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First Impressions May 1999
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May 9, 1999 |
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1984: The Music of Oceania FIR - 6/10 |
(Airstrip One) Muldowney's score for Michael Radford's depiction of George Orwell's well known story varies widely in style. Choral pieces range from a beautiful aria to frightening accents and accompaniment. Several tracks begin with a short fanfare that is reminiscent of Jupiter from The Planets by Holst. This seems to serve as the main theme and is found in various forms throughout the score. There are a few very subtle yet beautiful tracks such as A Place Where there is No Darkness (20), A Room Upstairs at Carrington's (12). Many of the tracks convey a strong Russian militaristic feel as well. This is a very diverse score, much of it unused in the film. It isn't the sort one listens to over and over yet is a good addition to one's collection, as Airstrip One has done a wonderful job in producing this CD release.
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Music Inspired by the Film
K2 FIR - 7/10 |
(Varese Sarabande) How much music can be used to describe "going up" and "going down?" Zimmer answers this question with his unused score for K2. Two long tracks sum up his work for this film: The Ascent and The Descent. Both are classic Zimmer. The guitar is featured throughout both tracks while Zimmers classic synth-sound is strongly represented in the background. It isn't hard to hear preludes to some of Zimmer's finest works within these two tracks: The Rock, Crimson Tide and suprisingly, The Prince of Egypt. The two tracks could have easily broken down in several shorter tracks, which I would have preferred; nevertheless, the music is first-rate. I believe the producers of the film K2 would have done themselves a great favor by utilizing Zimmer's work.
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May 4, 1999 |
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Star Wars: |
(Sony Classical) The long awaited score for Lucas' epic tale has finally arrived! Considering that I have no images to tie with this score right now, the score is still amazing. Williams continues to redefine himself by not just duplicating his efforts from the other Star Wars episodes. In TPM, Williams seems to take a page out of Alex North's book or maybe Miklos Rosza's. In either case, it works well! Only on occasion does one hear "hints" of the former themes (except in the opening titles, which is to be expected.) No doubt an accurate review of this score cannot be done apart from the movie context, so I won't try. Suffice it to say that if I can give the score a "9" without seeing the film, it will surely earn a "10/10" after I see it. Maybe a historic "11/10" score will be given!
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May 2, 1999 |
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The Matrix by Various
Artists |
(Maverick) Departing from my self-imposed stance on not reviewing non-score soundtracks, I just had to pick up this soundtrack for the movie that defines the word "Cool!" While I anticipate Don Davis' score release, I couldn't resist the electronica cuts used for most of the action sequences. The Propellerheads, Rob D, and Meat Beat Manifesto lay down some head-bobbin' beats that flowed perfectly with the film. Only the abomidable Marilyn Manson track comes close to ruining this CD, while there are a couple of other notable tracks worth skipping. I promise I will never ever listen to track 1 even once! Warning: listening to track 2, among others, while driving tend to boost your speed 10 - 15 miles per hour!
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