Randy Newman's Maverick, with its rickety, Western style, invigorates the album just in time to save it. The highlight cue from its score, the stagecoach chase is a difficult piece, and a slight lack of crispness and a few mistakes here tarnish it a bit. A dapper performance of Ennio Morricone's solemn Hamlet plunges the album back into contemplation. A solid, but largely forgotten James Horner score from the 1990's is Man Without a Face, and its lengthy suite is welcome despite the continued slow pace of movement on the album. The opening titles and love themes from John Williams' The River are performed with vitality and the appropriate touch of jazz, and are together the highlight of the album. The drab Ransom is a dismal Horner selection, especially given the ensemble's ability to slow the tempo of its end credits cue to excruciatingly deliberate levels. The Bounty, Lethal Weapon, and Conspiracy Theory bring the album back to a more contemporary, urban feeling, with adequate and sometimes enjoyable synthesizer and electric guitar solos. While the urban descriptor of The Bounty isn't exactly what you expect for a film about a historic sailing mutiny, Vangelis' score plays better on stereo as usual. The mundane guitar-laden cue from Lethal Weapon is a throw-away cut on the compilation, and was a questionable selection given its lack of genuine attitude. The most recent of selections on the CD at the time of its release was Conspiracy Theory; its primary jazz theme is a highlight in Carter Burwell's career, and the slightly paranoid theme is given a decent attempt by the performers of Prague. Still, some of the percussion gets lost in the mix, and perhaps the piece is better suited for a large jazz or pops ensemble to tackle. The redundant piece on the compilation is James Horner's Braveheart, a cue that is treated reasonably well by the ensemble and chorus, but has been "released to death" by Silva, including an appearance on the "Warriors of the Silver Screen" compilation that Silva had released just prior. Overall, this album as is far more schizophrenic than Silva's other actor-centered compilations of 1998. Once again, it's your responsibility to decide if that makes it a good purchase for you; Horner and Vangelis fans especially should take a second look.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download