THE PEACEMAKER

HANS ZIMMER

Rating:

Original Review: To anyone familiar with Hans Zimmer's style of high octane action music (for the likes of Crimson Tide and The Rock), The Peacemaker will come as no surprise. Huge in scale, rapid in pace, bombastic in style and very, very loud, The Peacemaker, to me, is actually a little bit of a disappointment, because in a way I was hoping Zimmer would do something a little different. There is one central theme which slides in and out at regular intervals, a bold full orchestra piece a little reminiscent of Roll Tide, but with a richer, darker feel, to form the core of the score, and there are a few interesting elements dotted around, like the liberal use of a Russian choir, some innovative percussion work, an unusual 'thrumming' played on horns, and a great, rhythmic sequence in 'Chase'. The problems come during the parts which are rather atonal and dissonant - of which there are quite a lot. When these play, I find myself going into a sort of automatic shutdown mode to block out the god-awful din emanating from my speakers. The other problem is that Zimmer will insist on creating these epic-proportioned cues - 17, 13 and two of 9 minutes - so it makes it virtually impossible to skim through the crap bits to get to the good ones. Instead, I just don't bother playing the CD, which is a real shame because when it's good, its very good. However, when it's bad it's awful.

Track Listing: Running Time: 54 minutes 36 seconds

Dreamworks Records 50027 (1997)

Music composed by Hans Zimmer. Conducted by Harry Gregson-Williams and Gavin Greenaway. Orchestrations by Bruce L. Fowler. Additional music composed by Gavin Greenaway. Orchestra Leader Gavyn Wright. Vocals by Mamek Khadem. Recorded and mixed by Alan Meyerson and Paul Hulme. Edited by Adam Smalley. Mastered by Patricia Sullivan. Album produced by Hans Zimmer and Adam Smalley.


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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.