Olando

Advantages: Palatable
Disadvantages: Too surreal

...My copy of the film adaptation by Sally Potter of the classic novel of the immortal Orlando by Virginia Woolf came free as a DVD video with the Sunday Telegraph. The DVD comes with little else than the film. The film was produced by a number of organisations with the participation of the British Screen and supported by The European Script Fund. Music was composed by David Motion & Sally Porter (The soundtrack is available on Varese Sarabande Compact Discs. This English language film in colour has a run time of 90 minutes. Released about 1997. The film has a PG rating (Parental Guidance advised). ***CAST*** Tilda Swinton.................Orlando Quentin crisp..................Queen E1izabeth 1 Jimmy Somerville..........Falsetto/Angel ***THE STORY*** "Orlando" is a curiously ravishing series of essays built around the title...

JeffreyB 18.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of Orlando (DVD)

To the memory of Elmer Bernstein

Advantages: Wonderful music apturing the essence of the film
Disadvantages: NOne

..., Hiltz played by Steve McQueen, is perhaps one of the most memorable. The theme is seen each time, the cooler king is returned to his solitary cell complete with glove and ball and is given emphasis and force as the dare-devil hero is dramatically and spellbindingly chased on his motorbike. Even the camp itself has it?s own theme, of descending minor chords, appearing each time a prisoner is returned. The soundtack is available at most good record shops or online on the Varese Sarabande label released 12th July 2004 at £11.99. The cover displaying a still of McQueen during his Great motorbike Escape bid. Elmer Bernstein is an undisputed master of film composition and his memory lives on through his music. Each time the score of The Great Escape is heard, a tribute to the man is made. Buy it, play it, enjoy it and remember....

MAFARRIMOND 21.08.2004 · Read review
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Review of Great Escape, The - Soundtrack

Last of the Mohicans

Advantages: Trevor Jones
Disadvantages: Randy Edelman

...with mainstream audiences. The combination of the Clannad song, Jones' memorable theme and Edelman's more romantic music have undoubtedly caused record sales to go up on many different quarters. After the great success of the original, Varèse Sarabande decided to make a re-recording of the score in 2000, including some formerly unreleased cues, while at the same time deciding to drop others (mostly from the Edelman side). As a re-recording there are the positives and negatives. Performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Joel McNeely, we have consistency of recording since the music is performed by a single ensemble. Many have noted that the performances of the Edelman tracks have greatly improved over the originals while Jones' half has suffered in many key cues, especially in "Elk Hunt", which is much softer and less stimulating than...

berlioz 30.04.2004 (24.03.2005) · Read review
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Review of Last Of The Mohicans, The (Original Score) - Original Score

A great soundtrack for a great film

Advantages: Trancy, electronic, complex and moody with a great beat
Disadvantages: Leaves you wanting more from Powell

...Available on Varese Sarabande 302 066 535 2. After seeing the DVD of Paycheck, I happened upon the soundtrack album and gave it a quick listen, and just had to buy it! I hadn't really heard of John Powell before finding this album, but on researching further I realised he has done a large amount of film score that I have enjoyed, and has prompted me to search further for more of his work. Other soundtracks he has done include The Bourne Identity & Bourne Supremacy, The 2003 Italian Job, Shrek and Shrek 2, Evolution, 2 Weeks Notice, and Gigli. He has also done the soundtrack for the 2005 animated film Robots. His style is unique - a good blend of electronic, synth and orchestration. His style is quite different to the "big orchestra" soundtracks one gets from the likes of John Williams, James Horner or Alan Silvestri, but is...

el-em 29.03.2005 · Read review
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Review of Paycheck - John Powell

"Shadows" is great score for Star Wars novel

Advantages: McNeely's take on Star Wars material is brilliant
Disadvantages: None.

...4), "Xizor's Theme" (track 6), or "The Seduction of Princess Leia" (track 7), a wonderful piece that starts out, as the title implies, with sensual undertones in a waltz-like movement with almost Max Steiner-like romantic phrasings that end abruptly with a shift to dark thematic material. Obviously, this being a Star Wars story that is set while Vader is still alive and still in the thrall of the Dark Side, McNeeley can't totally leave out existing material by Williams. In addition to the mood-setting first track, McNeeley borrows two key Star Wars motifs in track 8, "Night Skies," which features both The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme) and Ben's/The Force Theme in a scene set on Coruscant's Imperial City as the Dark Lord senses his son's presence somewhere in the sprawling city-planet. For the Varese Sarabande Digital...

alexdg1 19.06.2005 · Read review
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Review of McNeely: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

Dang, dang, dang, dang, dang, dang, dang, dang...

Advantages: It's a real Williams classic to perfectly evoke a movie
Disadvantages: It's not the most enjoyable score to listen

.... The catch: this is actually a re-recording Williams made specifically for the album release. In essence this album contains all the basic material from the film in concert form, but the downside of this release is the poor sound quality that was inherent in the recording conditions of the 1970's. For many years, however, this was the only way to hear the music outside of the film. Coinciding with Jaws' 25 Anniversary celebration in 2000, Varèse Sarabande announced that Joel McNeely was going to conduct a re-recording of the complete Jaws score of 51 minutes with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. This announcement caused a sudden hastening of Universal's project of releasing the complete original score recorded in 1975 for the actual film, not the re-recordings made for the LP. This of course was a little slap in the face of Varèse, who now...

berlioz 26.02.2005 · Read review
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Review of Jaws - Soundtrack

Conan: A musical analysis of Conan the Barbarian

Advantages: A mind blowing Classic of the highest order.
Disadvantages: There simply is none, if less than perfect sound quality doesn't bother you.

...-worldliness. The concluding "Orphans of Doom/The Awakening" opens with a very sad and abandoned melody as Doom's subjects are left alone. The cue continues in a sustained adagio before a fanfare heralds a triumphal conclusion fitting for a film of this kind. THE ALBUMS There are two official albums for Conan the Barbarian. The original Milan album features some 50 minutes of music (an impressive amount for a score this old) and has all the main presentations of the themes. The album has been released several times in the past (the latest in 2003) and is still widely available (particularly in Europe). However, in 1992 Varèse Sarabande released an expanded album, along with the sequel Conan the Destroyer, that added some 20 minutes of unreleased music and remixed it, adding more reverberation for a fuller sound. This edition, though missing the opening...

berlioz 19.06.2005 · Read review
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Review of Conan The Barbarian - Original Soundtrack

The X-traordinarily X-treme X-Men X-perience

Advantages: A great powerhouse of a score to reckon with
Disadvantages: Incohesive action music not the best way to go about

...Fox Music Editor: Tom Carlson Varèse Sarabande, 2006 (VSD-6732) © berlioz, 2006...

berlioz 20.06.2006 · Read review
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Review of X-Men: The Last Stand OST - John Powell

Makes you wear a smile

Advantages: Mix of ballads and silly songs, engaging performance
Disadvantages: Some weak orchestration here and there

...from the ashes of Varese Sarabande's discontinued theatrical line - this is the only place I've seen it available new on-line recently. When it was released by VS in 1996, the CD's catalogue number was VSD-5711. On Fynsworth, it now appears to be SKU16157. Track listing (name of lyricist in brackets): 1. Da-Da, da-Da, da Da [From Bojangles] (Sammy Cahn) 2. One of a Kind [From Applause] (Lee Adams) 3. Baby, Talk to Me [From Bye Bye Birdie] (Lee Adams) 4. You've Got Possibilities [From It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman!] (Lee Adams) 5. There's Always One You Can't Forget [From Dance a Little Closer] (Alan Jay Lerner) 6. I Lost the Rhythm [From The Littlest Revue] (Charles Strouse) 7. Dance a Little Closer [From Dance a Little Closer] (Alan Jay Lerner) 8. Bye Bye Birdie [From Bye Bye Birdie] (Lee Adams) 9. Night Song...

DavidBedford 05.08.2005 · Read review
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Review of You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile - Jason Graae

Troy

Advantages: It fulfills its purpose very professionally
Disadvantages: It has minimal individuality

...learned about it's existence. These clips as well as the open letter have since disappeared (probably due to Warner's actions as they still own the copyright to the music), but the web is still filled with requests from many about the Yared Troy material, providing a marketable commodity in the bootleg market for the collectors who have long since downloaded the material. I have also heard some people finding a 75 minute promo album through various ways, but that is not exactly advertised outside of the filmscore forums to any great extent. There has been hopes expressed that the music be someday released by Warner Bros. on an official album much the same way as Jerry Goldsmith's last finished score for Timeline in 2003 that was rejected but after Jerry's death was released by Varèse Sarabande. But until that time the only way to hear Yared...

berlioz 29.03.2005 · Read review
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Review of Troy - Various Artists