HARD RAIN

CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Rating:

Original Review: After years of sterling work in the low budget and independent film arenas, Chris Young was finally given a major picture to score. With a big budget, big stars, and a big studio (Paramount) to back him up, Hard Rain was his first real taste of real top-flight Hollywood composing. Directed by former top cinematographer, Mikael Salomon, it starred Christian Slater as a security guard playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with some nasty bandits after a daring bank heist goes horribly wrong - and all during a torrential downpour that floods the middle-America small town in which the film is set. Young freely admits that his score has very little in the way of character development and subtlety, and that every cue was geared towards "trying to give brute strength to the film". The London Metropolitan Orchestra sounds large and powerful, and the music has a pulse-pounding internal tempo to drive along the action. Cleverly, Young works several of the legendary Toots Thielemans' chromatic harmonica solos into the music, which act as a theme to depict the movie's bad guys, led by Morgan Freeman, and there are a couple of minor themes which represent the central character of the movie - the Hard Rain itself. The score starts well, with the main title 'Hard Rain', which introduces the heroic main theme, and 'The Jet Ski Chase (Part 1)', which has some lovely interplay between different parts of the brass section, most notably through some repeated horn motifs. Some of the later cues, such as 'The Jail Cell (Part 2)', 'The Church Attack', 'Kenny Dies', 'The Church Chase (Part 1)' and 'Locked Up', feature recapitulations of the main themes, along with some interesting new rhythms and unusual orchestrations, and are well worth a repeated listen. However, as the score progresses, you slowly begin to realise that the music consists almost entirely of action cues, and that there is virtually no respite whatsoever from the throbbing brasses, bombastic percussion and relentless synth lines. They are all well composed and, in the film, drive along the various chase scenes perfectly but, as a standalone listening experiences, they tend to become a little overbearing and repetitive after a while. The end credits song, 'Flood' by Jars of Clay, is actually quite enjoyable, and is one of the better "action movie songs" I have heard in ages. Casual fans of Chris Young's music, or of action music in general, will undoubtedly lap up every second of Hard Rain. Real Young aficionados, though, are likely to find it a little simplistic and - well - too normal. There is little in the way of Young's trademarked dissonance and, compared to scores such as The Vagrant, Invaders from Mars, and even Hellraiser, it is nowhere near as innovative or experimental. As an example of competent action writing, it hits the mark on all counts, but it's not really worth going out and getting your feet wet for.

Track Listing: Running Time: 51 minutes 46 seconds

Milan 74321-56425-2 (1998)

Music composed by Christopher Young. Conducted by Pete Anthony. Performed by The London Metropolitan Orchestra. Orchestrations by Pete Anthony, Christopher Young, Jeff Atmajian, Anna Bonn and Jon Kull. Featured musical soloists Jean "Toots" Thielemans and Adam Glasser. Recorded and mixed by Dick Lewzey and Michael Farrow. Edited by Tom Milano. Album produced by Christopher Young and David Reynolds.


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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.