The album starts with a selection of songs some of which are "bonus tracks not in the motion picture" but are more interesting than most "inspired by" songs. The couple of songs that were in the film, performed by Anita Kelsey are actually rather nice, lusty efforts that are performed by Rufus Sewell's character's wife, Jennifer Connelly who is (or is she?!) a singer in a slightly sleazy bar. The most notable thing about Jones' score in the film is that it rarely stops, which could suggest that the 37 or so minutes presented here might not be a good representation, but in fairness, many of the cues in the film are more droning background music that keep the pulse of the film going under dialogue, but wouldn't make for good inclusion on the album. A good argument for not producing score CDs that contain every single note of the music composed.
The main theme is introduced a short way in Into the City. Actually, calling it a main theme is probably not quite right, more of a major motif since few of the ideas of the score really develop into a fully fledged melody. There are many variations of the main theme, but its loud and vibrant composition make it a perfect accompaniment to some of the action sequences, notably during You Have the Power, which is the outstanding and lengthy finale battle cue, which is awesome in the film and just sublime on CD. Emma and Memories of Shell Beach are still fairly gloomy sounding, but Remembering Shell Beach is particularly fetching, although the quiet parts suffer slightly from being surrounded by the bombast of the more impressive cues and end up sounding a little swamped at times, but they do provide perfect oases of calm.
I must admit that never would have considered that Jones could create a score with such thrilling moments. His melodies often sound stilted - Last of the Mohicans I find particularly over rated - but here they have a propulsive energy that really sets the pulse racing. There are some synth effects and percussion, but these are used to compliment the superlative performance of the London musicians. The quieter material could have been developed a little more and with some melodies to match the more vibrant ones, but its the excitement of cues such as Into the City and You Have the Power that stick with the listener long after, highly recommended.
Rating ~ Original Motion Picture Score by Trevor Jones
Total Time ~ 60:19Trevor Jones seems a strange choice for a stylish sci-fi, fantasy film and one from the director of The Crow (which was scored by Graeme Revell). However, Alex Proya's film benefits greatly from Jones' exciting and modern score. The somewhat stodgy orchestrations of his usual works are replaced by a darker, more vibrant edginess. The music is on a big scale and densely orchestrated, but has a great deal more momentum than much of Jones' work. The film is somewhat similar in style (and to some extent, in content) to The Matrix and while most of the attention was lavished on The Matrix, for my money Dark City is a vastly superior film with better performances, a more original concept. Even if Jones' score doesn't quite eclipse Don Davis' effort, it is probably a more coherent composition.
