RUDYARD KIPLING'S THE JUNGLE BOOK

BASIL POLEDOURIS

Rating:

Original Review: When people think of and talk about the music of Basil Poledouris, the scores which always come to be mentioned are Conan the Barbarian, Robocop, The Hunt for Red October and Farewell to the King. For some reason, no-one ever mentions The Jungle Book (or, as it was released in the UK, Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book), and this astounds me. In my opinion, The Jungle Book is Poledouris' undiscovered masterpiece - an unusually overlooked gem of a score which ranks right up there with his more famous compositions in terms of musical beauty and good old-fashioned enjoyment.

Eschewing the varying moods and textures that Miklòs Ròzsa used so well in his classic score of 1940, Poledouris has instead composed in a defiantly western style, with bold musical stokes and a huge orchestral sound injected with occasional bursts of ethic colour from drums or tambourines (but, unusually for Poledouris, no electronics whatsoever). The CD is barely ten seconds in before Poledouris presents the first rendition of the broad, expansive, utterly beautiful main theme: a theme which, when played in all its glory, has the kind of epic sweep than one would normally associate with John Williams (like in Jurassic Park) or James Horner (like in Legends of the Fall). As well as this main theme, which is repeated with a pleasing regularity throughout, the score is equally rich and diverse in terms of the different minor themes that Poledouris has written.

The highlights include 'Shere Kahn Attacks', a wonderfully vibrant, percussion-heavy action cue; 'Mowgli' and 'Monkey City', both of which are generally light-hearted and playful cues, featuring a bouncy string theme underscoring the idyllic jungle-based childhood of the protagonist and a comedic brass march for Louie, the ape-king himself. 'Kitty' presents the score's first full rendition of the delicate romantic theme which, when it is intertwined with the main theme and punctuated by little bursts of woodwind, always makes me smile as I recall of the scenes of Mowgli's endearingly clumsy efforts to woo the beautiful Governor's daughter. The magical 'Civilization' has a definite feeling of awe and wonder to it, and the final two cues - 'Spoils' and 'Finale' - bring the score to a magnificent close through some intelligent, exciting action writing and a breathtaking conclusive performance of the main theme. In fact, now that I come to think of it, every single cue on the album is brilliant.

My respect for the talent of Basil Poledouris is growing by the day: as I have discovered more and more of his music, I find it hard to believe that he has been consigned to bland action movies and low-profile assignments for so long without anyone in the movie business realising what an absolutely wonderful composer he is - The Jungle Book is undeniable proof of his talent. I just hope that his score for Starship Troopers gives him the opportunity to continue working on quality projects, and that his recent Les Misérables finally brings him some kind of recognition for his work. It's long overdue.

Track Listing: Running Time: 48 minutes 10 seconds

Milan 74321-24861-2 (1994)

Music composed by Basil Poledouris. Conducted by David Snell. Orchestrations by Greig McRitchie. Additional orchestrations by Larry Ashmore, John Bell, Nick Ingman and Conrad Pope. Recorded and mixed by Tim Boyle. Edited by Tom Villano. Album produced by Basil Poledouris.


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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.