Music

CD Review: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL soundtrack

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL soundtrack | ©2011 Varese Sarabande Records

Of all the television knock-offs that James Bond inspired during the height of the 007 craze in the 1960’s, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE was the spy show that ingrained itself in the public consciousness like no other. Creator Bruce Geller took the Bond franchise’s ever-increasing love of futuristic gadgets to the next techno-fetish level, with the unusual caveat of having its agents rely far more on their brainpower than seductive fisticuffs to take down the villains. And no small amount of IMPOSSIBLE’s iconic staying power through multiple TV revamps was due to the Lalo Schifrin theme, a white-hot jazz countdown that varied […]Read On »


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CD Review: TOWER HEIST soundtrack

TOWER HEIST soundtrack | ©2011 Varese Sarabande R

Brett Ratner might not have the best tastes in p.c.-friendly sound bytes, but he certainly can make fun movies like three RUSH HOUR pictures, let alone have the geek love to get a legit movie jazz master like Lalo Schifrin to score those Chan / Tucker buddy cop pairings. For whatever reason, Schifrin’s not among the crew of TOWER HEIST picture that stands at the height of Ratner’s multiplex-pleasing skills. But if you can’t get the old pro, then a relatively Young Turk like Christophe Beck will do nicely. Beyond being the king of Hollywood’s party down, rock-funk sound with […]Read On »


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CD Review: SHAOLIN soundtrack

SHAOLIN soundtrack | ©2011 Movie Score Media

Composer Nicholas Errera (SLEEPLESS NIGHT) might hail from modern Paris as opposed to feudal China, but you’d think he was musically trained by Master Po himself, given the gentle sweep of SHAOLIN. Where many Hong Kong period action films rely on fancy percussive footwork, Errara delivers both the requisite drum hits and an unexpectedly gentle Zen spirit that’s got more than fancy rhythmic footwork on its mind. Credit that to a story centered on personal transformation instead of gaining mad fighting skills, as SHAOLIN’s warlord undergoes a spiritual conversion in the company of the famed martial arts monks, As he […]Read On »


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CD Review: CHILLERAMA PRESENTS ZOM-B MOVIE soundtrack

ZOM-B MOVIE soundtrack | ©2011 Buysoundtrax

Though he’s done a crazed job on the hellbilly scores of the REST STOP films and WRONG TURN 2, Bear McCreary’s zanier supernatural tastes have been held in check to the point of brain dead-ness by the muted tone of the inexplicably popular WALKING DEAD series (a show whose initial promise has admittedly kept me in slave-like thrall). Thankfully, the composer’s creative horror-scoring shackles were finally ripped off of this year for ZOM-B MOVIE music that makes for the wrap-around segments, and climactic gore-a-thon of the drive-in horror spoof  CHILLERAMA (check it out on Netflix instant). It’s a musical mash […]Read On »


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CD Review: A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS soundtrack

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas soundtrack | ©2011 Varese Sarabande Records

It’s part of this seditious series’ way of twisting straight-laced society that the latest HAROLD & KUMAR movie – A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS –  has gotten William Ross to do a lushly melodic score for number three in 3-D. After all, this is the THUMBELINA composer who’s also orchestrated the warm, fuzzy, child-friendly sound of Alan Silvestri’s THE POLAR EXPRESS and A CHRISTMAS CAROL.  So it’s fitting he’d apply said holiday magic to a VERY special yuletide film filled with s pot-crazed super baby, a sadistic Russian and an ornery Mexican hombre. But it’s in how well Ross nails that […]Read On »


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CD Review: SCROOGED (3,000 edition)

SCROOGED soundtrack | ©2011 La La Land Records

Danny Elfman has never made any bones that the holiday has always been a dead man’s party for him, particularly with his cheerfully demonic, and demented holiday score that updated Ebenezer into a miserly, public-hating and altogether sleazy TV executive. Just as circus music is ingrained into Danny Elfman’s musical DNA, the holiday trimmings of sleigh bells, caroling and snowflake-like melodies have kept showing up in the Hanukkah-celebrating composer’s work, even when his scores weren’t about Christmas. But among the soundtracks that have directly dealt with the holiday like EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, BATMAN RETURNS, THE NIGHMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and FAMILY MAN, […]Read On »


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CD Review: SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS soundtrack

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS soundtrack | ©2011 Water Tower Music

Sherlock Holmes was always a bit of a stuffed British shirt before Guy Ritchie gave him a rock and roll, martial arts attitude that re-invigorated the character with his SHERLOCK HOLMES franchise and its latest installment SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS. Part and pipe of Ritchie’s in-your-face makeover was Hans Zimmer’s audacious score, whose crashing player pianos, scratchy strings and bombastic orchestra gave a terrifically fun, steampunk attitude to Holmes, in much the same way as his defiantly anti-historical music brought unexpected juice to the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN soundtracks. Now Holmes and his ever reluctant partner Watson are […]Read On »


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CD Review: ARKHAM CITY soundtrack

BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY soundtrack | ©2011 Water Tower Music

It’s a very dark musical night when the bats are ruling the belfry, or in this case the unleashed, insane inmates of comics’ most infamous asylum- one that’s also become video gaming’s most acclaimed lock-up. Arkham’s gotten expanded to its own bizarro Gotham in BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY for the latest edition of the smash franchise, with Batman / Bruce Wayne trapped behind enemy lines. However, the most sonically important dual identity belongs to Nick Arundel, a man who’s served as the audio director and composer for both BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM and ARKHAM CITY. Given a powerful orchestral expanse in which […]Read On »


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CD Review: THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY

THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY soundtrack | ©2011 Intrada Records

One of the most rollickingly enjoyable crime movies of any age is Michael Crichton’s 1978 historical heist flick THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY which had dapper Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland and a particularly bodice-cous Lesley Anne-Warren ripping off the Crimean War gold from said speeding train. The fourth accomplice who truly helps them get away with the crime of the Victorian century is composer Jerry Goldsmith, delivering what arguably stands as his most elegantly stylish, and fun score of all time. With a score that sounds as much as a locomotive as melodically possible, the thematically driven Goldsmith varies his main […]Read On »


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CD Review: HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED ANNIVERSARY soundtrack

HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED ANNIVERSARY soundtrack | ©2011 Microsoft Studios

It’s been ten years since The Master Chief took on The Covenant to essentially create the modern video game industry. And through numerous sequels, spin-offs and rip-offs, the legend of the HALO name brand has been the one ringworld to rule them all. But just as importantly, HALO helped show the non-gaming industry that music for the medium could rival the musical quality, and production values heard on television and film. Credit for that can be given to HALO composers Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori, the distinct voices that have been heard through all the main HALO games. While it […]Read On »


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