I am from Germany but love the UK and come there on holiday a lot... I always raid the shops and bri...
I am from Germany but love the UK and come there on holiday a lot... I always raid the shops and bring the best home to Germany! ;)
I am saving my Ciao earning to see the "Thriller" musical again!
Member since:25.03.2009
Reviews:44
Members who trust:34
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!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Put the saga of history's greatest overachiever--Macedonian emperor Alexander the Great ... more
had conquered 90% of the pre-Christian world before his death at 32--in the hands of Hollywood's favourite over-reacher, Oliver Stone, and the result is three-hours...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
exceptional by (3%):
very helpful by (97%):
![Catalogue, The [Remastered] - Kraftwerk](/images/icons/no_pic_generic_S.gif){kind=icon}
![Ministry Of Sound Anthems (1991-2008) [Digipak] - Various Artists](http://imagesa.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/406/prod_small-6791406.jpg)
