CD REVIEW - The Greatest Game ever Played and news of John Frizzell's latest assignment

The Greatest Game Ever Played
Music by Brian Tyler
Hollywood Records 2061-62541-2
29 Tracks 55:28 mins

Actor-turned director Bill Paxton's regular musical collaborator Brian Tyler has written another fine score for the former's golfing film The Greatest Game Ever Played, which is well represented on this CD, despite the presence of three songs towards the end, performed by Dawn Upshaw, Amick Bryan and Joe Jackson.
Composers seem to rise to the occasion when scoring a sporting film and this is another inspiring effort, with a proud main theme, some martial expectancy, exciting action music and some folksy touches along the way. It's an orchestral score but, as with the same composer's Annapolis, reviewed earlier this week, Tyler himself performs numerous instruments, with drums again being pretty prominent, but he also does a nice job on piano for the reprise of the film's love theme, "Broken Dreams," which is earlier given a lovely orchestral treatment. It's all highly enjoyable, with the "Main Title" music reprised at the very end of the disc, bringing things to a satisfying close after the intrusion of the three songs.
With Annapolis, and now this score, Tyler continues to be one of the brightest new lights in Hollywood.


FROM COSTA COMMUNICATIONS

COMPOSER JOHN FRIZZELL SCORES
"STAY ALIVE"
Touchstone Release Comes Alive March 24

(HOLLYWOOD, CA) Composer John Frizzell scores "Stay Alive." Written and directed by William Brent Bell and starring Frankie Muniz ("Malcolm in the
Middle"), the film tells the story of a group of teens who stumble upon a new video game called Stay Alive. The game details the grisly true story of a 17th century noblewoman known as "The Blood Countess." A chilling connection is made when the gamers are murdered in the same method as the character they played in the game. Touchstone Pictures releases the film March 24.

"Stay Alive" explores the composer's suspenseful side, successfully explored on his score for the cult classic "Ghost Ship" and the upcoming thriller
"The Woods." Frizzell recently completed work on "The Prizewinner of
Defiance, Ohio," starring Julianne Moore as the mother of ten whom, in the 1950s, supported her family by writing jingles and entering them into contests. For that score, Frizzell teamed up with newgrass band Nickel Creek, whose latest album hit number one on Billboard's Internet Sales and Independent Album charts.

Frizzell is known for using a colourful array of instruments for his scores, from a psaltery (an ancient harp-type instrument) to African drums. He has written scores for a variety of genres, and has proven his musical talent and versatility.

John Frizzell's credits range from comedies such as "Beavis and Butthead Do
America" and the cult classic "Office Space," to the dark comedy "Teaching
Mrs. Tingle" and the sci-fi drama "Alien Resurrection." Recent credits include the adapted Neil Simon comedy "The Goodbye Girl," the Civil War drama "Gods and Generals," and urban actioner "Cradle 2 the Grave."

Watch out for my thoughts on the music of Stay Alive - coming soon!