Not long ago I said in a review (of James Newton Howard's Dreamcatcher, to be precise) that every so often, the uninitiated make comments like "How can a film score be listened to when separated from the film? - surely the music is so tied to the visuals as to render it redundant when it is separated" - I also said "let's not beat around the bush: this is an atrocious album."

Now I can say it again.  This serviceable thriller score from Alan Silvestri is full of orchestral stings that probably make perfect sense in the film but make none whatsoever musically; schizophrenic tracks that go from one idea to its polar opposite within seconds; and very little melodic material.  I can't imagine what sort of person would ever want to listen to this music.  The Golden Age qualities in Silvestri's music that make some of his scores an absolute treat are completely absent, and I suspect that even his most die hard fans would struggle to recommend Identity.

It's simply a film score that should have been left in the film and not put out on album.  The "Prologue" features something of a "theme" (but I'd challenge anyone to say anything about it after it's finished) but this is never expanded upon; some electric guitar stuff crops up from time to time; and the suspense writing is probably extremely effective in the film, especially the sampled heartbeat in "May 10th".  The end credit piece is really quite disturbing, with Silvestri's "non-music" mixed with dialogue to come up with something that could probably scare the shit out of your neighbours if you played it loudly enough, but has limited use besides that.

I'm surprised this got released - even at 32 minutes, it long outstays its welcome.  Nice cover, though.

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