When Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich's The
Patriot was first announced, David Arnold fans greatly rejoiced.
This was just the project that Arnold needed to expand his horizons a bit
and score something a bit more dramatic than the "popcorn flicks" of
Independence Day and
Godzilla. These high hopes were quickly dashed when it was
announced that Arnold would not be scoring the project. Even though John
Williams came on board and delivered a terrific score, it would have still
been interesting to see how Arnold would have handled it. The fans waited
for the announcement of what Arnold's next project would be.
It was Shaft. Any
questions?
Whatever the reasons,
Shaft was certainly an interesting choice. Having already successfully
tackled the James Bond Barry style, Arnold has taken on Isaac Hayes' 70s
funk style from the original Shaft and passed the test again with
flying colors. Maybe he just has a passion for taking old musical styles
and making them more contemporary, but after this attempt, I have
seriously increased my respect for David Arnold in this area.
Frankly, I really loath
those hip-hop 70s scores, especially the closer they get to
disco-influenced underscore. Just take a listen to The Spy Who Loved Me
to find out how bad it can really get (even
For Your Eyes Only didn't descend to
those depths...pun intended). Still, with Arnold's masterful twist, this
score is more than listenable. It is even quite enjoyable overall, despite
the fact that it is an update of the 70s funk sound. While
listening to this score I just got the strong impression that Arnold had a
lot of fun with this project and I think probably makes a huge
difference as compared to what could have been delivered by any other
composer.
While the electronic 70s
groove is mostly always present, Arnold still retains an orchestral
background filled with beautiful string passages that really help to fill
out the texture of the music. The lone piano and string accompaniment
sequences are very nice as
well, and all the elements blend in together nicely. Like Arnold did for
the James Bond theme, Isaac Hayes' Shaft theme is never far behind
and it is always lurking around in the score somewhere. Along with the
other little themes scattered about, this really pumps up the score.
Fans of Arnold's work have
not been treated well lately. Both Godzilla
and Shaft have been totally ignored for score releases, and thus
the only way to come across them is the promotional releases that are
floating around on Ebay and elsewhere on the Internet.
This is an excellent score
and David Arnold did get to branch out with this one, although I still
wish he would have taken a shot at The Patriot.
Actually, I wish he could have scored both, but that's just Utopian
wishful thinking on my part. Unfortunately, the difficultly in obtaining
this one will probably mean that only the major die-hard Arnold fans will
end up with a copy, which is a real shame. ****
