Hello again Gamespot!

As you can see, I've made some changes to my blog and highlighted all highlights of a score in red. I'll be going back to change previous reviews as well.

Anyways, this week's astoundingly memorable soundtrack cue is the title theme from Finding Nemo, a positively delightful film accompanied by a positively delighful score as well. Thomas Newman's outstanding work in Finding Nemo was pretty phenomenal, with lots of themes that fit the tone perfectly in the film. Many will remember the quiet, reminiscing piano theme of the movie, as well as the primary theme for the reef.

The title theme, also known as Nemo Egg, Main Title, is a brief but beautiful track that clocks in at a mere 1 minute or so. This one minute length is the only detraction from this piece, though it must be admitted that had it gone on any longer it would no longer have merited so much attention; the fact that it's so brief is actually what helps power it along. Either way, it's fantastic. I highly encourage all music fans to check out this brief piece. If it's not enough for you, grab the soundtrack! It's great.

Here's the track:

http://www.mymoviehouse.com/disney-nemoegg.mp3

In times where sequels are made for the sole reason of being made (and to rake in a billion dollars for the movie industry), Kung Fu Panda 2 is a breath of fresh air. Not only does it manage to hit all the right spots of comedy, it also manages to come up with a story well-told enough that it manages to carry on the Kung Fu Panda name with ease. In fact, I actually enjoyed it even more than the first one due to its awe-inspiring action set pieces, fantastic characters, and, of course, wonderful music. The movie wasn't perfect - it rushed the plot poorly in the beginning, and closed with a dumb cliffhanger - but as a whole, the movie was one of the very best I'd seen this year.
And again, the music was scored by the dynamic duo, Hans Zimmer and John Powell, two of my most revered composers. This isn't necessarily the best duo ever, but they do an amazing job here. Hans Zimmer's fantastic thematic power and intensity coupled with John Powell's rowdy and occasionally zany orchestral s-tyle work wonders together. Gotta love it. After scoring a decent yet inconsistent score for the first, one had to wonder where they would take the sequel score. And I'm happy to report that the music this time around is just as lovable and thematically brilliant, and also much more consistent. In other words, a massive improvement.
Ancient China/Story of Shen: *****/****
Dumpling Warrior: *****/***
Inner Peace: *****
Musicians Village: *****
Save Kung Fu: *****
Daddy Issues: *****/****
Stealth Mode: ***
Gongmen Jail: **/****
Rickshaw Chase: ****
Po and Shen/Face to Face: *****/****
More Cannons!: *****
Fireworks Factory: *****
Po Finds the Truth: *****
Invasion Begins: *****
Zen Ball Master: *****
My Fist Hungers for Justice: *****
Dragon Warrior Remix: *
As is consistent with the previous Kung Fu Panda, the movie opens with a fantastically animated Dreamworks logo backed by the wonderful ethnic music by Zimmer and Powell. It really is difficult to say who wrote the music here; Powell is known for his ethnic abilities, but so is Zimmer. The instrumentation here is simply magical, and the opening minute or so of Ancient China/Story of Shen is quite a wondrous experience. It's hard not to love. The second chunk, however, fraught with the Story of Shen, is less fantastic overall but still features some definitely intriguing work. Shen's theme is introduced; it's a theme with a series of brass triplets rising upwards. Imposing? Definitely. A little bloated? That, too, but it still isn't too bad either. Later, at around 1:50, the percussion starts up, and presents Shen's theme in an awe-inspiring manner not reprised until Fireworks Factory.
Po's theme is introduced in the final notes of Ancient China/Story of Shen, a suitably bouncy and jazzy theme that embodies the humor and hilarity of the character. It receives further expansion in the slightly annoying Dumpling Warrior; the admittedly out of place jazz here feels quite frustrating. Besides the rowdy jazz, the rest of the piece is 5 star, Ancient China material. Oh, and the ending is slightly annoying as well. Either way, Dumpling Warrior has some wonderful stuff in it; the theme in the first score that played when Po was declared the Dragon Warrior gets a reprise, as does Master WuGui's theme. Both are done in ways that aptly represent them (both on various ethnic woodwinds was a great idea).
The Sacred Pool of Tears theme, or the Dragon Warrior theme, returns in the sequel in the beginning of Inner Peace. It's a wonderful presentation yet again, with magical instrumentation and beautiful ethnic instruments doing their best here. Nearly every theme from the first score makes a return in the second, making this a very consistent entry in the series. Inner Peace is a remarkably intelligent piece; it mixes Wugui's theme, the Dragon Warrior theme, and Po's theme all in graceful ways, blending them together into a beautiful and undemanding piece. While the final moments feel slightly out of place, the track as a whole is quite wonderful.
The first full-blown action sequence arrives in full force at Musicians Village, a highly intense and rowdy piece that reminds of Powell's Battling the Green Death from his crowning achievement, How to Train Your Dragon. Later, the track intelligently mixes in Po's bouncy theme together with all the intense action beats, and even ends the track fantastically in this form. While the piece isn't good enough to be a highlight, it certainly deserves a 5 star rating. A truly fantastic action beat.
One of the first score's best tracks was undoubtedly the incredible suite for Sacred Pool of Tears, a long but delightful track. Here, Save Kung Fu adapts the material and summarizes in a great way. The opening even reprises the WuGui and Sacred Pool of Tears mix that was first included int he first score. It's great stuff. From there, the track enters a slight meandering punctuated with notable themes (Po's theme, Po's victory theme from the first score) all get decent reprisals. The intelligence with which the various themes are reprised is fantastic, as it not only sounds cohesive, but also sounds beautiful. The highlight of this track is the last 1:20 seconds. From there, you hear intelligent mixes of Shen's theme, and the training theme from Sacred Pool of Tears in the first score. It may sound comedic at first, but as it progresses, the sense of a journey being undertaken becomes especially apparent. The riff at 3:03 is particularly nice, as is the epic theme at 3:12. It's a brilliantly epic and well-instrumented theme that well-represents the journey and preparation Po and Shen make. Fantastic stuff.
Po's Dad's theme also gets a brief little reprise early on in the track Daddy Issues. The first minute or so is fantastic. From there, the track segues into a wondrous performance of Shen's theme. The frantic strings and the massive brass make for a great moment here. At around 2:00 or so, a rather absurd little instrumentation enters, to be replaced with phenomenal operatic work at 2:20. After this gorgeous moment, however, the track becomes slightly dry until 3:10 or so, where more opera enters, and strings weave in and out of the opera. The track ends on a fairly intriguing manner. As good as the track's best material is, the boring stuff is still a little underwhelming.
The first score's largest issue was its poor splicing of comedy material in the middle of the beautiful and affable material, a bad choice. Here, the comedic material is all in the three tracks Stealth Mode, Gongmen Jail, and Rickshaw Chase. Most of these are clever little reprisals of various themes; Stealth Mode reprises Po's theme a lot of the time, Gongmen Jail reprises WuGui's theme in the latter portions, though the first portion is fraught with some sort of jazz based turd, and Rickshaw Chase reprises the training theme from Save Kung Fu. Its a massively energetic track and it suits the moment well; it's tempting to award this track with a 5 star rating, were it not for the fact that the Save Kung Fu theme is thoroughly butchered here with too many jazz elements. Powell's rowdy s-tyle is very apparent here; the hyperactive xylophone is quite a wonder to behold.
Percussive beats get quite a lot of attention at the start for Po and Shen/Face to Face. The intense yet catchy beat is quite entertaining, and it's slightly lamentable to hear it by replaced by a slightly comedic riff. The percussion takes center stage again at 1:26, with strings fading in and out of it. It's very well done. Quite a clever bit of action music; percussion only is a great idea. The repeated returns to lightly comedic material is slightly frustrating, but the track is also spliced with wonderful string themes as well. At 3:00, Po's theme gets an interesting reprisal complete with a drum set backing up the sound. Later, some more ethnic strings pull off some great themes. A massive orchestral burst at 3:55 mimicking a cannon comes in to explode your eardrums, and does a reasonable job of it. The rowdy and intense themes that come about around 4:25 are quite interesting, and become massively powerful as the theme moves along. Various reprisals of Po's theme come about as well in wonderful ways, further uplifting this massive track. One must wonder for a while as to what score to reward this track; a 5 star rating would seem in order due to the final massive burst of orchestra, but when one looks at the rather disjointed manner of the track, a four star rating seems more apt. As a result, I give it a 5 star/four star rating.
More Cannons is yet another great action track. The many reprisals of Po's theme and such are simply fantastic, and make for a fun and rowdy orchestral piece. Po's theme reprised in choir is simply fantastic to listen to, and the track as a whole is one heckuva piece.
Fireworks Factory isn't bad either, with some wonderfully introspective string themes at first that again become the action beats for Shen. At 4:20, the track begins to oddly resemble John Williams' work in Star Wars, with massive brass bursts. The track represents a lot of the best stuff of the score; wonderfully done string themes and intensity of the action themes, with lots of thematic involvement and creativity. At around 5:50, a very stylish and well-done orchestral tidbit that ties in Shen and Po's themes well shows up. It's brilliant. It's very well-done, and while this track is a bit long and contains a bit too much for its own good, it still snags a highlight rating.
Po Finds the Truth is also an entertaining piece that has a wonderfully peaceful first minute. The first minute reminds slightly of Alan Silvestri's beautiful work in Forrest Gump. However, it's immediately interrupted by an eardrum shattering orchestral burst representing a cannon being fired, and promptly is followed up with some desperate string work. It's very well-done. The Sacred Pool of Tears theme gets a reprisal here as well, as Po learns to (SPOILER) achieve "inner peace" (SPOILER OVER). It's one of the best themes, though the track again feels slightly too disjointed overall. Some of the thematic developments in this track are wonderfully complex, utilizing fantastic choir and string work that is truly awe-inspiring in place. Love it. The brass and choir work at 3:55 reprising Po's theme is awe-inspiring, as is the incredible working of Wugui's theme following shortly after. Absolutely incredible. An absolute highlight.
Invasion Begins reprises Shen's theme in a great way for the first half, before briefly being interrupted for a somber statement of Po's theme using the woodwinds. The theme immediately picks up again with even faster percussion than before, pounding out the theme desperately. The final 30 seconds are also awe-inspiring, with strings and choir meshing brilliantly. Fantastic, but not quite a highlight just yet.
The fantastic duo of Zen Ball Master and My Fist Hungers for Justice is absolutely phenomenal; Zen Ball Master is one heckuva climactic cue, filled with frantic strings, brass, and great instrumentation. The brass bursts around 1:10 are great. At 1:50, the great strings and brass mesh together well again. With brief splicings of the various themes for kung fu, Po, the Sacred Pool of Tears, and Shen all placed around the entire cue, this is one of the greatest cues of this score. After the initial burst of intensity that lasts half the cue, some introspective stuff follows, featuring a heartrending rendition of the Wugui theme around 3:45 or so. The quieter stuff lasts until 5:19, where Po's theme as it appears in the cue Sacred Pool of Tears is reprised. The action stuff again appears at around 5:40 or so, with some of the action become astonishingly rowdy again. At 6:15, the action reaches a great climax, and the cue ends wonderfully as well.
My Fist Hungers for Justice is a great cue, filled with quiet introspection. The quiet cello moments playing WuGui's theme, and strings doing other wonderful themes bring a wonderful sense of conclusion to the cue. The final moment in particular is absolutely beautiful, with the percussion, strings, and choir coming together in ways so phenomenal they make you drop everything and simply listen.
Unfortunately, the track ends on a sour note, with the Dumpling Warrior Remix, a track so awful it's best if you simply delete it as soon as you get this score into your iTunes library. Just know this: it is outright awful. The less you know about it the better.
The Good:
- Outstanding themes that are all at once cute, memorable, and ethnically centered
- Comedic cues separated from usual cues
- Intelligent use of themes
- Several awe-inspiring moments
- Intense yet swallowable action beats
- Zen Ball Master
- My Fist Hungers for Justice
The Bad:
- Comedic cues tough to enjoy, especially Gongmen Jail
- Dumpling Warrior Remix is unbearable
- Some cues feel too disjointed
- A little too many action beats
- Cannon shots in the score are a little frustrating
All in all, Kung Fu Panda 2's score delivers. It's huge and entertaining, and blends the best of Zimmer and Powell together in an outstanding collaboration that feels all at once familiar and fresh. It's rare that a score clicks so well, with the themes fitting well with the tone, and the use of said themes being even better. While some moments were difficult to enjoy, such as the comedy cues, as a whole, the score ranks among my top 10 for 2011, a surprisingly disappointing year for film scores. Had the comedy been more swallowable, the tracks more flowing, and more quiet tracks, I would have granted this soundtrack an ever higher score. Kudos to Powell and Zimmer!
OVERALL: 9/10

Every now and then comes along a massively popular summer action flick that garners huge amounts of attention, even huger amounts of hype, and millions of dollars at the box office. Pirates of the Caribbean 4 became the eighth movie to have broken a billion dollars, proving that even during a failing economy, entertainment is what really enamors people. Pirates of the Caribbean 4 also attracted many with its (admittedly) awful soundtrack, though many apparently thought otherwise. Various torrent websites show the seeders for the score numbering in the 500s, and sales on Amazon are high, to say the least. This phenomenon isn't uncommon; the original Transformers in 2007 was a great example of this. The soundtrack, while admittedly enjoyable, wasn't really anything truly special. Transformers: Dark of the Moon is yet another such phenomenon, as it is still raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars in the box office while having Steve Jablonsky - Zimmer academy acolyte extraordinaire - compose the music yet again. Very simply put, nearly every Zimmer action cliche is apparent again. After hearing Crimson Tide reworked in so many ways, having it here again is simply tiresome. However nice the s-tyle may have worked before, it now grows frustrating. However apt the feel was before, it now grows overused. However epic the themes were before, they now grow monotonous.
It must be admitted that Jablonsky composed some music that very accurately mimicked Zimmer, but if you search for something truly intelligent or orchestral or even marginally original to stand up to the waves of movies soundtracks being produced, you will be disappointed. If, however, you simply loved both Transformers scores for their sheer enjoyability and want to hear that same amount of melodramatic synth-layered brass themes projected to massive heights once again, Transformers: Dark of the Moon may very well be one of the best scores of today.
Dark Side of the Moon: ***
Sentinel Prime: ****
Lost Signal: **/****
In Time You'll See: ***
Impress Me: *
We Were Gods Once: **
Battle: ****
There is No Plan: ****
We All Work For the Decepticons: ***
The Fight Will Be Your Own: *****
Shockwave's Revenge: **
No Prisoners, Only Trophies: ****
The World Needs You Now: ***
It's Our Fight: ****
I'm Just the Messenger: ***
I Promise: ****
Our Final Hope: *****
Dark Side of the Moon, the first track, hits you with pretty much everything the score has to offer. The frustratingly synth-layered soundscape. The repetitive use of cello and string ostinatos. The so-called "epic" brass themes. The atmospheric, deep, reverberating synth notes. The electronic percussion. If this sounds like just about every Jablonsky score you've ever heard, or every Ramin Djawadi score, or several Hans Zimmer scores, then you'd be right - the score does exactly zero things original. Dark Side of the Moon reprises several aspects of previous scores; you hear the first ringing beats of Soccent Attack in later moments, and the cello ostinatos from The Dark Knight show up in the opening, with oddly Tron Legacy-like synthetic beats. One can also discern a little Bumblebee Captured and even some of the music in the climactic battle of the 2007 Transformers. So, all you can call it is clever remixing and repackaging of intellectually unimpressive action music, and though some of the themes were once enjoyable, they've grown old. Why not try recording without synth, and simply go for an epic score performed by a 90-piece orchestra or something? Klaus Badelt proved that orchestra trumps synth in sheer beauty and brilliance through his outstanding work for The Promise, and David Arnold demonstrated that science fiction music goes brilliantly with orchestra. His work in Independence Day may go down in history as one of the greatest sci-fi scores of all time.
Sentinel Prime is an improvement, due to less emphasis on synth and more on themes. It opens with a piano playing the main theme, presenting the theme in a much simpler form that in Dark Side of the Moon, allowing you to actually appreciate it. In fact, listening to Sentinel Prime first and then listening to Dark Side of the Moon actually improves the latter track due to the listener being able to identify the theme. While the synth beats are obviously still there, they're more manageable due to their being toned down. The instrumentation here is also fairly consistent, though the theme is later transferred from the piano to the strings. It's interesting to note that this piece shares its instrumentation almost completely with All Spark from the first score, down to the light percussive beats weaving in and out of the strings. However, it is emotionally less involving and less obviously enthusiastic than its 2007 counterpart. What keeps Sentinel Prime from reaching a 5 star rating is the lack of originality to it.
Lost Signal is highly unenjoyable. It's practically an advertisement for Yamaha synthesizers: check out the soundscape we can produce!
The track's lone interesting aspect is the use of a cello beat underneath everything else. And it works; it sounds fairly nice. But for some absurd reason, Jablonsky decided to include the sound effects of doors closing and metal rubbing against metal inside the piece. They are especially apparent at 3: 05. In several instances, the cello beats very closely resemble Tron Legacy's synth beats in The Game Has Changed. At 3:14, the track actually becomes wonderfully listenable, featuring some great string work that is abruptly cut off at around 3:42 to be replaced by disappointing synth beats again.
The more you progress through the score, the more it disappoints. In Time You'll See features such blatantly dumb use of synth it's annoying; the constant buzzing synth underneath is frustrating. And the same old percussion is also annoying. The fact is that the tracks simply overuse the synth under the impression that it fits massive robots killing each other incredibly well. At some points, the choir is intriguing, but generally, the music here is so melodramatic it's just frustrating. Overall, however, it must be admitted that the piece is actually fairly listenable.
Keeping in tradition with typical Transformers scores, a comedy track is featured. The first score had Sam at the Lake, the second one had Einstein's Wrong's first half, and Dark of the Moon has Impress Me, another completely unenjoyable track filled with a frustrating bounciness and stupidly, synth. Thankfully it uses more instrumental stuff, but all in all, it still sucks.
We Were Gods Once shows that Jablonsky simply can't get enough of Zimmer's trademark sounds; he uses Inception's now iconic "super-low, ominous brass chords." The Fallen's theme from the second score is reprised here, though thankfully without the disturbingly high-pitched synthetic choir. Instead, it's on the strings, though the piece is is so fraught with typical Zimmer mannerisms it grows maddening. The piece is far from godly, as the title may suggest. Instead, its repetitive structure and overstay at four and a half minutes slam it down to a two-star rating at best.
Battle is one of the best tracks in the score, but as much as I may want to look past this piece's errors and grant it a 5 star rating, it really can only merit a four star rating. It takes to the Chevaliers DeSangreal pattern of music first established by Zimmer; how it works is you have the primary theme of the track established very early on, that repeats and repeats with each successive repeat louder and more powerful than the previous until it reaches breaking point, at which point it quietens down significantly and (sometimes) abruptly. However, this requires a number of things: first, a good sounding theme. When the theme itself isn't that attractive, hearing it repeated for 4 minutes is boring no matter how many extra instruments you add to it. Also, it helps if the track isn't played with massively obvious synth that can actually get in the way of the music. Battle's theme is actually fairly unimpressive; it's the instrumentation that backs it up, with fantastic sounding choir and brass carrying it along later. Were it not for the superb instrumentation, the overly simple theme would simply have fallen flat. Also, the track utilizes so much synth in its early stages it's infuriating, and while it eases up through the track, it still is a detracting issue. You can feel Jablonsky's enthusiasm in this track; he really wants to create a brilliant piece here, and he very nearly succeeds. There is no doubt that it is a piece that is easy to enjoy; intelligent it is not.
Arrival to Earth makes an appearance in this score; its theme is immediately apparent in There Is No Plan. It is significantly weaker than its appearance in the first Transformers score, that it definitely strikes the nostalgia chords at just the right spots. The largest issue is undoubtedly the weak instrumentation, translating the wonderful theme to the electric guitar, and while it works well, it is nowhere near the majesty of the original, obviously the highlight of the first score. The second half is occupied by the Bumblebee Captured theme, another highlight of the first score. As a result, There Is No Plan immediately snags itself a 4 star rating for managing to instill nostalgia while still managing to sound capable on its own. A highlight of the third score for sure, in spite of its imperfections.
We All Work for the Decepticons returns to the usual stylistic choices of Jablonsky in his action beats. The Inception horn bursts, the string ostinatos (ripped straight from The Dark Knight) and the synthetic riffs all make their appearances here. It's practically the embodiment of Steve Jablonsky's typical s-tyle, and as a result I can't give it too high a score thought it must be admitted it is a fairly decent piece, considering the score as a whole.
The Fight Will Be Your Own resurrects the somber feel of Bumblebee Captured and The All Spark of the first score. It thus feels more impressive than the rest of the pieces, and though the synth beats itself through monotonously, the synth solo choir sounds fantastic throughout the piece, lifting it above its sordid standards. The string theme also isn't half bad either, at last meriting a 5 star rating for the score. The final moments, where the track calms down from its Chevaliers DeSangreal buildup, again features the strings transitioning seamlessly to the choir. It's surprisingly well-done, and reminds slightly of the Fallen's themes in the second score.
Shockwave's Revenge reminds of several pieces: First, Here Come the Marteetee of the terrible score for Your Highness reminds hugely of the piece, completely with the deep synth riffs carrying the primary theme, together with the same beats and instrumentation. It also uses Inception's deep brass bursts. The rhythm is so similar to Here Come the Marteetee it's ridiculous, complete with the rising solo horn bursts littered throughout the piece. It's cliched and dumb, though likely to be enjoyed by various Jablonsky fans.
No Prisoners, Only Trophies returns to the listenable content of Sentinel Prime, with more emphasis on the piano. A simple synthetic reverb effect provides the background of the track, and strings enter around half-way through. The simplicity is the strength for this track, and the fact that the string theme itself isn't half bad either helps this track to 4 star status. The rather stereotypical Chevaliers DeSangreal feel again dominates this piece, and this piece very nearly manages to be a 5 star piece, but just misses the mark due to a lack of a truly memorable theme, as opposed to the wondrous theme that was Arrival to Earth. It still manages to cement itself status as a highlight of the score, however.
The consistency is instantly shattered by an ear-pounding burst of synthetic percussion for The World Needs You Now, a frustrating piece filled with dumb synthetic effects and repetition. Were it not for the great themes carry this track forward, it would instantly gain a 1 star rating. However, its reprisals of Soccent Attack and Arrival to Earth save it and help lift it to a 3 star rating. The reprisals are smart and utilize good instrumentation, meaning Jablonsky isn't completely devoid of intelligence.
It's Our Fight carries on the feel of The World Needs You Now, utilizing synthetic effects and percussive blasts to an alarming level. At around 1:15, an interesting theme with choir and strings kicks in, emphasized by the ridiculous sounding synthetic percussion. Later, as the brass joins in, one must wonder how good this piece could have been had it been recorded traditionally, as opposed to flat out synthetic instrumentation. The way it is now, it's frustrating. The main theme for Revenge of the Fallen, Prime, plays around 2:28 or so, showcasing the wonderful themes Jablonsky was able to come up with for the previous two scores. Later, some of the instrumentation in Soccent Attack arrives. Shockwave's Revenge gets a reprise here as well, along with Sentinel Prime. The smart meshing of the various themes in this track is what is particularly intriguing; the instrumentation and synth are nearly unlistenable, but the brilliant integration of the various themes for the entire trilogy as a whole make this track a great suite of themes that could appropriately be titled "Transformers Trilogy Suite." While it may not include some of the best themes of the trilogy (Arrival to Earth, The All Spark, Infinite White), it still is a surprisingly adept mixture of highlights for the scores. Were it not for the sordid instrumentation, this track would immediately snag itself a 5 star rating. As it is however, a four star is the most it can merit.
The track quickly transitions into I'm Just the Messenger, but later quickly loses the synthetic feel to It's Our Fight. It is a slower and more depressing piece, though it lacks what is necessary to make a piece truly great: emotion. You can scarcely feel any of it as the synth pounds off mechanically. The theme from Battle is reprised here as well, around 2:45 or so, in virtually the same way it first appeared, making it lack any significant development. This is disappointing. From there, the track transitions into more synthetic choir (good) but then ends abruptly, only to have a new theme pick it up again (bad). The Sentinel Prime theme is reprised in the final 20 seconds, a good ending to a rather unimpressive track. The ending is well-done, however, a decent cliffhanger.
I Promise opens in an awful manner, though the theme that follows - essentially a variation of Sentinel Prime - isn't bad at all. The synthetic choir that can scarcely be heard also appears here and there in good forms, and is surprisingly enjoyable. It manages a 4 star rating, and recognition as a highlight. It cannot possibly deserve a 5 star rating; its length and opening see to that. Were the opening different, and the track longer, the piece would automatically receive a 5 star rating. Disappointing to be sure, but at least it shows Jablonsky has potential.
The final track is arguably the most enjoyable of the entire score; Our Final Hope uses less obvious synthetic elements, and utilizes the "choir" and strings to a fantastic degree here, and the outstanding theme played through the usual Chevaliers DeSangreal pattern here merit it a 5 star rating. The score ends on a fantastic track; it's quite a nice piece, and one that deserves more attention. The final note is slightly ominous, though it provides the closure necessary for the trilogy. Considering this piece is the final piece for the entire trilogy, it is unworthy; however, as a closing to this score, it works. Well.
The Good:
- Good references to previous scores
- Use of synthetic choir is occasionally fascinating
- Great mimicry of Zimmer's s-tyle
- Simply enjoyable at times
- The Fight Will Be Your Own
- Our Final Hope
The Bad:
- Overuse of synth
- Overuse of synth
- Overuse of synth
- Highly unintelligent
- Highly inconsistent
- Boring instrumentation
- Plagiarism
- Impress Me
- We Were Gods Once
In the end, Jablonsky's work for this score is unimpressive. The overuse of synth is infuriating, and the lack of intelligence in his thematic patterns (Chevaliers DeSangreal almost all the way through) is also just as frustrating. The inconsistency in the score - i.e. how one track can feel so absurdly different from the next - destroys the listening experience. How can such a wonderfully pretty piece as The Fight Will Be Your Own immediately be followed by aggression as in Shockwave's Revenge? The mind boggles. Did someone actually think this album presentation would work at all?
Of course, the score isn't all bad. It's actually pretty enjoyable at times, with some works that might c-lassify as guilty pleasures. Also, the synthetic choir is also pretty darn intriguing and suits the score well. However, the best aspect to the score is how easily Jablonsky is able to tie in his previous works and reference them in intelligent ways. It's fantastic to see how easily he is able to twist his previous works and do them in great ways here, particularly in tracks like It's Our Fight and There Is No Plan. This shows that he isn't bad at all at writing music, merely that he is incapable of choosing effective instrumentation. If he were to utilize David Arnold's incredible instrumentation of Independence Day and apply it to his music, his music would be absolutely fantastic… as a Zimmer work. Jablonsky has yet to establish his own identity in his music, and this severely detriments his work. Once he finds his own personal identity in his work, and chooses better instrumentation, who knows where he might go?
IF GRADED ON PURE ENJOYABILITY: 7/10
OVERALL: 5/10

After going through so much music, my opinions and understanding of film and game music has changed significantly. And I'm going to need to edit some of my reviews. My review for Crysis' soundtrack in particular needs heavy editing; after much more thinking, I realize that Crysis has a simply awfully unoriginal and frustrating score.

Crysis has a cliched filler score that aptly repeats about 90% of all stereotypical action scores of today. It's all there - the "epic" brass themes, the electric guitars, the synth, the "epic" choral layering, and etc. And when you go through the score several more times, you realize how inept the score really is. When the atmospheric sections that have virtually no tune whatsoever and work well simply because they utilize forest or alien sound effects to represent their respective areas turns out better than the tracks that actually try to expand themes, you have a bad score on your hands.

Inon Zur simply did not impress me with Crysis. Crysis 2 was a significant improvement due to memorable themes, powerful moments, and smart use of synth. Crysis did not have any of these. The main theme is actually a little dumb. It's just filler music, with no real brilliance at all. Now that I've realized how weak the score actually is, I must give it another score.

Crysis's soundtrack score overall: 4/10

For all its awfulness, the atmospheric parts are nice.

Hey Gamespot!

I've officially given up on the Lord of the Rings scores, and I'll likely return to them. Just not any time soon. Expect reviews for other movies and games.

This week's astoundingly memorable soundtrack cue came from the biggest surprise in the industry for 2006: The Promise, written by Klaus Badelt.

When you step back and look at The Promise in retrospect, it should have been a disaster. A foreign film about some classic Chinese legend no one had ever heard of being scored by a German composer who had yet to prove himself capable of recording anything truly great without the use of synthesizers. Synthesizers to suit a Chinese legend?

No matter how you look back at it, The Promise should've failed. Instead, Badelt decided to have his work recorded through the Chinese National Symphony Orchestra. As a result, the score turned out magnificently. The incredible beauty of the orchestral recordings playing Badelt's remarkable themes for the score created one of the best scores of 2006, if not all time. In one go, Badelt proved he was knowledgable enough in music to utilize an orchestra to fantastic degrees while at the same time proving that his writing wasn't terribly boring or flawed, merely poorly recorded.

Also an impressive aspect to the score was a wonderful album presentation that featured all the primary themes in the first 6 tracks or so. This made it particularly easy to pick your way through the score and appreciate the fantastic ways with which Badelt was able to mix his themes together.

The best track is undoubtedly Come Back, featuring a heartrending rendition of the Love Theme mixed with Kunlun's Theme. The music here is simply phenomenal, with the overwhelming emotion and beauty reaching staggering levels. Badelt's usual chord progressions are rather obvious as well, though it works magnificently. The instrumentation is spot-on, the themes are beautiful, and the recording is simply gorgeous. Give this album a chance.

If it wasn't clear, the astoundingly memorable soundtrack cue was Come Back. Grab it here.

http://prostopleer.com/#/tracks/631760GfVd

Hello Gamespot!

I recently got a bunch of soundtracks. About 20, to be exact, so I'm going to start reviewing the whole batch soon.

Right now, I'm listening to the score for Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the final installment in Michael Bay's ridiculously explosive action series. Steve Jablonsky's work in the original film actually brought me into the whole film soundtracks craze. I had no idea how wonderful film music could sound until I sat there in the dimly lit theater illuminated by the screen itself, watching a massive cube spin through space as a massive French Horn theme pounded against my senses with Peter Cullen narrating.

And the music kept impressing me from there; various moments, like the battle with Scorponok and the Arrival to Earth sequence had dauntingly impressive music. Simply put, I loved it; even after I've begun listening to true masterpieces (i.e. Lord of the Rings, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, Crimson Tide), the original score to the 2007 robot flick Transformers still is massively enjoyable.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was a very different beast from the original. Instead of sticking to the massively memorable and beautiful themes, Jablonsky decided (unnecessarily) to reinvent the series' sound, introducing synthetically high-pitched choir to symbolize the frightening evil of the Fallen, and reprised the Autobots theme of the original to represent Optimus Prime. Then, another theme was utilized to represent the Decepticons, first introduced in The Shard. While not as instantly memorable or enjoyable as the first score, Revenge of the Fallen was a decidedly adept score with impressive music and cues.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon, however, is again an interesting score. It somehow manages to stay faithful to both Revenge of the Fallen and the original scores while still introducing new content. You hear some of Revenge of the Fallen's synthetic choir motifs, and some of the same themes, and you also get some reprisals of themes the first score, like Arrival to Earth and Soccent Attack. The reprisal of Arrival to Earth is disappointing in its instrumentation, but the fact that it's reprised at all makes me very glad that Jablonsky tried to provide closure to the scores.

However, the score introduces a lot of new stuff as well. You have the deep, pounding brass chords ripped straight from Inception's sound palette, the weirdly synth filled beats from Tron, the string riffs from The Dark Knight, and the intense, pounding percussion from Thor. The score seems more synth-filled than ever, and while this isn't necessarily a good thing, it suits the movie well.

Sadly, it seems again that Jablonsky decided to reinvent the sound of the franchise. While he stuck to the same instrumentation and in some cases, even the themes, he still took the score a little farther than necessary, and in doing so took away a lot of the original brilliance of the original. I have to say that as good as the score is, it doesn't compare to the first score. The themes aren't as memorable, the synth is more overwhelming than ever, and the battle themes are distinctly unimpressive in comparison. As a whole, the score is consistent; what's lacking is a memorable feel and any moments that really jump out at you. Look out for my review soon.

Hello Gamespot!

I probably am just going to give up on the Lord of the Rings trilogy reviews and return to them later, seeing that no one really reads them anyways.

This week's astoundingly memorabe soundtrack cue is Back to the Future (End Credits), from the original Back to the Future, written by Alan Silvestri. Simply put, this is one of the greatest soundtracks out there; it's a true c-lassic by today, with lots of memorable themes, extraodinary brass and complexity, and wonderful use in the film. While not quite the caliber of John Williams' Star Wars, Back to the Future has wonderful themes, excellent development, and great suites of the themes. The highlight of the score is undoubtedly Clocktower, but due to its 10 minute length I shall give you the second best track: the End Credits, holding almost all the memorable material in a single cue. Alan Silvestri hasn't written a better score yet, as the sequel films lost the magic that made the first score great.

Enjoy.

http://videoglobe.narod.ru/Soundtracks/Back_To_The_Future.mp3

Hello again, Gamespot!
This week's feature is a composer profile on James Newton Howard. As said several times in the past, James Newton Howard is definitely one of my favorite composers of all time. He has a very unique s-tyle, in that he doesn't really have a specific type of music he sticks to. Whereas other composers, such as Danny Elfman or Hans Zimmer, tend to have their own very specific type of music, Howard is able to go through many different feels of music in almost every one of his works. Whether it's the suspenseful themes of The Sixth Sense or the stunning violin beauty in The Village, the wonderfully magical instrumentation in Lady in the Water or the massively harmonic The Last Airbender, Howard proves his is capable in nearly every category of music there is to be found.
Howard began his career in scoring films at some point in the 1980s; the exact date is difficult to pinpoint as he scored relatively obscure films. While one can say that his first popular film scored was The Prince of Tides, the music was relatively nondescript in spite of the Academy Award nomination. As he began to move through Hollywood movies, he began scoring bigger films, including the relatively well-known film Waterworld. His work in said film was bombastic and exotic, garnering much attention.
From there, he continued scoring films, working on movies like religious horror film The Devil's Advocate and post-apocalyptic film The Postman. Here, Howard demonstrated his incredible ability with trying out new genres of music. In the score for The Devil's Advocate, Howard composed richly powerful religious music filled with magnificent choral beauty, and his fantasy/adventure work in The Postman features some exciting orchestral harmony. While none of these scores were perfect, they showed Howard had much potential, and it wasn't for a few years that he would demonstrate them.
In 1999, Howard met director M. Night Shyamalan, beginning a fruitful relationship. The first film they collaborated on, The Sixth Sense, was a supernatural drama concerning a boy who could see dead people. The film later became a c-lassic, with many considering it to be Shyamalan's crowning achievement. Howard's work for the movie was relatively predictable, often fading into the background. In some moments, however, it supported the film well and represented the characters well as well. In spite of a rather boring album compilation, the score was especially intriguing in the film and gained wide recognition, ultimately netting Howard honors from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for his work.
In 2000, Howard joined Disney for a 3-picture deal, and composed the score for Dinosaur. The score is fairly controversial due to its heavy similarities to Hans Zimmer's work in The Lion King, but nonetheless drew critical acclaim. In the same year, Shyamalan and Howard teamed up again for Unbreakable, where Howard returned to his heavily ambient s-tyle from The Sixth Sense, albeit with more orchestral instrumentation.
Following the success of Dinosaur, Howard scored Disney's next animated movie, Atlantis the next year. Again, another fantasy success, Howard became regarded to be one of Disney's best composers due to the magic and enjoyable feel to his music.
2002 brought Howard more success, ending his deal with Disney with a decent score to Treasure Planet. Despite its weaker mid-portion, the title theme was quite intriguing. Shyamalan and Howard teamed up yet again for Signs, another marginal improvement over their previous works. This time a sci-fi horror/thriller film, Howard was able to compose some truly awe-inspiring pieces, but due to the film's slow pace, ambient pieces were still inevitable.
Skipping forward to 2004, Howard was already widely recognized as a formidable composer. His schedule became increasingly difficult from 2004 to the present, scoring dozens of movies and managing to surprise the audience with his effective music each time. His fourth collaboration with Shyamalan, The Village, brought his ability to compose beautiful themes into the spotlight, as he wrote some gorgeous string themes.
2005 had him compose for two massive films: King Kong and Batman Begins. His work in King Kong is particularly noteworthy, as he was given a mere 6 weeks to write and record the music. Astoundingly, the score turned out incredibly well, and can be called one of his best works. While not as intelligent nor exciting as other scores of today, his work in King Kong was excellent considering the time constraints.
In 2006, he composed his greatest work: Lady in the Water. The fifth collaboration with Shyamalan brought an awful movie to theaters, but the music was beautiful, featuring glorious themes, with magical instrumentation and excellent choral work. The sheer beauty and consistency of the themes was remarkable, and cemented his image as one of the great composers of today. The same year he also composed Blood Diamond, another great score. While it doesn't reach the massive heights of Lady in the Water, Blood Diamond still featured some brilliant moments in it as well.
2007 featured scores that weren't quite as amazing as the outstanding works in 2006, though Howard's works were still remarkable. Scoring yet another movie with water as a major theme to it, The Water Horse: Legends of the Deep wasn't a half bad fantasy score, though it was significantly weaker than Lady in the Water. While its Celtic influences were interesting, its themes weren't quite as strong. Also written in 2007 was the grossly neglected I Am Legend, a fantastically somber score that was all but completely muted in the film. The wonderful piano and string themes were stirring, and the synth-based action beats were fantastically fast-paced as well.
2008 was a stronger year than 2007, featuring yet another Shyamalan and Howard collaboration. The Happening was a much weaker score than Lady in the Water due to its massive string dissonance. While not completely unlistenable, the majority was difficult and highly disjointed, and not something one would want to listen to over and over again. The same year he also scored Defiance, a deep and mature score that would bring back memories of John William's incredible Schindler's List. Another collaboration with Hans Zimmer for The Dark Knight was written in the same year, a decidedly difficult but entertaining score.
2009 featured very little output from Howard, besides a jazzy score for Duplicity. While it was an impressive score due to its mimicry of jazz scores, an enjoyable listening experience it was not.
2010 was one of Howard's best years, due to the release of the incredible score to The Last Airbender. Howard proved once and for all that it was indeed possible to write a fantasy score that didn't liberally rip off Howard Shore's work from Lord of the Rings. The Last Airbender utilized forceful percussion and ethnic instrumentation meshed with modern day orchestral power to create one of the greatest scores of today. His other popular output that year, Salt and The Tourist, were both similar in that they both featured Angelina Jolie performing action stunts, and both also featured much action music. Chase Across DC in particular, from Salt, was a magnificent piece. The Tourist was a much less impressive work, though in context it did fit. Other works, like Nanny McPhee Returns and Love and Other Drugs weren't bad either. Nanny McPhee Returns was a surprisingly adept score for such a horrid movie, featuring some nice themes and decent string work. The work in Love and Other Drugs was unimpressive, but again fit.
This year has not been a great year for Howard, as his best work was Water for Elephants. While Water for Elephants wasn't a bad score at all, it was a little dry in comparison to Howard's other works. The frustrating ambience was plain annoying. Other scores, like Green Lantern, were simply awful in their boring feel. Surprising, due to the subject matter. Gnomeo and Juliet was also an underachieving animated film score. I sincerely hope Howard returns to form soon; his best works are absolutely amazing.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Howard's work is his ability to come up with fresh feels to his works, as aforementioned. For instance, his work in Defiance brings back the solo violin to represent the perils of the Jews during World War II, an idea first made famous by John Williams. Howard also manages to replicate Zimmer's proven feel in The Lion King, and uses the feel for Dinosaur. Duplicity successfully mimicked the jazz-oriented s-tyle of David Holmes. This year's Water for Elephant's reminds of Thomas Newman's s-tyles in works like Finding Nemo's main theme. Still other works, like Blood Diamond, feature Zimmer-like action beats in them, and Howard's Restoration manages to translate 17th century music to modern listeners in a fantastic way.
James Newton Howard can only be called a master at his art; not only is he capable of writing unique s-tyles to each of his works, but he is also capable of mimicking other composers' methods to amazing results and authenticity. Now, while some may say he has no skill because of this, it must also be admitted that his greatest works - Lady in the Water and The Last Airbender - are completely original. Howard has amassed many fans over the years, and I hope to see his works for movies some day win him worldwide recognition, whether it be through biased popularity contests like the Academy Awards, or through Grammies and Emmies. He more than deserves the attention.

Recommended Works:

1. Lady in the Water - If you enjoy obvious yet intelligent themes, beautiful instrumentation, and a truly magical feel, Lady in the Water is for you. My score: 10/10. Best tracks: Charades, Prologue, The Great Eatlon, Ripples in the Pool

2. The Last Airbender - If you can enjoy epic themes despite being buried inside various tracks, and love ethnic power and forceful percussion, The Last Airbender's outstanding score will snare you. My score: 10/10. Best tracks: Flow Like Water, Airbender Suite, Journey to the Northern Water Tribe

3. King Kong - If listenable scores are a must for you, then King Kong definitely tops James Newton Howard's usual suspense work. The beautiful piano solos and a distinct lack of painful dissonance make it one of the most purely enjoyable scores by him. My score: 9/10. Best tracks: Central Park, It's Deserted, Beauty Killed the Beast IV, Captured

As you can see, I was able to put up the first disc's review for The Two Towers!

Yay me.

Anyways, this week's astoundingly memorable soundtrack cue is Main Titles/Morgan's Ride from Cutthroat Island, by John Debney.

John Debney today is best known for his work in The Passion of the Christ and The Stoning of Soraya M. Both movies are quite disturbing in their subject matter, and it's no surprise that the music is similar in style and heavy-handed emotion. Both movies were also fairly successful, and pushed Debney's other work out of the spotlight.

Which is a shame, because before he entered the super melodramatic mode of the two movies mentioned, he scored an impossibly epic score for a movie that couldn't possibly deserve it: Cutthroat Island. The music is now widely considered to be a modern classic, and not without good reason. The movie itself, however, bombed, and cost 92 million for the studio.

It's interesting, then, that the music practically defines the swashbuckling genre. Its frantic speed and powerful themes perfectly fit the feel of the genre, and its immensely epic moments are simply incredible. It wouldn't be out of place in a David Arnold work.

Sadly, Debney let go of this style of music and basically never returned to it - a shame, because he proved himself a master of such work in this one go.

The entire score can be downloaded here, with the exception of the track The Funeral. I highly suggest grabbing the whole thing; sadly, the website requires you download it one track at a time (for all 34 tracks). If you simply cannot wait that long, then download the original album edition, for the one downloaded here is the complete recordings.

Enjoy! My favorite piece was the one with the really long title beginning with "The Battle".

http://www.pyratesahoy.com/potc/Pieter%20Pirate%20Music/John%20Debney,%20Cutthroat%20Island/

After the critical and financial success that was The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers followed quickly. It was inevitable, but not from an economical standpoint; the story simply wasn't over. Howard Shore, attached to the three year long project from the beginning, was hard at work on the second part of the epic 3-part series, and it's arguable that The Two Towers does in fact have the best music out of all three. However, it's true that you could argue this same argument for any one of the movies; the first score's incredible third disc was filled with memorable moments, the third score's impossibly brilliant final disc had virtually all of the highlights of the score in them, and the second score was fantastically consistent the whole way through.
Let us begin.
Glamdring: *****
Elven Rope: *****
Lost in Emyn Muil: *****
My Precious: ****
Ugluk's Warriors: *****
The Three Hunters: *****
The Banishment of Eomer: *****
Night Camp: ****
The Plains of Rohan: ****
Fangorn: *****
The Dead Marshes: *****
"Wraiths on Wings": *****
Gandalf the White: *****
The Dreams of Trees: *****
The Heir of Numenor: ****
End-Draught: *****
As expected, Glamdring introduces the Prologue theme yet again. The prologue theme, one of the most famous and iconic themes, opens all the Lord of the Rings movies and not without good reason - it's a beautifully sorrowful theme. Here, however, the theme is also backed with low brass and extra strings, making it more lambently beautiful and extraordinary. At 1:45 or so, the theme ceases to be replaced by Shore's usual action s-tyle, with the low percussive beats and overwhelming brass bursts ringing out. In the first track alone, Shore demonstrates his understanding of orchestral harmony; brass dissonance, choral work, strings, percussive blasts, and such all blend together in the second half of this track to represent the sequence where Gandalf battles the Balrog. Simply put, it's epic stuff. One wonders why others haven't tried to incorporate choir of this magnitude in their fantasy epics. Lord of the Rings' music works so astoundingly well it practically embodies all the fantasy genre needs for music.
Elven Rope is a calm respite from the tireless power of Glamdring. The Hobbit theme is introduced here, with its playful attitude slightly toned down due to the setting. The strings are more mature here than before, and more subtle. It hints at the impending darkness in the final 10 seconds or so, suggesting that much more is yet to come for the two hobbits.
Lost in Emyn Muil opens with the woodwinds playing the hobbit theme. It quickly segues into a brief hint at the Prologue theme, before returning to slightly lighter strings. The ambience here is quite sorrowful and sad, and fits the mood very well. Shore again introduces his ability to channel emotion through the choir when it enters a somber tune at 1:45 or so. Unsurprisingly, Shore's action feel returns at 2:50, with its usual s-tyle of John Williams brass blasts and frantic strings. Shore's typical dissonant brass bursts ring out frequently, and while it is tiresome to listen to, it works astoundingly well in the movie. The best tracks here are the ones that blend Shore's unlistenable action material with his listenable stuff, creating well-balanced pieces that are cohesive and enjoyable while still being massive in scope and powerful.
My Precious returns to the Prologue theme and fills it with some more of Shore's filler ambience. While it works, the slower and slightly boring tint to the music detriment the music here. The second half is a strange, slightly obnoxious theme that with some weird instrumentation. 2:30 - 2:40 is particularly annoying. Thus, this track gets a 4 star rating at best.
Ugluk's Warriors returns to the thematic brass bursts the Shore takes such pride in. Here, it works well yet again, with the deep brass signaling dark things to come. The Hobbit theme gets a wonderfully noble brass statement 00:50, a surprisingly apt fit in spite of the fresh instrumentation. It immediately transitions into the Isengard theme, with the usual choral power and intense brass presentations. As expected, it's a very powerful and memorable track. Were it longer, it would immediately merit being a highlight.
The Three Hunters begins with the fellowship theme. The wonderful hinting at it in the first few seconds, followed by an incredible blast of it with the brass and strings starting around 00:10 and lasting to 00:56 is a great return to the heroic, positive side to the score, and after the 56 second mark, the score continues its upbeat power with more meandering with the Fellowship theme. Then, as if the track wasn't heroic and positive enough, the Rohan theme gets teased at around 1:35. After the brief statement, the track returns to the score's usual dark hints with the brass. Then, around 2:10, the bass theme for the Isengard theme begins, with Sauron's theme beginning around 2:27. It's an amazing compilation of some of the best themes of Lord of the Rings, and it's truly a piece to be reckoned with. And it doesn't end there; after Sauron's theme, the Isengard theme kicks in at 3:00. The percussive beat carries on for a while after the theme ends. The brass continues to build up, leading to another false climax that segues into the bass line of another one of the orc themes. It's simply amazing how many iconic themes Shore comes up with, and the mixing of them here is astounding. After the massive statements of almost all of Shore's orc themes, the darkness closes off at 4:30 or so, to be replaced with a wonderfully beautiful choir piece around 4:40. The beautiful choral work here, backed up with some fluttering on the trumpet is beautiful, and the way the female choir is handed to the male choir is smart and brilliant. The choral work ends at 5:30 or so, before the track ends. A truly glorious piece.
The Banishment of Eomer introduces a new brass piece of nobility. The strings are given the reign shortly after the brass statement, though this new piece ends at 0:30 or so. After this, a brief but interesting string theme starts, but fades out quickly. Then, until around 2:30, the theme enters into admittedly boring ambience, but quickly returns to more interesting strings and choral work. The decent buildup here is appropriately depressing, and the piece segues into an interesting mix of the fellowship theme with the Isengard theme, though it quickly becomes Shore's usual impressive choral work. The fellowship theme starts again over the choir, with some impressive power. The theme ends with a nice buildup from the choir.
Sadly, this piece has simply too many moments of dull ambience to be a highlight, though its good portions warrant it a five star rating.
Night Camp opens with a pretty hinting at the Ents' theme. It's quite a beautiful theme, and it's good to hear its expansions later in the score. Later, the track enters into typical Shore suspense fluff, with frustrating brass blasts over frantically plucked strings. The Isengard theme erupts out of this painful bit to make the track more listenable, and it succeeds generally. It's interesting to note that some of the brass pairs at 2:20 or so remind of Jurassic Park. All in all, however, this piece has too much dissonance to warrant even a 5 star rating, and can only deserve 4.
The Plains of Rohan opens with the bass line of Sauron's theme, an interesting idea. This theme, with brass fading in and out ends around 0:56 or so to be replaced by a decidedly uninteresting theme, that's fairly boring. It doesn't really do anything and it just meanders, until an interesting horn theme enters around 2:13 or so. The theme quickly segues into the fellowship theme, though it again falls back into quiet meandering. It begins building up, with the brass and strings reaching dizzying levels of power, until 3:30, where it abruptly cuts off into quieter stuff yet again.The theme ends on a quieter, thoughtful string beat. All in all, this track is a little too boring and ambient to retain your attention for long.
Fangorn begins with an intriguing horn theme. It builds up intriguingly as well, with bold brass and frantic strings providing the underscore yet again. It continues to build up, until 1:17, where a new theme is introduced, with the strings and brass providing most of the power. Sadly, it ends very quickly, to be replaced with Shore's atmospheric fluff yet again. At 2:00, the track becomes incredible yet again, featuring complex layers of brass, percussion, and intense strings and blending together into one incredible package. It is one of the most bombastic action beats Shore has composed yet, and it's impressive he could even imagine it. It's truly amazing, and it ends with the strings fluttering high. Powerful brass then kicks in at 2:52, returning the track to its powerfully intense string work. The brass begins again at 3:12, with suitably brash percussion ringing away as well. The track then segues into a strangely atmospheric presentation, with some interesting instrumentation (but little else). This weird stuff continues for a while, all the way to the end. Now, the ending may be ridiculous - but the starting 3 and a half minutes are stunning, landing this track recognition as a highlight of the score.
The Dead Marshes begins with a gloriously lush string theme that likely represents Gollum. Needless to say, it works very well where it is. Then, the track enters into Shore's suspense mode, with lots of unlistenable string dissonance. At 1:08 though, the track returns to its quiet opening, in a great way. The string theme, with various layering of other instruments make for great listening here. At 1:58 or so, the horror aspect kicks in, with disturbing sounding screaming ringing out. It's chilling, and coupled with the usual s-tyle of instrumentation, it's absolutely frightening. Then, at 2:30, as Frodo enters the lake, the horror is completely stated, with the low brass, frighteningly high strings and screams entering and weaving together into truly scary stuff. The theme then becomes more atmospheric, with choral dissonance and low brass weaving in and out to represent the dead souls in the lake. A massive brass burst at 3:46 is particularly powerful, which also marks the end of the horror parts to this track. The track ends on another suspenseful note, but quickly fades out. The track manages a 5 star rating for its trouble, but is simply too unlistenable to warrant it being a highlight.
Wraiths on Wings impresses with its powerful brass work and choral power. With yet another theme for the villains, Shore impresses with his ability to conjure up new themes for the same characters. The track then segues into the Nazgul theme, with the percussive blasts and choral work (and even the track length) reminding of Weathertop from the first score. With such power, the track immediately cements itself recognition as a highlight.
The lengthy Gandalf the White is rather uninteresting at first, though it consistently builds up, with some of the choral work at 2:46 or so being absolutely awe-inspiring for its feelings of wonder. The Rivendell theme is briefly reprised at 3:40 or so, marking the return of Gandalf to the world of the living. It's a suitably impressive moment, and though it does descend into Shore's usual ambience, it's still an impressive moment. While the track degenerates into rather unimpressive stuff, it quickly picks itself up at 5:12 or so, introducing a new theme for Gandalf. It's an impressive set of rising notes, with the choir and brass work rising to an impressively epic degree. The track then enters into a victorious, thematically powerful moment at 5:50 or so, with the choir and brass intertwining in impressively beautiful ways. The track ends on this suitably beautiful fashion, with the final 20 seconds in particular being absolutely awe-inspiring in their power and beautiful presentation. The best parts of the track represent the absolute best fantasy music gets to, and it's impressive. A highlight for sure.
The Dream of Trees is a respite from the powerful music preceding it; here is a beautiful piece with wonderful strings and beautiful undertones, meshing things like the Hobbit theme in for good measure. Simply put, it's a wonderfully beautiful piece and is a definite highlight of the score.
The Heir of Numenor opens in a particularly boring way, though it picks up later and introduces a new theme for the victory of the hobbits. It's an interesting rendition of the Prologue theme, becoming more victorious and signifying the eventual destruction of the ring. From there, the track enters darker status and retreats into the Orc theme and Mordor's themes. The track remains this way for a while, with some admittedly boring bass lines taking charge several times inside. Thankfully, the non-boring sequences more than make up for the boring parts of the track, though the dark themes end around 5:00 or so. The remaining sequence is surprisingly enjoyable, with some very high-pitched strings playing a rendition of the Prologue theme. Brass enters later to carry the theme forward, though the track hints at the bass line of the Nazgul theme. The track ends on a slower note. All in all, this track is worthy of a 4 star rating, due to the overdoing of rather uninteresting, boring fluff.
Ent-Draught presents the first truly lighthearted cue here, with some of the hobbit instrumentation from the first score returning here. The woodwind section playing happily with the strings providing a down-beat is fascinating and enjoyable, and as the track meshes here and there with The Dream of Trees, it's hard not to enjoy Shore's creative and fresh work here. At 1:30, the track becomes slightly more desperate, though it doesn't lose its playful tone. At 1:47 or so, however, the track loses even the playful tone and becomes an outright intense piece that builds up to 2:13 or so, and signifies the moments when Treebeard chases down and catches the hobbits. The final moments, with a beautiful brass theme are wonderful as well, and deserve recognition. All in all, this here is yet another highlight for the score.
The Good:
- Great continuation of Fellowship of the Rings' musical power
- Fantastic themes, as usual
- Great thematic buildup
- Many highlights
- The Three Hunters
The Bad:
- Frustrating action themes to listen to
- Suspense stuff is infuriating
- Some stuff is boring
The score contains almost all the power of Fellowship of the Ring, with lots of incredible moments of harmonic intensity. Simply put, The Two Towers' score's first disc is a powerhouse, with lots of the usual Lord of the Rings intensity in it. The Three Hunters, in particular, is amazing, with so many wonderful themes in it it's remarkable.
There are some of the same problems carried forward as well - while the themes are excellent, the filler work for the battles are infuriating, and simply don't sound great. Frantic string backups with massive brass bursts that lack cohesive themes simply don't cut it, today. That may have been hot back in John Williams' day, but now, it simply is annoying. While it fits the moments well enough, it beats me why Shore can't simply compose listenable action music. Not Hans Zimmer's type - more like James Newton Howard's action music. His stuff is still powerfully enjoyable while still fitting the action moments well enough, especially in his incredible work for The Last Airbender.
In the end, however, Lord of the Rings' score still impresses. The first disc of The Two Towers is a definite 10/10, due to its incredible meshing of great themes, and while it may not do absolutely everything possible to warrant such a high score, it does enough right and includes enough power to gain a 10.
Overall: 10/10