"Smiling through the Tears "
Review by Steve Townsley

Tears of the Sun
8/10

Real Audio Clips

Track 1 Track 4 Track9 Track 10

I have a real love-hate relationship with Hans Zimmer, but don’t worry—it’s mostly love. I really don’t find a thing wrong with what he does, how he does it, or who he does it with. My problem—and most likely that of other listners’—is that at the end of the track, I wonder if it was Hans Zimmer that I was listening to. If I were watching the film, it wouldn’t matter—I’d be wrapped up in the moment. But, as I didn’t see this film before I heard the soundtrack, it was a question that nudged me from time to time. As Zimmer has progressed in the film music realm, the credit given to his fellow composers has become more evident (and rightly so)….however….because he collaborates with Lebo M, or Steve Jablonsky, or Lisa Gerrard, or Heitor Pereira, et. al…..I have to wonder—just whose music am I hearing?

In the end, do I care? Can’t I just read the liner notes (which include the African lyrics) to solve the jig-saw puzzle of “which-composer-scored-what”? If the music stirs something in me, if it lifts my mind, if it speaks to my psyche, does the source really matter? Perhaps it does. When I hear Lebo M’s haunting-then-inspiring vocals, did he write the music, or did Hans? Or was there a collaboration of both. The way the themes blend into each other, one doesn’t know where Hans begins and Lebo ends. (Or vice versa?) The case here is not a matter of “too many cooks spoiled the soup”, but rather “whose garden did this vegetable in the soup come from?”

Never, however, underestimate the power of soup.

“Tears of the Sun” is…ok, I’ll say Zimmer’s….latest score for the Bruce Willis action-drama is quite decent. Measuring the action and atmosphere out in careful proportions, I tend to get the impression that this album is formatted in a kind of 3-act structure, as the music tends to peak every third track (tracks 3, 6, and 9), and, of those three, each one builds and builds in intensity. This works very well for the album, and it keeps the listener involved. Though Zimmer (and company) are quite capable of ladling on the swagger and militaristic elements of action music, this music tends to shy away from that, focusing more on the African setting and atmosphere.

Lebo M, a familiar element to those who have heard Zimmer’s Academy Award-winning The Lion King, (or even Jerry Goldsmith’s Congo), contributes much to Tears, and his vocals layered against Lisa Gerrard’s own improvised vocals in “Yeleni Part I/Mia’s Lullaby” (track one), are quite effective and rather dream-like. The tracks of the score are unnoticeably blended together, in traditionally “Zimmeresque” fashion. Track 3 has an “Adagio for Strings” feel to it, and is very reminiscent of Zimmer’s past work on The Thin Red Line, though a bit less droning. Throughout the score, Zimmer blends vocals, synthesizers, and ethnic instruments in a effectively beautiful tapestry of music that is almost hymn-like, culminating in track 10, which is, in essence, a Beethoven-like “Ode to Joy”…(or “Ode to Aftrica” as the case may be.)

Zimmer fans should eat this up. I think that film music aficionados like myself would be amused alone at the track titles, which falls back a bit to my earlier gripe of “which chef is adding to the soup?” Track 9, entitled “The Jablonsky Variations On a Theme by HZ”. To which part of this did Hans Zimmer contribute? The track itself is an extremely powerful cue which action music lovers will replay again and again. The music begins in a strings-and-vocal which builds into a percussive crescendo of dark and powerful emotion, which, despite its’ ferocity, resolves itself very softly before segueing into the final, crowning track. If you can handle the fact that it took a team to produce this, I think you should like this.

Track Listing and Ratings

	Track	Title	Time	Rating
	1	Yekeleni Part I/Mia’s Lullaby	2:35	***
	2	Heart of Darkness	2:01	***
	3	Small Piece for Doumber and Strings/Kopano Part 1	8:55	***
	4	Under the Forest Calm	1:07	**
	5	Yekeleni Part II/Carnage	7:55	****
	6	Kopano Part II	2:25	***
	7	Night	2:54	**
	8	Cry in Silence	2:04	***
	9	The Jablonsky Variation On A By HZ/Cameroon Border Post	8:42	****
	10	The Journey/Kopano Part III	8:17	****
		Total Running Time	46:36

*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
  Congo

All artwork from Tears of the Sun  is exclusive property of Varese Sarabande Records (c) 2003. 
 Its appearance is for informational purposes only. Review format version 5.8
 

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