Customer Reviews

The Mummy: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

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

 

 

When I first saw 'The Mummy' I instantly knew I had to have the CD. The music is very moving and the sense of awe that it gives still astounds me. Every song, every moment, you are are there, transported into the movie just by the music. If you even remotely like 'The Mummy' then the soundtrack is a definate must.

Fans and students of film music were probably surprised this week with certain aspects of the Academy Awards nominations. First, John Williams' magnificent score for "Star Wars, Episode One, The Phantom Menace" was not nominated for best original score. And second, the Academy failed to recognize Jerry Goldsmith. Neither of the scores for "The 13th Warrior" or "The Mummy" was nominated, and that is too bad, especially in the latter case. Goldsmith's music for "The Mummy" came as a pleasant surprise. It equalled or surpassed some of his most notable work with adventure films, "The Wind and the Lion," "King Solomon's Mines," "Star Trek, First Contact." And as a soundtrack for an adventure movie, Goldsmith's score for "The Mummy" worked incredibly well. Moreover, it makes for an enjoyable soudtrack recording. Other reviews have lauded individual tracks adequately, but one complaint might be added. Music for the sandstorm and airplane scene including a noble brass flourish as the World War I flying ace and his plane sink into the sand is missing. There was certainly room on the disc for this cut, and the track was outstanding. The suggestion that a particulr score is one of Jerry Goldsmith's best should not be taken lighly, there are so many to consider, and so many that are simply grand. The score to "The Mummy" is a singular achievement, bravo!

The UNIVERSAL label melts into the desert sun, and the camera pulls back across the vastness of the desert. The breathtaking beauty of the Egyption skyline is placed against a majestic, awkward plucking of strings, followed by menacing bellows of low cello. Choral voices begin chanting in a creepy flavor that forbodes of things to come. The camera retracts further to reveal a massive pyramid dotted with the screaching birds of the Middle East. Suddenly, your adrenaline surges ahead as Goldsmith tacks on an enormous explosion of drums in a rythmatic beat that blows the use of repetitive sound to a new level. Tolls, choir, strings, and, of course, the obnoxious beating of drums unfold into a continuous blend of blaring instruments that, when listened to on headphones, made me always break into a pleasent smile. The soundtrack to The Mummy is by far, a sweeping desert epic told, without words, but instead in rythmic chants and horns that captivate the soul of every young-at-heart. One of the beauties of the soundtrack is Goldsmith's unpresidented use of several themes in one piece to create a mosaic tapestry that, time and again, shatters the realm of single themes and crosses in a dream track that races along with the beating of the heart and the quickening of the pulse. If I were at the recording of this soundtrack, I would have had to sit down. The excitement and the utter surge of energy that is emitted in such tracks as IMHOTEP, THE CARAVAN, CAMEL RACE, and MUMIA ATTACK (which utilizes an amazing web of several independant drums beat in unison to create the illusion there was one guy with twelve arms playing it. My only regret, which shouldn't stop you from purchasing this amazing piece of work, is that towards the end of the CD, particularily 11, 12, 13, and 14, the rythmic hummable themes unravel to a mismash of violent cues and the scream of anoynomous Egyption instruments (which can become unpleasent to listen to, but I can't blame Goldsmith for it; action sequence music does tend to put a damper on the actual footage if written to take the listener's attention away). However, track 15 picks up again after a short beggining of the noisy stuff with a beautiful interlude of rythmic strings accompanied by pleasent choral harmonies. I'm suprised that this CD hasn't been referred to as an equal, if not a better, of Lawrence of Arabia. If the two were to be placed together, I guarentee every lover of music would own a copy. Not to say go buy it, but in this case, I'm willing to help out DECCA by saying this disk is well worth your cash. This soundtrack is especially good for insomniacs, since the incredibly fiendish rythums and themes will have you up all night humming!

1999 was a busy year for the late great Goldsmith with him scoring three big movies that year. You'd think with such a busy schedule he'd switch into auto pilot and do what other successful composers do which is copy paste their music, but Goldsmith gave us a gem with each album and this one is no exception

The album starts off with "Imhotep" which starts off very mysteriously with an amazing use of strings and creepy vocal then switches to this loud bombastic piece for the amazing shot of old Egypt. I really love that piece because it captures the sense of awe that we the audience feel as we see this amazing shot in the movie. The choir at the 45 mark just gets me everytime I listen to it.

It's really hard to pick a highlight when it comes to a Goldsmith album but if I were forced to pick I'd probably go with "Imhotep", "Camel Race", "Rebirth" and "The Sand Volcano". The last 90 seconds of "Rebirth" is a blast to listen to because it's the great "Heroes March" theme in its full glory. I think it's for the scene when Rick fights the 12 Mummy Priests. "Camel Race" to me is the most fun track on the album. It's very light and makes you bop your head and tap your feet when you listen to it. "Sand Volcano" is the last piece on the album and what a fantastic piece it is. It starts in action mode then calms down. The best part of the track is the expansion of the love theme which accompanies the end credits to the movie. Goldsmith utilizes a solo trumpet towards the end that should explain to people why a lot of us think Goldsmith is the greatest film composer of all time.

Die hard fans of the late great master composer owe it to themselves to pick up this amazing soundtrack.

Undoubtedly the most substantial score of Jerry Goldsmith. I enjoyed every single minute! As another amazon reviewer wrote (for another score of his), he has this superb gift that he adds each time a different touch at his scores without having the disadvantage of Zimmer, Williams and Horner, who write almost identical soundtracks. This also happens here. Golsmith composed the absolut eruptive and brilliant music I have ever heard! I loved the action tracks, the Egyptian-romance theme , even the horror moments of this CD. In simple words, this score is just the ideal for this kind of movie! This CD is surely one of my initial choices every time I want to hear some great orchestral music to make my day! Buy it and you won't regret.

Jerry Goldsmith's score for "The Mummy" revives the tradition of classic Hollywood scores like Maurice Jarre's music for "Lawrence Of Arabia" or John Williams's music for the "Indiana Jones" series. Here we have thrilling rompings of sound. We hear great mixtures of a modern orchestra with Middle Eastern sounds and music. "The Mummy" was a good movie, but the score by Jerry Goldsmith is even better. My favorite track was the adventerous, "The Caravan." Few films have such great music, and it's hard to find a film composer who makes music like this!

I'll describe each track in relation to the film, to let people decide for themselves if this CD has what they want. Some passages - namely, the music accompanying the sandwall scene - appear to have been omitted from the CD, but those that are included appear in the same order as their presentation in the film.

"Imhotep" - Begins as the Universal logo comes up at the beginning of the film, morphing into the sun over Thebes; the track underlies the entire Thebes sequence, ending upon Anck-su-namun's death.

"The Sarcophagus" - Begins just as the Book of the Dead takes effect and Anck-su-namun gasps in shock, ends as the camera pans up the giant Anubis statue (before the title hits the screen). The roaring FX at that point aren't included.

"Tauger Attack" - Picks up a few seconds after "The Sarcophagus", as the Anubis statue is shown aging 3000+ years as we move to 1928, and the battle from which only Beni and Rick came out alive. The track ends just as the cavalry begin clearing the wall behind which the riflemen were sheltering. (The music as Rick falls back on his pistols is a separate passage.) The Tuareg are referred to even in the outdated script on the Ultimate Edition DVD by that name, but somehow 'Tauger' wound up on the CD.

Various isolated passages of music, from breaking of the legion's line at Hamunaptra to the teams' departure from Giza, are not included.

"Giza Port" - From boarding the ship at Giza until the cut to Jonathan's poker game with the Americans; the game itself is backed by some live ragtime piano that isn't included.

"Night Boarders" begins as O'Connell spots the wet footprints on deck just after his reunion with Beni, and ends as the horses emerge from the river.

"The Caravan" - Begins as Evy walks up to O'Connell just as he makes his crack to Jonathan about swapping her for the camels, and ends as the two groups of competitors meet again outside Hamunaptra.

"Camel Race" - The race to Hamunaptra, ending as Evy and her companions enter the crypt beneath the Anubis statue ('What is that god-awful stench?')

"The Crypt" does NOT cover the isolated musical passages at the opening of the crypt, or the warden's first attempts at recovering some scarabs. Instead, it begins when Jonathan, err, 'finds' the sarcophagus while practicing golf shots.

"Mumia Attack" actually covers the Medjai attack on the camp on the first night at Hamunaptra (before Evy unlocks either the sarcophagus or the book). The original script name "Mumia" was changed to "Medjai" almost everywhere but here and the script on the Ultimate Edition DVD.

The "Discoveries" begin with the American team's discovery of the box holding the canopic jars. ('Well, let's make sure we don't bring anyone back from the dead, then, huh?')

As Jonathan calls it, "My Favorite Plague" (boils and sores) and "Crowd Control" cover the Mummy's control of the mob in Cairo; the latter ends with the cut to the 'Royal Air Corps' outpost. The music on Winston's record player isn't included, since it isn't part of the original score. The 'Sand Volcano' extract underlying the first leg of the flight across the desert isn't included as a separate track.

The music accompanying the sandwall scene, and our final sight of Winston's plane, doesn't seem to have been included.

"Rebirth" begins as Jonathan, following in the Warden's footsteps, gets interested in the scarabs adorning the walls, covering Anck-su-amun's rebirth, through O'Connell's first round with the priest-mummies. It's followed immediately by "The Mummy" as Imhotep's reinforcements - the soldier-mummies - march in, picking up where the priests left off. (It ends with Imhotep's final scene.)

"The Sand Volcano" covers the fall of Humanaptra and the end title theme, but rather than tracking the entire escape sequence, it begins *after* Beni's final scene, once our heroes have reached the surface (so a few passages are omitted).

This is my 4th favorite score of Jerry Goldsmith. I am blown away by action cues such as "Tuareg Attack", "Night Boarders", and "The Mummy". The love theme in "The Sand Volcano" actually brought me to tears of joy. It is so triumphant and makes a great ending for such a score. Too bad none of these themes re-surfaced in THE MUMMY RETURNS. If you like bombastic music with blaring french horns, bellowing male chorus, and hyper strings, then you should definitely try this one.

I would recommend this highly over the sequel score, and to Goldsmith fans everywhere! Jerry Goldsmith (as usual) writes music that is coincidental to the character's feelings and what goes on in the film. His middle-eastern music is very authentic and shows no mercy. Try "The Crypt". It spells out T-E-R-R-O-R!

By the way, for those that are disappointed about the absence of some cues....The reason why they are not on the album is because Jerry Goldsmith did not want them there. All the cues are in chronological order and Goldsmith wanted to retain a comfortable listen with that arrangement. Including such cues as "Imhotep Rises" and "Wall Of Sand/Plane Crash" would have disrupted the listening experience. In my honest opinion, it really does not need any more music. This is perfect!

I bought this soundtrack about a year ago a while after I bought the video. Loving the movie since the day I saw it, without lying I would have to tell you the same about this cd upon my first hearing it. The heroic post-Indiana Jones like music is the the best I've heard since Williams himself. This issue of the soundtrack runs into a few problems though. The first is completion - after listening and getting used to the CD you get used to the songs being in order where in fact it is missing a lot of music. Good action music, that should have been in the CD. For instance, the huge scene where Imhotep's face in in the huge sandstorm eating the heroe's helicopter...gone....O'Connell almost being killed by the soldiers in Hamunaptura near the beginning...gone. Luckily, the DVD has a hidden score track with these songs but you have to sit for 2 hours watching a language track screen. Shesh! The movie has millions of fans and so does the soundtrack, the sequel is coming out next may so why not release this in a double CD set? Don't get me wrong, this CD is a great buy, much better than the monstrosity that is The Haunting {movie and soundtrack}. Goldsmith did a great job on this film, too bad he's not coming back for the sequel.

Eventhough this soundtrack came out last year and I manage to get it this year and I must say that it is certainly one of Jerry Goldsmith's better efforts. The movie wasn't too bad but what carries the film besides the heavly laded special effects is the music. Mr.Goldsmith has written a score that is both surreal and beautiful with touches of the music of old Egypt. With his opening credits right through the end , his music conjures visions and emotions of heroism and horror without being too eerie and listenable. I find that Mr.Goldsmith really excels in the field of music in the fantasy and horror genre. To date, his best works can be found in The Omen, Poltergeist and Legend. Superb sounds from a truly masterful composer.