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BEST SOUNDTRACKS OF THE DECADE By Max Pemberton

‘Can you let me have a list of your 10 favourite movie scores/soundtracks from the first ten years of the new millennium?’ asked our illustrious Editor-in-Chief. Sounds a simple request doesn’t it? Not so.

First of all what do I use as my criterion? My own personal favourites that I can listen to on a stand-alone basis? Those scores that are best suited to their subject matter and only work in conjunction with the images? Do I pick one from each year? Or do I choose the most innovative, imaginative and unusual? Add to that the problem that, as far as I’m concerned, the first ten years isn’t up yet. The new millennium started on the first of January 2001, when the first 2000 years were up. There was, after all, never a year zero.

However I’ve decided to throw all of the above considerations out of the window – I was asked for my own personal favourites, and so self-indulgent I shall be. The choices are also not listed in any particular order of preference. It’s been a tough list to finalise on, but there we are.

GLADIATOR (2000) – Music by Hans Zimmer (& Lisa Gerrard)

This is a sweeping score with firm classical roots. There are hints here of Finlandia, Holst’s The Planets Suite (Mars: The Bringer of War in particular) and Ralph Vaughan-Williams, but it has its own heart and soul too. It is melancholic, tragic, heroic and epic. I can’t not like it.

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) – Various Artists

Less of a soundtrack, more a complimentary album, this is an as usual eclectic mix of music and styles synonymous with, and essential to, all of Tarantino’s movies. This one however excels.

I normally shy away from these compilation, so-called soundtrack albums which usually are full of tracks you may hear two bars of over the closing titles, but with Tarantino as executive album producer you know this one is going to be different, particularly when it features artists as diverse as Isaac Hayes, George Zamfir, Quincy Jones, Nancy Sinatra, Charlie Feathers, Santa Esmeralda and Bernard Herrmann.

From the opening and poignant Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) through the heavily Once Upon a Time in the West and Morricone inspired The Grand Duel; Bernard Herrmann’s jolly, yet eerie, theme from Twisted Nerve; the dazzlingly brilliant trumpet playing of THE Green Hornet; Esmeralda’s pounding flamenco take on Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood; the mellow pan pipes of Zamfir; a burst of Ironside, plus the original score work by Wu-tang Clan’s ‘The Rza’, and much more, the album is as exciting, and almost as exhausting, to listen to as the film is to watch.

THE INCREDIBLES (2004) – Music by Michael Giacchino

This is such an exciting and fun score. Capturing all the essence of hip 60’s spy/adventure flicks; plenty of nods to the John Barry music style in particular, in keeping with its homage to Ken Adams’ Bond villain’s lair style designs and sly skit on the wonderful Edith Head as our heroes’ costume designer. There are enough in-jokes in the film and the score to keep any cinephile worth his salt happy. If I could describe this score in one word it would have to be a ‘celebration’.

KING KONG (2005) – Music by James Newton Howard

When you consider that Newton Howard was brought in at a late date to replace originally scheduled composer Howard Shore, this is a fine score, capturing not only the mystery of Kong’s domain, the grandeur and power of Kong himself, but also the sensitivity and delicateness of the relationship between Kong and Ann Darrow and the final heart-wrenching denouement. This could easily have turned out as a crash-bang-wallop of a score. Thank goodness surer and more sensitive hands were at the helm.

ICE AGE – THE MELTDOWN (2006) – Music by John Powell

If you want a feel-good score then this is it. It’s a fairground of a ride, just like the prehistoric water-parks, created by melting glaciers the movie shows us. But of course there is comedy, action, drama, character depiction and pathos too, all beautifully rendered and all seamlessly woven together giving the CGI characters the heart and soul they need to engage us in their adventure.

Abominable (2006) – Music by Lalo Schifrin

This score is exactly the opposite of what its title suggests. With a great melancholic love theme and terrific, rich, melodic action cues, this style harks back to the music that accompanied the horror ‘B’ movies Lalo used to watch as a child in Argentina, his grandmother being the only family member that would accompany him, and music which inspired him to become one of the great TV and filmusic composers of the last 40 years. The score easily compares with those 50s sci-fi/horror scores by Herman Stein, Irving Gertz, Henry Mancini and Mishca Bakaleinikoff. Highly recommended. Oh, and it’s about Bigfoot, but who cares, it’s a great horror score.

Casino Royale (2006) – Music by David Arnold

Whilst I don’t particularly like Daniel Craig as Bond (see my review q.v.), the score is pure Bond. Arnold’s Bond scores have always made a point of emulating and honouring John Barry’s Bond music universe with its bold, brassy cues and lush strings and yet he invigorates it with a pulse-pounding style of his own. This is also the first Bond soundtrack from Arnold that has incorporated the opening title song’s melody into the main body of the score, something Barry always did, though ironically it is also the first Bond soundtrack release not to include the opening title song. A nice touch is that we don’t get to hear the James Bond Theme until the very end of the movie or the album, reflecting the fact that Daniel Craig memorably speaks Bond’s famous introductory line as the last line of the movie. Not one of the best Bonds but certainly one of the best Bond scores.

X-Men III: The Last Stand (2006) – Music by John Powell

Another one from the prolific John Powell, this is a huge score encompassing a main theme that has the tempo of SUPERMAN combined with the darkness of BATMAN, a sumptuous love theme, and at times the whole takes on a Wagnerian grandeur. There’s emotion, power and pain in this score and the powerful and tragic climax literally gives a whole new meaning to the words ‘comic opera’. Absolutely breathtaking.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) – Music by Hans Zimmer

I haven’t studied the movie well enough yet to determine whether this is the actual soundtrack (which it purports to be) or not. I was amused at one track’s title ‘At Wit’s End’, which is probably a reference to the scriptwriters’ dilemma, but the ever-resourceful Hans Zimmer does a valiant and sterling job, capturing the mysterious scenarios, exotic oriental locations and swashbuckling action. The opening track is very innovative as Zimmer uses percussion to emulate the rolling waves on a shingle beach and there’s also a great track (track 8: Parlay) which pays homage to Ennio Morricone’s spaghetti western scores (ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST in particular), similar to that in Lalo Schifrin’s tribute in KELLY’S HEROES when Clint and his compadres face-off the Tiger Tank. It’s great to see and hear movie history being perpetuated and poked fun at. Stirring and fun stuff.

WALL·E (2008) – Music by Thomas Newman

Newman’s score for WALL-E, the tale of the last waste disposal robot on Earth that, when they all left, nobody turned off, is a pleasant delight. His mix of numerous musical styles is inspired, as are his introductions of tracks by Michael Crawford from Hello Dolly (Uncle Lionel Newman incidentally conducted the music for the 1969 movie) and Louis Armstrong’s La Vie en Rose. These are nicely interspersed between lonely, romantic and heroic action themes, ‘dialogue’ from Wall-E himself and even a store jingle. The album wraps up with a Peter Gabriel number especially written for the movie.

STAR TREK (2009)

When I heard Michael Giacchino was going to be scoring STAR TREK I was very excited. As mentioned above I had enjoyed his work on THE INCREDIBLES and I couldn’t wait to hear what he would do with the music of STAR TREK. Basically he didn’t do anything with it. The score is totally original. No nods to Kaplan, Fried, Steiner, or Goldsmith. It’s a good score; suitably dramatic with a strong recurring motif, though I’m not sure whose theme it is meant to be: Kirk’s or Nero’s. My only initial quandary was that the score is powerful, action packed, tense and driven and a bit gothic in parts, but then we segue at the end into the old TV show theme by the late Alexander Courage. Now, whilst it admittedly raised a smile, it just didn’t fit. But then, as I could never take the original theme seriously in the first place, maybe it was appropriate after all, and I can still keep listening to it happily, and it did feel as if STAR TREK had come home.

So, those are my favourites – for today at least. Tomorrow I would no doubt make a completely different selection. As always when you’re asked to make choices like this, it’s not what to include that’s difficult, but what to leave out. There’s so much good stuff out there and you go where the particular mood takes you. However, you caught me today, so today’s selection is what you get.

Have a great holiday season everyone, and as always – keep listening.

Continue to Glenn Andreiev’s Choices…

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