Fool's Gold

Today, composer George Fenton is mostly known for his music on the BBC hit shows The Blue Planet and Planet Earth. From their success, motion picture movies were released called Deep Blue and Earth. It is strange that during those many years, hardly anyone paid attention to the motion picture scores that were dispersed between these BBC nature documentaries. Stage Beauty, Valiant, the unreleased Hitch, Bewitched and The Wind that Shakes the Barley, they weren't discovered and spoken of like those two killer scores. So it was with some enthusiasm that we looked forward to Fool's Gold, an adventurous romantic comedy.

For me it kinda felt like composer Patrick Doyle could've scored it (in some way he has with Nim's Island) and yet Fenton is no stranger to both genres as well. However something doesn't mesh well. It's not as thunderous as Memphis Belle nor as romantically pompous as Dangerous Beauty. It is what I call a lighter effort were both attract minimal attention, while flowing pleasantly forward without making a statement. Well not totally, one thing does make a statement and that's the main theme.

Due to its infrequent nature to appear, I love every second of it when it does. It opens "Fool's Gold Legend and Main Title", it softly appears in "Aurelia and the Queens Dowry", "Sabotaging the Grid" and "Sharing the Spoils", it fuels the action music in the background of "Finn to the Rescue" and appears the best in "The Treasure, the Kidnap and the Sea Plane" and especially "The Stand Off (Fool's Gold Theme)". Think of it as a Kameo main theme, a bold heroic tune that in a way doesn't fully fit with the entire sound. But it's what makes the score above average. Because everything else is indeed kinda fun, but not totally memorable.

The Caribbean music is cool in the second part of "Fool's Gold Legend and Main Title" and in "Late for the Hearing". The action music is from time to time rather rhythmic ("Man Overboard", "Trouble in the Churchyard" and "A Deathtrap") while the background music offers the more interesting touches; "Tess's Theme" with the soft guitar work, the electric guitar work on "The Day Dive" or the fluent mix of main and Tess's theme in ""A Nice ... Soft ... Landing" (Tess's Theme)". Only the heroically spirited "Saving Gemma's Hat" can really entertain me.

But basically this all feels like a little uninspired for a great composer like George Fenton. Perhaps he wanted to do something entertainingly silly or perhaps it wasn't exactly his cup of tea. Fenton and Fool's Gold don't mesh together well to warrant 60 minutes of it. 40 minutes would have sufficed. Fool's Gold will pass quickly through the brain and while fun for an occasional whirl, we should have received more of a composer like George Fenton. I'll even bet that if there's a jumping dolphin or sea turtle in the movie, it would have received the most stirring music of all.

Tracklisting

1. Fool's Gold Legend and Main Title (4.23)
2. "Where's the Boat?" (1.35)
3. Debt Collector (Bigg Bunny) (2.06)
4. Man Overboard (3.00)
5. Late for the Hearing (2.08)
6. "Where's the Plate?" (1.30)
7. The Nigel Factor (1.53)
8. Saving Gemma's Hat (2.06)
9. Aurelia and the Queens Dowry (5.31)
10. The Stand Off (Fool's Gold Theme) (1.55) Excellent track
11. Sabotaging the Grid (3.46)
12. Tess's Theme (1.22)
13. The Day Dive (2.45)
14. Discovering the Canon (2.20)
15. The Aurelia Stone (4.47)
16. Trouble in the Churchyard (2.09)
17. A Deathtrap (2.08)
18. Finn to the Rescue (2.07)
19. The Treasure, the Kidnap and the Sea Plane (5.41)
20. "A Nice ... Soft ... Landing" (Tess's Theme) (1.42)
21. Sharing the Spoils (1.50)
22. Love and Affection: Majek Fashek (3.25)
23. You Can Get it if you Really Want: Desmond Dekker (2.38)
24. Call me Thumper: Classic (2.35)
25. Truly Madly Deeply: The Dualers (2.47)

Total Length: 68.20