Soundtrack Review: Krull (1984)

Posted by Jon Blough

July 8, 2009

Welcome back! Have you subscribed to my RSS feed yet? Make sure you don't miss anything by getting all Soundtrack Geek posts by Email. Also check out Soundtrack Fans, a new social network for soundtrack fans. Thanks for visiting!

Krull Southern Cross SCCD 1004 Soundtrack Review: Krull (1984) This is a review of the motion picture score Krull by James Horner.

“Vibrant, romanticized, diverse fantasy classic”

The trouble with creating a superb score is that composers often get asked to repeat it. Those who don’t believe me can look to the proliferation of Media Ventures action scores post-Crimson Tide. After writing Star Trek II and receiving heaps of praise for it, James Horner was asked to form a score for Krull based on almost the exact same template, and critics of the score are correct in pointing out numerous stylistic and thematic similarities. Many string parts in the main titles mirror how the former film opened, some percussion work for the villain sounds like more subdued work for Khan, and some secondary themes are reused (e.g. the end of “Kirk’s Explosive Reply”). Yet to Horner’s credit the score is so infectiously enjoyable, not to mention chock-full of a number of interesting elements not featured in ST2, that most similarities cease to be bothersome.

Vibrant

Central here is a vibrant, romanticized approach, not necessarily in the exact style that would dominate most of Horner’s lush dramatic scores of the 90s but still similarly enjoyable. The score’s main theme is a wonderful flowing melody, the kind that rarely gets explored in such length these days and always gives you a sense of joy to hear; after all the uneasy material in the latter half of the first album, “Leaving the Swamp” makes for a beautiful sense of relief. It’s downright exhilarating when taken up with a full orchestra in the main titles and the lengthy “Ride of the Firemares”. If only it showed up more! Ah well, there’s still the sensational brass fanfare assisting the heroic feel, making one actually feel like the cavalry is charging right out of your speakers. And who’s really going to gripe when the accompanying love theme is so beautiful? Blending such a lush string theme with a gliding, graceful backup of piano and woodwinds to start and a lush orchestral backup in later cues is an easy way for one to forget the main theme is gone. Certainly these elements were repackaged into a lovelier, more mature whole in the composer’s future score for Willow, but even with that hindsight these elements are still exceptionally executed.

Comparison to Khan

The action and the villain material will likely draw the most comparisons to Khan, although here Horner’s extended ruckus is less harsh and more melodic at times (still just as addictive as well!), a style that would extend to his later action fare in The Land Before Time and Willow. The driving use of the brass and strings make “The Slayer’s Attack” downright thrilling even if the former is somewhat indebted to Gustav Holst’s Mars. Following cues like “Battle in the Swamp” and “Battle of the Parapets” amp up the thudding percussive and exuberant brass for an equally electrifying feel. The final three action cues are certainly relentless but feature enough variation and excitement to overcome any exhaustion, e.g. the swelling grandeur in the middle of “In the Black Fortress”. The actual villains don’t get a real theme, rather being dominated by the Mars-like pulse, bellowing choir (see the close of “The Slayer’s Attack”, and (surprisingly) effective electronic hits. Considering the strength of the stylistic elements and how good the rest of the material is, this registers only as a minor disappointment.

Conclusion

What definitively separates this score from Khan is the diverse fantasy element throughout. The brilliance here is how music is both wondrous and menacing, often towing the line between the two parts in the same cue as with “The Changeling”. The high-pitched choir make for an ethereal start to “Quest for the Glaive” and “The Widow’s Lullaby”, though the more complex final three minutes of the former feature the stronger highlight, a dense buildup towards a mammoth explosion of awe and beauty. “The Walk to the Seer’s Cave” and “Quicksand” glisten with near meditative wonder. The downright menacing side of the score is fantastic as well, with the horrific choir and dissonant string and brass hits in “The Widow’s Web” making for a growling rebuke of the score’s romantic sensibilities. It also makes the following highlight “The Widow’s Lullaby” seem even more magical. And bravo to the composer for not letting the love theme exist only in sappy-romance-land, instead twisting it into uneasy situations like the suspenseful “Vella” and the dark brass of “Lyssa in the Fortress”. Considering all the dense, varied and gorgeous elements within Krull, as well as The Land Before Time Willow, it’s no wonder Horner was offered the chance expand in other fantasy world like Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings, though his refusal to explore either does have the effect of making a classic like this even more valuable.

Album Situation: Good luck finding any of its albums for a cheap price. The 2-Disc album remains the best bet (and the only one I’ll list) since its complete presentation features few superfluous moments

2-Disc Album (93:04)
Disc One
1. Main Title and Colwyn’s Arrival (7:35)
2. The Slayer’s Attack (9:20)
3. Quest for the Glaive (7:24)
4. Ride to the Waterfall (0:54)
5. Lyssa in the Fortress (1:29)
6. The Walk to the Seer’s Cave (4:11)
7. The Seer’s Vision (2:19)
8. Battle in the Swamp (2:41)
9. Quicksand (3:39)
10. The Changeling (4:05)
11. Colwynn and Lyssa – Love Theme (2:35)

Disc Two
1. Leaving the Swamp (2:01)
2. The Widow’s Web (6:20)
3. The Widow’s Lullaby (5:03)
4. Vella (3:47)
5. Ynyr’s Death (1:42)
6. Riding the Firemares (5:23)
7. Battle on the Parapets (2:53)
8. Inside the Black Fortress (6:16)
9. The Death of the Beast and the Destruction of the Dark Fortress (8:32)
10. Epilogue and End Title (4:50)

Listen to Krull by James Horner below:

Find more videos like this on Soundtrack Fans