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Review of Ray (Craig Armstrong)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you're ready to be patient with a very restrained,
dark, and respectful orchestral and gospel score that carefully and
poignantly represents Ray Charles' many challenges in life.
Avoid it... if you seek either Charles' vocal performances or expect the score to reflect the shiny, positive spirit that many listeners think of when the artist comes to mind.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Ray: (Craig Armstrong) Released shortly after the
death of music icon Ray Charles in 2004, Taylor Hackford's Ray is
a biographical telling of the performer's life from 1930 to 1966. For
younger audiences familiar with Charles' glowingly positive aura in the
final 40 years of his career, there might not be as much knowledge about
the very troubled childhood and early career that Charles was forced to
navigate through to achieve control over his own addictions. It is safe
to say that the life of Charles is an ultimate study in victory over
tragedy, although the man's circumstances certainly had enough tragedy
to fill an entire film. In the movie Ray, viewers witness the
horrific, emotionally paralyzing death of Charles' brother as Ray
watches; it is one of the few lasting memories of sight once Charles
goes blind later in his childhood. Upon moving to Seattle to ignite his
performing career, his addictions to pot and heroine were twenty years
in the conquering, and he never really was able to resist the plethora
of women who threw themselves at him. The film's concentration, however,
is on Charles' journey to the light at the end of the tunnel, as well as
his actual reaching of that goal. Summarizing the most positive and far
less dramatic modern era for the artist would likely have done an
injustice in its lack of depth compared to the first half of the film.
It's important to understand the points above because the score by
composer Craig Armstrong is by no measure a happy tale either. While his
score for Love Actually the previous year was a delightfully
chipper experience, Armstrong's career has been punctuated by scores
with generally somber and more dramatic tones. From Romeo +
Juliet and The Bone Collector to The Quiet American
and The Clearing, a consistently withdrawn, melancholy tone is
often to be heard in Armstrong's work. He is certainly best known for
his coordination and additional score for the sensational Moulin
Rouge in 2001, and for collectors of the original score from that
film, much of the spirituality in Ray is derived from Satine's
theme in that classic. The same daunting journey of the soul is
coincidentally shared by Charles and Nicole Kidman's character from
Moulin Rouge, so a reprise of Satine's lonely, choral atmosphere
is strangely appropriate. Structurally very similar, the two themes
differ only in their slight melodic variation and the addition of a
gospel voice for a connection between the traditional gospel choirs and
voices inherent in Charles' home state of Georgia.
As per usual, the piano is not only a central instrument for Charles, but for Armstrong as well, making the composer an especially good choice for the assignment of Ray. Its performances of "Della's Theme" in two key cues maintain the same dramatically slow and heavy tone, but they also insert a slightly old-time jazz swing to the equation and most commonly represent the entire work on Armstrong compilations. These connections that the composer makes between the orchestral elements of the score and the gospel and jazz so notable in Charles' career are surprisingly subtle. It can perhaps be said that with so many of Charles' songs stealing the audiences' attention in the picture (those were original Charles' performances, with no insult to Jamie Foxx's superior acting job), Armstrong needed to very heavily restrain and weigh down his score to bring those audiences back to the troubled realities of Charles' life. Thus, many of the very short, dramatic underscore cues contain the same droning electronic ambience of The Bone Collector punctuated by moments of tonal grace. The most interesting cues in Ray, however, are those for the three dream sequences during which Charles' imagines making it big in the industry, handled with the kind of deep rock and jazz flavor you would expect Charles to create for his own personal underscore. These three cues are all somewhat different in instrumentation and rhythm, but their stark contrast to the realities of the rest of the score makes them very vivid by comparison. The second dream sequence ("Dreams of Ray II"), with an outstanding combination of hip piano, bass rhythms, and gospel voice, is a highlight of the score. After a solemn choral "Redemption" cue that exhibits the same overdue positive tone heard in the soul-departure scene at the end of Moulin Rouge, Armstrong gives listeners one last dream-like gospel/rock sequence over the end credits. The album for the score is separate from all of the song-tribute albums advertised heavily near the release date of the film. Both the death of Charles and the film's release opened the floodgates on a seemingly endless promotional push for sales of the song compilation soundtrack and other affiliated, secondary album collections you see often in television advertisements. As for Armstrong's score-only album, the product does contain a significant number of quotes from the film, but they exist over less important, atmospheric material, and every lengthy cue of significance is untouched by the overlays. Overall, the score is a difficult listening experience, for it embodies none of the shiny spirit that modern listeners think of when Ray Charles comes to mind. But in doing his job, Armstrong succeeds very well at balancing those high points with the necessary darker half that he musically embodies with great elegance and reverence in the result. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 50:51
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes a note from Armstrong about the score and film.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Ray are Copyright © 2004, Rhino/Warner and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 1/8/05 and last updated 10/19/11. |
