Get Smart
Trevor Rabin
" Rabin does spy music "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
Get Smart is a James Bond satire that was created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry in the mid 1960's. This update directed by Peter Segal basically re instates Maxwell Smart, Agent 23 and Agent 99, while infusing gadgets, action and comedy in an all new adventure. I, like many of you will never have heard of the series but like many of you will have seen the movie. And the movie is basically a lot of fun. No stupid Johnny English humour here. No, this is humour you can laugh at and enjoy it for what it is. Trevor Rabin was deeply interested in doing the score, making sure he was the right man by infusing immediately his sound in the main Get Smart theme of the series.
We enroll with "Smart Dreams", immediately getting the Rabin sound we came for. Namely the heroic and the brief rocking Rabin. The theme of the original series is infused a lot by Rabin (obsessed he was to sweeten the deal). We hear it first in "Get Smart Theme", it spoofs with sitar and electric guitar in "Theme (Look 1)", with feisty strings during "Theme (Look 2)" and with a cool tone in "Smart Exit" and "Theme (Look four)".
Rabin's action cues aren't sensational but they do work. And thankfully they don't mimic the rocking cues that made National Treasure so average. In "Cake Factory" the coolness factor is all over the place. "Skydiving" takes the fast factor and takes us for a spin (watch out for that sitar) while "Rooftop Fight" also includes the Eastern influence (and a soft choir). "The Big Chase" keeps a nice rhythm going to it, in the familiar Rabin style of action scoring.
There is some room for Smart's theme too, emotional in "Max Denied", somewhat noble in "Max Takes a Bow" and "Max Calls 99". The soft sweet version in "Wish we Had More Time" feels like Deep Blue Sea.
Of course sometimes you have to release everything and 7 seconds is all it takes to dance the sirtaki in "Droppings Like Flies". The cool bounces in "Agent 23" are testosterone driven enough, even for The Rock. And the laid back "Laser Hallway" and the lovely "Entering Moscow" are variations that work to smoothen the deal.
I must confess. I wasn't sold to the album before I saw the movie. But by hearing it in context it totally started working. This is a cool score, because it makes Smart look cool. And Rabin uses his own theme well in context with the overtly stating "I am a Spy" theme of Irving Szathmary. It makes the movie look and sound cool and loose. Ah Get Smart is just like the movie, don't take it too seriously and you will like Smart. Don't think this is Rabin's best and you'll Get Smart.
Tracklisting
1. Smart Dreams (1.52)
2. Get Smart Theme * (1.28)
3. Cake Factory (3.00)
4. Theme (Look 1) * (1.48)
5. Max Denied (2.29)
6. Max Takes a Bow (0.54)
7. Droppings Like Flies (0.08)
8. Theme (Look Two) * (2.15)
9. Agent 23 + (0.34)
10. Max Ejects * (1.53)
11. Skydiving * (2.01)
12. Laser Hallway (4.04)
13. Entering Moscow (1.22)
14. Rooftop Fight + (3.07)
15. Max Calls 99 (5.01)
16. Theme (Look 3) * (1.13)
17. The Big Chase * (4.58)
18. Wish we Had More Time (1.46)
19. Smart Exit * (0.56)
20. Theme (Look Four) * (1.17)
* Incorporates the "Get Smart" theme by Irving Szathmary
+ Composed by Paul Linford
Total Length: 42.16
We enroll with "Smart Dreams", immediately getting the Rabin sound we came for. Namely the heroic and the brief rocking Rabin. The theme of the original series is infused a lot by Rabin (obsessed he was to sweeten the deal). We hear it first in "Get Smart Theme", it spoofs with sitar and electric guitar in "Theme (Look 1)", with feisty strings during "Theme (Look 2)" and with a cool tone in "Smart Exit" and "Theme (Look four)".
Rabin's action cues aren't sensational but they do work. And thankfully they don't mimic the rocking cues that made National Treasure so average. In "Cake Factory" the coolness factor is all over the place. "Skydiving" takes the fast factor and takes us for a spin (watch out for that sitar) while "Rooftop Fight" also includes the Eastern influence (and a soft choir). "The Big Chase" keeps a nice rhythm going to it, in the familiar Rabin style of action scoring.
There is some room for Smart's theme too, emotional in "Max Denied", somewhat noble in "Max Takes a Bow" and "Max Calls 99". The soft sweet version in "Wish we Had More Time" feels like Deep Blue Sea.
Of course sometimes you have to release everything and 7 seconds is all it takes to dance the sirtaki in "Droppings Like Flies". The cool bounces in "Agent 23" are testosterone driven enough, even for The Rock. And the laid back "Laser Hallway" and the lovely "Entering Moscow" are variations that work to smoothen the deal.
I must confess. I wasn't sold to the album before I saw the movie. But by hearing it in context it totally started working. This is a cool score, because it makes Smart look cool. And Rabin uses his own theme well in context with the overtly stating "I am a Spy" theme of Irving Szathmary. It makes the movie look and sound cool and loose. Ah Get Smart is just like the movie, don't take it too seriously and you will like Smart. Don't think this is Rabin's best and you'll Get Smart.
Tracklisting
1. Smart Dreams (1.52)
2. Get Smart Theme * (1.28)
3. Cake Factory (3.00)
4. Theme (Look 1) * (1.48)
5. Max Denied (2.29)
6. Max Takes a Bow (0.54)
7. Droppings Like Flies (0.08)
8. Theme (Look Two) * (2.15)
9. Agent 23 + (0.34)
10. Max Ejects * (1.53)
11. Skydiving * (2.01)
12. Laser Hallway (4.04)
13. Entering Moscow (1.22)
14. Rooftop Fight + (3.07)
15. Max Calls 99 (5.01)
16. Theme (Look 3) * (1.13)
17. The Big Chase * (4.58)
18. Wish we Had More Time (1.46)
19. Smart Exit * (0.56)
20. Theme (Look Four) * (1.17)
* Incorporates the "Get Smart" theme by Irving Szathmary
+ Composed by Paul Linford
Total Length: 42.16