Customer Reviews

Music From & Inspired By the Film Monster (CD & DTS DVD)

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BT is a genius. He's one of the most innovative musicians of our generation, beginning as an architect of trance but never sitting still in one genre for too long. Somebody making movies noticed this, and let him do the score for the movie Monster. I hadn't seen the movie, but when I heard that he'd done the soundtrack I bought it immediately, sight unseen (so to speak). It didn't disappoint me.

First off, it's a two disc soundtrack. There's a DVD and a CD. The DVD is actually the primary medium for the soundtrack. It was composed for surround sound, and the DVD contains the soundtrack in DTS audio, as it was meant to be heard. It also has a stereo mix. It's about 2 hours long, which is another reason it was released on DVD, and it's pretty much a single work, with tracks fading into each other. Absolutely brilliant stuff. It's hard to believe it was composed by BT--it's not trance. It's very ambient, kind of like Eno, but with fascinating melodies and rhythms coming through often enough to make it more accessable than some other pure ambient music. It's played with real instruments, prominently featuring a hurdy-gurdy, but it has sounds and samples woven through it also. And the 5.1 is used to full effect, making it a completely immersive experience.

Of course, there's a CD with it as well. It contains a stereo mix of about half the tracks (mainly the more melodic ones), and it's great. Well worth the price of the disc even if you don't have the equipment to take advantage of the surround sound experience.

I'm getting a fairly hefty collection of soundtracks, and it's not often anymore that I'm really surprised by a movie score. This one did it for me. Just thought I'd share.

This is the greatest musical score package I've seen. It is presented in two discs, a DTS DVD featurette (labled as Disc One) and CD (labled as Disc Two) . I was lucky to get the limited edition autographed copy for the same price, but that's the only difference.

Disc One:
The best way to listen is of course in DTS 5.1 sound mix, but it can also be played as a normal DVD via PCM sound, which I don't recommend at all. I've switched between PCM stereo and DTS and the difference can't be compared as you miss out on the sonic quality and surround sound experience. The music score was actually mixed with DTS 5.1 as the artist has intended from the start so it's not like those DVDs that you buy afterward that was re-mixed to play under 5.1 surround, but the artist never thought to play it that way and the instruments are just all over the place. With this DTS mix, you get the whole feel as instruments creep from behind you right from track 1.

Since this is an audio disc, the concentration is in the audio quality. However, as you play each track there are video stills from the movie to remind you of the feel and event from where the music was inspired from.

As a DVD, there are extras such as Interview with BT and the Director, Patty Jenkins; Theatrical Trailer; Gallery; and even a Film Mixing Demo which gives you a glimpse of the three basic elements in a film sound - dialogue, music and effects - and which you can play altogether or separately in a snippet of the movie, Monster.

Disc Two:
This is the audio CD part. Although there is a confusing DTS logo on the disc (which only states DTS entertainment), there is no DTS surround here. In this disc there are only 15 tracks (versus 24 tracks in Disc One). I guess the reason also is because of the limitation in size of an audio CD versus a DVD. The arrangement is the same based on the movie theme. After listening to the first disc, this disc suddenly became bland. Where there was music coming from behind, this is the plain two stereo mix. Nothing to listen to, just a compromise to bring on the road since only a few (high-end) cars come with a DVD player let alone a DTS-capable deck.

A word of caution: if you're looking for BT's usual techno beats, this is not the album for you. This is a musical score inspired from the movie, Monster. However, this is still a good listen that presents itself as a ChillOut session which is still great to crank up or mellow down as a party/ambient sound. Enjoy!

I have about 500 CD's of all types of music, rock, new age, electronicia, trance etc. etc. This is one of the best CD's I have heard in years. The movie was excellent and the score was incredible. I drive a lot in my profession and I listen to this CD and it makes a great background theme for life. I am very impressed with BT, in particular the work on this album. There are no weak tracks. I dont know what else to say to convey the power of this CD.

I first heard this music when it was the Echoes CD of the month, and since then, I've been utterly hooked. This music is absolutely phenominal, not at all something one would expect from a horror movie, but he almost seems to make light of some of the tracks, and they all turned out very well.

This is perhaps the most emotionally charged score I've heard in my life (as well as one of my favorite soundtracks to date). I watched the movie (at least five times) and I love it! It became one of my top ten favorite movies ever! After I heard the music from the movie, I bought the soundtrack the next day and have listened to it alot. I think this was the perfect music to support the movie as well as the perfect music to listen to in your free time. I didn't even know who BT was until his score to Fast and the Furious. And now I keep up with all of his releases and I've become a huge fan. His score to Monster is his best yet. From "The Bus Stop" to "The Ferris Wheel" to the "Courtroom" track, this is by far the best soundtrack, I think, so far of 2004! You need to get this soundtrack as well as the movie! This was a unique soundtrack because of the DVD feature which is really awesome too. Trust me, buy this soundtrack because it's worth every cent!

I have been eagerly anticipating the new BT cd for some time now. His new cd is based on the terrific film "Monster" which was one of my favorite films from 2003. What really stood out for me in the film was the amazing music composed by BT. It was nothing like I heard on his previous cds. The music from the film is much moodier and more like legendary composer Brian Eno. It has that same moody, ambience feel. Listening to the second disc, the music takes me back to the particular scenes from the film even if I can't seen them. I particularly got the chills from listening to the title sequence as well as the love scene on the Ferris Wheel. The intricate melodies of the madman speech hearkens back to BT's first album "IMA" but overall don't expect anything like from his last two albums. As for the dvd, it is basically footage of the film. There is a really interesting interview with Patty Jenkins and Brian Transeau (a/k/a BT). They go into details about how the film score was conceived. I liked how Patty admitted that she was a fan of BT's work. The dvd is a nice added touch to the soundtrack. If you loved the film "Monster" as well as the music, then this cd is definitely worth checking out.

This soundtrack is mostly instrumental. BT is the BT you may have heard of. Monster, the movie about that woman who was a prostitute... she killed 9 men or something like that. Exceptional performance by Charlize Theron made that movie hard to forget. Well, the soundtrack is just as good as the movie is, beautiful, inspired. If you have not seen that movie, YOU SHOULD RENT IT, it's hard, I know. But it's based on a very true story. If you have seen it, perhaps you can remember the music... the piano is just wonderful, smooth, playing along with violins. If you let the music moves you, it will really move you. Remember, Charlize Theron won an Oscar for her performance in this movie. Some years, I'm thinking that no one diserved an oscar for their performance but they have to give one. Charlize Theron is just unbelievable in Monster... you don't feel that she is acting. You don't recognize her. You only see the prostitute. Two thumbs up for Theron, for Christina Ricci (who plays Selby) and also two thumbs up for the delicious soundtrack.

The first track remembers me of The Big Blue. If you have seen The Big Blue, by Luc Besson, well, this soundtrack may also have fitted The Big Blue very very easily. The music is large, it grabs you and add emotions to what you are viewing. BT did a wonderful job composing Monster's music. I suggest you to view the movie first... while keeping your ears wide open! And then buy the soundtrack.

My appreciation of a few of the tracks:

Track 1: Ferris Wheels (Love Theme) .... really makes me think of The Big Blue, by Luc Besson... an excellent track, very long, filled with variations, intense and intelligent piano. Could also have been a track in the movie The Crow. You can feel strong emotions and intensity in here. Great great great piece of art. Perfect, indeed!

Track 2: "Call me daddy" killing. Hard to categorize this track. But I think you can try to imagine the end of Thelma and Louise movie with this track.

Track 3: "Childhood Montage" (Title Sequence) Mmmmmm... very interesting orchestration. It sounds like it was made by the French group "Air", (And it would be one the Air best tracks!)

Track 4: The bus stop : Wow! What a great orchestration between piano, drums, guitars and drum bass. Deep and light, but intense and 9 minutes 56 sec! Very smooth track with some very inspired piano. Incredible job by BT, once again. Almost worth the price of the soundtrack by itself! Great background music to chat, to drink wine, do a foot massage, study or make love! This track is a wonderful piece of art.

Track 5: Girls kiss: a more rythmic track, here.

Track 9: Turning Tricks (Hooking II): pretty pretty cool half-techno half-ambient sound. Nice work, again!

I once really loved BT during his old trance days (like flaming june and whatnot), but I won't candy coat my feelings- I really hate his new stuff... very generic pop. Don't get me wrong, he is a wonderful artist, but I think he's lost track of his roots/progressed towards a new genre all together.

This soundtrack is... nothing short of perfect. The acoustic guitars, the lovely mallets and strings... this is electro-acoustic music in it's purest form, and it's painfully obvious that BT is a natural in an acoustic setting. This is the music that tells you a story without words and is very emotional to say the least. My only complaint is that this is a soundtrack ... not really noticed by the general public, but none the less, it's his best work yet.

The music are involving, beautiful. BT got right in full to composing these music. The film is fantastic. Without a doubt, one of the best soundtracks that I already heard.

Monster is bound to be underestimated by the average movie viewer. This is a shame, since the movie has a thorough narrative and overall excellent performances.
The greatest bonus, however, is the score composed by BT. It heightens the emotional aspects of the movie wonderfully, serving not only as a back-up to the scenes, but also as an integrated part of the whole feel and ambient provided by the director.
This is an excellent buy for all score fans.