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© (C) 2009
THE DEVIL'S TOMB soundtrack
Music:
What iF Score Picks: 'DEVIL'S TOMB' ONE OF THE TOP SOUNDTRACKS TO OWN FOR JULY 2009
Also worth picking up: CHERI, ICE AGE 2, IN HARM'S WAY, RUNAWAY TRAIN, SKY RIDERS, THE SPLIT, RUNAWAY TRAIN, THE UGLY TRUTH and THE STONING OF SOROYA M.
By DANIEL SCHWEIGER, Soundtrack Editor
Published 7/28/2009
1) THE DEVIL’S TOMB
Price: $17.95
What is it?: Cuba Gooding Jr. and his crack team of commandos do some satanic bug hunting to the accompaniment of Bill Brown’s maelifically effective horror-action score.
Why should you buy it?: For Brown’s darkly pulsating small screen music, the devil’s in the details with his criminal acts on C.S.I. And when it comes to videogames, the composer certainly knows how to explosively play hard-ass shooters like GHOST RECON and WOLFENSTEIN: ENEMY TERRITORY. So it should come as no surprise that Brown blows it out of the park when given his first real feature debut. And if there’s any spirit that haunts his TOMB, then it’s the soothing, but intensely sinister sound of Jerry Goldsmith’s ALIEN. Brown’s got that tone symphonically down with lush music that effectively alternates between ominous suspense, a chorus’s biblical warnings and demon-busting percussion
Extra Special: Even if this DEVIL might have been sent packing to the DVD crypt, the film’s fate is no refection on the mega-production value that Brown’s well-performed music gives to it. Consider this score to be a beacon that will doubtlessly signal bigger monsters to come Brown’s way for more impressive orchestral face-offs.
2) IN HARM’S WAY (3,000 edition)
Price: $19.99
What is it?: Otto Preminger’s 1965 post-Pearl Harbor epic gave composer Jerry Goldsmith one of his first truly big Hollywood breaks- not to mention his on-screen debut as a nightclub piano player (though that cameo wouldn’t begin to equal Goldsmith’s frozen yogurt encounter with a gremlin years later).
Why should you buy it?: IN HARM’S WAY marked the beginning of Goldsmith’s war years, a score that would be followed by the even more famous likes of VON RYAN’S EXPRESS, THE BLUE MAX and PATTON. Yet every composing armament that Goldsmith would build on is here in spades, from the military march percussion of a stalwart hero to staccato, piano-driven action runs and a lush, swooning love theme for the officers’ bedroom conquests. It’s a 21-gun orchestral salute to everything great, and glorious about a composer who could depict danger-filled patriotism like no one else.
Extra Special: Intrada’s digitally remastered limited edition marks the second CD invasion of this long out-of-print Goldsmith classic (its first CD issue was ironically from the Japanese SLC label). And while there’s a good amount of war music here, IN HARM’S WAY has a near-equal number of “source” cues that accompanied the film’s off-base carousing, from big band to ukulele Hawaiian lounge music and sultry jazz, with Goldsmith behind the piano.
3) SKY RIDERS
Price: $14.98
What is it?: Who’d have known that Lalo Schifrin applied his action wings to a 70’s movie about James Coburn and his crack team of hang gliding commandos doing the G.I. Joe thing? Certainly not me, until Schifrin’s Aleph label released this obscure, and ultra-cool score to the winds.
Why should you buy it?: If you dig Schifrin’s slow-burning spy tension for MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and his exotic thrills for ENTER THE DRAGON, then chances are you’ll enjoy the suspensefully percolating strings and a plucked Greek bouzouki that convey the feel of whooshing over a mountain top fortress before raining down thunder on the bad guys. Plus there’s some sweet big top music that Pussy Galore’s Flying Circus would doubtlessly enjoy.
Extra Special: The long cues that comprise the swooping music of SKY RIDERS show Schifrin off as a master of the action build, able to command his brassy orchestra or dive low with a simmering ethnic beat, all with the danger and wonder of being borne aloft with a machine gun at the ready.
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4) THE SPLIT
Price: $19.95
What is it?: Jim Brown and his gang rip off The Man the L.A. Coliseum to the funkily criminal stylings of Quincy Jones.
Why should you buy it?: Though he’s best known today as the impresario behind Michael Jackson’s OFF THE WALL and THRILLER albums, Quincy Jones brought undoubted authenticity to Hollywood’s new wave of jazz / soul-influenced soundtracks with THE GETAWAY, THE ITALIAN JOB and THE HOT ROCK. But Jones’ most jiving heist might be 1968’s THE SPLIT, which gets its first release from Film Score Monthly 40 years after Brown’s big score. Jones tops off The Man’s orchestra with the r & b likes of electric guitars, Hammond organs and sexy brass to move along the heist with grooving military precision. Jones also brought a real sense of fun to caper films like this, especially in THE SPLIT’s suspensefully soulful stakeout. It’s an eleven-minute crime jazz jam that’s a highlight of the scoring career that Jones left behind- a cue that’s just as cool as any pop album spectacular he’d produce.
Extra Special: Jones had a knack for weaving catchy songs into his score’s themes. Here the tunes are the strutting “It’s Just A Game Love,” which is sung by Arthur Prysock, Clydie King and Billy Preston, the r & b legend who also gets his groove on for THE SPLIT’s main title. Kudos as well to the ultra-cool liner notes by Scott Betancourt and Alexander Kaplan, which breaks down Quincy’s music as well as Donald Westlake’s “Porter” character, who got his only embodiment as a brother in this film.
5) THE STONING OF SOROYA M.
Price: $9.99
What is it?: Few composers are gluttons for severe onscreen punishment like John Debney, who follows Jesus’ biblical death agonies in PASSION OF THE CHRIST with this far more socially, and artistically impactful score about the appalling punishment meted out by Muslim extremists.
Why should you buy it?: PASSION seemed to be the last note for religioso scoring, especially when that sound combined Middle Eastern winds with Western-centric melody. Debney now returns to that well with SOROYA M., finding beautiful new inspiration in it. For if Arabic music seems mournful by nature, then Debney’s sure use of its instruments and voices achieves staggering power here. It’s music as the ultimate conversion to humanism.
Extra Special: Though SOROYA can be heard throughout the world on iTunes, Debney fans should hunt the web for the score’s limited hardcopy release, which sold out instantly as part of a new Varese series that puts the focus on deserving “art” scores like this one.
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Also for Your Consideration ...
CHERI
If you’re scoring a sophisticated comedy about a French courtesan, then there’s no composer you’d rather have up her sleeve than Alexandre Desplat, who revels in this elegant froth after taking on weightier subjects like THE GOLDEN COMPASS and BENJAMIN BUTTON. Desplat’s come up with one enchanted musical boudoir here, the characters’ amorous adventures driven with gossamer melodies, bell percussion and dance rhythms that would befit the best Can-Can. Yet comedy never means simplicity when it comes to a composer of Desplat’s ability, as his lulling themes and indulgence in sub-sonic tones make CHERI very much a part of his more “serious” scoring fabric for such scores as SYRIANA and BIRTH. And like them, CHERI is more than worth trying on for size.
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NONE BUT THE BRAVE (3,000 edition)
Like Goldsmith getting to tackle WW II big time on the above-mentioned HARM’S WAY, “Johnny” Williams would also show off his composing chops in the Pacific arena, here for the one-and-only picture directed by Frank Sinatra. Williams was also scoring LOST IN SPACE in 1965, which can account for a tell-tale sound of mystery that served both the marooned passengers of the Jupiter 2 and American and Japanese soldiers coming to blows on a foreboding island here. Williams also brings a humanistic Asian quality to the Japanese, and trumpet nobility to our G.I.’s that would serve the composer well in his darkly patriotic score for J.F.K. But when it comes to this landmark BRAVE, the talent and orchestral sound that would make Williams into film history’s most popular composer is present in spades.
ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS
In an age when many kiddie animation scores are obnoxiously scored wall-to-wall, it’s nice to have a soundtrack that never stops with its wonderfully orchestrations. But then, Jon Powell’s been doing this stuff since ANTZ. And by the time he’s arrived at the DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS, Powell’s talent for making comedically romping music melodically engaging is at John Williams levels – if that composer dug getting a bucket of green slime dumped on him at the Nickelodeon awards. Powell’s second go at ICE AGE is his best ‘toon score yet, elevating its hiply primeval music to epically magic levels, with hilarious tango versions of “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine,” and a Montovani-style Scratte eye-lash batting bit that must go down as one of the most hilariously “instant romance” cues in film scoring history- let alone for a rambunctious CGI flick.
RUNAWAY TRAIN (3,000 edition)
Arguably the best film to emerge out of Cannon Pictures (and certainly the one to feature the studio’s coolest use of classical music), RUNAWAY TRAIN produced Oscar nominations for Jon Voight and Eric Roberts, as well as a long out-of-print soundtrack that fans have long-awaited to pull back into the station. Now La La Land does their usually yeoman job of coming up with a limited edition that’s twice as long as TRAIN’s first release, featuring both Trevor Jones’ original album version of his score, as well as the one used in the movie. RUNAWAY TRAIN was an early score to show off Jones’ brand of brooding, pulsating suspense that would continue with the likes of ANGEL HEART and SEA OF LOVE. Here he alternates between disco action beats, ethereal tension and imposing orchestrations. But another major reason for TRAIN’s continuing appeal is its beautiful use of Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” which climactically elevates the film’s suspense to the level of the soulful. It all makes for a musical history that’s evocatively chronicled by film music journalist Brian Satterwhite, making an impressive liner note debut in a TRAIN CD that throttles ahead once again in first-class coach.
THE UGLY TRUTH
It’s far from a despicable fact that Aaron Zigman is this summer’s reigning king of chick flick scoring, hitting every femme emotion from the bouncy romance of THE PROPOSAL to the four-Kleenex emotions of MY SISTER’S KEEPER. Now his UGLY TRUTH arrives to sound off as the most enjoyable score in the pack, with a playful, Tango-style groove that mixes old-school orchestral comedy with guitars and a sexy-hip organ. TRUTH is all about groovy chauvinism meeting up with something slightly more tender, a butting of stylistic heads that you know is going to melodically resolve itself with the equivalent of a big wet kiss. That said smooch here has as much frisky male appeal as feminine yearning says it all about Zigman’s in-demand talents for a genre where he rules the roost.
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UNDERGROUND
Brit composer Stuart Hancock is on his way to becoming the coolest new Caucasian to hit Asian-centric action, beginning with his score for this cage fighting flick that’s just as gnarly as it is noble. Relying more on orchestral muscle than the groove-based scoring that usually fills the genre’s mortal combat, Hancock finds his Big Theme and then proceeds to pile-drive it into the bloody ground here. Fortunately, it’s a very good theme indeed. And pummel it as he might across UNDERGROUND’s bruised bodies, Hancock’s melodic dexterity never lets the listener get tired of his motif, which at times has a Morricone majesty to it. Ditto Hancock’s work on Movie Score Media’s simultaneously released BODYGUARD: A NEW BEGINNING, which has an even more Orientally percussive feel to the moral mayhem- which in Hancock’s purview sounds a lot more emotional than bullets n’ brawn fans would expect.
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YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS TOO
After lending his guitar stylings to every film from YENTL to ARMY OF DARKNESS, Gregg Nestor’s made it his mission to do acoustic albums of Miklos Rozsa’s greatest symphonic works. Now he has the unplugged chutzpah to move beyond Rozsa to some of Hollywood’s biggest orchestral hits. And it’s an unexpected intimacy that reveals a whole new sonic side to the likes of ALL ABOUT EVE and IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD. Even the rabbits of WATERSHIP DOWN become even more rustically gentle with the guitar treatment, while Bernard Herrmann’s string-only score for PSYCHO comes across in a playful way that would make even Norman Bates smile. Nestor’s also got a bit more company here with an ensemble that includes flute, cello, oboe and voice, with a harmonica and whip doing a spin on RAWHIDE that might be the most authentically western treatment that Rowdy Yates’ theme has ever gotten. When it comes to a sweet example of how less can be more, YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS TOO.
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Find these soundtracks at these .com’s: Amazon, Buysoundtrax, Intrada, iTunes. Moviemusic, Screen Archives and Varese Sarabande - or click on the CLICK HERE buttons above ...
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