CD Reviews: Blue Planet and Vanilla Sky
The Blue Planet. A Natural History of the Oceans ****
GEORGE FENTON
BBC Worldwide WMSF 6043-2
16 tracks - 55:14
Music always plays a key role in nature films, taking the viewer beyond
the narrative and smoothing over the passage of time. David Attenborough
and George Fenton have collaborated on a number of especially ambitious
natural history films over the years. For their latest project, The
Blue Planet, Fenton provides a bold, colourful and ambitious underwater
ocean journey. The composer has certainly been inspired by the beauty and
creative force of the ocean and by the wonderful images captured on film
for the BBC.
Fenton's main theme has a great deal of work to do -- essentially it's
the final advert and scene setter for the show. Fortunately, the Magdalen
College Choir from Oxford University combine with the BBC Concert Orchestra
to produce a majestic, pulsating and truly epic theme. In crude movie terms
it's Danny Elfman meets Wagner and Hans Zimmer. Sounds and images crash
against one another -- tones shift from huge brass refrains to lilting
woodwinds, and out of brave vocal chords come calm seas that fade into
towering waves and threatened ships.
The album itself is held together musically (or conceptually) by each
track broadly depicting the character of an animal or place. "Turtles"
owes much to John Barry, in '60s inspired spy mode. "Sharks" is an altogether
more frightening prospect. Heavy cello and bass lines surge around violins
and violas and texture, rather than melody, does most of the work. The
Jaws influences are perhaps too obvious. "Spinning Dolphins" melodically
dances around panpipes and flamenco guitars before charming brass and strings
take centre stage. "Surfing Snails" takes us on a humorous, modern, jazzy
bass-centered journey. For the first time we might be on dry land. But
the essential canvas of Fenton's orchestral underworld carries through
most of the work. "Deep Ocean" builds around a fusion of arpeggiated synth
layers, moody brass and dark percussion. The album closes with "Killer
Whales," a respectful and deeply satisfying tribute, illustrating the full
spectacular sound of the BBC Concert Orchestra and the heartfelt orchestrations
of Geoff Alexander. In all, this is great writing from one of today's finest
orchestral craftsmen. -- Simon Duff
Vanilla Sky **
NANCY WILSON, VARIOUS
Reprise 9 48109-2
17 tracks - 73:57
You might think that a film in which the main character throws himself
from a New York City skyscraper to escape his mental anguish would alienate
and sadden audiences in our post 9/11 world. But Cameron Crowe's sci-fi
melodrama Vanilla Sky probably won't raise many eyebrows, largely
because it neutralizes the horror of suicide with an inchoate plot, fine
photography, cute stars and an interesting pop music montage that seeps
through every scene.
The Vanilla Sky soundtrack album, however, is boring. Because
the songs collected here appear as singles, with their beginnings, middles
and endings intact, the clever sound editing that makes listening to the
film in the theater almost fun has been lost. And while these pieces aren't
exactly wretched (the album features standouts from R.E.M., Paul McCartney,
Bob Dylan, Looper and Peter Gabriel) their attachment to the movie's emotions
and themes aren't exactly apparent either. Because of this, the collection
sounds less like a soundtrack and more like an arbitrary prog-rock compilation,
a K-tel record with existential angst.
Nancy Wilson nonetheless receives credit for scoring Vanilla Sky,
and the two pieces she's penned demonstrate that Mrs. Cameron Crowe can
work convincingly with soft sounds and synthesizers. For instance, "Elevator
Beat," an instrumental fusion of acoustic guitar, static and electronica,
soars quietly, blending the old and the new, and the simple and the complex,
without pretentiousness. The other cut, a tight and hook-y pop tune titled
"I Fall Apart," which features Cameron Diaz's pretty voice, sounds simultaneously
dreamy (like Enya) and violent (like Sinead O'Connor). But these two tiny
beacons, strange and lovely as they are, disappear in the overwhelmingly
mainstream (albeit arty) fog generated by the15 other tracks.
Crowe, of course, is not the only "quality" director guilty of passing
off an all-song album as a score. But whereas David Lynch, on, say, the
Lost Highway soundtrack, selects songs that throb with the same
agonies that bedevil his characters, Crowe's selections rock and swoon
and sway a bit like balloons in the wind. And because of this, this overwhelming
commercial accessibility, the Vanilla Sky CD will probably get lots
of play -- by joggers and drivers and party-goers and the like. Suicide,
I guess, can be painless after all. -- Stephen Armstrong
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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