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The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
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Composed, Co-Orchestrated, Lyrics Co-Written, and Produced by:
Co-Orchestrated and Conducted by:
Geoffrey Alexander
Co-Orchestrated by:
Mike Townend
Performed by:
Lyrics Co-Written by:
Victoria Seale Joseph Shabalala
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LABEL & RELEASE DATE
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
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The release was a very early iTunes exlcusive in America. For Mac
computer users running OS X, the score could be downloaded for $10 at the Apple
iTunes Music Store online. The Varèse Sarabande album with identical
music was made available in regular stores outside of the U.S., and can be
purchased at regular prices through soundtrack specialty outlets or through the
label itself.
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AWARDS
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None.
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ALSO SEE
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Buy it... if you want to hear Trevor Jones' surprisingly entertaining action
score in a much better presentation than what was actually heard in the film's
poor mix.
Avoid it... if you demand the prototypical Jones title theme with extremely
obvious characteristics, for this score maintains a highly charged, symphonic
environment without a very memorable thematic identity.
BUY IT
 | Jones |
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: (Trevor Jones) It is
difficult to describe the sheer magnitude of failure committed here by 20th
Century Fox. The 2003 venture The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, known
mostly as actor Sean Connery's last foray into mainstream action (hairpiece or
no), is a knee-slapper for intellectual viewers, a spectacle of stupidity that
could serve as the sole source of hundreds of collegiate essays on the topic of
logical fallacies. One can't imagine what Venetians must think of it. Loosely
based on the characters of comic books by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, Stephen
Norrington's film twists its historical characters to such an embarrassing extent
that Captain Nemo is now a turban-wearing martial arts expert (the turban was
suggested by Jules Verne, but definitely not the Jackie Chan imitations) and Mr.
Hyde's wardrobe features the same spandex in his pants as the Hulk, with both
angry CGI characters sparing audiences the sight of indecent exposure while the
rest of their clothing is torn away. That's a shame, really, because The
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (sometimes called LXG for
promotional ease) could have used some intentional laughs to accompany the
plethora of unintentional ones. The film was universally despised by critics and
sparingly tolerated by a few audiences, an irony given that its intelligence was
actually a bit greater than the applauded, concurrent debut of the Pirates of
the Caribbean franchise. Not only did Fox take a perfectly viable concept for
a film and mangle it, but they also managed to screw up the release of composer
Trevor Jones' score to the public. For Jones, this disastrous cinematic event was
an extreme disappointment, for he had not produced a major score of interest
since his impressive work for From Hell. His qualifications for the
project were strong, having composed several spectacular action themes (with the
still best-selling Last of the Mohicans among them) and varied, dark, and
challenging material for other eye-candy thrillers (such as Dark City).
Interestingly, Jones didn't score The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
for what it was: the ultimate form of eye candy. Instead, he made a concerted
effort to provide a straight and serious action score for a film that certainly
didn't deserve the effort. The massive orchestral effort, devoid of synthetics,
is aided my a resoundingly deep choral accompaniment.
The resulting score couldn't save the film, but it remains a treat
for score collectors. Many viewers of the film have long claimed that Jones'
score lacks a distinctive title theme. This is partially incorrect; Jones does
offer a two-bar, eleven-note brass theme several times in the score, sometimes
within great crescendos, but unfortunately this theme was lost in the film due to
erratic applications and poor mixing amongst the other sonic elements in the
production. It would have taken a theme of the bold caliber of Last of the
Mohicans or Cliffhanger to overcome the poor editing of the score in
the film. Almost mechanical in its methodical pace, Jones' theme is worthy
especially for the like-minded creations of Nemo in the film. It has no swing,
sidestep, or interlude, instead choosing to blind-side the listener like a flying
brick. There's nothing wrong with that approach, and the theme is quite
enjoyable, but it fails to stir up a sense of importance involving the special
circumstances that coincide with the joining of these awesome characters. The
actual major fault of the score is the lack of any depth to the scoring of
individual characters, with only Quartermain (Connery's character) and his
African affiliations given a specific motif or sound. Thus, while Jones was
attempting to score the League as a whole, the personality of each individual
talent in the group is musically neglected. Some will correctly argue that in
film as poorly developed as this, it would have been difficult for Jones to
achieve such a goal with any significant effect on the picture. But when has
Jones stepped away from a challenge in an assignment like this? The characters
don't even receive subtle instrumental associations of any value. The technique
Jones instead followed wins points for consistency, however, and leads to the
greatest asset of the music for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: its
sustained action. Jones' adventure music has seldom whooped butt with a full
orchestra for continuous excitement in his many assignments to the genre, Dark
City an obvious and explosive exception. He can turn a theme and mark a short
cue with an orchestral crash along with the best composers, but rhythmically
sustained action with the full ensemble (as opposed to the more singular "Elk
Hunt" approach in Last of the Mohicans) is something relatively rare in
his career. Several cues in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen defy
this tendency, however, offering action material of monumental proportions.
The "Nautilus - Sword of the Ocean" cue is worthy of study in and
of itself. It is the first major application of the title theme in the context of
the film's journey to save the world, and it is among Jones' best career work. As
the adventure begins, the submarine (although awkward in its CGI portrayal on
screen) is scored with a flourish of seaworthy activity by the orchestra.
Percussion rips and strings boil while the brass belt out non-stop statements of
the score's primary identity. In the last minute of the cue, the rolling rhythms of
the music offer a strikingly similar sound to that heard in Mark Snow's worthy
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea score, a circumstance perhaps intended. After
this cue, and well through the scenes in Venice, Jones presents explosive
orchestral material for sustained periods, taxing the stamina of the London
Symphony Orchestra with the continuous level of robust, snare-driven material. The
cue "Capturing Mr. Hyde" is another action highlight of Jones' career, pulling
out all of the stops on the frantic strings, bellowing brass, and heart-pounding
rhythms. The cue "Dawn of a New Century" serves as a good concert suite-like
arrangement with an added choral touch. The immensely broad scope is truly the
attraction in these cues; Jones clearly puts the fate of the entire planet on the
line in them (including "Storming the Fortress") by creating an expansive
soundscape through the employment of extremely diverse layers of sound, especially
in the brass section. These action cues are indeed spectacular in parts, though the
softer moments of Jones' work are less enticing. What little character development
is offered in the film is mirrored by rather tepid, uninteresting meanderings of
strings. Cues such as "Mina Harker's Secret" and "Portrait of Dorian Gray" are
surprisingly generic in their constructs, though at least Jones maintains a
consistently harmonic foundation for these sequences, translating into smooth album
listening. Again, the score never establishes strong subthemes or smaller motifs
for secondary characters. The African scenes are scored by both Jones and Joseph
Shabalala, performed in Swahili by the Ladysmith Black Mambazo male group. These
performances are out of context in both the film and on the album, begging
questions about its choice for this application. When these African performances
are merged with the orchestra, such as in "Son of Africa," the sound begins to
form some connections to the remainder of the work. But in the film, they still sound
misplaced. The vocal source cue written by Jones for the saloon scene, "Promenade
by the Sea," is more appropriate for its Victorian setting in the film, but also
makes for a striking change of tone on the album presentation.
Overall, Jones' score is flawed, but it features twenty minutes
(or more) of outstanding action writing for the full orchestral ensemble. The
score's frenetic pace propels it from one loud orchestral outburst to the next, and
Jones collectors will not want to miss The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
on album. But miss it where? The questionable executives who determine the
application of music at 20th Century Fox decided to toy around with this score on
the market, causing significant fan irritation. Admittedly, Filmtracks doesn't hold
such decision-makers at Fox with high regards (since the time the studio threatened
Filmtracks with legal action over its Moulin Rouge review), but Fox clearly
proved its stupidity with this score's album release. As Billboard initially
reported, Jones' score was to be made available for downloading only through
Apple's iTunes Music Store. For $9.99, score fans could download the score as of
July 3rd, 2003, and Billboard continued by saying that "the soundtrack will be an
online only release, not to be issued on any physical medium or associated with any
label." Well, with the entry of Varèse Sarabande into the equation, they
were wrong. You have to feel sorry for Varèse, because it's easy to get the
impression that they were manhandled into this situation by Fox (not to mention the
fact that the film failed so badly that it evaporated hopes of high album grosses).
With iTunes offering music only to Americans in 2003, Varèse was able to
press a normal, identical CD album of Jones' score and sell it overseas and,
thankfully, exclusively through their website to anyone. Although this was more
expensive for Americans, it did offer non-Apple Mac users (and those who hadn't
switched to the Mac OS X yet; recall that iTunes was exclusive to OS X users at the
time) an opportunity to get their hands on the score without seeking the inevitable
bootlegs. Audiophiles could immediately distinguish a slight diminishing of sound
quality on the downloaded version compared to the CD. It was a dumb decision all
around, but it was due to no fault of Varèse, which did the best it could
given Fox's decision to experiment with the Americans concerning the online
release. It was simply too early for this kind of endeavor to work, because not
only was the technology too restrictive at the time, mainstream score collectors
obviously weren't yet ready for this move. The score has remained in print at
Varèse's site throughout the rest of the decade, however, helping alleviate
the situation in the long term. As for the score, it comes highly recommended for
enthusiasts of Jones' wild orchestral rides, with boisterous, symphonic action that
will not disappoint in its highlights. While the entirety of the work has some
flaws of its own, the score's poor integration into the film does not do it
justice. @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- Score as Written for the Film: ***
- Score as Heard in the Film: **
- Score as Heard on Album: ****
- Overall: ***
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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Good Movie Andrew Holmes - September 30, 2003, at 10:20 p.m. |
1 comment (2350 views) |
Total Time: 54:41
1. Dawn of a New Century (4:28)
2. Kenya - Wait for Me - performed by Ladysmith Black Mambazo (3:32)
3. Task Requires Heroes (4:09)
4. Promenade by the Sea (2:54)
5. Nautilus - Sword of the Ocean (3:30)
6. The Game is On (2:54)
7. Old Tiger (2:56)
8. Capturing Mr. Hyde (3:29)
9. Mina Harker's Secret (3:18)
10. Phantom's Lair (5:30)
11. Portrait of Dorian Gray (3:40)
12. Treachery (5:29)
13. Storming the Fortress (3:55)
14. May This New Century Be Yours (2:34)
15. Son of Africa - performed by Ladysmith Black Mambazo (2:08)
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The CD's insert contains extensive credits and several pictures of the
characters in the film, but no extra information about the score or film. The
downloadable version had no distinct artwork of its own.
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