Buy it... only if you explicitly appreciated the music in the film itself, for it's difficult to recommend this score to either Elton John's fans or traditional film score collectors.

Avoid it... if you expect John's first orchestral film score to feature the pop sound familiar to the rest of his career.

The Muse: (Elton John) In a world as nutty as Hollywood, the concept of The Muse is actually a frightening possibility. It's one of those inside joke films that only one of a few writers and directors in the industry could pull off, and Albert Brooks is one of them. He not only fills those aforementioned duties, but he also stars as a successful Hollywood writer fired from a studio for no longer "having his edge." He does what other successful writers and directors have done over time: hire the services of a muse, a daughter of the god Zeus (in the appearance of Sharon Stone), to inspire him to regain his successful habits. If you buy her gifts and a place to live, her mere presence (completely non-sexual) will help you resurrect your form. Whether she's actually a supernatural being or simply a placebo who takes advantage of her pseudo-clients, she allows for The Muse to parade a host of cameo performances in front of the camera. Contradicting reasonable amusement among critics who understood the premise of the film, The Muse languished despite its strong credentials and has fallen off the face of the planet. One of the great curiosities involving the production came with singer and songwriter Elton John's hiring as its composer, and, in the first traditional scoring assignment of his career, he produces a surprising result. Common sense would have suggested that John's entry into film scoring (if ever achieved) would involve an assignment for a film that necessitated a jazzy or pop-related series of melodies. Breaking away from all those expectations, John creates a score that very much parallels the humor of the script by elevating the mythology of the story through high class, neo-classical style. Not only does it sound like nothing you'd expect to hear from John, it's basically a success in its task of following the frantic nature of Brooks' character and the flurry of the industry. Given the critical acclaim that John received at the time for this work, it's somewhat surprising that he never branched out beyond the comfort zone of animated musicals for more straight-forward scoring assignments.

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Cynics might argue that the reason John never used The Muse to launch a film scoring career is because most of the success in the orchestral recording for The Muse can be attributed to veteran orchestrator and conducter Geoffrey Alexander. Either way, the score has its fair share of positives and negatives. The historically-inclined, classical approach leads to light, prancing waltz rhythms that bounce with a false sense of sophistication. Though likely a good way to tackle the project, the music is ultimately more fluff than substance, conveying itself as a tacky parody of Rachel Portman's airy style for similar projects. To its credit, the score was obviously meant to be playful and frivolous, but its mocking edge (a necessary evil considering the sharp dialogue of the film) can be tiring. Endless staccato movements for strings, piano, harp, and harpsichord rely on active plucking from the bass strings to keep the entire production from running wild in the treble region. Their enthusiastic performances of John's handful of themes for The Muse give it an undeniable spirit of joy that could encourage you to throttle another human being if not for its brevity overall. As the plot reveals its dirty little secret, John's music loses some of that edge, slowing the bombardment in the separately recorded "Multiple Personality" cue to address the true identity of the muse. Few cues break the stream of prancing, trite attitude. The end of "Steven Redecorates" offers a slight Middle-Eastern flavor and the cues "The Aquarium" and "Sarah Escapes," among others, feature John's flowingly elegant piano solos over the ensemble. More of these latter moments would have been welcomed. The finale of "Meet Christine" is given a surprising choral explosion, chanting "gloria!" for one last big pun. In sum, the music washes together without much distinction, and the harp and harpsichord can get on your nerves after fifteen minutes. Still, John's effort is commendable. The two versions of John's vocalized title song at the end of the album are completely incompatible with the score. In the end, The Muse makes for an interesting listening experience from the point of view of a score collector, but it will likely disappoint Elton John fans and those who expect a little too much from it. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download