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The only other major composing credit for the Rango soundtrack goes to Heitor Pereira, Zimmer's longtime assistant specializing in the area of Latin-flavored, guitar-driven flair, and John and David Thum, who wrote the two original songs performed by Los Lobos for the production and had some of that material incorporated into medleys within the score. In only three tracks featured on the album is Zimmer afforded solo writing and production credits, the remainder of the score cues arranged by a plethora of his normal Remote Control staff. Call these laborers "arrangers" if you must, but the term ghostwriters will always enter the discussion so long as Zimmer's material is adapted by his army of assistants in such a high number of stylistic directions throughout these types of scores. Otherwise, everything you need to know about the soundtrack is summed up by this statistic: 35 minutes of music over 20 tracks. That's the breakdown of the commercial album, and really the only practical way of presenting the music given how compartmentalized its final development seems to be. The two Los Lobos songs are offered at the end, and a series of source-like blends of song and score exist in several tracks provided by Rick Garcia. The two Pereira tracks are pure Mexican stereotype source additions, guitars and trumpets unashamed of their unoriginality. There's one medley that uses music by Richard Wagner and Johann Strauss as well, integrating "Ride of the Valkyries" directly into the tone of the score. Otherwise, you have about ten cues of Zimmer's thematic and instrumental tendencies adapted into recognizable variants. His solo cues are "Rango Suite," which touches upon all of the thematic material referenced through the later arrangements, "Rango and Beans" (a largely subdued and inconsequential cue), and "The Sunset Shot" at the end, a good finale that is unfortunately cut short at its conclusion by a very abrupt edit in the mastering. The other cues liberally quote and manipulate the themes in Zimmer's main suite, often making very clear references to previous Zimmer scores.

As one could predict, Zimmer's long established love of Ennio Morricone's Spaghetti Western music is clearly an influence, and the parodies of the classic genre style is joined by John and David Thum's cute rip of Elmer Bernstein in "We Ride, Really!" The contemporary side of the score owes a bit to Robert Rodriguez's music, too. Some of the rhythmic sound effects employed by Zimmer late in the suite are reminiscent of early Danny Elfman personality. More interesting for Zimmer collectors will be the parodies of Zimmer's own early mannerisms, including several passages and thematic progressions seemingly lifted directly from Broken Arrow and Point of No Return. A fair amount of spritely spirit of a swashbuckling nature points back to Muppet Treasure Island more than Pirates of the Caribbean. The heralded open trumpet sequences from Crimson Tide make a return at the end of "It's a Miracle." Once again, Zimmer handles prancing comedic movements through staccato pounding in the base region, and despite some of his ensemble's attempts to breathe life into the score through dynamic instrumental humor, the recording's shaving of the upper and lower reaches to maximize gain levels once again betrays that intent. Ultimately, the music for Rango achieves its goals, and Zimmer's army of assistants managed to supply the score with the appropriate stream of parody. But at the end of the day, there's very little unique substance to be heard in this score, and the choppy album presentation won't likely appeal to film score collectors. While Zimmer has produced some outstanding music for animation in the past, this one is unfortunately closer to the format and quality of the Madagascar scores. With many of the cues overlayed with dialogue from the film, the Rango soundtrack album is clearly meant as a souvenir for enthusiasts of the film, as such succeeding in emulating the wacky personality when heard in context. Otherwise, it's a lightweight effort from Zimmer, one that once again proves his immense capability in regards to coordinating the talent around him.  **   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Hans Zimmer reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.93 (in 97 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.97 (in 275,594 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

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