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Orchestrated and Conducted by:
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Nicholas Dodd
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Release Date:
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August 21st, 2001
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Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you have a little extra money to hear a uniquely subdued
and relaxing entry in David Arnold's career.
Avoid it... if you prefer the orchestral ensemble of your Arnold scores
to make the walls shake with symphonic power.
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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Baby Boy: (David Arnold) Director John Singleton is
known best, of course, for 1991's Boyz N the Hood, and his 2001
companion film Baby Boy is a similarly structured urban drama
involving the disadvantages and trials of African American black men. The
film is once again a challenging look at the central themes that Singleton
often raises in his projects, and while critics praised his ability to
maintain his realistic perspective of the genre, many black audiences were
less than pleased about the stereotypical portrayals of urban blacks in
predictable and disappointing situations. Everyone agreed, however, that
Singleton's film presented far more questions than answers. An interesting
answer to one question was David Arnold, whose hiring for the score on the
project was considered a curious move by the fans of the composer. The
British composer is known in the United Kingdom for his pop arrangements and
album productions. He is widely recognized as the composer of several very
large-scale orchestral film scores of the 1990's in America, and the last
genre that comes to mind when most fans think of Arnold is Rhythm & Blues.
And yet, Arnold's fans shouldn't be surprised that he could pull it off,
because his ability to adapt his talents to several different genres,
whether pop, electronica, jazz, or orchestral, is well established. For
Baby Boy, Arnold would venture into the troubled territory of black
urban dramas, and Singleton's risky choice would be rewarding for both the
composer and the film. David Arnold, at his very core of talents, has
style, and it is that style that allowed him to step into this new
genre like a veteran with all the right tools in the shed. Fans of
Stargate and Independence Day beware: Baby Boy couldn't
be further from those works.
While much of the attention for the music of Baby
Boy was paid to Snoop Dogg's involvement with the picture, Arnold's
score holds much of the dramatic weight of the project. The film made use of
rap song selections for its more attitude-driven scenes, and many of these
songs appeared on the first album that hit the stores two months before the
score album did. The mass of the film, though, is devoted to the development
of its principle characters, and these lengthy scenes feature Arnold's
stylish R&B underscore. Devoid of a title theme, the score instead
establishes the mood with R&B rhythms and instrumentation and allows itself
to sink into a relatively soft and inglorious role. The rhythms are
performed by drums, a bass, guitars, keyboards, various other percussion,
and a solo female voice for two highlighted cues of nightmarish sequences.
These easy-going rhythms persist for most of the album, with a hip, lazy
swing that often continues for several uninterrupted minutes. You don't have
to be an R&B fan to enjoy easy cues such as "Sweetpea's Yard," though to
fully appreciate them, you need to go into the listening experience
expecting that very specific mood. Ironically, the inclusion of a studio
string section (of moderate size) breaks the genre and carries portions of
the score into the more demanding dramatic realm. While these cues often
present emotionally charged sequences of tough decisions and threatening
tones to accompany pivotal sequences in the film, they break up the
listening experience on album. To his credit, Arnold integrates the strings
well with R&B band elements, begging for even more integration of the
strings directly into the hip rhythms. Even as is, though, Baby Boy
is an effective, mood-building score by Arnold for a very specific genre.
Collectors of his works should know that Baby Boyis a very subdued
score as well, so even if you enjoyed his work for Shaft, you won't
hear the same spirit here. Approach with optimistic caution. ***
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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• 1. Waiting... (1:07)
• 2. Meet Melvin (1:58)
• 3. Jody's Nightmare (1:17)
• 4. Talking Commerce (1:03)
• 5. Juanita (0:53)
• 6. Home Truths (2:23)
• 7. Guns and Butter (1:19)
• 8. I Hate You (2:16)
• 9. Sweetpea's Yard (2:36)
• 10. I Wanna Be Saved (3:24)
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• 11. Nasty Girl (2:55)
• 12. Jody and Yvette (3:10)
• 13. Let Us Pray (2:21)
• 14. Jumped (3:49)
• 15. Rodney Takes the Car (1:06)
• 16. Drive By (2:10)
• 17. Finish It (2:35)
• 18. Melvin Takes the Gun (2:38)
• 19. Family (1:16)
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The insert includes a list of the string musicians, but no extra
information about the score or film.
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