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PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of An Everlasting Piece (Hans Zimmer)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if wild jigs are a source of inspiration for your feet
and rear end.
Avoid it... if you're fearful of hearing the usual Media Ventures crowd take Irish elements and twist them into hard-rocking meyhem by the end of this score.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
An Everlasting Piece: (Hans Zimmer and Co.) A
flighty political satire about a couple of men who run a toupee company
in Northern Ireland during the 1980's, An Everlasting Piece was
originally approved by its studio, Dreamworks, for production in 1999.
But after seeing a partial cut of the film, the producers of Steven
Spielberg's company got cold feet on the politically charged project
because of their ties to the British government. Director Barry Levinson
continued with his edit of the film, in spite of growing pressures
leaking from the ranks of Dreamworks. It's hard to be stuck in the
middle of any spat between Spielberg and Levinson, though that's exactly
where composer Hans Zimmer found himself when he received a call about
scoring An Everlasting Piece. Ironically, the project turned sour
publicly when Dreamworks refused to hire Zimmer, Levinson's composer of
choice with whom he had created his Academy Award winning Rain
Man over a decade ago. Declining employment of Zimmer to the project
was an even greater curiosity when considering his blockbuster score for
the Dreamworks juggernaut Gladiator the previous summer, as well
as Spielberg's stated affinity for his music since Crimson Tide.
As a solution to the problem, Zimmer agreed to compose a small score for
the comedy as a favor to Levinson. Upon doing this, Dreamworks jumped to
retain the rights to the music by paying Zimmer the minimum amount to
establish legal title over the score: a single dollar. So for just $1
(and after the success of Gladiator in the stores, he certainly
isn't short on cash), Zimmer collected a group of mostly regular Media
Ventures musicians ultimately known as "The Jigs" and recorded an
intimate, ethnic, and wacky score. The music is as zany as the arthouse
film, with Irish and Scottish flavor mixed wildly with pop rhythms of
the 1980's. The score's short cues jump between the two attitudes
required by the action in the film, occasionally exploring a more solemn
and romantic theme on the side. The funky music for which the Jigs
perform to their name provides the comical element in the score. A band
of authentic and synthesized percussion, with a heavy emphasis on drums,
begin with a rapturous performance at the start of the score and meld
into more traditional rock rhythms.
For the ethnic flavor, a fiddle, viola, and/or synthesized strings are complimented by an occasional bagpipe for an extra ethnic effect (sometimes quite attractive, as in "Piece on Earth"), though most of the ethnicity of the score is established in Zimmer's rhythms. The flip side of the score consists of the more serious, character building elements that convey the secondary theme first heard in "One Hundred and Ninety." Drawing the music closer to the listener, Zimmer leaves the funk behind for a number of cues and provides an understated and yet noble theme for the film's primary characters. Performed by singular strings or a duo of guitars, the heart of these moments is genuine, though it's still a tad underplayed because of the comical nature of the film. Keeping the controversy in mind, perhaps Dreamworks had anticipated more of the wacky jigs and less of the reflective attitude in the film and its music. One of the more curious aspects of the score is the strong development of the character theme in "F**Kin' Genius" and "Piece Offering." At times, it seems as though Zimmer has made an accidentally satirical mix of James Horner's usual blend of similar ethnic sounds, and this resemblance comes forth in the progressions and instrumentation of those cues. Overall, the score will likely be remembered for its outbursts of the jigs and rock performances, however. For the final track, Zimmer lets the dozen-man crew of the Jigs rip with impromptu performances of background vocals, electric guitars, and a completely insane pianist. To be sure, if anyone doubts the diversity of Zimmer's talents (as well as those of the people he surrounds himself with) then An Everlasting Piece is clear evidence of the kinds of things that the composer needs to unleash more regularly. Some of the basic elements of the ethnic reflection in this score were introduced in his convoluted music for Toys early in his career, though in An Everlasting Piece their purpose is clear and the score is more effective. The primary detriment of the music on album is its wild inconsistency, often proving to be schizophrenic in its movements. It's the type of music that will be a riot in the film, but the album, shifting between the overtly funky and profoundly reflective, is more difficult to grasp. For people who introduced themselves to Zimmer with Gladiator, then An Everlasting Piece must have been a major shock. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 41:53
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
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