Soundtracks...
Listening to the latest soundtrack by British composer John Murphy (known for SNATCH and LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS) I found myself asking "what is a soundtrack?". They're albums of music, sure, and some contain music as exciting as you're likely to find anywhere. Some have music hypnotic enough to induce meditation. Some are chock full o' hits, some are just burstin' with twenty tons of ROCK. What almost all have in common, as a category, is that they consist of material not created for appreciation on its own, but instead intended to be a supporting player in another, different, collaborative medium (I, of course, am excluding the "music inspired by" soundtracks from this category by saying this).
As a result, any soundtrack should ideally only be judged on how well it fulfills its intended purpose, and any criticism of it as a pure listening experience should be placed on the same level as something like how well architecture blueprints work as wallpaper, or how well screwdrivers work as doorstops, even though there are more than a few notable magazines and websites that evaluate them as pure music on a regular basis.
So i can't say I really got into 28 DAYS LATER, but no-one ever intended someone like me to in the first place. I can't say that my lack of enjoyment is due to anything on the part of the score, which is quite competent, beautiful in spots, dark in others. I'm sure it works well in the film.
The score is, in a word, ambient...sort of...
It's quite electronic, with touches of industrial, world, and synth and guitar textures not a million miles away from John Carpenter's monster music. Also included are some snatches of public domain faves "Ave Maria" and "Abide With Me" (sung by Perri Alleyne) and one song each by Blue States and Grandaddy, but the score itself is noticeably UN song-like (one ofthe general characteristics I think make a score listenable on its own to the general public, be it OUT OF AFRICA or THE BODYGUARD). As if to underscore this (unintentional pun), a Brian Eno (not known for being Mister Melody) track has also found it's way into the mix . If the John Murphy score tracks were more like the lone Eno track, you could truly call it ambient, but several cuts like Rage, Tower Block, and The Tunnel are WAY too intense to let the score be classified that way.
So I can't say it's party music, and it's not sounds of relaxification either, and it's certainly not driving-down-the-highway-at-3am-looking-for-God (or G-D) music, and it's more challenging than hummable but banal elevator music... It's a dramatic underscore, on a cd. And if you saw the film, you might want to pick it up, and you might enjoy it. If you didn't, and you're not one of the 5000 or so people on the planet who will buy anything with the world 'soundtrack' on it, you may not find it to be much of a listen.
But it's not supposed to be, so that's not taking anything away from the quality behind it as the work it was created to be. |