Rock, The - Soundtrack

...orchestrators. The music of The Rock, I think, would be accurate in describing as "symphonic rock" in its constant onslaught of synthesized percussion with much electric guitars combined with an orchestra. In a film of this type this approach really works quite well but unfortunately some of these composers also tend to use this same approach with less than appropriate movies. Apart from these considerations, the main theme is really great. ...
...the one that caught my attention when watching the movie for the first time. BUT THOSE SYNTHESIZERS, effective in the movie, not so much outside. It is these that ultimately will date this music like the pop rhythms and purely synthetic music written in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

This is not to say that the album is bad. Quite the contrary actually. But it is a little too lengthy for its material, the relentless synth percussion ... more

The Rock was another large, high-action Jerry Bruckheimer production, starring Sean Connery, Ed Harris and Nicholas Cage. It considers a disgruntled U.S. Army Colonel (Harris) who got fed up with the insensitivity of the American government towards U.S. troops lost in distant parts of the world. He gathers a team of his former men, steals some very nasty biological weapons and sets up base in the old prison of Alcatraz aka. "The Rock". Now they are threatening to launch the weapons on San Francisco unless they are paid a lot of money. The only people who can stop them is John Mason (Connery), an ex-inmate of Alcatraz who had previosuly managed escaped from there and a bioweapon-specialist (Cage) sent there to disarm the weapons. The result is quite an entertaining piece of action with Connery proving as charming and likeable as ever and Cage running around making smart-alec comments whenever he gets the chance.

The music very much reflects the overall style of the film, provided by Bruckheimer's account musicians, the Media Ventures gang led by Hans Zimmer. A lot of controversy hovers over the Media Ventures artists; many critics don't take kindly to these collaborative ventures, the music often ending up being mishmashed, unimaginative and sometimes just plainly horrible, using the same type of scoring regardless what the film's subject is about. It is often that Hans Zimmer takes a backseat and lets his juniors to do the major composing, playing the role of co-composer or producer. In these instances the other composers seem to be restricted to write what Zimmer likes, which naturally leads nowhere individual, although many of the composers have also emerged as quite fine composers in their own right. But having many composers, orchestrators, conductors etc. makes the music easily destruct in your hands.

The Rock is probably the purest example of this approach, using layers of synthesizer rhythms, chorus, percussion, effects and such, and combining all this with a traditional orchestra. The main part of the music was composed by Nick Glennie-Smith with Hans Zimmer contributing two themes, Harry Gregson-Williams and Steven Stern writing additional material, and the "Chase" cue was written by Don Harper. The music was recorded in two different locations and then mixed together, the music being conducted by Nick Glennie-Smith, Bruce Fowler and Don Harper. To add to this list there were five other orchestrators. The music of The Rock, I think, would be accurate in describing as "symphonic rock" in its constant onslaught of synthesized percussion with much electric guitars combined with an orchestra. In a film of this type this approach really works quite well but unfortunately some of these composers also tend to use this same approach with less than appropriate movies. Apart from these considerations, the main theme is really great. It by far saves the whole score, and it is the one that caught my attention when watching the movie for the first time. BUT THOSE SYNTHESIZERS, effective in the movie, not so much outside. It is these that ultimately will date this music like the pop rhythms and purely synthetic music written in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

This is not to say that the album is bad. Quite the contrary actually. But it is a little too lengthy for its material, the relentless synth percussion wearies you down in the long run, and due to the several composers involved in the composition, it suffers from the mixing of several sessions together, sometimes too obviously and badly. The thematic material is also somewhat disjointed, with the different themes appearing sometimes without any real relation to the onscreen action. The quality between different recording sessions also varies somewhat, but the greatest complaint I have for this score is that most of the cues are just TOO LONG. Here we have some of the best bits of the score disappear within the uninteresting filler-music, so you won't even notice it. The music would have benefitted greatly from editing the cues into smaller sections, moving the "Chase" cue into a more appropriate place, and including the final End Credits, that are missing.

The best track on the album is undoubtedly the opening "Hummell Gets the Rockets" that presents the main material in an effective seven minute cue where we hear the militaristic MV power-theme, Hummell's noble elegy, and the powerful action theme. By far it is the most enjoyable track on the album simply because it doesn't stretch into infinity (though there are several painfully obvious edits there). Some gentler touch is presented in the cue "Jade" where we have a nice and simple but not spectacular release from action. Lasting only two minutes though it's not all that effective and when it appears in the middle of "Mason's Walk - First Launch" and "Rocket Away" it feels watered down. The cue "Fort Walton - Kansas" is an insufferable guitar-led country-type piece that completely misses out on the more orchestral quality of the rest of the material. "The Chase" is a strange way to conclude since it took place long before the prison sequences. It also has the biggest array of pounding synthesizers and electric guitars than anywhere else on the album. Unfortunately much of the rest of the album comprises of simple filler material that just gets boring after a while and is a big detriment.

In conclusion The Rock is not a perfect soundtrack, but it has proved to be quite popular with the mainstream. It suffers from being overlong and often boring, but has a great main theme and suites many who don't consider purely orchestral music to be "cool" enough to listen on its own. An ordinary Media Ventures fair, but still better crafted than many others.

1. Hummell Gets the Rockets (6:25)
2. Rock House Jail (10:12)
3. Jade (2:01)
4. In the Tunnels (8:40)
5. Mason's Walk - First Launch (9:34)
6. Rocket Away (14:25)
7. Fort Walton - Kansas (1:37)
8. The Chase (7:35)

Music Composed by Nick Glennie-Smith, Hans Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams
Conducted by Nick Glennie-Smith, Bruce Fowler and Don Harper
Additional Music by Don Harper and Steven Stern
Orchestrated by Bruce Fowler, Suzette Moriarty, Ladd McIntosh, Walt Fowler and Dennis Dreith
"The Rock" Guitars by Bob Despit
"The Roll" Guitars by Michael Thomson and Michael Stevens
Recorded by Alan Meyerson and Bruce Botnick
Mixed by Alan Meyerson
Additional Engineering: Marc Streitenfeld
Music Editors: Bob Badami and John Finklea
Assistant Music Editors: Shannon Erbe and Sienna Pascarella
Recorded at Media Ventures, Sony, Paramount
Album Compiled by Marc Streitenfeld and Nick Glennie-Smith

© berlioz
 

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