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The Saint
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Composed, Co-Orchestrated, and Produced by:
Co-Orchestrated by:
John Bell Nick Ingman Graeme Revell
Performed by:
The London Metropolitan Orchestra
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LABELS & RELEASE DATES
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Angel Records
(May 20th, 1997)
Bootleg (2000)
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
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The commercial album was a regular U.S. release. The 2000 bootleg and
subsequent leaking of the recording session tapes are only available through the
secondary market.
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AWARDS
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None.
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ALSO SEE
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Buy it... if you'd like a good James Bond imitation score that
serves as the best blend of symphony, choir, and electronics that Graeme
Revell has ever achieved.
Avoid it... if the score's darker, more ambient half is too similar
to Revell's usual electronic output to ignore.
BUY IT
 | Revell |
The Saint: (Graeme Revell) On the British side of
the big screen adaptations of famous old television spy series, one
thing The Saint definitely had going in it's favor is that it
wasn't as bad as The Avengers. Director Philip Noyce certainly
had high ambitions for The Saint, replacing Roger Moore with Val
Kilmer and offering top notch production qualities to perhaps, if
successful, start a franchise of Saint-related films to rival the James
Bond franchise. Critical and public response to The Saint was
immediately poor, however, and the project quickly faded into obscurity.
Surprisingly, this failure was not due to the hot-headed Kilmer, whose
performance was actually quite convincing and funny; instead, The
Saint was lacking that "special something" that would appeal to
audiences above and beyond similar material being offered by the Bond
franchise. One aspect that was definitely not lacking was Graeme
Revell's score, which continues to serve as an anomaly in his career
even ten years later. With a career overflowing with ambient, synthetic
creations from his electronic library, Revell has never been associated
much with dynamic orchestral scores. Ironically, his writing for The
Saint in 1997 would foreshadow David Arnold's rejuvenation of the
Bond franchise music more than any other, presenting a style of
orchestral and synthetic blend that would serve well as an entry in
Arnold's Bond endeavors. For The Saint, Noyce obviously wanted a
blend of the old harmonic romanticism of the John Barry Bond scores and
a touch of Revell's own electronic soundscape, and the result is a
highly varied score that would seem more at home in fellow countryman
Craig Armstrong's career than Revell's. Nevertheless, the score for this
film is an easy highlight in both the film and in Revell's entire
career. For fans of the original series, Revell even appeals to
nostalgia by quoting Edwin Astley's old theme and integrating it into
several cues.
Any good spy score starts and ends with a good love
theme, and Revell does just that... literally. Even if the distinct
similarities between the first eight notes of Revell's love theme for
The Saint and John Barry's title for You Only Live Twice
didn't clue you in, the rest of the theme's sugary, simplistic harmonics
and lush string performances would do the same. This theme, which
appears several times in the film and receives a full jazz rendition
over the closing titles, is unlike anything Revell has ever produced.
One of the reasons it works, however, is because he infuses that sound
with a strong synthetic and percussive blend. Along with lofty strings
and rambling piano are an electric bass, modern percussion, and some
keyboarded effects. The balance that Revell achieves between these
elements is the key to the success of the score. The love theme is
specifically adapted to also represent the tragedy of the title
character's past, and the film opens and closes with a love theme
performance assisted by a solo boy's voice. In the "Prologue," Revell
also introduces his own theme for the cool persona of the character, a
quick twist of five notes that is easily adapted into a variety of
situations throughout the score. The Russian villains are provided with
a rising thematic progression often accompanied by adult chorus and a
variety of modern percussion. Both "Break-In" and "Kremlin Riot" offer
this theme with the Saint's new theme as counterpoint, usually in a slow
and satisfying crescendo over the score's perpetually tapping rhythms.
Another rising four note motif is used as the structure of this rhythm,
usually consisting of cymbal tapping and (maybe simulated) bass string
plucking. One of the most satisfying cues of Revell's career, "Kremlin
Riot" combines every aspect of the composer's talent into one package,
including a downright kick-ass rhythm set by a harder percussion line.
The score would feature several of these more ambitious rhythms,
tastefully rendered because of the equally heavy presence of the string
section in their performances, though the commercial album would only
offer two of these moments ("Prologue" and "Kremlin Riot"). In their
heavier moments, they sound very similar to Craig Armstrong's typical
hard-edged work.
Unfortunately, Revell does revert to some of his more
bland synthetic textures for most of the scenes involving villains or
the hide and seek game in the central portion of the film. Both "The
Tunnels" and "Tempelhof," as well as several cues not included on the
commercial album, consist of music that more closely resembles the
ambient sound effects in Revell's library. Those cues aside, however,
the remainder of the score is a qualified success. The straight action
cues, including "Race to Embassy" and "Red Square," feature the best
orchestral suspense and tragedy to come from Revell, with the latter
offering an impressive snare and timpani rhythm and a dramatic string
and brass presence separated from electronics. The most attractive part
of the score for most people, though, will be the enticing love theme,
which receives three dedicated cuts on the commercial album. The finale
piece is nothing less than gorgeous, especially with the solo boy's
voice as a bookend. The 52-minute commercial album contains everything
you really need from the score, though significantly more material from
The Saint exists in bootleg form on the secondary market (as
often is the case with Revell's music). A 77-minute expanded album would
eventually yield to the release of the raw recording sessions over
several CDs. On the 77-minute expanded bootleg, the most significant
addition is the inclusion of Revell's harder electronic rhythms. In
"Oxford, England," Revell uses electric guitars to accent that rhythm,
and in "Emma's Pills/Escape," an extended, almost solo performance of
this rhythm is presented. The most powerful and ominous bass rhythm
exists in "American Embassy," a very strong cue that finishes with a
bold brass statement of Astley's original theme. The structure would be
much the same in "The Formula," except with a single trumpet performance
of the old theme at the end. The bootleg also offers "Miracle Three,"
the film version of the finale and end credits (with the enhanced bass
line), though the sound quality of this one cue is extremely muted. Two
dramatic orchestral performances of the lighter themes occupy "Brief
Calm" and "Warming Up," though the easy highlight of the bootleg is "The
Saint Escapes Again," with a powerful rendition of all the film's themes
in one triumphant symphonic explosion. Overall, only avid fans of the
score will find enough in the bootleg to interest them, but there are
some gems to be had in that material. You'll have to suspend your
beliefs about Revell with this one.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
Bias Check: |
For Graeme Revell reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.74
(in 19 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.78
(in 17,126 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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Commercial Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 52:11 |
1. Main Title (6:25)
2. Break-In* (3:46)
3. Shelley Monument (2:16)
4. Searching Apartment (3:38)
5. Love Theme (2:55)
6. The River Chase (3:16)
7. The Tunnels (2:36)
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8. Race to Embassy (2:22)
9. Tempelhof (2:41)
10. Love Theme (2nd Version)* (2:54)
11. Kremlin Riot/Karpov's Room (4:40)
12. Red Square (3:09)
13. The Fight (5:40)
14. Love Theme/Finale* (5:27)
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* Different version contained in the film |
Expanded Bootlegs Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 77:26 |
1. Main Title and Prologue (6:24)
2. Preparations* (0:44)
3. Break-In** (3:45)
4. Stealing the Microchip* (1:36)
5. The Saint Theme* (0:12)
6. Oxford, England* (0:54)
7. Searching the Apartment (3:36)
8. Shelley Monument (2:15)
9. The Restaurant (Love Theme) (2:53)
10. Brief Calm* (0:57)
11. Emma's Pills/Escape* (1:45)
12. On the Street* (0:42)
13. The River Chase (3:15)
14. Hypothermia* (2:05)
15. Foreigners* (2:14)
16. Warming Up* (1:20)
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17. Discovered* (2:03)
18. The Tunnels (2:35)
19. Race to Embassy (2:21)
20. The Saint Escapes Again* (1:27)
21. Karpov (1:11)
22. American Embassy* (1:23)
23. Tempelhof (2:40)
24. Love Theme (2nd Version)** (2:53)
25. Russian Lab* (1:08)
26. The Formula* (0:49)
27. Kremlin Riot/Karpov's Room (4:40)
28. Red Square (3:06)
29. The Fight (5:40)
30. Miracle Three* (5:25)
31. Love Theme/Finale** (5:27)
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* Commercially unreleased
** Different version contained in film |
None of the albums' inserts includes extra information about the score or film.
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