CD Review: ANSWERS TO NOTHING soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 02/26/2012
ANSWERS TO NOTHING soundtrack | ©2012 Lakeshore Records

In such omnibus films as FRIENDS WITH MONEY, THE GYMNAST and KING OF KONG, Craig Richey’s proven he has a subtle, often dream-like way of musically getting into characters’ conflicted thoughts. It’s a talent that serves him well in the CRASH-like stories that make up ANSWERS TO NOTHING. Richey hears an alternative sound for acoustical instruments, piano and troubled samples, conveying a tone of both understanding and apprehension at the missing person’s case that links the film’s disparate characters. Richey’s work is subtly mesmerizing, his mellow groove powerfully contrasting with the rock overload of Nico Vega. Her raw songs scream […]Read On »


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CD Review: THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER
THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA soundtrack | ©2011 Buysoundtrax Records

Future KOJAK composer John Cacavas made a notable horror scoring debut aboard 1972’s HORROR EXPRESS, a classic thrill ride that combined mod rock stylings with an orchestral sensibility as old as a fire-eyed Siberian missing link. Cacavas applied an even groovier approach the next year to one of history’s greatest fiends, hearing him in service to an even more evil master as The Count tries to wipe out humanity with the bubonic plague. These SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA would also turn out to be the swan song for Christopher Lee playing the Count at Hammer films, though his nemesis Peter […]Read On »


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CD Review: ANIMALS UNITED soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER
ANIMALS UNITED soundtrack | ©2011 Perseverance Records

If there’s a musical king of the funny animal jungle, then David Newman can hold the title with the likes of ICE AGE, the SQUEAKQUEL to ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS, two SCOOBY DOO flicks and DR. DOOLITTLE among the various CG and live-action creatures that have opened their mouths for a hip joke. That original language is German in KONFERENZ DER TIERE or ANIMALS UNITED as it’s known over here. But no matter if the dubbing’s in Deutsch or English, the wonderfully antic voice of Newman’s comedy music is loud and clear. While he’s capable of such relaxed scores as […]Read On »


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CD Review: HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS: LIMITED EXPANDED EDITION

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 02/25/2012
HALLOWEEN IV soundtrack | ©2011 Ahi Records

Some serial killers need a right hand knife, especially when they also happen to be the director and composer. Such was the assistance John Carpenter required after not only making HALLOWEEN. but also creating the most notorious, and toe-tapping theme in horror score history. That’s how sound designer-turned-composer Alan Howarth was brought into the series with HALLOWEEN 2 and given the “in association” credit for his teaming with Carpenter. Skillfully abetting that film’s far more visceral shocks with eerie atmospheres and relentless rhythms, the collaborators next turned to computer-generated horror for the series SEASON OF THE WITCH. However, HALLOWEEN‘s most […]Read On »


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CD Review: UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER
UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING soundtrack | ©2012 Lakeshore Records

It’s time again to defrost ninja vampire warrior Selene from deep sequel freeze. And though Marco Beltrami gave her a more traditional orchestral horror score approach the last time out in UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION, it’s certainly cool to welcome the series’ original composer Paul Haslinger back into the ongoing Lycan-bloodsucker feud, which gets joined by humans hell-bent on wiping both clans out for Selene’s future AWAKENING. Going for a creepily ambient approach that reflected his Tangerine Dream roots in the first UNDERWORLD score, and then bringing an epic scope to the series’ impressive historical prequel RISE OF THE LYCANS, Haslinger goes […]Read On »


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CD Review: THE WRONG BOX soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER
THE WRONG BOX soundtrack | ©2011 Intrada Records

By 1966, John Barry was fully into the action swing of 007, the dark dramas of THE CHASE and KING RAT, as well as raising a female lion that would win him his first Oscar for BORN FREE. Far less known, but equally impressive was Barry’s talent for very British comedy, whether it was accompanying the jazzy woman chaser of THE KNACK or providing lethal gas for  THEY ALL DIED LAUGHING. THE WRONG BOX provided Barry with another black-humored romp as the last surviving members of an aristocratic class wait to see who’ll be the last man standing, and inherit […]Read On »


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CD Review: PHASE 7 soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 02/20/2012
PHASE 7 soundtrack | ©2011 Howlin' Wolf Records

A pandemic in Argentina causes a quarantined condo to go bananas with expectedly arch, gun-toting anarchy. But if you were only trying to decipher this disease’s effects from listening to PHASE 7‘s score, then you might think it was musical bacteria that caused you to chew bubblegum and kick ass. That’s how spot-on composer Guillermo Guareschi’s south-of-the-border replay of John Carpenter and Alan Howarth’s THEY LIVE is, from a slow, military march to its eccentric blues vibe. Thankfully, the score gets significantly more interesting as civilization really begins to break down, and Guareschi’s well-played homage starts to develop its own […]Read On »


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CD Review: HIDEAWAYS soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER
HIDEAWAYS soundtrack | ©2011 Movie Score Media

French composer Eric Neveux (INTIMACY, SITCOM) goes into the English woods with HIDEAWAYS, where a young man with death-dealing powers has chosen to hide from those he might unintentionally harm. That is until his solitude is interrupted by a girl already at the grim reaper’s door. Thought the sight of the couple’s love blooming as flowers wilt about them lets us know this will be the stuff of ill-fated fairy tale romance, Neveux’s work is far more about hope, tenderness and even whimsy. His score conjures a magical Garden of Eden for these two lost souls, as gentle bells, soothing […]Read On »


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CD Review: STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME: Ultimate Edition soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 02/19/2012
STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME soundtrack | ©2011 Intrada Records

Hardcore fans might be loathe to admit that the most popular entry in the STAR TREK film series (at least until J.J. Abrams re-booted it) was the “save the whales” picture STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME that had the least to do with Gene Roddenberry’s mythology – let alone the movies’ majestically adventurous musical character that had been established by Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner. But dismissive purists aside, there’s no denying the one-off pleasures that abound in the lightweight, character-driven VOYAGE HOME especially in director Leonard Nimoy’s decision to bring a seriously avant-garde composer like Leonard Rosenman aboard […]Read On »


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CD Review: BATMAN FOREVER: LIMITED EDITION soundtrack (3,500 limited edition)

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER
BATMAN FOREVER soundtrack | ©2012 La La Land Records

Where it seemed that the first two scores in the BATMAN franchise were as crazy as you could get with the Wagnerian approach to superhero scoring, then Elliot Goldenthal’s next two entries made Danny Elfman’s brilliant, demon circus takes seem positively somnambulant in comparison. If anything, Goldenthal’s BATMAN FOREVER and BATMAN AND ROBIN scores are like two alarm clocks, screaming through your senses as they mash together the 60’s jazz kitsch that Neil Hefti gave to the television show, along with the brash, brassy experimentalism of John Corigliano’s concert hall works in the 80’s- modernism that changed the face of […]Read On »


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