Welcome back, dear friends, to the Reader Recommendation Odyssey. A bunch of Scoreboarders have recommended music to me that I have not yet covered on one of my other Odysseys. In return for me writing a review article on their score, they must write a review article on a score of my choosing. Make sense? Great! Let’s dive in!
The Iron Giant – Michael Kamen
BeeGee recommended this score, which for me deepens the enigma around Michael Kamen. After all these years of soundtrack collecting, I have only dipped my toes a few times into Kamen’s music, and almost all examples have been because of the various Odysseys I’ve gone on. There have been lows (“X-Men,” don’t @ me), scores that were pretty good (“License to Kill,” “Die Hard”) and one high: “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.” You can classify “The Iron Giant” as a high, but the score left me with more questions about Kamen than answers.
Certainly, the music is lovely. The album starts with its best cue “Eye of the Storm,” a propulsive blast of adrenaline that immediately underlined why so many score lovers consider this music a masterpiece. And each subsequent cue is lovely in its own way, running the gamut from wholesome Disney class (even though the film is not Disney) to heartbreaking emotional resonance. Director Brad Bird had given Kamen maestro Bernard Herrmann as a reference for the music, and you can certainly feel his touch in the darker passages, which are especially complex and rhythmic.
But where are the themes? Both CC and Jon Broxton’s fine reviews mention that there are themes, but they did not present themselves to me until my second listen… they are certainly the weakest part of the music, and I wouldn’t blame you for listening and completely missing them. So the album instead feels like a collection of short suites, each outstanding in its own way, but not as cohesive as it could or should be considering the number of genres and emotions Kamen tackles.
I don’t understand why Kamen didn’t create a big, rousing, cohesive theme… which is why he continues to be enigma for me. I love the music, but don’t know his voice yet. Certainly, he could have – look at “Robin Hood” – and if Herrmann was his North Star, it would have made sense to do so. And that’s the thing that keeps “The Iron Giant” from reaching masterpiece status for me – but it’s still a great score filled with great music that supports a great film.
BeeGee, since Herrmann was Kamen’s inspiration here, I assign you his final masterpiece: Obsession. Enjoy!
Score: ****
P.S. I love the atomic bomb bonus song at the end.
Legend of Silk Boy – Alain Mayrand
Luke Bunting offered up this delightful animated score, and if you’re noticing a pattern of animated family movies in this article, you would be correct. Superstar Jackie Chan was the main voice here, but the movie didn’t make much of an impact upon release and is barely remembered today, if at all.
But Alain Mayrand’s music for the production remains memorable – I have never heard a single note of music composed by him prior to this, but he makes quite a splash. It all starts with a march that feels similar to the opening of John Williams’ Superman march, but not so similar that it annoys. Mayrand soon reveals his main theme for the piece, which is a stunner. It’s an engaging earworm that works wonderfully as a glue when the music goes off in various different genre directions, as animated music is wont to do.
And there are a lot of different styles contained within the 75 minute album – everything from zippy circus music to song to Eastern exoticism… and so, so many more. All of them are well-rendered by Mayrand, though I’ll admit my dislike for parody music made me itch for the fast-forward button once or twice. It’s not the music’s fault, though, it’s my bias. If you have a stronger stomach for that style, you’ll love it.
That said, my one other recommendation is to split the long album presentation into two listens (“Sucked into the Magical Painting” is a natural stopping point) because all of the energetic music can become overwhelming after awhile. Still, “Legend of Silkboy” is a giant, rousing work that leaves me hoping Mayrand gets a bigger project with a big orchestra in the near future.
Luke, I assign you ”Indochine” by Patrick Doyle – one of my favorites from a composer who has never written a bad score.
Score: ****
Ron’s Gone Wrong – Henry Jackman
jjstarA113 assigned me this, based on the cute animated film from last year that not enough people saw.
Animated movies are where Remote Control composers really find their voices – oftentimes their action or drama scores will be maligned by our community because they must hew too closely to the company’s overall sound, but when given the opportunity, spread their wings with animation. Jon Blough’s wonderful series on Media Ventures/Remote Control has been highlighting this fact over and over.
I don’t much like Henry Jackman’s big action work – I loathe “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and barely remember anything else despite having listened to almost all his output. I have more affection for his intimate dramas, but his animation work contains the real highlights of his career so far. “Ron’s Gone Wrong” is clearly a sister to Jackman’s two “Wreck-It Ralph” scores in the same way Basil Poledouris’ “Flesh and Bone” is to his two “Conan” works. I’m probably in the minority here, but I actually like the main theme to “Ron’s Gone Wrong” better than the Disney – it lingers longer and Jackman puts it through more interesting variations as the music progresses.
The entirety of the score is light and optimistic, skipping from cue to cue with a fun electronic sound that miraculously manages to avoid grating against the viewer. Bonus points are assigned because the pop song is quite fun in a ‘90s pop band sorta way. Sure, a bunch of the cues are way too short to make much of an impact and make the listening experience a smidge too long (the album is over an hour), but these are quibbles. “Ron’s Gone Wrong” is easy fun, and you’ll find yourself humming that aforementioned theme long after it finishes.
Since the person I originally assigned “Unbroken: Path to Redemption” by Brandon Roberts to has left the forum after making some not-great comments about John Williams, I’m going to gift the score to you, jjstarA113. It still merits discussion. Enjoy!
Score: ****
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas – Harry Gregson Williams
Wow, how have I missed this one up to now?
JB11sos gave this one to me, and I’m honestly behind the eight-ball here because Jon Blough recently posted an incredible review of this score in that Media Ventures/Remote Control rundown I mentioned earlier (you have read them, right? They’re fabulous.). He was so on the ball that I’m not sure how much I can add.
Despite working for five years at DreamWorks, I never saw this movie so I have zero context for the music… other than that I love it truly, madly, deeply. It’s been on repeat for the last four days – I love that the main theme is complex, but totally malleable and utilized at length throughout the album. The music never strays far from it.
Further, it’s all the swashbuckling you could ever want from this type of score – it’s a perfect compliment to “Cutthroat Island” and a great step into the Golden Age of adventure scoring. Shit, I’m now wondering if I actually like this better than “Cutthroat”… both are five stars. I need time for this one to settle in before I write something I’m going to regret later.
I think the biggest compliment I can give “Sinbad” is that I don’t know how the music can be improved. It’s one of the best animated scores from the modern era, full stop. I can’t wait to hear it again.
JB11sos, I assign you “Marple” by Dominik Scherrer. Here’s hoping you love quirky, string-based music as much as I do.
Score: *****
Up Next: We finish this Odyssey! If you have forgotten, Christopher Young is coming up next… and I’ve been compiling every one of his scores I can get my hands on. Which, so far, is over 80. I, uh, may be diving into the deep end with this one, guys.
The Reader Recommendation Odyssey
Ego Proxy – Yoshihiro Ike
El Pueblo Del Sol – Lee Holdridge - *****
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla – Masaru Sato - ***
Inside Man – Terence Blanchard - ***1/2
The Iron Giant – Michael Kamen - ****
Legend of Silkboy – Alain Mayrand - ****
The Liberator – Gustavo Dudamel - ****1/2
The Piano – Mychal Nymen - ****1/2
Ron’s Gone Wrong – Henry Jackman - ****
Secret Weapons Over Normandy – Michael Giacchino - ****1/2
Shadow of the Moon – Philip Shepard
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas - Harry Gregson-Williams - *****
The Touch – Basil Poledouris - ****
Watership Down – Federico Jusid - ****1/2
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I was actually considering either this or Ralph Breaks the Internet to request a review for since while I love both these scores, (hot take) I think Ralph 2 is a masterpiece and Jackman's greatest achievement yet. But Ron seemed like the more overlooked score, so I picked that one.
