The Shawshank Redemption: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [SOUNDTRACK]

Thomas Newman

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 20, 1994)
• Original Release Date: September 20, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002AUQ
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,953 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the one that got me started on movie scores!, August 14, 2002

By	Joel Munyon "Joel Munyon" (Joliet, Illinois - the poohole of America.) - See all my reviews

It started back in highschool, well actually when I was in 7th grade and heard the music from the Shawshank Redemption for the first time. I simple fell in love with it. A while later, my brother bought me the soundtrack and I played it over and over and over......

A few years later, I have purchased 47 movie scores. Everything from Sling Blade to Easy Rider to Dances With Wolves. Of course, my heart has gone out to Thomas Newman, the man who first haunted me with his movie score, The Shawshank Redemption.

This score is my favorite of all of Newman's work, surpassing even the likes of How To Make An American Quilt, Meet Joe Black, and The Horse Whisperer. This, along with Fried Green Tomatoes, was the standard barer for most of Newman's current musical scores and despite some pressure from Road to Perdition and American Beauty, this one still stands as the leader of the pack when it comes to scores composed by Newman.

BUY THIS ONE. Don't think twice. If you haven't owned any of Newman's scores yet, the perfect place to start is with The Shawshank Redemption.

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hope Is A Good Thing, June 14, 2001

By	David Bradley "David Bradley" (Sterling, VA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"The Shawshank Redemption" was a brilliant, brilliant film; this soundtrack proves that the score was a vital piece of that brilliance.

It is also fine music on it's own.

I am at a loss of words, trying to explain what it is about the film and the music that moves people, myself included, so deeply. There is, I suppose, something in "Suds On The Roof," and in the corresponding scene in the film, that speaks to everyone's desire to be a whole human being. Tim Robbins may play a fictional character, and perhaps one with no basis in reality, but the image of a convicted murderer taking such a risk simply to offer up to his fellow inmates a few moments of human comfort is a moving and humbling thing.

The film, and by extension the music on this CD, is a study of basic human dignity, and a brilliant salute to it.

The inclusion of "Lovesick Blues," "If I Didn't Care," and the gorgeous excerpt from "The Marriage of Figaro" makes this soundtrack complete but, for once, I wish some dialogue from the film had been included. Any of Morgan Freeman's wonderful narration would have been a nice addition.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unadulterated Brilliance!, November 24, 1999

By	Mr T Jones (Southampton, England) - See all my reviews

When I first watched The Shawshank Redemption, I thought, in common with a lot of people, that it was a brilliant film. What I couldn't but notice, also, was the very uplifting and at times majestic soundtrack that lay behind the pictures. Since buying the soundtrack, I have listened to it probably several hundred times now, and its power and beauty have not faded. Every time I listen to tracks such as "So Was Red" or "Sisters", I am moved by the depth of emotion that is contained in the music. The inclusion of the aria from "The Marriage of Figaro" was a masterpiece. If you like this soundtrack, try some of Thomas Newman's other works, such as "Oscar and Lucinda" and "Meet Joe Black."ÿ