MICHAEL COLLINS
Rating: 
Original Review: Another Goldenthal score I bought after the Oscar nominations were announced, hoping that finally he had produced something more to my liking. Another Goldenthal score with which I was disappointed, although it is an improvement on his last few efforts. It starts with 'Easter Rebellion', featuring the enchanting vocals of Sinéad O'Connor and a nice violin and string section, which really raised my hopes upon my first listening. However, the main theme promised never really develops and the cue lapses into bursts of orchestra with the Latin chanting that Goldenthal likes so much. The album is uninspiring from then on, downright appalling in places, but, every now and again, sporadically and tantalisingly brilliant. 'Fire and Arms', the second track, is a pretty good, if unusual, action cue; and third and tenth cues, 'Train Station Farewell' and 'Boland's Return', contain a lovely romantic theme. The middle section of the album sort of melds into one long chunk of music, and the ending is unremarkable. What should be mentioned, however, is the awful, chaotic cue 'Civil War' and a truly horrid song 'Macushla', which sounds like an Irish Eurovision Song Contest reject. An improvement, but could do better, Elliot.
Track Listing:
- Easter Rebellion (performed by Sinéad O'Connor) (3:15)
- Fire and Arms (1:42)
- Train Station Farewell (1:56)
- Winter Raid (2:39)
- Elegy for a Sunday (3:08)
- Football Match (1:50)
- On Cats Feet (4:29)
- Defiance and Arrest (1:50)
- Train to Granard (1:31)
- Boland Returns (Kitty's Waltz) (1:19)
- His Majesty's Finest (2:12)
- Boland's Death (1:40)
- Home to Cork (1:19)
- Civil War (performed by Sinéad O'Connor) (2:11)
- Collins' Proposal (1:26)
- An Anthem Deferred (1:45)
- She Moved Through The Fair (performed by Sinéad O'Connor) (4:57)
- Funeral/Coda (4:34)
- Macushla (written by Dermot MacMurrough and Josephine V. Rowe, performed by Frank Patterson and The Café Orchestra) (3:30)
Running Time: 47 minutes 15 seconds
Atlantic Classics 7567-82960-2 (1996)
Music composed by Elliot Goldenthal. Conducted by Jonathan Sheffer. Orchestrations by Robert Elhai and Elliot Goldenthal. Additional orchestrations by Sonny Kompaneck, Deniz Hughes, Ned Ginsberg, Richard Lee and Matthias Gohl. Choir conducted by Rick Cordova. Low Whistle and Uilleann Pipes performed by Davy Spillane. Recorded and mixed by Joel Iwataki and Steve McLaughlin. Edited by Michael Connell and Nick Ratner. Mastered by Vlado Meller. Album produced by Matthias Gohl.
Home Page | Soundtracks | Soundtrack Reviews | Composers | Soundtrack Links
These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1997. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of my employer, the Trent Institute for Health Services Research, or those of the University of Sheffield.