Soundtracks

CD review: SPELLBINDER (1,200 edition) soundtrack

SPELLBINDER soundtrack | ©2011 La La Land Records

Though Basil Poledouris was better known in the 1980’s for the uber-heroic orchestral damage of such scores as CONAN, RED DAWN and ROBOCOP, some of the late composer’s most creative scores were being done for synths, from the wildly percussive car chases of NO MAN’S LAND to the eerie sci-fi western stylings of the HARLEY DAVIDSON AND THE MARLBORO MAN. If there’s one electro-centric score of Poledouris’ that truly held hypnotically evil sway, then it would be 1987’s SPELLBINDER. This little-seen, but very effective chiller cast TOP GUN’s Rick Rossovich as the hunk who falls bad for uncanny hottie Kelly […]Read On »


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CD Review: OUR IDIOT BROTHER soundtrack

OUR IDIOT BROTHER soundtrack | ©2011 ABKCO

A pleasant LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE vibe fills the soundtrack of a movie that’s far more human comedy than the stoner one its ads would lead you to believe. IDIOT’s band of loveable losers gets a similarly ironic, if more low-key vibe on their path to self-actualization, especially with this pleasantly eclectic soundtrack. BROTHER certainly starts on the right foot with Eric D. Johnson’s whimsical interpretation of the Tony Orlando and Dawn hit “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” with plenty of pointed strumming to follow with Johnson’s “2 Roadrunners” and “The Fruit Bat’s “Lightning Bug.” But is […]Read On »


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CD Review: A LONELY PLACE TO DIE

A LONELY PLACE TO DIE soundtrack | ©2011 Movie Score Media

You wouldn’t think of the Scottish highlands as a place abounding with cliffhanging thrills better suited for Sylvester Stallone. Yet promising action composer Michael Richard Plowman (SPLINTER CELL) gives his all to build a convincing, musically formidable mountain for A LONELY PLACE TO DIE – kidnapping thriller-cum-wilderness adventure. Having last given Union Jack-waving glory to the WW2 AGE OF HEROES on the Movie Score Media label, the English composer is back on MSM to deliver more noteworthy thrills. With just a bit of pipes and flutes to get across the Celtic location, Plowman uses an engaging number of approaches for […]Read On »


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CD Review: THE SPACE CHILDREN / THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK soundtrack

THE SPACE CHILDREN / COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK soundtrack | ©2011 Film Score Monthly

Music for a beneficent space brain and a giant killer robot packed with some screwed-up dura mater fill up this impressive double feature of great sci-fi music, composed by the strikingly-named Van Cleave (first name Nathan). While better known (if uncredited) for the underscore of WHITE CHRISTMAS, it’s Van Cleave’s sci-fi scores for the likes of ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS (also put out by Film Score Monthly), CONQUEST OF SPACE and numerous TWILIGHT ZONE episodes that stand as career highlights. But where Van Cleave used CONQUEST and ROBINSON to play the heroism and peril of the outer limits, 1958’s THE […]Read On »


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CD Review: SQUANTO: A WARRIOR’S TALE soundtrack

SQUANTO soundtrack | © 2011 Intrada

Sure October might be one of the best Intrada-Disney months ever with the release of such long-awaited hardcopy treasures as 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and THE BLACK HOLE, but if there’s a new title in their Disney bunch that represents some of the best music The Mouse House has ever gotten, then it’s from a movie the studio devoted to an American Indian. However, we’re not talking about the Oscar-winning score that was bestowed on POCAHONTAS, but the rousing music given to a live action brave named SQUANTO, who pre-figured that soundtrack by just a year. No offense meant […]Read On »


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CD Review: A CERTAIN SMILE soundtrack

A CERTAIN SMILE soundtrack | ©2011 La La Land Records

Few classic composers were better at playing the glory of love against exotically glamorous settings than Alfred Newman. And the 1950’s were a heyday for his lushly picaresque affairs, whether it was William Holden falling for Jennifer Jones against the backdrop of Hong Kong in LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING, or Yul Brynner letting his lips find out if Ingrid Berman was really the Russian empress ANASTASIA as they gallivanted amongst France’s hoi polloi. That country’s Riviera proves a glamorous backdrop for the amour fou of 1958’s A CERTAIN SMILE. And though Christine Carere and Rossano Brazzi might not have […]Read On »


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CD Review: THE HELP soundtrack

THE HELP soundtrack | ©2011 Varese Sarabande Records

Perhaps no member of the Newman clan broke from the lush, namesake sound of Lionel and Alfred more than the latter’s son David- at least to begin with. Bringing his first interest of alt. rock to such joyously groovy late-80’s comedy scores of DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN, THE MAN WITH ONE RED SHOE and REAL GENIUS, Thomas Newman’s immediately impressed with its youthful hipness. But just as soon, Newman revealed his namesake’s mature, symphonic talents through LESS THAN ZERO, MEN DON’T LEAVE and DECEIVED. Rather than one style or the other, Thomas Newman’s scores have been distinguished through their frequent fusions […]Read On »


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CD review: GEARS OF WAR 3 soundtrack

GEARS OF WAR 3 soundtrack | ©2011 Sumthing Else Music Works

After doing an impressive tour of musical duty for Delta Squad, Steve Jablonsky suits up again for the COG squad’s ultimate battle against the seemingly unstoppable Locust horde for the GEARS OF WAR 3 soundtrack. As this brotherhood of war lays waste to the non-human residents of the planet Sera, Jablonsky blasts out huge kill zones of furious percussion to catch every drop of GEARS’ testosterone overload. It’s a rough, raw sound that’s different from the sleeker action workout Jablonsky gave to the bigscreen Autobots this summer, a more rugged symphonic and sampled excitement that’s in synch with flesh and […]Read On »


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CD review: THE DEBT soundtrack

THE DEBT soundtrack | ©2011 Relativity

The global stage of espionage is one Thomas Newman works to far more visceral effect in the equally excellent score and film to THE DEBT. It’s an action genre I’d love to see him get more of a workout in, and hopefully more chases and guns will be awaiting Newman given this film’s deserved Number One performance at the box office. Once again, Newman uses his state of the rhythmic art to electrify a history lesson – if a far more violent one here that reaches into the present. It’s a DEBT that’s paid forward with hyper-exciting percussion and entrancing […]Read On »


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CD Review: THE GREAT SANTINI soundtrack

THE GREAT SANTINI soundtrack | ©2011 Film Score Monthly

The tenderness of Elmer Bernstein’s score for TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD meets the officious jackboot he’d apply to STRIPES to accompany one of Robert Duvall’s best roles as a marine pilot who wears his full-fury stripes at home. Bernstein was equally adept at dealing with youthful life-lessons and the charge-ahead determination of military hard-asses. And no picture played better to both melodic strengths than the critically decorated GREAT SANTINI, whose score swings from the twinkling of adolescent magic to the roaring military drum force of a blowhard, who nonetheless packs his own hidden heart. The film’s South Carolina location in […]Read On »


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