The Abyss
Alan Silvestri
" The final 12 minutes are simply sensational "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
There is nothing but praise when both the composer and director find the perfect film language to accompany a certain movie. James Cameron is a true master of film making and asks a lot of his fellow crew members. Composer Alan Silvestri responded in style with an atmospheric but downright fitting score. The Abyss employs background sounds, accompanying sound effects (that respond perfectly with the UFO's namely the Underwater Flying Objects) and the music creates the own playful but lively process, adjusting this in pure musical terms.
There is nothing that makes this the biggest melodic score of the last century but when you saw the movie so many times and heard the soundtrack during it, it was the pure effective tone of Silvestri's music that makes it so believable. It was the way he created the ultimate atmospheric sound that responded uniquely to the visuals on screen and thereby lured the listeners to the soundtrack.
It makes The Abyss a rather intriguing effort on disc as well. Still, this doesn't mean that there is nothing that makes the score special on its own. The last 3 tracks cover the finale with great awe inspiring and pure emotional film music. This is the moment when Silvestri delivers us one of the biggest musical finales I have ever heard, backed up with outstanding choral accompaniment. This is what makes the score so special and those 12 minutes remain some of the most spectacular film music moments of all time.
For the rest Alan Silvestri delivers us pure accompanying musical melodies that respond with each scene of the movie. For instance the rather playful and wait and see attitude of the Aliens discovered in "The Manta Ship". Or what about the pure atmospheric attempt and underscore for "Lindsey Drowns" or the cold chilling sound witnessed in "Bud's Big Dive". It expands the pure levels of reaching the audience in the theaters, it delivers something extra as pure melodic support.
Basically this is nothing more than mood, but it creates an extra level of effectiveness that makes it grand in the context of the story. So this kind of mood-making might be a problem for those that don’t understand what it achieves in the movie (but this same experience is also found in Cameron’s other cold score namely Aliens).
However all this is simply a memory when people start to hear the heavenly sounds of "Bud on the Ledge", "Back on the Air" and "Finale", offering pure emotional and grand melodic highlights that support the word "film music" with honor.
No doubt about it that Alan Silvestri had an opportunity to score this soundtrack with a bit more color, but he understood the feeling that James Cameron wanted effective music in the first place. So he reacted with moody background music that supported the coldness and desolate feeling of the movie, namely he brought the frightening and atmospheric mood that the movie required. The Abyss is alongside Aliens a textbook example of what a James Cameron musical soundtrack must be like. Textural in one way, big in another. And BIG those 12 minutes surely are.
Tracklisting
1. Main Title (1.30)
2. Search the Montana (1.55)
3. The Crane (2.00)
4. The Manta Ship (6.23)
5. The Pseudopod (5.37)
6. The Fight (1.46)
7. Sub Battle (3.18)
8. Lindsey Drowns (4.44)
9. Resurrection (1.57)
10. Bud's Big Dive (6.10)
11. Bud on the Ledge (3.13) Excellent track
12. Back on the Air (1.40) Excellent track
13. Finale (6.46) Excellent track
Total Length: 47.08
There is nothing that makes this the biggest melodic score of the last century but when you saw the movie so many times and heard the soundtrack during it, it was the pure effective tone of Silvestri's music that makes it so believable. It was the way he created the ultimate atmospheric sound that responded uniquely to the visuals on screen and thereby lured the listeners to the soundtrack.
It makes The Abyss a rather intriguing effort on disc as well. Still, this doesn't mean that there is nothing that makes the score special on its own. The last 3 tracks cover the finale with great awe inspiring and pure emotional film music. This is the moment when Silvestri delivers us one of the biggest musical finales I have ever heard, backed up with outstanding choral accompaniment. This is what makes the score so special and those 12 minutes remain some of the most spectacular film music moments of all time.
For the rest Alan Silvestri delivers us pure accompanying musical melodies that respond with each scene of the movie. For instance the rather playful and wait and see attitude of the Aliens discovered in "The Manta Ship". Or what about the pure atmospheric attempt and underscore for "Lindsey Drowns" or the cold chilling sound witnessed in "Bud's Big Dive". It expands the pure levels of reaching the audience in the theaters, it delivers something extra as pure melodic support.
Basically this is nothing more than mood, but it creates an extra level of effectiveness that makes it grand in the context of the story. So this kind of mood-making might be a problem for those that don’t understand what it achieves in the movie (but this same experience is also found in Cameron’s other cold score namely Aliens).
However all this is simply a memory when people start to hear the heavenly sounds of "Bud on the Ledge", "Back on the Air" and "Finale", offering pure emotional and grand melodic highlights that support the word "film music" with honor.
No doubt about it that Alan Silvestri had an opportunity to score this soundtrack with a bit more color, but he understood the feeling that James Cameron wanted effective music in the first place. So he reacted with moody background music that supported the coldness and desolate feeling of the movie, namely he brought the frightening and atmospheric mood that the movie required. The Abyss is alongside Aliens a textbook example of what a James Cameron musical soundtrack must be like. Textural in one way, big in another. And BIG those 12 minutes surely are.
Tracklisting
1. Main Title (1.30)
2. Search the Montana (1.55)
3. The Crane (2.00)
4. The Manta Ship (6.23)
5. The Pseudopod (5.37)
6. The Fight (1.46)
7. Sub Battle (3.18)
8. Lindsey Drowns (4.44)
9. Resurrection (1.57)
10. Bud's Big Dive (6.10)
11. Bud on the Ledge (3.13) Excellent track
12. Back on the Air (1.40) Excellent track
13. Finale (6.46) Excellent track
Total Length: 47.08