CD Reviews: American Outlaws and Deluxe Aliens
American Outlaws **
TREVOR RABIN
Varèse Sarabande 302 066 276
18 tracks - 37:49
The advertising for American Outlaws lends the impression that
the film is a western for the 20-something audience; perhaps approaching
what A Knight's Tale attempted to do for the Jousting genre earlier
this year.
Opening with high, sustained strings, American Outlaws immediately
invokes the open sound of the west, but it's soon overcome by driving percussion
and a more country-folk sound. While there are hints of the traditional
Western (with the "galloping" hoofbeats), Trevor Rabin quickly treads into
a territory that is more reminiscent of Hans Zimmer's Media Ventures output.
Instrumentation is more than key in helping the music achieve this classification.
There are solo instrumentals punctuated by sparse, open harmonies and the
occasional percussion outburst along with electronica. There's also a solo
"violin" line that's either an electronic instrument or enhanced in some
edgy way. The drum machines appearing in cuts like "The Hyperion Job, I
Was Famous" are idiosyncratic in some respects, but appear to be a current
trend for these films. Most of this music could have easily have been written
for Gladiator (or even Crimson Tide). The way the electric
guitars are employed lends a more contemporary, urban sound to the score.
While the occasional forays into funk might work on certain levels, I found
them mostly annoying.
These dissections are not an attempt to deny the talent and artistry
of Rabin. He has adapted a boldly anachronistic style that has become commonplace
of late in most drama, regardless of period, and applied it to a western.
Whether or not you like this sort of thing will determine if you consider
it genius or not. (I'm not convinced it worked all that well with Burwell's
A Knight's Tale either.) I suspect the producers were more interested
in trying to pretend that this film was as exciting as Con-Air or
Armageddon.
The album presentation makes for an eclectic (or frustrating) listening
experience that mixes the traditional Western scoring with folkish, almost
Celtic-inflected dance music (not an uncommon practice) along with a jazz/country
funk. And as a side note, the guitar opening for "Life's A Beach" reminded
me of the theme from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy of all
things!
The bottom line is that fans of Rabin will likely find nothing new here,
while fans of Zimmer's music will find the album to be a kindred spirit.
As it is, this score may turn out to be the only redeeming factor of a
misfire out of which the studio hopes to get what it can during the dogged,
end-of-summer "crap-o-rama" that seems to have no end. -- Steven
A. Kennedy
Aliens: Deluxe Edition ****
JAMES HORNER
Varèse Sarabande 302 066 241 2
24 tracks - 75:33
The story is familiar and apocryphal: Long before Titanic earned
its boatload of Oscars, James Cameron and James Horner collaborated on
the sequel to Ridley Scott's seminal space-bound thriller Alien.
The score for Aliens -- which Horner was purportedly given only
a few weeks to complete -- so enraged Cameron that the notoriously perfectionistic
director literally slammed the young composer against a wall at one point
(or so rumor has it). Adding insult to injury, Cameron recut Horner's cues
heavily -- not unlike Scott's treatment of Jerry Goldsmith's score for
the original film.
Hollywood legend aside, Varèse has at last seen fit to release
Horner's score in its entirety, and they've done a spectacular job. Featuring
over 30 minutes of previously unreleased music, we can finally hear what
Horner had in mind...or, if you prefer, what set Cameron off. Hastily composed
or not, the score isn't at all bad, though it is derivative of Horner's
earlier work, incorporating motifs from his scores for Star Trek II
and Brainstorm (which is forgivable, considering his time constraints).
Despite the recutting, Horner received an Oscar nomination for his work
on Aliens, and two cues ("Ripley's Rescue" and "Bishop's Countdown")
quickly became movie trailer standards.
The score vacillates from atmospheric "haunted planet" wind motifs (including
the familiar, repetitive two-note "time" element, similar to an effect
employed by Goldsmith for the first film) to the rattling, militaristic
themes that Aliens fans know and love. These action pieces rely
heavily on Horner's trademark clanging percussion-and-brass stylings (of
which "Ripley's Rescue" is probably the best example). Horner also borrows
a trick from Kubrick's 2001, utilizing Khatchaturian's Gayane suite
to represent the cold loneliness of space. Among the newly released tracks
are cues written for lost scenes that were recently restored for the director's
cut: "Dark Discovery" and "Newt's Horror" were meant to underscore a sequence
in which Newt's father explores the derelict spacecraft from Alien
and falls prey to a face-hugger.
The liner notes by Nick Redman describe in meticulous detail where and
when the various cues were meant to be heard. One thing left out of the
notes, however, is the interesting history of the cue "Resolution and Hyperspace."
This Horner piece was used by John McTiernan for the finale of Die Hard
after the director became attached to the temp track. At least he didn't
throw out Michael Kamen's entire score.
The sound quality of this disc is flawless, making it a swell addition
to the ol' CD rack and an excellent successor to Varèse's original
9-track disc. Now you can throw away that Concorde bootleg, and shame on
you anyway for having it! Shame! Shame! -- Chris Stavrakis
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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