DROP ZONE
Rating: 
Original Review: Of all Hans Zimmer's 1990s action scores, Drop Zone is perhaps the most consistently enjoyable of the lot. Utilising an Eric Clapton-style wailing electric guitar to great effect, this score rocks from beginning to end. It's pure Zimmer all the way, and the music is dominated by the usual pounding synthesisers but, whereas scores like Crimson Tide and The Rock regularly tended to drift off into synthesised dissonance, Drop Zone remains defiantly melodic all the way through. The album is split between breathless action cues such as 'Drop Zone', 'Hi Jack', 'Miami Jump' and the concluding epics 'Too Many Notes, Not Enough Rests' and 'After The Dub' (an action music composer's in-joke there), all of which are chock full of electric guitars, throbbing drums, smooth synthesisers, blaring orchestra and unusual wind effects to signify flight through the air (the movie was about skydiving terrorists) and slightly more subdued cues such as 'Terry's Dropped Out', which is still electric guitar led but in a more poignant, emotional way, and Nick Glennie-Smith's 'Flashback and Fries', a much more downbeat and thoughtful cue which introduces the smoky backing vocals of Rose Stone. Although Crimson Tide and The Rock will remain Zimmer's most popular compositions in this genre, no doubt because the films were much more successful, Drop Zone is, in my opinion, musically the best.
Track Listing:
- Drop Zone (1:45)
- Hyphopera (written by Ryeland Allison, performed by Randelle K. Stainback) (1:41)
- Hi Jack (4:35)
- Terry's Dropped Out (1:01)
- Flashback and Fries (written by Nick Glennie-Smith) (4:21)
- Miami Jump (5:14)
- Too Many Notes, Not Enough Rests (10:39)
- After The Dub (8:07)
Running Time: 37 minutes 23 seconds
Varése Sarabande (1994)
Music composed by Hans Zimmer. Additional music composed by Nick Glennie-Smith. Orchestrations by Hans Zimmer, Nick Glennie-Smith and Ryeland Allison. Special vocal performances by Rose Stone. Recorded and mixed by Alan Meyerson. Album produced by Hans Zimmer and Adam Rifkin.
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These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1998. 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.