[Closed] Now Playing XLV

If you mean iTunes, I can't. I am smitten by the convenience of it. And if you mean the GNP Crescendo version of this excellent score then I can't do that either, I'm afraid. I remember being transfixed by this whole album when I first played the LP on the family "music centre". (Showing my age a bit there!)

NP: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - James Newton Howard

Hmm. I came out of the film with a relatively favorable impression; it seemed like Howard had managed to build on the rather sparse foundations of the first and there were several highlights that seemed to stand out, as well as a number of more substantial action cues. On album, I'm wondering where it all went. There are a few moments that still shine ("The Tour," the second half of "Monkey Mutts," the rather Thomas Newman-like "I Need You," "Arena Crumbles"), but not as brightly as they had seemed to in context, and the action cues on album are disorganized, grating and irritatingly stop-start, just as they were in After Earth. It doesn't help matters that the album is a whopping half-hour longer than its predecessor, and a few cues are just repeated verbatim from the earlier score ("Rue's Farewell" in the first half of "The Tour," "The Train" in "A Quarter Quell," "The Countdown" in "Let's Start").

As JNH's first real sequel score, it leaves something to be desired. There's a couple new themes, most notably a female voice one reminiscent of Lily's theme from Deathly Hallows Part 2 which gets a nice swelling rendition in "Arena Crumbles". But a couple motifs from the first are dropped, such as the District 12 motif and Katniss' little ostinato type thing. JNH (or the directors) seems incapable of giving/is unwilling to give this franchise clear thematic identities, and what recurring elements there are don't seem to correspond clearly with characters, locations or concepts. It says something that The Hunger Games' most memorable and identifiable theme continues to be the Capitol anthem, which is essentially source music.

All in all I'd say the score has similar strengths and flaws as the first one, but the long album makes this entry much more arduous (this coming from someone who ordinarily hates that argument!). As is the case with Game of Thrones, we'll probably be able to get one CD's worth of solid highlights once all is said and done, and that's simply not good enough for a big franchise.

Actually, no. Fortunately, this is the first album of his in a while to buck that highly unfortunate trend. Let's hope we never hear anything like that again.

Must be a rather short album then.








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Zz.z..

Then how am i still posting? CYPROmaaan, CYPROmaaan, posting in places whil you caaaaaan't........!