Welcome to the very first OST
Written by Rob Talbot
Sunday, 08 May 2011
Welcome to the very first OST, where we start off all cultured with a trip to the ballet, enjoy a little sojourn in the future and round things off with some vampire prog rock. Sound good? Okay, then...
Former Pop Will Eat Itself frontman Clint Mansell has built up a fairly rabid following over the past few years thanks to his collaborations with director Darren Aronofsky, and with the latest of these, Black Swan (Sony Music), it's easy to see why. Perhaps the best film seen so far this year, Aronofsky's ballet world psychological thriller exerts a powerful grip on the viewer and refuses to let go until the very last frame. Part of its power lies in Mansell's score - which is as much Tchaikovsky's as his, it being the engineering of the Russian composer's Swan Lake into a horror soundtrack, because a performance of said ballet is at the heart of the story. But it must be said that what Mansell has done with the material is no mean artistic achievement in itself.
The opening cut, 'Nina's Dream' starts out as a straight orchestral rendition, but soon enough the suggestion of encroaching darkness begins to appear in the form of clattering synthesised percussion, at first for no more than an instant. Hearing this, the listener instinctively knows that the darkness will soon return and only grow stronger. The portion of Swan Lake offered here is so expertly performed, with such highly nuanced production from Mansell, it serves as a real reminder of just how layered and complex Tchaikovsky's original work actually is.
Subsequent tracks 'Mother Me' and 'The New Season' continue largely in the same vein; beautiful classical music with pulsating sinister undertones revealing themselves with muted noises that at times sound like shrieking demons leaping back into the shadows. 'A Room of Her Own' is positive and uplifting, a gentle piano melody backed up by lush (synthesised) strings.With 'A New Swan Queen' – things begin to darken considerably, gradually building up to a driving deep synth three note progression motif, that sets a contemporary and more identifiably 'horror' tone before giving way to a soft piano melody. The motif resurfaces again as a motif, elaborated upon in the track 'Opposites Attract', with a deep bass drum behind it and the odd sudden, jarring blast of horns.
'Night of Terror', as you might expect from a piece of music bearing such a title, is a sinister, nightmarish business with a muted but deep and resounding bass drum giving way to a grandiose and pompous orchestra, vaguely bringing to mind that other great 'classical horror' The Phantom of the Opera. Just as one thinks it's settled down again it goes out on a convergence of synth tones and unearthly experimental noises which wouldn't be out of place on the soundtrack of an Alien film. 'Cruel Mistress', an original composition from Mansell if I'm not mistaken, fits in so skilfully and seamlessly that one is left quite in awe of what he has achieved.
'Stumbled Beginnings' is the first time we get the famous main suite of Swan Lake, starting as straight (and extremely accomplished) full orchestra rendition, but soon punctuated with suggestions of malevolence that make the listener feel as though one false ballet step could send one plunging down into some hellish demon-infested abyss. Of course, horror film buffs will also be familiar with this section of Swan Lake as the title theme to Tod Browning's Dracula (1931), another layer of mental association that I very much doubt that Aronofsky is ignorant of.
It all comes to a head with 'Perfection', Swan Lake's seemingly untampered with triumphal crescendo. 'A Swan Song (For Nina)', the final track, at first seems like a mere coda following this epic, but as it continues through several phases, with variations on Tchaikovsky's theme, and the album's only non-music sound effect, some breaking glass, it takes on a power of its own, especially towards its end.
The originally produced 'horror' parts blend seamlessly with Tchaikovsky's work, never appearing to be contrived or simply bolted on. One never gets the sense that Mansell is trying to compete with the old Russian master – one never finds him to be overly intrusive, or grandstanding for attention at the source material's expense. In fact it has to be said that working out which bits are whose is not always as easy as one might think.
The album as a whole oozes fear and obsession; an obsession one imagine Mansell himself must surely have developed over the course of this score's creation, spending months on end in his studio, jamming with Tchaikovsky. His album rewards repeated listens richly. Serious classical music snobs may have issues with it and, similarly, if those with an aversion to classical music won't like this album at all either. But that would be their loss. It's inspiring and transcendent, a synthesis of old and new, light and dark, that comes together to make something new under the sun. Quite simply, an amazing score for an amazing film.
Moving on to Inception (Reprise/Warner), we find more inspiring work, this time from one of contemporary cinema's most sought after composers, Hans Zimmer. German-born Zimmer's rise over the last 30 years has been phenomenal. After playing keyboard on 'Video Killed the Radio Star' for one-hit-wonders The Buggles (seen in the video, directed by Russell Highlander Mulcahy) in 1979, producing a single for no less than The Damned, and his work on UK films like My Beautiful Laundrette (1987) led to his breakthrough score for Barry Levinson's Rain Man (1988). Two Golden Globes, four Grammies, and an Oscar (for The Lion King) later, and here we have his Oscar nominated third collaboration with Christopher Nolan and his first non-Batman solo score with the director.
The album opens impressively with the doomy and driving 'Half Remembered Dream', a track in
familiarly portentous and grandiose ‘Dark Knight’ territory with 'Dream is Collapsing', delivering a sense of mounting awe in its 1 minute 11seconds running time. 'We Built Our Own World' is slow and symphonic, as much of the album turns out to be, with 'The Dream is Collapsing' introducing the film's main theme, a strident electro-orchestral march that would be in a way just as at home in a Conan movie. It summons up monolithic imagery of huge vistas and ruined cities and it sounds great.
Another highlight is the mellow and futuristic 'Old Souls', with a simple synth piano melody backed by understated synthesized strings augmented by a series of muted 'booms' a minute in reminding us of the ever-present danger pulsing away in the background. It's a dreamily romantic and melancholy piece that brings to mind certain moments in Vangelis' classic ‘Blade Runner’ score. However, the track will never find itself selected for inclusion on 'Ultimate Chillout Volume 5016' as it does lapse into the more expected Zimmer Batman Begins 'mounting armageddon' style towards its end. Just as well, really.
'Mombasa', with its upped tempo and ever-so-slightly 90s feel, seems at first a little jarring and out of place. Clearly meant as the accompaniment to some sort of chase scene, if you'd forgotten you were listening to a film soundtrack by this point, then you'd certainly remember now. It is a decent electronic piece, though, with some abrasive guitar licking from celeb guest Johnny Marr. Chase music, not dance music, but certainly energising. Keeping it from standing out completely like a sore thumb is the omnipresent deep electronic drum, still pulsing away. However, 'Mombasa' really comes into its own in its second half where a new rhythm takes over that is nothing short of monumental.
It's another that wouldn’t be out of place in one of the Nolan Batman movies, which isn't a criticism – Zimmer's ‘Dark Knight’ score with James Newton Howard was amongst the best of its year, despite there being no particularly memorable tunes or phrases amidst all the 'approaching menace'. Soundtrack-wise, Inception towers over that past achievement.
'Waiting for a Train' uses an Edith Piaf sample to ethereal and haunting effect before launching into another March of Doom, and the final track. 'Time', is another standout, with a symphonic sweep, ranging from gentle notes on a synth piano to the full demonic orchestral swell. With the exception perhaps of 'Mombasa' the separate songs seem to all melt into one continuous suite. It's head music for smart people that stands up incredibly well without the story or visuals. A wonderfully immersive and satisfying experience, the album as a whole has a real depth and warmth that surrounds and absorbs the listener.
Unlike the Black Swan album, Inception is not arranged to match the film's chronological order, instead aiming more to make a cohesive whole as a stand-alone piece of music. It's a wise choice. Apparently Zimmer based his soundtrack on his reading of the script, before seeing any footage from the film whatsoever, and it seems this has afforded him some real artistic freedom. A dark modern symphony from an incredible composer, Inception was alas beaten to the Best Score Oscar by Clint Mansell's old mucker Trent Reznor's work for The Social Network. Get both.
From the sublime to the... sublime in a different way, with the full soundtrack to Le frisson des vampires (Finders Keepers), Jean Rollin's dreamlike 1971 undead opus, released in the UK as ‘Shiver of the Vampires’. This represents almost the polar opposite of the soundtracks discussed so far. Picture Zimmer and Mansell in their million dollar private studios, with huge budgets and all the latest technology at their disposal. Now picture Acanthus; an unsigned, penniless teenage free-jazz-rock band commissioned by Rollin to improvise this score.
There's some amusing hard sell on the CD cover: 'Embryonic Free-Psych-Funk Recordings from Parisian Teenage Improv-Prog Combo (Including Members of French No-No-Mod-Rockers Unity)', but that not all. It goes on to say 'Imagine an early Gong /Ame Son / Soft Machine session fuelled by a 1000 year old acid infused blood transfusion'. Phew! I'm not quite used to such a detailed description on a front cover. But can it live up to its bold claims? Well, I think it can.
Here for the first time we have music and sound effects from the entire film and presented in chronological order, too. Starting with funereal church bell from the film, we soon launch into the film's title theme; a stripped down psychedelic instrumental garage rock track featuring a simple riff, with demonic voices groaning away in the background. 'La Chateau' consists almost entirely of some heavy handed guitar noodling with a muted kick drum backbeat.
In terms of pure riffage, the brief cue 'Ominous Tower' wins hands down, sounding a bit like Black Sabbath in the middle of a particularly stoned rehearsal session. It segues into 'Occupied Clock', a sound effect cue for the tortured wood creaking on the hinges of the grandfather clock that Dominique emerged from so memorably (and baffingly) in the film. The drum rolls and ethereal echoes of 'Violent Library' conjure up images of a black mass wreathed in skunk smoke and return later in 'Isa's Ceremony'.
The score is filled with little nuggets like this. Particularly effective is the dialogue sample (luckily for us, from the English dub) 'Drunk with Carnage' where the vampire Isolde relates how her masters came back from a hunt where they 'went after some unholy prey' and 'came back with wounds on their throats'. Setting us up for next track, Isabelle's Demise', which seems to lament the old vampires and echo her story, although on the film itself it does nothing of the sort.
Hammond organs, flutes, bongo drums and all your other favourite hippy instruments come into play over the course of the album, interspersed with sounds effects sequences with bats, insects, blood-curdling wails and orgasmic gasps. This is a really an album that needs to be heard to be believed and serves as the perfect tribute to the French director who passed away on 15th December of last year.
Kudos to Finders Keepers for putting this together; it was clearly a labour of love and in terms of production quality and compilation. It beats the two releases discussed above hands down in terms of presentation if nothing else, with a 20 page booklet of well-researched liner notes from the indie record label's head honcho Andy Votel. There'll you'll find a nice article about the film and the album itself and everything you didn't realise that you wanted to know about Acanthus.
It's also a cut above the old Lucertola Films of Jean Rollin release, now going for ridiculous sums of money on auction sites and the likes, not just because of better production quality but also because it works better as a record. Where that was a compilation, but the only place to find any of Acanthus' music from Le Frisson, this is a cohesive, mesmeric whole. If you miss the Fascination (1979) tracks, then you'll be pleased know that Finders Keepers are to release the complete score for that too, along with that of Requiem for a Vampire (1971).
An unforgettable LP that deserves a place in not just the collection of any Eurocult enthusiast but also in the collection of anyone with a truly wide-ranging and eclectic appreciation of unusual music. Be warned; listening to this LP may make you want to repudiate modern life and reinvent yourself as a long haired, bell-bottom wearing French hippy vampire. Well, maybe.
Until next time – keep listenin'.
| ←Previous Stop! Hammertime. |
|---|
Sci Fi Podcast | Original Soundtrack Podcast | Doctor Who Podcast | Magazine Subscriptions | Contact Us
Other articles in OST - by Rob Talbot
I've been expecting you... Doc-tor! 14 December 2011
Surgeons, Spies and Pugilistic Robots 14 November 2011
Welcome to the Insanely Groovy World of Italian Cult Soundtracks 14 October 2011
Aliens! Cowboys! Murderers! Crooks! 14 September 2011
In Brightest Day... in Bowler Hat. 14 August 2011
X-Men, Tron, Zimmer and... The Bill? 14 July 2011
Stop! Hammertime. 14 June 2011
Starburst Magazine RSS Feed
Comments
RSS feed for comments to this post