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Yesterday a friend of mine visited me who actually enjoys filmmusic every once in a while. That`s why I played The Ghost and the Darkness in the background. But she couldn`t quite get into the score. The sampled chantings made her laugh several times. The first time it happened was during track 15 ("Preparations"). She started laughing and asked "what is that?". Apparently it sounded a bit silly to her. To be honest I had to laugh after a while as well. Especially the constant over the top african chants are not very subtle and do have a humorous touch.
But at least she liked Goldsmith`s other 90s african score Congo which I played next.
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People have always acted as if Ghost and the Darkness is one of Goldsmith's truly great scores and Congo a mediocre paint-by-numbers score. Even though I love Ghost and the Darkness, sampled chants and all, I must admit I actually have a slight preference for Congo (and I even love the underrated film -- it's in on the joke and knows it's silly).
Yavar
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I love both! Congo's a fun pallet cleanser with a fantastically glorious end credits cue, while Ghost and the Darkness is an epic masterpiece (for lack of a less generic label).
I often laugh during the use of sythesizers in Jerry's scores, but it's not a condescending "Haha, this is so dated, our generation is so superior", but more that the goofy syths add to the fun and whimsy. Silliness is almost never a negative trait to me.
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I love the ferocious action cues in GatD more than the (still fun) action cues in Congo, but I also find the jaunty Rudy-esque theme in GatD takes me out of the dark mood of the rest of the score, a bit. Congo feels like it has a little more internal consistency. And I like that it has a real African choir. Wasn't crazy about it the first time I heard it, but it's grown on me and I especially like the way Goldsmith adapts and develops the choir theme in orchestral form.
Yavar
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Jerry's GHOST AND DARKNESS theme tells a story like his magisterial PATTON theme.
Eternal Africa ... an Irishman arrives ... builds bridge for the British Empire ... the Irishman is still standing at the end ... eternal Africa outlasts them all.
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Jerry's GHOST AND DARKNESS theme tells a story like his magisterial PATTON theme.
Eternal Africa ... an Irishman arrives ... builds bridge for the British Empire ... the Irishman is still standing at the end ... eternal Africa outlasts them all.
Who needs pages and pages of liner notes? You should do that for other scores!
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