• Composed by Tyler Bates
• Hollywood Records / 2017 / 44m

I thought James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy was one of the more entertaining entries in the Marvel series so far, gleefully refusing to take itself seriously, and audience reaction in general was overwhelmingly positive.  A sequel was inevitable, and Gunn has returned along with the cast led by Chris Pratt, whose character Peter Quill meets his father (played by Kurt Russell) and goes on a journey to find himself.  It will doubtless be very successful – and a third film is already in the works.

Tyler Bates wrote one of his more popular scores last time round, though if truth be told I couldn’t remember a thing about it as soon as it finished and I certainly can’t remember anything about it three years later.  I can’t really tell you therefore how much music from the first score is reprised here – but I can tell you that it’s a very enjoyable affair, surely the best thing Bates has ever written.

Tyler Bates

“Showtime, A-Holes” opens the album with a burst of the Brian Tyler-ish main theme, before the action begins in “Vs the Abelisk” – it’s based around the much-copied descending string action figure from Junkie XL’s Mad Max, and this is one of the best appropriations of it that I’ve heard so far.  It’s not exactly original (it wasn’t when Junkie used it either, but that’s surely the origin of its appearances since) – but even this early on, it’s apparent just how accomplished the orchestration here is.  It’s done to the hilt, with so much flair – I imagine a reasonable portion of the credit for that should go to Tim Williams, Bates’s orchestrator, but whoever deserves the praise, it’s certainly warranted.

“Space Chase” is a more explosive action piece still, with so much going on, and not long later, “Two-Time Galaxy Savers” is even better, just furiously entertaining, with a delightful heroic version of the main theme to close it out.  In between them there’s some surprisingly emotional material, and in “Groot Expectations” a bit of brass writing that’s heaven for a James Horner fan like me.

There are some more serious moments, the first of which is “I Know Who You Are”, with some ethereal textures accompanied by a great dramatic thrust forwards, and a great guitar line running through the whole thing.  Another fast-paced action track follows, “Ego”, with some uber-dramatic moments with apocalyptic choir.  There’s a little passage in “Kraglin and Drax” which sounds a little bit like Elliot Goldenthal’s Batman theme… which for obvious reasons is quite amusing.

The score’s secondary theme gets a rousing rendition in “Mary Poppins and the Rat” and after that, it positively races towards its conclusion, with one big moment after another.  The brass writing (and performance) is just great, the energy level never drops from manic.  It’s much like in Brian Tyler’s Marvel scores, quite relentlessly exciting, only ending up a notch below it in the rankings because the theme isn’t as memorable.  My favourite track might actually not be one of the many action pieces, but instead the terrifically over-the-top drama of “Dad”, old-fashioned movie music emotion being wrought for all its worth.

I said above that I couldn’t remember a thing about the first score when I came to write about this one.  Three years hence – if I’m still around – I’m not entirely sure I’ll remember much about this one when I come to write the third (for all its quality, it does for a long time go in one ear and out the other) – but there’s no denying how flat-out entertaining it is.  It’s bright and breezy, moves along at a furious pace and the album’s short enough that there’s never a hint of it wearing out its welcome.  Bates deserves much credit for writing something so entertaining.

Rating: *** 1/2

See also:
Guardians of the Galaxy Tyler Bates

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