| Around the World in 80 Days (Trevor Jones) | ||
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Orchestrated by Geoffrey Alexander, Trevor Jones, Mike Townend, and David Butterworth
Conducted by Trevor Jones
Produced by Trevor Jones, David A. Stewart, and The Triangle
Release Date: June 15th, 2004
Trevor Jones has been hitting the adventure genre quite hard as of late. With his last effort for the abysmal drudge of a film that was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Jones supplied an enjoyable work that was long on huge orchestral power and bombast, while short on any key thematic development. Of course, such has been the case for plenty of Jones' action scores as late, though harkening back to older titles such as Dark City and The Dark Crystal (the first two that came to mind...hmmm), shows a composer whose thematic development was quite brassy and bold. Sandwiched between LXG and 80 Days came Alan Silvestri's Van Helsing, a score that is just as bombastic and rip-roaring, yet understands that the best feature of over-the-top action scores is an equally over-the-top heroic theme that has you whistling it days afterwards. LXG, for all it's fun action writing, is sorely missing on this point, and 80 Days fares about the same in that regard. As far as pacing is concerned, this score is far more akin to Van Helsing than LXG. Rarely does Jones slow his score down (save for but a couple of cues almost near the end). The feel is very much akin to what an adventure score should sound like and every exotic aspect of a journey around the world is adeptly handled, with plenty of stylistic choices that reflect a primarily Indian/Asian feel. The cues are enjoyable, though seem to generally hold purpose in their own little world, with very little cohesion with the rest of the music. While I made the point before that 80 Days fails to create a memorable heroic theme, I would be remiss to say that the score is entirely devoid of themes. What congealness is brought to the score is handled by these smaller, less intense themes, that unfortunately are derivatives of what could be found in LXG. In fact, Jones seems to have suffered from temp track hell with this score, as there are numerous references to other scores (both his and others) throughout. Whether this is the case, or Jones is simply spoofing sequences that the different films have in common, I have no idea. However, among the references you can find in this score, you'll notice Hook, Cutthroat Island, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Mummy Returns...or all the usual suspects when you think of high rolling adventure scores. As such references are often dictated by the powers-that-be, I find it hard to fault Jones unless further evidence comes to light of the contrary. The top of the album consists of three songs, with the oddest definitely being the Baha Men's funky rendition of It's a Small World. Having not seen anything for this film (other than promotional stills), I can instantly tell from this song that this incarnation of the story is far from the conventional telling of the book. While I'm generally annoying at albums that don't start off at the beginning with the score, that is what the track skip button is handy for. And I can't fault Disney for trying to appeal to consumers who have no inking as to who Trevor Jones is. Their loss, and yours, if you have yet to experience his work. |
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| Track Listing | ||
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1 - All Over the World (Join the Celebration)
(Dave Stewart and the Sylvia Young Theater School Choir) (3:12) |
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Total Running Time: 58:11 |
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If you find those references to be in your particular taste of adventure
scores, than it shouldn't turn you away from this score (though the
