|
|
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Great Interview. Disappointing soundtrack., July 18, 2000
This might be seen more as a companion to the new feature film than as an album for _Pryde of the X-Men_.A. As explained in the album's liner notes. The original soundtrack for _Pryde of the X-Men_ had deteriorated beyond use, so instead of Rob Walsh conducting orchestral rock, we get a synth rerecording by Walsh's Encino Light Orchestra of a few of the cues, which only sound vaguely like what was in the film. The original theme song, as cheesy as it was [X-Men! (X-Men!) This is the day! (This is the day!) X-Men! (X-Men!) Comin' your way!], is not present, nor is the instrumental end title, which was the same theme, albeit much better without the inane lyrics. (There is a screaming metal song provided by Walsh called "X-Men Comin'" which is nothing like this, nor does it appear to be based on it; see below.) B. Much of the album is taken up with mid to late nineties style alternative rock and hip hop that had not even been written in 1989, when the film was made. These are not bad, and surprisingly enough I found the hip-hop tracks more appealing, and more thematically fitting than those by Rob Walsh, who wrote the original film score back in 1989. These tracks have oddly soothing musical backdrops, unlike the rock tracks, that aren't enunciated very well and seem only vaguely connected to the themes of the X-Men. The rap tracks are more about racism than bigotry against mutants, but they still seem to work. The problem is, WHAT ARE SONGS WITH EXPLICIT CONTENT DOING ON THE SOUNDTRACK OF WHAT WAS OSTENSIBLY A KID'S SHOW? C. The disc includes priceless interview footage with Stan Lee, in which he explains the motivation for creating the X-Men was greed, because it was his job, but that didn't stop him from again trying to do somthing different, something that comicbooks had never tried before. He goes into great detail, relative to time alotted, about assessments of characters, the importance of the message, and why he came to write it the way he did. This is, oddly, the best part of the album, though I bought it for the music. Overall the "remastered" (which is a bogus euphemism for rerecorded) album fails to capture the feel of the original soundtrack, and the lack of the main theme further hinders the album as to what it purports to be, the soundtrack from _Pryde of the X-Men_. Were it not for the Lee interview, this would be something for fans of the film who wanted a song-based score to buy instead of Michael Kamen's, while the Lee interview makes it a must for fans. I was disappointed with this album, hoping it would bring back a lot of memories of that failed pilot from 11 years ago. Rob Walsh wrote some nifty music back then, even if slightly cheesy, it was much more distinctive than its representation here. It is unfortunate that the condition of the master tapes will keep there from ever being a proper soundtrack release for this film, rather than this plainly-packaged album clearly set forth to capitalize on the popularity of the movie.
|
