What do you expect the music for a film about a trumpet-playing, drug-crazed vigilante determined to avenge the death of his wife? No, I didn't know either, but one think I would have put real money on was Thomas Newman writing it; it's just the sort of quirky project he so enjoys. The film sat on the shelf for a long while before finally being released and making less money than a 12-year-old in a Malaysian sweatshop, despite actually garnering very positive reviews. But then, Thomas Newman's films almost all garner very positive reviews. Just as you can almost guarantee that any film John Williams scores will gross enough money to wipe out the debt of several African countries, so you can almost guarantee that any film Thomas Newman scores will get some of the most impressive reviews of the year.

Another curious (and, I would imagine, slightly more coincidental) facet of Newman's career is that so many of his films really haven't needed much music in them. The Shawshank Redemption could easily have lived with five or ten minutes; last year's In the Bedroom (the best film of 2001 by a country mile) didn't need music at all. And so I suspect is the case with The Salton Sea (which I have not and probably will not see, since the prospects of release in this country are small). Newman's score follows his usual pattern: quirky, dominated by some very unusual soloists (this time out, the album features credits for performers on, among other things, war stick, tube + amp + grain, resonating metals and layered drones) and difficult to get to grips with.

Occasionally the score goes a little jazzier, and here is where it really does catch the attention: the superb "Undress Revised" (with a superb trumpet solo by Terence Blanchard), and the short "Glock Semi-Automatic" and "Queen Elizabeth". Other times, it simply plods along with drum loops and electric guitar chords - "Tweaker Crash", "Gun Cemetery", "Dead Bobby". Occasionally Newman introduces a bit of melody, by way of a change; perhaps to best effect in "One Red Hair". The album's opening cue, "Perpetual Night Party", reminds me a bit of Newman's theme from Red Corner relocated to the backstreets of LA.

It is so difficult to know what to make of an album like this. Taken individually, the tracks are pretty awful, but when combined they have a kind of mesmerising effect; such is the expert way Newman, Bill Bernstein and Robert Townson have assembled the album. But outside of Newman's fanbase I can see this music appealing to very few people. It probably makes for a slightly more engaging listen than In the Bedroom, but not by much. Newman is - without question - the most original and unique composer working in film today (if not ever) - where else but on a Thomas Newman album would the last track on the CD teach you how to yodel? (no, I'm not making that up) - but sometimes that originality leads to a quirkiness that is just too difficult to swallow for those used to more conventional music. The Salton Sea appeals to me in a way I simply cannot define - perhaps it is that subliminal quality that is Newman's greatest asset - but at the same time, another Meet Joe Black wouldn't go amiss.

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