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| Williams |
Island of the Sharks: (Alan Williams) Among the
many IMAX films to bring a distant location to a really big screen near
you was 1998's
Island of the Sharks, a standard nature
documentary about the area surrounding Cocos Island (off the coast of
Costa Rica). This film deals primarily with the underwater creatures,
utilizing the ever-evolving technology of underwater IMAX filming to
capture awe-inspiring scenes of animal interaction and movement. As the
film's producer, Michele Hall, states, films like
Island of the
Sharks "require a big sound." And audiences have been trained to
expect a significant score for such pictures since the mid-1990's as
well. Proving himself capable of providing such music at the time was
composer Alan Williams, whose career has proven to be defined by IMAX
projects in the years since. He was provided a 70-member orchestra with
which to play for
Island of the Sharks, and he would, for some
listeners, use the opportunity to eclipse his work on the IMAX film
Amazon, which had gained him significant attention and praise two
years earlier. In a procedural sense, Williams' technique of adapting
proven ideas from other scores is likely the central talking point of
Island of the Sharks. At times, you hear so many influences from
other modern works in scores like
Amazon and
Island of the
Sharks that some listeners will be too dismayed by such references
to be able to enjoy each new entry. But then again, if the sound isn't
broken, then there's no reason to fix it. By not reinventing the
concepts in
Island of the Sharks, Williams provides a score that
will heavily remind veteran film score listeners of John Barry, Jerry
Goldsmith, James Newton Howard, and a handful of others. The trick to
Williams' success, though, is his ability to adapt all of these styles
into a cohesive whole that works extremely well for
Island of the
Sharks (moreso than in
Amazon) despite the somewhat shameless
nature of the inspirational pull.
Right off the bat, listeners will be treated to
expansive string-led themes using the same dramatic weight as any
typical John Barry theme of the 80's or 90's. There is absolutely no
question about the original of this inspiration, and the interesting
aspect of these performances in
Island of the Sharks is the fact
that Williams applies the Barry brush without the typical repetitions
that often render Barry's music stagnant. This title theme for
Island
of the Sharks is somewhat upstaged by the mass of Spanish-flavoured
subthemes in the middle portions of the score, used often to represent
the funnier and more innocuous creatures of the ocean. These portions
are directly influenced by two Jerry Goldsmith scores. In "Underwater
Currents," Williams utilizes a rolling drum rhythm almost identical to
that of
The Ghost and the Darkness, but Williams' instrumentation
has a far more appropriately sub-tropical feel. The secondary theme he
performs here is pure Goldsmith magic, and in its reprise in "Rain and
Rebirth" is a highlight. Later, by the time we reach segments about "Sea
Stars" and "Sea Turtle and Hermit Crab," Williams has fully embraced
Goldsmith's
Medicine Man. These latter cues, despite being the
lowest in volume, contain the most infectious personality in
Island
of the Sharks, using the same percussion and acoustic guitar array
(along with more tropical specialties) as an aide to the orchestra in
such a pleasant sense as to almost overshadow the quality of Goldsmith's
work. Some pan pipe work in "Fairy Turne" harken back to Goldsmith's
80's work for
Under Fire. Other secondary motifs include ideas
for the fierce creatures, and between the Howard references in
"Hammerheads" and the inevitable bass string/John Williams references in
"Shark Attack," the darker moments of
Island of the Sharks are to
be skipped. Overall, though, this score is as gorgeous as any you'd
expect to hear from an IMAX film in this location; Williams takes each
of these inspirations (or temp tracks, perhaps... it doesn't really
matter) and does such a good job adapting them that you forgive their
derivative nature. Unlike
Amazon,
Island of the Sharks was
only released as a promotional product in 1999; most of Williams works
have been filtered to collectors in this fashion. A pleasure all
around.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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