Score Review Thread (Discussing Danny Elfman)

Hawaii
Composed and Conducted by Elmer Bernstein, 1966
Original Score: 74:56, 37 tracks
Album: 35:52, 12 tracks
Orchestrated by Leo Shuken and Jack Hayes

The Deluxe Edition of Elmer Bernstein's epic score for Hawaii is certainly a fantastic package. Unfortunately, I don't care for it all that much. It's not bad, but it doesn't do anything for me. What we have here is 2 discs. On the first is 75 minutes of the film's original score, in monaural but very clean sound; on the second, the contents of the original LP album, in stereo. Also included are very comprehensive liner notes.

This is an epic score, no doubt about that. At times it's broad and sweeping, at others the action kicks in, energetic and exuberant and often a bit too busy for my ears. This is supplemented by a lot of exotic percussion which can be attributed to the film's setting. The score disc, running 75 minutes, is simply too long and too monotonous and forgettable. After listening to it, there's not much material that I recall, nothing very hummable. To be fair, I've only listened to this one a couple times, and it could be that it'll grow on me.

The album disc is a much more pleasant listening experience. Its opening is virtually identical to the opening of the score, except in mono. Unfortunately, the second track, "Prologue," has narration over it, but there's still a half-hour of some of the best parts of the score. Many of the selection sound like they could have come out of a western, but Bernstein was very very good at westerns, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. But this music just doesn't touch me.

This whole thing has certainly gotten deluxe packaging, and for Bernstein fans it's a must-have. But while it's not bad, it doesn't quite work for me.

***½

Other reviews:
Movie Wave - *****
Film Music Review - ****½
Film Score Monthly - ****
SoundtrackNet - ****

 

Zulu Dawn
Composed and conducted by Elmer Bernstein, 1979
47:31, 20 tracks
Orchestrated by Christopher Palmer
Performed by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

The film Zulu Dawn was a prequel to John Barry-scored Zulu, which was made 15 years earlier. And while Zulu is the superior score, Zulu Dawn is twice as long, with much more varied material and is generally a more pleasant if slightly less interesting listen. This music harks back to the days when war was glorious, and if Elmer Bernstein, who, along with Alex North, was among the first of the true American film scomposers, seems an odd choice to write such a British score, he pulls it off very well. There's nary a trace of Americana here.

Instead, we have marches. Pompous British military marches, but so over-the-top they're a whole lot of fun. There's action music aplenty, some of it with choir. There are a couple quieter tracks, but not many. Mostly this is energetic scoring through and through. John Barry's Zulu theme is not present here, but "Men of Harlech" makes an appearance, providing the only continuity with the other score.

Elmer Bernstein is generally better known for his quieter scores. This is a relatively rare and fine example of him proving that he can do action just as well. There are a lot of highlights here, including "River Crossing," "The Hunt," "Glory," "Isandhlwana," and "Saving the Colors." Overall, a highly recommended action score. And it's bargain priced over at La La Land, too!

****

Other reviews:
Film Music on the Web - *****
Soundtrack-Express - *****
cinemusic.net - ****
SoundtrackNet - ***

 

Just a quick reference post for myself here.

*****
The Great Escape
Independence Day

****½
Stargate
The Ten Commandments
The Last Valley
Zulu
To Kill a Mockingbird

****
The Lion in Winter
Hellboy
Zulu Dawn
I, Robot
Somewhere in Time

***½
Mimic
Hawaii
Deep Water

***
Out of Africa

**½
Tomorrow Never Dies
The Faculty

**
The Best of John Barry

 

Escape From New York
John Carpenter and Alan Howarth, 1981
37:26, 13 tracks

"There's a Hollywood style that I've always stayed away from . . . I use a lot of repetitive lines, as opposed to the Max Steiner Mickey-Mousing that everybody does now." -- John Carpenter

Let's get one thing out of the way: I don't care for 80s synth scores. So this score is, to me, pretty much headache music. What Carpenter says above is about right: a lot of repetitive lines. Pulsing synths. 80s percussion beats. It goes on for more than a half-hour, and then ends abruptly. It's occasionally catchy -- too occasionally for me to suspect I'll ever listen to this again. I listened to the Varese album; Silva's released an expanded score, 56 minutes long or so, with cleaner sound. I don't feel at all compelled to listen to it. This kind of score is simply not for me.

**

Other reviews (Silva expanded edition):
SoundtrackNet - ****
Music from the Movies - ****
Filmmuziek - ****
scifi.com - ***½
cinemusic.net - ***½
Tracksounds - **½
Soundtrack Review Central - **
Cinescape

 

Escape From L.A.
Shirley Walker & John Carpenter, 1996
34:04, 16 tracks
Orchestrated by Lolita Ritmanis and Michael McCuistion

This score basically takes the basic synth sound of its predecessor, adds an orchestra, some western motifs, and some funk. It's not entirely unpleasant, but, to me, it's not very pleasant either. It is very weird and odd, reflecting the film, I suppose. I don't really have much to say about it. It's superior to EFNY, but still nothing I care much to listen to.

**½

Other reviews:
Cinemusic.net - ***½
SoundtrackNet - **½

 

Question, guys: As I said, I'm working on a website. I'm wondering what sorts of features you like to see or would find useful on a movie music website, and what kinds of things aren't necessary.

 

I'll get back to you on that....


Haven't heard any Carpenter, the synth stuff isn't my cup of tea either.


The only Bernstein I have besides TC and TGE is Mag7, TKAM is on my wish list, as is Big Jake, I'd like to see a release of The Sons Of Katie Elder....


ttbk

 

Haven't heard any Carpenter, the synth stuff isn't my cup of tea either.

Though his Halloween theme is one of the most instantly recognizable and widely recognized movie themes out there. . .

The only Bernstein I have besides TC and TGE is Mag7, TKAM is on my wish list, as is Big Jake, I'd like to see a release of The Sons Of Katie Elder....

I don't have Mag7 yet, it's on order somewhere but hasn't yet come in. The next two Bernstein scores I'm looking to get are Heavy Metal, unfortunately available only as a bootleg, and then Far From Heaven, because it's his last score and apparently very good.

 

The Godfather Part III
Carmine Coppola, 1990
54:24, 17 tracks 2626 228

I've never heard Nino Rota's scores for the first two Godfathers, and I've only ever seen the first film once. Nevertheless, the Godfather theme is instantly recognizable to me -- it's one of the classics of film music. Unfortunately, Rota died long before this movie came to be, so the director's father, who'd been in charge of source music in the earlier pictures I believe, came in to score this film. It starts off well with "Main Title" and "The Godfather Waltz" -- but that's not saying much, as both of those are Rota tracks. In fact, while this is a fairly pleasant dramatic score, most of the best material is either by Rota or adapted from Rota's work -- in fact, there's only one single track on here, "Marcia Religioso," that's by Coppola alone. It's good music, but it's not much. Further, 24 minutes of this disc, nearly half the score, are not from the film's score at all, but rather from Mascagni's opera Cavalleria Rusticana, which really didn't do much for me. This disc isn't unpleasant to listen to, but it's not particularly memorable, and it's not original at all. I'd definitely recommend picking up Rota's score to one of the first two films instead of this.

**

Other reviews:
SoundtrackNet - ***
Film Score Monthly - ***
Video Hound

 

Escape from New york is good stuff from Carpenter..I thought it was a great score and worked well with the movie.

Mastadge: I would love to get my hands on the score to "heavy metal". I mean I have been wanting to hear that for years. I can't believe that has been unavailable for so long..or has it never even been released? The music for "Den" and "Taarna" is just awesome stuff.

 

The Truman Show
Burkhard Dallwitz and Philip Glass, 1998
56:42, 21 tracks

This is an odd score. As other reviews are fond of pointing out, you're never sure when you're listening to it whether you're hearing the score for the film, or the score for the TV show within the film. That said, it's also a very pleasant score -- good music to read to. This score runs nearly 57 minutes. Of that, approximately 21 minutes are from Dallwitz' original score; 20 are by Philip Glass (6 of them original, 14 selections from his other scores); 11 from a Chopin piano concerto; 2 from Wojciech Kilar's beautiful Requiem Father Kolbe; and ends with a song. This makes for a fairly eclectic, diverse assortment of music, but it all works fairly well as pleasant underscore. It doesn't really go anywhere or build to anything, but it is often quite beautiful, and it worked brilliantly in the movie. I'd be very interested to hear another score from this young composer.

***½

Other reviews:
Movie Music UK - *****
Filmmuziek - *****
Score Reviews - ****
Soundtrack-Express - ****
Music from the Movies - ****
Radio Soundtrack F-M - ****
Filmscore.be - ****
Film Music on the Web - ***½
SoundtrackNet - ***½

 

The Gospel of John
Jeff Danna, 2003
52:55, 18 tracks
Orchestrated and Conducted by Nicholas Dodd
Performed by The Philharmonia Orchestra, London

This film and score came shortly before that other little film with similar subject matter, and, while I haven't seen this film, I can say that Danna's score is superior to Debney's. I haven't yet heard much by Jeff and Mychael Danna, but based on the power of this score I'm looking forward to hearing more of they're stuff -- I look forward to their score for Terry Gilliam's Tideland. Anyway, Jeff Danna's familiar with music from other cultures, and it shows. This music is epic, intimate, often staggeringly beautiful, and sometimes exotic. The orchestra is backed up by all sorts of period instruments, as well as messo-soprana Esther Lamandier who sings in ancient Hebrew or Aramaic and doesn't ever do that clichéd "wailing woman" thing that so often shows up in scores for middle eastern stories. Most of this score is simply beautifully melodic music, with a very good recording. In fact, the downside of this score (and this is unusual for me) is the action music. It's actually very good -- loud, bracing marchy stuff -- but every time it starts up, as in "Pilate's Dilemma" and "The Betrayal", I find myself wishing to get back to the loveliness that is the bulk of the score. It's often been commented that biblical movies bring out the best in composers, and this is no exception. It manages to be a beautiful, powerful score, without reverting to Rózsa-isms (or Gabriel-isms) and other genre clichés. Highly recommended.

****½

Other reviews:
Scorereviews.com - *****
Filmtracks - *****
Film Music on the Web - ****½
Film Music on the Web (review 2) - ****½
Movie Wave - ****
Soundtrack-Express - ****
Music from the Movies - ****
scoretrack.net - ****
Filmmuziek - ****
SoundtrackNet - ***

 

I would love to get my hands on the score to "heavy metal". I mean I have been wanting to hear that for years. I can't believe that has been unavailable for so long..or has it never even been released? The music for "Den" and "Taarna" is just awesome stuff.

It was released on LP, but never on CD. On CD, it only exists as a bootleg.

 

Apparently Far From Heaven is not the last Bernstein score. I read that he scored a documentary on Cecile B. Demille for TCM; I am unsure if the documentary was broadcasted or not, but I have not heard of news about that score since. Far From Heaven is very good.

I agree that the new material in The Godfather III is not nearly as good as what came before in I or II. It samples a little bit of the famous old themes, the Waltz, Main Title, the Immigrant theme, etc., without any variations worth noting. But I am glad to hear this CD because I actually like this opera very much.

 

The Matrix Revolutions
Composed and Conducted by Don Davis, 2003
63:28, 16 tracks
Orchestrated by Don Davis, Erik Lundborg and Conrad Pope

You know, given all the rave reviews of this score, I almost feel guilty not caring much for it. It's fast and energetic, and takes the innovative sound of The Matrix to a whole new level. Yet, for most of its length, it's mainly headache music to me. It starts off with the familiar Matrix theme before moving into two tracks co-composed by Juno Reactor. Neither is particularly interesting. Then comes the awful song "In My Head" by Pale 3. Finally, we get into the score proper, which is aggressive sci-fi action music in the Matrix style. This goes on for a while before the album ends with the 9-minute "Navras," amusingly bylined "Juno Reactor vs. Don Davis," as JR's techno sound plays off against Davis' "Neodämmerung." Frankly, "Neodämmerung" on its own is better than the end remix, and is indeed the sole reason this album will get four stars from me rather than three-and-a-half. With its loud choir chanting in Sanskrit in a way that sounds nothing like anything by Orff, it's actually a very impressive, very catchy piece of music, and is followed by "Why, Mr Anderson?" and "Spirit of the Universe," which, while not as excellent as "Neodämmerung," are at least a step up from most of the rest of the score (although the track "Kidfried" is quite good as well). Generally, if you're only going to buy one Don Davis score, or one Matrix album, this is probably the best choice, but I rarely listen to it other than that one great track.

****

Other reviews:
Movie Wave - *****
Movie Music UK - *****
cinemusic.net - *****
Filmmuziek - *****
SoundtrackNet - ****½
Soundtrack-Express - ****½
Music from the Movies - ****½
Filmtracks - ****
Scorereviews.com - ****
Soundtrack Review Central - ****
Tracksounds! - ****
Radio Soundtrack F-M - ****
IGN - ****
scifi.com - ****
BSO Spirit - ****

 

I recognize that not everyone loves the Revolutions score. Let's be honest, this is an exhausting score to listen to. All the words resembling "intense" is justified. I happen to think it's also exhilirating. Among these early action cues, I especially like Men In Metal, Niobe's Run, Kidfried and Saw Bitch Workhorse.

Trinity Definitly is a great reworking of the little love motif first shown in the first movie, then developed into a sweeping one in Reloaded. In the film, the scene plays too long (just like Neodammerung), but on the CD, it's a beautiful cue. Spirit of the Universe is a reworking of the first film's Anything is Possible, which was not heard in full for the first movie; I happen to think the first version was better--a great cue--but this one is pretty good too. I'll just say I agree with Mastadge about Neodammerung.

If I had to choose the best CD of the three movies, this would be it, but that's also because the other two releases are pretty terrible when it comes to the score. The Matrix Reloaded Suite is a glorious cut and paste job, but it's still a cut and paste job. I would like to hear the music Davis wrote for Reloaded without Juno Reactor's mix; the Burly Brawl especially sounds like something that would shine if it were just Davis. Besides Anything is Possible, the first score also boosts Ontological Shock, another great (and less frenzied) action cue.

 

^Absolutely agree with the last two posts. the Matrix trilogy music is superb once you get it away from the films-especially the action music like Neodammerung and Burly Brawl. My personal fave, though, is Spirit of the Universe, from 1:27 to 1:54 on the track. This is funeral music right up there with Light of the Force in ROTJ-absolutely beautiful.

When Davis gets himself a chorus, the results are great usually. I rather liked the chorus in Burly Brawl-it comes in only at key points, like when Neo starts using the streetpole on the Smiths.

Neodammerung is great too, although I dislike the repeats of the main score (a piece of music I absolutely loathe just for it's sheer simplicity-it doesn't get me excited at all) in it. The techno vs. Neodammerung of Navras is cool, too-finally the end credits to a Matrix film have something other than generic angry metal!

 

Have any of you heard any of Davis' other scores: JPIII, Warriors of Virtue, or anything? Is there anything interesting out there I should check out? Or should I wait for his opera?

 

From what I remember of the JPIII score (I've never seen it in stores) it wasn't all that bad. Had a nice modified version of the JP main theme. As for Warriors of Virtue, never seen the movie. Isn't that about like...Ninja kangaroos or something? That's what I vaguely remember from the previews..

 

The thing with the Revolutions OST release is that they basically picked all the "loud and brassy" tracks in the score (with a few exceptions, of course). This makes some of the tracks very skippable.

It's a much easier listen if you track down the two-disc bootleg version, however, as some of the quieter cues are back in and your ears get a chance to rest.

 

The only Davis score I've listened to on it's own besides the The Matrix trilogy is Jurassic Park III. His take on the Williams themes is awkward, and though it feels good to initially hear it, I think it cheapens the experience when it's fundamentally a different filmmaking unit (which is also why I dislike Ottman using the old themes for the new Superman as well). Davis' own new theme sounds better than the performance of the Williams themes. The CD is mostly filled with action cues, which sound more like traditional action cues than the ones in Revolutions. My favorite of these Billy Oblivion.

 

CutThroat Island
John Debney, 1995
nu.millennia edition: 70:23, 19 tracks
Prometheus edition: score: 120:17, 33 tracks, 2 CDs + 25 minutes of bonus tracks
Orchestrated by Brad Dechter with Frank Bennett, Don Nemitz and Jeff Atmajian
David Snell conducts the London Symphony Orchestra

CutThroat Island is the best adventure score of the 90s. And I can't think of one in this millennium that's as good. And, not to put too fine a point on it, but, while it's not the greatest adventure score ever written, it's up there. This is a fantastic swashbuckling pirate score, but while it's generally in the idiom of "Messers. Rózsa, Korngold, Steiner and Newman, and to all that have sailed the high seas" (to whom it's dedicated), it obviously owes at least as much to John Williams (thematic/motivic structure), James Horner, and especially David Arnold's over-the-top bombast. This score is available in two editions, with much to recommend each of them. Either way, Debney pulls out all the stops right at the beginning with the huge, excellent "Main Title: Morgan's Ride," and he doesn't let up. On the original 1-disc edition, the score moves right into the even more excellent "Carriage Chase," and after that it hardly relents, with only a few quiet minutes here and there, for the next hour, with action cue after action cue, and while it's mostly brilliant stuff -- and a very nice, dynamic recording, too -- it's simply tiring to listen to straight through. But if you persevere, or skip through a bunch of the middle tracks, you'll get to the ending, which blows the opening to smithereens. In "The Battle," Debney pulls out all the stops -- but he already did that! There are now negative stops in this score! "The Battle" is one of my very favorite cues ever; I must have listened to it hundreds or thousands of times. Hugely exciting and fun and quite simply huge, with a massive choir, not to mention a very funny little bit in there that I'll leave you to discover for yourself, the score then proceeds into "Dawg's Demise/The Triumph," another fantastic action cue, before moving into "It's Only Gold/End Credits," which is one of the greatest end credits sequences in the history of movies. Just a fantastic score.

And with the new 2-disc release, you get almost twice as much of it! A lot of the music that was restored is from quieter moments of the film, though it's still good, and it gives your ears a chance to rest between all the action. An extra bonus is that the tracks have been resequenced to fit the movie. But the best thing of all is that there's now twice as much music from the end battle. Whereas in the first album, the two penultimate cues added up to something like 10 minutes; now, we've got a massive 18 minute track: "The Battle/To Dawg's Ship/Morgan Battles Dawg/Dawg's Demise/The Triumph," of which the best restored cue is "To Dawg's Ship," but this is simply an awesome piece of sustained action music. Unfortunately, though you probably won't notice it unless you've listened to the original album a gazillion times like I have, the audio seems very slightly flatter and less dynamic on the 2-disc set, so whenever I hear "The Battle" I always feel like there's something missing even though it's from the same recording.

Either way, though, this is simply a masterpiece of an adventure score. In either edition, it easily rates a *****

Other reviews (nu.millennia edition):
Soundtrack-Express - *****
Soundtrack Review Central - *****
Movie Music UK - *****
Filmtracks - *****
Filmtracks (review 2) - *****
scorereviews.com - *****
[link=http://www.filmscorecentral.15

 

The Passion of the Christ
John Debney, 2004
54:09, 15 tracks
Orchestrated by Brad Dechter, Mike Watts, Frank Bennett and Jeff Atmajian
Conducted by Nick Ingman

To be honest, I don't care much for this score. There are definitely some brilliant moments, but this CD, running 54 minutes, has maybe 10-15 minutes of great stuff, another 10 minutes or so of good material, and a half hour of atmospheric filler material that ranges from boring to annoying. This score seems to have everything in it. Orchestra, choir, solo vocalists, exotic and period instruments, synths, percussion banks, you name it, it's in there. And it starts off well. The first couple tracks, "The Olive Garden" and "Bearing the Cross," are good introductory material if not anything to write home about. However, the next twenty, twenty-five minutes of the score bore me every time. Decent string and percussion stuff, but with all kinds of odd and eerie atmospheric noises and groans and voices on top of it. Maybe it worked in the film, I don't recall, but on the album I just find it obnoxious. Fortunately, the second half of the score works better. "Mary Goes to Jesus" is a very beautiful bit of melodramatic music. The highlight of the score is the lengthy, awesome "Crucifixion," which segues into "Raising the Cross," which starts of well but quickly goes downhill. "It Is Done" does little for me, but "Jesus is Carried Down" is a fine piece of music and "Resurrection" is another fantastic piece. There's definitely some great music in here, but it's bogged down in far too much annoying material for me, making this a CD I very rarely listen to, except for two or three minutes at a time of certain cues. Apparently John Debney is working on a Passion of the Christ symphony, and I'll be very interested to see how that turns out, though.

***½


Other reviews:
Movie Music UK - *****
Soundtrack Review Central - *****
Movie Wave - ****½
Music from the Movies - ****½
cinemusic.net - ****½
SoundtrackNet - ****
Sountrack-Express - ****
scorereviews.com - ****
Filmtracks - ****
Film Music on the Web - ****
Radio Soundtrack F-M - ****
BSO Spirit - ****
Filmmuziek - ****

 

I completely agree with everything you have to say. I was really dissapointed when I bought the album. I enjoyed the music in the movie very much, but like you said, much of the album is very atmospheric in nature. Apart from a few of the tracks, it's not much to listen to. It's one of those scores that works great in the film, but doesn't stand on its own too well.

 

The Passion of the Christ is one of the best scores I have ever herd. I love that soundtrack!