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Performed by Engineered by Released by Artwork copyright (c) 2005 DreamWorks LLC; review copyright (c) 2005 James Southall |
DREAMER And
now ladies and gentlemen... the temp-track A review by JAMES SOUTHALL For this harmless film about a horse, director John Gatins originally engaged
recent Oscar-winner Jan A.P. Kaczmarek to write the music. Things didn't
go to plan however, Kaczmarek was fired, and John Debney brought in. It's
tricky to think of two film composers with more different sensibilities,
suggesting the director didn't really have a clue what he was doing.
Actually, another thing it suggests is that, just maybe, Kaczmarek wasn't quite
keen enough to write a rehash of the temp-track. (Ironically, the last
major film about a horse, Seabiscuit, saw Randy Newman walk off in
disgust because he refused to just rewrite the temp-track, so William Ross had
to be brought in to change just enough notes to keep it legal; most of that
score remained Newman's own, though.) So, the temp-track. If you enjoyed Seabiscuit, The Horse
Whisperer, Legends of the Fall, Avalon, The Natural -
come along for the ride, they're all here! I won't dwell - I've dwelled on
temp-tracks often enough, God knows! - so suffice it to say that if you're
offended by the practice then I would steer this one a very wide berth
indeed. If it doesn't bother you then you'll find a very pleasant
album. Actually, I'm being a bit unkind: in fairness to Debney, it's not
quite as bad as some scores in terms of being derivative and the opening cue (and main
theme) actually seems to be an entirely original composition. (After
writing this review, someone wrote in to tell me that actually, the opening cue
is Alan Silvestri's theme from Castaway; I checked, and what do you know
- it is!) On the album
cover, and in all of Sony Classical's promotion for it, you will find the name
of popular violinist Joshua Bell featuring extremely heavily. Indeed, they
would almost have you believe that the film was made purely to allow Bell to
bring a new album out. Indeed, he features strongly in that opening cue
(though it isn't heard in the film), playing an undemanding but nice
melody. After those two minutes and nineteen seconds, however, his
appearances are fleeting indeed. I hope there aren't too many Bell fans
buying the album just because of him, because they're likely to be sorely
disappointed! Debney does feature a number of other soloists; the most prominent, and
infinitely more prominent than Bell's violin, is Mike Lang's piano. Lang
has been playing on high-profile film scores in LA since mediaeval times; of
course, his name's never appeared on an album cover. The other most
prominent element is the guitar (of varying descriptions), which again are
expertly played, by Debney himself, George Doering and Dean Parks. Debney
has in fact come up with some very pleasant original material to go alongside
what I've already mentioned, with the most notable constituent being the
exciting music for the races, including the delightful "Runaway Horse"
and the splendid "Last Race". The album as a whole is
overarchingly nice and highly entertaining - if thoroughly undemanding - and I'm
sure fans of pleasant, easy scores (not to mention fans of Randy Newman's
scores) will find a whole lot to enjoy. Tracks
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