CD Review: ARKHAM CITY soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 01/26/2012
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

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 01/25/2012
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: THE IDES OF MARCH soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 01/23/2012
THE IDES OF MARCH soundtrack | ©2011 Varese Sarabande Records

In the midst of a very busy year that’s included THE TREE OF LIFE, EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE,  the finale of HARRY POTTER and the ironic opening and closing titles of CARNAGE, French-gone-gloriously Hollywood composer Alexandre Desplat found time to expose our nation’s king-making machine during the month of THE IDES OF MARCH. Far more serious in tone than his previous, ironically offbeat political takedown for GHOST WRITER, Desplat lets his Americana flag fly here, and at low, concerned mast. A Copeland-esque orchestra reveals George Clooney’s potential president as yet another moralist full of hot air, with a trumpet […]Read On »


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CD Review: I MELT WITH YOU soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 01/22/2012
I MELT WITH YOU soundtrack | ©2011 Lakeshore Records

Forty-something guys behaving badly get a beguiling collection of ‘8o’s era American punk, new wave and English beat songs for an album that plays like a Goth hell version of ST. ELMO’S FIRE. You can practically see the black eye shadow dripping from the emo singers whose music made for the characters’ best years, songs whose guitar-driven angst thankfully took pop b.s. into the rabbit hole for the birth of alt. music a couple of decades ago. Now their brooding, vibrant melodies for addiction, suicidal tendencies and sexual dysfunction make MELT‘s twisted beach get-together anything but a blanket bingo. Effectively […]Read On »


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CD Review: SHAME soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER
SHAME soundtrack | ©2011 Sony Masterworks

SHAME director Steve McQueen (soon never to be confused with the actor) takes us on the musically eclectic predilections of a sex addict’s listening tastes, both from Brandon’s utterly confident position as a vinyl-obsessed pick-up artist to expressing the unrelenting carnal drive whose reasons are never expressed in the film. A bit more of a glossy cousin to the sensual, s & m likes of 9 1/2 WEEKS than SHAME would like to admit, McQueen’s choice cuts lend class to the unseemly, ranging from Glen Gould’s vocalized Bach playing to the seductive retro beats of Blondie’s “Rapture” and Chic’s “I […]Read On »


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CD Review: TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 01/21/2012
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY soundtrack | ©2011 Silva Screen Records

Having dealt with political subterfuge in “Che” and his Oscar-nominated score for “The Constant Gardener,” Spaniard Alberto Iglesias gets to take on Britain’s spy agency of The Circus for the second major adaptation of John Le Carre’s classic novel TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY. But whether Iglesias was dealing with Latin rhythms or African percussion on his previous ventures into subterfuge, the composer’s work has always been distinguished by how simultaneously cerebral and melodically entrancing it’s been. That talent is taken to a whole new, subtle level here for what might be the calmest, action-less and near-geriatric spy movie of all […]Read On »


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CD Review: 2011’s Best Soundtracks: The Runners-Up and Composers to Watch

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 01/09/2012
SUPER 8 soundtrack | ©2011 Varese Sarabande Records

It was hard to whittle down the year’s best scores to ten top picks, let alone ten runners-up. Here are the best of a close batch of scores that are far more than second-runs, followed up by the budding composers to watch. ALBERT NOBBS (Brian Byrne /, Varese Sarabande) Irish composer Brian Byrne takes up residence in 19th century Dublin for the upstairs/ downstairs cross-dressing-by-necessity of “Albert Nobbs.” While there’s a sprightly, Gaelic-accented classical sound to the happy-go-lucky strings and harpsichord that propels this not-so proper man of the hotel about, Byrne gradually looks behind the confident veneer to discover […]Read On »


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CD Review: The Best Scores of 2011

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 01/04/2012
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS- PART TWO soundtrack | ©2011 Water Tower Music

THE BEST SCORES OF 2011 THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (Thomas Newman / Relativity) There’s always been something ethereal, if not downright unearthly about the dreamy, often rhythmic sound that’s allowed Thomas Newman to become the first alt. rocker to make it big as a film composer. It’s a sound that’s particularly well-suited to the spiritual, conveying a universe behind the walls of reality in such scores as THE RAPTURE, OSCAR AND LUCINDA and PHENOMENON. Now Newman’s on the side of the angels with hats for this moving, faith-based Phillip K. Dick adaptation. His mesmerizing mix employs strings and acoustic guitar, suspenseful […]Read On »


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CD Review: WOLFEN soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 01/03/2012
WOLFEN soundtrack | ©2011 Intrada Records

In the late 1970s and super early 1980s, James Horner had been clawing his way up from the low-budget likes of  THE LADY IN RED, HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP and BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, giving 110% of his already formidable thematic talent to these enjoyable Roger Corman-produced flicks. It was only a matter of time before Hollywood would notice, and 1981’s one-two Orion Picture horror punch of THE HAND and WOLFEN would deservedly take Horner into the big leagues- even if these two thrillers remain cult items. Smong soundtrack fans, they’ve also been two of James Horner’s most-requested releases. Now […]Read On »


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CD Review: RAPTURE soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 01/01/2012
RAPTURE soundtrack | ©2011 Intrada Records

In the early 1960’s, Georges Delerue was well established in Europe for his delicately classical, and distinctly French approach to such dramas as THE SOFT SKIN and CONTEMPT. It was this poetic sound that finally took him to Hollywood by mid-decade, with one of his first English language scores ironically accompanying the French setting of 1965’s RAPTURE. No longer obscure thanks to Intrada’s soundtrack release and the film’s accompanying DVD debut on Twilight Time, RAPTURE is a true revelation in Delerue’s resume of early masterworks. The composer’s voice is immediately recognizable in his use of harps, dulcimers and languid string […]Read On »


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