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| There are 528 Reviews Done |
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Alfred Newman - Classic Film Music Of Alfred Newman, The
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| Little known facts about Alfred Newman |
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Alfred Newman not only spawned some of the great early Hollywood scores, but he also spawned a great family of composers. His sons, David Newman and Thomas Newman are great ST composers in their own right, and his nephew, Randy Newman is also a fixture in the music industry.
What may truly be not known, however, is that Alfred Newman won nine Oscars for his scores, and was nominated 45 times, making him the most nominated individual in Oscar history, second only to Walt Disney, and now tied with John Williams for that honor.
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1 of 1 found this review helpful |
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Hans Zimmer - Inception
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| Music for dreams |
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Zimmer has created an awesome score, big and epic. There are not only action cues (e.g. "Mombasa") or epic magnitude ("Dream is Collapsing"), but also intimate sounds. Listen to "Time", where Zimmer lets a beautiful, simple theme increase to an full orchestral version (similar to the thing he did in The Da Vinci Code with "Chevaliers De Sangreal") and then end in nonenity. And there's Johnny Marr playing the guitar .... The only thing you could discuss about, is the "zimmerish" sound, e.g. the use of low brass ...
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10 of 10 found this review helpful |
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Scott Wittman Marc Shaiman, Marc Shaiman - Hairspray
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| A lot of fun! |
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This is the soundtrack for the movie adapted from the 2002 Broadway musical of the same name, which was in turn adapted from the 1988 film by John Waters. The music is by Marc Shaiman and features plenty of pastiches of period sounds. It’s Broadway that winks at itself. If you don’t like musicals or vocal tracks, there’s not a lot this will do for you. If you do like them, then these songs are catchy, clever and a whole lot of fun.
The star of the show is Nikki Blonsky, who plays Tracy Turnblad. Her vocals are wonderful, and almost every song she sings is a favorite of mine. The opening number, “Good Morning Baltimore,” sets the mood for the whole show. It’s just so darned happy and optimistic, though the lyrics are entertainingly self-aware. “I Can Hear the Bells” is similarly joyous.
The rest of the cast is dotted with actors you’ve heard of, and some of them can sing. James Marsden is knowingly sly and maybe a bit smarmy on his numbers. Michelle Pfeiffer isn’t much of a singer, but her character’s song “The Legend of Miss Baltimore Crabs” is fun for the lyrics. John Travolta plays Tracy’s mother, a role traditionally given to a male actor. The movie shows he’s still a fabulous dancer. But you can’t dance on an album, and his singing is just okay. On the other hand, Queen Latifah sings the integration anthem, “I Know Where I’ve Been,” beautifully.
Jumping to the end of the show, “You Can’t Stop the Beat” is the mega-happy-ending show closer, where almost all the characters get a chance to shine. I think it’s infectious. The album here at SST is a Collector’s Edition with oodles of extra tracks. The instrumentals are for karaoke singing and my have limited appeal. The bonus track I find most interesting is “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now.” This was a song from the original show that got cut from the film. The girls singing are Blonsky, Marissa Jaret Winokur (Tracy on Broadway) and Rikki Lake (Tracy in the original film). There’s even a tiny cameo for Harvey Fierstein, who played Tracy’s mom on Broadway, at the end of the track. I also recommend the demo of “You’re Timeless to Me,” if you like that song, because Nathan Lane sings both parts.
Request: I don’t think there are any real losers among the main tracks (1-19). Aside from the tracks mentioned in the review, I say try “Run and Tell That” and “Without Love.”
Avoid: As a general rule, demo tracks aren’t that great. You can try them if you’re curious, but often they don’t show up in the final product for a reason. “Big Blonde and Beautiful (Reprise)” doesn’t bring anything new to the party.
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1 of 1 found this review helpful |
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Danny Elfman - Nightmare Before Christmas, The
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| The Wet Dream Before Christmas |
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Many of us like soundtracks for the way it works on the imagination. It makes you relive the movie in a way, puts the images and moments back in your head. For those, the Nightmare Before Christmas will prove a treat: It practically tells the whole story right here on Streaming Soundtracks or on your portable music device. If you've seen the movie once you can relive it at any time by spinning this soundtrack up. This is among Elfman's proudest works. One of the latest good works also, before he started experimenting with new types of music in the late '90s. The Nightmare Before Christmas has an unconventional soundtrack, but it is also happy, funny and quite awesome. Danny Elfman himself proves a talented actor in his lead role of Jack Skellington (among other roles). He knows best in which places he must keep up with the beat and in which he can exert some of the emotions of his character. And his evil laugh truly is frightening!
This album is quite strange; for a children's story the music is relatively dark, often using the lower range of instruments, and the humor is aimed at adults, but it is very clear that this is a children's movie. Kids like it (especially adolescents). I blame the lyrics for how fun they are ("I am the 'who' when you call 'who's there?'"), and the frequent variations in measure and in key at the strangest but somehow the most fitting places. The track Jack's Obsession is a clear example of this, and of Elfman's voice acting.
Though there is no title song of any kind, This Is Halloween functions as a key track for me since it is the most easily recognized as being the tune of this movie, and it comes back several times. Another special (and similar) track is What's This?. None of those can trump that hilarious track Oogie Boogie's Song however, though you have to like it. Ken Page really hits the spot with his voice acting in that song, especially after Sandy Claws asks him "Wh-what are you going to do?"; "I'm going to do the best I can..." And he breaks out in this incredible laugh. It's hilarious.
Several albums have been released of the score over time. None of them are a 'full-recordings' version of all the music in the movie, but the later releases do have some extra's. I have a release with 9 bonus tracks, released in 2008. Five of those are awful remixes, that would fit in the pop-genre I guess, if only they were actually popular. Don't torture yourself by listening to Kidnap the Sandy Claws by She Wants Revenge. The other four are demos, that Elfman made originally for the movie before any actual voice acting was done, with all voice acting done by Elfman alone. It's interesting to hear, but the actual soundtrack is better. I also read that some releases have different voices reading the intro and the outro, while mine has just a 15-years-older voice of Elfman.
So scroll on up, people, and pick one of your liking. Well done, Danny.
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4 of 5 found this review helpful |
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Don Black John Barry, John Barry - Thunderball
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| A review by Ken Nail found on crutchfield.com |
| By: |
Angel
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| Date: |
8 Jul 2010 |
| Rating: |
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John Barry's long and prolific career as a film composer now spans five decades, highlighted by three Academy Awards. He's best known to most moviegoers as the man who defined the musical style for the many James Bond films. Thunderball (1965) is one of his best scores, combining the bold, brassy, and percussive action themes you expect in a Bond film with haunting motifs that complement the movie's many underwater scenes. The 2003 remastering of the original soundtrack album includes almost 45 minutes of excellent music left off of the original release. The recording sounds great — crisp stereo separation, with a nice warm tones in the low, undulating flute and string melodies, contrasted by brilliant brass that is powerful, precise, but never "tinny." The score's many sudden changes in volume provide an excellent test of your system's amplifier.
To experience the excitement of Barry's action scoring, check out the 11th track, "007," a taut reworking of a percussive theme Barry originally composed for 1963's From Russia with Love. Then listen to "Bond Below Disco Volante," for an interesting development of several of the themes employed in the movie. This installment has some of the most memorable music.
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1 of 1 found this review helpful |
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John Barry - High Road To China
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| A review by Christopher Coleman found on tracksounds.com |
| By: |
Angel
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| Date: |
8 Jul 2010 |
| Rating: |
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High Road to China provides many moments of emotion that can be found in a dozen or more of his other scores. The beauty of Out of Africa, the freedom of Dances with Wolves and the danger of Raise the Titanic are but a few of them. This 1983 score provides the listener with the trademark, attractive main theme and is repeated many, many times throughout the film and score- another Barry trademark.
The music matches the quality of those scores mentioned above, but what makes High Road to China a difficult score to review is that these same scores, without any problem, could replace it. Granted it preceded many of Barry’s better known scores, yet as film music fan’s we are subject to the order of release as we form our impressions and opinions of a score. The better-late-than-never-release of this score, while appreciated, suffers because most have heard very similar work from Barry in his latter assigments. This being the case, High Road to China offers less than it would have seventeen years ago.
Collectors who have clamored for this score or for Barry fans who want more of the same consistent work of his, High Road to China will surely satisfy. The recording is not the crispest one will hear, but given the age of the masters, the producers have done an adequate job.
What this particular production does offer, are nine source cues, never before released. A nice feature, to be sure. From the Middle-Eastern, Mohamet’s Dance and Waziri, to the Dixie-land influenced, period tracks of Charleston, Love Me Tender, and Swinging at the Riverside, to a concluding harpsichord piece, Allemande from the Bach French Suite Number #5 in G Major, these tracks help to break the “high quality monotony” that sometimes accompanies a typical Barry score.
The same elements that fans have come appreciate about Barry's music are plentiful in High Road to China. For John Barry collectors, this release is a must. At the same time, for those who have a substantial Barry collection and might be waiting for something a little more a-typical from the composer, High Road to China probably won't be the fit they are searching for.
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1 of 2 found this review helpful |
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John Barry (Perf. By Matt Monro), John Barry - Born Free
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| A review by Gary S. Dalkin found on musicweb-international.com |
| By: |
Angel
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| Date: |
8 Jul 2010 |
| Rating: |
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Following Body Heat, Out of Africa and Somewhere in Time, this is the fourth in Varese Sarabande's re-recordings of John Barry film scores, and the 11th in the company's Film Classics series. As with previous discs, there is a beautiful cover painting by Matthew Joseph Peak. Born Free, for anyone who really doesn't know, was a phenomenally successful 1966 Columbia release telling the romanticised but factually based African adventure of Joy Adamson (Virginia McKenna), her husband George (Bill Travers) and the lion cub Elsa. So popular was the film that a sequel, Living Free, followed in 1972, and there was even a spin-off TV series. John Barry's score was immensely popular as well, though this may have had a lot to do with the success of the title song sung by Matt Monro, who three years previously had performed Barry's first Bond song, From Russia With Love (1963). Amazingly, the song had at one point been removed from the film, and was only restored when a cover version by Roger Williams became an American No.1 hit. There isn't a version of the song on this new album, which given that the subtitle is 'original motion picture score' is acceptable, but is nevertheless rather strange considering how for many people the song is the score. There is also at least one track which appeared on the original soundtrack album omitted here, the five-minute warthog chase. On the other hand, there are several cues here which were not on the original album, and some which were not in the film either.
In retrospect this music clearly foreshadows the more sober plains of Out of Africa (1986), and while Barry employs a more colourful palette here than in many scores from the last two decades, the beginnings of that love-it-or-hate-it lush string dominated sound are evident. 'Holiday with Elsa' suggests the love theme of You Only Live Twice (1967), and other moments, particularly, 'Fight of the Lioness' both echo Thunderball (1965) and anticipate King Kong (1976). 'Elephant Stampede' is a majestic pulsating set-piece, and Barry does manage to wring considerably more interesting variations from that unforgettable main theme than you might imagine, employing lots of tasteful percussion while always remaining resolutely Western in his musical sensibilities. If it doesn't seem backhanded, which it isn't meant to be, this is a nice score; charming, attractive, playful and dreamy; rather like a lion cub, or even Africa itself, as portrayed in the film. It was certainly appealing enough in 1966 to win Barry an Oscar, a Golden Globe and an Ivor Novello award. A classic score then, though one which given its repetition, works better in the film than on disc, here very well served on CD. The modern sound is like silk, and may be too smooth for some who prefer authentic technological inferiority. The marimbas do sometimes get a little lost in the sheen, though the brass stands out magnificently. The performances are polished to the same level of airbrushed perfection.
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5 of 5 found this review helpful |
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John Barry - Enigma
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| A review by Steve Townsley found on tracksounds.com |
| By: |
Angel
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| Date: |
8 Jul 2010 |
| Rating: |
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Individuals looking for a War soundtrack will not find the “drum and the fife” here, as it were, nor any emboldening substance. Mr. Barry has not provided any music that is particularly evocative of the time period—and there is, perhaps, something positive to be said of that, Barry’s music on the whole, does have a sense of timelessness about it. It is only the inclusion of two period-music source tracks (20 and 21) that truly anchor the story of the score in the early 1940s. In this much, the songs serve their purpose, and are pleasant enough for the casual listener. It is represented quite beautifully here, and makes for a pleasing close to a bleakly-toned album. Barry’s gentlest moments in the Main Title (track 1) are revisited too often (tracks 6 and 10, for example) in similar manners to be particularly effective. A light and uplifting theme is introduced in the two-part cue “Simply Wonderful/Finding Crib” (track 12), but it is quickly quelled as it fades to its’ subsequent cue. The theme is recalled interestingly in a minor key in “Goodbye to Hester” (track 16), and it is pleasantly revisited in its’ (more-or-less) entirety in the final score tracks (18 and 19)—though the End Titles (track 19), as anticipated, does fall into a retread of all included themes, even the dour ones before lifting up briefly once more at the close.
For a good listen—well…Barry’s certainly provided a fairly non-intrusive background score. Purchasing the score for this reason is as good as any. As previously mentioned, the tracks on the whole are fairly even and unwavering in tone. Most of the music bleeds very well together, and is pleasant, mellow and non-engaging.
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John Barry - Swept From The Sea
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| A review by James Southall found on movie-wave.net |
| By: |
Angel
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| Date: |
4 Jul 2010 |
| Rating: |
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Barry takes his inspiration from the sea, with the orchestration sweeping in and out like the waves, the tone darkening and brightening subtly but frequently, and the music constantly suggesting a timeless and constant yearning. The opening cue introduces two main themes, the romantic main theme and the Slavic-sounding Yanko's theme. A third follows immediately in "To America", this one absolutely full of romantic longing and beauty; it segues into a very different, more dramatic, take on Yanko's theme. Finally, the most obviously ocean-inspired theme in "The Storm Came", swirling around and around, cautiously enticing with its powerful undertones but retaining that distinct beauty that John Barry probably couldn't avoid no matter how hard he tried (and thank God he didn't often try very hard).
"Sea of Death" introduces what is referred to by the director rather unpromisingly as the "death theme", and even here it's beauty that is the driving force - the music turns darker and darker, but as the distant synth chorus joins in it is just impossible not to feel the deeply human aspect Barry is trying to emphasise. This core of five themes introduced in the opening four cues goes on to dominate the score, but even though some of them aren't developed all that much it is easily enough material from which to fashion a 60-minute album which never feels too long.
This is helped by the occasional set-piece - the summery, awkwardly-titled "Yanko Asks Amy Out" is simply delightful, and the source piece "Yanko's Dance" breaks things up but doesn't feel out of place - and this is so expertly-crafted it is often just a joy to behold. Barry's music isn't for everyone but his better scores go about their business with such a singular purpose his place as one of the film music masters will never be in doubt. Because it is for such a little-known film, this score is not often spoken about, but it should be - the album plays like a very carefully-considered tone poem to the sea, and listening from start to end it so envelops the listener it is simply enormously impressive. The disc concludes with a fine song ("To Love and Be Loved") based on the main theme, Tim Rice's lyrics beautifully sung by Corina Brouder, rounding off an album which should be in all Barry fans' collections.
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2 of 2 found this review helpful |
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