Spy Game: Original Motion Picture Score [Soundtrack]

Harry Gregson-William (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 13, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Decca U.S.
• ASIN: B00005RIL7
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #52,215 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Director Tony Scott's buddy pic-cum-espionage thriller shrewdly unites Robert Redford and Brad Pitt, pretty-boy box-office icons from two different generations. But its tense musical score embodies a gratifying sense of cross-cultural experimentation that seems as doggedly genre-expanding as it does dramatically tough. Young composer Harry Gregson-Williams (Shrek, The Replacement Killers, Antz, The Rock) employs haunting Eastern instrumental modalities, symphonic flourishes, and spare choral touches here but crucially weds them to driving, polyrhythmic percussion and pulsing techno club grooves. Continuing a contemporary scoring trend that largely eschews thematic melodies in favor of evocative atmospherics, the composer's studio-savvy fusion has conjured up a soundscape of surprisingly emotional twists and turns, but one that also seems to grow more determinedly electro-modern with each successive cut. This is that rare score that proves that pop trend can indeed inform classical tradition--and much to the benefit of both. --Jerry McCulley

Product Description

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: SPY GAME
Title: SCORE
Street Release Date: 11/13/2001
Domestic
Genre: SOUNDTRACK

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Everything you expect... and more., February 24, 2002

By	Ryan M. Foley "Music Score Addict" (Pryor, OK USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Let me begin by saying that I became addicted to film scores several years ago. Since I began listening to them I have purchased nothing else. As an independent writer, I use them for inspiration when I write since they do not have distracting lyrics. I am not a music expert and know little about scoring a film. I just know what I like.
And I like SPY GAME.
I have several CDs of Mr. Gregson-Williams that he helped co-write but this is the first score of his that I have purchased that he did on his own. He is clearly a talented composer and the music would be fun to listen to, even without having seen the movie (which was incredible by the way). He is obviously influenced by Hans Zimmer (my personal favorite composer) and I feel that his music definitely tells a story.
The music is incredibly diverse with many varying styles of the original theme that I think is very poignant. At times it is very heart wrenching, at other times fast paced and exciting. If it has a drawback, and I use that "if" tentatively, it is that some listeners may not enjoy the occassional Middle Eastern or Chinese style of music interlaced with the fast paced techno-style of music that dominates most tracks.
I would recommend this CD to people who enjoyed the music for ENEMY OF THE STATE, THE ROCK, or FACE/OFF as they have the same genre style as SPY GAME.
Look for future movie trailers to sample this music left and right very soon...

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I spy a good soundtrack, December 24, 2002

By	Brandon Cutro (Tyler, Texas United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Harry Gregson-Williams, who has composed many film scores along with John Powell and by himself, returns solo with this thriller score to Spy Game. The music represents the various settings in the film, from China to Vietnam and the middle east with voices and ethnic percussion sounds.The opening track "Su-Chou Prison" opens the score with thrilling percussion and synths. A boy soprano soloist is used in 2 main tracks, "My Name Is Tom" and "Operation Dinner Out". These 2 tracks, plus "Parting Company" contain the main theme. A highlight of the soundtrack is "Red Shirt" which contains all of the score's basic elements thrown into one track. "The Long Night" reminds me a little of Graeme Revell's The Negotiator in parts, but i'm sure that Gregson-Williams didn't take it from him. Other parts of the score remind me of Danny Elfman's Proof of Life. The majority of the score contains ethnic influences, with voices, a boy soprano soloist, ethnic percussion, and plenty of electronics and orchestra. Great orchestral music can be found in "All Hell Breaks Loose", "Beirut, A War Zone", "My Name Is Tom", "Explosion and Aftermath", and "Operation Dinner Out". I wish that more of the orchestral passages would of been used, but due to the film's setting, I can see why Gregson-Williams chose to use electronics and ethnic sounds for it. There is 71 minutes of music on here, which is more than plenty and satisfies the average film music collector. A great soundtrack and a job well done by Harry Gregson-Williams.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe the best electronic soundtrack yet created, July 11, 2005

By	tropic_of_criticism - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

While the general job of anyone getting the "Music By" credit is to underscore the emotional context of the filmed image, electronic music is often overlooked as a tool by which this can be meaningfully achieved. Indeed, most electronically-rendered scores ARE easily forgettable, and in some cases flatly inappropriate for the action being described.

But Gregson-William here chooses precisely the right instruments and displays his absolute studio-side mastery. In part this is because the film itself, being so heavily involved with electronic surveillance, obviously calls for a more artificial musical score. But his real genius is in finding a way to give both cultural context and recognizable motifs. Whether the current action on the screen is set in Asia, Europe, America or the Middle East, the music feels like it belongs both in those locales AND in the same movie. The main theme for Redford's character doubles as the SPY GAME theme, and it's worked and reworked throughout to give a thoroughly satisfying evolution through the action.

If you've been disappointed by electronic soundtracks in the past--and who living through the 80s wasn't?--this score will show you just how expressive the genre can be, when handled by the right artist.