PHENOMENON

THOMAS NEWMAN

Rating:

Original Review: At the top of many people's wish lists for scores needing a proper release is Thomas Newman's Phenomenon, the only available tracks of which include one short cue ('The Orchard') on the hit song album, and a short re-recording of the main theme on one of Joel McNeely's annual hit movie round-ups, Hollywood 96. The lucky few who manage to stumble across a copy of this recent "private release" will discover just under half an hour's worth of a score which is easily one of Newman's most pleasant, enjoyable and understated works.

Phenomenon was a highly successful romantic drama with a supernatural twist, directed by Jon Turteltaub and starring John Travolta as George Malley, a simple garage mechanic who, after witnessing a strange light in the sky after a drinking session with his buddies, begins to undergo serious mental changes - but for the better. He becomes more intelligent, reading whole books in hours and learning new languages in minutes, and he develops an affinity for engineering and electronics. However, these new skills do not come without a price, and when George begins to sense seismic activity and develop strange telekinetic powers, it eventually drives a wedge between the townsfolk and his potential girlfriend Kyra Sedgwick, making him wonder whether his new powers are a gift - or a curse.

Surprisingly, Newman largely ignored the spiritual and mystical elements of the story and concentrated instead on the overall mood and geographical location of the film. Therefore, in attempting to complement the idyllic rural Californian setting, the music takes its inspiration from the sounds of nature, especially through the highly stylised use of woodwinds. The high-register flutes present throughout occasionally seem to be mimicking birdsong, while the lower-toned clarinets and bassoons whistle gently like a breeze rustling through leaves of a tree. Lazy guitars, gentle piano chords and quiet fiddles drift in and out of the 14 unnamed cues, adding a touch of Aaron Copland charm and nostalgic Americana to the music. If one was to compare Phenomenon to other Newman works, one could say it is a combination of the best parts of The Shawshank Redemption, The Horse Whisperer and Fried Green Tomatoes.

As the cues are all untitled, it is somewhat difficult to identify specific highlight tracks, but the ones that stood out the most for me were those in which the wistfully beautiful oboe-led main theme was present - the first, the fourth, the seventh (a lovely piano solo), the ninth, the tenth (in which the orchestra builds to unexpectedly large proportions) and especially the fourteenth and final cut on the album. In addition, several cues (Track 1, Track 6, Track 12) feature the lively, guitar-driven country rock music that would go on to reappear in The Horse Whisperer, while others present slightly more percussive, dissonant themes, presumably to capture the moments in which George is unwittingly using his new powers (Tracks 3 and 8, for instance, both feature a pronounced percussion section and unusual orchestral effects, the former finishing with a chilling choral effect which sounds like wolves howling).

This is a delightfully restrained, melodic, rather relaxing album that is very hard to dislike. It's a great shame that, at the time of writing, Phenomenon remains unreleased to the general public, especially as virtually all of Newman's scores of the 1990s have been made available in some form or another. With the hit song album, which included Eric Clapton's superb ballad "Save The World", now a multi-million best seller, surely some intrepid record company executive could stump up the few dollars required and release it for all to enjoy?

Track Listing: Running Time: 24 minutes 02 seconds

Bootleg (1996)

Music composed and conducted by Thomas Newman. Orchestrations by Thomas Pasatieri. Recorded and mixed by Dennis Sands, Allen Sides, John Richards and Tom Winslow. Edited by Bill Bernstein. Score produced by Thomas Newman and Bill Bernstein.

Cinemusic Online
Filmtracks
Movie Wave: Review by James Southall (****)
Score!
Scorelogue


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