The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep
James Newton Howard
" Loch Ness exists. And this music will make you wanna believe that. "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
The year promises to be another winner for the fans of James Newton Howard. With The Lookout, Michael Clayton, Charlie Wilson's War, The Great Debaters, The Water Horse and I Am Legend he has never been busier than before. This sadly leads to some uninspiring bulk that needs to be taken away from the more inspiring fare.
Everybody wanted The Water Horse (the newest fantasy telling of Nessie from Loch Ness) to be more than inspiring. It needed to be fantastical, inspirational, magical and beautiful. Most people wanted it to be like Peter Pan, perhaps even larger. I can assure they somewhat received just that. This score listens like a mix of various scores from the composer, from the Celtic tones of Treasure Planet to the fantasy of Peter Pan to the big sound of The Postman, they all share a similarity in The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep.
The more than generous album from Sony Classics exhibits three various artists. It starts with the opening song performed by Sinéad O'Connor, delving you right into a mysterious mood with her magical titled voice. The final track, a whopping eight minutes is held for The Chieftains and what better group than to give us that rhythmic Celtic flair. The basic idea of this suite is to represent the main ideas and tracks in a different manner and that works well. In between these two parts, the remainder of the score is for you Newton Howard fans.
With 46 minutes, I believe we receive the most of Newton Howard's score. "The Water Horse Main Title", "Angus Feeds Crusoe" and "You Didn't Even Get Wet" are all embodied in this Celtic voice, where flowing violin and guitar relax the atmosphere with a kind musical tone. Sadly the beginning is rather calm and can flow by without you ever knowing it. "The Workshop" is once again softly mysterious.
While I understand the story needs to grow and you can't be big from the start, I kinda miss the Trevor Jones approach of how he presents us the lake and Loch Ness. Here it meanders on just a tad too much. With the soft "Ann" and "Bathtub" (which is both mischievous and Celtic tinted) this doesn't change. "Driving to the Loch" grows briefly to something lightly magical but still returns to the subdued nature of Scotland's mysterious land. Here in these parts it is not Trevor Jones at all. In "Run Angus" the strings briefly swell to a dramatic point but this soon fades away in again the quiet emptiness of the lake.
It's not until "The Fishermen" jumps on stage with a fantastical rhythmic Celtic dance that the adventurous spirit finally delivers us something exciting. Furthermore "Angus in Training" delivers you two sides, the softness and the Celtic flair and it's this Celtic one that steals the heart. It's however clear that we crossed a line. From track 10 the fantasy spirit takes over and the score becomes what you wanted. With a big, loud, emotional and magical swim Newton Howard enriches us with his sound to adventure. "Swimming" is the score's best track and alongside Sinéad O'Connor, brass fanfares and fantasy enrolls upon our very ears.
The quiet "The Children Laugh" and the mischievous big dancing "The Dinner Party" are just an interpose for the action to come. In "There's no Monster" it all leads to a magical big fanfare. And it never stops to look back from then on. The trio of adventure "Saving Crusoe", "The Net" (my favourite) and "The Jump" are what the fans were waiting for. Relentless adventurous music that goes for brassy rhythmic action. What it forgets to bind melodically, it returns in bombastic delight. Here you get The Fugitive's pace, the marching Gladiator (I'm not kidding), the percussion rhythm of The Postman and the adventure himself of Newton Howard. At least in these parts there is no denying that the man still has it and these parts need to be played loud in order to receive the biggest satisfaction.
After this bombastic tour de force it isn't a shame to get back to the relaxing soothing vocals of Sinéad O'Connor in "End of the Story", underlining the main theme in an oasis of magical softness, and especially ... Signs. I can say The Water Horse is honestly more or less what I wanted. And yet it misses something. Or I kinda thought it did because as usual a couple of repeated listens can soak you in the story and make you forget whatever it misses. The only thing I can think of is that the magic isn't always very present. However in the adventure music it enthralls and that alone is enough for the entire album.
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep also comes in an extended iTunes release and covers four extra tracks (which leads to 12 extra minutes of score). However there is no reason to search for this one considering it are all are quiet tracks where very little happens. The original score brings more than enough and with a doses of The Chieftains and Sinéad O'Connor, it has enough to inspire that mysterious fable once and for all. Truly? Loch Ness exists. And this music will make you wanna believe that.
Tracklisting
1.Back Where You Belong (Theme from The Water Horse): Sinéad O'Connor (4.29)
2. The Water Horse Main Title (1.13)
3. Angus Feeds Crusoe (2.01)
4. You Didn't Even Get Wet (2.58)
5. The Workshop (2.37)
6. Ann (1.30)
7. Bathtub (2.24)
8. Driving to the Loch (2.02)
9. Run Angus (1.21)
10. The Fishermen (1.39) Excellent track
11. Angus in Training (2.54)
12. Swimming (6.35) Excellent track
13. The Children Laugh (3.01)
14. The Dinner Party (3.03)
15. There's no Monster (2.04)
16. Saving Crusoe (2.06) Excellent track
17. The Net (4.24) Excellent track
18. The Jump (1.42) Excellent track
19. End of the Story (3.05)
20. The Water Horse Suite: The Chieftains (8.08)
Total Length: 58.44
Everybody wanted The Water Horse (the newest fantasy telling of Nessie from Loch Ness) to be more than inspiring. It needed to be fantastical, inspirational, magical and beautiful. Most people wanted it to be like Peter Pan, perhaps even larger. I can assure they somewhat received just that. This score listens like a mix of various scores from the composer, from the Celtic tones of Treasure Planet to the fantasy of Peter Pan to the big sound of The Postman, they all share a similarity in The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep.
The more than generous album from Sony Classics exhibits three various artists. It starts with the opening song performed by Sinéad O'Connor, delving you right into a mysterious mood with her magical titled voice. The final track, a whopping eight minutes is held for The Chieftains and what better group than to give us that rhythmic Celtic flair. The basic idea of this suite is to represent the main ideas and tracks in a different manner and that works well. In between these two parts, the remainder of the score is for you Newton Howard fans.
With 46 minutes, I believe we receive the most of Newton Howard's score. "The Water Horse Main Title", "Angus Feeds Crusoe" and "You Didn't Even Get Wet" are all embodied in this Celtic voice, where flowing violin and guitar relax the atmosphere with a kind musical tone. Sadly the beginning is rather calm and can flow by without you ever knowing it. "The Workshop" is once again softly mysterious.
While I understand the story needs to grow and you can't be big from the start, I kinda miss the Trevor Jones approach of how he presents us the lake and Loch Ness. Here it meanders on just a tad too much. With the soft "Ann" and "Bathtub" (which is both mischievous and Celtic tinted) this doesn't change. "Driving to the Loch" grows briefly to something lightly magical but still returns to the subdued nature of Scotland's mysterious land. Here in these parts it is not Trevor Jones at all. In "Run Angus" the strings briefly swell to a dramatic point but this soon fades away in again the quiet emptiness of the lake.
It's not until "The Fishermen" jumps on stage with a fantastical rhythmic Celtic dance that the adventurous spirit finally delivers us something exciting. Furthermore "Angus in Training" delivers you two sides, the softness and the Celtic flair and it's this Celtic one that steals the heart. It's however clear that we crossed a line. From track 10 the fantasy spirit takes over and the score becomes what you wanted. With a big, loud, emotional and magical swim Newton Howard enriches us with his sound to adventure. "Swimming" is the score's best track and alongside Sinéad O'Connor, brass fanfares and fantasy enrolls upon our very ears.
The quiet "The Children Laugh" and the mischievous big dancing "The Dinner Party" are just an interpose for the action to come. In "There's no Monster" it all leads to a magical big fanfare. And it never stops to look back from then on. The trio of adventure "Saving Crusoe", "The Net" (my favourite) and "The Jump" are what the fans were waiting for. Relentless adventurous music that goes for brassy rhythmic action. What it forgets to bind melodically, it returns in bombastic delight. Here you get The Fugitive's pace, the marching Gladiator (I'm not kidding), the percussion rhythm of The Postman and the adventure himself of Newton Howard. At least in these parts there is no denying that the man still has it and these parts need to be played loud in order to receive the biggest satisfaction.
After this bombastic tour de force it isn't a shame to get back to the relaxing soothing vocals of Sinéad O'Connor in "End of the Story", underlining the main theme in an oasis of magical softness, and especially ... Signs. I can say The Water Horse is honestly more or less what I wanted. And yet it misses something. Or I kinda thought it did because as usual a couple of repeated listens can soak you in the story and make you forget whatever it misses. The only thing I can think of is that the magic isn't always very present. However in the adventure music it enthralls and that alone is enough for the entire album.
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep also comes in an extended iTunes release and covers four extra tracks (which leads to 12 extra minutes of score). However there is no reason to search for this one considering it are all are quiet tracks where very little happens. The original score brings more than enough and with a doses of The Chieftains and Sinéad O'Connor, it has enough to inspire that mysterious fable once and for all. Truly? Loch Ness exists. And this music will make you wanna believe that.
Tracklisting
1.Back Where You Belong (Theme from The Water Horse): Sinéad O'Connor (4.29)
2. The Water Horse Main Title (1.13)
3. Angus Feeds Crusoe (2.01)
4. You Didn't Even Get Wet (2.58)
5. The Workshop (2.37)
6. Ann (1.30)
7. Bathtub (2.24)
8. Driving to the Loch (2.02)
9. Run Angus (1.21)
10. The Fishermen (1.39) Excellent track
11. Angus in Training (2.54)
12. Swimming (6.35) Excellent track
13. The Children Laugh (3.01)
14. The Dinner Party (3.03)
15. There's no Monster (2.04)
16. Saving Crusoe (2.06) Excellent track
17. The Net (4.24) Excellent track
18. The Jump (1.42) Excellent track
19. End of the Story (3.05)
20. The Water Horse Suite: The Chieftains (8.08)
Total Length: 58.44