Soundtrack Review: Standard Operating Procedure (2008)

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This is a review of the documentary score Standard Operating Procedure by Danny Elfman.

“I have a good feeling about “Standard Operating Procedure”. It lies in the middle between the “new” and “old” Danny Elfman and it has some great cues which makes it all worthwhile”

Danny Elfman fans have gotten their fix last year with Hellboy II: The golden Army and Wanted, but did you know that he also composed for a documentary released in May 2008? I know what you might be thinking. Danny Elfman and documentaries? Well it’s all true and it is called Standard Operating Procedure. It is about the war on terror and the now famous photographs from the Abu Ghraib prison taken by the American captors, photos which shocked and changed the world’s view of America. As most of you probably are, I was surprised to see Elfman compose for a documentary and was excited to see which way he went with this one. Last year he shocked many Elfman fans with The Kingdom which was very Elfman-unlike, but he was back in Hellboy II and partly Wanted. The documentary is taking on a very serious subject and there’s no playground for Elfman this time. Let’s see how he did:

Track List

1. S.O.P. Theme #1
   
2. The Infamous Pyramid
3. Photos
4. The Shooter
5. Dogs
   
6. The Wolf
   
7. Saddam’s Egg
8. Main Titles & Vacation In Iraq
9. S.O.P. Theme #2: Amnesty
10. What Is Going On Here?
    
11. Gilligan
    
12. Story Of The Ants
13. The Table Breaker
14. S.O.P. Theme #3: Feelings And Facts
15. Unusual, Weird And Wrong
16. A Bad Feeling
17. Birdies
18. S.O.P. End Credits
19. Oli’s Lullaby

A little Old And New Elfman

As soon as we shake off the strange feeling of Danny Elfman and documentaries, there is music to be found, nice music in fact. The opening theme for example called “S.O.P. Theme #1″ is quite a well orchestrated theme by Elfman. There is none of his “over-playing” and it’s quite simply works. The piano overlay in the beginning works well and even though we hear some of Elfman in the latter stages of this almost 6 minute cue, it never steps out of bounds. The next cue “The infamous Pyramid” can’t match the main theme for its simplicity and greatness, but has its own charm, especially if you are fan of the classic Elfman, the almost gothic Elfman with its small bells ringing on top of the sweeping but dark violins. There is more good stuff in the first half of this score like “Dogs” which is an almost Giacchino-sounding dramatic cue which has a constant rhythm throughout with a distorted metallic sound as base. Next we have “The Wolf” which is an unlikely light thematic cue with small bursts of a female electronic voice on the plucking sound which drives this cue.

In light of all the good I have written so far, there are some cues which are unlikeable and boring like “The Shooter”, “S.O.P. Theme #2 Amnesty”, “Story of the ants”, “S.O.P. Theme #3 Feelings and Facts”, “Unusual, Weird and Wrong”, “Birdies”, “Oli’s Lullaby” and the worst of them “The Table Breaker”. It’s interesting that the S.O.P. Theme #2 and #3 are so different from the first one which was so likeable. Gone are the nice piano theme which made the first cue, and the only remnants of it are underlying tones which can remind you of it, but on top sits a dreadfully boring violin sequence with hints of the clarity that the first theme had. S.O.P. Theme #3 is more of the same, and although the theme is there, it sounded so much better with piano. It’s simply a matter of choice, and in this case Elfman messed up.

Messy Main Titles

Now to go back, we have some interesting and very good cues like “What is going on here?” which has a purpose with its question as the soothing electronic background noise makes it a winner, and near the end it’s mysterious tones are pushed at us in the best form available, piano and strings which is what Danny Elfman should have used more of. “Gilligan” starts off a little weak, but it evolves into a nice theme on it’s own. I like the way it sounds and if Elfman decided to just use strings, this is the way to go. It’s almost as good as the main theme but what makes it even better is the way the main theme incorporates itself into the cue around the 2:00 mark with a very a piano with an excellent reverb effect to beautify the theme. The best cue on the score in my opinion. There are some more average cues on here as well like “Saddam’s Egg”, “Main Titles: Vacation In Iraq”, “A Bad Feeling” and “S.O.P. End Credits”. Wait a minute, Main Titles? Well yes, it’s what it is called, but it’s a very messy main theme which I think Elfman is trying to bring some good old “Elfanism” into this score with this slightly fast-paced piano and string theme with some very familiar overtones, but I’m not impressed.

Conclusion

Despite all the boring stuff, I have a good feeling about “Standard Operating Procedure”. It lies in the middle between the “new” and “old” Danny Elfman and it has some great cues which makes it all worthwhile. It’s the best Elfman effort of last year if that tells you anything, and I wouldn’t mind him doing more documentaries.

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Other articles of interest:

• Soundtrack Review: Milk (2008)
• Soundtrack Review: Frost/Nixon (2008)
• Soundtrack Review: Flash of Genius (2008)
• Soundtrack Review: Forfeit (2008)
• Soundtrack Review: Valkyrie (2008)

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