CD REVIEWS - SHOOT 'EM UP & DEDICATION


Shoot 'Em Up
Music by Paul Haslinger
Varese Sarabande (no catalogue number given) (EU)
22 Tracks 36:35 mins

This latest score by Paul Haslinger for the Clive Owen/Monica Bellucci thriller is a mix of live musicians and synths, with guitars, bass and drums to the fore. Without really having any themes as such to hold the interest, most tracks are propelled by drums or other percussion and/or synths. Most of them are mercifully quite brief, though often they merge together, so that if one doesn't concentrate it's hard to tell which track you're on.
If you like your film scores with a modern sensibility, kind of a mix of rock and techno, this may very well be for you but, as for me, I'm afraid it just leaves me cold.


Dedication
Music by Edward Shearmur
Kraft-Engel Management Promo
10 Tracks 13:09 mins

Thanks to Costa Commmunications, I got to hear this score for the new comedy from director Justin Theroux, which stars mandy Moore and Billy Crudup.
The score, as presented on this disc at least, is quite brief and is described as in the ambient style that composer Edward Shearmur composed for the Kevin Spacey film K-Pax. Well, I'm not sure about that, and I would describe it as a quirky mix of live instruments and electronics.
"Christmas Theme" is a very catchy, guitar-lead tune and gets the disc off to a nice start, but unfortunately the rest of the score fails to live up to it, most of the tracks being too brief to latch on to, which is a shame because some of them show real promise, like "Down to Work," with its feamle voice and piano and the keyboard and banjo walker "On the Beach." The concluding tracks "Dedication" and "In the Bathroom" drift along to a warm conclusion.
There is apparenly a soundtrack album to be released by Commotion Records on September 11th, but I have yet to determine if any of Shearmur's score will feature thereon.