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| • | Newest Major Reviews: | . | • | This Week's Most Popular Reviews: | • | Best-Selling Albums: | ||
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1. Nim's Island 2. The Life Before Her Eyes 3. Horton Hears a Who! 4. Leatherheads 5. The Spiderwick Chronicles | . | . |
1. Moulin Rouge 2. Gladiator 3. POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl 4. Star Wars: A New Hope 5. Edward Scissorhands |
6. Pearl Harbor 7. Schindler's List 8. Titanic 9. Braveheart 10. Home Alone | . | . |
1. Varèse Sarabande 25th 2. The Last of the Mohicans 3. Legends of the Fall 4. Schindler's List 5. LOTR: Return of the King (Set) |
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if and only if you have heard and approve of the music in the film, because this is not a "buy by faith" experiment. Avoid it... if you value vibrant symphonic sound for films of this size and aren't in tune with heavy metal songs and their score equivalent. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The Life of David Gale: (Alex Parker/Jake Parker) The films of producer and director Alan Parker have covered a wide range of different musical genres, including the immense adaptation of Evita in 1996 and a collaboration with John Williams for Angela's Ashes a few years later. For his thriller, The Life of David Gale, Parker didn't immediately know what direction to take with the music. His two sons, Alex and Jake, are both musicians and have assisted their father with temp scores for his films in the past (they even contributed thematic material to Come See the Paradise). Alex is an audio engineer and performer with electronic instruments, and Jake is classically trained to compose with orchestral elements. During the shooting of The Life of David Gale, director Parker once again utilized the assistance of his two sons for temp work. As the process continued, a decision was made to simply elaborate on that temp work and produce the final score out of it. Both Alex and Jake were unleashed on the project almost immediately after scenes were shot. It would be the first time this would happen for the Parkers, and it inevitably saved the studio some money. What resulted is, not surprisingly, what sounds like a well-recorded temp score. Director Alan Parker wanted something modern and edgier for the thrilling story. Alex produced the synthetic rhythms necessary to accentuate the harsh, banging reality of the capital punishment system, while Jake worked with the London ensemble on the orchestral elements meant to add the sense of humanity to the score. The two styles are clearly distinct, especially under examination on album. The cues by Alex are atmospheric and use harsh electronic samples and driving urban rhythms to set a mood through attitude alone. No outstanding or consistent rhythm extends itself beyond the others. The "Media Frenzy" cue rips with electric guitar madness and perhaps underlines the true attitude behind the electronic half of the music. Mixed in with these rhythms are several rap-like whisperings and sound effects popular in the techno scene. Meanwhile, Jake has contracted an orchestra that consisted of only a string section, which was a curious move. Director Alan Parker often referred to Jake's half of the score as the "classical" half, but what the string orchestra produced was often material that could easily have been substituted with electronic strings closer to the Alex side of the equation. The string writing is very simplistic, with a slight motif as its melody and typically no bass to accompany the dual violin lines. The most impressive writing by Jake appears in the first score track on the album, "Almost Martyrs." The experimentation in the musical approach to The Life of David Gale may suffice in the film, but it suffers from incongruence on album. Jake and Alex's material simply does not mix well, and with the two songs by Alex starting and essentially finishing the score, the mundane string writing by Jake gets completely lost in the mix. In fact, although orchestral film score fans may be more inclined to enjoy the string performances, the score and album could have benefited by sticking to Alex's style. The Alex Parker songs are consistent with his score material, and will likely turn away score enthusiasts; their sultry, dreary, heavy rhythms combined with the unremarkable pseudo-singing by Alex works to set an attitude, but make for an even more difficult listen on album compared to the other material. The three source songs on the album are as an eclectic group, furthering the disjointed whole, but the Toni Price song "Just to Hear Your Voice" is a highlight of the album. Overall, it's difficult to describe why this group effort didn't work, but the trouble definitely begins in the vast differences between Alex and Jake's styles. The duality of personality may fit the film's suspense well, but on album its mix is too inconsistent for a lengthy listen. **
Insert includes a note from director Alan Parker regarding the creative involvement of his sons in the project. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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