Jig - Patrick Doyle

Patrick Doyle is having a busy year with two of the summer's biggest films (Thor and the upcoming Rise of the Escape Beneath the Battle Beyond the Planet of the Apes), but one that is likely to go under the radar are the 40 delightful minutes of Jig. Given that it's a documentary about Irish dancing, I was fully expecting some full on Riverdance action but, of course, Doyle is scoring the human drama backstage, not the competition itself. Therefore, while the tone is very firmly entrenched somewhat typical, film music Irish territory, but managing to sound a lot more authentic than most.

The focus is on a small ensemble; guitar, flute, violin and piano, with a delicate subtlety that is welcome after the bombast of Thor. The delicacy of the textures means it's something of a Celtic version of La Ligne Droit, although it is perhaps a little less memorable. The album closes with the lengthy Final Results, followed by a song with lyric by Doyle Jnr (male) and performed by Doyle Jnr (female). The results, like the rest of the score, are most fetching. In the midst of a noisy summer schedule, a charming and low key alternative.

Dance your way across to Amazon and jiggle your mouse once there.

Thor - Patrick Doyle

If Kenneth Branagh is an unlikely choice to direct a comic book movie, then Patrick Doyle is a mildly unlikely choice to score it, but I guess we should be grateful Branagh as able to engage his composer of choice. Films based on Marvel Comics have had variably good scores, the high water being Elfman's Spider-Man efforts, but with some fine entries from the X-Men films and John Ottman's decent scores for the Fantastic Four.

The most striking thing about Thor is that it doesn't sound a whole lot like Doyle most of the time. Much has been made of its Remote Control-ness, which isn't entirely unfair. There's a lot of sustained string lines and percussion; Frost Giant Battle is typical in this regard. It's all quite exciting and there's more going on than in the average RC (or Brian Tyler) score, at least the strings occasionally bounce around but it sounds from interviews that Doyle very much did what was expected without too much room for manoeuvre.

Outside of the action, the incidental scoring is action without the drums in a lot of cases. Long string lines and low registers predominate (another aspect Doyle commented upon in interviews). The main melodic material is fine enough at the time, but not exactly indelible afterwards. I'm sure it'll look good on his CV and keep his profile raised - I rather dreaded his music being rejected given that his scoring can be a touch intrusive at times (although this usually makes for a great album). Thor is certainly muscular (haha) entertainment, but the strictures of the studio and genre conventions don't really show Doyle at his best.

If you can find your magical hammer, sell it and go buy the score from Amazon.

La Ligne Droite -Patrick Doyle

Patrick Doyle has evidently had a bit of time off with only a very obscure score for 2010 (Main Street), but is back with La Ligne Droite for Régis Wargnier, for whom he composed Indochine, Est-Ouest and Une Femme Francaise. La Ligne Droite is a little smaller in scale than some of Wargnier's other films and that extends to Doyle's intimate score, written for 11 players, a double string quartet, bass, piano and harp. The film is about a young runner released from prison who helps a blind athlete train and the music is delightfully lithe, with moments of introspection as the two bond during their training.

There is a distinct Philip Glass/Michael Nyman vibe running through the score, although it's not strict minimalism but Doyle weaves the fetching melodic content around repeated patterns. I've often felt that action music, or any music depicting motion and momentum can be achieved very - if not more - effectively with a smaller ensemble than a huge orchestra. Sometimes rows of horns, banging percussion and the rest of the 100 odd players pounding away cancels itself out and all you are left with is aural stodge. The clarity in La Ligne Droite is extremely refreshing.

As an aside, Doyle was interviewed (by his daughter) at Glasgow University in early 2011 and a video of it is available here. La Ligne Droite is mentioned and his comments about an 11 member chamber orchestra being recorded to sound big are especially interesting. He makes some fascinating comments about working on the then upcoming Thor, plus experiences of working with Kenneth Branagh on earlier films. As it's a bit less formal than a DVD extras type interview, the anecdotes and asides are especially interesting. In any event, if you only learn one thing from it, it's that Doyle is a delightful and charming chap. Thoroughly recommended for any fan of film music, whether you're particularly a fan of the composer or not. Which you should be, he's terrific and La Ligne Droite is another gem.

Apparently not yet available in Americaland, so run across to somewhere importing or European to acquire in haste.

Please release me (let me go) - Part 4

This is fun! New things keep coming out of the woodwork, although it'd be nice to get some suggestions from one of my 9 loyal readers (assuming it's that many), so do e-mail them in to the usual address (whatever that is):


The Hunt for Red October - Basil Poledouris

Another Poledouris score that surely deserves more than the paltry 30 minutes afforded on the original album. Indeed, generally considered one of the composer's classic scores it seems oddly neglected. In fairness, it might help improve my view of the score as I never liked it as much as anyone else, but I wonder if the somewhat tinny sound on the original album doesn't help. With Robocop having had a couple of re-releases (seemingly adding one or two tracks at a time) and Conan being re-recorded, this and Starship Troopers definitely deserve the luxury, expanded treatment.

Killing Me Softly - Patrick Doyle

Despite sounding like a shoddy soft porn flick, Kiling Me Softly stars Joseph Fiennes and Heather Graham. It's not one of Patrick Doyle's best known entries, but it's a genuinely good score. The wise guys at FSM noted it for having some of the best sex music outside of Basic Instinct; indeed I've never quite got the hoopla over Basic Instinct (it is a great score, just not sure it's that great, sorry) and Killing Me Softly certainly has the same icy, erotic charge to it. On the flip side, it has an understatedly romantic main theme, which balances with the thriller elements. Doyle has a pretty good hit rate when it comes to getting his stuff on CD, but Killing Me Softly is definitely a gem that slipped through.

Spider-Man 3 - Christopher Young (with a little help from Danny Elfman)

For some reason, the producers of Spider-Man 2 decided to cause a shit storm when making the follow up to Sam Raimi's excellent first movie version (still surprising it took Spider-Man so long to get to the cinema) and pissed Danny Elfman off enough for him to walk, something he'd never done before and hasn't since. The replacement music by John Debney isn't bad, but it's obviously not Elfman. Mind you, John Debney's music often isn't obviously John Debney; there's two composers whose originality is separated by a vast gulf. As a result of this debacle, it was unlikely Elfman would return for part 3 so Christopher Young took over. Even if Young is a fine composer in his own right, it's surprisingly grating when his own material suddenly stumbles into the opening titles of Spider-Man 3 like a mad, old, drunk aunt at a wedding, before stumbling out again to leave Elfman's material finish the credits. The rest of Young's material is more expertly handled and his score is surprisingly entertaining, even if it's still not as iconic as Elfman's. Chances of a release are slim to zero given the contentious nature of the music to the series. Same goes for expanded versions of Elfman's first two efforts, but it would be rather jolly. With great music comes great responsibility. I'm pretty sure that's true.


Stuart Littles 1 and 2 - Alan Silvestri

Alan Silvestri is perhaps the greatest scorer of films starring mice alive today. OK, flippancy aside, he has done three mouse films; this, Stuart Little 2 and Mouse Hunt, all of which are delightful. Mouse Hunt could, perhaps, benefit from a little more than the 30 minute release it already has, but Stuart Little could do with a proper release. The original album has only a couple of cuts from Silvestri's score, a 30 minute promo has done the rounds and contains a perfectly proportioned sample from the score. Admittedly, the official album does contain the best cue, the Boat Race, a terrific piece of light hearted action/adventure scoring. Part 2 is more of the same, of course, but no less enjoyable, so even a single disc release of the best of both wouldn't go down badly. I mean, who doesn't love tuneful scores for a lovable mouse who has been adopted by Dr House? Who? I ask you.