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As you might expect for a film as dumb as The Replacements, Debney goes off the deep end experimenting with harsh techno rhythms and speaker-busting electronics, often producing music that is simply intolerable to the ears. His merging of straight rock with techno, dance, electronica, rap loops, and sound effects is as brutal as his imitation of stock Media Ventures keyboarding at times. This is definitely a score that Trevor Rabin should have tackled. Mixed into this explosive sound are echoing quotes from the film, pounding percussion, orgasmic cheerleaders chanting, screeching guitars, and backwards edits seemingly inserted by a madman. For good measure, Debney throws in both a main theme and an orchestra. The stale, heroic theme is introduced in "The Replacements Remix" and, with its light orchestral exploration in "Falco" and "Martel Crossed," it actually does stick to your memory. The four or five minutes of orchestral material on album is extremely subdued, however, with only a lonely horn performance of the theme at the end of "Martel Crossed" providing any reward. The ripping rock score, which occasionally strays into funk territory to address the personalities of individual characters, was co-written in parts by two members of the group Font 48, and their material is largely a smoother extension of Debney's solo work for the project. Ultimately, Debney responded to an idiotic film with an equally idiotic score, and so the paycheck he collected was well deserved. The album, however, fails for an entirely different reason. While film score collectors really don't like hearing the following statement, this soundtrack needed more songs and less score. Debney's work for the project certainly won't appeal to the Cutthroat Island crowd of his fans, nor will it be of any interest to those who wanted the songs they heard in the film. "I Will Survive" (used prominently in the trailers), "Rock and Roll II," and "Bust a Move" are the only appealing songs for that crowd, and yet the album is missing the majority of other key entries, including "Heros" by David Bowie, "Blinded by Rainbows" by the Rolling Stones, "Ziplock," by LIT, "We Will Rock You" by Queen, and "Every Move You Make" by The Police... The list goes on. So, in the end, this album won't satisfy anyone. The Debney score is intolerable in many parts and the important songs are all missing. A bust all around!  *   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For John Debney reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.33 (in 56 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.09 (in 49,879 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

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