Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,173
Written 9/25/99, Revised 5/18/08
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Buy it... only if you explicitly appreciated the music in the film
itself, for it's difficult to recommend this score to either Elton
John's fans or traditional film score collectors.
Avoid it... if you expect John's first orchestral film score to
feature the pop sound familiar to the rest of his career.
The Muse: (Elton John) In a world as nutty as
Hollywood, the concept of The Muse is actually a frightening
possibility. It's one of those inside joke films that only one of a few
writers and directors in the industry could pull off, and Albert Brooks
is one of them. He not only fills those aforementioned duties, but he
also stars as a successful Hollywood writer fired from a studio for no
longer "having his edge." He does what other successful writers and
directors have done over time: hire the services of a muse, a daughter
of the god Zeus (in the appearance of Sharon Stone), to inspire him to
regain his successful habits. If you buy her gifts and a place to live,
her mere presence (completely non-sexual) will help you resurrect your
form. Whether she's actually a supernatural being or simply a placebo
who takes advantage of her pseudo-clients, she allows for The
Muse to parade a host of cameo performances in front of the camera.
Contradicting reasonable amusement among critics who understood the
premise of the film, The Muse languished despite its strong
credentials and has fallen off the face of the planet. One of the great
curiosities involving the production came with singer and songwriter
Elton John's hiring as its composer, and, in the first traditional
scoring assignment of his career, he produces a surprising result.
Common sense would have suggested that John's entry into film scoring
(if ever achieved) would involve an assignment for a film that
necessitated a jazzy or pop-related series of melodies. Breaking away
from all those expectations, John creates a score that very much
parallels the humor of the script by elevating the mythology of the
story through high class, neo-classical style. Not only does it sound
like nothing you'd expect to hear from John, it's basically a success in
its task of following the frantic nature of Brooks' character and the
flurry of the industry. Given the critical acclaim that John received at
the time for this work, it's somewhat surprising that he never branched
out beyond the comfort zone of animated musicals for more
straight-forward scoring assignments.
Cynics might argue that the reason John never used
The Muse to launch a film scoring career is because most of the
success in the orchestral recording for
The Muse can be
attributed to veteran orchestrator and conducter Geoffrey Alexander.
Either way, the score has its fair share of positives and negatives. The
historically-inclined, classical approach leads to light, prancing waltz
rhythms that bounce with a false sense of sophistication. Though likely
a good way to tackle the project, the music is ultimately more fluff
than substance, conveying itself as a tacky parody of Rachel Portman's
airy style for similar projects. To its credit, the score was obviously
meant to be playful and frivolous, but its mocking edge (a necessary
evil considering the sharp dialogue of the film) can be tiring. Endless
staccato movements for strings, piano, harp, and harpsichord rely on
active plucking from the bass strings to keep the entire production from
running wild in the treble region. Their enthusiastic performances of
John's handful of themes for
The Muse give it an undeniable
spirit of joy that could encourage you to throttle another human being
if not for its brevity overall. As the plot reveals its dirty little
secret, John's music loses some of that edge, slowing the bombardment in
the separately recorded "Multiple Personality" cue to address the true
identity of the muse. Few cues break the stream of prancing, trite
attitude. The end of "Steven Redecorates" offers a slight Middle-Eastern
flavor and the cues "The Aquarium" and "Sarah Escapes," among others,
feature John's flowingly elegant piano solos over the ensemble. More of
these latter moments would have been welcomed. The finale of "Meet
Christine" is given a surprising choral explosion, chanting "gloria!"
for one last big pun. In sum, the music washes together without much
distinction, and the harp and harpsichord can get on your nerves after
fifteen minutes. Still, John's effort is commendable. The two versions
of John's vocalized title song at the end of the album are completely
incompatible with the score. In the end,
The Muse makes for an
interesting listening experience from the point of view of a score
collector, but it will likely disappoint Elton John fans and those who
expect a little too much from it.
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