House of Sand and Fog [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] [Soundtrack]

James Horner (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 9, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Varese Sarabande
• ASIN: B0000YEF20
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,151 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. An Older Life

2. The Waves of the Caspian Sea

3. Old Photos, New Memories

4. This Is No Longer Your House

5. Two People

6. Kathy's Night

7. Parallel Lives, Parallel Loves

8. Behrani's Thoughts - Long Ago

9. Break-In

10. The Dreams of Kings

11. The Shooting, A Payment for Our Sins

12. We Have Travelled So Far, It Is Time to Return to Our Path

13. A Return to the Caspian, And to the Iran of Old

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars James Horner's best work in a long time., February 15, 2004

By 

Richard Stoehr "Idle Rich" (Bremerton, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: House of Sand and Fog [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (Audio CD)

Even a diehard James Horner fan (like me) has to admit that, for the past few years, Horner has been skating by. With the scores for "Enemy at the Gates", "Radio", and "A Beautiful Mind", among others, Horner borrows heavily from himself and regurgitates old themes and progressions. Even the score for which he's perhaps best-known -- the Oscar-winning "Titanic" -- is heavily derivative of his own previous work.

Finally, with "House of Sand and Fog," Horner has given us something to treasure again: an original, moving score for a great film.

Listening to this music, I am reminded why I started following Horner's work so long ago. His subtle touch and avoidance of a "catchy" theme is evident in every track. Among my favorite pieces are "Two People," "The Dreams of Kings," and "Old Photos, New Memories"... but really, every song is a good one, and the album as a whole can be numbered as one of Horner's true masterpieces.

What I admired most about it was that Horner was able to abandon the style he has adopted for most of his recent work and just let the spirit of the film take over. Good film music is all about making music which evokes the right emotion for the film it accompanies, and the music for "House of Sand and Fog" does that perfectly, not only going along with but enhancing the feeling of each scene. The fact that the music is a joy to listen to on its own just makes it that much better.

Listening to James Horner's score for "House of Sand and Fog" reminds me of when I first listened to "Glory" and "Field of Dreams" and "Sneakers"... not because these scores are similar, but because they are all unique. They all bear the mark of James Horner, but it is Horner at his original and emotional best, and James Horner at the top of his game makes for some wonderful music.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars OSCAR CONSTENDER!!!!, December 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: House of Sand and Fog [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (Audio CD)

This soundtrack is deep in emotion, but extremely subtle and "underplayed"- a beautiful and very relaxing work.
Listen to it in the dark! It is come of the most calming music!
And for all you Horner fans out there - he does not borrow any real theme or even transitions (until the 15 minute track - "the Shooting, and Payment for our sins" where there is actually one statement from the missing score).
Other than that his style is pretty much the same even though a lot less melodic and more like Lisa Gerrard's WHALERIDER, or DRAGONFLY by Debney.
The instruments used are piano (there is wonderful piano solo in "TWO PEOPLE", string orchestra with synths and a tiny bit of oboe and flute. Also a neat touch for the tension motif is the plucking of strings along w/ timpani!
If you like darker, ambient and personal scores get this today!!!!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great return to form for Horner, January 9, 2004

By 

James Luckard (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: House of Sand and Fog [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (Audio CD)

I agree with the previous reviewer. I used to be a huge Horner fan and picked up most of his new albums until about five years ago, when I felt he lost his magic. Most of his recent scores have sounded like they were on autopilot, and I still remember my horror at seeing Enemy at the Gates and hearing his main theme, also known as the main theme from Schindler's List.

Now, I know, there are a thousand arguments about why film music is not always meant to sound totally original, and that Williams may have even borrowed some of his Schindler's melodies from elsewhere. It's all a matter of personal taste and I just haven't been moved by a Horner score for a while.

When I saw this beautifully crafted film, however, I was struck by the simplicity and emotional depth of Horner's work. It reminds me a great deal of his beautiful score for Deep Impact. I was also glad to not hear tunes he'd used previously elsewhere.

Although this doesn't have any of the driving, epic, thematic music Horner became a star for, like Titanic, it's a hauntingly beautiful work and is certainly worth picking up, especially for the wrenching final half-hour of the film, which is almost entirely scored.