Customer Reviews

Con Air: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It was Summer 1997, I was fresh out of high school, it was a glorious morning in early June when Con Air rocked my world. I was thrilled in so many ways, not the least of which was the thumping score by Mark Mancina and Trevor Rabin.

A week later the score CD was mine and loved it until I came to realize the horrible cheapness of the package, the pathetic arrangement and the slight running time (not even reaching 45 minutes).

The main Con Air theme is one of my favorite action themes ever and is the perfect anthem for Cameron Poe, the hero played by Nicolas Cage. It's very heroic and determined. As for the bad guy music, well lemme just say that whenever it kicks in you know Cyrus 'The Virus' Grissom is on screen.

Mark Mancina was originally brought on board to score the movie on his own, but 20th Century Fox cut the post-production schedule for Speed 2: Cruise Control in half, which meant that Mancina had to abandon his work on Con Air and quickly begin work on Speed 2 (which came out a single week after Con Air in June 1997), It was exactly this kind of ludicrous scheduling that caused Mancina to quit movie-scoring. But Trevor Rabin came to the rescue for the Con Air scoring duties, and the style and themes of the movie are split evenly between them.

The music on here on this CD ranges from occasional noise to all out action with several awesome themes. The first track opens with the aforementioned grinding, metallic noise. Several tracks contain some wonderful guitar riffs that bring to mind the blue skies, burning sand and white hot steel featured in the movie. Tracks 13 and 16 are also perfect examples of the action/chase music Media Ventures did so well. It's rousing stuff indeed. High class it certainly is not but this CD is toe-tappin', air-punching, heroic fun. But it could have, SHOULD have been presented a LOT better.

As usual with score CDs of the era, it is totally out of chronological order. For those of you who wish to arrange the tracks in the correct order for your MP3 player or I-Tunes then THIS is the correct sequence:

1. The Discharge (01:09)
2. Overture (Main Title) (04:18)
3. Jailbirds (00:59)
4. The Takeover (03:52)
5. Carson City (03:04)
6. Lerner Landing (03:28)
7. Cons Check Out Lerner (01:55)
8. Tricia (01:04)
9. Poe Saves Cops (02:25)
10. The Fight (00:22)
11. Poe Meets Larkin (01:14)
12. Lear Crash (04:44)
13. Battle In The Boneyard (alternate version) (07:41)
14. Bedlam Larkin (00:49)
15. Romantic Chaos (01:22)
16. Fire Truck Chase (04:22)
17. Con Air Theme (01:31) (Bonus Track, combination of two separate tracks
18. How Do I Live (04:03) (Song by Trisha Yearwood not on the CD, but can be placed here for completists)

A respectable label like La La Land Records ought to seek out the rights to Con Air and release a decent Limited Edition with better sound and better arrangement to make up for this cheap, flimsy 1997 CD.

This review refers to "Con Air: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack".....

"Con Air" was a terrific action-packed film,filled with top notch actors, edge of your seat moments, and even a little romance. The music though, is really something special. Composed by Mark Mancina and Trevor Rabin, it really captures the tense, blood pumping,moments of the story. Even on it's own,it's an album you can listen to and feel exhilareted by any time. I enjoy putting it on in the car, it will defintely keep you awake on those long and boring drives.

All the tracks are instrumental, and if you have seen the movie, the music will have you recalling "The Con Air Theme","Lear Crash","The Takeover", "The Battle in The Boneyard" and the wonderful "Overture".(see buying info for complete track listings). The only thing that is missing from the soundtrack is the beautiful ballad,"How Can I Live". This song was a very big part of the romantic aspect of the film and should have been included.And afterall it was nominated at Oscar time for Best Song. For this reason alone I am going with 4 stars instead of 5.

The music fills the room(or the car) and is joy to listen to.The drums (Lou Molino III) are a standout. There are 17 tracks in all. They range from an all to short "The Fight" at 0.22 to a breathtaking 7.41 min of "Battle in the BoneYard", most somewhere in betweeen.

More thrilling than the film itself!(but missing the romance!)

enjoy....Laurie

Very good music! If you hear this music you will remember many movie scenes. Much power in this music. You feel the speed of the action in "Con Air". The only two things to object to: 1. only a few change in the music, nearly all tracks sounds like the same, 2. I missed "Sweet Home Alabama" on the CD, that would have given a greater feeling of remembering the movie!!! That's why I rate 4 stars for the soundtrack, nothing is really perfect, (except me?! just kidding...)

I love "Con Air" as a movie, but the score on this CD which I'd been waiting to get for quite some time, is both quite enjoyable and somewhat disappointing. After the "Speed" movies, "Bad Boys", "Armageddon", and "Enemy of the State", I knew that Mark Mancina and Trevor Rabin are both adept film composers in their own right. Unfortunately, their attempt at collaboration on "Con Air" leaves something to be desired.

The tracks are not in the same sequence as they appear in the film, but of course, that's to be expected of some recording labels. Even though the score has a strong theme, you can tell by listening to the CD (much less so in the film) that Mancina's and Rabin's musical styles are trying so hard to mix together into a smashing combination that it ultimately doesn't work and the styles clash together like dueling lightsabers. In plain English, some tracks on this CD sound too much like "Speed" and some tracks sound too much like "Armageddon". But Mancina and Rabin do get four starts from me for their efforts.

I think this is one of the most important scores by Marc Mancina and Trevor Rabin. But, why is not included the Academy Awards nominated song "How Do I Live?" (with music and lyrics by Diane Warren) sung by the outstanding Trisha Yearwood??. I'm really dissapointed in this sense. In my personal opinion, this song deserved to win the Oscar, instead of "My Heart Will Go On" (from "Titanic").

I think that this score is something new in film music. All synth sounds, guitars, and orchestra gives us unforgettable expirience. This is very powerfull and emotinonal music. I recommend it to every fan of Mancina or Rabin, and for every fan of great music(not only film music.

Trevor Rabin and Mark Mancina are a terrific team. Ever since Rabin's days in Yes, I have been a fan, and his collaborations with Mancina have always been very musical and innovative. With "Con-Air" he brings a rock drive to militaristic orchestra music. An interesting and hard-pounding combination. A great soundtrack!

I had hoped that this CD would contain all the wonderful songs that were in the movie - songs from the '70s, and of course Trisha Yearwood's hit, "How Can I Live". I was disappointed to find that the entire CD is instrumental - a score, if you will. Then I tried to find an actual soundtrack, but I don't think one was ever made. Too bad. It would have made great listening.

The Con Air sound mixes the talents of both Mark Mancina and Trevor Rabin. I guess that Rabin is the one that brings all the guitars. Because this soundtrack is filled with guitars. From the openings rock/industrial theme to "Trisha", a subtle and romantic theme. Mark Mancina brings his Bad Boyish theme (you can also find the resemblances in both Twister and Speed) while Rabin brings his from films such as The Glimmer Man (you can also check out the later Armageddon and Enemy of the state). Not as cunning or impressive score as The Rock's (Hans Zimmer/Nick Glennie-Smith/Harry Gregson-Williams). While The Rock tried to be more like the old films with the orchestral presence Con Air is slightly more like a regular action soundtrack. If you've seen the movie you will be able to place most of the tracks.

The soundtrack is awesome, almost like the movie. In the movie, the songs and tunes that were in it, helped make it sweet. This soundtrack has those powerful tunes...I highly recommend it!!!