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| Jones |
From Hell: (Trevor Jones) Hailing from a series of
popular comic books of the same name, the hunt for Jack the Ripper hit
the big screens by the power of the Hughes Brothers (Allen and Albert),
whose films had typically gravitated towards the John Singleton side of
contemporary black dramas. Their surprisingly effective
From Hell
succeeds because of its absolutely convincing atmosphere, maintained by
both the dreary look of its stunning visual conceptualization of old
London and an extremely dense score by Trevor Jones. The heavy opium
usage, prostitution, disease, and graphic gore depicted in
From
Hell kept it from mainstream acceptance, though its critical
response was stronger than most may remember. To hear a classically
robust, Victorian score for a Hughes Brothers film was an intriguing
concept, though it should be no surprise that the popular highlight of
the music for the film was the "Wormwood Remix" of Marilyn Manson's Holy
Wood album single "The Nobodies." Whether the song should receive all
the credit or not, the album initially performed as well as (if not
better than) the film. The subject matter of the film was an obvious
avenue for a powerfully gothic score from Jones, who had already
explored similar depths of orchestral and choral malice and despair in
1998's
Dark City. Jones' versatility was beginning to show after
an early career during which his "self rip-offs" were documented more
often than not, writing a runaway Victorian score for
From Hell
with brooding gothic development of theme and strings that will raise
the spirit of any night-dwelling film score listener. While the music
for this film is heavily rooted in moody layers of the orchestral, the
talents which Jones employed for
From Hell included both the
vocal and synthetic realms as well, with even an ethnically bizarre
Chinese edge in certain accented spots (likely for the opium element).
Stepping above the genre of the typical slashing horror music that many
thought Jones would produce, his resulting effort showed promise of
being a noteworthy career notch for the continuously more popular
composer. While it didn't realize its full potential in the mainstream,
this score still stands as among the best of a very strong year of 2001
for all film scores.
Two interesting adjectives initially used by some in
the film music community to describe this score are "bleak" and
"sorcerous." The latter is an intriguingly accurate descriptor that
applies based on Jones' instrumentation alone. But the label of "bleak"
isn't exactly right. It is a very dark and suspenseful score, indeed,
and Jones does everything right to create atmosphere of dread in which
his music can brood with malice and fright. That shadowy environment
doesn't allow the composer to burst forth with the kind of melodic
statements of theme for which he is famous, but to counteract the
consistently tightened sense of unease, Jones refrains from producing
simplistically bleak music by nearly always inserting masterful vocals
or synthetic distortions during the score's slower moments. His
integration of Chinese instrumentation, digitally mutilated in seemingly
fashionable ways, creaks and groans like the opening of an old wooden
door, and this and similar techniques offer a sharply engaging edge to
From Hell that keeps it from ever becoming bleak in a distancing
sense. The instrumentation, synthetic or otherwise, when combined with
the deep vocals of a full chorus, adds the touch of "sorcery" that much
better describes this score. The orchestra of choice for the recording
of this score is equally important. The Academy of St. Martins in the
Field is well known for its masterful string performances of classical
pieces (as well as the occasional high profile film score), and Jones'
use of their talents in this recording is superb. It is a composition
dominated by cellos and basses, with swirling violins accompanying an
often methodical low string motif that churns with perpetual turbulence.
The chase sequences offer brass only as a supplement (though Jones can't
resist using them as gorgeous counterpoint for the love theme), with the
frantic but deliberate energy of the strings pushing the action into a
very believable setting for the story. Despite his synthetic
experimentation, Jones' music for
From Hell is, most importantly,
very believable for the time of 1888. He even inserts the sound of
distant tolling of bells that many will associate with London. It is
thus a score that frightens and impresses all in one, and its
flourishing sense of dramatic darkness makes it a perfect listening
experience for Halloween night.
As for the thematic elements of the score,
From
Hell has a subtly powerful love theme that may not encapsulate you
at the start but makes its full, grand entrance in "Portrait of a
Prince." Some listeners will notice a similarity in progression to David
Arnold's love theme for
Tomorrow Never Dies, though more
interesting is an interlude at about two minutes into the aforementioned
cue that lifts a full statement of the Jones' theme for the 1999
television production of
Cleopatra. The love theme develops into
a fully morbid ensemble performance in "Pennies for the Ferryman,"
joining a rowdy rhythmic motif of death established by full chorus in
"The Compass and the Ruler" as the primary identities of the work. You
have to allow
From Hell some time to develop its themes into
their eventual forms, taking over twenty minutes on album to really
build steam towards that memorable melodic identity. Heavily rooted in
the minor key and layered with an overbearing string section and
creative use of digital instrumentation, these themes' few clear
statements late in the score, without any background dissonance, are a
pleasure. As a listening experience, the entire score requires repeat
plays to full appreciate the intricacies that do eventually reveal
themselves from the shadows. The Manson song at the beginning is nothing
more than a marketing ploy. Trevor Jones collectors will likely skip
past it without a second thought, as they should, and it is the only
intolerable aspect of the entire product. Of a more curious nature is
the insertion of a couple of special audio effects onto the album.
Jones' original music is digitally mixed to make it sound as though it
is playing on an ancient gramophone player, with all the scratches and
wobbles that you'd expect to hear with that recording. In "The Compass
and the Ruler," Jones' dominating bass string and choral motif is mixed
into this antique style before transforming suddenly into contemporary
resonance, a remarkable effect that could alone be worth the price of
the album for fans of explosive gothic music. The final track is also a
manipulation (of a vocal performance in that case) to give the piece a
style of sound over a century old. Overall,
From Hell may not be
an overtly frightening score, but it is still one of the best horror
genre efforts of the 2000's, and fans of unyielding gothic sounds will
delight in its persistent aura of sorcery.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Trevor Jones reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.78
(in 18 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.41
(in 24,905 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
