Customer Reviews

Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out Of Balance (1983 Film)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've had the VHS for a number of years and watched it several times through a low end audio/video setup. It was satisfactory. This CD gave me the highlights I missed on the low end VHS tape.

I bought the DVD but haven't watched it yet because I was saving it to see the movie on the big screen. This past weekend I got to see the movie on the big screen but, to my surprise and profound glory, I got to see it not only on the big screen but I got to see it live with Philip Glass and company performing the soundtrack in person. Oh my what I've been missing.

I have since recorded the DVD onto tape and never realized just how much I missed and how profound the recording is. Of course I may be biased having seen it live and the images of the movie emblazened into my brain when I hear the score but I absolutely love this composition.

The reason it only gets four stars is that you must get the DVD; you must have the entire score. Anything less is to your loss. It's as if I never heard it before.

My recommendation is to see it with the film but the soundtrack stands on its own as an amazing piece of music. The score for Powaqqatsi is also brilliant but perhaps because, as noted on the 'extras' on the DVD, no one was waiting for this movie, this stands out as an inspired piece, moreso than Powaqqatsi (which is also brilliant but in a different way).

Invest in the DVD and don't tease yourself with this album alone. As an independent piece of music or as accompaniment to a brilliant piece of filmmaking, it's awesome.

What can be said about Phillip Glass and his foreboding soundscapes? Innovative, thought provoking albeit repetitive. Having owned the soundtrack for 5 years but not having seen the movie certainly allowed me to form an opinion solely on the musical merits. I just wish I had heard the music in the early 80's when it was released. It must have been truly groundbreaking. For all its repetition the soundtrack combines an ancient religious musical experience colliding with modern technology and symbolism. Granted it is not an album for weddings and parties but nevertheless the soundtrack is a brilliant chill out, stop and think piece. Most importantly the album delivered the movies message to me before I even saw Koyaansqatsi. Now I have seen the movie and the message contained within, the music has all the more value. Good buying for a Trance, Deep Forest or Enigma music lover. Bad buying for the Top 40 narrow minded commercialist. By the way, do yourself a favour, get hold of a subwoofer, crank the volume and lie back with your eyes closed. Then I guarantee you will be blown away!

The Koyaanisqatsi music is simply fantastic.

Both the original soundtrack recording, and the newer re-recording, are very good, but they are different, each with its own strengths and relative weaknesses compared to the other.

I think The Grid was much more exciting and intense, in this original version. Especially the bass; I miss the driving throbbing power of the basslines in this version, when I listen to the re-recording, where the bass is laid back in the background, in comparison.

Although any album by Philip Glass is worth the money, honestly, if you are craving the music from the movie "Koyaanisqatsi", then the 1998 re-Recording will please you a hundred-fold more than this one. The new one is longer and not merely a "soundtrack", it IS the movie, sans images. But you make up your own images, if you like.

I like classical music, but I don't' think I would listen to this album on a regular basis without having with it the images of the film. The same goes for the film, I wouldn't watch it without the music. But I think the film and the music complement each other brilliantly. After a while, the usual kind of special effects films on the big screen get very boring, it was a relief to gasp at the images captured by Godfrey Reggio in "Koyannisqatsi" and to have music like this in the background was an experience I will not forget too quickly. I was lucky enough to catch the film on the big screen in the IFC in Dublin only yesterday 29th Aug 1999, so it's still very fresh to me. It's a pity it was not released on video. I think it would be a good idea to make an up to date version for the new millenium, and make it 2 or even 3 hours long.

Philip Glass' work in this soundtrack is able, without words, to convey the imbalance that faces modern society. Although viewing the film is also important, the forboding Hopi Prophecies warning of an uncertain future are evidenced by the intensity of the music. Yes, there are repetitive themes throughout his works, in this album, as well as in others, but that does not diminish the importance of this album. It is a tour de force in its genre of the avant-garde.

The first time we watched the film all the way through was one of the most draining experiences of my life. I only watched the film one other time, but have listened to the music at least a hundred times in the past ten years, and it still sends chills up my spine. I don't know how to explain the brilliance of this composition other than to say that it represents one of the seminal signatures of the place in the continuum wherein I <believed> I entered the Perilous Chapel. Glass, along with Yes, Zep, Rush, Eno, Vangelis, Mozart, Haydn, Wagner, Holst and Ludwig, is certainly being played right now in other far corners of the galaxy......

This is powerful music if you like Philip Glass, but this compilation lacks what I consider the most moving track. It's about 8 minutes long and I think of it as the "Desert sequence." It starts with a slow string progression over aerial views of orange canyons and Monument Valley. It's immediately followed by "Cloudscape" after the scene with the caves and steam vents. I can listen to it over and over and the power doesn't fade. It lacks the frantic harshness of some Glass material.

They re-issued the soundtrack in 1998 and may have included this track (I haven't heard it) but reviews say it's not the original stuff and sounds watered-down. I extracted and converted the Desert sequence from my DVD, so I'm happy, but they could have easily fit it on the CD since the other tracks consume just 46 minutes. I don't know why they left so much off unless they did it as an LP first and were too lazy to re-make it. CDs were introduced to the market shortly after Koyaanisqatsi was released.

Very simple: The best movie ever made about the present day modern world and The world's best music to accompany this. Period.

Glass is masterful in incorporating Hopi prophecies, Tibetan instrumentation, and his immediately recognizable style in a series of six pieces which "invite (the listener) to exprirence the acceleration and density of modern society in a new way" and "invites (the listener) to consider the benevolence of technology and the notion of progress in the world we live in." Hmm. Could not have said it better myself. This CD reflects the motion picture KOYANNISQATSI (a cacophonous collage of images), yet Glass's work stands on its own and is a must for anyone who is interested in this amazing composer's work or anyone who is open to a wonderfully intense yet mellow experience.