Soundtrack Review: Street Kings by Graeme Revell (2008)

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This is a review of the motion picture score for Street Kings by Graeme Revell.

“It is perhaps not a typical Graeme Revell score, but more of a typical thriller score with added freshness”

This is Graeme Revell’s 2nd score of the year. The first one was for “The Ruins”, but it has so far not been released and guess what? This hasn’t either. Yes I am listening to a promo score which is a shame. The New Zealander Graeme Revell has been very busy in the past years composing for various movies and projects which reveal that he must be some kind of workaholic. “Street Kings” is a cop drama/thriller so what can we expect from Mr. Revell? This is the track list of Street Kings:

Track List

1. Ludlow Wakes Up
2. The Kims
3. Captain Wander
4. Washington’s Drive
5. The Market
6. Security Cam
7. Funeral
8. Ludlow And Diskant Alliance
9. Chasing Quicks
10. Ludlow Talks With Mrs. Washington
11. El Sereno
12. Ludlow Visits Mrs. Washington At Home
13. Drive To Fremont And Coates
14. All About Weight
15. Diskant
16. Grace’s Apartment
17. Car Ride With Ludlow
18. Ludlow With Santos And Demille
19. Wander’s Kitchen
20. The Cookie Jar
21. Wander And Ludlow
22. Biggs And Ludow
23. Street Kings X
24. Opening Titles (From “the Condemned” Score)
25. The Island And Conrad (From “the Condemned” Score)

Heaviness

25 tracks and a total play time of 54:22. It is interesting that it includes 2 cues from “The Condemned” score, yet an unreleased score by Graeme Revell. I don’t think these cues are in Street Kings, but was added there on this promo for added value. As you would expect from a cop thriller the soundtrack delivers high impact themes with a lot of drama. It never goes over the top though, which is a good choice by Graeme Revell. He uses strings to a nice dramatic effect and you can feel the heaviness of the movie.

Typical But Powerful

Graeme Revell has created a powerful score which goes far, but not far enough. It struggles to get away from the many number of thriller scores, but it has some interesting and different cues in here which is well worth listening to. It is perhaps not a typical Graeme Revell score, but more of a typical thriller score with added freshness. I feel that he could perhaps have made it slightly different to put it above the rest. As for the 2 cues from “The Condemned” gives me a little taste and it’s enough to want more of the same. It’s very haunting, at times it sounds a little like the music from the TV show Heroes. It’s a shame you will never see these scores in the store as I’m sure there is a market for this. I hope you can get hold of this promo score somehow because it should be in a movie score collector’s collection.

Negatives:

• Struggles to be different

Positives:

• Has enough to make you satisfied
• Haunting at times

http://soundtrackgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/street.flv

Film Review for Street Kings

Other articles of interest:

• Soundtrack Review: The Life Before Her Eyes by James Horner (2008)
• Soundtrack Review: Fool’s Gold by George Fenton (2008)
• Soundtrack Review: In Bruges by Carter Burwell (2008)
• Soundtrack Review: V for Vendetta by Dario Marianelli (2006)
• Soundtrack Review: 27 Dresses by Randy Edelman (2008)

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