Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... on the 2005 complete set if you seek one of the best scores of the digital age of film music in a DVD-quality presentation that will, if you are properly equipped, stun both you and the people living down the street. Avoid it... on the 2005 complete set if you do not use a surround sound system for your regular listening enjoyment and would prefer, in terms of content, the 70-minute 2001 album of highlights from the score. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: (Howard Shore) No franchise in the history of the movie industry was as meticulously planned as Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings, with several years of production coordination in the late 1990's leading to a series of three creatively superior and immensely popular films from 2001 to 2003. Not only did the work of Jackson and his dedicated crew enthrall the many hardcore fans of author J.R.R. Tolkien, but the appeal of his technically marvelous and well adapted films touched a wider audience that not only led to monumental box office returns, but critical accolades and countless Academy Awards (reaching beyond the usual boundaries of the technical categories for films in this genre). The translation of the saga of The Lord of the Rings happened to coincide with the same efforts being applied to the first of the Harry Potter books, making late 2001 an incredible time for fantasy enthusiasts. While the films were compared to each other frequently upon the close proximity of their debuts, the immense, epic quality of The Lord of the Rings surprised many industry prognosticators by emerging as the clear winner. Despite the many strengths of Christopher Columbus' endeavors for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the vast scope, stunning special effects, and intelligent narrative adaptation gave The Lord of the Rings a transcendent quality that has remained untouched in the rest of the decade. Perhaps the greatest key to success for this franchise was the adaptation of the original material, painstakingly cut to manageable size (though the films were still epics in length as well) by Jackson and co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Another invaluable element of the narrative's equation would prove to be the music for the three films. Like the speculation a year prior to the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, there was much talk in film music circles about which composer would (or could) accept the laborious task of providing 12 hours of almost continuous music for the films over the course of four years of production, including the need for several source pieces that not only required ethnically unique instrumentation but also occasionally some expertise in Tolkien's specific language sets. Many in the realm of film music mistakenly expected that veteran blockbuster composer James Horner would eventually receive and accept the assignment, especially given the strength of his thematically-complex and large scale fantasy writing for Willow (among others). When Howard Shore was announced as the artist of choice for Jackson's The Lord of the Rings franchise, initial collective gasps resonated from the film music and hobbit galleries. And yet, at a time when scores by the best known composers were beginning to be criticized for endlessly attempting to repeat old glories, the choice of Shore continuously made more sense. The composer had been typecast into a role of composing often subtle and introverted scores for cultish, dark films of suspense, horror, and disturbing drama, dating back to The Silence of the Lambs and The Fly. The extensive search for a composer for the Tolkien franchise, which had included Horner, Danny Elfman and Wojciech Kilar, ended with Shore because Jackson and Walsh were impressed by three facets of Shore's career: his ability to write intelligently for literary adaptations, his operatic sensibilities (as heard specifically in The Fly), and his broad knowledge of instrumental colors. The small contingent of the composer's dedicated fans prior to 2001 were understandably thrilled by the hire, because they correctly believed that Shore could provide an extraordinarily complex and memorable set of scores for this trilogy without resorting to the wholesale elements of predictability and simplistic brawn that a composer such as Horner may have employed. The exhilarating result of Shore's very lengthy efforts in the franchise gave the talented composer a chance to prove his critics wrong in the grandest of fashion, and it was an opportunity that he did not miss. With Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone successfully absorbing the explosion of wild-eyed overenthusiasm resulting from 2001's late autumn wealth of fantasy scores, Shore's music for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring gracefully superceded the hype surrounding John Williams' highly anticipated score. It was only a matter of weeks before critics and fans alike realized that Shore's material for this first entry in the franchise was destined to be become a classic of modern film music, and the palpable anticipation of his own two sequel scores was immediate. Shore's success with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and the subsequent two films had never been assumed, however. Whereas most composers take under a around month to write a score for a major picture, Shore cleared his schedule for an entire year in preparation for The Fellowship of the Ring (and he took the same amount of time for each sequel, too). There were several factors for the composer to concern himself with in his assembly of ideas for the score. Jackson's involvement of Shore in other areas of the production proved to the composer the scope of the endeavor, including the exotic, cultural reach of the film's visual constructs. More importantly, due to the extremely detailed nature of Tolkien's novels, Shore realized that he was dealing with a tale that required voices for countless different cultures and concepts, voices that often intermingled or outright merged over the course of the story. From this wealth of diversity in The Fellowship of the Ring and beyond, Shore created major themes and minor motifs for no less than 80 different concepts, none of which clearly stepping forward as the dominant identity of Tolkien's world as a whole. Rather, Shore constructed these themes with common figures and applied them in ways to suggest the tumultuous confluence of cultures in the melting pot of Middle-Earth in its entirety. The two greatest aspects of Shore's writing for all three scores are the composer's sense of conveying harmony almost exclusively to represent the bond of all the cultures in Middle-Earth and the extremely complicated connections between the various themes to central musical figures and phrases. The harmony is key because the scores for the trilogy never, even in their darkest, most frenzied measures, resort to sheer dissonance to frighten the listener, and, as such, the scores remain extremely attractive both in the film and especially on album. In this sense, Shore's technique for The Lord of the Rings is the exact opposite of Alex North's controversial and largely atonal approach to fantasy with Dragonslayer in the early 1980's. Only in two or three places in The Fellowship of the Ring does Shore utilize striking dissonant layers to solicit a fright response from the audience (the height of the chase in "Khazad-Dum" is among these few moments), allowing the score to resonate beautifully in each of its representations on screen. While consistent harmony is key to the appeal of Shore's music for The Lord of the Rings in a general sense, the far more intriguing aspect of the works is the vast array of thematic representation and the sharing of common elements in those ideas. Shore uses, for instance, a rising three-note phrase to connect three of the most influential themes in The Fellowship of the Ring, subtly reminding audiences that there are connections at every level between the hobbits, the world of men, and the evil ring, among others. In some cases, as in the two themes for the fellowship of heroes and the villainous Isengard, Shore takes common phrases and inverts them for the two applications. The themes for Gollum and the ring itself share several progressions that help tie the two together as needed. Even underlying ostinatos are intertwined in the same method throughout the score. The attention that Shore closely paid to each phrase within a theme, the number of notes in those phrases, the antithesis of his progressions, and the merging of internal phrases from different themes to create a thematic cross-breed (as especially heard in the weaving of the four hobbit themes with the fellowship theme at the end of the first film) make the usual film score tactic of alternation between major and minor keys seem like a cheap trick (though there is some minimal use of that old, reliable technique as well). Beyond simply the structural considerations for each theme, Shore also changes the personality of each idea masterfully, depending on the guise needed for a particular scene in the film. Tempo alterations and the swapping or addition of notes to denote times of play or lament consistently keep each theme fresh to the ears. The instrumentation of each theme is equally important, itself serving as another layer of connectivity between cultures when they mix. Shore specifically utilized instruments appropriate to a world that existed more than five thousand years ago and charged these roughly 25 solo elements in providing most of the cultures with a sound so specific that they alone could carry the musical identity of an element in the story without the need for obvious thematic regurgitation. The ancient reed, pipe, string, and percussion contributions give The Lord of the Rings an invaluable sense of texture that few other modern scores attempt (and even fewer achieve successfully). Film music collectors will recognize many of the instrumental colors used by Shore for this trilogy of scores from other works. The penny whistle, fiddle, mandolin, celesta, and bodhran drums for the hobbits are familiar and appropriately touching in an innocent sense. An anvil and taiko drums lend forcefulness to the bass of the marching Orcs. The vocal tones were also very carefully chosen, with the often beautiful performances by soloists in the trilogy surprisingly specific in their application and therefore often fleetingly brief in their roles in the listening experience. Key to the success of Shore's writing for all three of the scores in the franchise is the mixing of these elements with the two performing ensembles (The London Philharmonic Orchestra and The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra). Shore's engineers very effectively accentuated the soloists, especially in the case of the reeds and pipes, by placing them prominently above the orchestra without leaving the listener yearning for more emphasis on either. The presentation of the whistle and other woodwinds in the hobbit material near the start of The Fellowship of the Ring, as well as the soprano and alto voices littered through the latter half of the score, are particularly striking. Some listeners of the music have heavily criticized the engineering choice of adding a significant amount of reverberation back into the mix during post-production. This is a particularly interesting debate, because there is no doubt that the three scores in this franchise offer some of the most echoing, wet ambience of any epic scores in memory. The two London vocal ensembles are particularly affected by this ethereal mix. Detractors of the idea claim that the move inhibits the contributions of soloists and masks some of the finer subtleties of the music. This is especially true on the initial commercial albums for the three scores, each of which seemingly featuring a heavier dose of reverb. But in general, the idea of cranking up the reverb in the final mix is very appropriate for The Lord of the Rings. This is, after all, a fantasy tale of the highest order, and the echoing atmosphere of the mix serves to enhance the other-worldly aspects of Middle-Earth very effectively. The fact that the scores are almost completely harmonious also helps in forgiving the wet mix. Hearing the scores in 5.1 channel format in the film or on DVD-audio compensates, too. Reviewing Shore's work for The Lord of the Rings is a difficult prospect because an analysis about the music can extend for volumes (and Film Score Monthly's Doug Adams proved that by writing an entire book about the music). For the purposes of this Filmtracks review for The Fellowship of the Ring, a few general notes about the major themes and their applications on a track-by-track basis are merited, as well as some general observations about the best parts of the score on the various albums. It is vital to separate Shore's music from the disgracefully commercialized products released by Reprise Records at the debut of the film, because a fair amount of ranting and venting about the evils of those products is definitely in order. What you read here refers to the track titles of the far superior, complete score offering of The Fellowship of the Ring in 2005, and, more specifically, the set's 24-bit DVD presentation (be aware, though, that some of Shore's original compositions can only be heard on the original 2001 album). Each of the three scores in the trilogy does indeed have a small set of themes that it emphasizes over others in frequency, depending on the circumstances in each script. These themes shift gradually from extensive representation of the hobbits and the fellowship early in the saga to large-scale performances for the world of men as their leadership role in Middle-Earth is realized. The themes for evil, whether for the forces of Isengard, Sauron, or the ring itself, remain relatively consistent throughout. There is no doubt that the heart of The Fellowship of the Ring, however, exists in the growing balance between the hobbits and the strong fellowship to which they eventually belong by the end of the film. The fellowship theme is generally considered the title theme of not only The Fellowship of the Ring, but arguably the entire trilogy, for there really is no strong candidate to challenge it in that role by the time the fellowship is honored at the conclusion of the third film. The noble brass fanfare was also used extensively in the marketing for The Fellowship of the Ring, arguably confirming the intent of the theme. The four themes for the hobbits have so many similar rhythmic and chord progressions, especially by the end of this score, that you can classify them as one overarching idea for their tender, well-meaning nature. Dominating both the early and late portions of The Fellowship of the Ring, their lovely themes are often considered the score's main attraction. Aside from the themes for the hobbits and the fellowship, Shore also conveys a handful of identities that stand above the massive collection of ideas he conjured for The Fellowship of the Ring, both in frequency and appeal. The theme he wrote for the "History of the Ring" is particularly vital in binding the three scores together, playing an important role in the first cue of the saga and never far from its next performance. Of the other two themes for the ring, the "Seduction of the Ring" theme does not have a major impact on the narrative until the subsequent films, which also technically applies to the theme for the "Evil of the Ring," doubling for Mordor and Sauron, though the latter devilish idea has more of an immediate impact in its few performances in The Fellowship of the Ring. Separate from the elements that follow Mordor specifically through the film, Isengard and the Orcs receive the only other major thematic identity in the first film, an identity that stays very consistent in its pounding, five beat rhythm and the nasty brass and percussion theme that, in its original form, often accompanies the movements of Isengard and its armies early in the trilogy. A rambunctious performance of the five beat rhythm often precedes the Orc theme in its full statements, building a sense of momentum (and inevitability) that the story often ties to their endeavors. The other themes in The Fellowship of the Ring, whether they represent specific beasts, sub-cultures, or the foreshadowing of future usage, are less pronounced; the (ever-decreasing) presence of material for the Elves does experience lengthy development in the score, though its relatively nebulous choral renderings (for the Rivendell and Lothlorien concepts) add more to the score in terms of ambience during their performances than a distinctly memorable progression to their own. With the technical aspects of the themes set aside, the more important question for those who don't consider themselves fans of Tolkien or devoted to any great degree to these films is this: what parts of the score are the most entertaining on album, and on which albums can these parts be found? The following discussion of each cue in the film, albeit quite brief compared to all the activity that exists in those cues, will help illuminate the answer. This analysis is not comprehensive by any means, and there are better sources (Doug Adams, namely) for extraordinary detail on the score. In "Prologue: One Ring to Rule Them All," Shore covers much musical ground, though the ring's history theme receives compelling treatment throughout the cue as the pending, dire situation in Middle-Earth is revealed. The performances of the ring's history theme here are as elegant on strings as they would be as an introduction to "Gollum's Song" in The Two Towers. The Lothlorien theme actually opens the score with a religiously hymnal take on the Elves' music, and the cue eventually covers the bombast of the Ringwraiths' theme and touches on the solemn despair of Smeagol's theme. The highlight of the score for many listeners not interested in full ensemble banging and other loud ruckus is the trio of hobbit-related cues that follow. The main hobbit themes are formally introduced in "The Shire," with the primary "pensive setting" theme immediately opening the cue. The fate of the hobbits is foretold in the first use of the fellowship theme early in the piece. Beautiful hints of the awesome "nature's reclamation" theme exist in the cue as well. The playful fiddle performances of the "rural setting" variant of the hobbits' material are joined by stunningly crisp and tonally innocent capitulations of the pensive theme on a variety of woodwinds throughout all three cues, though those that conclude both "Bag End" and "Very Old Friends" are not to be missed. The obnoxious hobbit source music in "Flaming Red Hair" is really the only truly unlistenable cue in the entire score, though in context, its purpose is forgivable. The remaining two major thematic guises for the hobbits are heard at the start of "Farewell Dear Bilbo," both of which more contemplative but still attractively pretty. The tone turns strikingly darker in the lengthy "Keep It Secret, Keep It Safe," in which the theme for the ring's evil (and Sauron) is eventually belted out in snarling progressions that serve, at least in this score, as the most obvious and general representation of Mordor. The narrative from the prologue is continued in "A Conspiracy Unmasked," with Smeagol's theme and the ring's history theme continuing to appropriately intertwine ominously. Along with the short reprise of hobbit material at the end, most of this cue's music is redundant with previous thematic statements. The highlight of the short "Three is Company" is the ring's seduction theme hummed by boys choir; this idea would gain more attention in the two subsequent scores. The somewhat source-like cue "The Passing of the Elves" gives the species' procession an exotic tilt. Shore once again unleashes another glimpse at impending darkness in "Saruman the White," and the sinister atmosphere culminates in a melodramatic, full choir and timpani crescendo of power. The last of the truly playful renditions of the hobbits' themes is heard in "A Shortcut to Mushrooms," and outstanding acoustics in the orchestra hits in this cue punctuate the enthusiasm. The trio of "Strider," "The Nazgul," and "Weathertop" (about eleven minutes in sum), offers some of the score's least engaging action and suspense-oriented fright, causing a hole in the material of interest on album. That situation changes dramatically with "The Caverns of Isengard," however, as the themes for Isengard and the Orcs are introduced over a lengthy prelude for the five beat rhythm. Of particular note in this cue is the gorgeous performance of the nature's reclamation theme on lead voice in the middle of the rowdy Orc music, confined to a role similar to that the theme would receive near the climax of The Two Towers. The beginning of "Give Up the Halfling" provides Shore's soft and lovely theme for Arwen, with much the same relaxing tone as the other Elf material. Impressive, resolute brass figures punctuate the end of that cue and the short "Orthanc." A fleeting, but pleasant statement of the hobbits' music in "Rivendell" flows into Shore's primary Elf theme in extended length, and a non-choral rendition of the same theme is extended to "The Sword That Was Broken." Enya's love theme for Aragorn and Arwen is surrounded by strong harmonics in "The Council of Elrond Assembles," whereas the conversational scene that follows allows Shore to foreshadow the world of men. In "The Great Eye," the Gondor theme meanders in lonely contemplation for over a minute at the start of that cue. After a subsequent blast of the ring's evil theme, a lovely mingling of the hobbit and fellowship themes in extremely upbeat, heroic fashion begins to exhibit traits to be heard at the end of the score. In the underwhelming "Gilraen's Memorial," a solemn performance of Elves' diminishment theme is featured with great choral resonance, and the cue becomes the second consecutive piece to offer a magnificent flourish of the fellowship theme to conclude matters. Dynamic string writing in "The Pass of Caradhras" yields to a typically clanging Orc interruption. As "The Doors of Durin" ushers in a sense of dread, the material for Moria dwells deep and almost silently in the bass region. The easy, slow acceleration of choral rhythms and thematic fragments in "Moria" moves gracefully into another darkly attractive cue and, though short, "Gollum" contains dramatic chord progressions that lead to Smeagol's thematic variants in the cue's middle passages. The listener is rewarded with an extremely subdued, but hopeful performance of the hobbits' understanding theme on a throaty alto flute to close out the cue. This last minute of "Gollum" is not to be missed. The dwarfs finally make a significant thematic impact at the start of "Balin's Tomb," and the outstanding performance of the Dwarrowdelf theme in first minute of that cue is a prideful and expansive tribute to accomplishment of the dwarfs. Its dramatic strings and noble choir over brooding brass is Middle-Earth at its best, and this minute of music is a singular highlight of the entire trilogy. Action material on strings fills the remainder of the lengthy "Balin's Tomb," though thematic usage is limited until the heroics of the fellowship theme near the end. The action kicks into its highest gear in "Khazad-Dum," and this, along with all subsequent cues in the film, are both lengthy and filled with key thematic references. There are two important parts to this cue; the first is battle material in the opening half, starting with great, chanting vocal effects. The significant rhythmic pounding that follows includes some of the score's most challenging dissonance. As Gandalf falls into the deep chasm and is presumed dead, the cue suddenly changes gears and a solo female voice and choral lament present arguably the most beautiful two minutes of The Fellowship of the Ring. The performance of the "Gandalf's Farewells" theme from the third film may not be complete here, but its usage is a distinctly painful false alarm that exists in a stunning film mix that features the music without distraction from other elements. The grieving of the Elves in "Caras Galadhon" contains interesting textures added to the usual choral singing, and hints of the ring's history theme pull the scene back to reality. The choral material continues to meander for the remainder of the long, soft cue and includes an extremely creative version of Isengard/Orc theme in a deceivingly lovely choral form... a slight, but intelligent mutation that remains a subtle favorite. Once again, Shore allows a glimpse into the later scores with the solemn performance of the Minas Tirith theme barely rendered over the first minute of "The Mirror of Galadriel." Quiet Elf singing in this cue is followed by another sobering performance of the ring's evil theme, cementing it as one of the four major thematic constructs of the film. Much transpires in the 11+ minute "The Fighting Uruk-hai," though the slamming Orc music that explodes at the start in full glory largely establishes the mood of the cue. A snippet of the Lothlorien theme opens a pretty interlude of choral exploration with resounding bass strings that perform minor third alternations of great depth. A short statement of the fellowship theme precedes another blast of the Orc rhythms and theme. Hidden in the movements is a brief return to the hobbits' music, though the tenderness is too short to enjoy. A strong performance of ring's history theme closes out the long cue and provides continuity with the first two minutes of "Parth Galen," which extends the theme's usage during that time. As the cue stutters in its mid-section, slight hints of the nature's reclamation theme struggle to shine and the Orc/Isengard theme literally slams the cue to a close with help of choir. Led by the fellowship theme, "The Departure of Boromir" is mostly a pleasant prelude to the closing suite of journey music that finishes the film. The most interesting aspect of this cue is an overlapping of harmonic elements from the fellowship theme with the Orc/Isengard theme in the middle. The aforementioned suite of the final three cues from The Fellowship of the Ring presents the score's most listenable merging of the two primary thematic concepts. The hobbit material becomes more heroic at the start of "The Road Goes Ever On... Pt. 1," utilizing a slower tempo and a woodwind statement of their main (pensive) theme to signal their arrival, of sorts, to the scheme of Middle-Earth. A single, bold brass statement of the fellowship theme leads to an extremely memorable merging of the four hobbit themes to form the percussive journey sequence. Final woodwind and choral statements of the hobbits' main theme close the book on their innocence (as mostly less obvious thematic fragments would assist them in subsequent scores). For these and other many reasons, "The Road Goes Ever On... Pt. 1" is the single cue that most casual listeners will recall from the film. Although Enya's involvement in the score was controversial at the time of the release of The Fellowship of the Ring, her song over the end credits, "May It Be," earned her Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. Enya was, of course, the primary reason why the album sold as well as it did before audiences realized the quality of Shore's surrounding material. Unlike Shore, Enya obviously needed no introduction, even to soundtrack collectors; her songs had been appearing in films steadily since the early 1990's. The problem with Enya (and this is said from an affectionate perspective on her contribution to new age music in that decade) is that she and writer Nicky Ryan had exhausted their own compositional and performance skills to such an extent that her songs all eventually sounded alike. When "Orinoco Flow" and "Book of Days" (otherwise known as "Far and Away" for some film score collectors) were introduced a decade prior, it was easy to be enthralled by her voice. That voice was still strong in 2001, but even on her newest album at the time, "A Day Without Rain," the driving force was the song "Only Time," a piece with contents that were essentially the same as everything she had produced before. In general, her themes are all a variation of each other, the repetition of each phrase is consistent, and her instrumentation never changes. What was truly needed for The Fellowship of the Ring was for Enya to perform Howard Shore's material. Shore admittedly did a fine job of attempting to incorporate some instrumental backing into her first contribution to help ease the transition (and treat her as just one other vocalist in the ensemble). The score would still have been an outstanding success without her, and even with her rather bland songs, the two styles are close enough to merge (quite literally) with Shore's recordings without much interruption in mood. Ultimately, Enya still had a lovely voice, but her involvement with this project was the beginning of a disaster for the album release of The Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack in 2001. Reprise Records was the label for Enya, and they thus handled the score as well. Given Reprise's mind-boggling commercialization of the soundtrack (and the promotion of Enya's small contribution to the overall effort), it was hard not to imagine that Frank Sinatra (the original Reprise artist back in the good ol' days) would burst out singing about Gotham City at some point on this album. Many fans have complained about the DVD, however, despite its spectacular presentation for those properly equipped. Some of these complaints are legitimate and some aren't. Those who viciously attacked the set simply because of the ill-fated rubber knob that was meant to hold the DVD in place in the packaging (and yes, it doesn't really work that well) need some perspective. And those who claim that that the DVD unfairly pushed the price of the set to its supposedly "unreasonable" $50+ are likely lacking the capability to readily play and enjoy it. Simply put, if they heard the 5.1 mix on the DVD and could listen to it all day long, the DVD would be their primary reason for buying the set. One very valid complaint has been made about the DVD, however, and that involves the restrictive prohibition of certain features on the product. Unless it relates to the copy-protection features (and even there, it's questionable), there's no reason to disallow scanning within a track. There are some long cues in this score, and if you want to hear the impressive, softer choral work in the middle of "The Fighting Uruk-hai," then you have to sit through a minute or two of rowdy, banging Isengard/Orc music to do so. Some computer players, a tricky prospect for any DVD like this in the mid-2000's, especially with 5.1 sound cards and digital output jacks not readily available on non-Macs, will allow you to override the prohibitive limits put on the DVD (such things were invented mostly to allow people to skip past advertisements at the start of movies and go straight to the film or menu). Tests run on the ever-popular VLC program allowed scanning, but also caused the 5.1 sound to stutter-step at times, negating the gain. Even later in the 2000's, there was no easy way to copy the highlights of the DVD's presentation onto a drive for compilation enjoyment. Also, while the work that Doug Adams does for the 40+ page booklet (not quite the advertised length; they apparently included covers in the tally) is astounding in its depth and knowledge, the content will likely fly a few levels over the heads of most regular collectors. By tackling the score by theme and character-type, Adams never provides a basic track-by-track analysis that could have considerably assisted the average listener in placing his connections into each context. You also have to be very familiar with the films or stories to understand the location references. Still, the 2005 album's devotion to the sanctity of Shore's work is commendable, and it somewhat excuses Reprise for their nutty commercial transgressions in the years prior. Adams' work on collecting and presenting all of his information about the score makes for at least an interesting read, even if it doesn't always connect in memory or terminology. After the original album releases catered to mass hysteria with nonsensical trading cards, it seems that we've swung all the way in the opposite direction with the DVD sound and sensational technical detail of notes. It does make a person wonder if there isn't a happy medium ground someplace, and it also begs questions about when you can actually have too much of a good thing. Since the three complete sets for the franchise cater to the demand and hype of the trilogy's followers, you really can't fault Adams or anyone else for yielding to the temptation of producing the most technically perfect and thorough soundtrack set in history. If any scores of the 2000's deserve such treatment, it would be these. But if you never bought into the hype in the first place, then will this complete set for The Fellowship of the Ring be worth the cost for you? That's hard to say. For some, the elusive missing cues will be the attraction. For others, the DVD's 5.1 Dolby Digital or DVD-audio sound will be key. But for many others, the highlight album that was released in 2001, with its basic 16-bit stereo sound, will touch on all the basics and provide enough of the best material to suffice. Only you can make the determination about just how much of a fan of the trilogy you are (or how much of an audiophile you tend to be), for the answers to those questions will be the factor that separates you from your $50 (or more). Regardless of that answer, the set for The Fellowship of the Ring is spectacular in and of itself, and for the reasons outlined in this review, it is arguably more essential for film score collectors than the subsequent sets for The Two Towers and The Return of the King. For such collectors, the DVDs' audio in any of these sets is a sonic marvel that shames regular 16-bit listening experiences (not to mention the sampled-down mp3's that most people enjoy nowadays), and it'll be a guaranteed joy to revisit them frequently. This is especially the case with The Fellowship of the Ring, which benefits the most from this format. Open your wallets for the complete set and don't worry about looking back.
Music as Heard on 2001 and 2003 Albums: *** Music as Heard on 2005 Complete Set: ***** Overall: ***** Track Listings (2001/2003 Regular and Limited Albums):
Total Time: 71:24
Track Listings (2005 Complete Set):
Total Time: 180:34
All artwork and sound clips from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring are Copyright © 2001, 2003, 2005, Reprise Records (Original and Limited), Reprise Records (Trilogy Set), Reprise Records (Complete Set). 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 11/19/01, updated 12/9/08. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2001-2005, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
2001 Regular
