Throughout the many years
that he has worked in the film industry, Jerry Goldsmith has composed more
than his share of classic scores. Of course, no composer can deliver a
masterpiece every single time, and Goldsmith is no exception. For all of
the beautiful, magnificent, and riveting scores that he has composed
throughout his career, there are also those that are bland and lifeless.
Unfortunately, Along Came A Spider falls somewhere between those
two categories, mostly leaning towards the latter.
Along Came A Spider
continues in the same vein as Goldsmith's previous score,
Hollow Man, though it comes off as a bit
less intense. There are some nice little cues (Alone) that are
performed by a solo piano in the style of John Williams Father and Son
piece
from Jaws. These are some of the more
interesting moments as they provide a nice break from more prevalent noisy
orchestral cues. Still, some of these moments are rather interesting, and
Goldsmith is very effective in building tension in a way that probably
works very well in the film. As one can expect, there is the standard
synth work that is in the same style as
Hollow
Man and
Star Trek: Insurrection
and it's always interesting to come back to after listening to Goldsmith
synth work of the past, but it doesn't break any new ground as opposed to
those two scores. There is a new synth effect that is tweaked in a way
to give it an interesting "rumbling" effect. It's one of the most
effective synth effects I've heard Goldsmith use in quite a while.
As is standard with Varese
releases, especially on scores that aren't major catalog titles, the CD
only has a running time of just under 35 minutes, although given the
nature of this score it's probably at just the right length. With music of
this style, too much could be a bad thing. Unless there is a really
good cue that was left off, this shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Along Came A Spider
is a perfectly serviceable suspense score, and I did find it to be
somewhat enjoyable. It is definitely not for everyone, but I'm sure
Goldsmith fans will find something to appreciate.
***1/2
