Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The composer of tomorrow?, 12 Oct 2004
By A Customer
Edward Shearmur's score is the best thing about Kerry Conran's frustratingly uneven Art Deco Sci-Fi extravaganza(Jude Law - that bland Kings Road clothes horse - the worst). If you're a fan of John Williams circa his luminous "Empire Strikes Back"/ "Superman" period and composers of Hollywood's Golden Age (Korngold/ Newman et al) do not hesitate to acquire this barnstorming score. Fantastic sound quality and virtuoso playing from the London Symphony Orchestra-in-disguise are the icing on the cake.
Forget Horner and Zimmer - Mr Shearmur shows those production line sausage makers how it's really done!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A rare classic, 23 May 2005
Wow! There's been a lot of talk of comparisons between some up and coming composers and the likes of John Williams (Michael Giacchino, David Arnold) but I would have to say that on the basis of this superior soundtrack, Edward Shearmur could easily walk off with that mighty accolade - I would actually describe this soundtrack's flavour as a cross between Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Silvestri's The Mummy Returns, both classics.
Sky Captain's harmonies, orchestration and execution by the London Metropolitan Orchestra are first rate and have an intricacy that Mr Williams would be quite proud of I'm sure. Whether or not the orchestrations are the work of Shearmur himself or an experienced orchestrator I'm not entirely sure but that doesn't detract at all from Shearmur's obvious superior musical talents - the basics of the music here - and where a composer's talents really lie - namely the melodies, harmonies, developments, representation and musical complexity, are all so good that I only hope Shearmur can one day be given the right material and embark on a larger body of work, something to call his own Star Wars.
Sky Captain does sound a lot like vintage Williams and there are some rather engaging themes weaving their way throughout the cues. The main theme is perhaps not as memorable as one could have hoped for but it is certainly heroic enough, is nicely harmonised and in another sign of Shearmur's talent, is well developed so that it at times also suits a more romantic or sombre mood.
Sky Captain is really a non- stop action affair with a few light moments but the (now quite fashionable) powerful overblown trombones are never far away and when the choir is used (The Robot Army), it is awesome.
If I were to offer any criticisms, I would say that the rather beautiful romance theme is unfortunately underused and could have perhaps been adapted into some sort of bonus concert cue a la John Williams. Also, some of the cues do run seamlessly into one another and whereas on CD this is not a problem, my MP3 player inserts a little gap between them; so perhaps there could have been some reorganisation of the cues such as having one cue but two or three titles within that cue, again a la John Williams.
However, I have no real criticisms about the music and I would say not to listen to people who complain that it's all been done before. Sure, it's reminiscent of past classics but unlike other such soundtracks, Sky Captain stands right up there with them. In short, this is the most enjoyable soundtrack I've had the pleasure of listening to in a very long time and I look forward to following Shearmur's musical career with pleasure.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant in every sense of the word, 28 Oct 2004
I couldn't believe how good the music was in the film (which i also loved, in contrary with the overall critique). Ed Shearmur has captured the true sense of childish, bombastic adventure with this score. Each character has their own cue (near enough) and there are several punch the air moments scattered through the wholly fantastic CD. "Calling Sky Captain" and "Manta Squadron" are stand outs, but you'll find yourself listening to all the tracks one after the other, reliving the best bits of the movie over and over again. The only downside that i can find (and its not enough to even drop the overall score to less than a perfect 5) is the final track, "Over the Rainbow" by Jane Monheit. Its not as good as the original and frankly the only track i haven't listened to about a million times. Escapism in its purest form this is excllent and Edward Shearmur has a talent just waiting to join the ranks of John Williams, Hans Zimmer and James Horner.
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~ Elmer Bernstein
~ John Williams
~ James Horner
~ John [Film Composer] Williams
~ Danny Elfman
