Alexander (Original Soundtrack) - Vangelis

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it rate alongside the competition	Good
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	beautiful music to a great film, very touching, cheap
Disadvantages:	carelessly made booklet, weird extra track

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Today I will tell you all about the soundtrack to the epic movie

Alexander by Vangelis

What is it?
This is the soundtrack to the movie "Alexander" by Oliver Stone. The movie came out
in 2004 and recieved mixed review - some loved it, some hated it. But most reviewers
agreed on the soundtrack, composed by Vangelis, being a work of art.

Who is Vangelis?
Vangelis is a greek composer and a pioneer regarding electrical music. He has
started to compose electric music that sounds like a whole epic orchestra, putting a
lot of feeling into it. He was born in 1943 and surprisingly also composed the music
to "Bladerunner".

What's "Alexander"?
"Alexander" is a movie about Alexander The Great. About 350 before Christ, he was
the son of the Macedonian king Philip. After his father died, he became the king of
Macedonia, later the king of Greece and through out his life, he went to conquer
all of the back-then known world.
It's a movie by Oliver Stone with some famous actors who all do a fabulous job -
Colin Farrell plays Alexander, Val Kilmer protrays his father and Angelina Jolie
plays his mother Olympias. Jared Leto plays his best friend and maybe-lover (for
it is highly suspected but not fully prooven that Alexander was bisexual), Rosario
Dawson plays Alexander's persian wife and well-known actors such as Anthony
Hopkins, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Christopher Plummer and Rory McCann.

The CD packaging
The CD comes in a clear case with booklet and inlay.
The cover is one of the movie posters showing Alexander, his parents and old
Ptolemaios, as well as barely visible soldiers with speers in the background.
The picture is mainly white and brownish, with some accents of gold and red as
you can see in the picture. The writing "Alexander - Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack by Vangelis" looks like gold, with the words "Alexander" and "Vangelis"
being bigger than the rest.
The back of the CD has the tracklist on it, next to a picture of Alexander in battle on
his horse.
The booklet is basicly a long piece of paper folded four times. On the first page there
is a photgraph of Vangelis with the information that all the music has been composed,
arranged, produced and performed by him. In the lower corner of this pages we
get some more information on people who contributed to the songs because
some other instruments played by other musicians are featured in a few tracks.
There is also information on the recording staff and studio,
On the next two pages the tracks are listed again and there is more information
on the record company and we can also see the writing that is usually at the bottom
of a movie poster, stating producers and main actors.
The fourth page has no writing but a beautiful black and white photograph of
Colin Farrell as Alexander before he goes into war and grows a massive mane ;)
Then you turn the whole paper around to see the cover of the CD and a three page
collage of colour photographs from the movie, showing many of the involved actors,
as well as Oliver Stone.
The CD itself is golden with silver writing, again stating the tracklist, title and
composer.

The tracks
The music is very touching and intensive. The tracks follow each other nicely, so
there are no drastic changes of mood. When you have seen the movie before and
then relax while listening to this CD, you will immediately recall scenes from the
movie because the music suited them so well and made them memorable.

1. Introduction
This song plays at the beginning when we see the credit and then are lead into
Ptolemaios' garden to be told the story of Alexander. This track is very monumental
but a perfect way to bring the listeniner into the mood.

2. Young Alexander
This is one of my favourite tracks. It will give you goose bumbs because it is so
monumental as well, but upbeat and beautiful. In the movie we see Alexander as a
10-year-old, riding a black horse that he was told was evil and wild - this is the
moment in the movie where the audience notices Alexander is special.

3. Titans
This song contains choir-like sounds and sounds very heroic - it reminds you of
strong men leaving their home for war. It comes up to be even louder, but with a
steady rythm.

4. The drums of Gaugamela
This song is full of the tension that must have been felt on the battlefield when the
Greek and the Persians faced each other. It then changes into a quicker pace with
female, persian sounding singing in the background.

5. One morning in Pella
A sad little, tingling melody that that underlines how overwhelmed Alexander is with
becoming king. It is beautiful and gentle, but at the same time melancholic. It
becomes more hopeful towards the end but keeps having a heavy undertone.
This is my second favourite track.

6. Roxane's Dance
This song sounds dreamlike at first, then grows into a fast dancign rythm. In the
movie, it comes up when Alexander first sees his future wife - a Persian princess
who dances for the Greek.

7. Eastern Path
This is an eastern sounding, mystic with the sound of flutes.

8. Garden of delight
This is how a mystic garden would sounds if it sang! A beautiful, again eastern
sounding melody with harps and female singing in the background.

9. Roxane's Veil
This is a typical Vangelis song - a strong melody containg an exotic sounding violin
and a synthetic background sound and some subtle rythm. This might sound
horrible, but it actually is very nice!

10. Bagoas' Dance
This is another one of my favourites. We hear birds and rattle snakes after a noise
that sounding like distant drumming, and then it goes into a heavy dancing rythm
that sounds like an exotic tribe dancing. The song even has some sort of "climax"
as more drums seem to join in towards the end. In the movie, Alexander's persian
eunuch servant dances for him. This song fades into track 11.

11. The charge
This is a very dramatic songs as it comes up when Alexander kills Kleitos because
he mocks Alexander and his family. Alexander looses control and stabs him, which
brings a big change in the movie. The song uses the articifial orchestra and drums
to show the changes happening here.

12. Preparation
A short, determined sounding, dark piece .

13. Across the mountains
This song has the articifal 'humming' choir in the background again and sounds
very much like track 3, trying to bring across the same positive attitude again. The
choir becomes louder again and this song seems to re-glorify Alexander again
after the stabbing incident. It grows into a dramatic end and really stands out.

14. Chant
This song seems to be a follow-up to track 13, only a little quiter but built in a
similar way.

15. Immortality
This is a more demure sounding melody playing when Alexander is slowly loosing
power and his will to live. It is very dramatic and goes up and down, like waves on
the shore. Mid-song, there are lighter moments that stand out in the movie, when
Alexander seems to have visions on his deathbed.

16. Dream of Babylon
This sounds like marching first, then picks up the main theme again. It also seems
to pick up some elements from track 8 - but not due to a lack of creativity on Vangeli's
side, but because Alexander has flashbacks and seems to go through his life inside
is head as he dies.

17. Eternal Alexander
This is the credit music, a mix of all the tracks - very beautifully done and another one
of my favourites.

18. Tender memories
This is a quiter melodie with harps again, resembling "One morning in Pella", but
not as sad. I must admit I don't remember where it came up in the movie.

19. Bonus Track: Bizarre Bazar
This is an extra track not belonging to the movie. It is kind of an ethno sounding
track that really sounds a bit "bizarre", with female chanting in the background.
We can also her zimbles and other instruments - I suppose Vangelis let out some
more inspiration that the movie gave him.

Price
I bought it full price when it came out, so I paid around 15 pounds.
The CD can be bought on Amazon for £5.87 right now! It has a different cover and
doesn't have the bonus track, but I must say I even like that cover better and the
bonus track is not something to go out of your way for.
Shops like HMV tend to have it, but of course the price varies among the shops.

Conclusion
I really like this soundtrack and I think it is great for recalling the film, taking a bath,
enjoying meditation or learning for school/university.
What I don't like is that the tracks are very short - the CD only comes up to one hour
and I think there was more music in the movie. Also the extra track has nothing to
do with the movie as it only vaguely goes with the movie score, if at all. The booklet
could also have been more or could at least have been a real booklet instead
of a fould-out pamphlet.

Still, the music itself is so beautiful - 4 stars!