The Lord Of The Rings - Soundtrack

I don’t dabble in the music section very often, mainly because I’m not comfortable writing about new releases most of the time - I like to own a CD for a while, listen to it, let it grow on me (or not)… by that time, I’m never sure that anyone would be interested. This particular CD, however, has both been out long enough for me to have settled into it, and is entirely topical: after all, it just won an Oscar! Yup, The Fellowship of the Ring was awarded Best Original Score this year, and very well deserved in my opinion. I bought this CD right after seeing The Fellowship of the Ring, and I have to say, my opinion of it ...  Read the complete review

Movie soundtracks come in three types.. One is a collection of well established tracks that have already made it in the charts, all put together in a collection that may as well be called 'Now 45' or 'The Best of...' (eg. The Beach), another type is one which promises much, but when you actually listen to the tracks (a collection of little known tunes, by obscure bands) you realise it was the visuals of the films that actually made them seem cool (Matrix, Blade). And then there is a third category, a totally original soundtrack, made especially for the film (OK, maybe one or two known songs), which stands alone in its own right. These are few and ...  Read the complete review

If you read my stuff on a regular basis (god knows what you’d want to though!) you may have seen my review for the ‘About A Boy’ soundtrack CD. In this review I told you how I prefer an instrumental or orchestral score to random ‘pop’ songs chucked onto a CD. This soundtrack score to the recent movie ‘Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring’ was composed, orchestrated and conducted by Howard Shore. Now, if you’re a film buff you may recognise his name – if not then I’m sure you’ll have seen some of the films he was worked on in the past – these include: Panic Room The Score ...  Read the complete review

This has to be one of the greatest all time film scores! (and in fact it was recently voted the best on Classic FM). Initially the music accompanies the film so well, you probably don't even notice it. However after listening to the soundtrack and watching the film afterwards, you realise how well it is composed and utilised. I think it contributes significantly to the emotional impact of the Fellowship of the Ring (film). As a soundtrack it is wonderful. It contains a wide range of pieces, with different themes summing up different locations/races of Middle-earth. I find sometimes with film soundtracks, you only really end up with ...  Read the complete review