Customer Reviews

The Phantom: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Beyond all doubt, this is one CD I can recommend without reservation. Overlooked because of this film's general failure, the unbelievable score by Newman is a success. All of the themes evoke a classic feeling of sweeping saga and superheroic exploits, particularly the pulse-pounding, exciting third track, which is the Phantom's theme. THIS is the soundtrack you heard in all those movie trailers for the Mask of Zorro!

This is a big symphonic heroic and adventurous score performed with might and power. The London Metropolitan Orchestra simply excels in this score. David Newman uses soaring brass fanfares, a knockout heroic theme, some romantic material, and action music that simply blows you away. The first two tracks are ominous in nature and start things off on the creepy side with pounding jungle drums and an all male chorus. That all changes however, with "The Phantom" which showcases the heroic main theme with powerful action music. The theme itself is a 7 note brass motif that perfectly captures the hero of the film. "The Escape" is another impressive action cue with bold brass and driving percussion. "The Museum" is a dark and ominous track, while "Flying to the Island" is the exact opposite of that, with a soaring orchestral sound. The love theme is found in "Must Be the Humidity" which is a sweeping, epic motif played mainly on strings. Another instrument that is used throughout this score is the pan flute, played by Tony Hinnigan and Mike Taylor, which gives the sound an ethnic feel. The last track, "Escaping the Island", is an 8 minute brass finale that really burns. Anyone who is a fan of action adventurous symphonic music or David Newman will definitely enjoy this score.

This album has got class and the orchestra gives you what you wanted: a very good adventure vibe with a dose of mystic hero story. This album does not pretend to be the best of David Newman...But I believe it is one of the best and it is fully genuine in its simplicity but power of sound.

GREAT AND WONDERFUL!!! This soundtrack catches the essense of the movie with dazzeling tracks including The Phantom and Escaping the Island. All of this soundtrack is worth buying and all tracks are traditional action packed listening with beautiful themes and instruments. BUY IT!!! It is sooo wonderful!!!

David Newman's score for the summer blockbuster "The Phantom" is very good. Great movie as well. My favourite tracks are: "The Phantom Strikes" & "Must Be The Humidity" Great action cues on the other tracks too. If only the film hadn't been cut, there would have been much more movie (and score) for us Phantom fans to enjoy. (I know that several scenes between The Phantom and Diana were cut because the director wanted the film to be more "Fast paced," including a scene where The Phantom's horse rears up in the sunset and a scene where The Phantom wrestles an animal were deleted from the film). If you love (or hate) the movie, you'll love the soundtrack. SLAM EVIL!!!

I love swashbucklers. I love being surprised. I haven't seen The Phantom so I made this purchase based on blind-faith. I don't regret a single penny spent on this album! This score is exciting!

"For Those Who Came in Late" is ambient noise with a distant male voice and some racy percussion building up to "The Tomb". Towards the end of "The Tomb" we hear violent, low blares from the trombones (?) with heavy percussion.

The next song: "The Phantom" is my favorite. This is where the heroic main theme appears and its awesome! Some of the tension is provided with male choir leading up to the Phantom's appearance.

The next good song is "The Escape". Much like "The Phantom", this piece accelerates toward a grand finish.

"Escaping the Island" is the longest and one of the best songs of the album.

This score is Newman's unsung hero score. Oh, did you notice there are very few copies of this out-of-print album left? I suggest you purchase it now before they're gone. I got mine and love it! Don't miss this one.

Maybe I should watch the film now . . .

Of the various blockbusters which rescued the costumed adventure
film from the big budget camp idiocies of the Irwin Allen/Adam
West formula, 1996's THE PHANTOM is surely among the finest
-and most underrated- of presentations. Superb casting,
top-of-the-line directing, and a magnificent script shooting
straight to the point, THE PHANTOM is a grand scale potboiler
which delivers the goods every time.

Likewise for David Newman's magnificent score. His family's
decades-old tradition of symphonic music for motion picture
is well-represented in this swashbuckling ride. Each moment
of Newman's work will leave you on the edge of your seat as
surely as any moment of the film's cliffhanging action! Vivid,
dashing, yet with somber moments to chill the marrow, Lee
Falk's pioneering adventure strip gets the full dramatic
treatment through Newman's rich, substantial score.

With his music for the outrageous SF satire GALAXYQUEST
(Someone make this available on CD, please?!!), this
CD represents Mr. Newman at his finest. Too bad that
THE PHANTOM is, at best, hard to find.

Time for this to change.

The Phantom is not a very good movie. THe storyline is weak, there is too much overacting, the movie is predictable and the dialogue is pretty awful. In fact, the only thing that makes this movie even watchable is David Newman's fantastic score. THe has a terrific main theme that captures the essence of this jungle adventure and really goes much deeper. It is quite enjoyable to simply listen to this album. While I wish that some of the tracks had been broken up instead of being ten minutes long, overall this cd score is terrific and among David Newman's best scores. Of all the super hero scores out there, very few capture the perfect spririt of adventure the way The Phantom does. While the 1990's saw many comic book movies fail, like the Rocketeer, The Shadow and THe Phantom, the scores for these movies were among the best of the decade.

When THE PHANTOM came out, my best friend (who always said the character was his FAVORITE costumed hero) said, at the end of the movie, "At LAST, somebody made one of these RIGHT!!!" Great praise, indeed. I have no idea how the movie (or THE ROCKETEER, around the same time) apparently "failed" at the box office, but that happens all the time with films I love. Suffice to say, apart from a few minor details, they captured the look and feel of the newspaper comic-strip PERFECTLY, and made a film that everyone involved should be rightly proud of.

With one exception. It kept bugging me in the theatre (and I saw it twice on the big screen). There's no "theme song". Nothing memorable to hum along when you think back on the epic adventure. How could this be?

I recently read a comment that most films these days have their soundtracks "assembled", by "collecting an assortment of big-name acts to create a buzz and move product". As opposed to music created to "blend with the imagery", as most older, and I daresay "classic" films had it. David Newman DEFINITELY follows the "old school" way here. The sounds, the moods, the overwhelming EPIC feeling of it all is positively MAGNIFICENT. But... and I really hate to say this... WHERE'S THE MELODIES? I've listened to the CD several times, and there's just NOTHING MEMORABLE here!!! I'm reminded of the music from STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. 180 episodes on TV, and NOT ONE single piece of "memorable" music that stood out, GRABBED you, and STUCK with you even if you hadn't seen the episodes for years on end.

All told, I'm glad THE PHANTOM had "mood music" instead of a collection of noisy "artists". But-- just maybe-- the film would have been more successful if the music had more than just "mood" about it.