by
Paul Tonks
soundtrack -- n. / Pron. "sound ( trak"
1. The narrow strip at one side of cinema film carrying the sound recording.
2. The music that accompanies a movie.
3. A commercial recording of such music.
4. A bastardised phrase record labels use to sell you crappy songs that have nothing to do with the movie they're apparently associated with.
Film Music is that weirdest of movie elements. Most people aren't aware of it as they watch, but will pony up for a CD if they want a memento. Filmmakers budget millions of dollars applying music, then hope to claw some back by letting a record label do what they want with their title. Now, some folk reckon it's not possible to write about any kind of music. That instead it should just be listened to. But film music can be written about because it's a uniquely supportive thing. It demands we judge its success because the majority of movies get a soundtrack album. The paying public need to know if it's worth their pennies as a memento. So if you follow all that cyclic logic (and the hell with you if you don't), and if you're prepared to waive any fanatical devotion to particular composers, we'll get along just fine in here.
Now that I've acknowledged both the uninitiated and the die-hard aficionados, let's get it out of the way, shall we? James Horner re-uses his own work. Jerry Goldsmith stopped writing action music after TOTAL RECALL. John Williams is never going to re-capture that EMPIRE STRIKES BACK magic. And Danny Elfman still doesn't write his own stuff.
There. That's four of the biggest topics to which film music fans have chewed countless Gigs of Web space over. Will we encounter these topics here? Inevitably. Do I subscribe to any of them? Hmm...
The real idea of this biweekly column is to bring you interviews with composers and exposés of the blight that is the Temp Track score. You'll have the chance to vote on a number of things, even suggesting composers for upcoming projects. As well as those all-important reviews, I'll keep you up to speed on whether or not you can get a memento of cool movies coming your way, as well as past classics. (No, there isn't a MEMENTO memento.)
Hey! If you like what you read and wanna know more, I wrote a book on all this. At a mere $7 from the likes of Amazon, it'll buy my kid a CD - err, I mean a meal, of course!
NEWS NUGGETS
Recommended recent score CD releases to check out:
ROMEO AND JULIET - Nino Rota, Silva Screen FILMCD 358
THE ROAD TO PERDITION - Thomas Newman, Decca 017167
ENOUGH - David Arnold, Varèse Sarabande VSD-6366
PUMPKIN - John Ottman, Citadel 77133
Ottman is already hard at work on X2 (a.k.a. X-MEN 2) even though the film won't be released until May next year. There's a whole backstory as to why he's scoring the sequel instead of Michael Kamen, who won an Ivor Novello Award for the original. All of which and more will be explored in an upcoming exclusive feature and interview with Ottman.
John Williams recently returned from London having seen a rough cut of HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS. It's been perplexingly announced he'll compose around 40 minutes of new music, while William Ross will develop the original themes. Ross is a regular orchestrator in the biz and a composer in his own right (TIN CUP, MY DOG SKIP), but to date hasn't been noted for a connection with Williams. Last year Don Davis was left with the original themes to play with all by himself for JURASSIC PARK III, so it'll be interesting to see how this works.
And in case anyone missed the news a few weeks back, Williams will be re-scoring parts of STAR WARS (A NEW HOPE) when
Lucas gets back to tinkering for the Ultimate Special Director's Edition. As a treat, here's an exclusive link to what
he's thinking of doing... (heh heh heh)
http://www.silvascreen.co.uk/starwars.mp3
SCORE REVIEWS:
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The Composer: John Williams
This Is Now: MINORITY REPORT (2002), DreamWorks 0044-50385-2
Star Rating: ***
Did Williams compose MINORITY REPORT and ATTACK OF THE CLONES on alternate days? I (flippantly) ask because I'm
amazed by the similarities. I knew he'd worked with Spielberg to achieve an atmosphere recalling the style of
Bernard Herrmann (Hitchcock's maestro of choice). Since I'd been carping on about Herrmannesque undertones in
CLONES, I was stunned to find the same here! For example, the cyclic descending phrase that accompanies Anakin's
Dark Side descent appears two minutes into "The Greenhouse Effect" and again in "Psychic Truth and Finale"
(which smacks of VERTIGO). The action cue "Anderton's Great Escape" has had many fans crotch-wet with
excitement, but its trumpet parps and crescendos sound generically spliced together from key CLONES action moments
to me. In "Spyders" there's the oriental log drumming he just used to characterise "Zam the Assassin."
The fact that it was inarguably inspired by CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON is less relevant to REPORT,
however. To this you can add the Dark Side's synth-backed soprano appearing in the title cue and to top
it all, "Sean and Lara," which keeps seeming like it'll break into "Across The Stars"! And all of this
is without getting into earlier works. The jungle drumming opening the disc immediately recalls JURASSIC
PARK's lost world. Later, you'd swear "Eye-Dentiscan" is going to jolly up into SUPERMAN's "March of the
Villains." Spielberg and Williams say they wanted to conjure the musical atmosphere of THE MALTESE FALCON.
Anyone unfamiliar with Adolph Deutsch's score only has to wait until July for a CD that will demonstrate
that this particular conjuring trick just doesn't work.
There are great tracks in this score, of course. "Everybody Runs!" comes to mind. But as a Poll taken at the excellent
www.tracksounds.com shows, listeners are 89% in favour of the CLONES score...
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That Was Then: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977), Arista 07822-19004-2
Star Rating: *****
So why look back at CLOSE ENCOUNTERS? For starters, just like MINORITY REPORT, it's "intellectual" science fiction from Steven Spielberg that came immediately after a STAR WARS movie. Similarly, it was largely overlooked in favour of the earlier Lucasfest, although this had more chance in the Oscar stakes. In terms of style, some comparison makes sense, since both draw from the dissonant and experimental side of the composer. But while REPORT ranges all over the place, making itself at home in 2054, ENCOUNTERS was already familiarly at home in the '70s. Although there's a great deal of "noise" effectively enhancing sound effects, there is still an element of recognisable contemporary melody.
It's been said that playing any of the incarnations of this album is like an orchestra rehearsing in advance of the 12-minute climax. This Collector's Edition is the fourth incarnation and contains everything you need minus that awful disco mix! The supposed "rehearsal" is actually filled with rich moments. There's the military material without which David Arnold's STARGATE would have been the poorer (e.g., "The Cover Up). There're the gentle homey sequences when all is well and good in the Neary household. There's the comic conversation between the keyboard player and the Mothership ("Wild Signals"). And yes, then there's the glorious finale incorporating the Devil's Tower theme, the Mothership's tuba, the aliens' choir and Dreyfuss' "When You Wish Upon a Star" theme.
But let's not forget the real achievement of this score. With Spielberg's "doorbell chime" 5-note motif, music was made an intrinsic part of a film more than in any other. As a method of communication, Williams' score works on multiple levels. It suggests that music is the extended universal language beyond pure mathematics! And for that reason more than any other, I've always thought it a shame both film and score suffered in the shadow of STAR WARS.
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The Composer: Danny Elfman
This Is Now: SPIDER-MAN (2002), Columbia / Sony Music Soundtrax CK 86681
Star Rating: ****
Elfman and director Sam Raimi go back some way. They've collaborated on DARKMAN, ARMY OF DARKNESS (1 cue) and A SIMPLE PLAN.
Scheduling conflicted on THE GIFT, but so long as you don't blink you'll see Elfman's cameo as a fiddle-playing dream figure. There was a mutual interest in one another before meeting. Elfman wanted to work with the EVIL DEAD master, and Raimi with the BATMAN maestro. So with all that behind them, where does SPIDER-MAN stand amongst their achievements? Well, it was never going to outdo the genius of A SIMPLE PLAN. But contrary to what you may have heard from early reviews, this is a densely crafted score that does plenty for the picture. Sadly neglected from this album is a great case in point, when Spidey discovers his wall-climbing ability. Elfman punches every tentative handhold with a brassy blast. It's something he's pulled off to comic effect before; for example, in PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE, when Pee Wee knocks on Francis' mansion door.
Other great score-to-picture moments include the stirring build-ups to Parker's other "firsts." That's the first webshoot ("First Web"), the first confrontation with the Green Goblin ("Parade Attack") and the first kiss. As much as Elfman is great at hitting the drama of a moment dead on (e.g., 1:57 into "Revenge"), one of his greater strengths has always been anticipating a moment. How a composer builds us up towards what's about to happen is just as important as enhancing the moment itself. In a big action movie like this, a composer ought to realise they're going to make more of an impression before a fight scene than during.
So in terms of technique, there's much to admire. Stylistically speaking - hey, it's Elfman! If you didn't get choir, in-your-face percussion and innovative samples you'd be worried, right? There's a thread of fan opinion bitching ceaselessly that he's strayed away from his anthemic / melodic style of the mid-'80s. No, folks, he's developed from it. And you'd have to be deliberately not paying attention to miss the fact that SPIDER-MAN features about the most recurring use of themes in his work for years. It all comes down to what the movie needs, and this was the best opportunity since that era for him to write in a similar vein. But this wouldn't work with the brooding operatic stature of BATMAN. Nor with the cheery colour of DICK TRACY. Set "today," Peter Parker's story needs a hero motif that's uncertain of itself. It needs a street-easy rhythmic punch. And it needs an element of creepy-nasty for the psychological mess inside Norman Osborn's head.
Hit "Play" and that all blares back at you in an invigorating "Main Title." Everything you need to know about the movie and its music is summed up in 3&1/2 minutes. If you absolutely must look for connective tissue from earlier work, it's easy to identify the gleefully abandoned percussion of PLANET OF THE APES (and - shhh - some welcomely familiar BATMAN atmos').
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That Was Then: BATMAN (1989), Warner Bros. 925 977-2
Star Rating: *****
So why look back at BATMAN? Well for starters, it's another perfect example of encapsulating a film with an Overture. Interestingly, they both feature alternate takes of those title cues on their respective albums. Within the obvious superhero link, the two share similar scenarios Elfman needed to "hit." BATMAN also features a lot of firsts. That's the first jump off a roof ("Roof Fight"), the first confrontation with pre-Joker Jack ("First Confrontation") and the first kiss ("Love Theme"). To prove what constitutes the great score-to-picture moments I'm talking about, check out the scene of the Batmobile zooming to the Batcave ("Descent Into Mystery"). Turn the sound off. All the excitement is down to the music. Same goes for the Museum rescue, the chase up the Cathedral and the finale pan upward to reveal Batman framed against the sky (kinetically reprised in closing SPIDER-MAN).
OK - I confess I could go on for hours about why this was such an important film music event. Ultimately it cemented Elfman's name in the A-list of the industry. It proved Warner Brothers Records wrong for thinking they had to delay the score's release in case it interfered with Prince's song album (no one's learned from that incidentally - the same happened with SPIDER-MAN). It also remained the theme most associated with the re-invented character, despite Elliot Goldenthal having a crack at it with FOREVER and ROBIN.
Finally, I'll always be grateful for the score accompanying the most surreal moment of my life. On a hot '89 summer's day as I sat listening to the score in a park, a little old lady passed by walking two poodles. One was black, the other white and each wore a mirror image BATMAN t-shirt with the logo up top. "Looking forward to the film?" I asked politely. "Dick and Bruce are," she said. "They love that TV song!"
THIS EDITION'S POLL:
What's the greatest superhero theme ever written? (It can be movie or TV.)
SHOOT-BACK HERE! |
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