Customer Reviews

Ravenous: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The soundtrack for Ravenous by Damon Albarn and Michael Nyman is absolutely unique and powerful. It is reminiscent of great film scores like those of Ennio Morricone for the spaghetti westerns back in the 1960's. It encompasses many Old West traditional instruments with a modern twist to create an unmistakably distinctive sound. The intro. starts off with the military tune of `Hail Columbia' with the American flag whipping in the breeze--an ironically triumphant contrast to Boyd's disgracefully earned promotion to Captain at a victorious military banquet. After this the music changes into an off-key banjo and squeeze-box for Boyd's journey to Fort Spencer. The most bizarre musical sequence is the music at "The Cave", which starts off with a strange whining sound, which subsides into an eerie chime, then builds to a crazed crescendo as Colqhoun attacks the other men. The chase scene of Toffler is accompanied by a frenzied banjo song which seems to fit more with Colqhoun's joy than with Toffler's terror. The adrenaline-charged cliff music is intricately webbed with a heart pounding bass guitar rhythm that accompanies Boyd's frightening encounter with Colqhoun and his bone-snapping freefall down the cliff and through the pine trees. This is followed by a beautiful, dreamlike theme which transforms Boyd's quivering anguish into something elegant and heart-wrenching to watch. The music progressively gets darker when Ives returns, and Boyd's `Cannibal Fantasy' is a gloomy, fatalistic theme that captures in its pessimistic tone the hopelessness of Boyd's addiction. After Ive's seductive speech to Boyd, there is a nervous panic-building piano beat that pounds and pounds until the discovery of Cleaves' body. The highlight of the score comes with the movies culmination-- a pulsing mantra of low keyboards, chanting voices and drums gives the climax a added touch of gothic gloom and grandeur. This bizarre, trance-like masterpiece finishes with the death-embrace of Boyd and Ives. The score adds immeasurably to the brilliance and uniqueness of Ravenous, and it lingers with you long after the movie is over. Go buy this soundtrack!!!

Many scores/soundtracks don't seem to cover all the basics that a movie requires. They oftentimes seem to go for the marketing tool that works "after the fact" feel, hoping to sell more albums instead of help out the movie. This hurts quite a few films, too, because it allows certain table settings to slip through the cracks. Too often there is opting that instead takes faces that an audience knows, giving them that flavor of the moment instead of letting the levity and the sounds of situations shine through. Ravenous was an exception to that rule, however, making something that captured the bizarre blends of horror depicted in the moment.

When I first saw the movie, I was actually moved by the score and I thought that it accented many of the moods all too well. The frantic situations, the ones that were almost funny but that shouldn't be, and the horror was something I thought was fantastic. Atmospherically the films was a work of art, and I found later on that it wasn't simply the pictures that were making the film. It was instead the brooding sounds circulated through the scenes, making moments like the one captured in "run" applaudably funny instead of horrific, that made me like it so much. So I went out and bought this work by Nyman and Albarn and I've had it in my listening lineup ever since.

Even if you really aren't a fan of scores, you might want to give this work a go. I'm not normally one to pick up tracks of this nature, normally staying away from soundtracks of any sort altogether, but this is a versatile piece with real potential. It works as interesting background sound, making walking through the park or eating lunch with your discman on an interesting experience. That and the conversation highlights it can spawn make with friends makes it well worth looking into.

In a webzine interview Michael Nyman explained that while the score is attributed to "Damon Albarn & Michael Nyman", none of the individual pieces were actual collaborations. Albarn wrote about 60% entirely by himself, then Nyman came and wrote the rest.

That said, there are no "dodgy" tracks on this soundtrack. They're all excellent, and very unique. My favourites - Colquhoun's Story, Let's Go Kill That Bastard and the end titles - have complex layered melodies and strong rhythm. Keep in mind though that this was for a movie about cannibalism. Some tracks are particularly tension filled, but even the whimsical band pieces, like the flavoursomely off-key "Welcome to Fort Spencer", have a distinctly sinister tone.

And can I say that it's fun trying to guess who wrote which track.

How good is this score? As three or four reviewers have already mentioned, I'm sitting here listening to it even as I type. You couldn't get a more odd combination than avant-garde composer Michael Nyman and former BLUR frontman Damon Albarn if you tried, but considering the schizoid nature of the movie it was composed for, it TOTALLY works.

The photos in the liner notes make me wonder how somebody didn't have the presence of mind to immortalize this collaboration on video...a documentary about the making of this soundtrack would've probably been as oddly engaging as the movie itself.

But let's just stick with the album: music hasn't been this "visual" since John Williams score for JAWS, or Bernard Herrmann's classic work on PSYCHO. Hearing it out of context would probably a VERY strange experience, so if you can stomach the gore, I would recommend viewing the film first. As a stand-alone work it may seem like a very odd duck, but even then I think it will grow on more adventurous listeners. It is without a doubt one of the two most overlooked scores of the decade, (the other being Carter Burwell's THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER.)

"Hail Columbia" is a great way to start the disk as in the movie, with a queasy discordance underscoring the tune in a way that perfectly complements the scene it was written for (Boyd's "promotion"), as does all the superb work here. "Boyd's Journey" describes the entire movie in less than five minutes, with a strangely grand theme that can only be described as "tragically heroic."

Definite highlights: "Colquhon's Story"; from "Trek to the Cave" up to "Ives Return" which I have come to consider a kind of "RAVENOUS Suite," where it's a song cycle that won't make sense unless you hear every song in between in one sitting; "Manifest Destiny," and of course, "Saveoursoulissa," one of the most chilling "death struggle" themes to appear in recent years, mostly because of the subtle way it plays on your spine, understating the final confrontation between Boyd and Ives.

But what are you listening to me for? Buy this for your collection NOW!

The composers took from the film it's references to the Donner Party Disaster (which resulted in rampant cannablism)and composed some music that while appropriate to the Period being evoked, are oddly orchestrated. Even though the instrumentation is traditional, the arrangements are not and the effect is an eerie, off-kilter feeling. While the film fails to pull off this slightly oblique, fantasy element to the Pioneer Tragedy story, the music does so beautifully. This music would be a far more appropriate soundtrack to the PBS Documentary on the Donner Party than the randomly selected New Agey kind of crap they did use. I'm buying this and Neil Young's Soundtrack to DEAD MAN at the same time for the same reasons. Both Soundtracks are out of place and time and yet totally appropriate for their subject matter. Both also work as independent Listening Experiences. True, neither is for the Pop/Light kind of Soundtrack listener of today, but take a chance and you might be pleasantly surprised.

Without a doubt, Ravenous is the most deliciously ingenious and bizarre and maybe even original score I've ever heard, and I've heard many many of them. What Nyman and Alburn have done here is essentially do for movie scores what Tarantino did for films - take all the essential rules and fundamental guidelines, throw them out, and then do the exact opposite.
How else could you explain this album? Plucking banjos, furious strings, bizarre whiny horns, and even accordians? And yet....they make it work so well! This is truly both a haunting and terrifying score. It's one that lingers in your mind, love it or hate it. Strange, how it distracts you from the film on purpose, and completely deserves to. And that's probably the best compliment I can give this score - it's one of a kind, and will always be unforgettable.
You'll notice I haven't actually described the album or specific music on the tracks in any substantial way. That's because it's impossible to describe. It has to be experienced to believe. If you like experimental music or are a fan of film scores, run and pick this up right away. Wether you do indeed love it or despise it, you will be looking at it with a shudder on your CD shelf for many years to come.
cheers
KZ

Like many of the other reviewers, after watching the movie, I couldnt get Ravenous' hypnotic themes out of my head! And it wasnt the bad kind either like when I could'nt get Gary Numan's "Cars" out of my head. This soundtrack contains a wide range of musical emotions, and it goes further to break down the conventional boundries that hold back most horror film scores. The music is so dynamic and colorful, that I find it difficult to describe or explain it in this review. The best thing to do is try it out, and try it in a totaly black room. Be forewarned though, if you are a fan of popular music only, you will probably find this "weird".

When I saw this movie, I was first struck by just how strange it was... comedic in a way, but only because of its weirdness. However, it didn't take long for me to notice the interesting soundtrack, and I found myself at some points paying closer attention to the music, during Boyd's Journey and especially at The Cave. I quickly bought the soundtrack and don't regret it. A very haunting piece to a movie that will leave you scratching your head and wanting to hear those disturbing, yet intense melodic tunes again...

This IS one of the greatest soundtracks ever recorded. I've initially always liked Nyman scores, but I find they have a short shelf life. i.e. they get old fast. Not this beauty: it is inexhaustably interesting. Nyman should collaborate more often.

In a way, the music outclasses the movie, but the movie is still a little gem, provided you like violent entertainment. There's something about the western/horror combination that really works.

I think the music does an excellent job of capturing the feel of the movie, which is at turns horrific, funny, historical, and gloomy. The Stephen Foster tunes just add to the "old" mood.

My two favorite tracks are: "Colquhoun's Story," which builds slowly from a quaint, primitive-sounding theme to a nearly unbearably intense climax, getting more and more disturbing, mirroring the horrifying story Colquhoun tells in the movie; and "Manifest Destiny," which echoes some of the musical themes from "Colquhoun's Story," building in a "Bolero"-like climb, instrument by instrument, theme by theme, until the end result is a complex, intensely layered tapestry of sound. By the time what sounds like contrabass clarinets, cellos, and baritone saxes kicks in toward the end, in a pounding, menacing wave, I am always at the edge of my seat, tensed but enjoying it. The next to last track, the inexplicably named "Saveoursoullissa," is beyond creepy, unlike any "fight scene" music I've ever heard.

This seemed to have been a "love or hate" movie, and the music fits. If you loved the movie, you'll probably love the soundtrack. It's not an easy or pretty album to listen to, but it's still among my favorites.