DANNY ELFMAN: The 15 Best Non-Tim Burton Film Scores #10-6

See #15-11 HERE

#10- TULIP FEVER (2017)
Director: Justin Chadwick

After sitting on a shelf for two years, director Justin Chadwick's period drama Tulip Fever finally saw the light of day in 2017.  Sadly it was a complete misfire and in turn buried the recognition Danny Elfman deserved for the gorgeous score he supplied.  

Led by a smalls string ensemble, a collection of electric chimes and a longing but colorfully rolling piano theme, the score is Elfman at perhaps the most romantically lyrical he's ever been.  It has neither a particularly memorable theme or overly showy vigor about it, so it'll most likely get lost in most collector's minds in due time which is a real shame.  With it's forlonging urgency and feverish qualities it's a score that's easy to get lost in a clouded daydream of your own. 

TULIP FEVER Suite

#09- FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (2015)
Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson

For director Sam Taylor-Johnson's adaptation of E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey, Danny Elfman uses far more intellect in his composing than the film actually deserves.  

It could have easily been a phoned-in softcore porn score but Elfman instead assigns a variety of textures, techniques and themes to the characters and their apparent "growth" throughout the film.
Elfman employs a soft-rock ensemble, aided by a stripped-down skittish string section and a soothing choir to balance out it's fluttering of subtle electronic textures.  It's uncomfortably intimate yet cold, constantly threatening to burst with emotion but instead remains unsure of itself, mirroring that of the lead character's feelings to a tee.  It's a lot more musically thoughtful and fascinating than the film itself, and that alone is a great accomplishment that deserves more attention than it's received.  

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY Suite

#08- SCROOGED (1988)

Director: Richard Donner

Elfman's score for Richard Donner's Scrooged is about as Tim Burton-ish as you can get without it actually being Tim Burton.
With it's plethora of jingle bells and creepy "la-la" children's choir used to create a humorously morbid tone to the normally happy sounds of Christmas, Elfman was testing out the waters with similar techniques he would perfect in the years to come.   In the film, the score knocks the balance of comedy and darkness off quite a bit, causing Elfman to confess he didn't quite hit the mark with this one.  That may be the case but it's a still a fan favorite, most likely due to it feeling like a blueprint of what would come to be some of Elfman's best work. 

SCROOGED Suite

#07- A SIMPLE PLAN (1998)

Director: Sam Raimi

A Simple Plan is probably one director Sam Rami's least known films to the average movie-goer but I find it might also be his best.  It's like Elfman knew that and instead of opting for an easily accessible score, he went with something so sparsely cold and challenging it'll only reward with multiple visits.  By taking away the large brass sections he's so comfortable with, Elfman leaves himself only with a large chilly woodwind ensemble and icy piano keys & chimes to create something rather unique to his catalogue at the time.   Like the film itself, it's deceivingly simple at first but with multiple listens you'll pick up on all sorts of tricky little techniques and ideas hidden beneath layers of icy soundscape it creates.  

A SIMPLE PLAN Suite

#06- AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (co-composer Brian Tyler)(2015)
Director: Joss Whedon

For the most the Marvel Cinematic Universe's musical voice has been a real dissociated mess, not really making much of impact apart from Alan Silvestri's bold Avengers' theme.  Halfway through post-production of director Joss Whedon's Avengers: Age of Ultron Danny Elfman was brought in to pick up composer Brian Tyler's octane-fueld score and it seemed that the results could have been catastrophic.  However Elfman did a fantastic job at mimicking Tyler's sound, giving it a deeper layer of emotion and, most of all, finding brilliant ways to bring Silvestri's Avengers theme into the mix, thus finally bringing musical continuity to the MCU.  It's a real mish-mash of composers' works but through some miracle it actually works quite well and makes for some of the most entertaining near-disaster albums around. 

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Suite*
*Note: the suite only contains music composed by Danny Elfman and not Brian Tyler

#5-1 Coming Next Monday...

DANNY ELFMAN: The 15 Best Non-Tim Burton Film Scores #15-11

Ever since 1985's Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, composer Danny Elfman has been the leading musical voice for director Tim Burton's vast filmography of Gothic goofiness and somber beauty.
From the spooky roller-coaster zaniness of 1988's Beetlejuice to the fairytale elegance of 1990's Edward Scissorhands to frightening old-fashioned grandeur of 1999's Sleepy Hollow and right up to the minimalistic pluckiness of 2014's Big Eyes, Elfman has scored all but a small handful of Burton's films.  Much akin to director/composers Steven Spielberg & John Williams, Alfred Hitchcock & Bernard Herrmann or Christopher Nolan & Hans Zimmer, the duo's working relationship is a match made in heaven.

However Elfman hasn't remained exclusive to just Burton and has worked with a vast array of other directors, including Sam Raimi, Gus Van Sant, Joss Whedon, Clive Barker, Guillermo del Toro and many more.

I've selected fifteen of my favorite non-Tim Burton film scores, and included YouTube links to suites I edited together, so you might get a different taste of what the composer is capable of. 

Let's start with #15-11:

#15- CHARLOTTE'S WEB (2006)
Director: Gary Winick

Known for light-fare comedic films like Letters to Juliet and 13 Going on 30, director Gary Winick chose Elfman to compose his 2006 adaptation of E.B. White's classic children's novel Charlotte's Web.
A delightful mixture of childlike innocence and playful Americana, Charlotte's Web relies mostly on light strings and plucky pianos, with a soft layer of choir and highlights of a guitar & fiddle.  Fans of Elfman's lush early 90's work, such as Sommersby and Black Beauty will find this a wonderful companion, only here we get a style that's less dramatic and brimming more with joyful friskiness  It's not the sort of score to stir one's emotions with memorable themes but more so with constant inoffensive charm and confidence to never overwhelm with unnecessary flair.

CHARLOTTE'S WEB Suite

#14- THE WOLFMAN  (2010)
Director: Joe Johnston

The story behind Danny Elfman's score for director Joe Johnston's 2010 adaptation the 1941 horror classic The Wolfman is just as messy as the actual film itself.
Fortunately the composer's morbidly melodramatic oeuvre as a standalone listen is a delightfully vicious experience.  Elfman made it no secret that his primary influence on this assignment was Wojciech Kilar's deeply heavy operatic score for Bram Stoker's Dracula.  This is lush Gothic romanticism as some of it's best with it's bold bass-heavy strings almost overpowering the pounding brass and percussion.  While most film scores would assign individual themes for each character, setting and emotion, Elfman opts to cleverly reconstruct the leading theme into whatever sentiment it's coinciding moment in the film calls for.  Search no more for good ol' fashioned cinematic horror music at the top of it's game.

THE WOLFMAN Suite

#13- WANTED (2008)
Director: Timur Bekmambetov

Being a big fan of Russian-Kazakh director Timur Bekmambetov's dark fantasy Night Watch duology, Danny Elfman jumped at the chance to work on the stylish comic book action-thriller Wanted.  

The composer brought a unique voice to the action scoring genre with a dense, bass-heavy, Eastern European flavored thrill-ride.  It's grungy electronic accents mesh so well with the adrenaline-fueled orchestra it never distracts from the actual compositions, unlike a few other modern composers who can't seem to get the balance right. Even though it's not your stereotypical action music, this cleverly textured score still manages to get the heart racing in all the right places.

WANTED Suite

#12- THE UNKNOWN KNOWN (2013)

Director: Errol Morris

Being the openly liberal minded composer that he is, Danny Elfman couldn't pass up scoring Errol Morris' scathing documentary on former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, The Unknown Known.  

Utilizing the a string section, a piano and the occasional choir & marimba, Elfman juggles a dramatically solemn and playfully ominous score that reflects the shady yet chipper former Cabinet member to a tee.  A great deal of the score echoes that of Philp Glass' minimalistic rhythmic approach to scoring and that comes as no surprise, considering director Morris' number of collaborations with Glass in the past.  At first listen the music is sparse and overly serious but upon closer inspection you'll find a fascinating array of textures and techniques all done with a subtle scathing smirk.

THE UNKNOWN KNOWN Suite

#11- JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017)

Director: Zack Snyder & Joss Whedon

After taking over for director Zack Snyder, Joss Whedon promptly let composer Junkie XL go from composing duties on Justice League.  In turn, he recruited his Avengers: Age of Ultron collaborator, Danny Elfman, who was no stranger to olde tyme orchestrated super-hero music.  Sadly none of this helped the quality of the film and still ended up being a complete stinker but fortunately we got a pretty damned fun score out of the bum deal.
It's your pretty standard superhero composing with bold brass, string ostinatos and muscular fanfares a plenty, however it's solid writing with good old orchestral power merging with a clever use of modern textures and rhythmic techniques.  What got me squealing like a child in a candy store was Elfman making use of John Williams' Superman theme, Hans Zimmer's Wonder Woman theme and of course his own 1989 Batman theme.  Whether or not it truly works for this incarnation of the characters is debatable but it sure makes for a highly entertaining stand alone listen.

JUSTICE LEAGUE Suite

See #10-6 HERE

81st ANNUAL OSCAR NOMINEES FOR BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

With the 81st Annual Academy Awards rearing it's golden little head around the corner, I thought I'd take the time out to run through the five nominees in the "Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score" category.

First off, we have Alexandre Desplat's

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

I have a strange feeling this will be the one to take home the award.
Alexandre Desplat is probably most well known for his previous Oscar Nod for The Queen in 2006 and his impressive scoring job in 2007's The Golden Compass.
Benjamin Button is a rather slow moving, subtle score, like the David Fincher directed movie itself, that really begs for the listeners to sit down and enjoy the score with no distractions whatsoever. Desplat displays some interesting techniques with this score, particularly the theme which he very subtly reverses in play during the duration of the film. He also never really makes use of any fully orchestrated melodramatic cues and instead opts for a series of intimate instrumental solos played over a slight rhthymic waltz timing that quietly weaves it way through the score. While, I find the score to be a pleasant listen, the disc probably won't leave it's case that much in the near future. Even thouhg it is a 2-disc set, one disc featuring the score the other featuring most of the source material from the film's various eras. I won't listen to either of them that much, because the score disc is just too slow and quiet for me and the soundtrack disc, while I do like the songs, unfortunally contains dialogue clips which I really find irratating.

* * * out of 5

next up Danny Elfman's

MILK

Elfman's fourth collaboration with director Gus Van Sant, is generally a success, probably more so than the earlier Van Sant/Elfman Oscar nominated team-up Good Will Hunting. The Milk score, like Benjamin Button's, is quiet and subtle...well, mostly. It doesn't really have any recurring themes at the forefront, but Elfman does manage to sneak in some which the ear won't pick up at first and that's just fine. Unlike most of the composer's other scores, Milk proves to be very warm and optimistic. A piano and saxophone are Elfman's choice solo instruments this time around, which fit in the mood of the movie like a glove. While the score consists of mostly heart-warming cues, Elfman does throw in a few short "dittys" that sound like they just jumped out of the goofier moments of Edward Scissorhands. If you're looking for something like a Tim Burton/Elfman score, then this isn't for you...it leans more towards the tone similiar to some of Elfman's work he did in the early 2000's. Ofcourse, I do enjoy this score, but don't think it deserves the Oscar, mostly because the Academy ignore some of Elfman's better work this year such as Standard Opertating Procedure and Wanted and I hope Elfman wins an Oscar for something that people will remember for years to come, rather than a subtle drama score, which most likely quickly be forgotten.

* * * out of 5

Now let's take a look at A.R. Rahman's

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Let me start off by saying, when I started reviewing these scores I quickly went through all five of them again, skipping quite a few tracks on each disc, but with this score, I found myself listening to it from start to finish.
Allah Rakha Rahman (aka A.R. Rahman) really deserved this Oscar nod, with it's fresh blend of Bollywood textures and Electronica/Hip-Hop. Danny Boyle's Slumgdog and everybody involved in the film, are quite obviously the Oscars and critic's darlings this year.
The soundtrack album is 51 minutes of loud, fast-paced bliss, which kind of outcast itself from the majority of score listeners out there. Most fanboy score fanatics would prefer to leap around their mother's basement, in their Spider-Man underoos with a plastic lightsaber, to some bombastic Hans Zimmer & Friends' score (because it's so 'epic'), while the snooty score collector detested the idea of a hip-hop fusion score.
Rahman's score, to my ears, is absolutely wonderful and a very welcome addition to my collection. He cleverly fuses traditional Indian instruments with hip hop beats, electric guitars, sound manipulations, and even a muted choir at one point.
"O...Saya" opens the album (and the film) with a bang, with it's frantic drumming in the foreground and a brief vocalization from British hip-hop artist M.I.A. "Mausum & Escape" is my personal favorite at the moment, as it bounces solos back and forth with a guitar and sitar at first, but quickly develops orchestrally and electronically, with a wall of sound that practically smothers you. We are then treated to M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes", with it's gun shots, The Clash-samples and all, from her Kala album. It's then followed by a remix of the same song, which is pretty good, but I wouldn't have put them back to back. "Latika's Theme" is one of two moments on the album where we are allowed a momentary breather. It's a beautiful piece with vocalizations provided by Bollywood singer Suzanne D'Mello. The album finishes off with "Jai Ho", an excellent, excellent, excellent uplifting song, that dares you not to feel good when listening to it. Both "O...Saya" and "Jai Ho" were nominated for best songs of the year, for this year's Oscar, alongside Peter Gabriel's "Down To Earth" from Wall-E . I'm sorry, but as much as I like Peter Gabriel, "Jai Ho" has easily taken the award.

* * * 1/2 out of 5

Let's move on to Thomas Newman's

WALL-E
Newman's second dive into the Pixar world, (Finding Nemo being the first) is a sucessful one in mood and tone for the film, but I really just couldn't get into it as a score album. I love Newman's work, especially on American Beauty, The Green Mile and Lemony Snicket's , but this album presentation just felt really off to me. I think I blame this on the length of most of the tracks on the album. 12 out of the 38 tracks are under one minute, the shortest being 15 seconds, while most other tracks barely make it to the 2 minute mark. As a listening experience, it just doesn't work for me. It barely gives the listener enough time to really get a feel for the track before it moves onto the next one. Newman could have mixed some tracks together to create some mini-suites, but instead opted for this poor presentation. Don't get me wrong, I actually do like what I hear, particularly the superb crystal-clear recording job, but it's over before I even knew what it was. I enjoy the genre-jumping throughout the score and the way Newman incorporated the feel of robot movements in his music. He sucessfully entered into the Sci-Fi score world for the first time in his career, which especially shows on the opening score track, "2815 A.D.". The album is a fun listen, but also very irritating as well. I'm sorry, but the short tracks were something I just couldn't get past and I do realize it's not Newman's fault, it's the director/producer's want in the film. It reminded me of the way Clint Mansell presented his Requiem For A Dream score, great music but too many 20 second cues. All in all, the score is fun, not award worthy though and the album presentation is a major drawback. I do look forward to Newman getting into some more sci-fi scores in the future if what he did here is any indication of what he can do.

* 1/2 for album
* * * as in context of the film

...i'm going to save the final score, which I think should take home the award, for a review by itself....

BEETLEJUICE music composed by Danny Elfman

From the opening notes of the Main Titles (incorporating Harry Belafonte's classic "Day-O") to the final notes of the End Credits that sound like the withering death of a twisted tango, Danny Elfman's Beetlejuice score put him on the list of one of the most sought after composers for the late 80's and early 90's.
After sucessfully scoring director Tim Burton's first feature length Pee-Wee's Big Adventure a few years earlier, as well as a few other forgotten films, such as Back To School, Summer School & Wisdom, it was time for Elfman to score the film that would introduce his sound to mainstream audiences everywhere. When the film first came out, the music couldn't help but astonish audiences and film score collectors alike with what sounded like a musical roller coaster through some sort of scary, yet comical, underworld. Many movie score buffs were quick to dismiss the score as nothing but an in-your-face orchestrated clash and bang composed by an untrained rock star (Elfman was the leader of the 80's off-kilter pop band Oingo Boingo). Elfman quickly proved them wrong the following year with his score for Tim Burton's Batman and the title theme to a little television show called The Simpsons. Danny Elfman and Tim Burton proved to be the perfect compliment to each other's work, sort of like a twisted younger version of Steven Spielberg and John Williams. Elfman had plenty of room to further explore his musical taste for the dark and zany, which he started with Boingo, with this film's tale about a recently deceased young couple who call for the help of a professional haunter to get rid of a yuppy city-folk family who had just moved into their beloved country home.
The score has several themes bouncing back and forth throughout the film. We'll start with the title character's two themes. While the character of Betelgeuse has only about 15 minutes of screen time througout the entire film, his themes are probably the most memorable of the lot.
The Main Titles theme is what most people will remember about the score. It serves as one of the two themes written for Betelgeuse. Simultaneously menacing and fun, it sounds almost like a classic Russian march, with strings, horns and an adult choir struggling to outdo eachother. Like many Danny Elfman Opening themes it starts off quiet, then builds up into a full-blown workout from the orchestra. The second theme, heard first in the second half of the third track "The Book/Obituaries", is pure tango, played with a viola in the foreground, which perfectly matches the character of Michael Keaton's slimey 'Ghost with the most' character. You wouldn't think at first that a tango would be a suiting theme for such a scumbag, but it works perfectly . It's interesting how over the period of the score, Betelgeuse's theme begins as a sleazy tango and morphs into a threateninly fun gothic march.
Secondly is the theme for the young dead couple, Adam & Barbara, first heard in the second track "Travel Music". Sort of a sweet little upbeat piece played with a small string section and piano. It's a sound Elfman will use once again in future projects as his suburban happy family themes, which I don't mind at all, as it works so well.
Several other themes come in and out of the score, including the silly Deetze family theme that falls a little short, but is still a joy to listen to the off-kilter waltz that it is, then there's Lydia's somber 'teenage-angst' theme played almost solely on the piano and ofcourse the Sandworm theme which is both loud, horiffic and shocking (which several of the scenes in this film prove to be to the unsuspecting first-time viewer...remember that fly and chocolate bar?).
"The Incantation" track is probably my favorite track, after the "Main Titles" ofcourse. It opens with a few loud musical stings which is quick to catch anybody's attention, then melts into some interesting usage of a gothic sounding pipe organ and synthesized choir, with swirling strings and blaring horns to fill in the gaps.
The "Showtime!" and "Laughs" tracks make wonderful use of the carnival sound, which Elfman is so fond of. These tracks, along with "The Wedding" can be described as the wildest musical roller coaster ride you'll ever hear in a mainstream film. The fusion of carnival music, a russian march, a tango, a gothic pipe organ and Wedding Bells is something that would only be heard in a Tim Burton movie. It's a seamless mixture which I can't even begin to describe accurately.
To top it off, Harry Belafonte's classic songs "Day-O" (yeah, you remember that scene...Jeffrey Jones, anyone?) and "Jump In Line (Shake, Shake Senora) are featured on the soundtrack album.
Sure Belafonte's other songs "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" and "Sweetheart From Venezuala", as well as the operatic "Regnava ne Silenzio" from Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" aren't featured on the album, but if you really want them that bad, go out and buy the originals.
The soundtrack album runs at a short 37 minutes, with 30 minutes devoted to Elfman's score, which is a little disappointing, but it's soooo good I forgive and so should you.
For the really picky score collector, you should track down the hard to find complete score bootleg, which clocks in at more impressive 56 minutes. It is worth the hunt, if you're a picky geek like me and want the original "Main Titles" as heard in the film, rather than the slightly different version which appears on the official soundtrack album, then it is well worth seeking out.
All in all, this is an excellent score album and was the first to put Danny Elfman on my favorite artists list. Twenty years later and this score still sounds out of this world and unpredictable. It's a sound that belongs to Elfman and Elfman alone and marks the beginning of my obsession for the man and his work up till this very day.

**** for official soundtrack release
**** for complete score bootleg