Tuesday 1 December 2009

An Album Of Clannad B-Sides

As the world continues to barrel inexorably towards the December release of Avatar, it’s full steam ahead for interweb types who need to write something – anything – about it more often than they need to do that breathing in and out thing.

This week my eyes have been assaulted with previews of James Horner’s soundtrack to the film, which seems to me to be taking things a bit too far. I mean, what next? An in-depth analysis of the end credits? “Those names just keep on rolling up the screen in a relentless vertical direction, reminding us all that what we have just witnessed is a bunch of people who worked on a film for a bit… breathtaking. Stupendous. James Cameron is a genius and should be cloned so he can make all films ever from now on until the end of time.”

Unsurprisingly, the soundtrack is apparently so unspeakably amazing that entire planets have stopped rotating in order to have a good listen. Well, The Incredible Suit has had a bit of a listen here, and can confirm that it sounds a lot like an album of Clannad B-sides. I tried to avoid reading the track titles because I’ve heard they’re a bit spoilerific, but I do know that one track is called ‘Becoming One Of “The People” Becoming One With Neytiri’. So not only is Cameron changing cinema as we know it but he’s also taking an axe to sentence construction and sensible use of the English language.

Furthermore, following in the turgid, ear-insulting footsteps of Celine Dion, Leona Lewis is singing the song for the end credits, the 30 seconds of which I could bear to withstand were some of the absolute worst noises my ear drums have ever tried to stop from reaching my brain.

Anyway, I don’t want to diss Avatar or its soundtrack too much* in case it all does turn out to be orgasmically astonishing, so I’ll halt there in order to point out some much more exciting soundtrack news: Alan Silvestri’s full score for Back To The Future has finally got a proper release, courtesy of Intrada. This is fantabulous news because a) it’s completely ace, b) it was only previously available in snippets on other soundtrack albums and c) it comes with a second CD of a score that Silvestri recorded before dumping in favour of the one we all know and love.

Have a listen to a few clips here and tell me that’s not better than Enya’s cast-offs.

*Too late

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6 comments :

  1. Avatar is 40% Live 60% CGI. One day perhaps films will carry labels like garments to reveal the origin of the material used. 100% CGI may become the norm. Films with real actors may be as rare as a sincere politician. Film & 24p video cameras will sit gathering dust alongside museum displays of wind up gramophones, VHS players, iPhones and the BBC (citizens of UK had to buy an annual pass for this service like it or not).

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  2. In Avatar. Dr. Grace Augustine : "Just relax and let your mind go blank. That shouldn't be too hard for you."

    Now then, which INCREDIBLE bod would that remark SUIT? Jake Sully! "Everything is backwards now..." Ratava. Avatar "...won sdrawkcab si gnihtyreve"

    Any likeness to a living suit is unintended serendipity of cognitive recognition

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  3. I've no idea what this "BBC" is of which you speak, unless you're referring to the Big British Castle.

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  4. So who's gonna be the first to YouTube with a "what-might-have-been" version of BTTF redubbed with the discarded soundtrack? Then a certain even scarier subsection of the 'net can claim it would've been better that way....

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  5. www.youtube.com/watch?v=68ugkg9RePc takes you to a good song for Avatar from Eiffel 85 in 1998 Blue (da ba dee)

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  6. That's clearly what gave Cameron the idea. Wonder if he'll be giving Mr Eiffel any proceeds from the box office?

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