CD ROUNDUP

Due to unforeseen circumstances I've been sitting on a small pile of CDs for a few days now, unable to do anything about them and rather than waiting even longer to find an opportunity to actually sit down and absorb what's on them I thought I had best point you in the direction of some existing reviews, so that you can catch up with what's out there.

Sleuth
Music by Patrick Doyle
Varese Sarabande VSD 6854 (EU)
13 Tracks 36:11 mins

This remake of the old Laurence Olivier/Michael Caine starrer, sees Caine return, but in the Olivier role, with Jude Law taking his original part. What with this and the remake of Alfie, Mrs. Caine had better watrch out, as she might wake up with a strange young man at the side of her one morning!
Of course John Addison wrote an inspired main theme for the original. Here, Doyle enlists largely the string section of the London Symphony Orchestra to produce a somewhat chamber-like sound for the on-screen games of cat and mouse. You can read full reviews of the album at movie-wave.net, scorenotes.com and soundtrack-express.com.


Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
Music by Alexandre desplat and Aaron Zigman
Varese Sarabande VSD-6864 (EU)
" " 302 066 684 2 (US)
37 Tracks 59:16 mins

This new family fantasy adventure stars Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman and features music by French composer Alexandre Desplat, with the help of American Aaron Zigman. I'm not entirely certain of the full story of their collaboration here, but I believe Desplat was originally hired to score the film, then possibly scheduling problems ensued, but he ended up returning to the project at the last minute and Zigman was enlisted to help him. Whatever, it was a fruitful and successful collaboration, as can be gathered from reviews on the moviemusicuk.us and scorenotes.com sites. It certainly made a very favourable first impression on me.

Sea of Dreams
Music by Luis Bacalov
Varese Sarabande VSD 6849 (EU)
22 Tracks 50:31 mins

I know absolutely nothing about this film, which doesn't appear to have enjoyed much in the way of a cinema release, but composer Luis Bacalov has written an evocative score, which harkens back to the golden days of Italian film scoring. For a full review go to musicfromthemovies.com/reviews.asp.

Doctor Who - Series 3
Music by Murray Gold
Silva Screen SILCD12560
28 Tracks 74:37 mins

Silva Screen have come up trumps again with this second release of music from the revitalised Doctor Who BBC TV series. This time the music is from Series 3 and, as with their first compilation of music from Series 1 & 2, this is another generous album, featuring Murray Gold's often thrilling and sometimes beautiful music for the time traveller's adventures. Familiar themes from the first twp series, plus all new music combine to provide another great listening experience, with Gold and conductor Ben Foster again drawing excellent performances from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the various vocalists. For a full review, go to soundtrack-express.com.

Enchanted
Music by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz
Walt Disney 0207 605 5405 (EU)
15 Tracks 54:58 mins

This playful live-action/animation mix from Disney is released in the UK on December 14th, but the soundtrack is now available and what a great listening experience it is, with composer Alan Menken reuniting with lyricist Stephen Schwartz to provide yet another great score for Disney, which easily ranks alongside anything they produced for the several animated films they worked on for the studios a few years back. The album opens with four fine songs from the film, plus a disappointing pop effort from Carrie Underwood that just doesn't belong here. There follows a generous amount of Menken's dramatic score, which includes some powerful writing along the lines of his work on Hunchback of Notre Damme. For more detailed reviews go to movie-wave.net, filmtracks.com, moviemusicuk.us/mmuk.htm, scorenotes.com and soundtrack-express.com.

Wrong Turn 2: Dead End
Music by Bear McCreary
La-La Land LLLCD 1061 (US)
16 Tracks 52:11 mins

Elia Cmiral did not return to score this sequel to the laughable bloodfest that was the original Wrong Turn, but instead director Joe Lynch enlisted the services of Bear McCreary, having fallen in love with his music for the reimagining of Battlestar Galactica. Having released soundtrack albums for the composer's work on those shows, it's good to see La-La Land Records continue to champion the highly original work of this composer by releasing the soundtrack to this film as well. Though obviously quite different than his work for Battlestar, McCreary's fans will find much to like about his music for Wrong Turn 2. For a full review go to movie-wave.net.

Dan in Real Life
Music by Sondre Lerche
EMI Catalogue Marketing Promo
16 Tracks 43:16 mins

About a Boy director Peter Hedges's new film Dan in Real Life stars funnyman Steve Carell, but will not be released in the UK until January. In the meantime, this advance features music for the film by Norwegian singer/songwriter Sondre Leche, assisted by Soviet-born Regina Spektor and American folk star Alison Sudol. It's a mainly song-based score, and not unlikeable, though not really my bag. The instrumentals are largely very simple and often guitar-based. I'm afraid I can't point you in the direction of any reviews of the album at this present time.

Well, I hope the above is of use to you and hopefully normal service will be resumed before long.