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Orchestrated by:
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Alexander Courage and Arthur Morton
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Performed by:
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The National Philharmonic Orchestra
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Release Date:
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June 13th, 1995
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Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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| | Goldsmith | |
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Congo: (Jerry Goldsmith) With the massive cinematic
success of Jurassic Park a few years earlier, the studios would jump
on the Michael Crichton bandwagon and bring another animal versus human
challenge by Crichton to the big screen. Never had Congo been as
successful as a concept as many of the writer's other stories of technology
and nature, but the film's distinguishing production feature would be the
massive apes themselves. Even with many of the technical obsticles conquered
by the filmmakers, the film suffered from a terrible translation onto the
theatre level, with an unknown cast and questionable directorial execution.
Composer Jerry Goldsmith had been lucky, in many regards, in the African or
jungle-related assignments he would receive in the 1990's. Even in the
common circumstances when Goldsmith was handed a truly horrible film to
provide music for, he would offer in return a serviceable and, occasionally,
enjoyable score. In an attempt to do his best to salvage Congo from
the cinematic pits of despair, Goldsmith would team up with Lebo M. and
assemble a percussion-heavy orchestral ensemble to provide the music for the
picture. The involvement of Lebo M. in the project wasn't a surprise, for
his arrangements for The Lion King were still bouncing around
theatres with enormous success when Congo production began. Since
1995, however, Lebo M. has become repetitive and highly stereotyped, partly
due to his continued collaboration with Hans Zimmer. His arrangments and
performances in Congo would be limited to a piece called "Spirit of
Africa." The framework for this song is its central theme, composed by Jerry
Goldsmith for interpolation in the rest of the score. While Lebo M. would
take the song in a new direction at the end of the final titles cue,
Goldsmith's theme would anchor the piece.
The Lebo M. aspect of the "Spirit of Africa" song is very
generic, with pounding drums and African chanting yielding to one great
performance of the theme by Goldsmith's orchestra in the middle of the first
song appearance. Otherwise, the Lebo M. elements are sorely lost in the
central mass of the score, diminishing their effectiveness in Congo
as a whole. Goldsmith's underscore does its best to compensate for the
film's weaknesses on its own, usually choosing to blast the listener with
frantic, brassy action cues rather than accentuate the finer points of the
story. The stereotypical, varied drums would be offered several times
throughout the score, setting a rolling, easy rhythm for the orchestra to
meander along to. Occasionally, the percussion boils up into a full rumble,
and the orchestra obliges it with a full performance of thematic material.
Such would be the case in the cues "Deep Jungle" (fourth on album) and
"Crash Site" (sixth cue on album), which are easily the highlights of the
score. No matter how strongly Goldsmith attempts to infuse life into other
sections of the score, however, the straight action material is second rate
compared to Goldsmith's usual standard. At times, he comes close to
capturing the spirit and the energy of the rhythms (and bold performances)
of The Ghost and the Darkness, but never with the enthusiasm or
excitement of the latter. A touch of the 1996 score favorite would be
previewed at the start of the "Crash Site" cue. Additionally, the use of
clanging metallic percussion and Goldsmith's array of synthestizers is
adequate, but not inspired to the same level of beauty as heard in
Medicine Man. Overall, the production of Congo seems rather
flat. It's not as intolerable as the film, but it expresses ideas that hint
at the strengths of other superior jungle scores by the composer. The album
release, however, is just as bad as the film. Designed by someone named
Christine Wilson (whose name is listed right next to a phone number on the
packaging that you can call and complain to! Way to go!), Congo was
the first largely known case in which the track titles were intentionally
listed incorrectly on the packaging of the album. As it states, the true
track order is only available on the CD itself, with the tracks listed
randomly on the packaging. This is insane! Perhaps it perfectly tops off a
generally unoriginal Goldsmith score for a terrible film. **
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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Incorrect Listing on Packaging:
• 1. Spirit of Africa (2:42)
• 2. Amy's Nightmare (2:59)
• 3. No Customs (1:49)
• 4. Kahega (2:34)
• 5. Bail Out (2:27)
• 6. Deep Jungle (2:00)
• 7. Hippo Attack (4:03)
• 8. Crash Site (2:12)
• 9. Gates of Zinj (2:19)
• 10. Amy's Farewell/End Titles (10:28)
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Correct Listing:
• 1. Spirit of Africa (2:42)
• 2. Bail Out (2:59)
• 3. No Customs (1:49)
• 4. Deep Jungle (2:34)
• 5. Hippo Attack (2:27)
• 6. Crash Site (2:00)
• 7. Gates of Zinj (4:03)
• 8. Amy's Nightmare (2:12)
• 9. Kahega (2:19)
• 10. Amy's Farewell/End Titles (10:28)
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The packaging is extremely difficult to read and understand.
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