Reviews of Soundtracks & Musicals »

Space Opera Romantique

Advantages: A historical score on all levels; over 100 minutes of utter splendour
Disadvantages: Sound not as full due to age; the Empire is lacking strong accompaniment

...YOUR ENLIGHTENMENT, SIR When Star Wars premiered in 1977, it was an instant success nobody was expecting. During the 1960's and 70's the movies pretty much concentrated on the real world with the sugar coating of the 1950's being replaced by the grittiness and harder realities of life. But then Star Wars showed up and heralded the great revival of the action fantasy and sci-fi genres, something that was virtually more close to a joke at the time. ...
...could have blasted the entire Star Wars saga down before it even got started. Imagine an electronic score in place of the fully symphonic one and all the excitement would have been watered down to perpetual cheese. This type of score had not really been written in a long time and therefore Williams decided to look inspiration from farther down the road than even the 1930's. His basic approach was by using Richard Wagner's device known as a leitmotif, ...

berlioz 10.02.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Star Wars (Episode IV - A New Hope) [ECD] - Various Artists

Originality

Lyrics

Quality and consistency...

Value for Money

The World of Tomorrow Is In The Past

Advantages: A great tribute to the adventure scores of the 1930's.
Disadvantages: The constant action and too loyal a following of the Williams tradition can deter some people

With Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Edward Shearmur has taken the classical sensibility from The Count of Monte Cristo, the chromaticism of Reign of Fire, and combined them in the grand old orchestral style of John Williams and James Horner of the early 1980's, with more than a nod towards the Golden Age masters Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Max Steiner. In this score, Shearmur lets all restrictions loose and writes music as over-the-top as ...
...my money, I would recommend Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow to anyone enjoying good, old fashioned orchestral film music, that tosses subtlety out of the window and indulges you in an hour's worth of good fun and nostalgia. Highly recommended! I. The World of Tomorrow (1:07) II. The Zeppelin Arrives (1:53) III. The Robot Army (3:02) IV. Calling Sky Captain (3:25) V. Back at the Base (2:49) VI. The Flying Wings Attack (6:32) VII. An Aquatic ...

berlioz 06.12.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow - Various Artists

Originality

Lyrics

Quality and consistency...

Value for Money

A fortunate soundtrack in an unfortunate world

Advantages: the music completely sums up the films atmosphere
Disadvantages: some of the tracks are a bit short.

i love this film, its whole style and themes, therefore i love this soundtrack. when the film first came out i had real trouble tracking down this cd, eventually buying it off ebay for a lot more than its available for now. however, i still think its worth it. i use this cd when i want to write, or draw as it really sums up the errie offbeat dark/fairytale-esque style of the film...which i just love. there are some really nice sections of piano music, ...
...too slushy. i think any fans of tim burton would most likely enjoy this film soundtrack and the more times you listen to it, the more you'll get out of it. THE TRACKS "The Bad Beginning" is a brilliant track to begin with. it instantly sets the tone for the rest of the soundtrack of sinister tradegy and orphan's courage and resiliance. the bittersweet waves of emotion soaks into the listener throughout the cd. in the "The Marvellous Marriage" is ...

vickymoo 15.07.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - Various Artists

Originality

Lyrics

Quality and consistency...

Value for Money

The End Of The Affair Soundtrack

Advantages: Beautiful classical music
Disadvantages: Not enough variety

...purchase the soundtrack to The End Of The Affair. It was a bit tough to find, but eventually I bought it. It was pretty expensive - in one store I saw it retailing at £16.99, which is overpriced for a one-disc album! The soundtrack is composed by Michael Nyman, who has a lot of musical experience under his belt. Throughout the film, the style of music is slow and classical. The soundtrack fits the mood of the film well. The main drawback of the ...
...They can begin to drag into each other, which is not helped by the fact that some songs sample the others. One standout track is 'Diary Of Hate', which I would recommend to anyone. There are 15 tracks overall, so it is a good length. The soundtrack is frequently poignant and beautiful, but it is not Michael Nyman's greatest works. It does, however, capture his distinctive sound and provides the bleak ambience from the film. Michael Nyman works ...

aurora-borealis 28.03.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of End Of The Affair, The - Original Soundtrack

Originality

Lyrics

Quality and consistency...

Value for Money

High Fives all round!

Advantages: good mix, energetic, fun
Disadvantages: /

When I was a bit younger, I used to watch Australian kids show Hi 5 on Milkshake every morning religiously before school. It is a programme aimed at pre-school and primary school children, teaching them various things through the methods of song and dance. Naturally, there are five presenters, all of which are Australian. Okay so the education side is a bit young fo rme, but I do find the music very entertaining on the show! Now I do not have the ...
...I did buy one of their several albums. This one was Hi 5 Hits. This album is very attractive, a very colourful cover with little cartoon images of the band: Nathan Foley, Charley Delaney, Tim Harding, Kellie Crawford (then Hoggart), and Kathleen de Leon. It is very bright and draws your attention in for sure! Looking on the back I noticed there were a total of twenty one songs. I will let you discover the wonders of them all yourself, but to give ...

Amy69 13.12.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Hi-5 Hits - Hi-5

Originality

Lyrics

Quality and consistency...

Value for Money


More popular products »

Grobag Egg

Great device, funky lights, looks good in a nursery. (*)

Nokia N85

Good looks, excellent internet browsing, packed with features, most areas easy to navigate (*)

Samsung UE40B8000

sleek, green mind blowing picture (*)

ASUS WL-138g V2

Network adapter - PCI - Plug-in card - 54 Mbps - IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g

AEG-Electrolux Santo 75438 KG

Refrigerators - Freestanding - Energy Efficiency: A + - Total Capacity: 407, 440 litres

Miele H 5040 BM

Microwaves, Cooking - Max Power: 1000 Watt - Capacity: 43L - with Grill

Citroen Saxo 1.1

Very cheap to run, tax and insure. Pretty cheap on maitenance costs. (*)

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 / 2.83 GHz processor

LGA775 Socket - Cache: 12 MB

(*) Reviews by Ciao members