Retro Wednesday: Great Movie Music - Part 8

So here we are again soundtrack fans. It’s another Wednesday which means its time for retro fun! This time we look at music from Rain Man, Beetlejuice, Working Girl, Beaches and A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. Guessed the tracks yet? Thought you might. Here we go!

Rain Man

The Belle Stars - Iko Iko

Beetlejuice

Harry Belafonte - Day O

Working Girl

Carly Simon - Let The River Run

Beaches

Bette Midler - The Wind Beneath My Wings

A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Dokken - Dream Warriors

The Sunday Soundtrack Charts June 29 2008

Every Sunday I round up the most selling scores and soundtracks on Amazon. Here’s this week’s charts.

1. Wall*E (Thomas Newman)
2. Wanted (Danny Elfman)
3. The Incredible Hulk (Craig Armstrong)
4. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Harry Gregson-Williams)
5. The Dark Knight (Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard)
6. Pride & Prejudice (Dario Marianelli)
7. The Last of the Mohicans (Trevor Jones & Randy Edelman)
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Howard Shore)
9. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (John Williams)
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Howard Shore)
11. Get Smart (Trevor Rabin)
12. Iron Man (Ramin Djawadi)
13. X-Files: I Want To Believe (Mark Snow)
14. The Mission (Ennio Morricone)
15. Kung Fu Panda (Hans Zimmer & John Powell)
16. Batman Begins (Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard)
17. Cold Mountain (Gabriel Yared)
18. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (Harry Gregson-Williams)
19. Dances With Wolves (John Barry)
20. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Howard Shore)
21. Out of Africa (John Barry)
22. The Last Samurai (Hans Zimmer)
23. The Illusionist (Philip Glass)
24. Meet Joe Black (Thomas Newman)
25. A Perfect Place (Mike Patton)

1. Camp Rock
2. Once
3. Juno
4. Sex And The City
5. Into The Wild
6. August Rush
7. Across The Universe
8. Mamma Mia!
9. O Brother, Where Are Thou?
10. Hairspray
11. Shine a Light
12. P.S. I Love You
13. The Sound of Music
14. Enchanted
15. Shrek
16. Death Proof
17. Grease
18. I’m Not There
19. The Darjeeling Limited
20. Love Actually
21. Cars
22. Eddie & The Cruisers
23. Dan In Real Life
24. Annie
25. Walk The Line

Soundtrack Review: The Incredible Hulk by Craig Armstrong (2008)

This is a review of the motion picture score for The Incredible Hulk by Craig Armstrong.

“It isn’t a bombastic score with lots of Horner-like moments with powerful strings or even a John Williams-esque grandeur hero theme”

There are heroes, there are superheroes, then there’s The Incredible Hulk (Not Hancock as you might have guessed). Hulk has always been a bit incredible and different from the pact. The 2003 movie directed by Ang Lee and starring Eric Bana as Hulk wasn’t a big success and the score by Danny Elfman was quickly forgotten by most. Louis Leterrier, Edward Norton and Craig Armstrong are here to save the day as this new movie seems to have everything the first movie didn’t if you read the various movie reviews. Ed Norton and Craig Armstrong was a bold and successful move by the people putting this together. Out of the shadows rise The Incredible Hulk and Craig Armstrong, step forward. This is the track list to The Incredible Hulk:

Track List

CD1:

1. The Arctic
2. Main Title
3. Rocinha Favela
4. A Drop Of Blood
5. The Flower
6. Ross’ Team
7. Mr. Blue
8. Favela Escape
9. It Was Banner
10. That Is The Target
11. Bruce Goes Home
12. Ross And Blonsky
13. Return To Culver University
14. The Lab
15. Reunion
16. The Data_The Vial
17. They’re Here
18. Give Him Everything You’ve Got
19. Bruce Can’t Stay
20. First Injection
21. Is It Safe?
22. Hulk Theme

CD2:

1. Saved From The Flames
2. Grotto
3. Arrival At The Motel
4. I Can’t
5. Abomination Alley
6. Bruce Found
7. Bruce Looks For The Data
8. NYC Cab Ride
9. The Mirror
10. Sterns’ Lab
11. Bruce Darted
12. I Want It, I Need It
13. Blonsky Transforms
14. Bruce Must Do It
15. Harlem Brawl
16. Are They Dead?
17. Hulk Smash
18. Hulk And Betty
19. A Tear
20. Who’s We?
21. The Necklace
22. Bruce And Betty
23. Hulk Theme (End Credits)

Out With The Old

As you might have guessed from the track list we are dealing with a 2CD release! 45 tracks with a total play time of 1 hour and 51 minutes. Has the exec’s finally gone mad as a bag of snakes or are they maybe on to something here? In the last couple of weeks, this score has been on top of the Amazon sales chart for movie scores and at the time of writing is the 105^th best selling album of all kinds of music. That is quite a number! Even Atonement didn’t beat that when it was popular. Congratulations to Craig Armstrong first of all, which I think is a top composer who deserves a bit of attention. Speaking of Craig Armstrong, as you might have guessed, it is quite a different score from the first movie by Danny Elfman. This is all very good, not that there was much wrong with Elfman’s effort. I feel a bit for Danny Elfman who used to be the Batman guy, the Spider-Man guy and the Hulk guy. All of those privileges has been taken away, and this time it’s been given to Craig Armstrong.

Heroic, Not Superheroic

I am happy that Craig didn’t go for the superhero sound. Hulk has always been a bit different, and he gets the music on this soundtrack which suits the main character quite well. It isn’t a bombastic score with lots of Horner-like moments with powerful strings or even a John Williams-esque grandeur hero theme. Hulk isn’t a hero, he has always been a powerful force of nature, a Frankenstein-like figure who in the end fights the good fight. The 2 CD’s doesn’t go to waste as every track brings something to the legend of The Incredible Hulk. The Hulk Theme starts of a bit Godzilla-like in a way, but Hulk is not only a monster, but also a man and the theme is humanized as the theme goes on. Craig Armstrong, Hollywood producers, whoever you are who made this 2 CD release possible, thank you so much. I hope we can see more 2 CD releases in the future. The Dark Knight will get a limited edition and even a vinyl release. At least for the big movies we get to see something special. Long may it continue (as long as the scores are as great as this one) Listen to The Incredible Hulk by Craig Armstrong below:

Retro Wednesday: Great Movie Music - Part 7

So here we are again soundtrack fans. It’s another Wednesday which means its time for retro fun! This time we look at music from Back To The Future II, When Harry Met Sally, National Lampoon’s Vacation, See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Black Rain. Guessed the tracks yet? Thought you might. Here we go!

Back To The Future II

Huey Lewis & The News - The Power of Love

When Harry Met Sally

Harry Connick Jr. - It Had To Be You

National Lampoon’s Vacation

Lyndsay Buckingham - Holiday Road

See No Evil, Hear No Evil

Was (Not Was) - Anything Can Happen

Black Rain

Gregg Allmann - I’ll Be Holding On

Soundtrack Review: Camp Rock (2008)

This is a review of the original soundtrack to the Disney Channel original movie Camp Rock.

“I imagine if I had kids, that they would love this soundtrack and play it constantly. In the end, the soundtrack would suddenly disappear under the lawnmower as I’m doing a bit of gardening. Accidents do happen you know.”

Are you ready to rock? Disney certainly is with their new Disney Channel Original Movie that aired last night. The movie is about an amazingly talented singer (Demi Lovato) who wants to be a pop star and decides to join Camp Rock with her mom (!). Sounds like a nice Cinderella type of story and since the movie is about music, the soundtrack is highly anticipated, especially for the kids. I was on Twitter checking the buzz on this one, and a lot of people were talking about this soundtrack, so I thought I might as well do a review of it. It feels a bit strange being 31 years old, having no children, to review a soundtrack targeted at a younger audience, but luckily I never quite grew up ;). This is the track list for Camp Rock:

Track List

1. Cast Of Camp Rock - We Rock
2. Jonas Brothers - Play My Music
3. Joe Jonas - Gotta Find You
4. Jordan Francis - Start The Party
5. Demi Lovato - Who Will I Be
6. Demi Lovato - This Is Me
7. Jordan Francis - Hasta La Vista
8. Renee Sandstrom - Here I Am
9. Meaghan Martin - Too Cool
10. Demi Lovato - Our Time Is Here
11. Meaghan Martin - 2 Stars
12. Aaron Doyle - What It Takes

Jonas Who?

Most of these artists are pretty unfamiliar to me, but I’ve heard of the Jonas Brothers which basically are the 2008 version of The Hanson Brothers (remember them?). The soundtrack has 12 tracks and it plays for 38 minutes. Normally I would say that it’s too short, but the attention span of children and grown-ups are not that long, so this soundtrack better be good to keep everyone listening through it all. I have listened to it all, and I have to say it isn’t bad. It’s a bit teeny-rock as expected, but as it played I started to move a little with the music. I am a big fan of various alternative rock bands, and that’s probably why this isn’t horrible to me. I imagine if I had kids, that they would love this soundtrack and play it constantly. In the end, the soundtrack would suddenly disappear under the lawnmower as I’m doing a bit of gardening. Accidents do happen you know.

Rock & R&B

Apart from the rock, there is a bit or R&B in there as well coming from young actor Jordan Francis who sings very well I must add. The highlights for me are Demi Lovato’s songs which remind me of a debuting Avril Lavigne which is not bad at all. There is also a very talented girl by the name of Renee Sandstrom who voiced Princess Fiona in Shrek and Shrek 2 who shouts “Here I Am” and welcome to you. Meaghan Martin is apparently the bad girl in this movie and it’s fun to hear that the songs reflect it. Demi has a softer, but edgy rock style, that comes across as a nice girl while Meaghan’s two songs has a different, more harder style, more percussion and bass that comes across as pushy “look at me, I am better than you” kind of girl. All in all it’s a fun, high-tempo soundtrack for the kids and grown-up kids out there. Listen to Camp Rock below:

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