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| There are 528 Reviews Done |
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Nino Rota - Death On The Nile
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| A perfect score for an Agatha Christie Classic |
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Nino Rota composed another outstanding score for this movie. I love every track of it. Rota varies the different motifs wonderfully and his orchestration is fantastic.
The most impressive one is the “Nile”-Theme – best heard in tracks 1, 3, 10. Once you hear it, you can’t get it out of your mind for a while. Track 11 varies the motif to a dark and frightening climax.
But also the “love”-motif is beautifully varied – in Track 2, 5 and 12.
Track 18 combines all motifs and Rota created a truly beautiful ending score.
The “dance”- Tracks (7, 9, 14 and 16) add a wonderful 1930s atmosphere to it.
Track 4 is a funny and marvelously done musical description of the Camel- and donkey-ride. You just see them trot up the path when you listen to it.
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1 of 1 found this review helpful |
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Jean Prodromides - Le Voyage En Ballon
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| Le Voyage En Ballon |
| By: |
Ormsby
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| Date: |
3 May 2010 |
| Rating: |
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This score, from the early 60s, might just as easily been written for a Cinerama travelogue or some other major event. The music accompanies wonderful aerial photography of a balloon making its way across the landscape of France, as a man and a young boy enjoy all that they survey below them.
The music by Jean Prodromides has a vast echoing sonic quality to it, which fills the ear just as the movie fills the eyes with a bouyant treat. This film was released in America with the title Stowaway in the Sky and was narrated by Jack Lemmon.
-- Thomas Ormsby
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1 of 1 found this review helpful |
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Max Steiner - Elmer Bernstein's FMC: Helen Of Troy
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| Review of Elmer Bernstein'd tribute to Max Steiner's Helen of Troy |
| By: |
Ormsby
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| Date: |
30 Apr 2010 |
| Rating: |
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Several Hollywood composers have, from time to time, re-recorded scores written by their colleagues, from films that were never released. Helen of Troy in one such movie . . . a well-written epic, based upon the The Illiad, which depicted the events leading up to the siege of Troy. Max Steiner, best know for his score for Gone With the Wind, fully captured the scale and depth of this tragedy with his music for Helen of Troy, from the optimistic refrains of the departure of Paris for Sparta to the assault upon the walls of Troy and the final defeat.
The title theme was featured on the flip side of a 45 record release of The Poor People of Paris, a top-40 hit of the mid-50s, but other than that, had to wait until Bernstein's tribute album, over two decades later to heard again. And for film score fans, it was worth the wait. Bernstein has bundled Helen of Troy with Steiner's music for A Summer Place.
This is a great album for those who appreciate film music from the 1950s.
-- Thomas Ormsby
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John Murphy, Underworld, Underworld & John Murphy (...) - Sunshine (2007)
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| Two brilliant themes. The rest ranges from so-so to painful. |
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"Adagio in D Minor" is memorable to anyone who has seen the Danny Boyle-directed sci-fi adventure "Sunshine." The theme has a build-up effect that works so well. Each passing second is better than the last. The music is so moving that it soon became borrowed for several trailers for other projects including 2008's "Blindness."
"Capa's Last Transmission Home" is another highlight of the score. It's a soft synthesized theme that is repetitive yet soothing. A better version of this theme is heard in "Capa Meets the Sun" which also includes dialogue by actor Cillian Murphy.
Unfortunately, the rest of this score doesn't offer a lot of material that the general ST community will appreciate. It is very dark in tone and non-melodic which can be an automatic turn-away factor for listeners "Welcome to Icarus II" is mostly dialogue and sound effects. It's effective in setting the mood for the film and score, but it doesn't work well as a stand-alone track in an SST queue. The same can be said for Kanada's Death Pt 1, although this one can arguably be classified as music.
"Mercury" and "Trey's Fate" are mostly quiet with some background guitar to break up the monotony. "Searle Finds the Crew", "Freezing Outside", "Pinbacker Slashes Capa" and "Cassie Searches" all contain generic suspense music that are commonly found in the "Things are quiet but will SUDDENLY BE LOUD!" horror films. These cues were written for the third act of the film where the tone turns from sci-fi to horror.
"Freezing Inside" begins with a subtle variation of the Adagio theme before venturing off into its own noise. Not much to say about this one or "Corazon Finds the Seedling."
"Capa Suits Up" is a decent track that is a bit faster than the others and sounds like a build-up to your typical action cue.
"Capa's Jump" sounds a bit out of place on the album. It should have been used to finish off the epic Adagio theme, but is instead presented on its own without reason.
"Distortions" is honest with itself. It is incredibly messy with constant static and features some of the most irritating sound effects that even Lloyd Christmas couldn't make funny. A zombie's scream is the closest thing to compare it to. It is a downright painful listen and should have been omitted altogether.
"Peggy Sussed" is loud, obnoxious and a very unsuitable way to conclude the film and album. A more quiet piece would have more appropriate to follow the grand finale of the Adagio theme.
Much like the personalities that put it together, Sunshine is an unorthodox score and incredibly messy at times. Much of the material is too painful to recommend. However IMO, the Adagio theme and Capa's theme are worth the price to download from iTunes. (The album is not available in retail stores or Amazon.)
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2 of 2 found this review helpful |
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Dave Grusin - Goonies, The
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| The Goonies Official Score Review |
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Well after 25 long years after the release of the film, we now have a true score that has been finally released to the public although it is only a 5,000 copy Limited Edition from Varese Sarabande. Nonetheless this is a must have for all die hard film score lovers.
From the first track "Fratelli Chase" to the last track which is an original version of the Octopus scene, this release delivers what we wanted to hear. The music ques in some of the memorable scenes from the film are present, such as the discovery of the fake fifty dollar bills by Data and during the final scene when Willie's ship appears. One of the most impressive tracks is heard in Playing the Bones in which the character Andi has to play this organ in order to survive and get closer to Willie's treasure, but in this track you hear the organ sound of the notes that she gets right and wrong. There are also original version tracks available on this release which are just as good. One such is the Octopus track, which was originally a deleted scene and not seen by many until recent years. As short as it is, it provides a quick dramatic que of the goonies facing danger from what I'd like to call "a goofy octopus".
From the deep mysterious sound in the map and Willie to the frantic theme of the Fratelli Chase, Mr. Grusin has provided us a score to remember from a classic film in The Goonies. Not much else of Mr. Grusin's other works have been quite praised as in his work of The Goonies, however he has provided us with on the best film scores in the late 20th Century.
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10 of 10 found this review helpful |
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Garry Schyman - Dante's Inferno
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| Wonderfully Brutal & Original |
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Warning: This score is not for everyone. It takes some getting used to and an open mind.
This score is everything a score about hell should be. It's bold, shocking, and deliciously brutal. The low brass, timpani, bass drum, and toms put out a massive amount of sound and their patterns are relentless and driving. The high brass and woodwinds are often dissonant and sporadic. There are many passages with sliding tremolo string lines reminiscent of George Crumb's Black Angels
The defining aspect of the album is by far the choir. Much of the album utilizes a stirring shout/chant technique.
There are a few tracks you might want to check out if you are interested in the album.
3. Excessum Alighiero - Uses many of the interesting techniques mentioned above.
4. Dante Casarma Treloch - A perfect example of the shout chanting.
6. Redemption - A beautiful choral piece
Is it easy to listen to sometimes? No
Is it a brilliant display of modern orchestral writing? Yes
Does it fit the game and paint a great picture? Most definitely
In short, Garry Schyman's "Dante's Inferno" is aptly named because it is hellish in the best possible way. Approach it with an open mind.
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3 of 3 found this review helpful |
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Brian May - Mad Max 2, Road Warrior
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| Roaring engines, blaring brasses: A soundtrack with brute force |
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Loud, wild, brute and exciting: Australian composer Brian May delivered a remarkable musical score to George Miller's classic post-apocalyptic action flick, easily surpassing his (still very good) first contribution to the "Mad Max" saga. One of the soundtrack's major characteristics is its use sharp contrasts: Slow strings and percussions (opening montage) in rather quiet scenes accumulate suspense, before bursting into blaring brasses and relentlessly hammering timbals during the car chase scenes. George Miller undoubtedly did a formidable directing job on "Road Warrior", but without Brian May's soundtrack, it wouldn't have been the thrill ride the movie is known for. It might be no symphonic masterpiece - so what? It pumps adrenaline, and that's exactly what a good action score should do.
The album, even though the audio quality is quite good for a recording of its age, suffers from presenting the tracks in questionable order: Hearing a piece from the final chase in the first track feels rather out of place, and several short pieces were mixed into a ninth track called "SFX-suite" (understandably not requestable here), along with snippets directly from the movie - a bad habit especially prevalent in older soundtrack albums. Nevertheless a must-have for fans, even though i'd love to see a "pure" soundtrack album released, with its tracks mirroring the correct order from the movie.
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2 of 2 found this review helpful |
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Joe Hisaishi - Princess Mononoke: Symphonic Suite
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| Masterful Re-working by Mr. Hisaishi |
| By: |
AdamR
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| Date: |
6 Mar 2010 |
| Rating: |
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The Symphonic Suite of Princess Mononoke by Joe Hisaishi builds on the main themes and tracks from the original soundtrack album. Performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic, Hisaishi had commented that he wanted a "European flavor" for the album, and he picked the right orchestra to deliver that feeling.
All eight suites build on main themes heard in the film, without major changes to the music itself, as a large amount of Hisaishi's work is already stylistically similar to classical and symphonic works. The City of Prague Philharmonic performed the themes beautifully and as always, recording is top notch.
Fans of the film or the original soundtrack should definitely pick this addition up.
-Adam R.
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2 of 2 found this review helpful |
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John Barry - Out Of Africa
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| Out of Africa and into my living room. |
| By: |
AdamR
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| Date: |
6 Mar 2010 |
| Rating: |
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John Barry has created many masterful and unforgettable soundtracks over the years including what many consider his magnum opus - Dances With Wolves. However, to seek the musical style which made Dances such a popular score among film buffs, you need to look back to Barry's 1980s lush thematic writing.
This is where you find Out of Africa, a score which builds on this lush romantic style of Barry and earned him an Oscar in the process. The main title track "I Had a Farm" introduces the listener to the main theme of the album, dominated by strings and backed up by low brass. This style is common in other Barry works 'Somewhere in Time', 'Raise the Titanic', and 'Dances with Wolves' and provided listeners with a unique "Barry sound". Out of Africa is built around this main theme and string-dominated score.
The album on Streaming Soundtracks is the 1997 re-recording by the Royal Scottish Orchestra featuring more background music than the original soundtrack release in 1990. Either album will provide you the opportunity to hear Barry when his composing recognition was at its prime in the late 80s.
-Adam R.
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2 of 2 found this review helpful |
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Rodgers & Hammerstein - Sound Of Music, The
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| My speakers are alive... |
| By: |
AdamR
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| Date: |
6 Mar 2010 |
| Rating: |
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With the sound of music! Musicals aren't for everyone, but besides Oklahoma, the Sound of Music is one of Rodgers & Hammerstein's crowning achievements in musical theater.
The casting on this album include Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, two very skilled actors and singers. This creates an uplifting musical air in the film and also on the album. I dare anyone not to get goosebumps upon hearing Andrews sing "Do-Re-Mi" with the children. Its one of those songs, though while fun, also demonstrates Andrews' vocal range and precision. Other highlights are the "Prelude and the Sound of Music", "I Have Confidence" and "My Favorite Things" if you're seeking more of her performances.
As of this writing, Streaming Soundtracks is not carrying the 40th Anniversary Release of the Sound of Music which includes more of the background instrumental music as well as the overtures and the Entr'acte. For those seeking the Sound of Music in its entirety and crisp sound, should seek the 40th Anniversary release.
-Adam R.
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3 of 3 found this review helpful |
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