The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep - Music by James Newton Howard

After some truly lackluster scores in the past few years, James Newton Howard has given us The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep to show us that he hasn’t lost the touch that made us all love his music in the first place. The Water Horse is one of the best scores of 2007 and easily Howard’s best since last year’s Lady in the Water. It’s fun, emotional, and joy to listen to.

Before I go any further, I must admit that I’m a huge fan of Celtic music and my review will obviously reflect that. While this is primarily an orchestral score, there is still a good deal of Celtic influence and instrumentation performed wonderfully by the Chieftains. It firmly evokes the idyllic Scottish countryside where the film takes place.

The album opens with Sinéad O'Connor’s song “Back Where You Belong.” Simply put, this is a horrible song. O’Connor has a fairly unique voice, but for some reason or another it doesn’t mesh well with this song. It sounds as if she straining to hit the notes. Matters certainly don’t improve when speaking of the lyrics; they’re laughable. This is only the second song I’ve heard from O’Connor. The other, and far superior, is “One More Day” from Harry Gregson-Williams’ Veronica Guerin.

“Main Title” beings the score portion of the album. It presents a lovely theme on solo violin that only makes an appearance a few times on the album. The first half of the album is nicely balanced bouncing back and forth between warm thematic underscore and Celtic jollies. In these first cues, there a few minor themes presented such as the Lady in the Water like “Angus Feeds Crusoe.” Most predominant however is the theme for Angus and Crusoe. It’s this theme that continues to come back in various iterations throughout the entire score.

“Swimming”, a 6.5 minute cue halfway through the album, is one of the finest tracks of the year. Angus and Crusoe’s theme is presented quietly on woodwind and acoustic guitar before racing strings and brass stir up the musical pot and move into a jaunty Celtic style jig. This then gives way to a stunningly beautiful bit of music with predominant cello and choir before bursting into the first grandiose statement of the Angus and Crusoe theme.

Besides having one the best tracks of the year, Water Horse also has one of the best finales as well. Beginning with “Saving Crusoe” this action oriented portion of the album showcases Howard’s big orchestral sound at it’s finest. Of particular interest is gorgeous buildup in the final minute of “The Net” with choir, brass and strings.

The Water Horse is most likely not a score you will truly appreciate on first listen. It takes multiple listens to pick up on it’s thematic subtlety. Make no mistake though, this is one of the best albums of 2007, and after a particularly poor year for original and genuine film music, it’s great to have a score like this come in and save the day.

4/5

Breach - Music by Mychael Danna

Released in February of this year, Breach is an exceptional story espionage without the explosions and high octane adrenaline rushes of the Bourne or James Bond films. Based on the real life events and characters surrounding the arrest of FBI agent Robert Hanssen, the film stars Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney and Dennis Haysbert. Directed by Billy Ray, who previously brought to screen the true story behind faux-journalist Stephen Glass in 2003’s Shattered Glass, Breach does a fantastic job of telling the story of a twisted man who sold American secrets to the KGB for over 22 years. Cooper, who plays Hanssen, delivers one of the standout performances of his career which has already gone unnoticed by the Golden Globes and most likely all other awards boards.

The reserved, yet compelling score is provided by composer Mychael Danna. Written primarily for light strings, piano, and occasional woodwind, this is the type of score that many composers try their hand at and never succeed. Danna, along with Mark Isham and Thomas Newman, are masters at creating subtle scores that fit their films like a glove. Breach is one of those scores, but also holds up well on its own.

The album starts immediately with the theme for Robert Hanssen. The cunning theme is presented in several different guises throughout the 35 minute runtime of the album and reaches its climax in “The Arrest.” The second primary theme presented is for Eric O’Neille (Phillippe), one of the key FBI agents who helped take Hanssen down. The somewhat reluctant theme is perfect for O’Neille who isn’t entirely sure of his life as an FBI agent.

For the first half of the album, Danna’s music is quite reticent and mysterious highlighted in the wonderful track “Gun Culture.” By the eighth track, “Double or Nothing,” the tension starts to build with a recurring pulsating string motif. By the album’s end, it’s fully satisfying.

Mychael Danna’s Breach has remained as one of the better scores of the year despite the fact that it was released in February. It melds perfectly with visuals and is a great album to put on late at night or during a rainy day.

3.5/5