Buy it... if you're ready for one of the most effective and engaging scores in Hollywood's modern age, and easily one of James Horner's ultimate efforts.

Avoid it... only if you found the film offensive for some reason; there exists no good reason to avoid learning about and appreciating this score.

Horner

Glory: (James Horner) Perhaps the best Civil War film ever produced, Glory is the beautiful historical tragedy of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw's 54th Massachusetts Voluntary Infantry unit, the first black regiment in America. Its unlikely formation and ultimate sacrifice gained both the soldiers and their loyal commanding officers surprising respect from Union ranks unsure about the viability of black regiments. The Oscar-recognized film's vivid brutality during the opening scenes of the battle at Antietam would allow the story of the 54th Massachusetts unit to be told without actually showing the gruesome violence that would meet them along their journey to respect. Despite winning three Oscars and receiving nominations for other categories, the film was shunned in major categories in which it had received due attention from the Golden Globes. In the long career of composer James Horner, many of his scores could be identified as his ultimate best. From the adventures of Willow and Zorro to his remarkable year of 1995, and not forgetting the polarizing Titanic, there can be no doubt that of all his scores, Glory is the most emotionally bound to its film and had the most profound effect on that film. To imagine Ed Zwick's visuals without Horner's classical and choral themes is unfathomable, and to hear the score apart from film evokes the same tear-jerking emotions. If there were ever a score built to make you weep when hearing its album, Glory would be that score. Like other scores that occasionally sweep up a new generation of youths and introduce them to their first film score, Glory did just that in 1989. In one of of the most puzzling votes in recent Academy Award history, Horner's decent, but hardly Glory-quality Field of Dreams was the composer's only nominated score from that year. Despite that oversight, the album was Horner's best-seller until Braveheart and Titanic, and has remained well respected through the years.

There are many reasons why Horner's Glory packs such an emotional punch. First and foremost is the composer's significant loyalty to one tragic theme for the entire length of the score. The element of hope manifests itself in the rising structure at the outset, while its second half sways elegantly across a wide range, allowing Horner to maximize the dramatic variations on the chord scheme across the countless performances. A secondary "call to arms" theme for solo trumpet is the distant cry of the Civil War itself, while a woodwind marching theme hails the regiment as it marches to respectability. A second crucial element to Glory is Horner's employment of the Boys Choir of Harlem to accent the use of a full adult chorus throughout the score. No dramatic cue exists without a passage or accompaniment for the voices, and it is the soothing nature of these vocals that brings an almost religious side to the score. Their performance at the outset of the "Closing Credits" is legendary and was heard in commercials and live events for years following the film's release. Another primary element in the score is Horner's obvious use of the snare drum for both authenticity and movement. Never before has the snare been featured in so many different ways in one score. Its precise mixing and subtle changes in tapping emphasis throughout the score place it at differing depths in the ensemble depending on its role in the film. The final element of note in the score relates to just that: Horner's ability to seamlessly integrate source music into his score. Any regiment in the Civil War would have had drums, trumpets, and piccolos, among other instruments, and they are shown throughout the film as a regular part of the regiment's movements. Horner often allows the source usage to play its course before slowly overtaking those instruments with the full orchestra, usually with the source instruments continuing their activities while the ensemble and choir let loose with a performance of the title theme over the top. There is a significant amount of source music in Glory, usually related to various drum performances and parade marches.

As to be expected with any classic score, individual cues stand out. The early sequences in the score are often soulful and cautious, treating the aftermath of Antietam and the early days of the regiment with solitary contemplation. As the regiment comes together, and signs of progress are made with the black troops' training, it is validated by a return to the snare-ripping opening cue that we hear as the white troops prepare for their encounters at Antietam. The score's two notably disturbing cues come with "The Whipping" and "Burning the Town of Darien," the latter of which features some the same tragic layering of strings used concurrently in the more disturbing performances of the Americana theme in John Williams' Born on the Fourth of July. The march in "The Year of Jubilee" is the triumphant cue in the score; as we see the black regiment marching in front of Southern plantation mansions, the snare and piccolo lead the entire ensemble into energized performances of the title theme. The "Preparations for Battle" cue will yank every one of your emotional chains, as the unit prepares for certain death and Horner lays on every drop of drama potion onto the mix. That cue in particular is positioned in the film to be accentuated by the ceremonial firing of cannons as a (pseudo) tribute to the unit. The "Charging Fort Wagner" cue is often denigrated by critics of Horner as pulling several references from Wagner and Orff, as this is indeed true. The resulting merging of styles is still frightfully effective, however. In this cue, Horner's use of the chimes is of interest, whether rolling in octaves or tolling like bells. After the regiment is annihilated, a solitary chorus and trumpet say farewell to the film's heroes as we see the white commanders rolled into mass graves alongside their black soldiers. The "End Credits," as mentioned before, are famous for the spectacular one-minute performance of the choir at the outset. The deep male voices, aided by a resounding synthetic bassline, and tolling chimes in the treble regions are nothing less than a magnificent finish to the film. The score fades away the same as it began, with noble snare tapping, just as the children's choir had been used as the bookends of Willow the previous year.

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Not much more needs to be said about the merits of this score. In its ability to draw upon the listener's emotions (especially for viewers of the film), Glory ranks near John Williams' Schindler's List in its overwhelming effect on your senses. The commercial album for Glory contains all the major cues, some of which were re-arrangements of the film versions or, in some cases, alternate mixes of various recordings made at the time of the score's original performances. Unfortunately, the sound quality of this album was nowhere near as vibrant as the film itself (Glory won an Oscar for "Best Sound," ironically, while being dominated in its mix by the score); the solo instruments like the piccolo and snare were not as prominently featured on that album presentation. A partial solution to that problem arose when the film was provided with an isolated score track on DVD. Some cues, like "The Year of Jubilee," were vastly improved on that isolated track (provided that you could transfer them to CD), while other cues, such as the awkward choral editing in "Charging Fort Wagner," were slightly muffled. On the whole, the bootlegs you see resulting from the isolated score track do feature superior sound, however, and if you're interested in a handful of key cues, such as the Darien cue and the end titles, then you'll be impressed by the improvement. The choral interlude in "The Shaw Party" remains a bizarre episode, however. Most of the new material on those bootlegs that you don't hear on the commercial album is actually the multitude of source music used in the film, consisting mostly of drum beats. A few notable exceptions are the "How Many Are Left?" cue, in which the title theme receives a brief, but resolute performance as most of the regiment's volunteers decide to stay on, and "The Parade," in which another militia snare beat is overtaken by a powerful bass string and cello performance of the title theme. These bootlegs typically feature the original album edits of all the differing cues as well. No matter which album you ultimately enjoy more, Glory is indeed one of Horner's top scores, and remains to this day one of the most effective and engaging scores in Hollywood's modern age.   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Commercial Album: *****
Bootlegs: *****
Overall: *****

Bias Check:

For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.13 (in 98 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.25 (in 184,725 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.