RANSOM

JAMES HORNER and BILLY CORGAN

Rating:

Original Review: James Horner, after replacing Howard Shore, only had about two and a half weeks to come up with a score for Ron Howard's chase thriller, so the end result was never going to be outstanding. Given the time limitations however, Horner has come up with a surprisingly durable and efficient score. The mood of the whole album is 'tense', and each cue is rather dissonant, and subdued to say the least: they all contain lots of creeping, groaning violins; a moody tinkling piano; a heavy bass underscore; low, resonant brasses and Horner's trademark 'ticking' motif in the background. For the first few cues, the music trails along in this mode, and it is not until 'A Fatal Mistake' that the mood begins to lighten. The violins begin to rise, and reach a crescendo as the first glimpse of a recognisable theme begins to appear: a mournful, sombre dirge. The music finally reaches a flourish in The Payoff/End Credits, and the result is really is worth the wait. After a languid opening, the cue bursts into life with an Aliens-esque action sequence, full of racing strings and brass fanfares. After reverting again to the slow, deliberate brass piece, the first melodic theme finally appears: a string-based piece reminiscent of his theme for Clear and Present Danger which, after the drone of the previous seven cues, seems like a beautiful breath of fresh air. A flute segment also comes in about half way through and the cue continues in this triumphant vain, complete with cymbal clashes and brass fanfares, to the end. And then the bad stuff starts. The music that the Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan has 'composed' is really, really awful. A great, hulking, nightmarish piece of music: some kind of mix of hip-hop, dance and grunge that makes for utterly dispirited listening. To anyone buying this score, I suggest you stop the CD after the conclusion of Track 8 every time.

Track Listing: Running Time: 72 minutes 34 seconds

Hollywood Records 162-086-2 (1996)

Tracks 1-8 composed and conducted by James Horner. Orchestrations by James Horner, Don Davis and David Slonaker. Recorded and mixed by Shawn Murphy. Edited by Jim Henrikson. Produced by James Horner. Tracks 9-14 composed by Billy Corgan. Performed by Billy Corgan and Matt Walker. Recorded and mixed by Billy Corgan and Chris Shepard. Produced by Billy Corgan. Album mastered by Patricia Sullivan. Album produced by Ron Howard, Scott Rudin, Brian Grazer and Todd Hallowell.


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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.