Customer Reviews

Pay It Forward (Score)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you love Thomas Newman, then you'll love Pay It Forward. If you've never heard his stuff, I highly recommend him. Pay It Forward is wide-ranging, almost eclectic, but all of his themes blend together wonderfully. I especially love the softer orchestral themes. I do wish the songs were longer, but if you've watched the movie, then you know that those were the full lengths of music found in the film. The CD is well worth the money I paid for it, and is one of the few CDs I have that I can listen to constantly.

First off I want to say Happy Holidays to everyone. Thomas Newman is one of the most experimental composers out there. His use of melodies and harmonies are unlike any other and his sound is fresh and unique. As usual, with Thomas Newman, I like to list all of the instruments that he uses in his scores, most of them you have probably never heard of. For Pay It Forward, he uses an electric autoharp, dutar, guitars, song bells, wave drums, processed loops, tap eko gate 1 (what the heck is that?), freeze 3 (??), prepared guitars (I guess the other ones are not prepared), alto flute, spit rhythms (I don't even want to know), processed glass (??), slow tubes (unlike the fast ones I suppose), phonographs, an ewi, a processed saz (??), and a piano (finally, something I know). A unique blend of instruments as you can see. There are 2 kinds of music found in the soundtrack. The first is upbeat and lively with plenty of percussion sounds and the use of the odd instrumentation listed above. The second is soft and more laid back with the piano carrying most of the music. The theme itself is found in "Possibility", "Tardiness", and "Desert Drive" and contains the more upbeat type of music described with guitars, piano, and off beat percussion. Other noteworthy cues include the soft piano tracks, including "Fixture Vodka", "One Kiss", "Night and Day and Night", and "Sleepover". Great orchestral music is found in "In Recovery", which Newman does the best at. Most of the rest of the score contains mainly filler music with lots of sound effect related sounds in it. The song "Calling All Angels" by Jane Siberry doesn't really sound much like Angels are being called to me. But, the score is okay and is not Newman's best. Still, a decent listenings worth and that's about it.

Earning Oscar-nominations, no stranger to composing scores and coming from a musical dynasty - father was (Alfred Newman-Music Director at 20th Century Fox) is trudging forward with flying colors in this his latest release from Varese Sarabande - "Pay It Forward".

Something to think about from his past works - "Fried Green Tomatoes", "The Shawshank Redemption", "Scent of a Woman", "Little Women", "Horse Whisperer", "Lost Boys", "Corrina, Corrina", "Phenomenon", "Up Close & Personal" and "American Beauty"...all of which are outstanding scores, but hold on this may not be my final answer, the best is yet to come.

This score is moving, emotional and very close to his Academy Award nominated score for "American Beauty", but listen to "ONE KISS", very touching, warm and tender with piano coloring the scene with heart-felt love...another stand out is "I FORGIVE YOU", again a piano setting the mood, with strings echoing and blending the moment, total awareness is this beautiful cue.

In closing "CALLING ALL ANGELS" by Jane Siberry is lyrical with a message for all, nice effect and a wonderful addition to the already unique and kinetic arrangements by Newman...this my "movie-music" and "film-score-buffs" is a keeper!

Total Time: 45:47 on 27 Tracks...Varese Sarabande 066195...(2000)

Thomas Newman proves once again that he can capture the spirit and poise of a film and release it in a creative and powerful score. While listening to this soundtrack you can easily imagine the scenes from the film, and skip over the more depressing scences if you like. =) Newman's is very well known for his work on the film American Beauty (which is also a wonderful CD). The music from Pay It Forward is from the same breed (as American Beauty) but holds its own distinct melodies. In my opinion the score on this CD is a tad more emotional, and at the same time more up-beat. The final song on the soundtrack is Jane Siberry's song "Calling All Angels". For those of you that have seen the movie it is the song that is played during the film's final sequence. It is a perfect song for the film and a wonderful addition to this soundtrack. Overall I highly enjoy this CD. 5 Stars! It is great to listen to while driving your car or just lounging around the house. Enjoy this CD!

This CD is a great collection of music from the motion picture PAY IT FORWARD starring Haley Joel Osment, Kevin Spacey, and Helen Hunt. The first track, "Possibility", is a wonderful piece of score composed by Thomas Newman, the same artist that composed music from the film AMERICAN BEAUTY, also starring Kevin spavey. There are 27 wonderful, beautiful, sometimes big, sometimes small, songs on this CD that bring back the best moments from the film. The final track, "Calling All Angels" is the song that brought me to tears during the final sequence of the film. This soundtrack gets a 5 star review in my book, because it it is such a great addition to music lovers everywhere. This, is REAL music.

I too have heard "Possibility" at the menu on another dvd. Or maybe it was "tardiness"..one of them plays while the other dvd waits for you to make a selection....Anyone know which other dvd it is?

This CD is just simply beautiful artwork. The music is very emotional and touching at times, and when the time come to be emotional, it is, very much. With just the Score alone any One could get teary-eyed. Some say, (actually a lot say) that the Theme sounds "too" much like the score from "American Beauty" that may be, but I chose to leave "American Beauty" out of this all together and relized this isn't that film, but this is what this film is, and it sets a different mood. And how can you argu a strong enough point, Thomas Neman composed the music to "American Beauty" so it is his work. And. If you have any agruments or want to complain, talk to him. This score is truly touching and spiritual, this gets a 5ive out of 5ive because I loved it, and you should too.

This was a gift for a music lover and he was very excited and enjoyed it very much...I order many sound tracks dfor him and this was one of the best He said...thank you...

If you are a fan of Thomas Newman's movie scores this one will probably find it's way into your library. I bought it for the first track, and probably won't listen to the whole thing that often. Sad, sad movie don't really want the reminders that often.

I enjoyed this product very much. I rate the movie as one of the best and one that everyone should see and could follow the movie in my head by listening to the dvd. The main reason I bought this dvd was for the last song. I cry every time I listen to it. Very moving.