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Sherlock Holmes: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

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The soundtrack for this movie was spectacular and this is a good CD, but it's missing some of the music that was in the film. Mostly noticeably absent was the the great Irish music vocal, "The Rocky Road to Dublin," by The High Kings. This song made the Holmes fight scene even more dramatic, and it also made the credits at the end more enjoyable. I was disappointed to find that it wasn't included in the soundtrack CD.

This version of Sherlock Holmes is apparently the 223rd occasion the ubiquitous detective has been portrayed on either the big or small screen, but as far as I'm aware this is the first time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary character has been a traditional Hollywood action hero. A succession of actors - from Basil Rathbone to Peter Cushing and Jeremy Brett - have portrayed Holmes as a thoughtful, cultured, albeit rather eccentric English gentleman, and although Doyle's novels have often spoken of his prowess as a bare knuckle fighter and swordsman, as well as his drug use, Holmes was never an `action man' in the traditional sense. It seems the filmmakers have made a rather unfortunate misjudgment of character on this film, making this Holmes a young, bare-chested hunk rather than an analytical mind.

The film is directed by Guy Ritchie, the former husband of Madonna and the director of such popular hits as Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, and stars Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Holmes' faithful assistant and confidante, Watson. The plot revolves around the dastardly Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), an occult-worshipping aristocrat who, following a series of brutal murders, is captured, tried and subsequently executed, but seemingly rises from the dead to continue his reign of terror. The film also stars Rachel McAdams as Holmes's American paramour Irene Adler, Eddie Marsan as Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard, and Geraldine James, Kelly Reilly, Hans Matheson, James Fox and William Hope in smaller roles. For the film's music, Ritchie turned to composer Hans Zimmer, who began his career in London with the late great Stanley Myers, and as such has an affinity for the city and its cultural heritage.

Zimmer's score is not what you would expect from a major Hollywood studio's key Christmas lynchpin film. The composer describes it as `the Pogues in Romania by way of an East End pub', and rather than being performed by a standard symphony orchestra, is instead a cultural mishmash of gypsy fiddles, banjos, cimbaloms and an out-of-tune piano, which Zimmer said was intended to illustrate both the "chaos in Holmes's head", as well as the film's period setting at the turn of the industrial revolution. Zimmer was also apparently inspired by the folk sounds of Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, which explores Victorian London's criminal underbelly in much the same way as Holmes does. Taking into account the obvious thought put into the creation of a unique sound, the resulting score is surprisingly easy to listen to and enjoy on its own terms, mainly because of its unashamed and unrestrained strangeness, and because it sounds so unlike most of Zimmer's most recent work.

The first thing listeners will find upon listening to the Holmes score is how much like the Jack Sparrow music from Pirates of the Caribbean it sounds. Like Sparrow's music, Zimmer's Holmes theme portrays the character as a comedic eccentric, but whose peculiar outward demeanor hides an inner strength. The spiky, slightly-drunken theme for fiddles, cimbaloms and accordions dances above a thrusting rhythm in the opening "Discombobulate", an energetic opening that certainly sets the tone of the score, and reoccurs later in the slightly more conventional "My Mind Rebels At Stagnation", the action-packed "Marital Sabotage" the stirring "Panic, Shear Bloody Panic", and the conclusive (and rather peculiar) "Catatonie". What's interesting about this theme, and about much of the score in general, is how off-kilter is all sounds. Instead of a smooth, constant sound, the strings have a scratchy, scrappy coarseness to them, while the accordions, banjos and various percussion items have a slightly broken sound, as though their pitch is a little off, or as if they are not being played properly. This is clearly not the case of course - scores such as this are intended to sound exactly the way they sound - but the cumulative effect of this is to make the score sound more than a little rough around the edges.

The tinkling cimbaloms are used in a more sinister manner in cues such as "Is It Poison, Nanny?", which have an unusual, scratchy electronic sound design element under the solo instruments, and which combine with deep bass chords to present a sense of impending menace. The second half of "My Mind Rebels At Stagnation", as well as cues such as "He's Killed The Dog Again", are similarly threatening, with an increased brass presence, dark electronic chords, buzzing violins, and multiple appearances of the famous de-tuned piano, which Zimmer personally detuned by throwing it down a set of stairs in the parking structure on the 20th Century Fox lot. At the other end of the scale, "I Never Woke Up In Handcuffs Before" is a crazy Romani-style dance for fiddles, accordion and an oompah tuba that picks up an exotic percussion beat half way through, and ends as a frenzied whirligig dance piece that would not sound of out place in a Turkish bazaar.

The main set piece of the score is the 18-minute "Psychological Recovery... 6 Months", into which Zimmer combines all the specific acoustic and electronic elements, the prancing Holmes theme, the banjos and fiddles and cimbaloms, and the cranky piano, but beefs up much of the music with some of the engaging action rhythms for which Zimmer is much more famous. He even finds time to work Irish pipes into his sound mix, which briefly recalls the work Zimmer did no An Everlasting Piece back in 2000. One absolutely wonderful touch comes 8 and a half minutes into the cue, when Zimmer works the Westminster Chimes melody (which precedes the hourly chimes of the clock of Big Ben) into his robust string ostinato. It's all very entertaining, and builds up to a thoroughly rousing, orchestrally-enhanced, and unexpectedly emotional conclusion as Holmes and his nemesis fight atop the still-under-construction Tower Bridge.

While Guy Ritchie's reworking of Sherlock Holmes might dismay the literary purists, and while Zimmer's score will likely make younger Zimmer fans scratch their heads in confusion, I personally found the score a refreshing change of pace, and a new sound from a man not known for breaking with convention that often. It took me a while to warm up to the score and to appreciate its nuances, but once you get past the initial reaction of "what the hell...?", there is a great deal of engaging music to be found. This is the kind of Zimmer music I like the most; the music that reminds us why he, above all his `underlings', is capable of writing genuinely good music, and why he continues to be held in such esteem.

Have not loved a Zimmer score this much since "Da Vinci Code".

Just when you think you have Zimmer figured out and expect him to churn out his usual style of music he knocks you out with this fun and very strange score that features an amazing mix of synths and an unusual orchestra. According this interview I read they had the piano I think right side up or something like that on one of the cues. And I could have sworn I heard an alto flute on one of the tracks. Woodwinds in a Zimmer score? What's the world coming to.

The album starts with the engaging and highly entertaining "Discombobulate" which is just blast to listen to. When the track started I was ready to yawn but then the trombones kicked in and the fun started. The track sets up what I imagine is the movie's theme, which is done with a banjo if I'm hearing right then joined by the rest of the very odd orchestra. Zimmer even throws in a solo violin towards the end and what I could have sworn was an accordion. This track alone is worth the purchase of the album, so much fun and craziness. And all this time I thought Zimmer was humorless.

The humor doesn't stop with the first track, the 3rd track "I Never Woke Up in Handcuffs Before" is a crazy, crazy piece of music that sounds like something you'd hear an Indian bar. Zimmer pretty much has the unorthodox orchestra attempting to play the main theme and doing a very poor job of it. Sounds like a middle school band rehearsing for the main theme, which just makes it hilarious. Not sure if this was an aleatoric performance or actually written, but it's funny as all hell. Once again shocked that Zimmer has a sense of humor.

But it's not all fun and games as there are some tender moments here and there which also works fine without feeling out of place. It's Zimmer allright, but just toned down without being too sweet or sounding like some cliché laced complicated romantic comedy music. A great example of this is the strange and beautiful "Not In Blood, But in Bond". It starts very odd but halfway through the strings kick in and it just gets very endearing but still maintaining that heavy handed Zimmer sound. "Ah Putrefaction" is another sweet moment on the album.

Fans of Zimmer's action writing can rejoice, and those tired of his string ostinatos can also rejoice? His action writing here is some of his best in a while. It's not so far removed that you don't think it's Zimmer, but also not the same crap that he and his boys churn out all the time. It has the heavy strings, the synths doing the part, the light drum loops and so forth but Zimmer combines them very effectively and makes some pretty interesting action music.

The lengthy and enjoyable "Psychological Recovery.....6 Months" contains the most action on the whole album. It's a long one but quite enjoyable and perfect for when you're stuck in traffic or waiting for your pharmacy to refill your anti depressants. One little touch that Zimmer employs here that I loved was this snyth piano sounding instrument, which I heard was a dulcimer? Other than LOTR I never even heard anyone else use it so it was refreshing to hear Zimmer use it along with the crazy array of sounds he got out of the orchestra which worked really well in the action material.

The album ends with another highlight, which is "Catatonie". My personal favorite part starts at 3:17 till the end. It's a great ender to a great album that really caught me off guard. Was expecting Zimmer to be Zimmer, and instead he surprised.

In an age when high profile composers are content to not do anything original it's nice to see that some still love the art enough to give it fresh material.


Recommended.

The High Kings version of "The Rocky Road to Dublin" is a good version, but if you want the one form the movie you should buy "The Rocky Road to Dublin" form the Dubliners since that is the one form the movie.

One of my pet peeves are soundtrack's where the order of songs is not in the chronological order as they appeared in the movie. I usually come to amazon and find that someone has already posted a review and put songs in the proper order, but it looks like no one has done that thus far with this soundtrack.

The format I'll use for this is:

Proper Order # / Soundtrack Track # / Track Title / Appearance Time in Movie (H:MM:SS) / Comment (if any):
1 / 7 / Marital Sabotage / 0:28 / intro of movie as horses appear
2 / 9 / Ah, Putrefaction / ~14:00 / Partial Track used - played during 2nd half of dinner while Holme's tries observe details of Mary and fails miserably
3 / X / The Rocky Road to Dublin (Live) / 15:34 / By the Dubliners: Not part of soundtrack - I bought this track separately and added it to my playlist.
4 / 4 / My Mind Rebels at Stagnation / / Multiple Ques: Ride to Prison to speak to Blackwood, and Most prominent;y is @ 3:00 into the track, which is Blackwood's first (staged) execution
5 / 5 / Data, Data, Data / 28:00 / Irene Adler Theme - Played during multiple sections of the movie (crushing walnuts with her fist, and drugging Holmes at the Grand Hotel)
6 / 2 / Is It Poison, Nanny? / ~31:15 / Multiple Ques: @ 1:30 into track, it's the second half of Irene's Introduction conversation, and as she walks (non flashback) to meet with Moriarty
7 / 3 / I Never Woke Up in Handcuffs Before / 34:19 / Appears in multiple ques - flashback of following Irene, and during first fight with Dredger at Reardon's home.
8 / 10 / Panic, Shear Bloody Panic / ~1:15:00 / Inspection of Body, and sailing on the river to the Wharf
9 / 8 / Not in Blood, But In Bond / 1:24:10 / Wharf Explosions and aftermath
10 / 6 / He's Killed the Dog Again / ~1:30:00 into movie / played during Holme's "enhanced" re-enactment of the order's ceremonies
11 / 11 / Psychological Recovery. .. 6 Months / / Basically the entire action sequence of the final act of the movie, and possibly some of the music of the fight with dredger in the Drydock
12 / 1 / Discombobulate / 0:00 and 2:00:32 / Contains both the introduction notes of movie, followed immediately by ending credits) - I feel its more natural as the final track of the soundtrack
13 / 12 / Catatonic / ~2:05:00 / Played after 2nd playing of Rocky Road to Dublin during end of movie credits

I've left off the 2 tracks from "The Duchess" movie soundtrack that appear during the dinner scene at "The Royal". I didn't particularly enjoy being shaken out of the distinct mood of the soundtrack when I included these two particular tracks in a playlist, but figured I should mention them here in case someone wants them for completeness sake.

Even the long-running BBC TV series failed to capture the period and character so perfectly as Hans Zimmer's theme for the the great detective. It is as catchy as one John Williams might have created with what might be a harpsichord and violin. Sweeping hauntingly Victorian you can almost feel the cobblestone beneath your feet listening alone, but at the same time modern and quirky. This is very much and example of Zimmer's best work so far since Gladiator....loved it! Loved it! One complaint I have about the soundtrack is not an evaluation of Zimmer's work, but the film includes the Road to Dublin by "the Dubliners" in the backstreet boxing-brawl match, which is inspired...but was not added to this Download/CD. Look that one up.

Incredible score - modern and period at the same time. Hats off to Zimmer for exquisite integration of violin and string section - of course one would think it would be an obvious thing to do with a Holmes score, but I was pleasantly surprised by the way he stretched the abilities of the string section - scraping the bow, synth high pitch 'rips', etc... the Holmes motif is a great addition to the score literature, passing the theme from glockenspiel to sythensizer / harmonium to banjo for the win. Instead of just a sitting on a simple tune for the opening or closing credits Zimmer and Ritchie utilize the score and motifs as a musical experession of Holmes' mental processes - brilliant in the film and still effective on the album.

The 'love' #be it for Adler or Watson# theme is effective and also holds potential to be carried over into sequels.

Agree with previous posts that the High Kings are sorely missed. Do yourself a favor a purchase the tune "Rocky Road to Dublin" and add it to your library as part of this soundtrack. While you are there, go ahead and get 'Maries Wedding' - another great High Kings track.

Hans Zimmer explodes into adventure with his highly entertaining and very unique score to Sherlock Holmes. When I first read that Hans would be doing a Guy Ritchie film I became a little curious. Ritchie is known for using mostly songs and little to no score in his films. So, why would he hire a composer who is known for making music stand up and take charge in the narrative? I don't know why, but I'm glad it happened. The score is incredibly fun and is a concoction that only Zimmer and his featured soloists could have come up with.

Hans says the score took inspiration from Irish and gypsy music. So the tunes are off key in places and utilize uncommon instruments such as the banjo or the custom hybrid "Experibass". It has the swashbuckling waltzy feel of his theme for Jack Sparrow yet all the instrumentation and attitude of an Ennio Morricone western score. In other words, it brings what you see on the screen to vivid life. The track "Not In Blood, But In Bond" showcases one of the many amazing soloists in a hauntingly beautiful track. This track plays over the slow motion sequence of the wharf bombing and will honestly give you chills. Yet you will have a ridiculously goofy track like " I Never Woke Up In Handcuff's Before", which has a Middle Eastern flair accented by an accordion that eventually weaves the main theme in.

The film itself is hugely entertaining and there is not a dull moment in the entire score (or the film). The highlight is of course the 18-minute track titled "Psychological Recovery . . . 6 Months". It's practically all the music from the final act of the film and it's one helluva ride. The structures and sounds bleed Zimmer and will keep you riveted and smiling all at once. Hans is still the only composer I know who knows best how to create these grand emotional ascending arcs that continually build and build and then erupt, which is exactly what the final act of the score does.

Sherlock Holmes was a great way to end the year. It was like getting a summer action score in the winter when usually all we have is the "serious" stuff. Hans Zimmer continues to go out of his way to try and not tread over old ground. He continually creates emotionally driven music that lifts the films he scores to new heights. I still love the fact that he can do all this crazy and innovative instrumentation and the sound is still unmistakably Zimmer. I also love the "Black Hawk Down" strings that come in at 10:35 into "Psychological Recovery . . . 6 Months". If there are any Modern Warfare 2 players out there they might recognize it. I don't know if Hans or Lorne is responsible for that one, but it made me smile.

As of Jan 2010, I have seen this movie three times and I absolutely love the music in it. It just fits so well into the scenes and I immediately bought this CD, after I left the theater the first time.

Zimmer just does it again, with music that remains with you, long after you leave the theater.

I realize that this was a very short review, but...I don't have much else to say other than I can't get enough of this CD! :-)

I just saw Sherlock Holmes this afternoon and the minute the movie started, I was instantly hooked. I've never read a Sherlock Holmes story and knew right away that this wasn't going to be the traditional take on this legendary character mainly because of casting, directing and of course, the music. I'll leave my review of the film on another website, suffice to say that I liked it a lot.

The music however also piqued my interest. It was jarring and eccentric at times but I gradually fell in love with it, especially the opening score. For the entire movie I kept wondering "who the heck composed this score?!" I stayed at the end to see the credits (only time they came up) and a smile crept on my face when I saw who it was.

This score is TOTALLY different than anything else he has done before. I hate it when composers start to rehash previous scores together due to utter laziness or from being uninspired. This soundtrack is so far left field for Zimmer that it made it unique and refreshing in my opinion. This is his best work since Gladiator.

The first reviewer (Jon Broxton) gave a very detailed analysis of the music and he was right on point so go ahead and read that intelligent review. From a person who simply loves Hans Zimmer's work through the years, all I will say is that I love this album and if you're a fan as well, go ahead and buy it!