PRINTER FRIENDLY VIEW
(inverts site colors)

•	1999 Album

•	1999 Album

While Davis has claimed that he looked back at no orchestral film score as his guide for The Matrix, there are actually distinct similarities between this work and that which resulted from the Alien sequels by James Horner and Elliot Goldenthal. Fans of the latter composer, specifically, will note that Davis' handling of layers of instrumentation in order to produce disharmony, highly organized despite being unpleasant, is remarkably reminiscent to Goldenthal's avant garde tendencies. The unusually large and diverse role for the brass section is mostly responsible for this style in The Matrix, along with ominous rumbling of the piano and other percussion. Many of these instruments are electronically manipulated to give them a foreign sound. There are no simple themes in The Matrix, despite the franchise's movement towards the romantic in the sequels. The superhero element for Neo does shine through in "Anything is Possible," with the major-key statement on brass over choir in the cue providing an obvious hint of both his powers and his savior status (this proves to be a theme in and of itself in the sequels). Late in that cue, at 4:50 (as well as late in "Ontological Shock"), audiences hear the opening bars of the love theme for Neo and Trinity that would flourish in the sequels. The finale cue ends with a raucous crescendo that could easily fit in Alien 3, Heat, or Sphere. The two most distinct ideas in The Matrix are also staples of the series. First, the pulsating, pitch-defying brass effect that wavers between trumpets on top and horns below is an extremely distinctive identity for the entire franchise. It's instantly recognizable and proves quite useful in the ease with which it can be integrated into nearly any cue. Davis' method of presenting the motif at the very start of the film, with rolling piano and tingling metallic percussion, would carry over to the sequels. Secondly, the evil machines are given a rhythmic effect of a deliberate, accelerating movement, both tapped out lightly on the cymbals several times (a definite Horner influence) or blasted by brass in the aforementioned moment of choral harmony in "The Power Plant." The sense of the inevitable in this motif cannot be missed. Also omnipresent are metallic sound effects through all of these ideas, sometimes making you wonder if one of your major household appliances is malfunctioning.

Overall, The Matrix is extremely original, but it's not easy listening on album. The songs play such a prominent role in the film that there is often confusion for mainstream viewers about where the boundary between the songs and score exists. Perhaps the most obvious blurring of lines comes with the use of Rob Dougan's "Clubbed to Death" piece for the scene when Neo is reintroduced to the matrix (and the lady in the red dress). So distinct was the adaptation of that piece into The Matrix that Dougan would himself expand the idea for The Matrix Reloaded. It's not surprising that most of the hype generated by the music of The Matrix came from the non-Davis material (which consists of songs that people often associate with the film when protesting and extending their belief that it inspires school shootings). The most interesting debate about music usage for the film ironically involved the use of "The Eyes of Truth" by Enigma, with a gothic new age style of heavy percussion and massive chorus that very obviously stirred anticipation in the film's trailers. The lack of an Enigma-like sound in the score was understandable when you look at the project from Davis' viewpoint, but it's interesting to observe that his two sequel scores would slowly move towards that kind of sound. It's unlikely that this choice was made based on so much positive hype from the usage, but those listeners unsatisfied with the lack of that kind of score would eventually hear something more to their liking. The Varèse Sarabande release of the score at the time of the film's debut only included 30 minutes of material, omitting a significant portion of the film's middle "explanation scenes" and final action music (upwards of ten minutes in the case of the latter alone). Among all of Varèse's 30-minute albums of the middle to late 1990's (which were short due to financial, re-use reasons and not by the choice of the label), The Matrix was among those that truly bothered film music collectors the most. But you can't fault Varèse in this case, taking into account the fact that the recording included a 90-piece Los Angeles (in other words: union) ensemble. To their credit, they assembled 30 minutes of material that included a competent selection to represent the various parts of Davis' work. For some casual listeners, this presentation may even suffice.

The problems posed by the Varèse album were solved for some film score collectors when the (region 1) DVD was released with an isolated score track, and within a couple of years, 2-CD bootlegs of the music flooded the market. Surprising most in the community, Varèse chose to add The Matrix to its selection of "Deluxe Edition" entries within its series of limited Club titles in September of 2008, expanding the running time of the presentation to a whopping 78 minutes. Considering the large pressing (3000 copies) and the fact that many fans had already satisfied themselves with the DVD rip of the music, it should be no surprise that the album did not come close to selling out as quickly as some had anticipated, and copies remained on sale for less than $20 in 2009. As for the contents of the 2008 expanded product, nearly every major cue from the score is compiled into a well-rounded, if not perhaps overextended view of the score. Davis' material is obviously interesting enough in each of its minutes to retain attention from an intellectual standpoint, but there is some redundancy in the added music. Finally heard on a legitimate release is the plethora of rhythmic slapping, tingling, and wavering that accompanies Morpheus' crew as they maneuver or snap to action ("Switch Out" and "Whoa, Switch Brokers"). A better sense of propulsion is conveyed on this product, with rhythmic urgency translating to even the cues of minimalistic volume. Among the most important additions to the original album's material is the traumatic "Nascent Nauseous Neo," the Japanese-flavored "Domo Showdown," the rhythmically dense "Switch Out," and the pair of lengthy climax cues, "That's Gotta Hurt" and "Surprise." Enthusiasts of the sequel scores are treated to another hint of the Neo and Trinity love theme in the middle of "Switch Out." Still, if you tally all of these important additional cues, you end up with an optimized album running at far less than an hour in length, which would perhaps be the most comfortable compromise for an already difficult (and for some people, nearly intolerable) listening experience. Warner Bothers handled the commercial album situation a bit better with the sequels, addressing the finer balance between score and song especially in The Matrix Reloaded. On the whole, while The Matrix is a fine and original score for its film, it's by far the least enjoyable of the three entries on any of its albums.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

• Music as Written for Film:  ****
• Music as Heard on 1999 Album:  **
• Music as Heard on 2008 Album:  ***
• Overall:  ***

Bias Check:

For Don Davis reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.2 (in 10 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.99 (in 43,898 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.