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Reel Chill: The Cinematic Chillout Album
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Performed by:
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The City of Prague Philharmonic
Crouch End Festival Courus
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Album Produced by:
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James Fitzpatrick
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Release Date:
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August 10th, 2004
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Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if your film score collection is limited and you could use
fine samplers such as Silva's to expand upon your enjoyment and knowledge of
the genre.
Avoid it... if you already have a dozen similar Silva compilations and
don't wish to add another repetitious album to your collection.
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Reel Chill: The Cinematic Chillout Album: (Compilation)
It's been several years now since Silva Screen's collaboration with The City
of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Crouch End Festival Chorus yielded the
original Cinema Choral Classics albums and dozens of other successful
ventures. You begin to wonder if Silva producer James Fitzpatrick (who we
all have to thank for these performances -- many of which are magnificent)
and The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra have run out of noteworthy
(and more likely, profitable) music to re-record and must rely on the most
recent scores to choose material from. While their production together has
slowed since those glorious days of the late 1990's, that doesn't mean that
their library of recordings can't be plucked for yet another new combination
of these recordings along a new, common theme. Some of these compilations in
the past have been suspicious in their inclusion of some recordings while
they omit others, and some collectors seem to stick to Silva re-recordings
of either a single score (such as the fantastic Raise the Titanic) or
a very specific theme (such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy or the
James Bond albums). The 2004 Reel Chill album from Silva looks to
have the ice cube philosophy at work, with the selection of cues this time
seemingly centered on the soothing and relaxing. You see compilations such
as this in the "various" area of music stores' soundtrack sections all the
time, but the good thing about Silva albums is that there is actually a real
--and a very good-- orchestral and choral ensemble behind those recordings.
Seeing one of these Silva compilations sitting next to "Classics Performed
by Neil Norman and His Cosmic Orchestra" does put the situation into
perspective. Even so, albums like Reel Chill are aimed at film music
novices more than hardened critics of the genre, and Silva's honorable
intent with this album is to get people either hooked on film music or
hooked on their rerecordings of it... and either is a positive move.
The film score nuts could argue for an hour about the
always curious inclusion of music on these collections. With 2 CDs in the
case of Reel Chill, there's plenty to discuss. The albums seem
heavily weighted with material by Ennio Morricone and John Barry (no
surprise --they like performing that stuff in Prague) and perhaps the
absence of material of classic romance writers (Patrick Doyle, Rachel
Portman, Georges Delerue, etc) blows a huge hole in this compilation and
exposes the fact that Prague has neglected especially Delerue and Portman.
Perhaps they're just not marketable enough. Another interesting aspect of
Reel Chill is that the selections have been made for their aural
beauty rather than the content of the movies they originally accompanied. If
you're the type of person who pictures Anthony Hopkins eating a person's
brain when hearing any music from Hannibal, or pictures Willem Dafoe
getting needlessly riddled with bullets when hearing Barber's Agnus Dei for
Platoon, then Reel Chill might not function correctly for you.
Even if you're one of those hard-ass people, however, a set like this does
offer you a chance to hear Prague's more recent recordings. In this case,
you get a glimpse into their Lord of the Rings recordings (released
together on a separate album) as well as items such as A.I. by John
Williams and Gladiator by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard (the "Now We
Are Free" cue here starts over again for some reason halfway through and
repeats itself). One thankful omission is Dances With Wolves, which
is surprising given Barry's strong presence on the album, but it's been so
overplayed in recent years that it's more tedious rather than soothing.
Overall, the Reel Chill set, unlike some of Silva's other, more
highly targeted compilations, is aimed at the mainstream listener rather
than the film score collector. The stock photography on these Silva albums
is always curious, with an ice cube all over the outside and a picture of
some bald, vascular dude in Zen meditation on (far too much of) the inside.
No meditation is likely for the listener of the album, though, for the
performances are strong and the selections are varied enough to keep us
pleasantly awake and lucid. ***
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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CD 1: (74:12)
• 1. Barry Lyndon: Sarabande (Handel) (4:02)
• 2. Midnight Cowboy: Main Theme (John Barry) (3:56)
• 3. Diva: Promenade Sentimentale (Vladimir Cosma) (2:30)
• 4. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: May It Be (Enya/Nicky Ryan) (4:42)
• 5. Barry Lyndon: Women of Ireland (Sean O'Riorda) (4:27)
• 6. Gallipoli: Adagio for Strings & Organ (Albinoni) (8:01)
• 7. Romeo & Juliet: Romeo / Love Theme (Nino Rota) (6:26)
• 8. Romeo + Juliet: Balcony Scene (Craig Armstrong) (5:36)
• 9. Chariots of Fire: Main Theme (Vangelis) (3:29)
• 10. Bilitis: Main Theme (Francis Lai) (3:23)
• 11. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence: Main Theme (Ryuichi Sakamoto) (4:40)
• 12. Cinema Paradiso: Main Theme (Ennio Morricone) (3:28)
• 13. Once Upon a Time in the West: Maria's Theme (Ennio Morricone) (6:01)
• 14. Once Upon a Time in America: Deborah's Theme (Ennio Morricone) (4:35)
• 15. The Mission: Suite (Ennio Morricone) (8:47)
CD 2: (74:39)
• 1. You Only Live Twice: Suite (John Barry) (5:21)
• 2. The Piano: The Heart Asks Pleasure First (Michael Nyman) (3:40)
• 3. Platoon: Agnus Dei (Samuel Barber) (6:09)
• 4. Hannibal: Vide Cor Meum (Patrick Cassidy) (2:57)
• 5. Death in Venice: Adagietto from Symphony No.5 (Mahler) (10:28)
• 6. American Beauty: Any Other Name/Dead Already (Thomas Newman) (7:01)
• 7. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King: Into the West (Howard Shore) (4:33)
• 8. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence: Where Dreams are Made (John Williams) (3:43)
• 9. Somewhere in Time: Main Theme (John Barry) (6:09)
• 10. On Her Majesty's Secret Service: We Have All the Time in the World (John Barry) (3:28)
• 11. Patriot Games: Electronic Battlefield (James Horner) (3:37)
• 12. Gladiator: Now We Are Free (Hans Zimmer/Lisa Gerrard) (6:32)
• 13. Raging Bull: Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) (3:17)
• 14. The Deerhunter: Cavatina (Stanley Myers) (3:11)
• 15. Out of Africa: Main Theme (John Barry) (4:31)
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Insert includes no extra information about the scores or films.
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