•

The Soundtrack

ADDICTED TO MOVIES

By • Feb 1st, 2003 •

Share This:

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by David Arnold

Okay, okay, I know it isn’t a soundtrack album, but I couldn’t not tell you about this one.

Garbage featured on David Arnold’s soundtrack for The World is Not Enough.
Here he’s filled an entire album with it.

‘The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the greatest orchestras in the world? And David Arnold, the man who gave us 2 Fast 2 Furious, Die Another Day, Godzilla, Independence Day, Last of the Dogmen, Shaft, Stargate, Tomorrow Never Dies, Wing Commander, The World Is Not Enough, and The Young Americans? Surely it can’t be that bad’ I hear you ask. Oh yes, it is. It’s abominable.

Every track is accompanied by an overly loud, pounding and relentless disco/rock beat which just doesn’t sit well with a full orchestral arrangement, even though the arrangement has been paced to fit it. You can hear the quality of the playing of the orchestra, but they are mercilessly trampled upon by that infernal drum machine. It is the ‘Hooked on Classics’ of the filmusic world.

I’m all for having some fun with a melody. Meco’s disco version of the Star Wars theme was just that, as was Isao Tomita’s, but these are just execrable. It’s made all the worse simply by the fact that some of the themes chosen are legendary and simply should not be chewed up and regurgitated in this way. You can do what you like with ‘Little Drummer Boy’ and ‘Rocky’, but you just don’t mess around with Bernstein, Steiner or Morricone (who all suffer a repeat assault in the so-called ‘Western Medley’).

The bargain bin cover with the Star Wars type lettering and the words ‘Explosive movie themes with added pulsating power’ should have warned me, but occasionally there are some gems to be found in those bargain bins, and I was wooed by the names of the performers. But this isn’t a bargain bin job, it retails at around £16.99 ($30.00US) and it’s rubbish. Sorry, have I said that already?

What was the idea behind this album? ‘I know, let’s get David Arnold and the Royal Phil together and record some movie themes’. So far so good. ‘Then we’ll take them to a sound studio in Australia, add a disco beat (everybody likes disco, right?) and remix them into crap!’ Yeah, that’ll work…

It is cringe worthy, embarrassing, disrespectful, tasteless and out of date tripe.

If you like any of the titles listed on the album there are many excellent recordings available. Whoever came up with this dross is certainly addicted to something, but it sure ain’t movies, and how David Arnold could put his name to such mindless and soulless trash I’ll never know. If you see it in a store, or even in a bargain bin, leave it there. No, better still, drop it on the floor and jump up and down on it. You’ll be doing filmusic lovers a great service.

And will someone please tell me how ‘My Heart Will Go On’ can find it’s way into a Star Wars medley?

There is one redeeming feature of this album however…

Er, no… sorry, there isn’t. I lied.

Tracklist:

1. Star Wars
2. Mission Impossible
3. Unchained Melody (from Ghost)
4. Rocky
5. Superman
6. My Heart Will Go On (from Titanic)
7. The Magnificent Seven
8. Out Of Africa
9. Also Sprach Zarathustra/Seigfried’s Funeral
10. Streets Of Philadelphia
11. Tara’s Theme (from Gone With The Wind)
12. The Little Drummer Boy
13. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
14. Western Medley – Magnificent Seven/ Tara’s Theme/ The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
15. Star Wars Medley – Star Wars/Superman/My Heart Will Go On

Tagged as:
Share This Article: Digg it | del.icio.us | Google | StumbleUpon | Technorati

Comments are closed.