Customer Reviews

Monster's Ball

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I saw the film "Monster's Ball," I was struck by the strange choice of music for this story set in the South. Instead of something reflecting the musical tastes of its characters (country and western), it is electronic, eerie and moody. The intent, I assume, is to reflect the emotional and social isolation of the two main characters. The music has an effect similar to the choice of music for the film "Dead Man Walking," which featured Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan -- also eerie, moody, and strange, but appropriate to the nearly surreal ambiance of the movie. Both films, set in the South, concern death and execution. Perhaps the uneasiness of the music is appropriate for the subject matter.

The 12 Ashe and Spencer tracks on the CD are wonderful, with layers of shifting sound, drones, marimba, guitar, piano, occasional rhythms of percussion, all evoking gentle three-dimensional spaces. At first I was disappointed that the CD ends with four tracks of pop songs (country, country-rock, and R&B), but after several listenings, I now believe the somewhat mournful character of them flows naturally out of the electronic tracks. The shift to singing voices and more conventional instrumentation becomes a welcome alternative, and you realize that the isolation, yearning, and private sorrows portrayed by the film and reflected in the electronic tracks also underlie the last tracks as well. They are all of a piece after all.

I recommend this CD for lovers of ambient, "space" music, who also enjoy the sound of country music, and can understand that marginal aural world where they flow into each other.

This soundtrack, like the movie itself, is very understated yet very strong. The first 12 tracks (the Asche and Spencer material) is atmospheric; listening to them actually makes the listener feel like they're in the South on a sweltering day. It's always impressive how instrumental music can do that...

...There are actually three more songs on the cd -- 14. Red Meat "Broken Up and Blue" (which is what the orchestra played when Halle Berry won Best Actress), 15. Jimmie Dale Gilmore "Your Love is My Rest", and 16. Jean Wells "I Couldn't Love You (More Than I Do Now).

All in all, it's a smart soundtrack. All the songs go together well -- even the more country numbers with the more atmospheric material. If you liked the movie, this soundtrack is an excellent complement.

I finally bought this score after watching the film twice, then wound up playing the disc about fifteen times in row. For me, it became addictive, as it conjures a heavenly state of psychedelic calm.

My only complaint about this dreamy and beguilingly simple soundtrack ambient score is that I wish it was ten times as long.

The closest thing I can compare this score to is David Sylvian's 1988 "Gone to Earth", that is, the two sides of the four devoted to ambient (with Robert Fripp on guitar). I'd be very shocked if these guys weren't fans of that album. It also interpolates some of the better moments from Brian Eno's "Apollo" score, and his "Plateaux of Mirror" with Harold Budd from 1982.

I hope Asche and Spence do some more scores and offshoot LPs. Most electronic scores are only of vague interest to me, i.e. Thomas Newman's work remains unengaging, except for his cues for 1991's wild-weird "The Rapture", and Martinez' washes for "Traffic" were only saved by Soderbergh's inclusion of a cut by Eno from "Apollo."

Yes, their progressions are simplistic (as one reviewer carped below), but for lack of better terminology, this is altered-state medicine, i.e. 'drug music', and the great thing is that it provokes altered states without the need or use of self-medication.

Slip this in the player and drive down the Interstate at 3 AM. You will worship your divine alone-ness.

Asche and Spencer's musical sparity, with few piano notes and ambient synthetics amidst other percussive and guitar euphonies, is so overwhelming that it perfectly and beautifully symbolizes the distantly alienated emotions of the film's characters. Unquestionably, this soundtrack helped Halle reach her award status.

Very sophisticated synth-driven music by Asche & Spencer. The last four vocal tracks are good also. The atmospheric sound drives many scenes in the film...especially "under the stars" where tragedy gives way to resolution and peace.

amazing music. this souldtrack would be PERFECT if it weren't for the non score tracks at the end. it should all be asche & spencer. they do a terrific job of not intruding during the film, like so many scores and soundtracks do, of just letting you marvel at what's going on on screen. and be it happy or sad the music seems to fit perfectly with everything. which is why i love this soundtrack so much. no matter what kind of mood i'm in i can listen to this and just BE. it's similar in style to the american beauty guy, et al., but it doesn't tell you how the music should make you feel. there's no drowning strings of sorrow, no plink plink plink of hope, just the sounds of thought.

The incredible haunting music by Asche & Spencer is both intense and consoling. For those ambient music lovers, this is a must. Highly recommended.

A subdued score that clings to the soul with a lingering and misty melancoly; music which consoles in a way that wants to unlock a warm, rainy might in your heart where abandoned innocence has a chance to be regained.

I like to listen to music while I read and write, nothing too "jarring" or distracting, mostly modern Classical music, instrumental jazz, that sort of thing, and so I knew from watching and enjoying Monster's Ball that I'd love the soundtrack with it's subdued and "haunting" quality. Oh, and if you like well-written and performed "country" songs, the bonus tracks at the end of this CD aren't too shabby, especially Red Meat's "Broken up and Blue"--hell, I'd give that song "five stars."

What an inspired idea to accompany a jarring and violent film with an incredibly muted, ambient (all right, "new age") score. It worked beautifully on film and also stands on its own on CD.