| The Mole |
| Composed by David Michael Frank |
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Conducted by David Michael Frank Orchestrated by William Motzing, David Michael Frank, and Lawrence Schwartz Performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra Produced by David Michael Frank, David G. Stanley, Scott A. Stone, and Robert Townson Release Date: 2001 |
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I have never been one to watch countless hours of TV. When I do watch it, it is usually one of the shows I am currently interested in at the time (which would be Enterprise right now), or whatever happens to be on Comedy Central at the moment. Otherwise, I generally pass on most shows, especially network programs. Save for a single episode of Survivor II and Murder in Small Town X, I have not watched any episodes out of the entire crop of faddish “reality” TV shows. The Mole is an Americanized version of a famous reality show from Belgian. After ABC acquired the series, the American producers were faced with a problem. It seems that U.S. copyright laws don’t mean too much in European counties, and the original Belgian series was scored with all manner of film music from the likes of Danny Elfman, John Barry, and Hans Zimmer. Given the effect that such music had on the series, the powers-that-be wanted to duplicate that feel as close as possible with a new score that would not suffer from a nightmare of copyright infringement. Enter composer David Michael Frank and The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. The laundry list of influences is immediately apparent from the outset of the CD. The opening title sounds like a mixture of the James Bond and Mission: Impossible themes. It’s quite a fun, bouncy little piece and really sets the stage for what is to follow. While the tracks vary stylistically from dark tension cues, action set pieces, and even a few humorous moments, the music has a general feel that is not unlike a Media Ventures score (thanks mostly to the use of an electric guitar), albeit a version that is more watered down so as to be more accessible for those who are not very keen on that particular sound. A few cues even take on a pseudo X-Files feel to them. Frank breaks out into occasional exotic moments, such as his use of the accordion in Nighttime in Paris. Overall, while some of the tracks differ quite widely in stylistic composition, the album is produced quite well and the inherit jumpiness in such scoring never gets out of hand. The performances by The City of Prague Philharmonic are good, but there is no full orchestral sound in this score, and instead it sounds more like ensemble music at times. The individual tracks are rather short, but they are pleasantly self-contained and their low running time makes this CD an easy listen. This is quite an impressive effort by David Frank and I look forward to the upcoming album for the sequel. If James Bond/Mission: Impossible-esque type music is something that you really enjoy, consider checking this CD out. It may be just what you are looking for. ***1/2 |
| Track Listing - Total Running Time: 75:24 | |
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