 |
|
| View Mode |
| Regular | Headlines |
|
| All times are
PT (Pacific Time), U.S.A.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CD Reviews: Van Helsing The London Assignment and Terror Tract
|
| Posted By: Luke Goljan, Nick Joy on November 7, 2004 - 10:00 PM |
CD Reviews: Van Helsing The London Assignment and Terror Tract
Van Helsing: The London Assignment **
JOHN VAN TONGEREN
Decca 0002757-02
16 tracks - 31:09
It's a strange world we live in. While the blockbuster scores to The Ring and 2 Fast 2 Furious remain unreleased,
Decca decided to channel resources into releasing the soundtrack to a
30-minute straight-to-video animated prequel to Van Helsing. And while the decision
to release any soundtrack to the collectors' market is to be applauded,
on this occasion you can't help but wonder "why"? Clearly it was a case
of jumping on the bandwagon (or should that be stage coach?) before the
blood ran dry.
Van Tongeren is best known for his enthusiastic scores to The Outer Limits, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Poltergeist the Legacy TV shows,
and its arguably his underscore to the latter two that proved he was
adept at writing for small screen movie spin-offs. The strongest
sections of Silvestri's movie score are his guitar-enhanced
"Transylvania" cues and climactic love theme. By contrast, London
Assignment is set in...er, London, and the locale has not inspired van
Tongeren in the same way that Carpathian forests might have. He avoids
the hoary "Rule Britannia" clichés that crop up in endless
Victorian London-set scores, and instead opts for an anonymous sound
that merely drives the on-screen action.
The composer takes full advantage of the orchestra at his disposal
(Hollywood Symphony Orchestra), pulling in harps and the percussion
where appropriate, rather than having to rely on their synthetic
counterparts. But the album only really takes off in the climactic
fight, and the most rousing piece, "Van Helsing's theme" (Terminator with timpani) doesn't
appear until the end. I'm surprised that after going to the expense of
using Hugh Jackman and David Wenham to provide a vocal link between the
movie and this short, the producers didn't use Silvestri's score as
well, even if just for the titles. At 32 minutes this is a brief disc
-- the same length as the short movie itself -- but this also means you
get the underscore from the less interesting moments. Tighter editing
would have improved the listening experience, but would also take the
running time below an acceptable length for a commercial release. This
score really only merits inclusion as a suite on a compilation album.
One for die-hard Van Helsing
and van Tongeren fans, but of little interest to soundtrack collectors.
For the score to a direct-to-video animated short spin-off, this is
probably as good it gets. Take that as the faint praise it
is. -- Nick Joy
Terror Tract *** 1/2
BRIAN TYLER
La-La Land LLLCD 1021
25 tracks - 47:06
Low-budget horror movies are typically plagued by scores that take one
of two routes: the pensive piano and small string ensemble, or the
full-blown synth orchestra (ugh). So the fact that the liner notes
repeatedly mention the small budget of Terror Tract is completely
incongruous with the fact that not only does the music sound great, but
it sounds like a large orchestra is hammering away at it. It's
refreshing to not have to hear three players sawing through their
violins, or a sample-happy hack smashing his keyboard every time
something exciting happens. Here, the action music sounds like action
music -- and not only that, it's good.
Repeatedly described in the liner notes as inspired by John Williams' The Fury and Jerry Goldsmith's The Omen, Brian Tyler's main titles
are nonetheless impressive. But more hey carry more of a dash of Danny
Elfman-like pomp than Williams or Goldsmith. Tyler also offers subtle
variations on this theme throughout the score -- it isn't just theme
music a la Halloween. But
this also presents the one major problem with the score -- until it
starts getting down and dirty, it doesn't sound like horror music. It's
fun and at times even soaring. The theme is catchy, but not in a "oh
no, they're playing the theme to that creepy movie" sort of way; more
in a "oh cool, what was that from again -- I wanted to buy it" sort of
way. When Tyler does finally get into more traditional horror music
("Searching" and "Killer"), it unfortunately falls right into the
standard horror movie problem of sounding like loud noise. On CD, this
can be some of the most painful stuff to listen to, no matter how well
it plays with the action on screen, so the choice to go heavier on
themes (there are several) is a welcome one.
If you like Tyler's work, you have to pick this up -- it really is
fantastic. The overall sound is reminiscent of James Horner's "Dark
Discovery" from Aliens, mixed
with the more subdued parts of Elfman's
Beetlejuice. That may not be as scary as a Christopher Young
album, but tracks like "Bobo" and "Psychiatrist" make this album
shine. -- Luke Goljan
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Today in Film Score History:
December 7 |
|
| Basil Poledouris begins recording his score for White Fang (1990) |
|
| Ernst Toch born (1887) |
|
| Georges Delerue begins recording his score for Les Visiteurs (1979) |
|
| Jerry Goldsmith records his score for The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971) |
|
| John Addison died (1998) |
|
| On Her Majesty's Secret Service opens in Los Angeles (1969) |
|
| Paul Baillargeon records his score for the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Latent Image” (1998) |
|
| Star Trek -- The Motion Picture is released in theaters (1979) |
|
| Tom Waits born (1949) |
|
| Victor Young begins recording his score for Appointment with Danger (1949) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
