Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you're enticed by the thematically appealing consistency to John Debney's dramatic and heroic tributes to militaristic glory. Avoid it... if the simplistic, straight forward sound to his Western music leaves you shunning Debney in favor of composers that use a more folksy approach to the genre. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
In Pursuit of Honor/Class of '61: (John Debney) The second in the series of pressed promotional products pairing two of John Debney's scores on one CD was the 1996 presentation of the war genre scores for In Pursuit of Honor and Class of '61. The 1995 HBO film In Pursuit of Honor provides the vast majority of music on the album, and represents some of Debney's most resolute Western music. The film is the brutal portrayal of the execution of the 1935 order of General Douglas MacArthur to officially disband the country's cavalry units. He ordered that 500 former cavalry horses be led to Mexico to be slaughtered, leaving the officers in command of the unit carrying out these orders with a significant moral dilemma. Their choice to attempt to save most of the horses after their termination begins leads them on a frantic chase back north with as many of the horses as they could save. The true story presents some of the most gruesome animal execution scenes ever put to film, though the story does offer some positives at the end. Debney tackled the film the same year he would stun film music collectors with his ambitious Cutthroat Island, and throughout the score for In Pursuit of Honor, you can hear that he has firmly established the high standard of orchestral writing that fans would come to expect from him in the decades to come. Few of his subsequent scores would offer the same shamelessly heroic militaristic atmosphere. The score is led by snare for the majority of its length, sometimes mixed at different distances from the microphone for a layered effect (such as the opening of "Signals"). With the snare comes a persistent sense of movement, a logical choice given the pacing of the story. The Western rhythms are more dramatic than most of the cliched usages you typically hear, straying far closer towards Lee Holdridge's straight, modern Western sound and avoiding the folk influences defining Basil Poledouris' popular Westerns of the time. Debney's title theme is as heroic as any he has ever written, layering brass with great effect. His use of trumpets in a "call to arms" fashion as counterpoint over the rest of the ensemble provides for outstanding moments such as the driving force of "The Journey." That cue also features a harmonica mixed as an equal with the ensemble; its only memorable solo performance comes as expected in "Campfire." The 45 minutes of harmonic Western movements for In Pursuit of Honor are mixed with the same vibrant soundscape as Cutthroat Island, enhancing the score's emotional impact. Its themes, while consistently employed, don't impact you as the sheer magnitude of the score's powerful performance. While being grave in its demeanor, the score's rousing optimism provides for a hidden Debney gem. The other score on this promotional album is the pre-Civil War film Class of '61 produced for television by Amblin Entertainment. The story tells the tale of the last graduating classes from West Point before the start of the war, a war that would place the friendly cadets on different sides. It takes substantial liberty in altering history enough to allow famous officers to know and befriend each other better than they actually did in reality. Debney's score for Class of '61 is represented by only about 15 minutes of material, but it's clear that the producers used James Horner's Glory as the basis (and perhaps temp track) for the score. At the forefront of the score is a soulful title theme performed by boy's choir (though it sounds completely synthesized in this case) over a typical, militaristic snare rhythm for its battle sequences. This theme, with trumpet in counterpoint atop the ensemble and strings buffering the choral elements, graces "For Honor and Glory" with a sound faintly resembling Glory and other Horner works. The viola and piano solos during conversational cues in Class of '61 will foreshadow what Horner would produce for Legend of the Fall. The final cue combines the viola and piano with acoustic guitar for intimate closure in the presentation of this theme. Outside of this highly lyrical theme, the score offers little to inspire. The structure and rendering of the theme will likely bother listeners weary of Horner's influence on his own scores, not to mention this one. Overall, Class of '61 isn't a particular strong score, but it suffices in its genuine heart and serves as a good appetizer for In Pursuit of Honor on album. By comparison to In Pursuit of Honor, most listeners will find Class of '61 to be a lightweight much along the same somewhat underdeveloped lines that Debney would follow early in his career. But In Pursuit of Honor is worth the search for the promotional album by itself, and Class of '61 is an additional bonus.
Class of '61 *** Overall: **** Track Listings:
Total Time: 63:59
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