Debney, ever the chameleon, wrote a score for Remember the Titans that could have been all over the map in terms of instrumentation and tone had it been completed and/or applied to the entire film, leading to a possible lack of consistency. The fact that the music meant to be heard during the final championship game is missing causes a few potential snags. Without a doubt, though, the music that Debney wrote for the scenes before that pivotal moment is vastly superior to Rabin's, the Virginia culture very well addressed by Debney's much less conservative approach. A mixture of electric guitar, acoustic guitar, tambourine, piano, rock percussion, harmonica, and banjo offer hard-nosed, rhythmic attitude in "Old Hatrids," "Long Hard Practice," and "'69 Chevy Run." These cues, although only totaling about five minutes in sum, create a tense but cool atmosphere that would have well matched the confidence that the black and white players each have in their own abilities before the integration (not to mention simple locale considerations). The Southern style in the form of a piano in "A New Home" is reminiscent of Jerry Goldsmith's Love Field. A solo violin performance in "Simply Dignity" starkly represents traditional mores. An acoustic guitar solo in "Theme for Jenny" (extending to piano in "Alone Again") is as pretty as anything you'd hear in a restaurant of class on a Friday night. The somber "To Bury the Dead" serves as the orchestra's only significant introduction in the music credited to Remember the Titans (though it could be tracked from somewhere else). The leaked promotional material specific to this film was obviously incomplete, leading to problems with the so-called "promos" that resulted when circulating the collector's market. Given the fact that music from other Debney scores was included on those bootlegs to approximate the material needed for the film, it's difficult to determine exactly where the boundaries of this work actually exist. The pair of orchestral highlights on the Debney's bootlegs, "Small Town Heroes" and "For the Heroes," are in part copied from In Pursuit of Honor. Starting with "The Big Win" and extending several tracks are exuberant performances from the composer's Little Giants. It's possible, though unlikely, that this material was used as temp tracks; if so, despite the enthusiasm and humor in the team's antics by the end of Remember the Titans, that doesn't justify the Mickey-Mousing major-key action material in "The Big Win," "Final Score," and "Pushing the Yardstick." This placement more likely means that either songs were assumed for those scenes or Debney never finished the score.

The dissolving of the Debney bootleg into the children's realm to represent the final scenes of Remember the Titans is truly a head-scratcher. In retrospect, the Little Giants theme awkwardly sounds remarkably similar to Robert Folk's In the Army Now, Craig Safan's The Last Starfighter, and Jerry Goldsmith's McArthur, indeed a bizarre trio. Not only do the Southern elements completely clash with the latter half of the album's material, but some of the borrowed music strays too close to John Philips Sousa territory for comfort. Still, the first half of the Debney album, that which clearly represents the earlier scenes in Remember the Titans, is extremely satisfying, strong enough to ultimately recommend it to those who appreciate the film and composer. Just be sure to turn it off after eight or so rather short tracks. Rabin's approach to Remember the Titans takes a far less active role and is clearly an overreaction to what may have been perceived as the flamboyant nature of Debney's original music. Whereas you might expect the former rocker to touch upon some of the same techniques with guitars that Debney employed for his take on the film, Rabin instead almost goes the completely symphonic route. Remember the Titans has always stood as one of Rabin's most consistent forays into orchestral music, refraining from more than just hints of the rock and synthetic instrumentation that had defined his career at the time. Not only is his music here surprisingly organic in construct, but he also refrains from editing it so harshly that it sounds like it has synthetic elements (or even just a cranked up bass region). Instead, there are string performances during the score's softer passages that will actually remind of Craig Armstrong's dramatic works. A largely mono-thematic score, the accepted recording for Remember the Titans does still have all the melodic trademarks of Rabin's late 90's production. You'll hear portions of the anthem from Armageddon in the deliberate secondary phrases of the theme, not to mention snare and string pulsations with broad brass backing that also seem to frequently appear in Rabin's scores. Rabin remains tonal throughout, making his 25 minutes of material extremely consistent despite the propulsive sections of game-time music. The only exception is "Virginia," which ironically (though likely coincidentally) seems to pull pieces of inspiration from Debney's Little Giants score and explore a secondary theme that exudes some of the same flighty major-key exuberance that makes the earlier Debney venture difficult to tolerate at times. Otherwise, for majority of the film, Rabin's material is generally rooted in mid-range tones that probably speak to the gravity of the event more than the simple sports formula.

Because of its somber dwelling in the lower registers, however, the Rabin score is sometimes drowned out by ambient noise in the context of the film. The only good instrumental accents in the streamlined orchestral score from Rabin for Remember the Titans are ironically those few guitars and synthetic instruments that do sneak into the music. A subtle electric guitar at the end of "The Field" and low-range, tingling keyboarding at the outset of "Boone and Yoast" provide character to a score otherwise too concerned with playing it safe. The stoic nature of Rabin's music makes for a beautiful album, though while it addresses restrained pride, it really does little to handle the racial aspects of the plot. Thus, the Rabin score is more enjoyable as a consistent listening experience apart from the film, avoiding passages of turmoil in favor of a slightly militaristic sense of redemption. You can understand why Bruckheimer wanted an easily digestible score to accompany the PG rating; both heavily emphasize the feel-good part of this story's equation. But it's difficult not to admire the direction Debney was trying to take the picture, inserting grating Southern instrumentation and occasional dissonance to better develop the concept of integration. They are both four star efforts, with Debney's score slightly weaker if only because it is incomplete. It wouldn't be hard to imagine, however, the kind of 20 minutes of orchestral material he could have provided for the climactic scenes had he been asked (or had the opportunity). As is, his rejected score would have been fascinating to hear in the film. The Rabin score is pleasantly robust in its later placements, however, and it translates to the smoother album presentation. One could wonder if it would have been possible to combine the two scores into different sequences in the film and give both composers credit. As mentioned before, the songs dominate the soundscape so much anyway that the disparities in tone between the two scores in their entireties may have gone largely unnoticed. Neither score was commercially released, though both have floated about the collector's market since the film debuted. The Debney score, like so many of his others, was leaked in the promotional form standard to his lesser-known music. The Rabin score was pressed by Blue Focus Management as an official consideration promo and subsequently bootlegged. Both scores sound fantastic, and their common brevity could make them an interesting single combination album for any enthusiast of the film. As for the songs, they were pressed on the only commercial product for Remember the Titans, though that album was not comprehensive, missing a few obvious items from the film and offering only the extremely short "Titans Spirit" cue from the Rabin score at the end, an unacceptably poor choice for inclusion. Rather than supporting weak song compilations, seek out both the Debney and Rabin promotional material with confidence.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download