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Judas Kiss: The Film Music of Christopher Young
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Release Date:
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October 17th, 2000
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Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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Judas Kiss: The Film Music of Christopher Young: (Christopher Young) The
career of Christopher Young has been as diverse as any in the current generation
of film music composers. When he first blasted onto the scoring scene in the
1980's, he stunned audiences with his magical and robust horror scores, many of
which produced the kind of massive orchestral terror not heard in a generation.
His Hellraiser scores alone put him on the map in Hollywood, leading to
five or so years of producing quality horror and suspense scores for such films
as Copycat and Species. His fan base strong at the time, many of
Young's works filtered out into the secondary market in the form of promotional
CDs handled by Intrada Records, since only a fraction of his recorded work has
been published on a commercial album. These promotional albums have since become
highly valuable collector's items. Young's ability to adapt for nearly any
scoring project makes him a respected veteran of film scoring, with his
filmography showing a bizarre collection of seemingly unrelated subject
matters.
In the late 1990's, however, Young has opted for a career of scoring which has
tended to stay far away from the mighty orchestral scores that made him famous.
His recent action scores have often exprimented with electronics, and his
character assignments are signified by his minimalistic jazzy approach. With the
thriller Entrapment not proving to be Young's breakthrough into the
public's eye in 1999, he has laboured with relatively obscure scores such as
Wonder Boys, which is functional in its minimalistic, budget service, but
alienating to most of his devoted fans. The score for the sassy thriller
Judas Kiss is a fine example of this trend in Young's career. A score
consisting only of light jazz and some Latin mambo pieces, Judas Kiss is
really undistinguishable from nearly any other score of the genre, even
mirroring old Goldsmith budget scores of 20+ years past. The jazz has little
character or appeal, with the two mambo tracks holding the only interest of the
score. The Citadel album on which it appears is a collection of Young's works,
and an odd one at that. Perhaps the most confusing aspect of this album is the
awkward combination of Judas Kiss and the amateur live performances of
Young's horror/suspense scores. His fans may love it, but it could leave others
scratching their heads in confusion.
The live recordings which occupy the last four tracks on this album are
performances by The Butler Symphony Orchestra & Chorus at Butler University in
Indiana on Halloween night in 1997. While it would have been fun to hear Young's
music conducted live with a youthful group of players and singers, the recording
(as Young admits) is a bit lacking in a few areas. The sound quality is actually
fine, despite some heavy edits that had to be done to filter out flubs,
instrument clangs, and audience screams. The strings seem to be slightly muted,
while the brass is accentuated in the mix (then again, that could simply be due
to the number of players in each section). As for the performances, the
percussion players are excellent and the brass players definitely have problems
with Young's complexity, especially with the eleven minute suite from the
Hellraiser scores. The brass mistakes make that suite marginally
listenable. The surprise of the live suites, though, is Getting Even, for
which all of the orchestral sections put out a strong effort. It's important not
to forget that it's the enthusiasm of the players that counts the most, and for
the true Young fan, this could still be an enjoyable listen. In the larger
picture, though, this album simply wanders too far in genre and performance
quality to be a solid listen, and if you happen to get your hands on a copy, you
will likely discover only one or two tracks to your liking. **
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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Judas Kiss:
• 1. Judas Kiss (2:20)
• 2. Indiglo (2:34)
• 3. Mod Mango (1:27)
• 4. Coco-La-Mambo (3:32)
• 5. Lizard Meditations (1:16)
• 6. Ameliorate (2:11)
• 7. Beef Orgasms (1:48)
• 8. Sebastiana (2:40)
• 9. Missed Kiss (4:03)
• 10. Elevate to Heaven (3:45)
• 11. Patty Who? (2:35)
• 12. Lucky Charmed (2:56)
• 13. Borkum Riff (2:57)
• 14. Bee Wax Menthol (3:20)
• 15. Coco-La-Mas-Mambo (3:32)
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The Butler Symphony Orchestra & Chorus:
• 16. Getting Even: Helicopter Chase (3:17)
• 17. Copycat: End Title (5:06)
• 18. Species: Suite (5:29)
• 19. Hellraiser & Hellbound: Suite (11:55)
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