Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... only if you regularly appreciate every variant of Jerry Goldsmith's jungle-related compositions of the 1990's, even if that material strays towards mundane and anonymous reflections of ideas better developed in its peers. Avoid it... if you expect this score to exhibit the same spirit, enthusiasm, energy, or sustained thematic integrity of The Ghost and the Darkness or Medicine Man. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Congo: (Jerry Goldsmith) With the massive cinematic success of Jurassic Park a few years earlier, there was never any doubt that studios would jump on the Michael Crichton bandwagon and bring another animal versus human challenge by the popular author to the big screen. Never had Congo been as successful 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 obstacles conquered by the filmmakers (an issue that had delayed the adaptation for more than a decade), the production suffered from a terrible translation into a nonsensical screenplay, with an unknown cast and questionable directorial execution hampering its appeal. An expedition containing an eclectic group of scientists and treasure-seekers venture to the Congo for wildly different reasons, and when they start getting killed off by maniacal wild apes, a few cheers are merited. Several extraordinary, unbelievable elements take their toll by the end of the adventure-turned-fantasy, making the whole laughable for some audiences. Composer Jerry Goldsmith had been lucky, in many regards, in the African and jungle-related assignments he received in the 1990's. Even in the common circumstance in which Goldsmith was handed a truly horrible film to write music for, he would return with a serviceable and, occasionally, very enjoyable primordial score. Goldsmith would likely have been involved with Congo had it originally been shot as planned in the early 1980's (having been Crichton's regular collaborator at the time), and he stepped in as a replacement for James Newton Howard (who bowed out due to scheduling conflicts after doing some preliminary work for the film) when it was eventually green-lighted for its 1995 release. In an attempt to do his best to salvage Congo from the pits of cinematic despair, Goldsmith teamed up with already-involved Howard collaborator Lebo M. and assembled a percussion-heavy orchestral ensemble to provide a robust score for the picture. The involvement of Lebo M. in Congo wasn't a surprise, for his arrangements for The Lion King were still bouncing around theatres with enormous success when production began on Congo. Before long, however, Lebo M. had arguably become repetitive and highly stereotyped, partly due to his continued collaboration with Hans Zimmer and related artists. His arrangements and performances in Congo are surprisingly limited to a relatively short song called "Spirit of Africa." The framework for this recording is the film's central theme, composed by Jerry Goldsmith for interpolation into the rest of the score. While Lebo M. takes the song in a new direction in the waning moments of the "End Titles" cue, Goldsmith's theme still anchors 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 score's orchestral version of the theme by Goldsmith's ensemble 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 a valiant job on its own to compensate for the film's weaknesses, usually choosing to blast the listener with frantic, brassy action cues and underplayed ambience rather than accentuate the finer points of the story. The cliched, varied drums from the song are offered several times throughout the score, setting a rolling, easy rhythm for the orchestra to meander along to. Occasionally, the percussion boils up into an impressive rumble, the full ensemble obliging it with an extended performance of the thematic material. Expect the main theme to be highly reminiscent of horn-led equivalents in The Ghost and the Darkness and The Edge, its long lines attractive in highlights such as "Deep Jungle," "Crash Site," "Bail Out," and "The Rapids." These bold passages may alone be worth the price of the album for some Goldsmith collectors, and enthusiasts of the theme can enjoy it in shorter snippets ("Road Block") and softer, Medicine Man-like variants ("Gates of Zinj"). A secondary theme for the lead ape ("Meet Amy") is tepid. No matter how strongly Goldsmith attempts to infuse life into the non-thematic sections of Congo, however, the straight action material is second rate compared to the composer's usual standard. One notable exception is the introductory character sequence in "Meet Monroe Kelly," which revisits traditional Goldsmith action meters in its quick burst of energy. The anonymous nature of most of the other action sections is an unfortunate mirror of the kind of bland material that Goldsmith often provided for substandard films in the following years. At times, he comes close to capturing the spirit and the energy of the rhythms and sustained muscular performances of The Ghost and the Darkness, but never with the enthusiasm or excitement of the later score; a touch of that popular 1996 work is especially previewed at the start of the "Crash Site" cue. Additionally, the use of clanging metallic percussion and Goldsmith's usual array of synthesizers is adequate, but not inspired to the same level of beauty as heard in Medicine Man. Overall, outside of a few truly worthy thematic and rhythmic highlights, the remainder of Congo seems rather flat. It's not as intolerable as the film itself, but it expresses ideas that hint at the strengths of other superior jungle scores by the composer without ever actually delivering upon its promises. The original album release, however, was just as frustrating as the movie. Designed by someone named Christine Wilson (whose name is listed on the packaging right next to a phone number that you can call and complain to! Way to go!), the Congo album was the first largely known case in which the track titles were intentionally listed incorrectly on the packaging of the product. As it states, the true track order is only available on the CD itself. Such insanity should severely damage any art designer's career. Fortunately, Intrada Records uncovered the full recording sessions for Congo and provided nearly twice the material on a limited 2013 product that adds a significant quantity of the score's highlights to the properly titled listening experience. Avoid the 1995 album like you would a crazed albino ape; in a strange sort of way, that product perfectly topped off a decent and occasionally exciting, but generally unoriginal Goldsmith score for a terrible film.
Music as Heard on the 1995 Album: ** Music as Heard on the 2013 Album: *** Overall: *** Track Listings (1995 Epic Album):
Total Time: 33:37
Track Listings (2013 Intrada Album):
Total Time: 63:32
* composed by James Newton Howard and Lebo M All artwork and sound clips from Congo are Copyright © 1995, 2013, Epic Soundtrax, Intrada Records. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 10/10/96, updated 2/19/13. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 1996-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
1995 Epic Soundtrax