"Bubba Love"
Review by Steve Townsley

Bubba Ho-Tep
8/10

Real Audio Clips

Track 3 Track 5

Have you ever come across a film, a score—a concept—that is just too strange and unique to ignore? How about an elderly Elvis (he’s not really dead) alive and well in a nursing home who takes on an ancient Egyptian mummy? The premise of legend against legend, two popular myths clashing on screen is trippy, for certain. Perhaps even so bad a concept, it’s terrific--particularly when you get Raimi regular Bruce Campbell as Elvis, and veteran actor Ossie Davis as his nursing home/mummy-fighting companion.

As the film “Bubba Ho-Tep” was only in extremely limited theatrical release, making its viewing about as rare as an Elvis sighting, that’s all I can tell you about the plot. This has got to be one to check out on video in 2004. The idea may not fly with all fans, but will probably make for a discussion filled evening.
Composer Brian Tyler, already infamous in his own right for replacing another legend, Jerry Goldsmith, on the delayed Crichton adaptation Timeline, steps up to the podium for this unique comedy/horror/buddy pic. And he does a fantastic job with it, too….

Not without some reservations, though. Remember those haunting chords from the earlier Tyler release Children of Dune? They reappear here, prominently. In fact, they provide the bulk of the “Bubba”/Elvis motif. (A vocal variation of the chords would sound similar to the sadness/parting motifs of Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings scores.) However, used here and played with a bluesy guitar, they take on a very soulful aspect and tragic-hero quality that is quite appealing. You’ll hear it very early in the score, kicking off with track 2 (“Bubba”) which then bursts into a huge, swaggering take on the theme in the following track, “The King.” Now, for some fans who don’t like to hear composer retread themes, be warned. However, I’d still recommend checking this one out, if you like a little guitar scoring from time to time.

Because this is a horror film, (and it helps to be reminded of that fact), there are some suspenseful and tense cues—to be expected. Try track 6--“The Ancient Curse”--for the most non-guitar-tinged sampling. Though, once more, the unique aspect of this is that it’s a Mummy-movie, too, so there’s a lot of guitar-blues meets atmospheric-Egyptian-vocal, and the score fluctuates evenly between within that spectrum. Again, the concept is so incongruous that curiosity alone should get the better of you.

Despite the shortness of several cues—the only drawback to the score is that most tracks don’t run more than two minutes--Tyler’s Bubba Ho-Tep is surprisingly emotional, as well, an aspect that is probably tied in to its elderly protagonists. The length of cues don’t allow for much development. The guitars swell, the point is made, and then Tyler backs off. Basically, he’s not writing a symphony here, he’s just doing his job as film composer. The softest cue, “Baby” (track 15) is also the shortest at :44 seconds, however--and this is the case with most of the album--most of the short tracks do segue neatly into a consecutive track, and though the tone does often vary between the cues, this at least allows the music to flow better, than simply jarring you back and forth.
On concept along, I’d recommend this, because it’s not the type of thing you hear everyday. But because it is better than you’d think, I’d highly recommend it. Much fun to be had in the listening.
 

Track Listing and Ratings

	Track	Title	Time	Rating
	1	Prologue	0:55	**
	2	Bubba	0:51	****
	3	The King	1:49	****
	4	Let’s Go, Man	2:09	***
	5	The King’s Highway	2:30	****
	6	A-C-T-I-O-N	1:42	***
	7	Bubba’s Lament	1:42	****
	8	The Ancient Curse	1:45	***
	9	Ghost of the Scarab	1:02	****
	10	Trailer Park	2:01	***
	11	One Bad Ho-Tep	1:29	**
	12	The Mask of Kemosabe	2:05	***
	13	The Shady Rest	0:53	****
	14	PBBS	2:01	**
	15	Baby	0:44	***
	16	The Hero’s Hallway	1:36	****
	17	Elder Hole	2:07	**
	18	Flashback Baby	1:38	**
	19	Body Bag of Fun	1:18	***
	20	Regret	0:53	***
	21	The Mummy’s Eye	1:58	***
	22	Smokin’ Nurse	1:48	**
	23	The Decision	0:57	**
	24	Death of a President	1:04	****
	25	The Sebastian Haff Show	1:11	**
	26	Haff Rising	1:13	**
	27	Investigation	1:24	***
	28	Thank You Very Much	0:41	***
	29	All is well	2:15	****
	30	Bubba Ho-Tep End Title Themes	5:40	****
		Total Running Time	49:49

*The Experience-O-Meter displays the track to track listening experience of this soundtrack based on the 5-Star rating given to each track.  It provides a visual depiction of the ebbs and flows of the CD's presentation of the soundtrack.

Referenced Reviews
 

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