Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... on the 2006 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 2006 complete set if you do not use a surround sound system for your regular listening enjoyment and would prefer, in terms of content, the 73-minute 2002 album of highlights from the score. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: (Howard Shore) To the joy of crowds around the world, the 2002 sequel to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring followed its predecessor by only a year, proving that gone were the days of multi-year waits for fans of popular fantasy motion picture franchises. It had then seemed that only yesterday Peter Jackson's incredible The Fellowship of the Ring had taken the world by storm, and yet Jackson and his co-writers and co-producers had already been working on the The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King extensively while the first film's final touches were being applied. Much of the success of the franchise is owed to the significant planning of the three films in the late 1990's, especially in relation to the intelligent adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's extremely long and complex tale. The reasons for the prosperity of The Fellowship of the Ring, both in terms of awards and popular opinion, transcended the usual technical categories of motion picture production, though few can argue that Howard Shore's music had little impact on the film; his music had become the first fantasy epic to win the Academy Award for Best Original Score in years. Because of the rapid rollout of this series of films, Shore was already in the process of writing the music for The Two Towers when he won that award. He had considered the trilogy an ongoing process of four to five years of writing and recording, and much of the material heard first in The Two Towers was already conceived and partially developed before The Fellowship of the Ring was even recorded. Audiences responded overwhelmingly well to the composer's highly intellectual and stunningly diverse approach to the first score, even beyond the expected rush of attention caused by new age sensation Enya's involvement with the project. Shore managed to single-handedly put John Williams' Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone onto a distant back burner, despite the maestro's score serving as the basis for most of the film score hype generated in advance of the 2001 holiday season. In short, Shore had unleashed the first entry in a trilogy of music already destined to be deemed a modern classic. It is recommended, for proper discussion of the background of these scores, that you read the Filmtracks review for The Fellowship of the Ring before proceeding. As with the expanded edition DVD of The Fellowship of the Ring, collectors had been falling over themselves to obtain more of Shore's music for that film, and luckily for them, the hasty release of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers would at least partially satisfy their needs in the short term. Shore ensured the continuation of his mind-boggling, epic sound by utilizing the London Philharmonic in a massive coliseum and later mixed the sounds of the two different choirs (children's and adult). The scale of the second project is no less diminished, and no better evidence of that successive effort is the replacement of Enya with several operatic voices of similar new age style from around the world for this score. Shore also continued where he left off in the grand scheme of his composition for the franchise. As the broken fellowship's journey into peril continues, and the landscape of Middle-earth descends further into darkness, Shore bolsters his music with an increased size of scope and brazen thematic sweep. As had been promised by those involved with the post-production of the film, the score for The Two Towers is bigger, more diverse, and arguably better than its predecessor. The instrumentation and use of voices is more powerfully expansive than in the previous film, despite the continuation of almost all of the solo elements from that score. Instrumentally, Shore adds the Hardanger, a Norwegian fiddle, to represent Rohan, while the North African rhaita reed instrument accents the Mordor theme and log drums, dilruba, wood xylophones, and the cimbalom for Gollum all provide a rich texture for the score. The heavy emphasis on wood-related instruments for the representation of the Ents is a logical move not overlooked by Shore. Once again, several solo voices are mixed with the two choirs for the score as well, and the tone of each is meant specifically for individual cultures or scenarios. The lowest regions of the strings and brass receive greater roles in this score (great examples exist on the former in "Where is the Horse and the Rider?" and the latter in "Rock and Pool"), serving a cold dose of momentum to the forces of Isengard and Mordor that grow stronger as the story progresses. The heart of The Two Towers is undoubtedly more sinister, but even in these ranks, Shore maintains a sense of harmony that continues to entice the listener. Shore established in The Two Towers that the original songs heard over the opening of the end credits were specific to each film and not intended to mingle thematically with the other scores. The performance of "Gollum's Song" by Bjork-inspiring and longingly bitter-voiced Emiliana Torrini serves as the closing piece for this feature, and Torrini's voice, as well as the others chosen for performances in the score, are foreign enough in their general tone to color Middle-earth (and even the world of men) with a fantastic edge of mystery and intrigue. With the success of Enya's voice, Shore seemed interested in keeping a vaguely Celtic sound to the vocals, which aided in their smooth listenability. The choirs are again layered elegantly with the orchestra, featuring the very wet, echoing ambient mix that caused detractors of reverberation to denounce the first score as a sonic mess. The use of the vocals to carry the melody of themes in The Two Towers gave those identities far more sweeping performances (of both lofty heights and quiet despair) that occupy several major cues for the film. Especially effective is Shore's technique of mixing the choirs and solo voices in The Two Towers so that they are occasionally indistinguishable, with the solo identity fading in and out to correspond with the action on screen. Technically speaking, this score is, like the others in the franchise, a work of marvel. Where The Two Towers differs from The Fellowship of the Ring most significantly is in its demeanor. Gone are the fluffy whistle performances of the hobbits' material, and the presentations of the fellowship theme, the anchor of the first score, are sparse and less blatantly heroic in most cases. Almost every theme from The Fellowship of the Ring is indeed present in The Two Towers, though the emphasis on each has been both switched and merged. As Middle-earth descends into a war that brings all of its cultures together, the music becomes appropriately muddy in its constructs, whether that entails the overlapping of ideas or the simple, subtle changes of notes within the progressions of a theme. It was noted in The Two Towers that Shore extended Tolkien's fascination with the number nine into his music; many of the themes and motifs exist in multiples of three-note phrases, a creative nod to the author. Thus, what listeners received in the thematic placements of The Two Towers amounts to a crossover score. Other than a galloping fanfare for Rohan, there is no triumphant introduction for the handful of new themes, and with sparse major statements of previous themes, the score marches to its end with the obvious implication that the musical journey is not over. That said, Shore does offer more than enough blasts of harmony and melody throughout the center of the score to appease the thematically-minded listeners. The new themes introduced for the film are more obscure than some might have expected, due to the interesting fact that their pronouncement isn't as bold in the early portions of the score (and due in part to the necessities of the scripts). To Shore's credit, however, the style of the composer's extremely complicated sense of thematic manipulation (as well as the more obvious minor-major key shifting techniques) that he employed for the previous themes have carried over to the new ones, allowing them to blend into the mix effortlessly for the listener. Whereas The Fellowship of the Ring is a score with extended sequences of quiet harmony and few non-stop series of full ensemble mayhem, The Two Towers is a tumultuous experience by comparison. It dwells in the depths of despair for significant periods early in the score before its final half hour offers redemption in the form of action material that eclipses anything heard in the previous score. Thus, while The Fellowship of the Ring is consequently a more consistent listening experience on album in its full three-hour duration, The Two Towers presents material both weaker and stronger, and is therefore a work that requires attention to some areas more than others. Shore's enhanced role for the choirs is key to defining the highlights of The Two Towers, and moments such as the crescendo of magnificence at the start of "The Last March of the Ents" eclipse anything heard before in the series. With this structure in mind, a quick cue-by-cue analysis will help once again illuminate the score's highlights (as well as thematic references), and the following track titles refer to those found on the superior, complete score offering of The Two Towers in 2006 and, more specifically, the set's 24-bit DVD presentation. One of the most effectively melodramatic themes in this franchise is the one for the history of the ring, and it opens "Glamdring" with all the sense of drama that the continuation of the story requires. This theme is a constant in the three score, whereas the related two themes for the ring (representing its evil and seduction) receive curiously reduced development in The Two Towers despite the approach to Mordor. The opening cue reprises the action of Moria heard in the previous score's "Khazad-Dum" cue during Frodo's nightmare sequence. The actual title sequence in The Two Towers is treated to just a glimpse of the Rohan theme early in "Elven Rope," and in both this cue and "Lost in Emyn Muil," short, diluted versions of the hobbits' pensive theme are barely evident. Smeagol's theme cuts short the pleasantries in the latter cue; this theme would be gradually overtaken in The Two Towers by Gollum's official "menace" theme (separate from the song at the end), and the cimbalom is the specific instrument of choice to perform not only this theme, but eventually accompany Gollum's character throughout the rest of the films. The opening of "My Precious" begins to exhibit Shore's intent in combining the ring's history theme with Smeagol's pity theme, an intriguing mix. An ugly dance for the cimbalom is cut short by Sam's French horns to signal an ensuing battle of wills. After the groaning of horns in their lowest registers, "Ugluk's Warriors" reintroduces the material for the Orcs and Isengard. These themes, guided by their pounding five-note rhythm, are intentionally largely unchanged through the first two scores. The remaining members of the fellowship are treated to a somewhat diminished, but still impressive performance of their theme in "The Three Hunters," followed by another noble hint of the Rohan theme. The remainder of this cue provides a very interesting confluence of the material for Isengard and Mordor, musically confirming the alliance of the two towers. The pure evil of the chopping bass string performance of the Isengard rhythm in the middle of this sequence is not to be missed. Growing unease and panic punctuates the largely uninteresting "The Banishment of Eomer." The dissonant, Orc-dominated battle music in "Night Camp," one of the most disturbing cues in the score, succeeds a short performance of the lovely nature's reclamation theme. When the fellowship encounters the riders of Rohan for the first time (in "The Plains of Rohan"), a new heroic offshoot of the fellowship theme is explored, technically credited as the "fellowship in Rohan theme." The combination of Isengard and Mordor rhythms in the chase music of "Fangorn" is interesting technically, but difficult to grasp on album. The introduction of the unique instrumentation for the Ents comes later in that cue. Overlapping of the ring's history and Gollum's pity themes continues in the unremarkable "The Dead Marshes," from which a lengthy amount of material was removed from the final edit of the film; in this cue, a distant, rising tone is an eerie cousin of Jerry Goldsmith's similar idea in 1994's The Shadow. In "Wraiths on Wings," Gollum's pity theme and the ring's history theme ensue again before a reprise of the Ringwraith material from the first film accompanies their winged arrival. A new, ascending theme for Gandalf the White is a short highlight in the middle of the cue by that name. A short return to the whimsy of the hobbit's rural setting theme is a nice break in "The Dream of Trees." An intriguing development early in "The Heir of Numenor" is the mutation of the ring's previously existing themes into a major key variant that becomes the "fate of the ring" theme that celebrates the end of Sam and Frodo's journey late in the third film. A continuation of the blending of the Orc and Mordor themes later in the cue is redundant. As the Black Gate of Mordor enters the scene, Shore's themes of evil, whether for the ring or the locations and characters, start to churn indiscriminately. A new hobbit theme accompany Merry and Pippin in "Ent-draught," and the cue represents the return of the whistle and rhythmic movements from early in the first score. The lighthearted cue is the only comical and harmonically entertaining one in The Two Towers, especially when the Ents' material takes charge in the instrumentation. Worn snippets of the fellowship and Rohan themes open "Edoras," though the meandering conversational material does lead to the first full statements of the Rohan material by the Hardanger fiddle. The accompanying music for Eowyn is heard prominently on horns late in this cue and the three separate themes for her all represent not only the character, but Rohan's more personal side. The sinister, ultra-low register theme for Wormtongue occupies the opening of "The Court of Meduseld" before charging choral clusters help free Rohan's king from Saruman's mental grip. This turn of events allows the Rohan theme to finally receive its full fanfare treatment in "Theoden King," merging the voice of the Hardanger fiddle with bold brass. The funeral scene for the king's son closes the cue with a highly dramatic and striking solo vocal, followed by ethereal ensemble singing. The transitional "The King's Decision" extends several themes in fragments, but makes little impact outside of its ominous, minor third progressions in the bass; similar material extends into "Exodus of Edoras" until a combination of the Wormtongue theme with Isengard's tones shifts the cue into a snarling menace. The Gollum material returns in "The Forests of Ithilien," with the two halves of his musical identities battling to a draw. In a moment of levity, Eowyn's material finally makes a full appearance in "One of the Dunedain," though as the conversation becomes serious, reminders of both Gondor's music and the Elves return. Shore replaced Enya's prior love theme for Aragorn and Arwen with the song "Evenstar," an interesting dismissal of Nicky Ryan's writing and a lovely return to the pleasant tones of The Fellowship of the Ring. The break is relatively short, though, for the combined themes and rhythms of Mordor and Isengard are unleashed without mercy in "The Wolves of Isengard." The presence of the Hardanger fiddle, mixed brilliantly with the choir and orchestra in the pounding of that cue, makes for one of the more cohesive action cues in the score. The depressing "Refuge at Helm's Deep" is harmonically pleasing, though the fragmented presentation of the fellowship and Rohan themes are appropriately sapped of their spirit. The brief "The Voice of Saruman" is a strongly resolute culmination of all the Isengard themes and rhythms into one powerful call to war. In "Arwen's Fate," Shore brilliantly swaps the instrumentation of the worlds of men and Elves so that Aragorn's subconscious is represented by the solo female voice of Rivendell while Arwen, facing her own departure, is represented by an orchestral soloist for the first time. The formal Rivendell theme develops in "The Story Foretold," followed by the Lothlorien and ring's history themes as the journey is monitored. In remembrance of the slain Boromir, a full brass performance of the Gondor theme exists early in "Sons of the Steward," disintegrating later as reality sets in. The "Rock and Pool" cue is a delicious little piece for fans of Shore's melodramatic bass tones for Gollum and the ring's history themes, both of which intertwined in the dark fabric of this mean-spirited cue. The battle between the two musical halves of Smeagol/Gollum continues into "Faramir's Good Council," in which the ring's seduction theme taunts Faramir. Aragorn's heroic theme accompanies his ride to Helm's Deep in "Aragorn's Return," one of the few cues to feature a minute of truly optimistic music late in The Two Towers, with even a noble phrase of the fellowship theme resurrected for the occasion. The low-key "War is Upon Us" is unremarkable in its boiling thematic fragments, though the use of choir to boost the Ents' material is a plus. One of the highlights of The Two Towers is "Where is the Horse and the Rider?," a lengthy cue of stirring melodic exploration. Shadowy and hesitant renditions of the themes for Rohan, the fellowship, and Eowyn are all harmonically gorgeous, punctuated by a rising choral crescendo of solemn defiance in the middle of the cue. The last minute of the piece offers a stuttering version of the Rohan theme in a "call to arms" trumpet variation over snare; the second of these calls, faster and more resolute, is one of the score's more memorable bursts of energy. The Lothlorien theme is translated into a march at the start of "The Host of the Eldar" as the Elves arrive at Helm's Deep to assist. Frightened stirrings in the bass region offer subtle Rohan phrases before "The Battle of the Hornburg" kicks off the last portion of the score for The Two Towers and the subsequent eight cues mark the extremely frenetic powerhouse of climactic action music that really defines the score, for some listeners, as the best of the franchise. The Lothlorien theme has completed its mutation into a call of war at the start of "The Battle of the Hornburg," which then succumbs to the five-beat rhythm and Isengard theme (as the Rohan theme would as well at the end). The unstoppable nature of the rhythm, like the Uruk-hai, prevails again in "The Breach of the Deeping Wall." The explosive urgency lent by the relentless snare and growling low brass in this cue makes for one of the most harmonically forceful pieces in the score. The fellowship's own Rohan theme is heard prominently after the explosion in "The Breach of the Deeping Wall," as well as the Lothlorien and original fellowship theme as the heroes regroup. Depressed string performances of the Shire's music open "The Entmoot Decides," and the gloomy tone carries over the Helm's Deep retreat announcement. A short moment of light choral lament from the pages of prior Elf contemplation accompanies Haldir's death in "Retreat," spurring a few bursts of retaliatory fellowship action before the Orcs' material consolidates into a brutal brass performance of the Isengard theme. Smart combinations of the Lothlorien, Rohan, and fellowship themes exchange phrases as the front gate of the fortress is abandoned. The mostly simmering "Master Peregrin's Plan" touches lightly on fragments of several themes, concluded by a tragically rising, strong figure to represent Treebeard's discovery. The first half of "The Last March of the Ents" is one of the score's best singular moments, building upon the previous hints of the nature's reclamation theme with full choral and orchestral glory. Shore returns to breakneck, rhythmic action mode in "The Nazgul Attack," reprising the Ringwraith theme, after which the cue shifts into a lengthy choral crescendo of the nature theme for Gandalf the White, announcing his arrival with reinforcements. An agitated rhythm and an explosion of the Rohan fanfare greets "Theoden Rides Forth" with optimism, and the subsequent solo performance by boy soprano Ben del Maestro leads to a statement of Gandalf's nature theme that stands above the battle's effects in the film. An elongated, frantic, and intelligently layered version of the nature's reclamation theme reaches an eventual climax at the end of the cue, as the Ents' attack devastates Isengard's industrial complex. The twelve-minute "The Tales That Really Matter" wraps up this middle portion of the journey by reminding the hobbits of both their homeland and their mission. The score's only truly positive and pleasing performances of three of their major themes occupy the first minutes of this cue. One last flourishing crescendo of brass action signals the end of the Uruk-hai in this battle. A few light-hearted bars of both the Ents' and hobbits' material, including the use of the whistle once again, accompany Merry and Pippin's antics. Pieces of "Gollum's Song" begin to mingle with Smeagol's pity theme as Frodo and Sam are sent with Gollum to fulfill their destiny. After the fellowship theme's final rendering to accompany Gandalf's closing words, Shore offers the journeying hobbits one full, though slower performance of their primary, pensive theme on innocent woodwind. The cue closes with the battle between Smeagol's pity theme, Gollum's song, and ultimately the winner, the ring's history theme. These last moments of "The Tales That Really Matter" lead directly into "Long Ways to Go Yet," the finale piece that signals the true end of Smeagol. The prelude to "Gollum's Song," as well as the song itself, are another highlight of The Two Towers, twisting such a sinister declaration of betrayal into a harmonically beautiful and lyrically enticing song that remains, despite the lack of an Oscar nomination, the most memorable of the three to be heard at the ends of these three films. Both the wordless vocals of the boys choir at the start and Emiliana Torrini's solos in the actual song are built upon a foundation of extremely resolute brass and strings, and the City of Prague Philharmonic, for one of their numerous compilations of re-recordings on the Silva Screen label, once replaced the vocal performance with a yearning violin solo that is almost equally powerful. The remainder of the end credits sequence offers closure to all three of the themes that came together at Helm's Deep (for Rohan, the fellowship, and Lothlorien), as well as a reprise of the Rivendell theme (once again on solo woodwinds to explore Arwen's love for Aragorn). The score's most ambitious and uninhibited brass performance of the Rohan theme heard late in this cue is unfortunately lacking a prominent role for Hardanger fiddle, a seemingly curious omission of musical character considering Shore's definition of the people of that culture with that particular instrument earlier in the film. Confirming its role as the title theme for the franchise, the fellowship theme offers a noble conclusion to the score. All things considered, Shore wraps up the score quite nicely. The combination of outrageously strong action material and Gollum's alluring piece cause the last third of the score to more than compensate for the slower sequences in the earlier portions of The Two Towers. Neither of the other two entries have the strength of the some of the singular highlights heard in these cues. Overall, there was understandably considerable comparison between the two available scores in the franchise for The Lord of the Rings in late 2002, and while most film score collectors agree that both entries (along with The Return of the King) were superior to anything from another composer in those years, there were usually conflicting opinions about which of the two was better. In a very general sense, it seems that The Fellowship of the Ring has a slight edge because of its extremely consistent listenability from start to end, including the extensive hobbit material that remains easy on the ears. But The Two Towers, while taking a considerable amount of time to build steam to its own highlights, kicks into a gear in its final half hour that the previous score never touched (in terms of propulsion and harmony at explosive volumes). Because each story becomes more conflicted (until the lengthy epilogue in the third film), Shore's use of the themes coincides with an increasingly muddy musical landscape that will frustrate listeners waiting to hear clearly delineated constructs in bold performance. The striking solidarity of "Gollum's Song" and a few of the bursts of the new theme for Rohan are exceptions, but, for the most part, The Two Towers requires a bit more appreciation for the concepts in the film to enjoy its subtleties in a listening experience. Once again not so magnificent was the initial album situation for the score. As could be expected, Reprise Records descended once more to the lavish depths of commercial despair, cranking out several different retail album versions to catch the weary Tolkien fan or Shore collector with an open wallet. Reprise churned out similar stunts with the first album, pulling out every marketing gimmick in the book to help catapult the albums for The Fellowship of the Ring to incredible, lasting heights in sales charts. It was great to see Shore's scores (all three of them, eventually) maintain their dominance in sales for many years after their street dates, though before the complete sets were released for all three scores, many fans held significant disdain for the label, especially given the fact that it was likely only involved in the franchise because of its association with Enya (and they therefore held the album rights to her performances for the first film). For The Two Towers, Reprise once again opened the floodgates of shameless commercialism. The regular $14 retail product most usually found in stores contained almost all of the same Shore score as the two limited, $23 and $30 albums: the store edition and the internet edition. The regular release, not short on additional useless gimmicks, offered the score in "only" a standard jewel case with one of five two-sided "character cards," one online trading card from the film, a screensaver, the "Making of the Score" video, and buddy icons. The only extra music on the two limited editions is the impressive "Farewell to Lorien" performance by Hilary Summers for the The Fellowship of the Ring's expanded DVD edition. The store-found limited edition came in a gold foil embossed, dark blue leatherette CD wallet containing a 20-page CD booklet and also had a The Two Towers image gallery and two exclusive online trading cards, as well as lyrics and poems. The Internet limited edition featured deluxe leatherette packing, custom "belly-band" artwork, the 20-page CD booklet, and all five of the printed trading character cards from the standard jewel case editions. With the Internet edition, you also got movie trailers, image galleries, lyrics, poems, a score music video and the "Making of the Score" video, screensavers, buddy icons, and, exclusively in the Internet edition, printable maps of Middle-earth (and, more specifically, of Rohan and Gondor... just in case you get lost someday), The Two Towers print and color sets and two online trading cards. Just throw in fries and a Coke and you're set. At least Enya was purged from the equation this time around. With the attention to detail that Reprise paid to the different leatherette versions of the limited edition, not to mention the complete set to come, it was hard not to get the feeling that you were comparing trim levels on a new vehicle purchase. For some, the costs may as well have been the same. It is difficult to say which of the above is the most offensive. If these people at Reprise really wanted to impress those reading this far in this review, the serious admirers of Shore's music and the greater film music community, then they should have damn well flushed their trading cards down the nearest toilet and spent the money it took to produce them on what everyone really wanted: more music from the film. Among the highlights of the cues that will really impress you with the enhanced sound quality, the aforementioned "The Breach of the Deeping Wall," with its blazing snare rhythm and menacing brass layers, will knock you off your feet. The full-fledged orchestral force of the conclusion to "Theoden Rides Forth" will, like the slamming music of the Orcs and Isengard from early in the previous set, appropriately terrify your neighbors. With the success of the set for The Fellowship of the Ring, and the equally impressive presentation of this one, we can continue to hope that the entire industry is headed in this technological direction, despite the expensive consequence of forcing collectors to rotate out their older collections for 5.1+ surround editions. Many fans have complained about the DVDs in these sets, however, despite their spectacular listening experience for those properly equipped. 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 on any of the sets) 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 again disallow scanning within a track. Unlike The Fellowship of the Ring, however, The Two Towers has shorter, more numerous tracks, leaving fewer moments of soft choral beauty hidden after several minutes of banging Orc rhythms. 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. 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 45-page booklet in the 2006 set is astounding in its depth and knowledge, the content will likely fly a few levels over the heads of most regular collectors; you have to be very familiar with the films to understand the character and location references. Still, Adams' work on collecting and presenting all of this information makes for at least an interesting read, even if it doesn't always connect in memory or terminology. His efforts to combine all of this information for an eventual book on Shore's trilogy of scores shows not only the complexity of Shore's creations for the films, but also the continued demand for the scores themselves. 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 products 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 any of these complete sets 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 2002, with its basic 16-bit stereo sound, will touch on all the basics and provide enough of the best material to suffice. Regardless of that answer, in terms of the extent of improvement over the original albums, the complete set of The Fellowship of the Ring remains a more vital upgrade to its material than The Two Towers. The sets did become successively more expensive, further pointing to the first one as the most necessary. 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. As with The Fellowship of the Ring, open your wallets for the complete set and don't worry about looking back.
Music as Heard on 2002 and 2003 Albums: **** Music as Heard on 2006 Complete Set: ***** Overall: ***** Track Listings (2002/2003 Regular Albums):
Total Time: 72:46
Track Listings (2002 Limited Edition Albums):
Total Time: 76:25
Track Listings (2006 Complete Set):
Total Time: 188:12
All artwork and sound clips from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers are Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006, 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 12/11/02, updated 12/13/08. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2002-2005, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
2002 Regular
