elongated, pastoral scoring might also have been more appropriate, at least outside of the opening and closing scenes and end credits.

If you have any thoughts on the issues raised in this article, please don't hesitate to contact our action helpline. Or, e-mail me with your thoughts. I don't really want "I wish X had scored Y film instead of Z" (i.e. I wish John Williams had scored every film ever made) but rather certain parts of a film, or even the whole film, that somehow doesn't work for you plus any comparatives as to how you might have done it differently. If there's enough interesting ideas, I'll put them together in a future article.

Rango - Hans Zimmer

2011-02-20T12:32:00.000Z

Hans Zimmer and John Powell seem to be battling it out as to who can score the most CGI animated movies, although the former invariably gets help and the better invariably gets the better movies. The trailer for Rango looks half amusing and stars the voice of Johnny Depp as a chameleon in Mexico something something something. Naturally the music sounds like Pirates of the Caribbean rendered by someone impersonating Ennio Morricone in about 1965. Not that that's a particularly terrible thing, although the delightful Rango Suite does sound a bit too much like Depp's Pirates theme gone Mexican. Oh, and there's a none too subtle quote of Bernstein's Magnificent Seven rhythm in We Ride, Really!

Of the longer tracks, Bats is the standout; starting off as the unpromising 984,325th spoof of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries gets, erm, ethnically cleansed with harmonica, banjos and such like. Mind you, the quote of Strauss's Blue Danube later in the track, in amongst some standard issue Zimmer action music is less inspired but the track has more variety in 4 minutes than the rest put together. Then again, the brief songs from Los Lobos and others are amusing and breakup the heaviness of some of Zimmer's underscore. Serious, Hans, you don't need to turn up the synth percussion track to 11 in every score you write.

Tracks are generally short and pithy, interspersed by short narration tracks. This counts as one of the five cardinal sins of film music albums (one day I might tell you the other four) but they are brief and humorous enough not to be too annoying. Still, sure someone will complain. It's all very jolly and enjoyable but doesn't exactly stick out. It's one of those scores that sounds exactly how you imagine (as per the above description). The main themes are pleasant enough but I can't see me humming them to the distraction of others.

Purchase this from Amazon.com with money.

Please Release Me (let me go) - Part 5

2011-02-20T12:01:00.000Z

While browsing the net in unfocused fashion the other day, it occurred to me that there's one contemporary composer who has been pretty short changed when it comes to soundtrack releases. Quite a number have appeared as "official" promos - Galaxy Quest immediately springs to mind. I couldn't believe my luck when I was sent it to review (them were the days) and is probably the best Star Trek score the franchise never had. David Newman has always been the neglected Newman and that extends to CD releases; a lot of the time, he's reduced to a single cue on a song album and for whatever reason, the usual suspects (Varese being the prime candidate) haven't managed to get the rights to do a proper score release.

Thomas may not yet have an Oscar, the inevitability of him winning is cancelled out by the Oscar dramatic irony category by which at least half of each generation's finest composers will never get an Oscar despite being hugely talented, highly influential (American Beauty, in particular) and scoring otherwise Oscar winning films. Seriously, how did American Beauty not win? It's hugely popular and every other drama score since owes a debt. There's even a dance remix. If the endorsement of drugged out clubbers isn't one of the highest order, I don't know what is... Oh yes, Randy got his long overdue Oscar for one of his least memorable songs (especially frustrating given how good That'll Do from Babe 2 and When She Loved Me from Toy Story 2 were).

David seems to be the Jerry Goldsmith of the family, toiling away on often shoddy family films that are vastly beneath his talents. I'm almost shocked that he's not been tapped by Pixar. Even if the satisfaction of the entire raft of Newmans contributing weren't enough, any moron could tell that David would do some top notch work for them; surely the most consistently excellent studio going. In no way a dig at Pixar's choices, music for their films is always terrific, but Newman, D would join one of the most consistently excellent group of composers around. He did great work on the first Ice Age but got ditched for John Powell when it came to the sequels. Tough call though, Powell is marvellous.

So, instead of American Beauty or Toy Story on his CV, David has, erm, Galaxy Quest and Bill & Ted. In fairness, those are two of the better films he's scored. Serenity and the animated Anastasia also fine features and largely great scores, even if Serenity wasn't quite the unofficial sequel score to Galaxy Quest we all hoped for. Still, at least it got a soundtrack release. As Fox's answer to the Disney machine, Anastasia held its own next to Hercules (when they were still pretty much on game, 2D animation wise). Newman's scores perfectly compliments the songs of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. It's a grand, epic affair, with all the memorable melodies and drama one could hope for when composing for such a story. The score doesn't fair too badly on disc, but there's over an hour of score in the film, all worth hearing. He even got a rare Oscar nod, but lost to Anne bloody Dudley for her unimpressive work on The Full Monty. Dudley has written some great scores - from the Fry and Laurie version of Jeeves and Wooster to American History X to Bright Young Things - but The Full Monty ain't one of them. Anastasia is leagues ahead. No wonder she looked a bit embarrassed.

Ice Age has a paltry 30 minutes, with much else to commend from the film (although I can imagine it might become a little bitty over an hour). Even the aforementioned Galaxy Quest never got an official album. The 50 minute promo is just right and should surely get wider, legitimate exposure. The film did OK and sci-fi scores invariably sell well. 102 Dalmatians and Matilda were both fine, live action family films and got delightful scores, neither released. Composer promos float about, but nothing official. We must, of course, mention those films which weren't quite so good, but scores such as The Flintstones, DuckTales, even Scooby Doo would be welcome. All are filled with Newman's hummable melodies, his great way with the orchestra and and general fine craftsmanship. It seems probable that some of these will see the light of day eventually as Newman is one of those film music fan's film music composers whom the fans adore, but nobody else knows much about. Perhaps some well deserved releases will change that.

Film Music Free Friday: The Confederacy of Online Music Store Dunces

2011-02-18T09:06:00.000Z

I wrote this some time ago on Facebook to my loyal friends, but am sad to report that the situation is the same, TWO YEARS LATER. Ho hum.

I'd like to say this will be an hilarious Charlie Brooker-esque rant, but it won't be hilarious, but I've thinking, why is it that music downloading is so idiotically implemented? With the music industry banging on and on and ON about all the money it's apparently losing from illegal downloading, why do they insist on making legal downloading MORE difficult and arcane than buying CDs. I should add that the music industry's view that one illegal download = one lost sale is utter bullshit, but that's another matter.

Two fine examples. The iTunes store. As most people know, I'm happily suckered into Mac using and have an iPhone, play all my music through iTunes and generally bang on about Apple slightly too much (although less than I used to). Having said that, the iTunes store is ridiculous. In the grand tradition of letters to Points of View, why oh why are there countries? How come you can't buy ALL albums in ANY country? Surely the whole point of an online music store is that you can buy from wherever you happen to from the comfort of your own computer desk? What moron decided that I can't buy things that are only on the US store (or whatever)? How is this progress? Even more stupid is Amazon. I can buy any CD from the US Amazon store, yet I can't download from the US Amazon mp3 store? What kind of crazy dumb fuck thought that one up? This was double annoying as the album I wanted doesn't appear to have received a CD release so I just have to wait (or download it illegally) and find out whether they can be bothered to either put it on CD or add it to the Amazon UK store.

Varese Sarabande have released a number of their hard to find/out of print back catalogue items to the US iTunes store (the double disc release of Goldsmith's terrific Lionheart, for example). Fortunately, I have a friend with a US store account who bought it for me. You know, pay money for music. Imagine that?! Of course, if I didn't have such a friend, I'd not have been able so Varese would have lost out on a little cash which can go towards their superb release programme. I could gripe that Varese themselves could put the music on the UK store, but frankly it shouldn't be an issue. It should be "the music is on the iTunes store" and you buy it from wherever you live in your local currency and with local taxes applied. Yes, I agree they need to know where you live, but that should just be for tax reasons etc. Surely online music stores are a great way of making money from back catalogues, especially in obscure music genres such as film music where it could take a while for the label to make its money back, but make it easier for the few thousand hardcore fans to spend and surely they will.

Although a rather more parochial concern, technically you aren't allowed to use the iTunes store in Guernsey. Something to do with VAT (and Apple being lazy as hell, frankly) and they are slowly closing the workarounds. The best bet is now to use a UK friend's address, but presumably they'll work out how to stop that. OK, offshore jurisdictions don't constitute a huge slice of their market, but I'd wager that per person, the average Guernsey person would spend more than the average UK person simply because Guernsey is a generally wealthier place per person.

I was about to write an enthusiastic polemic to Spotify, which strikes me as the most likely way forward for music ownership - online subscription and you just choose what you want from a vast online library - but even that is country specific. Still, as a legal way to sample music, share it and so forth, it's a superb service. It's how I imagined listening to music would be in the "future", although they need to get it in lossless, with gapless playback and ensure albums don't "disappear" randomly. Bloody copyright laws and stupid record companies seem to ensure this happens from time to time when they don't want their product sullied by being on a free, but legal service... perhaps they want it all on wax cylinders where they can fiddle with their handlebar moustaches and doff their caps to one another while the peasants lap up this "hip hop" music.

So, I ask again (for no real reason), how can it be so easy to buy a CD from whatever country you want yet if you want to download or play it online, it's made so much harder? If they want to combat illegal downloading, surely they should make it as easy as possible and with as wide a selection as possible. Plus, it wouldn't go amiss for them not to screw over certain places by charging more in one country than another. I'm reliably informed that it's not Apple who impose the country specific format, although given their market share, they should be forcing the record companies into the 21st century and trying to enforce some sense onto them. They don't seem that desperate to do anything much to change things, but we can only hope. Like Obi Wan Kenobi.

Film Music Free Friday: Reboot the Music Part 1

2011-02-11T10:45:00.000Z

With so many film franchises getting booted and rebooted, made and remade, the film music fan is invariably going to watch with interest who is going to take over the scoring reins. It can be difficult to separate sequels from reboots, but I'll be deliberately vague and arbitrarily decide what counts and what doesn't. That seems fair...

It was the discovery that Patrick Doyle is to score the upcoming reboot of the Planet of the Apes series that prompted this column. This is one series that began with a much loved and critically acclaimed score by Jerry Goldsmith. The sequels largely ditched what Goldsmith did with the original and went their own way, even when Goldsmith himself returned to the series for Escape from the Planet of the Apes. Wikipedia claims that the pending Rise of the Apes is a sequel to the original franchise, sidestepping the Tim Burton remake of 2001. For all that was wrong with the film, Danny Elfman did some fine work, with suitably elemental percussion and brass, even if it doesn't reach the iconoclastic status of Goldsmith's original. I can't even conceive a Doyle score for a Planet of the Apes film, even if the concept (apes on present day Earth) is rather different. Should be interesting.

Jerry Goldsmith's was once again followed when The Omen was remade in 2006 (and presumably with the intention to produce a new series, which never materialised), whereby Marco Beltrami supplied the music. Where Elfman did his own thing, so too did Beltrami but with considerably less success. Elfman's Apes score may be nothing like Goldsmith's, but it apes (haha) the spirit of the original and refashions it in his own distinctive musical voice. However, Beltrami does little of interest for the Omen remake. It's just standard 2000's horror scoring that doesn't even attempt to homage or somehow reference the original. Same goes for Angelo Badalamenti's score to the remake of The Wicker Man which is modern horror dross, instead of the imaginative use of pseudo folk employed by Paul Giovanni for the cult 70's original.

Comic book character franchises seem to be rebooted every few years these days. After one good to great original, the sequels tend to start cancelling themselves out, notably Superman, Batman and Spider-Man, at least after the first sequel. Third time is rarely a charm. Technically, Tim Burton's Batman was a reboot of the original TV series and spin off movie, although aside from the character names and situations, they might as well be a separate franchise. Having said that, Burton's film is as comic book as the original, but with an entirely different tone. Elfman's music is serious without taking things seriously and the main theme is still one of his most famous and memorable. When Joel Schumacher took over for the second sequel, Elliot Goldenthal took over scoring duties and upped the wackiness to dizzying new heights. Goldenthal has always struck me as a rather serious composer so it's almost a surprise to see him on a film like Batman Forever and the celluloid atrocity that was Batman & Robin.

Since everyone else realised that, while Batman Forever was passably fun, Batman & Robin was beyond redemption so it had to wait for Christopher Nolan's artful and deeply serious reboot. Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard formed an unlikely collaboration to compose the score which is about as tune free as film music gets. The main theme is essentially two notes played with enough orchestra, synths and percussion that is required to make it seem meaningful. I won't quite say drivel. OK. I will. Drivel. I doubt the upcoming finale to the trilogy will change approach much. If that's the end of Nolan's contribution to the series, one wonders whether someone else will take over or Batman will hang up his cape for a few years. Then again, given the acclaim of Nolan's films (somewhat unwarranted from where I was sitting), any reboot is going to have to be pretty bloody amazing. Unless they get Joel Schumacher back.

Men, both Super and Spider are considered in Part 2.

Film Music Free Friday: Reissue Issues

2011-02-04T10:16:00.000Z

One of the main reasons I abandoned soundtrack reviewing, was the sheer volume of average stuff I ended up wading through. It's fun to trash a terrible album (apologies to those long suffering composers) or try and promote a great one (I remember being thrilled to promote Jeff Beal's terrific score to Pollock, having received a review copy, an album which otherwise might have gone under the radar) but writing about average is just so buggeringly tedious. However, when so many scores are getting substantial releases, sorting the good from the average is increasingly difficult and the same is starting to apply to archive releases.

When they started out, our industrious and dedicated film music labels were unearthing classics from the vaults and putting them onto CD. These were scores that everyone wanted, but we're getting to the Jerry Goldsmith bottle cap collecting stage. Sometimes we forget just how many movies have been made in the history of cinema and not every note of every score needs a release. Sure, there are undiscovered classics, but plenty of dross or scores of limited appeal. It is, of course, great to see them recognised, but it does risk watering down the catalogue of "classic" scores of the past from being essential to a rather more difficult choice of which ones are actually worth picking up.

Another issue of late is the reissue issue. In the last 10/15 years, a number of genuinely classic scores have had multiple rereleases from boutique film music labels: Superman (plus a re-recording), Poltergeist, ET, Patton and the much desired Cherry 2000 (at one point deemed the rarest of the rare) to name but five, not to mention expanded editions of new scores not massively long after they were originally released: Lost in Space, Independence Day, Star Trek and so forth.

It's hard to judge the impact of these. Hopefully they are making some decent cash to prop up those releases that don't sell in such numbers or to allow for more lavish booklets elsewhere, but as fans of George Lucas know, it can get quite frustrating, not to mention expensive, to be asked to dip into the wallet every few years for an incrementally better version of the same thing. It's true that the new release of Poltergeist does indeed sound somewhat better than the Rhino release, although the improvements between the Rhino and FSM Superman are perhaps a bit more marginal. The ET releases open up a whole new kettle of worms since both are 90% (wild guess) the same, but for some reason, none of the producers put together a release that was entirely final, film versions with alternates at the end and so both are a mish mash of both. The difference between the takes are fairly minimal in most cases, but it's frustrating for the die hard Williams fan after an "ultimate" release of the score as heard in the film.

Those are isolated examples and I'm sure a bit of research and the cash strapped fan can make an informed choice as to whether the 43rd version of Stars Wars is an essential purchase and the improvements are material or incremental (if noticeable at all - the Sony releases of the original Special Edition soundtracks are meant to be a soupcon better... but only on high end equipment) and money better spent elsewhere. We should, I suppose, be grateful for living in an age of film music plenty but the cash strapped film music fan is now deluged with both new and old scores to buy. Guess that's why crappy review sites like this one are so important... There, I think I justified my own existence.

Tron: Legacy - Daft Punk

2011-02-03T13:00:00.000Z

I don't know if it bugs other seasoned film music fans when some random band or artist writes a film score and their name is then splashed about all over the place as though this were the most novel thing since sliced bread machines were invented, but it does somewhat bug me. Then again, a lot of things bug me, but that's not important right now. Yes, a lot of these one off scores are actually pretty good and they are less likely to be lumped with temptrackitis, which is a terrible disease. After all, why get some famous band in to right the music if you're just going to make them copy John Debney?! It's not that film music is a genre lacking in diversity, despite what a lot of people seem to think, but it does seem rather disingenuous to the somewhat unappreciated pool of talent already making their way composing for cinema.

So to Tron: Legacy by the popular beat combo "Daft Punk." No, I've no idea who they are either, but I have to admit, it's really pretty good, albeit fractionally more derivative than I imagined. If you put Zimmer's Inception, some 80's Philip Glass and a bit of Vangelis into a blender, the music would spew out something akin to Tron: Legacy. Actually, the Vangelis aspect is more for one particular fifth based motif that appears throughout which reminds me of Chariots of Fire - particularly during the portentously named Overture. I know two notes make a fifth isn't a lot to go on (especially given the number of Williams themes that start as such), but it somehow seems strongly evokes Vangelis' hugely famous Oscar winner.

The Glass allusions are largely from the repeating figures that occur throughout, dimly recalling the Qatsi trilogy, but more synthetic and with less variation, while Zimmer's low, farting, bass notes from Inception make numerous appearances. I realise I'm probably not given Daft Punk enough credit for proffering their own sound, but the comparisons are more for those unfamiliar with their work than anything. While very synth dominated, there is plenty of orchestra in there, from the chasing strings to brazen brass chords, bolstered by synths (although not with that horrible fake sound that Zimmer uses).

It's a score that I find hard to describe as particularly great in pure musical terms, but the sort of album that draws you back. It has atmosphere in abundance, albeit in a futuristic, techno kinda way; listening to it while travelling on the Tube or around a big city and the whole place somehow takes on some kind of epic, dystopian feel. Any score that can take you to another place like that has got to be worth a listen. I love the old masters of film music as much as anyone, but sometimes a left field musical voice is just what a film needs. Easily recommendable.

Acquire with money, bribes, gold or pieces of expensive cheese from Amazon.com.

In conclusion: 110101010001111001010101011010

John Barry: 3 November 1933 – 30 January 2011

2011-01-31T11:41:00.000Z

Very sad news that John Barry has died suddenly following a heart attack. He was 77. Barry managed to be an impressively self contradictory composer (in the best possible way), becoming famous through his band, the John Barry Seven, yet you'd never imagine based on those records that it could be the same composer who could write Dances with Wolves or The Lion In Winter. Yet, perversely, his style was so distinctive that you could pretty well always tell a Barry score after only a few notes.

Perhaps embarrassingly, I was not originally enamoured of Barry's music; even more strange as he's one of those cult film composers with far wider appeal than the 37 people on the planet who love film music. However, with some gentle persuasion and a sampling of his finest scores, notably Dances With Wolves, it didn't take too much time for me to change my mind. Even worse, however, his Bond scores took a bit longer for me to get into, but they were certainly worth it. Where today's action scores can be so frantic, Barry rarely let his music get too busy. Even the later Bonds had a level of class and elegance that one rarely hears any more.

I had the pleasure of seeing him conduct the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra about a decade ago, confirming his position as one of those rare composers who can fill a two hour concert programme with nothing but hits, most of which even the casual listener would recognise. I am sure that more dedicated and knowledgeable fans will write plenty in the days to come, but Barry's legacy was cemented years ago and having composed some of the best known music for cinema over 40 years, he won't be forgotten any time soon.

For those fans who are yet to indulge in some of cinema's lushest and most memorable music, you could do worse than to pick up the composer conducted compilation Moviola, which is just about the most sumptuous sounding film music compilation ever released. For a more extensive and varied starting point, Silva's John Barry: The Collection - 40 Years in Film Music is hard to beat, From Zulu to Enigma, it samples a surprisingly large proportion of his work. The music itself is, of course, wonderful, but it's rare to hear a composer's style evolve so organically over their career.

Good night JB.

Film Music Free Friday

2011-01-28T19:17:00.000Z

At the risk of promising a regular feature, I decided that Friday should be Film Music Free Friday for Soundtrack Express as an antidote to FSM's usual Friday news slot (the item formerly and oddly known as This News Friday). In fairness, it won't be entirely devoid of film music content (but calling it Mainly Film Music Free Friday is clearly ridiculous...). Topics may or may not include:

Non-film music albums - At the old site, I did used to review the odd thing by other artists (mostly the Divine Comedy, my favourite band) and composers. However, in this case it'll be more general recommendations and thoughts about other music that I like.

Classical - I don't (honest guv) want to start arguments over what James Horner has or hasn't pilfered from the classics, but there's a world of classical music that has been used as, um, "inspiration" for a lot of film music. A few are well known, but plenty are quite obscure, so hopefully might be of interest. Film music is a great starting point for discovering the classics, as my own experience attests, even though I've reached a bit of a wall lately in terms of new composers, but the joy of discovery is quite exciting.

Movies. Films. Flicks. Motion Pictures. And some TV - Maybe a review, maybe a general rant/love fest on the state of cinema going today; something of that ilk. Plus any TV shows I happen to have seen and feel deserve some kind of recognition, even if they are a bit old - I am tempted to write a bit about Battlestar Galactica, but realise it's a bit old news now. Oh well, it's my column and I'll write what I want to (you would too, if you were writing it... too).

Miscellaneous Ranting - As per last week's entirely unannounced column, some will just be about random spleen venting on the tangential aspects of film music, films or TV but not actually about the music or visual pleasures themselves. Of course I might just rant about the state of the UK rail service (it's shit and expensive).

You - If there's anything you'd like me to write about (as if), drop me a line and I'll consider it. However, that's on the proviso that I may know sod all about whatever it is you want me to opine on so may have to pass, so don't come crying to me if I have to politely decline.

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea - Joe Hisaishi

2011-01-27T16:07:00.000Z

Bloody hell, Miyazaki films are awesome. Really gosh, darn (haha) wonderful. Even one that looks as cute and potentially vomitous as Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Ponyo for brevity) is superb. A variation on the Little Mermaid fairytale, it's a far more original take than Disney's and, in many ways, more interesting (which hasn't aged as well as Beauty and the Beast and others of the time, delightful though it is). Rather than merely change the story to fit with expectations, as Disney did, Miyazaki changes many aspects and the lead duo are kids rather than princesses and princes. It doesn't even have a traditional villain, merely Ponyo's concerned father. The animation is typically stunning; the sequence as Ponyo runs over huge, rolling waves is astounding.

If they have such things in Japan, Joe Hisaishi should be deemed a national treasure. He never fails to write anything but tuneful, memorable and instantly delightful scores, the best of which are invariably for Miyazaki. Needless to say, Ponyo is no exception, indeed it's perhaps his most memorable since Spirited Away. The main Ponyo theme is instantly catchy, its spirited musical lineage immediately obvious. Plenty of secondary themes provide typical thematic richness, but it's the main theme that holds it all together.

The aforementioned sequence of Ponyo running over rolling waves receives the most upbeat appropriation of Wagner ever heard. Ride of Valkyries is given the Hisaishi treatment; the Valkyries' theme is changed to the Ponyo theme and all the terrifying thunder of the original is turned into tumultuous, exuberant delight. If you're going to plunder the classics, this is the way to do it; turn something well known into something new and delightful, not just shoehorn it into your score because you've run out of ideas (or been pushed onto the temp track by the producers). A score that scarcely needs more recommendation and one of the most delightful hours of music you'll hear (apart from most of Hisaishi's other scores, of course). See the film too, easily the best traditional animated film since... well the last one from Miyazaki.

Film Music Free Friday: Message Boarding - I'm Spartacus!

2011-01-21T10:59:00.004Z

Message Boards can be scary places. I'm a rather infrequent poster and even less frequent reader. When film music fan friends say "did you read about such and such on the FSM/Filmtracks/Other board?" I'll invariably say "what now?" Just for shits and giggles I had a look through the FSM message boards. Wow, I didn't realise that Varese's uber boxed set of Spartacus got shat on from such a great height. It never occurred to me that it was overtly pricey; it is, after all, an extremely well produced set. I bought it without hesitation. Maybe I'm just lucky in that I can afford such spontaneous luxuries. That would certainly explain the 3,924 hand made, fine china plates with paintings of kittens and puppies that I have surrounding me at Chez Tom.*

To my shame I've only actually listened to the stereo presentation of Spartacus. Being a child of the late 20th century, mono is hard work and takes me out of the experience of the music itself. I'll get round to it one day, I promise. However, I can only see myself listening to the 61,257 versions of the love theme once (I can't even remember how it goes - that is rubbish of me - maybe after that disc I will), same goes for the bonus tracks. Indeed, same goes for most bonus tracks, although at least most such albums get the bonus tracks at the end of the disc.

Since reading the various threads regarding this amusing fracas, I have started looking through the FSM board more regularly, although it can be annoying trying to find the intelligent comments in amongst the brief "yeah, I agree" type responses and the occasional nutter writing all manner of impressively ill informed reckoning. Quite how it gets to this type of conversation on a film music form, but the FSM board has "reliably" informed me that global warming is a myth and physical media will be around forever.

Anyone who thinks CDs and DVDs will be around forever is living on another planet. Or at least ought to be. I always imagined in the future it'd be like Star Trek where the crew of the Enterprise/Voyager/DS9 can access any recording from the ship's computer. Of course, in reality, it'll be more like a better version of Spotify where you access whatever you like via the interweb. Sure, there are quality issues at the moment, but streaming lossless encoded music is doable right now. Indeed, streaming lossless 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 surround sound with a recording of a dying giraffe on top is possible now, but sadly the download stores do still insist on lossy formats. Morons.

I think I'll continue to read the message boards, although working out the interesting/intelligent posters is the first route to message board happiness. Even on topics on which you have no interest, the informed forum poster can proffer something new, but some dickhead ranting about why every Hans Zimmer score should be released with every note of music he (and his minions) wrote on a 32 disc boxed set made of pure antimatter won't enlighten you, even if you are Hans' Number One Fan. On the note, I'm going to start threads listing every single bit of Prokofiev in James Horner's oeuvre and 435 reasons why Tyler Bates is the new John Williams.**

*Possible lie

**I'm not really, I don't have the time. Does anyone?

The King's Speech - Alexandre Desplat

2011-01-20T12:39:00.000Z

Every year has its Oscar bait picture (or three) but 2010's was most definitely The King's Speech. Indeed, it is an especially fine film, with superb acting from both Firth and Rush, although the former is getting most of the acclaim for his performance as stammering King George VI. Alexandre Desplat has become the go to composer for this kind of film and he never disappoints, even if there is the risk of him getting into a bit of a rut.

The King's Speech is one of those lovely, but not quite outstanding scores. It has a theme that is exactly what you imagine it should be; a pleasing piano melody, most notably in the titular second track. Orchestrations are generally string based with a little woodwind here and there and with a distinct melancholy at times, atlhough Desplat rarely lets a score drown in its own self importance and his touch remains light.

The finale speech itself is underscored with the slow movement from Beethoven's 7th Symphony. Fans have expressed annoyance that Desplat wasn't "allowed" to score it, but the composer has explained that it was a joint artistic decision with the director. One can't fault the choice, the grave ebb and flow of the Beethoven is perfect on screen and makes a nice coda to the album. Not a Desplat score that shines out amongst his best, but classy and perfectly poised.

Acquire from Amazon.com.

The Tempest - Elliot Goldenthal

2011-01-17T15:05:00.001Z

As one of film music's more "serious" composers, Elliot Goldenthal hasn't released anything for the silver screen of late, instead concentrating on concert works, notably his opera, Grendel. However when the wife (OK, partner) comes calling for her latest film then you have to call. Mind you, at the moment she's busy firefighting on the stupendously expensive Spider-Man musical that's limping to opening night on Broadway. However, she's found time to do another Shakespeare adaptation for cinema, The Tempest.

Their last Shakespeare, Titus, ran the gamut from thumping great choral and orchestral passages to wild rock. The Tempest is a bit more coherent, but at the rock/indie end of the spectrum. Some of the wild, Goldenthal riffing is evident and the album includes a couple of Goldenthal co-composed songs, but the overall impression is that it's all a bit incidental. Goldenthal has never been a tunesmith in the traditional sense but his scores usually have some hooks to latch onto, but aside from the rockier sensibility it all just kinda passes by. Maybe it's an album best appreciated after the film.

Please release me (let me go) - Part 4

2011-01-15T12:58:00.002Z

This is fun! New things keep coming out of the woodwork, although it'd be nice to get some suggestions from one of my 9 loyal readers (assuming it's that many), so do e-mail them in to the usual address (whatever that is):

The Hunt for Red October - Basil Poledouris

Another Poledouris score that surely deserves more than the paltry 30 minutes afforded on the original album. Indeed, generally considered one of the composer's classic scores it seems oddly neglected. In fairness, it might help improve my view of the score as I never liked it as much as anyone else, but I wonder if the somewhat tinny sound on the original album doesn't help. With Robocop having had a couple of re-releases (seemingly adding one or two tracks at a time) and Conan being re-recorded, this and Starship Troopers definitely deserve the luxury, expanded treatment.

Killing Me Softly - Patrick Doyle

Despite sounding like a shoddy soft porn flick, Kiling Me Softly stars Joseph Fiennes and Heather Graham. It's not one of Patrick Doyle's best known entries, but it's a genuinely good score. The wise guys at FSM noted it for having some of the best sex music outside of Basic Instinct; indeed I've never quite got the hoopla over Basic Instinct (it is a great score, just not sure it's that great, sorry) and Killing Me Softly certainly has the same icy, erotic charge to it. On the flip side, it has an understatedly romantic main theme, which balances with the thriller elements. Doyle has a pretty good hit rate when it comes to getting his stuff on CD, but Killing Me Softly is definitely a gem that slipped through.

Spider-Man 3 - Christopher Young (with a little help from Danny Elfman)

For some reason, the producers of Spider-Man 2 decided to cause a shit storm when making the follow up to Sam Raimi's excellent first movie version (still surprising it took Spider-Man so long to get to the cinema) and pissed Danny Elfman off enough for him to walk, something he'd never done before and hasn't since. The replacement music by John Debney isn't bad, but it's obviously not Elfman. Mind you, John Debney's music often isn't obviously John Debney; there's two composers whose originality is separated by a vast gulf. As a result of this debacle, it was unlikely Elfman would return for part 3 so Christopher Young took over. Even if Young is a fine composer in his own right, it's surprisingly grating when his own material suddenly stumbles into the opening titles of Spider-Man 3 like a mad, old, drunk aunt at a wedding, before stumbling out again to leave Elfman's material finish the credits. The rest of Young's material is more expertly handled and his score is surprisingly entertaining, even if it's still not as iconic as Elfman's. Chances of a release are slim to zero given the contentious nature of the music to the series. Same goes for expanded versions of Elfman's first two efforts, but it would be rather jolly. With great music comes great responsibility. I'm pretty sure that's true.

Stuart Littles 1 and 2 - Alan Silvestri

Alan Silvestri is perhaps the greatest scorer of films starring mice alive today. OK, flippancy aside, he has done three mouse films; this, Stuart Little 2 and Mouse Hunt, all of which are delightful. Mouse Hunt could, perhaps, benefit from a little more than the 30 minute release it already has, but Stuart Little could do with a proper release. The original album has only a couple of cuts from Silvestri's score, a 30 minute promo has done the rounds and contains a perfectly proportioned sample from the score. Admittedly, the official album does contain the best cue, the Boat Race, a terrific piece of light hearted action/adventure scoring. Part 2 is more of the same, of course, but no less enjoyable, so even a single disc release of the best of both wouldn't go down badly. I mean, who doesn't love tuneful scores for a lovable mouse who has been adopted by Dr House? Who? I ask you.

Batman (Complete) - Danny Elfman

2011-01-11T17:15:00.000Z

Batman by Danny Elfman is one of his finest scores, one of the most well regarded superhero scores and the breakthrough effort that put him well and truly on the map. Therefore, if you don't own it already, shame on you. Still, you can atone for your oversight by acquiring La-La Land's lovely expanded version containing both the original album, the music as heard in the film and a few additional bits and bobs. In fairness, Batman shows just what a really good editor can do for a soundtrack album since most of the excised music is actually short phrases here and there which reduce repetition within a track or cut a short noodle before the real meat of the cue starts. By that token, it is mildly disconcerting to hear the album track you know and love to appear from some previously unfamiliar few bars or for it to go off on a brief tangent for 20 seconds.

Sure, there are a few completely new tracks, notably the additional action passages towards the end, although again, they don't really add much to the material previously released. Perhaps a little disingenuously, the track listing marks every cue from the film version as being previously unreleased. I don't deny the listing being factually accurate, but it's more that they are different takes and/or mixes than being entirely different. For example, the Main Title, Descent into Mystery, Finale and End Credits are basically the same music, just different mixes; the choir in Descent into Mystery is mixed further back in the film version, but is otherwise the same. Still, the liner notes do helpfully explain the differences, while relating the music to the film itself. I'm being fussy, of course, but don't expect it to be startlingly different.

The music itself remains memorable and exciting; while I'm very enthusiastic about Elfman's Spider-Man scores, Batman is certainly a lot more upfront in its aspirations and melody. There's less of the arrangement clutter that makes the Spider-Man main titles (for example) seem rather busy, even though in many ways, it's really just a good deal more sophisticated than Batman. The remixing of the original album does give it a little more punch, which is saying something as the original album sounded pretty marvellous, highlighting the expert performance of the Sinfonia of London. I guess if you're equipped with the original album and aren't a die hard Elfman fan, it's not an essential expansion given the rather limited amount of truly unreleased material, but for everyone else, yeah, go buy it. Great stuff.

Please Release Me (let me go) - Part 3

2011-01-06T23:32:00.001Z

So, yes, why aren't these on CD, hmmm? Well?! A bit of a Goldsmith fest with a few of his finest and most enjoyable efforts that could do with releasing or expanding:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Jerry Goldsmith

The existing expanded edition is a very fine album, gratefully received after years of the original album only being available as an expensive and incomplete, import. However, it's a seminal Goldsmith score and one that is not only brilliant music, but kept the film it was written for afloat (in space?). Like its distant relatives by John Williams for George Lucas' space opera, the music tells the story on its own. You can sit and listen, imaging Kirk, Spock, McCoy et al staring at amazing, but slow moving visual effects for minutes on end. There are also some alternate takes on certain cues to be heard, most notably The Enterprise, which was written before the now famous main theme was written and originally sounded quite different (if equally grand and impressive) as the cue that now goes down as one of Goldsmith's finest ever. Some expansion of his more recent Trek scores would be nice, but The Motion Picture is where it's at, an epic that needs an epic treatment.

Gremlins - Jerry Goldsmith

Director Joe Dante and Jerry Goldsmith had a terrific working relationship and Gremlins still remains their most memorable collaboration. Gremlins 2 got a fine 40 minutes on disc, but to date the original has received short shrift in a handful of cues on the original album (and currently going for an eye watering $75 second hand on Amazon, perhaps there are people mistakenly thinking it's the full score). The fine 7 minute suite from one of the composer's early self conducted compilations features some of the best music, notably the eerie prologue, the witty Late for Work music and, of course, the Gremlin rag. However, there's plenty missing, notably the creepy interpolation of Jingle Bells as one of the lead characters describes how her father got trapped in the chimney dressing up as Santa. For a comedy score, it's surprisingly touching in places but one of his most memorable and off the wall efforts.

Small Soldiers - Jerry Goldsmith
Joe Dante never quite recaptured the success of Gremlins with his later films, despite their evident quality, but he still got the chance to make plenty of entertaining suburban, subversive fantasies. Small Soldiers didn't quite perform fully to expectations but was a great antidote to Toy Story as a tale of real toys coming to life through technology and going all Cylon by attacking their creators. Released during the dark days of the 30 minute soundtrack album, there's plenty of great material left off the official album which gives the whole thing a broader scope. Goldsmith's action always seems more enjoyable when there's some kind of hook, in this case, that it's a kids' movie. Plus he always went that extra mile for his friend Dante and it's no exception here.

Mulan - Jerry Goldsmith
I remember being quite disappointed when Mulan was released. I even remember the day I got it, I was moving out of my second year accommodation at university. Bloody hell I feel old. After all the hype of it being Goldsmith's first score for a big Disney animation, the album was quietly underwhelming. Then again, for the paltry five cues (the sixth is a suite largely made up of the song melodies, albeit arranged by Goldsmith) it's perhaps not that surprising that it wasn't a score to remember. However, for anyone who's been crafty enough to track down the Academy promo (nominated, but yet again, he didn't win - alas, alas) will know that is truly is an alternately gorgeous and barnstorming score. Goldsmith scores it as though it were a serious, epic drama and it's all the better for all that. All it needs now is an epic release, but again, it's Disney, so what are the chances? Bugger all probably. Alas, alas.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Complete) - Jerry Goldsmith

2011-01-03T23:31:00.000Z

All I ask for is a tall ship and a star to sail her by, although what I actually want is a starship to travel to the centre of the galaxy to find god. The sad thing is, the concept of The Final Frontier is pretty sound, very much in keeping with Star Trek lore and aspects of it are very well rendered. However, the kind of concepts it dealt with are perhaps better within the confines of TV; one can imagine Sybok having taken control of the Enterprise and set course for Sha Ka Ree as an end of season cliffhanger. It would be every bit as exciting as Picard turning up as Locutus. Also, the rather talky resolution would be far more acceptable to a TV audience than those expecting an exciting battle on the big screen. Alas, it was not to be. The film has plenty of other problems, but I still have a bit of a soft spot, although maybe Goldsmith's music just made it seem better than it was. Entirely possible.

One comment I made in my review of the Star Trek: Nemesis (the last and most disappointing Next Generation movie) score was that Star Trek no longer had spectacle. I don't mean amazing space ship battles, more an attempt at awe and wonder. V'Ger in The Motion Picture might have been on screen for way too long, but it oozed atmosphere. Same goes for the Enterprise. She seems like a real, huge star faring ship, not just an impressive effect. So it is with Goldsmith's Nemesis score, it's a perfectly robust action/adventure score, but little else. The Final Frontier may not have been the best movie, but it had bold ideas and ideals, plus at least some attempt at spectacle. God was never going to look amazing on an effects budget of £9.23, but Goldsmith writes as though we're witnessing something as eye popping as Avatar or Lord of the Rings, even when it's clearly a patch of dirt, some plastic rocks and god (i.e. some alien) looking like a PowerPoint presentation.

Goldsmith doesn't just reserve his awe and wonder for god, but also for the natural splendour of Yosemite where Kirk is (somewhat unrealistically) mountain climbing. The opening is rightly held as another of Goldsmith's finest moments, a gorgeous trumpet melody that could so easily have been fairly non-specific and throwaway. You just don't get that kind of compositional thought very often. Naturally, the action scoring is excellent, some of his finest. The raid on Nimbus III deftly weaves the various themes into some prototypical 5/4 action measures. This expanded release expands some of this, notably Without Help which has a few more dramatic pauses than the original album.

One nice thing about expanded discs such as this is you get those short cues that often never make it to a 40 minute album, the short passages for the Enterprise's departure at the start have some lovely versions of the main theme woven in. Again, awe and wonder, giving the Enterprise a mystical quality rather than just being a hunk of metal and implying a grandeur which (if we're honest) isn't really there in the effects. Star Trek V has long been one of my most desired expanded releases and La-La Land have la-la lavished (there's a gag I can only use once) their usual level of expert production. Comprehensive liner notes, great sound (not that the original had any issues), the complete score as in the film (more or less), the original album presentation, plus some additional tracks to fill out a nice package. As it were. Goldsmith does old school Trek movie. You really ought to have it, so what are you waiting for? A tall ship? Pfft!

Purchase it from La-La Land or Screen Archives.

How to Train Your Dragon - John Powell

2011-01-03T13:44:00.000Z

How to Train Your Dragon (not to be confused with the entirely fictitious remake of the Clint Eastwood musical How to Paint Your Wagon) is one of Dreamworks' most entertaining films and gets an equally entertaining score. Imagine manic ceilidh (pronounced cay-lee for those not of a north of the border persuasion) music performed by a 693 piece (more or less) orchestra and you have a fair idea of what much of How to Train Your Dragon. It's especially suitable for action music as its inherent energy ensures the music gallops along. The quiet moments are not to be forgotten, they are sweet without being cloying, but it's definitely the high voltage material that sticks in the mind the longest, albeit more as an overall impression than individual melodic ideas.

Having seen Powell conduct a suite from the score at the Royal Albert Hall, the orchestra did look like they could do with a long lie down in a darkened room afterward. It was a stonking performance though and the orchestra did a fantastic job. Naturally the studio recording has a bit more polish, but I can't help wonder if some of the brass players had a minor cardiac arrest when they first saw the music, realising they were going to be playing what is essentially fiddle music on a trumpet with virtually zero practise. Yeah, those studio musicians are startlingly good. Still, it sounds stupendous and gets an impressively lucid recording for something that could sound hopelessly muddled. A Sigur Ros on prozac song by lead singer Jonsi (don't skip it, it's good) rounds out another winning entry from Powell.

Acquire it from Amazon.com.

Please Release Me (let me go) - Part 2

2010-12-31T01:00:00.001Z

A few more scores that could do with a little more of them legitimately available on disc:

Starship Troopers - Basil Poledouris

I'm sure Basil Poledouris would be thrilled to see the continued interest in his music since his untimely death a few years ago; the re-recording of Conan is a measure of the esteem in which his music is held. Great though the re-recording is, it's something of a shame the composer wasn't around to wield the baton himself. It's passed into film music folklore than the original release of Starship Troopers almost sent Varese Sarabande broke due to the enormous re-use fees on the score which was (I believe) recorded by two different LA orchestras. Of course, collectors still bitched. Typical. With the far more sane re-use fee arrangements of recent years an expanded disc seems a far more realistic prospect, plus sci-fi scores always do well. Here's hoping.

The Disney scores of Alan Menken & Hans Zimmer

It's never going to happen, Disney are far too precious about their properties to let some small minority group have their way when they can re-re-re-re-release their classic soundtrack albums with yet another shit pop arrangement of the spin off pop song. However, longer versions of Beauty and the Beast, Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Lion King would be rather splendid. The latter two, in particular, are missing considerable amounts from their official CD releases. Zimmer's music for The Lion King got him an Oscar (not that it really counts for much; looking at you Gustavo Santaolalla) but Zimmer only gets a miserly handful of cuts on disc. With any lucky we'll get a re-re-re-release with 46 new versions of the Elton John songs too. On second thoughts...

A Bug's Life - Randy Newman

An unlikely entry, I'm sure you're thinking, but some of the most delightful cues were missed off the official album. One reason (a hunch) is that they were dropped because of the choir (notably Building the Bird and the finale, All is Well which are both marvellous) and Disney didn't want to pay extra for those tracks. In any event, it stands as Newman's finest score for Pixar to date, a terrific, intricate, thematically rich, pseudo-western which deserves to be heard in its entirity.

The Nightmare Before Christmas - Danny Elfman

Another unlikely candidate. The obscenely expensive Elfman/Burton boxed set (which I should hopefully be getting in February 2011) contains extra tracks but is sold out and hardly a realistic prospect for the average fan. The existing release is beautifully presented, but a few more underscore tracks to give balance to the above average number of songs would be most welcome. Might be fun to have a bonus disc of orchestra-only versions of the songs too (same applies to the Menken scores too). Here's hoping.

Scrooged - Danny Elfman

OK, OK, I've never seen the film (but have it on my DVD rental list) but the suite on Music for a Darkened Theatre is a delight and it's probably the most high profile thing by Elfman never properly released. Indeed, it's quite possibly the only studio score he's done that's never had a proper release.

Megamind - Hans Zimmer & Lorne Balfe

2010-12-29T12:13:00.002Z

Hurrah, it's the quarterly mildly disappointing Dreamworks CGI film. Now in 3D! Actually, Megamind isn't at all bad, indeed most of their 2010 efforts have been decent, particularly the wonderful How to Train Your Dragon. OK, I didn't see Shrek 11 (or whatever it is) but presumably that was fair to middling like the other Shrek sequels. Megamind gets the Hans Zimmer and "insert name of random composer here" treatment; this time it's Lorne Balfe who appears to be a regular Zimmer "additional music by", but who has now "made it" and gets his name on the album cover, like reaching the pinnacle of some unambitious film composer initiation ceremony. However, it seems he has had some reasonable level of impact on Megamind since it sounds notably un-Zimmer like a lot of the time.

One striking thing about Megamind is that it's not really all that heroic (at least if you benchmark anything vaguely superheroic against Superman). True, it's about the "villain" but even when one imagines it should be heroic (the action), this doesn't really happen and it's all rather charmingly plinky plunky, seemingly driven by the characters rather than the action sequences. It has more in common with a pleasingly above average family comedy score (think Randy Edelman on a good day). This is most in evidence for Hal's Theme, which is delightfully perky and memorable enough, if not brain achingly catchy. Ditto for the Roxanne Love Theme, which sounds like Michel Legrand. That and a dash of Bondian brass in Ollo makes one wish they had perhaps gone all out on the retro aspect, but alas that doesn't quite happen. This isn't quite The Incredible, but Michael Giacchino is in another league.

Again, one must assume that Zimmer's usual tropes were slightly subsumed by Balfe in the action since it doesn't sound like Con Air (did Zimmer even write that? Probably not, but he might as well have done) or Crimson Tide or Gladiator. Spots like Stars and Tights or Crab Nuggets are predictably upbeat and not exactly complex stuff, but aren't heavy with Remote Control percussion or that weird synth brass sound that makes a hefty live brass section sound like Hans has done keyboard karaoke and drizzled the artificial sound over the recording like an over zealous mayonnaise dispenser. Megamind isn't amazing, but it could have been so much more generic and it's nice that it isn't. The old fashioned mix of pop tunes are clearly for artistic reasons rather than money given their age (unless the kids really are listening to Glibert O'Sullivan and Minnie Riperton these days and I haven't noticed).

Acquire from Amazon.com.

Please release me (let me go) - Part 1

2010-12-23T12:01:00.000Z

2010 seems to have turned into a vintage year for re-releases, expanded versions, first time releases and the like but of course the serious collector always wants more, so here are my picks of the cream yet to be skimmed from the metaphorical milk of film music history. Hmmm. Here goes:

Hook - John Williams

It's John Williams, it's Steven Spielberg, of course it's going to be amazing (well, unless it's Always, I suppose). Hook may not quite have been the brilliant Peter Pan for the 90's Spielberg intended but it's still a solid family entertainment and is only deemed less successful by being less successful than his other films. It is, however, more financially successful than Schindler's List. Well, quite. Whatever one can say about the film, John Williams' music is a triumph; even by his standards, it's oozing with themes - about as many major melodies as the entire original Star Wars trilogy put together and that's pretty tuneful by all accounts. The original album is generously proportioned, but there is plenty which is more than worthy of appearing on disc, not least of all the marvellous end credits suite - remember them? They were good weren't they? End credits suites. Of all of Williams' otherwise released scores, this is the one that would surely benefit most from a complete release with some of the myriad alternate cues that are knocking around.

Sugarland Express - John Williams

It's John Williams, it's Steven Spielberg, of course it's going to be amaz... oh, wait, we've done that. Then again, when this one came out, nobody knew just quite how amazing. The theme from Sugarland Express has appeared on the odd compilation, but as the score that started the whole collaboration, it really out ought to be heard. Plus it has that nice Reivers vibe about it, which brings us onto...

The Reivers - John Williams

The original album is lovely and all, but it is missing the MOST EXCITING CUE. The horse race cue features on a charming 16 minute suite from one of Williams' more obscure self-conducted compilations (Music for Stage and Screen), but said suite also contains narration. I'm not totally against narration in itself and it's beautifully read by Burgess Meredith (who narrated the film) but it would be nice to hear it au nature. In fairness, I've not seen the film, but wouldn't be surprised if the horse race cue was expanded to more epic proportions for the suite, but it would still be nice to have the original cues out there.

Jaws 2 - John Williams
Is there much more score in Jaws 2 than the existing CD? Probably not a vast amount, but the follow up score to the classic original is pretty much every bit as good. I'm quite a fan of the film, it only really suffers in comparison and is plenty entertaining in its own right. You can bitch about the teenage cast all you like, but some of them do get eaten. So that's ok. The shark doesn't half look bad this time round either and the attacks are often every bit as scary and well crafted as in the original. Williams' music is a substantially different take on the material, with only the original shark theme remaining. The horror and action are deftly handled and somewhat more intense, but likewise the adventurous portions are brilliantly catchy with some especially fine music as the cast head out to see in sailing dinghies.

The Original Star Wars Trilogy - John Williams

Only joking. Although it would be nice if Empire and Jedi sounded a bit better. Compared to other scores from the same period, they are pretty hissy, muddy or simply a bit blah sounding at times. The best sounding, ironically, turns out to be the original. Blistering.

More idle proposals to come...

Home Alone (Expanded) - John Williams

2010-12-20T10:16:00.002Z

Snow is falling, trains are cancelled, pavements are treacherous (those deceiving bastards) and Britain is more or less closed. What better time to frolic in the white stuff while listening to some delightfully festive John Williams? After the double disc release of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York a couple of years ago, La-La Land have furnished us with an expanded release of the original Home Alone score. In fairness, this release adds less new of note than Home Alone 2, but is still plenty welcome and reorders the score into film order and replaces some repeated material and non-Williams songs with previously unreleased music.

It's probably pointless summarising the music given that most Williams fans are already likely to own the original album; from the charming Somewhere In My Memory (even if the lyrics are a trifle treacly), the Nutcracker pastiche of We Slept In (although it appears in surprisingly small chunks), mock scary music for the villains and all the bells and celeste you could want. It's delightful hearing the composer having such fun.

Perhaps the only downside is reading the liner notes and feeling bad for Bruce Broughton who was originally set to provide the music but pulled out due to a scheduling conflict. I wouldn't trade in a Williams score for the world, but Broughton is a great composer in need of more recognition and a hit like Home Alone might have been just the boost he needed. Ah well. Detailed liner notes and splendid sound round out a great package.

The Danny Elfman/Tim Burton Boxed Set

2010-12-17T21:21:00.001Z

I have this on order and hopefully will get it when it's released in February, although seem to have missed out on the signed additional disc they have produced as an apology for it being delayed from December 2010 (i.e. about now). Most annoying. Anyone else got the set on order? I'm also a bit baffled by the fact that it's both sold out and still for sale, anyone know what the deal is there?

I'll do some kind of summary review when I get it, assuming my credit card company and/or Warner don't make it too difficult for me to acquire...

If you've never heard of it, more info can be acquired here. Interesting, but not priced for the faint of wallet.

Tangled - Alan Menken

2010-12-17T10:29:00.002Z

I have, it must be said, been listening to a lot of musical theatre of late. However, for all the Sondheim I've devoured, I still come back to Alan Menken's classic efforts for Disney more often than not, notably Beauty and the Beast which is still his high water mark. However, fairytales have been too subverted in the intervening years (Shrek, Enchanted and all that) for the kids of 2010 to take them in quite the same way (although my friend's 3 year old loves the classic Disney films as much as contemporary Pixar films, mainly through not being old enough to get Shrek etc) but Disney's CGI division have had another stab at a fairytale with Rapunzel. Sorry, Tangled. It's all about the hair...

As a stunningly unbiased fan, I couldn't wait to hear Menken's music for Tangled but... ugh... but. Hmmm. It's not that it's bad, as such, just, it's missing something. Whether it's expectations (i.e. I want another Belle or Be Our Guest or Something There) or simply that the producers didn't want the songs to dominate, the entries here are somewhat insubstantial and the tunes surprisingly unmemorable. Be Our Guest is memorable enough to drive you to drink, but only I've Got a Dream comes close to ingratiating itself, but it's the humorous lyrics of Glenn Slater that are most memorable. The other major song players, When Will My Life Begin and Mother Knows Best, suffer from never really taking flight. Mother Knows Best sounds far too much like Ursula from The Little Mermaid and When Will My Life Begin is too fragmented (two reprises, no less) to have the necessary impact.

I See the Light is a lovely ballad, and probably a shoe in for an Oscar nomination, but it's no Whole New World or Beauty and the Beast. Menken's underscore is perhaps the best of the album being typically well wrought with some delightful daring do in Flynn Wanted and the requisite romance and some folksy dance music in Kingdom Dance. It is almost a shame he doesn't score more non-musical films, his melodic sense (even in something like this where the tunes aren't as memorable as his best) wins out, plus he's not ashamed to score it a bit more like a cartoon. There's nothing wrong doing it like that, especially when the musical twists and turns are so expertly handled. Sometimes it's nice to have some Korngoldian intricacy instead of a modern, broad brush approach.

One reviewer of the film commented that Disney seem to feel obligated to make "princess" movies (compared to Pixar who go off in all sorts of interesting directions) and so are continuing this with Tangled. However, they want the knowing aspects of contemporary animated films in there too and it feels like they wanted songs, but nothing that will intrude too much; "if the songs are brief enough, the kids might not notice," kinda thing. They don't have to do much more than be pit stops for the characters to tell them a bit about themselves, rather than actually carry the story along. Yes, I'll blame the filmmakers for Menken coming up a little short on this occasion, but as with all the finest composers working today, Menken's less than top rate is still plenty above most composer's best efforts and still worthy of a recommendation.

Acquire from Amazon.com.

Twitter

2010-12-13T21:20:00.001Z

I'm on Twitter, innit? orchestralmuse if you want to add me. If you're really good, I'll follow you back, but say funny things, or else.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 - Alexandre Desplat

2010-12-13T21:15:00.001Z

I must admit that I was quite disappointed when Nicholas Hooper took over from John Williams and Patrick Doyle on Harry Potter scoring duties. However, having revisited the first six scores, his work actually holds up remarkably well. It doesn't have the density or memorable melodies of either Williams' nor Doyle's scoring, but both of his efforts are still fine and his lightness of touch is rather refreshing after the portentousness of Doyle's Goblet of Fire (as it were). It was with some joy that greeted the appointment of Alexandre Desplat to score the two part film adaptation of the final book. And what a mild disappointment it is.

Is it me or is Desplat getting just a teensy bit dull these days? Five years ago he was a delightful new voice in film scoring and it all seemed very refreshing, but these days it's "oh this sounds a bit like The Queen or whatever other pretty waltz was in his last score." While Deathly Hallows isn't obviously like his other stuff (not even an hummable waltz), it just seems a bit blah. The first few tracks are well wrought enough and some of the action writing, Sky Battle, in particular, is pretty exciting, but his new melodic material is surprisingly ho-hum. Williams' own melodies get brief, occasional, but disguised glimpses. Like it or not, his tunes define the franchise and with so little of them there, the magical, musical Potterishness (for that is a real word) is somewhat absent. Desplat just doesn't replace or add to them in any particularly memorable way.

Clearly as a side effect of the more character-centric and somewhat low key middle to the film, the music follows suit. It's not bad character based underscoring and is undoubtedly appropriate to the surprisingly serious and laid back pace of the film; indeed the mid section seemed to incite no small amount of boredom in the OCD kids who saw it at the same cinema I did. It's also endlessly gloomy, again reflected in the music. On album, it all sounds good at the time (save for the few truly tedious bits of noodling) but never really goes anywhere and at 73 minutes, rather long. One situation I can honestly say I wasn't tempted to splash out on the deluxe release with extra tracks (although sod's law they are some of the best, but this seems unlikely). OK, that all sounds a bit harsh, but it's Harry Potter, it's Alexandre Desplat, I just expected more. Maybe Part 2's score will ramp up the ante. Maybe.

Buy it from Amazon.com.

Soundtrack Express Blog Reboot

2010-12-02T19:31:00.001Z

Like all timeless franchises, Soundtrack Express needed a reboot after a period of reflection and a new creative team to turn every Batman and Robin into Batman Begins or Die Another Die into Casino Royale or Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (may as well have been for peas for all the entertainment value) into Superman... OK, maybe not that one. Therefore, after a period of reflection (in other words I stared in the mirror for some minutes) and a new creative team (OK, this part didn't really work out) I'm going to attempt to restart Soundtrack Express as a blog. Reviews will be short and pithy/pissy. I can't be arsed writing hours of gushing adulation when the score is clearly quite shit and/or mediocre so don't expect too much. I might even do a podcast. I probably won't since I'm a lazy bugger.

Maurice Jarre: Another Legend Leaves Us

2009-04-01T17:34:00.001+01:00

At a time when I've recently been ranting about the paucity of the film music Oscars and, coincidentally, been busy compiling some extended selections of some of my favourite composers for iPod listening, it's even more apt to to be writing a few (probably unoriginal) words in tribute to Maurice Jarre. I must admit that Jarre is one of those golden/silver age (think he crossed the two eras both chronologically and stylistically) composers who doesn't hit my radar as often as he should. With so many of his scores and themes so famous that even the average tone deaf cinema goer will know them unaided, he really ought to crop up more regularly.

This brings me onto the matter of compilations. Jarre has many in his name, both under his baton and otherwise. Being such a gifted tunesmith, it's not hard to put together a collection of his music. All very different, but unmistakably Jarre. Compare that to many of today's composers - sure, plenty can write superb music, but put together an hour of highlights and half of it starts to sound eerily similar. True, Jarre often had the luxury of penning an overture for many of his movies, a self made concert arrangement as part of the package. Even so, the variety and immediate impact of scores from throughout his career, from Lawrence to Ghost to Witness, all strikingly different, but brilliantly memorable.

When it comes to Oscars, Jarre won what would probably be considered a perfectly respectable trio and all for top scores. That seems to happen less frequently than one might think and almost never at all today. Of course, like all the greats, he could have won a dozen and they'd still be worthy winners. However, as many commentators have pointed out, his music so easily stands aside the great (and admittedly not so great) films he composed for. Given who he collaborated with, that's saying something: Lean, Hitchcock, Frankheimer, Visconti, Zeffirelli and so on.

Perhaps we can just be happy that his recorded legacy is substantial and he retired when he was ready and wasn't about to potentially compose another classic. HAving said that, teh quality of his writing never diminished and his 90's efforts are frequently outstanding (especially compared to his variable 80's synth era). If you don't own any Jarre, I should say it's about time you did. The Emotion and the Strength or Silva Screen's excellent Essential Collection, both of which are fine overviews would be the place to start. Time for Sunshine. A late classic. Matches the man, the mood and the weather. So long Maurice.

Indiana Jones: The Soundtracks Collection (John Williams)

2009-03-02T21:49:00.000Z

Expanded versions of Temple of Doom and Last Crusade have been (sorry, but it has to be said) holy grails for most film music collectors. Raiders had a more or less complete release with Silva's mid-90's edition, but episodes 2 and 3 were rather hard done by, particularly Temple of Doom which was ridiculously difficult to find. How a score by Hollywood's top composer for one of 1980's cinema's highest profile franchises ended up like that is anyone's guess. Mind you, Paramount aren't renowned for their care and attention to film music releases.

While it's great to have the three classic scores plus Crystal Skull (fun in its own right, but not a patch on the original three - like the film itself which seems positively arthritic second time round, the score having far more energy than the film can muster a lot of the time), it does seem strange that they have almost exactly replicated the original Star Wars Anthology boxed set approach of a single disc for each score then an additional disc of "bonus" tracks. At the time of the Star Wars Anthology, film music re-releases were a fair novelty, but in 2008, quite common and to not have every single note plus 97 alternate versions (just for kicks) of the Raider's March is quite a surprise. One only need look at FSM's epic Superman collection for an example of how this could have been done.

It's not that having every single note is always the best way to present most scores, but with Williams doing Indiana Jones there's little, if anything, that wouldn't be worth a listen. Plus I'm sure there are some interesting alternates lurking in the vaults too. It's also odd that Raiders ends up with one track that is actually shorter than the prior release, that being the shorter version of the Truck Chase. I must confess that it's a track for which I don't have as much affection as a lot of fans, thrilling though it is - at over 8 minutes, it's quite repetitive in parts and it doesn't have the dazzling invention of Williams' best action writing. However, to produce an expanded album with less music is supremely odd, especially when it could easily have been fitted in.

Raiders has one other minor oddity; as well as the end credits version, there is also a 2 and a bit minute version of the Raider's March, the latter omitting Marion's theme. The Silva version adds a brief, witty, woodwind coda to the short version and puts it as a charming overture to the album, the lighter coda an effective lead to the score proper. The Collection relegates the short version to the bonus tracks disc, but omit the coda and stick it on the end credits on the main disc for Raiders instead. Like this, the coda seems like an afterthought instead of a witty lead in. Why the producers decided to make the swap, I have no idea. Die hard fans will want to retain their Silva release and do a bit of editing to get a near definitive version of the score. The situation is much like the two expanded ET albums. Both mix film and alternate versions so the perfectionist collector needs to do their own edit to get the complete score as heard in the film.

The additional disc also has interviews with Williams, Spielberg and Lucas. Not much that the average fan won't already know, but nice to have none the less. I always find it surprising that what ultimately became the B section of the Raider's march was put forth as an option for the main theme. While easily as catchy as the A part of the tune, it's a lot more incidental and feels like a B theme, exactly as it ultimately became. One certainly can't imagine it taking the lead in the same way the main melody does.

Of course any Williams fan, or film music fan in general, really ought to be picking up the Indy Jones Soundtrack Collection. They may not be Williams' absolutely finest work and don't have the thematic storytelling of Star Wars, but they represent a great span of his career and if nothing else, it's fascinating hearing how his sound evolved, yet still remained inimitably John Williams scoring Indiana Jones and couldn't really be mistaken for anything else. Marvellous.

You can pick the set up here.

A Quick, Largely Ill-informed Oscar Bitch

2009-02-25T22:53:00.000Z

Another year, another wholly predictable win for best score (and best song) for AR Rahman's score to Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire. I had intended to write on the back of having just seen the film, sadly the nano-plex was full so this failed. While total ignorance doesn't stop plenty of critics (and I mean that in a general sense, rather than just the reviewer sense) carping about something, I shan't do that apart from to say that Bollywood style music is not really to my cup of lapsang souchong and descriptions of Slumdog's score to do not entice me out to grab a copy. I'm also secretly glad to have missed the film. Even films that are somehow "genuinely" uplifting rather send me toward the vomit bucket.

I have, to be fair, rather given up on the Oscars and the music category in particular. If you look back 30/40/50 years, one could honestly say that the best Hollywood had to offer were winning and those scores are still remembered today. Much past 1980 and it starts to get a bit hit and miss (Round Midnight, The Milagro Beanfield War, Fame etc.) but past 2000, there's almost nothing that is likely to stand the test of time (save for the two Lord of the Rings scores). Even the films for which they are written aren't going to stick out as classics. Perhaps the worst to date could be Gustavo Santaolalla's woefully simplistic score for Brokeback Mountain and his subsequent win for Babel. Are either of them going to be remembered in 10 years, let alone 50? I doubt it somehow. Naturally, both scores support their respective films and are entirely suitable, but for me, that simply isn't enough. One could argue that most of Trevor Rabin's scores are absolutely 100% perfect for the films they are written for. Is he going to be nominated for an Oscar? Not a chance.

For my money, the music should actually be - shock, horror - exceptional in its own right, as well as exceptional in the film. Of course it's all subjective, but frankly anyone could have written Brokeback Mountain. A few guitar picks and you're done. It really is that lame a composition. I have no doubt that Santaolalla is a decent enough musical dramatist and for that, can't be faulted. However, musically he just isn't all that. Again. Is the music being good in the film enough? No bloody way. The best score just usually goes to the most worthy film, as with most of the nominees.

It must be pretty galling for today's finest Hollywood composers - Thomas Newman, Danny Elfman, Alexandre Desplat, James Newton Howard, Patrick Doyle, Alan Silvestri, Micahael Giacchino Christopher Young et al who have won nothing. On top of them, let us not forget, the great Ennio Morricone whose honorary Oscar strikes me as a "shit, we forget you are one of the most creative, inspiring and popular film composers and should have a dozen or so wins by now" move by the Academy. It's only fit to also mention the late Michael Kamen and Basil Poledouris, neither of whom got anything (not even sure they were ever nominated, but I could stand corrected on that), not to mention the golden age composers who only ended up with one; Herrmann, Bernstein, Goldsmith and, well, Alex North got nothing.

And another thing! Double nominations and splitting the vote. There really needs to be some rule change on multiple nominations for the same category. Almost never does a double nomination result in a win because the vote is almost always split and so someone else wins. James Horner's Braveheart is a far superior score to Titanic - indeed I would rate it as one of his finest - yet it was nominated with Apollo 13. Split vote. No win. True, sometimes a double nomination can get you a win; Close Encounters could so easily have been a winner were Star Wars not the 1977 soundtrack juggernaut. Having said that, I'd lay money on it costing him some more recent wins when he ended up with two nominations. Ok, he's won plenty so hardly a great crime, but then again, Williams is often so far ahead of the game in terms of the quality of his music, he could win a dozen and they'd all be more than worthy winners.

I have no real point other than to say that I shan't ever be updating the Oscars page at Soundtrack Express ever again, so low in my esteem have these tiresome awards become. Hopefully, one brief and perfectly timed rant will keep me happily ignoring them until something worthwhile comes along. Which it won't. Probably.

New Review - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Alexandre Desplat)

2009-02-12T20:46:00.001Z

Alexandre Desplat's latest opus, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has now been reviewed.

I forgot to mention previously that I've completed my updates on the original three Indiana Jones scores with my expanded and updated review of Last Crusade.

Kung Fu Panda (Hans Zimmer & John Powell)

2009-02-07T20:08:00.000Z

It's rare these days that I see a film without having heard the score beforehand, mainly because I don't actually go to the cinema much. As regular readers will know, Guernsey's only cinema is a crappy little merde fest with tiny screens and poor selection. Frankly, I'd rather watch a film in the comfort of my own home on DVD. Or go somewhere with a decent cinema. Anyway, I did see Kung Fu Panda and I can say that I enjoyed it much. Silly as hell, but the lack of pop culture references ensure it's rewatchable (yes, I've seen it twice... foreshame Thomas, foreshame).

Hans Zimmer seems to be getting more generous with his collaborations these days. James Newton Howard and now John Powell actually get credit on the cover. Unsurprisingly Henry Jackman and James McKee Smith get a footnote on the inside page for their additional music. As befits its subject, there is nothing hugely subtle about Kung Fu Panda. Mulan this ain't. However, the mixture of banging orchestra, regional instrumentation and lots of percussion largely works a treat. It's tuneful; the main chop socky theme is decent and memorable, while the secondary melodies are equally effective. Faux Chinese music seems well suited to the various demands of the drama, notably the quieter moments such as Peach Tree of Wisdom where it fakes spirituality with considerable conviction. Equally true of the finale track (even if it's from the middle of the film) Oogway Ascends.

The action is a mixture of silly - Dragon Warrior is Among Us and Po vs Tai Lung (where the main theme is bounced all over the place) - and dark - Tai Lung escapes - both functioning equally well. John Powell's more sophisticated abilities are much in evidence throughout, as are hints of his bulging back catalogue of animation titles where he can flit between ideas with great confidence and avoid the bittiness that besets scores by less skilled composers. In truth, it's a rather more interesting than some of his recent animation scores which have started to get a teensy bit stale. It's also a nice change of pace from Zimmer in an otherwise rather heavy duty roster. Not taxing, but fun, tuneful and mostly memorable.

Buy from Amazon.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth & City of Ember (Andrew Lockington)

2009-01-27T21:06:00.000Z

Andrew Lockington is another of those composers who seems to have appeared out of thin air but actually has a decent list of TV and under the radar movie releases to his name before breaking out with Journey to the Centre of the Earth and City of Ember. Both scores are family orientated sci-fi/fantasy fare, the former a kind of sequel cum update of the Jules Verne story and the latter a cross between Logan's Run (without the human recycling) and Labyrinth. Unsurprisingly or otherwise, both seem to have sprung from the same pool that produced Klaus Badelt's entertaining score to The Time Machine from a few years back. Yes, that time a few years back when we kinda thought he might not turn into a rather dull Remote Control type composer. Then he did. Foreshame indeed.

I'll start with the more consistently enjoyable of the two, Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Lockington starts with his amiable main theme. It's not going to go down alongside Gone with the Wind or Star Wars, but it has the appropriate epic sweep for the movie. The album then settles into a more low key mode, bits of which recall the lighter parts of James Newton Howard's music for Atlantis (in style anyway). However, with Rope Descent the action picks up rarely flags for any length of time. If not top notch action, it's certainly above averagely well constructed, a mix of swirling strings and strident brass with harmonies that recall Stargate era David Arnold with more than a little Howard. Although largely resolutely old fashioned in approach, there are some modern touches, notably the effective electronic percussion of Water Drop. It's about a million miles from Bernard Herrmann's iconic effort for the Harryhausen version, but it's still done with enough flair and decent themes to be worth a listen.

City of Ember is another victim of an album being too long for the material. It has a good 45 minutes but the middle is very average. It opens well, a proper main title is a bit of a rarity these days, but Lockington presents his enjoyable and reasonably memorable main theme. It's surprisingly serious, which is actually quite refreshing. Indeed, the score as a whole maintains a fairly serious tone throughout and rarely goes for anything cute. It's a bit of a double edged sword as the lack of lighter material means the rather slower early and middle passages just happen without saying an awful low. It threatens to burst into life, but these moments seem short lived. Only with Clockworks and the final 25 minutes or so does it become the score it threatens to be throughout. Finally it's exciting, the action picks up and there's a proper sense of drama and movement. As befits the general tone, Escape to Sunrise still has darker undertones despite the overall optimism of the cue. One Last Message returns the edgier material as a coda.

Having enjoyed Journey to the Centre of the Earth, I really wanted to like City of Ember, but I fear it's one of those albums where the final few tracks leave such a great impression that it's easy to forget that for a long while not a lot happens. While the thematic material is reasonable, it's far from indelible and there's too much of other people; one could easily add John Debney to the influences noted above, odd given that Debney's style has never struck me much, but if someone said either was by him, I'd not be surprised. Definitely scores that are enjoyable rather than great art, but - Journey in particular - worth a punt.

Oddly only City of Ember is available at Amazon.

Updated Review: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

2008-12-01T20:19:00.000Z

While the expanded Raiders only adds a little, it's Temple of Doom that really benefits from the new boxed set, more than doubling the original (pretty crappy) Polydor release, improving the sound and finally giving us all those great moments that seemed doomed (hoho) to only ever be heard above screams of "In-Deeeeeee!"

Click your pointer thing here for the review.

Updated Review: Raiders of the Lost Ark

2008-11-30T20:48:00.000Z

Coverage of the new Indy soundtracks boxed set seems to be curiously muted, but - despite it not perhaps being the ultimate set we were all hoping for - it's great to at last have 90 minutes or so from all three of the classic Indy soundtracks. Will be updating the review for Temple of Doom and Last Crusade (where the greatest improvements are to be found), but first up, the original and, arguably, best, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I'll be doing a more general commentary about the set as a whole in a future blog entry. Honest.

New Review - Doctor Who: Season 4

2008-11-28T18:00:00.001Z

Go to Soundtrack Express for the review of Season 4 of Doctor Who, another superb album from Murray Gold.

Quantum of Solace (David Arnold)

2008-10-30T21:49:00.000Z

New review of Quantum of Solace now up. I wanted a lot of solace, not just a quantum, but in the end I got nothing. Such are monkeys.

Way to Normal - Ben Folds

2008-10-06T21:58:00.000+01:00

I do hope that most of you have musical tastes beyond film music, I must admit that mine do largely extend to orchestral music of some sort (even down to the wonderful Divine Comedy who are essentially an orchestral pop band). However, as a pianist and songwriter, I of course love Randy Newman (scores and songs) but am also a huge fan of Ben Folds. Not a household name by any means, but hugely popular in both the UK and Europe, although maybe more famous when he was the lead figure in Ben Folds Five (although oddly it had only three members). Since going solo - which didn't really make any difference since Folds wrote, sang and played all the songs in the Five - he's released two proper albums, Rockin' the Suburbs and Songs for Silverman, the latter probably remaining his finest solo disc. He's also put out a few EPs and contributed to a number of movies, notably Over the Hedge.

His latest, Way to Normal, carries on the tone set in Songs for Silverman to some extent but Folds rather lightens the mood (musically) and increases the swearing. Some reviews have complained that he's just starting to sound rather bitter. Where before he provided either a lighthearted critique or soulful exploration of modern relationships, his age rather makes him sound a bit like an old git. Maybe the Bastard of the opening track on Silverman. The result is that Way to Normal isn't his strongest album, but for anyone who likes his style, there's plenty to enjoy. There's a bit more rocky stuff here than on Silverman, notably Dr Yang, The Frown Song, Errant Dog and the humorous Bitch Went Nuts (although drifting into offensive for the sake of it territory at times it has to be said, great tune though) and Brainwascht.

The main single is You Don't Know Me, a semi-duet with Regina Spektor. I say semi as Spektor gets about a quarter the number of lines as Folds. He never used to make an effort to write a singalong chorus, but You Don't Know Me is just that, otherwise a fun take on a couple who realise they know nothing about each other. However, it does have a bit of a problem common to several other songs, it ambles a bit in the middle. The otherwise lovely Kylie from Connecticut has the same issue. Folds seems to run out of vocal material midway through and so there's a short noodling passage. If there's one thing I'd never previously have complained about with Folds it's that his songs have padding, but there's a little of that here. Hiroshima has similar issues, although it has a nice stadium rock feel, complete with sampled cheering from his concerts to convey the situation of Folds singing about a real incident where he fell of stage and had to stop playing from bleeding too much. The true highlight is the gorgeous Cologne midway through the disc, one of those wonderful ballads that Folds does so well. Another would be Effington which seems like a cousin to Jesusland from Silverman, about small town America.

If you like Folds already, Way to Normal is a solid but not especially outstanding effort and I don't think it'd be the album to convert a novice (from Ben Folds Five I suggest Whatever and Ever Amen and Songs for Silverman from his solo work). Some tracks are just a bit meh, Errant Dog and Fresh Coffee in particular. The latter has an especially irritating crackling synth noise that spoils an otherwise pointed and ironic lyric; when poor, Folds had to pay for his own coffee and now he's rich, he gets them free. Still, for highlights such as Cologne, Effington, Kylie in Connecticut and The Frown Song, a fun disc, but as some commentators have suggested, it might be nice for Folds to try something a bit different next time. Having seen his amazing Ben Folds with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra where his songs are arranged for full orchestra, something like that would be rather stunning. Here's hoping he can either do new material with orchestra in mind or a good recording of those on the DVD and few newer tracks too.

Cloverfield - Michael Giacchino

2008-10-04T21:20:00.000+01:00

Not being much of a fan of The Blair Witch Project, I wasn't entirely sure what I'd make of Cloverfield, doing for monster movies what Blair Witch did for horror. In truth, Cloverfield looks a (few tens of) million Dollars in comparison, notably the seamless and superb effects shots of the creature itself. Being in a home movie style, there's no score (although they managed to use the excuse of the opening party sequence to put together a mix of pop songs for release) but as it was produced by JJ Abrams, Michael Giacchino gets 10 minutes all to himself over the end credits.

One of the joys of iTunes is being able to release and buy single tracks and so after much delay, a full 12 minute version of Cloverfield's end credis overture, Roar! saw the light of day. Giacchino pays clear and respectful homage to Akira Ifukube with a terrific, menacing, stomping brass theme, alternating with almost Alexander Courage-esque female vocal writing. A quieter passage in the latter half almost calls to mind Elliot Goldenthal, but soon enough Giacchino's thunderous creature feature tune comes back to the fore, decorated again by the female vocalist. One wonders how terrific a full Cloverfield score from Giacchino might have been, although if the occasionally mentioned sequel ever comes about, we may find out.

You're a bit stuffed if you aren't an iTunes user as that's the only legitimate place to buy it, but if you are willing to put with all the DRM crap, probably the best 79 pence you'll ever spend: 12 minutes of Giacchino bliss.

New Review! Torchwood, Mummy 3 & Clone Wars

2008-10-01T16:06:00.000+01:00

Finally, with some help, Soundtrack Express is up and running again and will hopefully stick to a moderately decent flow of new reviews as we get to what is probably the most interesting time of the year when the Oscar bating films come out in the lead up to Christmas. However, a couple of the summer's biggest releases have now been review:

Torchwood - Ben Foster & Murray Gold

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - Randy Edelman

Star Wars: Clone Wars - Kevin Kiner

Enjoy (or not... it's a free country).

The Film Music of Danny Elfman & Thomas Newman

2008-09-16T20:03:00.001+01:00

Of all the current composers, I think Thomas Newman has been the most hard done by in not having had any previous compilations released in his name. Indeed, oddly, he doesn't feature a great deal in compilations in general, but I guess his music doesn't necessarily lend itself to compilation format. Danny Elfman, on the other hand, has two compilations of original recording tracks and has featured on plenty of compilations. These two new collections of largely new recordings are fairly (for Elfman) and LONG (for Newman) overdue, but both have similar strengths and weaknesses.

Firstly, both seem a bit on the mean side, coming in at under an hour, especially when most of Silva's collections are double disc (even Hans Zimmer, who is pretty well Newman and Elfman's contemporary) and they have several four disc sets (albeit for rather more veteran composers) floating about. Also, neither collection really highlights the diversity of either composer. Elfman's almost seems like one half of a two disc set, something like The Fantasy Worlds of Danny Elfman, with a second disc of his more dramatic works. It seems rather an oversight not to include anything from Mission: Impossible, Black Beauty, Dolores Claiborne, Good Will Hunting or even the recent Wanted and Standard Operating Procedure.

For Newman, the main issue is that the choices make his music seem rather less varied than it actually is. For sure, Newman has a strong style, but the emphasis is on his straight orchestral writing, only with Dead Already from American Beauty and does his quirky side really come out to any great extent. Then again, some of his best orchestral moments are conspicuously absent, notably his superb end credits from Little Children nor anything from Angels in America, surely one of his finest scores period. Sure, all the entries here are fine in their own right, but it's just frustrating having an album representing a distinct side to a particular composer but one that misses out some of his best work in that side of his style.

Newman fares better when it comes to performance. His emphasis on strings and woodwind suits the Prague players better than Elfman's complex brass and percussion writing. For the latter, Spider-Man is distinctly on the lethargic side and parts of his bigger Burton scores - Batman, in particular - aren't always as snappy or concise as the originals. As intros to both composers, they aren't bad, but the skewed choices make Elfman seem only capable of large bluster and Newman only capable of gorgeous string writing. Not that any choices are bad, but with 20 minutes of spare space on each disc, surely Silva could have been a little more generous. Can only hope they do the same for James Newton Howard, a contemporary of both who is as overdue a Newman when it comes to having a selection of his best work in one place.

Buy the Thomas Newman collection from Amazon.

My Desktop Lives!

2008-08-25T20:38:00.000+01:00

After much technical jigging and poking, my desktop Mac has been revived from its death throes and is now functioning. Therefore, I should be able to get some new reviews up... not that I think I've missed anything much, but hey, here's hoping. One tip, buy Randy Newman's new song album, Harps and Angels, it's a peach. Too bloody short thought. Great songs though. Anyway, look out for some new reviews shortly.

Music from the Films of Tim Burton (Danny Elfman, Howard Shore & Stephen Sondheim)

2008-07-25T21:50:00.000+01:00

I don't often review compilations that aren't composer specific (sorry Silva Screen), but there are few directors who have received such consistently great music for their films as Tim Burton (Steven Spielberg being the most obvious rival). Naturally, the bulk of the album is made up of Danny Elfman tracks. Given his greater integration of electronics recently, I was quite curious to hear how Silva approached this, but there isn't really much here that shows this off, mainly because Planet of the Apes (curiously) isn't included. However, what is included is largely done very well. Corpse Bride is especially fine, with the delightful piano solos - a nice antidote to the rather more weighty music elsewhere. The two Batman tracks see the brass struggle a bit and the suite from the first film is more lethargic than grand in places. However, Sleepy Hollow, the two Pee Wees, Mars Attacks! and, in particular, the Christmas Eve Montage from The Nightmare Before Christmas are especially fine.

Howard Shore's sole contribution from Ed Wood feels a little protracted here without the original narration, well performed though it is. On the other hand, the selections from Sweeney Todd are terrific. The original soundtrack performance would be hard to beat, but there is certainly nothing lacking here and the orchestra only versions of the main song tunes are immensely effective. I must admit that it's a score that's grown on me rather than one that was memorable from the start and this has helped improve my enjoyment of the full album. If, like me, you have all of the original scores, there's not really much that this album can add, but it can be nice to wallow in one of Hollywood's most enduring director/composer partnerships.

Buy from Amazon.

Soundtrack Express Update

2008-07-15T21:24:00.000+01:00

Hi all. My lovely shiny Mac has, rather carelessly, suffered a bit of a malfunction (apparently due to a lightning strike) and so website updating for Soundtrack Express will be stunted until I can either get a new Mac (go insurance, go) or somehow get it all going on my laptop. However, with a whole heap of visitors coming to visit the lovely island of Guernsey and all that crap, it could be a week or two. Therefore, my schedule of updating may be halted, but I shall endeavour to get a few reviews up on the blog page... so watch this space. Or this one. Look, just here =>

Flogging Stuff on eBay...

2008-07-01T20:20:00.001+01:00

Yes, I know it's shameless, but I have to keep up my terrible (film music buying) addiction somehow...

Wall-E - Thomas Newman

2008-06-25T21:15:00.000+01:00

Review of Thomas Newman's delightful score to the much anticipated 2008 Pixar release, Wall-E posted to Soundtrack Express.

North by Northwest - Bernard Herrmann

2008-06-20T20:03:00.000+01:00

Updated review of Bernard Herrmann's classic North by Northwest to coincide with Varese's new full length re-recording, conducted by Joel McNeely.

Iron Man - Ramin Djawadi

2008-06-16T20:13:00.000+01:00

So it's all true. Iron Man is, musically, another bland orchestral synth rock pop pile of drivel. Ugh, what a shame. While superhero scores haven't quite hit the memorable peaks of John Williams' Superman, Elfman's Batman or even Goldsmith's cheesy, but very memorable Supergirl, recently, there have been plenty of decent entries. However, that all seems to have gone by the wayside and on a ratio of film quality to music, this is pretty much the poorest. Indeed, the film itself is excellent and Robert Downey Jnr. is superb as the lead, but the music lends very little to the film itself and is no more exciting on CD.

The opening cue pretty much sets the tone, rock band, synths, orchestra somewhere in there, lots of percussion, hardly a theme to speak of. I mean, I wouldn't mind if it went from that, morphing into something memorable, after all, a build up to the main theme can be most effective. In this case, it builds to more of the same, just relentlessly on and on. The action is typical post-MV territory (one day I might not have to write that any more, but it's not coming any time soon) and there are some vague ethnic bits. There's little decent on the quiet side either. It's interrupted by the odd couple of songs which are no more or less uninteresting than the score itself. Ok, if you like loud and not particularly interesting scoring, you'll have a wet dream over it, but this is a superhero score I can happily leave. Just glad it didn't ruin the film. Une Etoile.

Buy from Amazon.

The Happening - James Newton Howard

2008-06-08T20:55:00.000+01:00

Review of The Happening by James Newton Howard at Soundtrack Express.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Film Comments

2008-06-01T17:26:00.001+01:00

Let's face it, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was never going to quite match the expectations everyone had for it, but in fairness, you shouldn't have ridiculous expectations! After all, the Indiana Jones films are pulpy throwbacks, not fine art. That Crystal Skull is great entertainment, doesn't pretend Harrison Ford is 30 and features a sprightly John Williams score, is almost enough in my book. Perhaps the worst thing about it is that it follows Last Crusade, which seemed so final in its conclusion. Indy, dad and buddies riding off into the sunset seemed just perfect and trilogies are a tried and tested film making format. Raiders kicks it off at a visceral pace, Temple of Doom goes darker and Last Crusade is the slightly lighter, but nicely conclusive third part. Crystal Skull just feels like an appendix. The original trilogy might not have told a single story, but they worked, contrasting nicely with each other. Crystal Skull just sits at the end, after a bit of a break, feeling like an Indy film, but not an essential one.

Still, no point whinging about its faults (not that it's stopped me before) as it's a great piece of entertainment. Harrison Ford has never really been anyone other than Indy or Han Solo for me (sad but true) and so him being back on screen as Indy is just right. Karen Allen certainly doesn't look quite as feisty as Marion, even if she sounds it. Shia Le Thingy as Indy Jnr actually acquits himself perfectly well enough; I can almost see an Indy Jones Jnr film at some point, although I doubt Le Thingy would do it, but it's a potentially neat idea. Although would have to stick to a cold war setting. As noted, John Williams' score is terrific fun, if not quite as memorable as the first three, but these things are all relative. It's funny, reviews of the album have been generally positive, but because it's Williams, expectations have been sky high. Yet, when I compare it to most blockbuster scores this summer, it's still in a league of its own. It's real music, something that stands outside the film (for the most part, at least) and while relatively not as memorable, the three major themes are presented fairly strongly within the film.

I rather hope that this is the final fling for Indy, dragging it out any more just wouldn't work. I doubt Spielberg or Ford have much appetite, although given Lucas' love of flogging his franchises, it's not entirely unlikely he could work on something. Having said that, with the relative failure of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, maybe he realises the appetite for more Indy might be sated by the new film and will just stick to the 43,256,546 Star Wars related projects he has going on. Go see Crystal Skull, if you're a fan, there should be enough moments to give you goosebumps and excitement aplenty. For everyone else, see it anyway, it may not convince disbelievers of the impact Raiders had all those years ago, but only but the most pretentious will walk away without having enjoyed almost every minute.

The Beginnings of Bloggery

2008-05-29T20:37:00.000+01:00