ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES

MICHAEL KAMEN

Rating:

Original Review: What a scoop! £4 from Jack's Records, £15.99 from HMV. Guess which shop got my custom? I've wanted this for a while, but somehow it kept getting superseded by other soundtracks, and pushed down the list of priorities. Well - now I've got it and I'm really pleased. The Main Theme (called Overture), which always reminds me of Grand National day (the BBC used to use it to accompany their run down of runners and riders) is a big, bold piece full of brass fanfares and wonderful rhythmic strings and what sounds like a glockenspiel underneath all the regalia. The Overture theme is used frequently throughout the score but Michael Kamen, who I think is a very underrated composer, has come up with some interesting variations. There is a touch of the arabesque in the action cue 'Prisoner of the Crusades', which underscores the scene when Robin and Akeem escape from his captivity in the Middle East. The theme for 'Sir Guy of Gisborne' is a lonely little woodwind/flute number with a sort of sense of foreboding, despite its gentleness, but then changes into an exciting chase cue called 'The Escape to Sherwood', which again utilises the Overture theme and contains some fantastic percussion work to emphasise the tension. Traditional strings and a prominent oboe combine to create the theme for 'Little John', an almost amusing cue for the gentle giant which starts to pick up a bit of life as John and Robin make complete fools of themselves fighting with quarterstaffs in a river. This changes into a militaristic, but still good-natured march for 'The Band in the Forest' as the first members of Robin's Merrie Men begin to come together. 'The Sheriff and his Witch' is a real pot-boiler (pun intended) - thick, dark and brooding with a lot of basses, cellos, mournful violins and eerie screeches - I think I even heard a bit of James Horner's patented shakuhachi in there somewhere to make the cue sound even deadlier. The film's primary romantic theme, entitled 'Marian', is a soft and gentle ballad with lots of flutes and harps and contains lush orchestral elements of the famous Bryan Adams song 'Everything I Do, I Do It For You'. 'Training - Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves', is a great cue which has an absolutely glorious, resonant string section and finishes with a powerful rendition of the Overture theme as Robin prepares for the final battle against the Sheriff of Nottingham. A less rousing, more sublime version of the Overture theme reappears in the cue 'Marian at the Waterfall', played this time on romantic-sounding strings, and is again combined with strains of Marian's theme to create what, on balance, I think is my favourite cue. The score section of the album finishes with 'The Abduction and The Final Battle at the Gallows', beginning with a rather ominous section combining a piccolo with heavy cellos, guitars and a monotonous drumbeat and continues in this vain until it explodes into an exciting action cue featuring the parts of the Overture theme, which rises in pitch and increases in speed as the cue progresses, until heartfelt statements of Marian's theme and the Overture theme, combined with regal-sounding fanfares, bring things to a close. The album itself finishes with the chart version of 'Everything I Do, I Do It For You', which, admittedly, is a damn good song and was number one in the UK for about eight years (okay, so that's an overstatement, but it seemed like it at the time). It was written by Kamen, Adams and Robert John Lange, husband of the country star Shania Twain, who somehow has obtained the rather unfortunate nickname of Mutt.

Track Listing: Running Time: 60 minutes 24 seconds

Polydor 511-050-4 (1991)

Music composed and conducted by Michael Kamen. Performed by The Greater Los Angeles Orchestra. Orchestrations by Michael Kamen, Jack Hayes, William Ross, Don Davis, Bruce Babcock, Albert Olson, Pat Russ, Brad Warnaar, Lolita Ritmanis, Mark Watters, Elliot Kaplin, Jonathan Sacks, Richard Davis, Harvey Cohen, Beth Lee and Chris Boardman. Recorded by Bobby Fernandez. Mixed by Stephen Patrick McLaughlin. Edited by Christopher Brooks and Eric Reasoner. Album produced by Michael Kamen, Christopher Brooks and Stephen McLaughlin.


Home Page | Soundtracks | Soundtrack Reviews | Composers | Soundtrack Links

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.