Customer Reviews

Standard Operating Procedure [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

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unfortunately I'm not a big fan of Danny Elfman, but this is the only one of his scores I have in my collection. Just beatiful stings, music and themes!

I haven't seen the movie that this soundtrack accompanies yet--I don't think it's even been shown in my area, since seeing this soundtrack by Danny Elfman is the first I'd ever heard of it--but based on what I knew about the movie, the music is not what I expected it to be. And that's not a bad thing. One might expect (at least I did) that the score for this kind of documentary would be very ambient, and it is that, but it is also much more thematic and even melodic than I would have thought. Elfman mainly employs moody strings to achieve the desired effects, but throws in some low brass for good measure occasionally, and creates some interesting effects with synth and percussion (for example, in the "Dogs" track).

The organization of the album is apparently not in the same order that the music appears in the film ("Main Titles" doesn't appear until track number eight), but it is a good presentation. It lags slightly in the middle (tracks 10 through 12 in particular), but it starts off very strongly, and ends strongly as well. A couple of tracks here ("Main Titles" and "A Bad Feeling") are adapted from Elfman's previously released symphonic work, "Serenada Schizophrena," but otherwise this is all original material, although some moments are remeniscent of themes from some of his earlier scores, and in track 7 he briefly re-uses a motif from "Sleepy Hollow."

On the whole, however, "Standard Operating Procedure" is very fresh and original, occasionally surprising. The overall tone of the album is like a superhero movie score gone very wrong, and the "Photos" track sounds like circus music meets a funeral dirge. Not very happy stuff, but good nevertheless, and very listenable. A must for the film-music lover, and especially for the Danny Elfman fan.

Watching Danny Elfman grow into a sophisticated and technically excellent film composer over the last few years has been one of the most satisfying parts of reviewing soundtracks. His score for Standard Operating Procedure - a devastating documentary by Errol Morris about the appalling events surrounding the Abu Ghraib prison torture abuse scandal in Iraq in 2004 - is probably the most mature and intellectual film score of his entire career.

Morris usually hires Philip Glass to score his films, so it perhaps comes as no surprise that a shorthand way of describing Standard Operating Procedure is `Elfman doing Glass', but should in no way insinuate that Elfman is merely copying Glass - the writing is unmistakably Elfmanish throughout. Like much of Glass's work, much of the music is built up around little motivic cells, repeated textures and thematic fragments, which gradually combine and interweave to form an impressive, cleverly-structured work. The music is almost wholly orchestral, with emphasis on strings and piano but encompassing all parts of the ensemble at different times; unlike many documentary scores, Elfman's music has a driving, rhythmic quality, usually accomplished by churning bass and cello passacaglias. Cues such as the three "SOP Theme" pieces and "Birdies" are hypnotically fascinating in the way they move around the orchestra, while pieces like "Saddam's Egg" are noteworthy for their seriousness and dark, brooding intensity.

One or two of the cues are taken directly from, or at least derived partly from, his 2006 classical piece Serenade Schizophrana, notably the brilliant main title, "Vacation in Iraq"; indeed, anyone who has heard that work will be able to spot stylistic similarities to it throughout Standard Operating Procedure, making them almost companion pieces, at least in tone and style. Cues like "The Infamous Pyramid" have an ominous heaviness to them which is quite palpable, while cues like "Photos", "The Table Breaker" and the mechanical "Oli's Lullaby" have a superficial lightness and flightiness accomplished through circus-like rhythms and twinkling orchestrations that clearly stand in painful juxtaposition to the subject matter at hand. Occasionally, Elfman injects some electronic tension into his music, notably during the grating, menacing "Dogs" and "What Is Going On Here?"; elsewhere, cues like "Gillian" employ a slightly warmer orchestral sound, although even here the intended effect is likely to be one of `playing against type' rather than romanticizing or glossing over the subject matter.

Standard Operating Procedure is an excellent, intelligent, creatively written and hugely enjoyable score that is made all the more appealing due to the fact that it is Elfman's who has written it. He has come a long way since the days of Pee Wee, Batman and Beetlejuice, and although occasionally the intervening years have been frustrating, he has emerged as one of the most skilled and creative composers working in Hollywood. Standard Operating Procedure is probably the best documentary score I have ever heard, and one of the best scores of 2008.