HOLLYWOOD '96
VARIOUS
Rating: 
Original Review: Joel McNeely's annual tribute to the best scores of the year are a real godsend for soundtrack fans, especially this year, when I wanted but could never find half the scores featured on this album. My favourite is, surprisingly, Carter Burwell's quirky Fargo, which is apparently based on an old Norwegian folk song and features a wonderful, mournful fiddle solo by Edwin Paling. Courage Under Fire is also an excellent track, which reminds me a little of James Horner's previous score for Glory. I think I prefer this one, though, probably because the choir is omitted. I loved William Ross' score for Tin Cup as soon as I heard it at the cinema - a wonderful brass fanfare track with glorious crescendos backed by cymbals, which turns into a slightly Latin melody half way through - but it never even got a mention on the song-based soundtrack album. And, of course, the 1996 Oscar-winner Emma, composed by Rachel Portman, is included - a sweet, romantic tune with lovely lush strings. Twister and McNeely's own Flipper are decent, solid action cues and Sabrina features a really attractive piano solo by Lynda Cochrane, but the real surprise was Thomas Newman's Phenomenon. I can't really remember much of the score from seeing the film, but it turns out to be a dream-like romantic cue, reminiscent of the ending to Shawshank Redemption, which always invokes images of meadows and fields and birds and nature to me. I'm not keen on the Mission Impossible theme or Vertigo, and I really don't like Elliot Goldenthal's A Time To Kill - one of his usual messy ditties with lots of jumping strings and off-key brass.
Track Listing:
- Theme from Mission: Impossible (Lalo Schifrin) (1:31)
- Theme from Twister (Mark Mancina) (4:40)
- Opening Titles from Fargo (Carter Burwell) (3:00)
- Suite from A Time To Kill (Elliot Goldenthal) (4:19)
- Theme from Sabrina (John Williams) (5:42)
- Main Title from Phenomenon (Thomas Newman) (2:54)
- Theme from Flipper (Joel McNeely) (2:50)
- Theme from Emma (Rachel Portman) (2:56)
- Finale from Tin Cup (William Ross) (4:44)
- Hymn from Courage Under Fire (James Horner) (3:43)
- Suite from Vertigo (Bernard Herrmann) (5:07)
- Sanctuary from The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (Alan Menken) (6:21)
- Suite from Independence Day (David Arnold) (5:45)
Running Time: 54 minutes 17 seconds
Varése Sarabande VSD-5764 (1996)
Conducted by Joel McNeely. Performed by The Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Chorus. Chorusmaster Christopher Bell. Piano Solo on Sabrina performed by Lynda Cochrane. Fiddle Solo on Fargo performed by Edwin Paling. Recorded and mixed by Geoff Foster. Mastered by Bruce Botnick. Album produced by Robert Townson.
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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.