| This is movie music - not a concert piece (review from amazon.com) |
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I love Elfman's movie and TV scores; they never fail to delight me. And I generally enjoy listening to recordings of those scores because they evoke vivid memories of the movie they accompanied.
However, Elfman's commission for this piece was that he write a CONCERT piece -- in other words, something that would stand by itself; something musically and structurally coherent; something with a musical "plot" to it that grows and develops through the course of several movements. This work just doesn't qualify.
Instead, it's just little snippets of his movie scores tied together. Listen closely and you can hear a bit of "Mars Attacks" here and a bit of "Nightmare Before Christmas" there; an occassional reference to "Batman" or "The Flash."
As another reviewer has pointed out, this seems to be a score without a movie. While it's a delightful piece of ear candy, there's nothing lasting or deep about it. After one or two listenings, there's nothing left to learn or discover.
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| Serenada Schizophrana - Superba! (review from amazon.com) |
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If you like clasical music composed over the last 140 years, you may well like this one. This work, along with Mishima (and some other works) by Philip Glass, repesent some of the best of modern music.
Superb emotional communication, which is what music is all about.
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| "I (Will Never) Forget" (review from amazon.com) |
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It took me over a year to find a copy of this album (the curse of living in the midwest) but it was well worth the wait. This is just as solid and thrilling as Elfman's Classics like Batman and Black Beauty. The Cd starts off with "Pianos" and what a start it is! A moody melody that slowly builds and bascially serves as the unofficial theme of the piece. "Blue Strings" is very Herrmannesque with it's shades of Psycho and various other mood pieces. "A Brass Thing" Is one of the more fun cues that shifts between a slightly march like melody and a Jazz combo middle section (and if you listen closely you'll hear Danny's Sub-theme from Hulk).
"The Quadruped Patrol" is a darkly humorous romp with "two dogs" tearing up a city street and is one of the most enjoyably chaotic cues I've ever heard. "Bells and Whistles" is the only real let-down on the album but it still has it's moments, most notably toward the end when the brass comes to the foreground and the piece comes to a conlusion.
After a short reprise of "the Quadruped Patrol" called "End Tag", "Improv for Alto Sax" comes next. It is nice and mellow and is a good end to the album. Listen closely to this piece and you'll hear a theme from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory buried in there.
Now I know what you're thinking, I left out a piece. Not really, I just saved the best for last. Words cannot describe the piece entitled "I Forget". It is simply perfect!Even now after multiple listenings, I am at a loss for words! This is the kind of music that instantly puts an image in my brain yet again it's an image I can't describe. It's like some kind of haunting journey. The use of choir makes it even more outstanding. If you buy this album for "I Forget" alone, It is still worth every penny.
Oh, by the way, There is an extremely creepy clown picture in the jacket. Just warning you if you have an aversion to clowns. If you like creepy clowns, then you'll love the picture.
BUY THIS CD!!!
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| A soundtrack without a movie (review from amazon.com) |
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Danny Elfman is one of Hollywood's most talented score writers, with more than 100 movie soundtracks under his belt. His musical arrangements never fail to impress, and he has an almost mystical ability to match the mood of his music to the action on-screen -- particularly when he's working with filmmaker Tim Burton.
Commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra, this symphonic piece gave the former Oingo Boingo frontman a new challenge -- working without the visual cues of a movie to inspire him. But, while the resulting tracks are entertaining on an aural level, they still sound like a soundtrack to me. And, without my own visual memories to accompany the music, my imagination filled them in -- I mostly saw scenes of Johnny Depp emoting or the stop-action hijinks of a skellington at play. Appropriately, it was later picked for use as a soundtrack for the IMAX film, Deep Sea 3D.
So really, it's simple. If you enjoy Elfman's soundtrack work, get this and you'll love it. If you think soundtracks should only be heard in the background of a film, skip this or get yourself to an IMAX theater for a little underwater exploration with narrators Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet and, of course, Elfman.
by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(n e t) editor
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| ohh weird! (review from amazon.com) |
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| Weird and Good! You can definitely identify it being an Elfman work. I really enjoy this ride. I would like to see a modern ballet put to this!
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