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On The Beach: Original Television Soundtrack (2000 TV Movie)

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The soundtrack to this Australian miniseries appears to meet the two points that any good soundtrack should--it aids the film in telling its story while being able to stand alone as a piece of fine music. Christopher Gordon's soundtrack does both. It aids the viewer to feel the quiet horror of the end of the world and humanity's attempt to hang on to life until the radiation makes it unbearable. The music, itself, is outstanding--the music moves from powerful and dramatic ("The World at War") to the soft and dream-like ("On the Jetty") to Julian's last drive through Melbourne ("The Beginning of the End"). The music during the boat race can easily stand by itself. And, the main theme--also found in "On the Jetty" is as haunting a melody as you are likely to find anywhere. I look forward to hearing other works by Christopher Gordon.

This is the official original 2000 Television soundtrack for the joint Australian/American mini-series that deals with 2 facets of humanity, the destructive nature of our technology that is open to abuse by our own hands and the other facet is the love and devotion and restraint we find ourselves as individuals and as a collective in hard and dire times.

The music was composed and directed by a very talented musician, Christopher Gordon who has created a score that matches every mood of the Tele-movie. The movie deals with a topic that we don't really ever want to go through - a nuclear war that is slowly but surely rendering humanity exinct.

The music is wonderful, and the real high impact music pieces are both touching and bring a sence of impending doom. Tracks 22 through to 26 are some of the best music I have ever had the pleasure to listen too and I could not help but shed some tears on Lacrimosa and Lux Perpetua. The female vocalist has a utterly amazing voice.

A great score remarkable and thought provoking made for one of the best mini-series ever shown on TV. On The Beach is a warning of what will happen if we ever unleash our weapons on each other.

Don't be put off by the cheesy cover design. I only have a mediocre self-recorded VHS of the film and a substandard TV-set, but the musik really stood out. I have been hunting high and low for this score, to no avail, until I thought of checking Amazon UK, where it is still available. This score is a piece of music that doesn't need the film, I would gift it to people who don't know the film, just for its beauty. Knowing the film makes one appreciate the way in which the music retells the story. There is not much in terms of a CD booklet, which would have been nice (some "words from the composer", maybe).

For this little-seen miniseries remake of the anti-war classic, Christopher Gordon has composed a full, grand, old-fashioned orchestral score. It's as good as anything composed for Hollywood epics with ten times the budget, and really harkens back to the classic orchestral scores of the 50's and 60's with its sweeping themes and lush orchestrations.

The gorgeous main love theme for Rachel Ward and Armand Assante's characters is awesomely powerful in its unabashed emotions and worth buying the CD for alone. It appears in tracks 8-12, the On The Beach suite, and again, most powerfully, in track 22. It's simply stunning. The sweep and hopefulness of this unforgettable tune capture the mood of the story even better than the, at times, quite uneven film.

9/5/04 - An updated note. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY BUYING FROM EXTORTIONATE USED DEALERS. This CD may no longer be available through amazon, but its producer, Varese Sarabande, still lists it for order at their site, www.varesesarabande.com