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Review of Species (Christopher Young)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you appreciate Christopher Young's usual intelligent
combination of wondrous, thematic beauty and jarring horror
techniques.
Avoid it... if you've been enticed by the score's beautiful opening seven minutes and expect the entire work to reflect that style of tonal fantasy appeal, only a handful of other cues refraining from dissonant thrashing.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Species: (Christopher Young) Amongst alien horror
stories set on Earth, Species is a little campier in its
sexuality and plentiful in the area of loose ends, though the 1995
story's popularity survived to spawn a terrible sequel. The original
plotline details the pursuit of a human and alien hybrid on the loose in
Los Angeles, a creature with enhanced DNA that not only produces the
physique of Natasha Henstridge (well into her journey to cult film
fame), but also threatens to replace normal humans on the planet
altogether. With reproduction on the mind, this creature, Sil, seeks out
men with whom to mate, though the act comes with the price of a grisly
death. Adding into the equation an odd group of decent actors tracking
down this alluring beast (a clan led by the always intellectually
frightening Ben Kingsley, of all people), Species is easily a
college town kind of film. Anytime the designer of the lead alien
receives more press time than the major players on the crew, perhaps you
know when a production has gone astray. The combination of ridiculously
graphic horror, silly premise, and overt sensuality made Species
a perfect assignment, of course, for composer Christopher Young, who has
proven himself a master of the genre for decades and one unafraid to
score anything from college-aimed trash to mainstream studio spends.
When thinking of the stereotypical sound that summarizes Young's usual
horror compositions of the era, the music of Species exists as a
very predictable entry. Its combination of chilling beauty and stark,
striking horror cues represents Young at his most romantic in the horror
genre and continued to establish him as an artist who can switch between
tonal accessibility and dissonant chaos at a moment's notice. For
Species, you have two twists on an otherwise normal horror outing
for Young: first, the element of outer space adds the necessity for some
wondrous cues of scientific discovery, and secondly, having a beautiful
woman who desperately wants to procreate at the center of the story
creates a need for sexual enticement or, at the least, an edge of
slightly off-kilter romance.
Outside of these accessible highlights, the remainder of the score for Species exposes itself as a somewhat regular endeavor for Young, with the expected, jarring chase cues of high horror merging Young's usual output of occasional synthetic slashing with perhaps some influence from James Horner's Aliens at times. Several distinct instrumental elements are consistent throughout Young's work for Species, the first being the use of single lengthy, atonal notes extending on brass or strings in the background of nearly every cue, sounding like counterpoint intentionally set at a misaligned measure or pitch. Secondly, Young employs brass in its very lowest ranges to push the broad and sinister, deep scope of the horror atmosphere. The latter technique is often how Young adds the scariness into his music, and it functions well here. Balancing this effect is an excess of precise and deceptively feminine elements in the highest treble region, led by piano and an enhanced role for flutes that carries a pulsating motif to accompany the hybrid creature's desire to procreate. Still, despite its occasional beauty, the majority of Species exhibits crashing, high-strung cues of straight-forward terror. The string section is often let loose, seemingly performing several different avenues of quivering dissonance at maximum volume within their own ranks. A meandering piano occasionally pounds on extremely low notes to coincide with Young's normal employment of a drum array and broad cymbal crescendos to set abrasive rhythms to the action. Higher percussion often tingles at the spine in its lighter, metallic forms. Young's ability to establish a motif and then yank it around in these moments of fright is effective; he starts the idea and then cuts it off dramatically, repeating this process and eventually forcing the listener or audience to expect the unexpected. The script's proud series of false scares forced this format upon Young, and he goes so far as provide brazen synthetic stingers to define Sil's dream sequences in several disruptive iterations. Pulling the whole ensemble down in a single, descending note is a technique that the composer applies to almost resemble a failing machine, and it gives the listener an equally effective sinking feeling. All the expected dissonance for the killing scenes aside, however, Species is best known for its handful of fantastically beautiful performances of its surprisingly solemn title theme and related ideas. The awe and beauty of space is captured by Young in a very slow, mellow, and elegant main theme for plucked bass strings, swirling violins, soothing choir, and, once again, broad brass in the lowest registers. A marimba seems to stew in the background, all its warmth drained. The use of a wood block to keep the rhythm of this theme adds to its chilling effect; the performance has been described as "cold," which is indeed a very accurate description. The composer maximizes the mystique of the concept in the score's one true moment of lovely wonderment in "Protostar" (or "Sil Escapes Part 1"), a cue that adjoins the opening cue in the film to establish the fantasy element with extreme appeal. As gorgeous as these fantasy portions are, the musical identity of Species remains distant and alienating. Because Young re-wrote his main theme for Species partway through the recording, both his ideas graced his preferred album presentation in various guises. In "Fever," the original opening titles cue, Young's alternate theme is at its most thrilling, moving at a heightened pace of swirling orchestral activity that better engages the audience. Because so much of the score was rearranged or replaced, Young assembled a highly unique promotional album containing a blend of used and unused material in the film. On that long-available presentation, if you strike the redundant "Species" cue and combine the extended title theme performance in "Star Bright" with "Fever" and "Protostar," you have ten minutes of the most enticing Young horror material to exist. If you merge in all the alternate recordings of these various cues, as well as the sensitive cello solos of "Dan the Psychic" (the cello was deemed too intrusive and was thus removed from the final version of the cue), you can push that experience closer to twenty minutes. Unfortunately, the remainder of the score, even on Young's streamlined edit to strip away the most abrasive dream sequences and other fright, is more functional than memorable, serving its purpose without really crossing back into the realm of these other cues. On album, the score has been a favorite of Intrada Records for decades. It was pressed promotionally by Young and Intrada in 1997 as part of a five-CD promotional set of which Species and Virtuosity were the most popular inclusions. Long after the price of that album skyrocketed on the secondary market, Intrada revisited Species officially in 2008, pressing 3,000 copies of an expanded presentation that itself sold out before long. This version was rearranged and actually remixed in some cues by Young himself, reducing percussion in soundscape; like the promotional album for In Too Deep, this offering represented the score as Young wanted it to best be heard. Of the over twenty minutes of additional material, half is solely synthetic, and only the cue "Fever's Fever" hints at the highlights that already existed on the previous promo, expanding upon the rejected main theme. The remaining orchestral cues represent minimalistic filler material and the three synthetic bonus cues from the middle portion of the film tacked onto the end of product that are a curiosity but understandably lack the whimsical precision that the symphonic players provide to the rest of the composition. In 2024, Intrada expanded the presentation again to include the full breadth of Young's initial and replacement themes, adding the film presentation with more of the synthetic stingers and other horror leftovers. This album especially illuminates the contemporary influences for Los Angeles as Sil adapts to life there, a far different tone from the initial fantasy of the laboratory. The alternate takes on major cues at the start of the second CD are another new attraction, and listeners now have all the necessary performances of the original and final main themes to compile into a longer culling of highlights. Additionally, a gorgeous suite from this score was recorded for Silva Screen's "Space and Beyond" compilation near the time of the score's release as well. With all these sources at hand, Species remains a work best represented by a 10 to 20-minute suite on a compilation of Young's more alluring horror works. Ultimately, those who only revisit the score infrequently on the promo need not tear the spine out of a person to get a hold of the expanded versions, though anyone starting fresh will be best served by the 2024 product. None of Young's material survived into Edward Shearmur's inferior sequel score a few years later. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
1997 Promotional Album:
Total Time: 43:23
2008 Intrada Album: Total Time: 67:07
* previously unreleased 2024 Intrada Album: Total Time: 157:22
NOTES & QUOTES:
The packaging of the 1997 promo consists only of a single slip cover and rear
sheet with track listings, featuring no extra information about the score or film.
The 2008 and 2024 Intrada albums contain lengthy notation about the film and score.
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1998-2024, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
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 Species are Copyright © 1997, 2008, 2024, Promotional, Intrada Records, Intrada Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 3/18/98 and last updated 8/3/24. |
