Alexander Review

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Alexander ReviewAlexander, King of Macedon, Captain General of the Greeks, Shahanshah of Persia, Lord of Asia, son of Zeus-Ammon, Iskander Gojastak (Alexander the Cursed), Dhu L'Kairnan (the two horned), Alexander the Great. A figure as well known as Alexander has been known by at least the proverbial ninety and nine names. Some modern historians consider him to be the worst butcher in history, others regard him as the most significant figure of the Hellenic world. All of this and more will surely reemerge with the release of Oliver Stone's film "Alexander." It seems inane to worry about what musical sound should be associated with this historical colossus. But that is exactly the task given to the famous Greek composer Vangelis. To be fair no one has any accurate idea of what music in Alexander's tent may have sounded like. Most likely it would not work well in a twenty first century film, or a club in downtown Athens. But Vangelis has been equal to the task on numerous occcasions including incredible scores for "Chariots of Fire," "Blade Runner," and "1492." But in all three of these scores there was a common strength and weakness. All three possessed outstanding main themes, but suffered with rather mundane music in other parts of the score. Thus his "greatest hits" wears much better than the entire soundtracks from these films. With "Alexander," however, we have more of a comprhensive film score. There are still references to what might be considered period music and the various exotica that ply the edges of new age cliche, and some over the top choral arrangements, but as a sountrack album this works better than earlier recordings. The main strength is still a marvelous main theme, first heard in "Titans" that transforms into percussion driven battle music with "The Drums of Gaugamela," and reappears both triumphantly and mystically in "Dream of Babylon." These are the grand higlights of this very good score. The weakness of many composers is that they hit on a good theme and then beat it to death. Here Vangelis leaves us wanting more of that main theme, or more variations on it. It is unclear how this score will work with the film itself, but as a soundtrack album this is a worthy achievement that will, no doubt, strike a solid chord with many parts of the modern audience. Nicely produced and packaged by Sony.Alexander Overview

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Metropolis - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Review

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Metropolis - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack ReviewIn 1984, Fritz Lang's classic silent sci-fi hit Metropolis was reissued in tinted colour and sporting a rock and pop soundtrack. While many serious silent films may consider this a blasphemous take on Lang's film, I'll have to say that was the first time I saw it, with the blue, green, violet, and red tints, along with a host of songs written by Giorgio Moroder of Donna Summer fame, and the one who gave Berlin their only #1 hit. Most of the songs have an industrial type sound blare with synths that either pulse or are awash like the red of a glaring sunset.
For some reason, the lyrics of "Love Kills" listed in the booklet do not match what Mercury sings. However, the industrialized sound is something akin to Queen's "Invisible Man." "Love kills/drills you through your hear/love kills/scars you from the start" and many such lyrics colour this song.
Pat Benatar's ballad "Here's My Heart" is my favourite song here, as it was the love theme in the movie. There is a more pop feel to it, and though it comes three years previously, I can imagine Tiffany doing a remake of this on her first album, minus the Moroder synths.
Yes-man Jon Anderson does "Cage Of Freedom," whose pulsing synths and rock guitars identify this as a classic Moroder-type song. The song depicts the claustrophobic and desperate condition of the workers and subjects of Metropolis: "Cage of freedom, growing smaller/till every wall now touches the skin/cage of freedom/filled with treason/changing sides as the losses begin."
Another song that deals with the enslaved humans is the haunting choral of Cycle V's "Blood From A Stone." There are only three verses here, each potent in its lyrical content, which given today's corporate mentality, is apropos: "Cold machines that never stop/even if a man should drop/mercy never lets her face be shown/they draw blood from a stone."
"The Legend Of Babel" is a keyboard instrumental by Giorgio Moroder, meant to conjure a fascinating mindscape or some blinding fantasy vision, sounding like a composition from one of the nineteenth century Romantics.
"Here She Comes", sings Bonnie Tyler, in a track meant to signify the hypnotic quality the main female lead Maria has. One verse is meant as an allusion to the robot that substitutes her: "If she's the same how come she's different now?" Her vocals have her usual power
Giorgio Moroder's sound somehow doesn't fit Loverboy, as "Destruction" sounds like a way-slowed down version of "Turn Me Loose" with the Moroder synths. That's only partially true with Billy Squier's "On Your Own." However, the guitar work, overlayed with synths in some parts, and catchy chorus work well to bring out a man for whom the time has come to free his soul from tyranny.
How well do we know people, or the expressions on their face? "Can a smile conceal a sneer?" "What makes the truth curl up and lie?" are two crucial question Adam Ant asks in "What's Going On," a pulsing rocker that depicts the collapse of the dictatorship in Metropolis.
"Machines" is the second Moroder instrumental, and is a quick-paced exercise in keyboards and pulsing synth beats.
The Metropolis soundtrack is a good compilation of songs, no mistake. Like all soundtrack songs, there are some that can only be understood within the context of the movie it was meant to enhance, such as Bonnie Tyler's song, and there are others that transcend that and can be applied universally. Within the soundtrack, the artists' songs are good; however, I wouldn't compare this to other works in their oeuvre-they've done better songs. That's due to Giorgio Moroder doing all the music and writing or co-writing and dolloping each artist with his brand of paint.Metropolis - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Overview

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Tron Review

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Tron ReviewFor reasons unbeknownst to us (but knownst to Disney), the soundtrack to their 1982 film "TRON" completely missed the digital revolution. You would think that a movie whose whole premise is digitally-grounded would have been an early adopter of compact disc technology. But it wasn't. I still have my old LP version of the soundtrack, but it certainly doesn't fit in my car's CD changer, and my tape of the soundtrack is old and over-used.
Well, just in time for the movie's 20th anniversary year, Walt Disney Records has finally brought the soundtrack to the CD format, and believe me, it was worth the wait.
The album has been completely remastered with the full assistance of the composer, Wendy Carlos. The CD's liner notes include a recent interview with Carlos, who details the creation of the unique digital/orchestral score that accompanies the on-screen computer animation. Being something of a novice when it comes to modern music composition, many of the terms sailed clear over my head, but she managed to provide more than enough context to make her descriptions make sense.
On to the tracks: All the tracks from the original LP soundtrack are here, arranged in an order reasonably consistent with the progress of the film. What makes this soundtrack so intriguing is not so much how it evokes memories of the film (which it certainly does) but how the merger of sythesized music with the work of a symphony orchestra came across so well. Considering the movie itself was a merger of traditional film techniques with cutting-edge (for the early 80s) computer animation, the fact that the soundtrack is similarly composed makes it that much more engrossing.
As owners of the original soundtrack might recall, 80s supergroup Journey prepared two tracks (one song, one instrumental) for use with the movie. Both tracks are in the movie, but there's nothing to call attention to them; check the arcade scenes in the film and you'll hear them. They do seem somewhat out of place, especially the anacronistically-named "90s Theme," but not so much that you'll skip them.
An added bonus on the CD is three previously unreleased tracks; Carlos mentions in her interview that they were intended for the original soundtrack, but were left out because of lack of space on both the LP and cassette formats. The first track is an early "draft" of one of the action themes, the second is a piece that was used in the film but not on the old album and the third is a simple single-instrument version of the "TRON" theme (being the last track on the disc, it's a welcome cool-down). The liner notes go into greater detail about how these tracks came to be.
The fact that this disc has never been available before is enough of a selling point. If you're on the fence, however, you would do well to pick up this exceptional compilation that was some twenty years in the making.Tron Overview

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