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Review of Last of the Mohicans (Jones/Edelman)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you wonder where all of Trevor Jones' outstanding,
sweeping title themes originate from, because Last of the
Mohicans is the genesis of the composer's mainstream career.
Avoid it... if you expect either of the original 1992 or re-recorded 2000 albums to provide a satisfyingly comprehensive presentation of the music provided by no less than six composers and groups to the film.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Last of the Mohicans: (Trevor Jones/Randy Edelman)
Although director Michael Mann took James Fenimore Cooper's 1826 novel
Last of the Mohicans in a direction that betrayed the original
intent of the second story of "The Longstocking Tales," the 1992 film is
considered by some to be the director's crowning achievement. He would
use the success of Last of the Mohicans to launch a mainstream
career that continued to tackled touchy topics in adult manners. Not all
was blessed with Last of the Mohicans, however, with Daniel
Day-Lewis' "I will find you!" line mocked in parodies ever since and an
absolutely gruesome set of scenes late in the film graphically depicting
bodily mutilation. Among the film's strengths was its music; Mann has
always maintained an extremely eclectic taste in soundtracks, often
combining the services of several musicians in conjunction with existing
pieces of music to form occasionally disjointed (or post-modern) sounds
for his films. In the case of Last of the Mohicans, he hired the
relatively unknown Trevor Jones, who had yet to make his name in
Hollywood as of 1992. Mann instructed him to compose a largely
electronic score, which eventual fans of Jones' work know is something
that he excels in, especially when merging synthetic and orchestral
tones. Ironically, the vision of the production changed significantly
during the film's making, and Jones ultimately wrote 48 minutes of
extremely robust orchestral work with only a slight role for
electronics. But the endless editing process by Mann, which extended to
an expanded director's cut released on DVD in 2000, caused scheduling
conflicts for Jones. Mann then turned to Randy Edelman, who was also
just attaining popularity in mainstream Hollywood. Edelman's distinct
electronic sound and simplistic structures were already his standard
style by 1992, and his music is a far cry from Jones' in quality and
tone. While the two styles did not necessarily mesh particularly well,
the two composers handled separate concepts in the film; Jones wrote the
major themes and battle sequences while Edelman independently provided
28 minutes of incidental music falling in mostly conversational scenes.
Four other composers or groups contributed music to Last of the
Mohicans as well, though most of it was source material.
The combination score was nominated for a BAFTA and Golden Globe, but its multi-composer status precluded a likely Oscar nomination (had Jones' name appeared alone in the credits). When you look back through Jones' career, you have to respect Last of the Mohicans for its significant impact in launching the composer to many fruitful (even if less popular) projects. But while its theme has been licensed for use in everything from American politics to professional sports venues, it's far from the composer's best work. He would become known for writing precisely the type of theme heard extensively in Last of the Mohicans, the sweeping and epic brass fanfare of melodramatic scope and pacing that many subsequent directors have likely asked of him. Among these themes, which include the primary ideas for Cliffhanger and the 1999 television production of Cleopatra, Last of the Mohicans is only average. The success of the theme is more likely due to the obvious placement of it in the film (as well as the fact that it's repeated almost endlessly) than its inherent quality. While the two lofty performances in "Main Title" and "Top of the World" are indeed memorable, the theme exists in nearly every other Jones cue, usually in similarly noble tones. Given its representation of Hawkeye/Nathaniel (Lewis) and his heroic deeds, this is understandable, though the listening experience on album is somewhat diminished due to the repetition. Also driving home this theme is the fact that Jones only twists its progression slightly for the love theme of the film, heard in "The Kiss," "Promentory," and "Stockade." In fact, many listeners may not even notice the slight differences in the progressions. By far the most effective performance of the theme exists in the opening "Elk Hunt" scene, in which the three men at the heart of the story chase their prey through the woods; the deep and rapid electronic pulsation (similar in style to Basil Poledouris' library of sound effects) and heightened tension in the high string counterpoint to this performance make it the undeniable highlight of the score (and another frequently imitated piece). It is a cue that most likely represented exactly what Mann was originally wanting to hear in the film, and the approach works wonders over the continuation of the opening credits. Jones' battle music for Last of the Mohicans is effective, if not slightly derivative and sparse in rendering. The singular action motif heard in "Fort Battle" is rooted firmly in his comfort zone of predictable progressions, and unfortunately suffers from a lack of depth in the somewhat annoying percussive accompaniment to the cue. A heroic interlude for the title theme in this cue, however, helps save the day. The "Massacre" cue is a tired rehashing of Carl Orff's "O Fortuna!" from "Carmina Burana," only barely masked by Jones here. Luckily, in "Canoes," the pursuit is given a fuller sound that helps divert attention from Orff. One aspect of the score that has gained in popularity since Last of the Mohicans is the rhythmic phrase used primarily in "The Kiss" and "Promentory" (the piece was used extensively in 2007 football-related advertisements in America). Jones actually can't take credit for this invention; instead, the fiddle rhythm comes from Scottish musician Dougie MacLean's "The Gael" and is only adapted by Jones into Last of the Mohicans. The contributions of Randy Edelman are more subdued, following the usual tones of the composer's synthetic and acoustic guitar sound. He conjures two notable themes for the score, the first being a rather light-hearted piece for the hopeful "The Courier" scene, and the second being a theme for Major Duncan that is heard at both his arrival and in his early conversational scene with Cora (Madeleine Stowe). These lighter character scenes are given a shade of flighty fancy that almost mirrors Mark Knopfler's The Princess Bride at the start of "River Walk and Discovery." The "Cora" cue could just as comfortably fit in one of the softer and noble scenes in Gettysburg, Dragonheart, or even Kindergarten Cop. His music really is, on the whole, a poor fit for Last of the Mohicans, though with the cues "Parlay" and "Pieces of a Story" being so incredibly dull, at least they don't have a significantly detrimental impact. The director also used the abstract new age Clannad song "I Will Find You" over a scene of Nathaniel's movement, though it definitely stuck out like a sore thumb in the film and Mann eventually removed the song from his 2000 DVD version. None of the source music written by three other composers has ever been recognized on a commercial album. The whole score was originally 77 minutes in length. The 1992 Morgan Creek Music album has remained a top seller worldwide for many years, with a very strong following by younger generations. Listeners apparently weren't discouraged by the incompatibility of the two parts of the album or the fact that the Jones/Edelman split on the product is roughly 31/21 (minutes), a ratio that emphasizes Edelman's work far too heavily. Also of issue is the fact that a few of the Jones tracks are merged combinations of two separate cues with artificial silence offered in between. While splitting these cues up would have bloated Jones' apparent contribution in the track listings, this presentation would only have been fair. Most casual listeners will only need "Main Title," "Elk Hunt," and "Promentory," however, even though they amount to under ten minutes in sum. It is not surprising that Varèse Sarabande and its executive producer, Robert Townson, decided to tackle a re-recording of Last of the Mohicans in 2000, especially with the continuously high sale numbers long after Mann's endlessly re-edited film had faded from memory. Given that the score suffered from an identity crisis (with the two distinct halves), it was easy to be skeptical about what conductor Joel McNeely and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra could do with it. In favor of the 2000 album is the simple fact that one performing group was used to bring life to both Jones' and (to a lesser extent) Edelman's halves of the score. There is a much tighter cohesiveness because of this fact, and the full orchestra does wonders with Edelman's compositions. Even though Edelman's music is vastly improved, the Jones themes are no improvement over the original. Some might even argue that the sweeping majesty of the original performance is lost. The "Elk Hunt" track has a softer and less stimulating electronic beat, though the resounding drum performances during "Fort Battle" are an impressive improvement over the original. In the end, there are some highlights and some disappointments, and overall it comes out in a wash. Because the film was relatively recent, an improvement in sound quality wasn't a factor. Only 45 minutes of score is performed, less than what was on the original, and most of the omitted material came from the Edelman side (though on the other hand, there is some new material appearing for the first time). Perhaps someday an appropriate presentation of the original recording will do a little more justice to the score, despite the strength of both the 1992 and 2000 albums.
TRACK LISTINGS:
1992 Album:
Total Time: 54:59
2000 Album: Total Time: 45:26
* composed by Randy Edelman
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the original 1992 album includes no extra information about the
score or film. The 2000 album's insert includes an excellent cue-by-cue analysis and
situational perspective on the double-composer effort.
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