Customer Reviews

White Squall (1996 Film)

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

 

 

White Squall has the appeal of very well crafted ambience. Listening to the long chords and Celtic themes, embellished with Caribbean bells and drums, one feels totally at sea in the best sense--as if you're floating with the *Albatross*. A few nice Fifties' songs are thrown in. All in all, quite worth buying.

The soundtrack to "White Squall" is a collaborated effort between Jeff Rona and Hans Zimmer. They have put together an excellent musical score which evoke the sounds of the ocean with the use of the flute, violin and angelic voicing. It truely captures the essence of the film. STILL WATERS, POWER OF THE WIND and the fast-beat GALAPAGOS are my personal favorites. If you like the music of James Horner and Hans Zimmer, you'll love the music from "White Squall". It is definitely a must-have for movie music lovers. ...Kal Parekh

This is one of the best soundtracks on the market. I wouldn't be surprised if James Horner got his inspiration for Titanic from this CD. An excellant mix of Celtic and Contemporery themes are covered on this disc. My personal favorite was A wonderful sail, combining the accoustic guitar and flute. Jeff Rona composes an excellant extremely listenable soundtrack. If you liked titanic, get this soundtrack it is awesome.

I have the dvd, but there's just too much talking and/or sound effects on top of this wonderful score to not have the cd.

It may not be 100% accurate to say that film composers labor in obscurity exactly, but composer Jeff Rona's name isn't exactly a household word. A quick glance at his website or his entry on IMDB.com provides sufficient evidence that the man is obviously successful in his field, but success and actual fame are two different animals. A one-time disciple and collaborator of Hans Zimmer (who reportedly was at one time slotted to compose this soundtrack but had to bow out due to scheduling concerns), Rona has carved out a niche for himself as a composer for the big screen and small, as well as taking on any number of side projects.

As it happens, I've never actually seen the film WHITE SQUALL and pretty much stumbled across the soundtrack--picked it up at a library book sale, to be honest. Call it serendipity, but I'm glad I to have come across it now, against all odds, some 15 years after its release. I'm also just as glad that I've yet to see the source film: this evocative, ambient music deserves to be heard on its own terms. Besides, I like coming up with my own mental images and not hearkening back to some residual memories of a half-forgotten film.

I imagine Rona's score was broken up (and perhaps even curtailed) over the course of the film. On record, it can be heard as one distinct composition, one with twelve distinct movements that nonetheless all flow together beautifully. A mix of Celtic and South Sea Island strains, at times, it does seem to almost effortlessly evoke maritime imagery and probably would even if you had no knowledge that it was written for a film named WHITE SQUALL.

After having listened to this evocative soundtrack, I have become curious to see the film. That's kind of an interesting vice versa for me. Usually, the only soundtracks I buy are ones for films that I've fallen in love with. But, as I say, in those instances the soundtrack pretty much tends to evoke the film. In this case, I'd be watching to film, at least in part, to see how the music is actually incorporated into it--and how effectively.

Along with Rona's composition(s), the soundtrack also includes a number of late 50s/early 60s pop and rock tunes (all coming after the Rona pieces, which is the best possible sequencing: this is definitely one CD I wouldn't want to play on random select). But the additional selections do seem to fit in rather nicely. Some were hits I remember from my childhood (Fats Domino's "I Want to Walk You Home" and Chubby Checker's "The Twist," for instance). Others were unknown to me, including the great Eddie Cochran track "Somethin' Else," which by rights I SHOULD know but probably didn't get the airplay his "Summertime Blues" did back in the day.

Any CD that gives me a chance to discover a talented composer like Jeff Rona and RE-discover Eddie Cochran has got to be jake with me!

The music is played about 28:45 (minutes:seconds) into the film. In the story line, it plays in the evening after the scene where Gill Martin is challenged to climb the ladder and before the ship sails the next morning. This music begins the transition from the table on ship to the dock where an island woman is dancing under a limbo stick stick with one of the boys behind her. The music has lots of horn and bass in it.

This music is used again in another scene where the boys pooled their money for a prostitute.

Does anyone know who played this music and what the title is? It is not credited on the film or included on the soundtrack album.