Article 99
Danny Elfman
" This is Elfman, most surprising and in most original form "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
Danny Elfman has surprised me many times before. Or he wrote music that could make a film so pleasing yet so hard on disc (Beetlejuice). Or he could write music that surpassed his natural (so called) style and made us cry from start to finish (Edward Scissorhands and Black Beauty). And mostly his scores are different if you don't expect a thing. When I briefly saw the movie of this initial score, I heard a piano theme, a rushing enjoyable piece of music and that was it, which was enough to go out and discover Article 99 for myself.
The reason was that I wanted to hear the music of this movie in full, and the result simply made me love everything that I heard after that.
Normally, these scores by Elfman carry us into the more comedic zany route of predecessors like Beetlejuice, perhaps even to Pee Wee and those in the style. Yet Article 99 is simply good because it holds a fine line between the good and the bad, presenting a balance that doesn't destroy the feel overall. The bad consists either of the zany music directly out of Beetlejuice ("Mayday" and the wacky "Shooter"), or of an occasional dark moment here and there. For instance in "Death" there is a troublesome piano crashing performance that shows you the typical Danny Elfman alright. "Rebellion" turns after 2 minutes equally dark (or should I say more on edge) and "Confrontation" is exactly the same, yet here this feeling receives a climax because of the main theme.
All this so called bad music is nothing bad at all and I can appreciate it a lot more than in Beetlejuice, because here it is found in an equally brighter set of music. "Main Title" is carrying the main theme in piano form, rushing to greater speed with the more militaristic drums and returning back to those lovely piano melodies in the end. The flutes even mingle with what Marc Shaiman wrote for Patch Adams, not surprisingly having the same film genre in one way or another.
Furthermore "Montage" is carrying the same brevity as track 1. "Salute" is what I call a great track simply because it feels just so good. A fanfare after a build up of several seconds is all what you need to get some amazing excitement. And if Elfman is good at one thing, it is creating these short fanfares that can stun you. Yet, nothing can prepare you for the final track. Basically the same as heard in all the tracks before, but simply the longer mix now.
In all the sometimes obscure titles of Elfman's own Music from a Darkened Theatre compilations, I am so sorry that people couldn't hear this final suite of Article 99. It covers the best main theme version of all, the same lovely piano performances and flutes and several short fanfares that will make you blush. And it is there where the strength of Article 99 lies. It's an extremely listenable score, and I was so surprised to hear Danny Elfman in a non Danny Elfman mood. Proving fans ought to seek it, so that they can be surprised by it as well.
Tracklisting
1. Main Title (3.58) Excellent track
2. Death (4.25)
3. Mayday (2.47)
4. Montage (1.35)
5. Shooter (2.58)
6. Revelation (1.13)
7. Rebellion (3.10)
8. Salute (1.31)
9. Love Theme (1.00)
10. Confrontation (5.01)
11. End Credits (6.45) Excellent track
Total Length: 34.31
The reason was that I wanted to hear the music of this movie in full, and the result simply made me love everything that I heard after that.
Normally, these scores by Elfman carry us into the more comedic zany route of predecessors like Beetlejuice, perhaps even to Pee Wee and those in the style. Yet Article 99 is simply good because it holds a fine line between the good and the bad, presenting a balance that doesn't destroy the feel overall. The bad consists either of the zany music directly out of Beetlejuice ("Mayday" and the wacky "Shooter"), or of an occasional dark moment here and there. For instance in "Death" there is a troublesome piano crashing performance that shows you the typical Danny Elfman alright. "Rebellion" turns after 2 minutes equally dark (or should I say more on edge) and "Confrontation" is exactly the same, yet here this feeling receives a climax because of the main theme.
All this so called bad music is nothing bad at all and I can appreciate it a lot more than in Beetlejuice, because here it is found in an equally brighter set of music. "Main Title" is carrying the main theme in piano form, rushing to greater speed with the more militaristic drums and returning back to those lovely piano melodies in the end. The flutes even mingle with what Marc Shaiman wrote for Patch Adams, not surprisingly having the same film genre in one way or another.
Furthermore "Montage" is carrying the same brevity as track 1. "Salute" is what I call a great track simply because it feels just so good. A fanfare after a build up of several seconds is all what you need to get some amazing excitement. And if Elfman is good at one thing, it is creating these short fanfares that can stun you. Yet, nothing can prepare you for the final track. Basically the same as heard in all the tracks before, but simply the longer mix now.
In all the sometimes obscure titles of Elfman's own Music from a Darkened Theatre compilations, I am so sorry that people couldn't hear this final suite of Article 99. It covers the best main theme version of all, the same lovely piano performances and flutes and several short fanfares that will make you blush. And it is there where the strength of Article 99 lies. It's an extremely listenable score, and I was so surprised to hear Danny Elfman in a non Danny Elfman mood. Proving fans ought to seek it, so that they can be surprised by it as well.
Tracklisting
1. Main Title (3.58) Excellent track
2. Death (4.25)
3. Mayday (2.47)
4. Montage (1.35)
5. Shooter (2.58)
6. Revelation (1.13)
7. Rebellion (3.10)
8. Salute (1.31)
9. Love Theme (1.00)
10. Confrontation (5.01)
11. End Credits (6.45) Excellent track
Total Length: 34.31