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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Elfman's fans might argue that A Simple Plan is anything but simple, and in the music's relation to the film, they are most likely correct. As it stands alone, however, the score, as functioning as music, is quite simple. A Simple Plan isn't so much revolutionary as it is different. Elfman, to the surprise of even some of his regular co-workers, dropped the brass and percussion sections of the orchestra. He bloated the woodwind section to an all new high, with nine alto and bass flutes. In an interesting move, he re-tuned a few pianos and banjos so that they constantly sound half a tone off... a purposeful move to aid the disenchantment in the film. On the album, the effect is disturbing. The score is alienating and cold, with very subtle themes and a lack of anything rewarding. With its off tone heart and skewed orchestral balance, it is an unpleasant listening experience (not that it was meant to --or could-- be anything else). The opening and closing titles feature much of the same off-kilter electronic base as which can be heard in A Civil Action. Distant violins perform simple background accompanyment for the flutes, banjos and pianos. Elfman himself performs the majority of unusual instruments, which are mostly results of his original tinkering with, as he states, "odd string struck sounds, glass sounds, and harmonic sounds that [he] collects and use[s]." The score has one solid bright spot, as well as one major irritation. Track 9, "Death," combines Elfman's piano with one of the flutes in a meloncholy tribute to the main theme (heard in the audio clip below), producing a distantly John Barry-like result. The previous track, however, is the most unlistenable on the album, with two minutes of degeneration into sheer noise and sound effects. Overall, the score for A Simple Plan is difficult to appreciate or enjoy without the knowledge of the film to correlate the two. It is an original and lonely piece of music, and surely not an album that will cheer you up. It stands at a distance and builds on you, producing a recognizable, yet unsatisfying climax in track 11. Elfman's creativity has ironically flourished to the smallest and simplest level yet, leaving me yearning for even the Mambo del Flubber. Complex in technicalities, yes, but as an album of music, A Simple Plan is a disheartening experience. The Compass III release doesn't include some key cues from the film, however it does generously provide three source songs from the film. From here, Elfman will finish the score for the film Instinct, in which he makes use of xylophones, marimbas, thumb pianos, African drums, and other creative goodies... **
(only about 30 minutes of Elfman score)
"There's nothing easier than being bombastic, which is why I don't go for your standard action films. Anything works as long as it's big and loud. Bombastic is easy. I think a relatively talented 12-year-old with a couple of good orchestrators could score most of the big mega-blockbusters that are out in the last couple of years. Very often in a movie I design the score around a sound or sounds that I think will be unique to that picture. Certainly in a movie like A Simple Plan it needed some special or unique tones. The tone of the movie was very tricky. It was really fun... different... very simple score, really, for A Simple Plan. I didn't mean it as a pun; it really was."
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