CD Reviews: The One & Only and The Life of David Gale
The One & Only ***
GABRIEL YARED
Sony Classical SK87717
20 tracks - 61:47
Gabriel Yared escapes his "tragic love story" prison with a light, bittersweet
score for a British comedy drama about mistaken marriages and love at first
sight.
Many will recall the Lebanese composer's frustration at being unable
to convince directors to hire him for comedies; he was passed over on Bridget
Jones's Diary because the filmmakers didn't believe he could deliver
the right sound. While this movie isn't in the same league as Bridget
Jones, there's enough invention in the score to prove to the industry
that this man can underscore laughs as well as tears.
Yared plays the keyboards on this score, but his greatest coup is in
employing popular Romanian Gypsy ensemble Taraf de Haidouks (Band of Brigands)
to accompany him. Multiple award winners within the World Music genre,
the Haidouks energize the score with a vitality and joie de vivre that
lifts its spirits. As expected for a Romany "funerals and weddings" band,
their eclectic sound is dominated by accordion and violin, with solid support
from the cimbalon, showcased in "The One & Only." This jolly theme
is revisited throughout the album in many different variants -- samba,
electric guitar, slow, each one placing greater emphasis on different instruments.
Johnny Depp met the players when filming The Man Who Couldn't Cry and
was so impressed with their performance that he now flies them out to work
private Hollywood parties. They also played a significant part in Cannes-winning
film Latcho Drom.
Yared's score accounts for half the album, with other tracks derived
from an eclectic range of sources, encompassing Peabo Bryson, Guiseppe
Verdi and Da Muttz! At times, the humor in the movie is painted in broad
strokes and the music emulates these larger-than-life sensibilities. And
it was a curious conceit using Eastern European folk riffs on a score set
in Newcastle, England. But arguably, the emotions that the music invokes
are universal, and as such there's no mismatch between image and sound.
The movie was critically panned, due in no small part to some dreadful
Northern accents, but we can at least salvage the quirky soundtrack.
Recommended in equal measures to fans of Yared and Taraf de Hadouks,
this is unlikely to appeal to the casual soundtrack buyer who falls outside
either of these camps. It's not just another breezy comedy score, but a
lively celebration of life for those who are prepared to add a little diversity
to their range of listening. -- Nick Joy
The Life of David Gale * 1/2
ALEX PARKER AND JAKE PARKER
Decca 440 066 733-2
16 tracks - 49:12
From director Alan Parker comes the latest fol-de-rol from the Hollywood
machine, The Life of David Gale. Parker also crafted (in a previous
life perhaps) The Commitments and Evita, both thematically
sound and musically interesting movies. But with his latest effort, starring
Kevin Spacey as a (supposedly) wrongly-accused death row inmate who once
crusaded against the death penalty, Parker makes a serious misstep. With
a fascinating premise and top-notch cast, the film should have been a multi-textured
examination of the death penalty along the lines of Dead Man Walking.
Instead it is a meaningless thriller where the next step is so obvious
that the entire experience seems trite.
Much of the blame for this obviousness can be placed at the feet of
the director's sons, Alex and Jake Parker, who scored the picture. The
younger Parkers were called upon early in the process to provide music
for the shoot itself (for the actors and directors to have an aural component
to help them get into the mood). Wouldn't you know it -- their father decided
to use their music in the finished film.
Even average film critics, usually oblivious to scores, have remarked
on Gale's music's failure. Jake Parker, who wrote the instrumental cues,
seems to know that he is working on "an important movie," and thus gives
us subtle track titles like "Ominous Lacan," "Ominous Drums" and "Ominous
Pascal." The instrumental cues vacillate between over-produced string themes
in the simplest chord progressions imaginable (for touching scenes), and
repetitive, over-produced techno passages (for intense scenes).
Brother Alex Parker, who wrote and performed the songs and rock-inspired
cues, fares no better. Consider "Waterside," which opens with the sound
of running water and the ubiquitous jangly guitar so characteristic of
all Southern movies.
Toni Price's "Just to Hear Your Voice" and Correo Aereo's "La Pena Huasteca"
are fine songs in their own rights, and Puccini's overused "Tu che di gel
sie cinta" from Turandot (opera usually makes things seem more important)
closes the album with a mildly strained performance by Janis Kelly. Also
available on the disc, accessible through your PC or Mac, is the movie's
trailer, which plays as an extended music video for the first cue, "Another
Bleeding Heart." -- Andrew Granade
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