Customer Reviews

Amazing Grace (Original Score)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

David Arnold has delivered fantastic film scores for movies such as "Independence Day," "Godzilla," and the last four James Bond movies. The music he delivers for the movie "Amazing Grace" may not be his overall best effort, but some of the tracks on this CD are among his best work yet. The standout pieces are: 1) Opening Title; 11) We Have Hope; 23) Dying, and; 24) Triumph. The rest of the music is not as good, but solid nonetheless. My only real complaint is that the stirring rendition of "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes is not featured on this CD, but that does little to diminish the overall power of Arnold's work. While it might not be sensational, it is a fine CD that belongs in the collection of any fan of movie music.
Grade: B+

I bought the soundtrack with the hope that the best song on the movie - the bagpipes version of Amazing Grace at the end of the film - would be on it. It is not.

If your objective is to get that bagpipe song, don't get the CD. the other songs are ok, but nothing to write home about.

While the score is very nice, the main reason for purchase was the wonderfully powerful rendition of "Amazing Grace" during the closing credits. It is NOT on the CD! How could they do this? The signature piece is missing in action (MIA)??!! Very disappointing, to say the least.

One thing that I disagree with in the previous review is that this music disappoints; when I listened to it, I found that not only were the arrangements and performances of the music beautiful to hear, but that the composer took great pains to make sure that the music didn't detract from what was happening onscreen.

As a matter of fact, the music blends so well into the movie, that you actually almost don't "notice" that it's even there, but the mood that the music is trying to create just seems to flow throughout the course of the film!

All of the tracks that I listened to stand well on their own, but they are definitely designed to heighten the mood of the scenes they accompany, and they definitely do that.

I found the music to be very pleasing to the ear, and not so overpowering in and of itself that it "took away from" the impact of the movie. Instead, the music compliments the emotional impact of what the vieer is seeing, without drawing undue attention or being a distraction to the story of Wilberforce's struggle to end slavery in Britain.

My advice? SEE THE FILM, and see if you don't agree about the music on this CD!!

(I think you will be "changed" by doing that - and changed in a GOOD way!!)

Okay so check it out. The title of this inspired and beautiful movie is Amazing Grace. The story ends, appropriately enough, with the most gorgeous version you'd ever want to hear of, you guess it, Amazing Grace! I just watched the movie. Loved it and couldn't wait to order the soundtrack so I could relive that amazing bagpipe/band rendition of Amazing Grace at the end. But no! It's not on the CD! What dingbat had his/her brain in a hole when THAT decision was made? What a travesty.

Amazing Grace is a great movie and the CD is a rip off. The song Amazing Grace is a key part of the film and a key part of the score, including the bagpipe version at the end. Yet the song is not a part of the CD. Sleazy! Mis-leading!! A travesty to the memory of William Wilbeforce, a man of honor and integrity. It only gets one star because you have to rate it. If anybody wants my copy, let me know. I'll ship it at no charge.

I bought this CD for Amazing Grace being played by the Bagpipes which was played during the credits at the end of the movie. The CD does not have this on the CD. A list of the songs would have been usefull before purchase

While it is disappointing that there is no reference to "Amazing Grace" anywhere on this CD, that is not enough for me to give it poor marks for beauty and atmosphere. I am surrounded by machines emitting white noise to the point that I can't work for the distracting sounds. I use CDs in my computer to "cover" the sound and this is one of my favorites ... nothing in it to make words begin to run through my head while I'm working but lovely, calming music that helps me to concentrate on even the most miserable paperwork.

I love the film and I love the music however something is off and I think I know what it is; this is made for television music. Like the film it suffers from its limitations whereas the movie makes up for its limitations by the strength of the action and the quality of the acting the music doesn't have that luxury.

So what you great instead of great sweeping soundscapes are a series mostly good but repetitive "mood" songs. You have to see the music in context of the movie for it too make sense. It does almost nothing for me on its own.

Fresh from his well-received score for the latest Bond epic, "Casino Royale," David Arnold has turned to a far more somber and serious project with Michael Apted's important film about the beginning of the end of slavery in the British Empire, "Amazing Grace." This is not the first time Arnold has worked with Apted, note another Bond effort "The World is Not Enough," so we expected the two to be rather comfortable with one another. And a good match it has proven to be this time around. Arnold has produced a score as serious as the subject matter. It is intelligent, moving and at times quite poignant. One might have expected Arnold to simply integrate the well known hymn which naturally plays a role in the story and do a number of variations on it (much like his integration of the Bond theme into his 007 music), but instead he has created his own themes, including an especially haunting main theme, in a fine score. Arnold has proven himself in the action-adventure genres and we have been waiting for a more mature score, having tasted bits and pieces in a host of other works. Here we see that David Arnold is a capable composer across the spectrum. Well produced by EMI, the soundtrack is somewhat disappointing in its packaging; the promotion for "The Amazing Change" is appropriate and deserving of mention, but more could have been done about the film and music themselves. The promo for the "music inspired by the film" is a bit much though given that none of it is actually in the film.