Well, it turns out I had to wait until the last week of the year to find myself what I think is the best Soundtrack of 2005. Those of you who know me, know that I’m really a soundtrack junkie, as movie soundtracks comprise most of my collection. And I’m talking original scores, not assembled pop-song soundtracks, here.
I normally wouldn’t even mention this, but this score really is exceptional. I’m talking about the score from the The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe composed by Harry Gregson-Williams. Original, moving, and a really pleasant surprise.
There have been plenty of good soundtracks out this year, but Gregson-Williams’ (Shrek, Metal Gear Solid, Man on Fire) gets my vote for the best, and it’s not just because I’m some rabid C.S. Lewis fan. In fact, track #2, “Evacuating London,” may be the best cue I’ve heard in 10 years. It’s that good, folks. I’ve been listening to this album repeatedly all week, and it’s been a long time since I’ve done something like that.
Maybe it’s because it evokes memories of the White Witch, who I think is hot. Is that wrong? :P
Anyway, do yourself a favor and pick this up, if for nothing more than the Alanis Morissette song.
Oh, as for best film of 2005? That one’s easy.
“I’m a leaf on the wind.”
Let’s try this again (it really wasn’t my fault – there is no preview button!):
<3 Wash
By the way, if you haven’t already, pick up a copy of Finding Serenity. It’s a great book of essays talking about the series. It made me see a lot of things in a new light, and laugh out loud several times in the restaurant where I eating and reading. Highly recommended.
Rowan,
Yeah! I put that book on my Amazon wish list for Christmas, but nobody took me up on it. I guess I need to buy myself a late present. ;)
The last really good soundtrack I’ve heard was Michael Giacchino’s work on ‘The Incredibles’. Just seems like the 21st century hasn’t been a particularly great one so far for the art of film scoring. John Williams did a great job with ‘Catch Me If You Can’, but I don’t like Howard Shore as much as most people, Danny Elfman’s Spiderman stuff is jive, James Horner pisses me off (great moments, bad quarters of an hour), Gabriel Yared did some cool things with Cold Mountain…what else for movies? Frankly, the best scores I’ve heard in the past few years have been for TV — Thomas Newman for Angels in America and 6 Feet Under, David Schwartz for Deadwood, and Giacchino again for Lost. Hip me to some other stuff if you think I’m missing any, Steve –
Dude, I love the Incredibles soundtrack. Giacchino did a great job of capturing that kitschy, swanky Bondesque jazzy sort of orchestral sound.
If you haven’t heard them yet, you need to be sure to check out his work from the Medal of Honor computer game series. Medal of Honor was THE first computer game score to take advantage of a new union contract in Hollywood (iirc) that enabled composers to use the top score session players in Hollywood for the first time (finally!), and it shows. Music in games has improved dramatically since then. This was only like, two or three years ago.
EDIT: Gah! I got a little mixed up there. I meant the Medal of Honor series by Christopher Lennertz, not Call of Duty. Heh, I knew it was something of something. Anyway, Call of Duty is still good. Medal of Honor was really what first used the new session players, etc., and if you haven’t heard them, do. Get Medal of Honor Rising Sun first. Both of these are on iTunes, fwiw.
Nice article on Giacchino in this months ASCAP mag, too.
As a non-video-game person, can’t say I’m familiar with any of that stuff. Good for them, getting real live musicians to play on their soundtracks — if I had to guess, I’d imagine the RMA had something to do with that. I went to a few meetings with them, and paid dues for a year, but those guys are even too hard core for me. Try saying ‘Eisner’ in an RMA meeting, see if you make it out alive.
I work with a contractor out of Atlanta every now and then who hires for video game stuff. He supervised on Grand Theft Auto. I might have even bought a Playstation if I knew I was playing behind a gang shooting.
I’ll check out Lennertz in the meantime — looks like he’s been busy recently http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0501999.