While perusing the glut of GL articles on CBM, I stumbled upon a YouTube clip of one of the amazing tracks of the score, posted by none other than the infamous GRIF!
"We're Going To Fly Now" was immediately recognizable as the high-tempo, optimistic, dreamy melody that takes Hal on his very first flight with his instructor Tomar Re. It caught me immediately, and I knew right away which part of the movie this was from. IT ROCKED!
So, I decided I'd buy it for $12 from iTunes (a much less pain in the ass than trying to rip it from somewhere else with hideous sound quality) and upon some serious re-listening, and 2 views of the movie in the theatre, I've come to the conclusion that this is one of the most thumping and well rounded superhero scores since Danny Elfman's "Batman" in 1989.
From disparate, broody tracks such as "The Origin Of Parallax" and "You Reak Of Fear", we get some of the best comic book music since Shirley Walker's run on the Batman animated universe, yet we're treated to a fully realised, multi-orchestral event with some SERIOUS talent! With roughly three times the instruments and wind instruments as a television score, there's some AMAZING DEPTH here.
Rockin' tunes like "Genesis of evil" provide tremendous highs of complex scoring and use of timing and multi-textural mixing, while "You Have To Be Chosen" is a 7 minute + tour of a complex voyage into the creation of a hero.
AND EVERYONE'S SAYING IT SUCKS -- ??!!
Tracks like "The Corps" which use electric guitar mixed with moody synths and real instruments harkened back to another fabulous score from a maligned film (Michael Giacchino's excellant "Land Of The Lost" ST) and use a variety of unlikely instruments to blend classical orchestrations with a new-age feel just like Batman Beyond attempted to do, except with far better execution.
Personally? I keep hearing "The score wasn't that great" from practically everyone, and considering the shelacking this film has taken....erm, NO!
Before everyone carelessly contributes to helping destroy this competent, imaginative composer's career before he has the opportunity to really make a great mark on the CBM industry, I challenge everyone to give this soundtrack another try, and get the proper enjoyment out of it that it provides!
This is my very first article on CBM, one of which I might not have bothered with had I not seen such an unfair dismissal on one of this flawed film's better points light.
There are PLENTY of crap soundtracks out there. This is NOT one of them.
Let's give proper credit where it's due on this under-rated little gym of cinema music!
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