Captain America: The First Avenger
Alan Silvestri
" Old School Silvestri propaganda! "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the download only release
The summer of 2011 has made it abundantly clear. Filmmusic has reached the point of no return. This year has never been more disappointing, and A-list composers have generally disappointed fans around the world with uninspiring blockbuster fare. The only saving grace came from the dozen of re releases of already existing soundtracks and never before released scores from the 60's to the 90's, making it abundantly clear that filmmusic has truly diminished its quality over the years.
Let's face it, look alone at what the summer offered us. Cowboys & Aliens, Cars 2, Conan the Barbarian, Green Lantern, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and X-Men: First Class. I'll doubt any of those will ever make it in your top 100 list (say even top 1.000). And to make matters worse, some of the top composers of today have composed music for these movies. Luckily several are missing from this list, one of them being Alan Silvestri. And despite having had a pretty lame 2010, something tells me he made some people's summer slightly better with Captain America: The First Avenger.
Captain Avenger is no fluke of a project either. Everyone's saying it's a fun old fashioned hoot, everyone's saying it's aided by a good directorial hand (Joe Johnston), by a strong likeable cast (Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving) and a potent rhythmic blast of composer Alan Silvestri. And they might be on to something. Because whatever it lacks of thematic cohesion, it improves with its non stop rhythmic assault of action music.
Yes Captain America might start slowly, it ends powerfully nonetheless. Let's first examine the start shall we. Despite the faint opening of the heroic main theme, things aren't too promising during the opening. The darker sinister "Frozen Wasteland" and "Schmidt's Treasure" deliver a typical suspenseful sound, something we heard before in dozens of previous Alan Silvestri scores.
But between this darkness there occasionally shines light. A hopeful main theme appears at the end of "Farewell to Bucky" and "Training the Supersoldier" dares to paint a heroic marching picture for about a mere minute.
But forget a mere minute when you'll get dozens of minutes after that. Minutes of heroic rhythms that keep this roller coaster experience on the move. Occasionally linking itself with his ultimate comic book adventure score Judge Dredd, Captain America forgets to bring a thematic experience during the entire duration of the score. But what it lacks to tie together, it delivers enthusiastically well with Silvestri's ever known bombastic style.
From Vitarays" to "Fight on the Flight Deck", expect Silvestri to bring it loud and exciting. It may all sound similar after a while, it never stops to entertain my thirst for it all. Expect great things from the rush that is "Kruger Chase", the nice old school tempo of "Factory Inferno", the ferocious rhythm and ditto performance of the main theme in "Howling Commando's Montage", the Predator fanfares that fuel "Hydra Train" and the power that reigns over the ballsy action duo "Motorcycle Mayhem" and "Invasion".
But every score needs a proper finish. And I'm not even talking about the main theme statements in the final tracks. Because there's a reason I picked the American ITunes version instead of the CD release. Because the American (not the European) ITunes download holds a special bonus track that's by far the best track of the entire album. Call it an old fashioned march, but "Captain America March" is by far the most entertaining version of the main theme that Captain America can offer us, and as usual you won't find it on the CD.
And it are things like this that make a difference. I'm sure I would have given Captain America: The First Avenger the same rating with or without this puppy, but if I have to listen to one version, then I absolutely prefer the one with the stirring version of that main theme in the end. But that aside, what Captain America indeed offers us is an old school Alan Silvestri sound, forgetting the thematic approach, but punching us silly nonetheless with powerful action music that's by far the most entertaining I've heard all summer.
Tracklisting
1. Captain America Main Titles (0.56)
2. Frozen Wasteland (1.54)
3. Schmidt's Treasure (3.01)
4. Farewell to Bucky (2.51)
5. Hydra Lab (1.54)
6. Training the Supersoldier (1.09)
7. Schmidt's Story (1.59)
8. Vitarays (4.25)
9. Captain America, We Did It (2.00)
10. Kruger Chase (2.56)
11. Hostage on the Pier (2.47)
12. General's Resign (2.18)
13. Unauthorized Night Flight (3.13)
14. Troop Liberation (5.07)
15. Factory Inferno (5.07)
16. Triumphant Return (2.17)
17. Howling Commando's Montage (2.16) Excellent track
18. Hydra Train (3.27)
19. Rain Fire Upon Them (1.39)
20. Motorcycle Mayhem (3.05) Excellent track
21. Invasion (5.09)
22. Fight on the Flight Deck (3.30)
23. This is My Choice (3.26)
24. Passage of Time (1.36)
25. Captain America (1.08)
26. Star Spangled Man: The Star Spangled Singers (2.53)
Bonus Track
27. Captain America March (2.36) Excellent track
Total Length: 74.27
Let's face it, look alone at what the summer offered us. Cowboys & Aliens, Cars 2, Conan the Barbarian, Green Lantern, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and X-Men: First Class. I'll doubt any of those will ever make it in your top 100 list (say even top 1.000). And to make matters worse, some of the top composers of today have composed music for these movies. Luckily several are missing from this list, one of them being Alan Silvestri. And despite having had a pretty lame 2010, something tells me he made some people's summer slightly better with Captain America: The First Avenger.
Captain Avenger is no fluke of a project either. Everyone's saying it's a fun old fashioned hoot, everyone's saying it's aided by a good directorial hand (Joe Johnston), by a strong likeable cast (Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving) and a potent rhythmic blast of composer Alan Silvestri. And they might be on to something. Because whatever it lacks of thematic cohesion, it improves with its non stop rhythmic assault of action music.
Yes Captain America might start slowly, it ends powerfully nonetheless. Let's first examine the start shall we. Despite the faint opening of the heroic main theme, things aren't too promising during the opening. The darker sinister "Frozen Wasteland" and "Schmidt's Treasure" deliver a typical suspenseful sound, something we heard before in dozens of previous Alan Silvestri scores.
But between this darkness there occasionally shines light. A hopeful main theme appears at the end of "Farewell to Bucky" and "Training the Supersoldier" dares to paint a heroic marching picture for about a mere minute.
But forget a mere minute when you'll get dozens of minutes after that. Minutes of heroic rhythms that keep this roller coaster experience on the move. Occasionally linking itself with his ultimate comic book adventure score Judge Dredd, Captain America forgets to bring a thematic experience during the entire duration of the score. But what it lacks to tie together, it delivers enthusiastically well with Silvestri's ever known bombastic style.
From Vitarays" to "Fight on the Flight Deck", expect Silvestri to bring it loud and exciting. It may all sound similar after a while, it never stops to entertain my thirst for it all. Expect great things from the rush that is "Kruger Chase", the nice old school tempo of "Factory Inferno", the ferocious rhythm and ditto performance of the main theme in "Howling Commando's Montage", the Predator fanfares that fuel "Hydra Train" and the power that reigns over the ballsy action duo "Motorcycle Mayhem" and "Invasion".
But every score needs a proper finish. And I'm not even talking about the main theme statements in the final tracks. Because there's a reason I picked the American ITunes version instead of the CD release. Because the American (not the European) ITunes download holds a special bonus track that's by far the best track of the entire album. Call it an old fashioned march, but "Captain America March" is by far the most entertaining version of the main theme that Captain America can offer us, and as usual you won't find it on the CD.
And it are things like this that make a difference. I'm sure I would have given Captain America: The First Avenger the same rating with or without this puppy, but if I have to listen to one version, then I absolutely prefer the one with the stirring version of that main theme in the end. But that aside, what Captain America indeed offers us is an old school Alan Silvestri sound, forgetting the thematic approach, but punching us silly nonetheless with powerful action music that's by far the most entertaining I've heard all summer.
Tracklisting
1. Captain America Main Titles (0.56)
2. Frozen Wasteland (1.54)
3. Schmidt's Treasure (3.01)
4. Farewell to Bucky (2.51)
5. Hydra Lab (1.54)
6. Training the Supersoldier (1.09)
7. Schmidt's Story (1.59)
8. Vitarays (4.25)
9. Captain America, We Did It (2.00)
10. Kruger Chase (2.56)
11. Hostage on the Pier (2.47)
12. General's Resign (2.18)
13. Unauthorized Night Flight (3.13)
14. Troop Liberation (5.07)
15. Factory Inferno (5.07)
16. Triumphant Return (2.17)
17. Howling Commando's Montage (2.16) Excellent track
18. Hydra Train (3.27)
19. Rain Fire Upon Them (1.39)
20. Motorcycle Mayhem (3.05) Excellent track
21. Invasion (5.09)
22. Fight on the Flight Deck (3.30)
23. This is My Choice (3.26)
24. Passage of Time (1.36)
25. Captain America (1.08)
26. Star Spangled Man: The Star Spangled Singers (2.53)
Bonus Track
27. Captain America March (2.36) Excellent track
Total Length: 74.27