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BAD BOYS
Entertaining but overlong action score is one of the better non-Zimmer Media Ventures efforts
 A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Music composed by
MARK MANCINA

Rating
* * *



Performed by
THE HOLLYWOOD STUDIO SYMPHONY
led by
KATHLEEN LENSKI
conducted by
NICK GLENNIE-SMITH

Additional music
NICK GLENNIE-SMITH
Orchestration
BRUCE FOWLER

Engineer
ALAN MEYERSON
Music Editor
CURTIS ROUSH
Produced by
FORD A. THAXTON

Album running time
70:18

Released by
LA-LA LAND RECORDS
Catalog number
LLLCD 1057

Album cover copyright (c) 2007 Columbia TriStar Marketing Group; review copyright (c) 2007 James Southall

It's unbelievably depressing to have to refer to Bad Boys as a seminal film, but sadly it was, with the Bruckheimer-produced action films which followed all following pretty much the same formula.  It was also the launchpad for director Michael Bay - his first film.  Finally, it was one of the earliest really big action films to embrace the Media Ventures sound for its score, provided in this instance by Mark Mancina, hired because Bruckheimer liked his forgettable music for Speed.

Mancina's music here is probably more satisfying - while the liner notes ridiculously boast that the composer made his 80-piece orchestra sound even bigger (it is frequently hard to believe that more than three or four real instruments are being played here - there's the standard Media Ventures orchestration which somehow manages to make a symphony orchestra sound like a kid with a keyboard), there is certainly a vibrancy to the music, and a freshness too - this sort of thing had not yet become stale.

The slight twist in the music which makes it rise above several of the other MV/Bruckheimer scores is the reggae vibe injected into the main theme, which works well and adds enough exotic taste to keep it all from blending into The Rock and The Peacemaker and all the other (vastly inferior) ones.  There's a secondary action theme which is also good - apparently Mancina was aiming for a John Barry / James Bond vibe, and it doesn't sound like that (save from using the opening riff of the Bond theme), but it's pretty decent.

Finally, there's a very pleasant guitar theme ("The Boys Find Max") which is the score's best feature - genuinely lovely, I'm surprised Mancina managed to get it in here, but it works well.  However - about 26 minutes of the album have passed by this stage.  The music has already said everything it is going to say - but there are still 45 minutes left!  I suspect it will only be the hardcore Media Ventures fans who will be able to stomach the whole lot in one sitting - but I hope that doesn't put off others, because edited down, this would certainly be one of the superior Zimmer-style action scores which aren't written by the man himself.

Tracks

  1. Prologue / The Car Jacking (4:31)
  2. Main Title / Heist (6:07)
  3. Funky Brothers to PD (:34)
  4. Air Conditioning Inspection (1:07)
  5. Jojo, What You Know? (:39)
  6. Dead Guy (4:55)
  7. He's the Person I'd Call (:52)
  8. Kiling Max (4:15)
  9. The Boys Find Max (2:29)
  10. Into Lois's Apartment (:49)
  11. Escape from Julie's (2:46)
  12. You're Going to Leave Me Alone? (:50)
  13. Don't Honey Me Baby! (1:01)
  14. My Bolgna Has a First Name? (4:02)
  15. Julie's Got a Gun (:53)
  16. Escape From Club Hell / Ether Chase (4:33)
  17. We Don't Want to Lose You (:38)
  18. I Mean Like Funny (2:00)
  19. Interrogation (:40)
  20. Stake Out (:53)
  21. Tailing Lab Tech / Blown Cover (1:35)
  22. Busted (:51)
  23. Footchase (4:23)
  24. Pouchet Calling (:32)
  25. Hanger Shootout (9:14)
  26. Cobra Chase / Pouchet's Death (4:40)
  27. Main Title (film version) (3:36)
    28.