Customer Reviews

More Music from the Motion Picture "Gladiator"

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I LOVED the first Gladiator soundtrack, and I still to this day play it over and over.

Upon hearing about the release of a second "Gladiator" CD, my first reaction was excitement and I couldn't wait to hear it. Then I read that many of the songs on the second CD weren't even in the film, and I became skeptical. I thought that it might disappoint me, as I put the original soundtrack up on such a pedestal. Nevertheless I bought it. As I held it in my hand I immediately wanted a refund, as I was too scared that it would disappoint me and ruin such a good thing between me and my baby, "Gladiator" (LOL).

But something made me put it in my CD player and press "play" and boy am I glad I did. It's no wonder they made a second CD- Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard certainly know how to compose music! It makes me wish that the film was an hour longer, just so they could use all this unused music! Hans gives a wonderful commentary of the composition of these songs and what emotions he wanted each one to radiate. Some of the songs were actually put into various scenes of the movie, before finally being scrapped, and it's great to imagine what scene X would have been like with "this" particular track.

There are, of course, still many tracks on this CD that are in the movie- like the unforgettable scene where Maximus is riding frantically on his horse to reach his wife and son, and many other songs which are featured throughout the movie which have been mixed together with dialog from the movie.

Keep a special ear out for "Duduk of the North". This is so beautiful, and towards the end, Hans wrote in a Spanish theme, which is just indescribable. I play this one over and over and over. "Homecoming" is the music to the scene where Maximus is riding home to his wife and child...so urgent. "Rome is the light" features Lisa Gerrard's vocals. According to Hans, this song was going to go at the end of the movie where "Now we are free" (from the original CD) is used. It is again beautiful. It almost sounds like she uses some of the same lyrics in "Rome is the light" as she did in "Now we are free", but the tune is completely different.

I could go through them all, but that it would exceed my word limit! And it's good to keep some mystery about the other tracks. This is a great, great CD. If I could give it more stars than 5, I would! Definitely one of my better investments! Nicole, 19, Australia

After being amazed by the first 'Gladiator' soundtrack, I was surprised and delighted to find a second offering. I was rather dissapointed to find that there really isn't much new here. Many of the tracks are the same songs as the first CD, the only change being in the instruments that are used. This often proves to be a change for the worse. At times its painful to hear the haunting echoes of Lisa Gerrard's wordless songs being marred by the intrusion of staccatto African drumbeats.

As for the new songs, many of them are far too short and mellow to be appreciated. The last half of the CD contains many songs that are just one or two minutes long. If you happen to be doing something else as you listen, you can barely tell they're there. But the CD has it good points. The 'Duduk of the North' is very well done and I don't think it's possible to grow tired of the battle theme, regardless of which version it is. The movie dialogue is well-chosen and skillfully placed.

If you absolutely adored the first soundtrack it will probably be worth your time to listen, but in the end you will find yourself returning to the original for your 'Gladiator' fix.

-Boyler

First of all, this disc should've been called "Exercises in making the music for the motion picture Gladiator", to warn off those eager Gladiator fans from spending their unrefundable 14 bucks. The disc contains 4-5 decent finished pieces (tracks 1,4,5,12 and 14) that due to some reasons have not been included into the original soundtrack. The rest are half-baked, unorchestrated and repetitive "tries of the pen" by Mr Zimmer & Co. Altogether the tracks are either too short or too rough to create a coherent musical canvas (unlike the superb first CD). Other reviewers express dissatisfaction with a few Spanish guitar motives, but they are not bad, except, of course, track no. 10, called... "Maximus", which is an offence, for the only image that comes to your mind listening to this cheesy track is (hold tight!)... A Banderas.

I was especially freaked out by the last track, "Now that we are free" disco version (it reminded me of another shameful creation: chart-friendly adaptation of "Don't cry for me, Argentina". For Christ's sake, it's a dying woman's song!) And why on Earth it's called "Maximus mix"? Should be N'Sync's or "Deep Forest" mix.

At least I could read H Zimmer's comments to each track and thank his prudence and God's providence that resulted in the magnificent first original Gladiator's soundtrack. So guys, you can't step into the same water twice. I could have survived without this CD.

The original score for Gladiator was a grand triumph for composer Hans Zimmer. Unfortunatly, this cd follows a trend during the latter half of the 1990's. When you have a successful score cd, follow it up with a cd full of dialogue, demo tracks and occassional new music. That is what this cd is full off. I expected more of the great music from the movie, instead I was disappointed bitterly.

I was a little worried when purchasing this. It's one of those second CDs released because the first is so popular, but due to a lack of extra tracks, they add dialogue to some of them.

I was actually pleasantly surprised about the dialogue. Though I suspect that I may get tired of it in the long run (after all, I like to write to the music I listen to, and sometimes dialogue can ruin that for me) the voices actually work very well for the most part. Track four works particularly well. Granted, the dialogue came from one of my favorite scenes in the film.

They tried to experiment somewhat on a few tracks. Those that repeat from the original CD are actually earlier versions of the tracks, and thus do deviate somewhat. There is also a techno version of "Now We Are Free" as the final track on the CD. This is very good, so long as you like that sort of thing. (I do) And face it, it's pretty easy to picture that extra beat in the song.

Of final note, the first track is extremely pleasant. It wasn't actually used in the film, but you can still get a feel for what the film is while listening to it.

The one thing that I wish they had put here (and only because I loved the scene in the film) is a dialogue version of "Am I Not Merciful?" The dialogue just adds that little something that makes the track extra creepy.

If you liked the first soundtrack, I would say you will also like this one. There are similarities, but there are also certainly differences. If you didn't like the first one, I rather doubt you'll like this one.

I had no idea that a second disc of music from Gladiator was about to be made available; hence I was very pleasantly surprised when it appeared on the shelves, and I picked it up without hesitation.

Perhaps to clarify; the music here aren't really "from" the motion picture. Rather, the majority of the tracks are alternative versions of Zimmer's works for Gladiator, unused music, and "initial" versions of the music that finally appeared in the movie. The disc itself is reasonably well-filled, and there is a nice five-page fold out with excellent linear notes written by Zimmer on a track by track basis, and the reverse end has a beautifully laid out series of pictures from the film. In Zimmer's notes, he writes how did inspiration for the track come about, thoughts on it, and on occasion notes why it wasn't used eventually in the movie. In addition, there is enough variation here from the original motion picture tracks, so listeners who are interested in this disc but want to be sure that the music isn't simply rehashed or "extended" versions can be confident.

The tracks that I suspect will be highlights for many include track 1, which includes contributions from an Armenian instrumentalist, and even a spanish guitar part that though sounds more in place with a Zorro movie but made for excellent listening nevertheless. Track 2, "Now we are free (Juba's mix)" is one of the many variations from the end-credits music, with the vocal part still being done by Lisa Gerrad. It was definitely very interesting to hear what the fabulous end-credits music *could* have sound liked if this alternative had been used instead! Track 5 on this disc contains music that was heard from the movie but not included on the first disc, specifically the music heard when Maximus makes the journey across the desert after having been purchased by Proximo. Track 12 is a synthesised version of the Gladiator Waltz (track 3 from the original motion picture- or the opening "Battle in Germania" for listeners who do not yet own the original soundtrack CD) and does not yet contain the parts that were played by the orchestra in the final version. Track 13 is truly unique too- it contains the melody of "Now we are free", but played solo on a Chinese traditional instrument, the Yan Chin, by Gerrad.

The only spot that could possibly bother some listeners are the vocal parts from the movie incorporated into the movie, similar to the second disc of music from Braveheart. This is an entirely individual preference of course, but I could have preferred to listen to the music without Russell Crowe, Richard Harris or Joaquin Phoenix speaking the same lines as in the movie.

But on the overall, this was still an excellent disc for myself; and I suspect that I will be listening to it loads of times- as I did for the first original soundtrack disc!

If you have the original soundtrack to Gladiator then you already know why you should get this (what's keeping you?). I can't see why anyone would get this CD first without first owning the original score.

I was apprehensious about purchasing this CD because of some of the reviews I had read about it. It contains many sound bites from the film, it contains early demo demo material not used in the film, and has techno remixes? Huh? What? What kinda followup CD is this?

Let me help you put any similar fears aside. This is a great album. The sound bites, as many reviewers before me have already said, are tasteful and well placed. The demo material is good enough to not be recognized as such other than it was not in the film, and the techno remixes are limited to one track on the end of the CD so as to be easy to avoid (but even then you may discover it's good and not want to avoid it).

This album contains a decent amount of material that was in the film but left out of the original soundtrack, which is very gratifying. Nothing is worse than picking up a soundtrack only to find out your favorite piece of music is not even on the CD (which happens way too many times).

There are only a few things that keeps this album from being as good as the original. Obviously the richest parts of Hans Zimmers score are on the original soundtrack. However, do not think that this CD is just full of table scraps. There are some real gems included. And even though the sound bites are well done and often times a nice inclusion, I wish it was possible to hear the tracks without them sometimes (perhaps including pure versions on the CD as mp3 or even a bonus disk with how cheap CDs are to produce). Because the techno track is quite decent and on the end of the album, I don't consider it to detract from the album in any way, I'm glad to have it on.

In some ways, this CD is an even more listenable album than the original because it feels like it was designed more like a music album than a film score. Also, if you pop the disc into your CD-ROM drive you'll find a goodie (read: screensaver which is rather well done) for your computer. More albums should have this kinda stuff. In all, this is a great CD, but I just couldn't give it a perfect rating because it's not perfect.

When I first heard that a second soundtrack would be released, I was ecstatic, awaiting eagerly for some more fine pieces of music as previously crafted by Hans Zimmer and Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard. However, I was somewhat perturbed when I heard that it would contain small dialogue pieces. Aside from it being music that wasn't included from the movie, it seemed to be music that Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard had toyed around for a while and had decided to leave out.

However, when I finally listened to it I was pleasantly surprised. The small pieces of dialogue are from already memorable scenes of the movie and flow smoothly with the music (unlike other situations where it would be a horrid, annoying distraction).

I found most of the tracks to be quite pleasant, even while I found "Now We Are Free (Maximus Mix) to be near bizzarre, I imagine some will find it enjoyable, if not somewhat out of place. But as for the other versions of Now We Are Free, I found Juba's Mix to be undoubtably my favorite, even of the entire recording, what with its African sounding singing towards the end. Since I had grown up in South Africa, while I didn't actually recall seeing people singing as in that track, I found it a nostalgic moment recalling the people of that continent.

Other tracks that I found enjoyable were the pulsating, fast paced "Homecoming", the intriguing "Dudak of The North", and "Maximus", an interesting, heavily acoustic guitar driven. "The General Who Became A Slave" and "The Slave Who Became A Gladiator" were also pleasant surprises, including some left out music from the movie.

"The Gladiator Waltz" was also haunting hearing Russel Crowe's battle cries, and aside from others, "Figurines Yan Ching", an Oriental sounding version of Now We Are Free by Lisa Gerrard.

Please note that this CD is basically an add on (I also have the orinigal). the reason why I gave this CD only 4 stars is two reasons.

1: in some tracks the music gets disturbed with some dialogue from the movie. Some of you may like it, but I do not.

2: One of my favoroit tracks I heard in the movie is not available in any of the two CD's although some of it is in this one. The track I am refering to was the one when Maximus ( the main charactor) becomes the slave a very nice tribal music comes into play in the movie when his captors take him to Zuchabarr. It is a pity that it is unavailable.

But neverless this CD has very nice music which some of it is not used in the film at all. For those who like Zimmer's music. This is a good pick for you.

This CD is far from sloppy seconds. Although there are dialogue clips (do I have to hear Joaquin AGAIN?) overall it is an interesting glimpse into what it takes to make a winning soundtrack. The liner notes are interesting. I love Lisa Gerrard's stuff, it's timeless.Not to mention I don't have to feel like a knucklehead for not knowing what language she's speaking- she's made up her own! It's more about the mood and tone of the music itself, words as music, not for understanding, which is a nice change. Like the difference between watching TV and listening to a classical piece or reading a book. The REMIXES were very strange at first, I must admit. Hans' notes explain that a bit. But they do kind of grow on you. There's a greater message to the movie than dying and revenge, The African guy at the end practically handed it to us. And that is the message that can be -dare I use the fluffy word "Celebrated"- in these versions of an otherwise mournful song. And by the way, these are tame compared to the single remix I bought in the UK! Also, no one has mentioned the multimedia aspect of the CD. Doesn't the US release have the awesome screen saver also? That was a fav at work. So relax, take a deep breath, and let the power of the music and the message inspire you. Strength and Honor!