Trevor Rabin has hardly established himself as one of my favourite film composers with his works so far (though he has clearly established himself as one of Hollywood's favourite composers, which some would argue is more important) - his loud, overbearing scores seem to fill little musical or dramatic purpose and are just there for the sake of having some loud music in the film. With The 6th Day he overcomes one of these problems - by writing quite an entertaining album's worth of music - but not the other - I still don't see how the music serves even a vague dramatic purpose.

The production standards are, of course, very high - this music is extremely well-produced (hardly surprising, since aside from being the guitarist for Yes, Rabin has also produced songs for the likes of Tina Turner) - though it has to be said, the combination of real and synthesised strings sometimes sounds rather weak, and you are left to wonder why the real strings alone wouldn't have sufficed.

What sets The 6th Day on a higher level to Rabin's previous work is that the melodic content is far, far stronger and the music is essentially less intense, with a few gentler interludes punctuating the bigger music. Especially strong is "Adam's Theme" (though again those synthesised strings overlap with real ones). Of the action music - which is hardly lacking - "The Rescue" and "The Roof Top" stand out. Rabin's action music seems much more considered in this score compared with his previous efforts - it's not just bang-bang-bang orchestral pop music, but instead the orchestra is smaller and more prominence is given to the rock music elements - and given Rabin's background, it is almost inevitable that he is more adept at composing for this ensemble than for a full orchestra. Especially impressive is the integration of the guitar solos. There is also a rather peculiar motif running through a few tracks which sounds like an Irish jig being performed by some sort of middle eastern instrument - I'm not sure what made Rabin do that (it wouldn't appear to have any relevance to the film) but it certainly sounds quite good.

The 6th Day had a rather peculiar production history - Joe Dante was originally to have directed it, with Jerry Goldsmith presumably coming along in tow, and I'm sure the film would have turned out vastly differently if that had been the case. But then Roger Spottiswoode (of Under Fire and Tomorrow Never Dies fame) came along and brought David Arnold with him - who then himself dropped out of the project to be replaced by Rabin. Despite all this, Rabin did produce some most entertaining music - it's still hardly a work of art, but it's fun.

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Tracks
1: The 6th Day (4:04)
2: In the Beginning... (2:02)
3: Cloning (2:22)
4: Adam's Theme (3:31)
5: One for the Team (2:22)
6: The Rescue (3:47)
7: Playing God (3:33)
8: The Roof Top (4:47)
9: Adam's Birthday (1:15)
10: Kill the Doctor (1:56)
11: The Hospital (1:39)
12: Drucker Meets Drucker (3:30)
13: Adam Goes Home (2:39)
14: The Kiss (1:14)