Mad Max: Fury Road

 

Mad Max: Fury Road (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Music Composed by Tom Holkenborg a.k.a. Junkie XL

Renovatio Records now takes you to the sandy wastelands of civilization with its next release: Mad Max: Fury Road by composer Tom Holkenborg, known by his stage name of "Junkie XL”. The 2015 post-apocalyptic action film is directed by George Miller (who also directed the now classic Mel Gibson trilogy) and is starred by Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Zoë Kravitz, Abbey Lee and Courtney Eaton. Set years after the collapse of civilization, the film tells the story of the warrior Imperator Furiosa (Theron) who flees from the tyrannical cult leader Immortan Joe (Keays-Byrne), after rescuing his five wives. Escaping in an armored tanker truck, Furiosa forges an alliance with loner Max Rockatansky (Hardy) against the ruthless warlord and his hordes of henchmen, leading to a deadly high-speed chase through an endless wasteland. In spite of being in development hell for more than a decade, the film ultimately became a critical and commercial hit, becoming the most awarded motion picture at the 88^th Academy Awards and leading Miller to start developing further entries in the franchise.

While the original trilogy counted on more classically oriented scores, Miller turned to Dutch musician Tom Holkenborg, who at the time was mostly known for his trance and DJ productions. After having been recently introduced to film music by Hans Zimmer, Holkenborg of course emulates the original Zimmer “sound”. Thus, a Remote Control production element can be heard throughout his score for Mad Max: Fury Road. Thematically, the score is very simple, but it has a very unique identity that makes it stand out from the plethora of contemporary film scores jam-packed with Zimmer’s mannerisms. After watching a rough cut of the movie, Holkenborg claimed that it was so insane that it needed to be a rock opera, utilizing lots of drums and electric guitar passages. To channel the emotional weight of the movie, largely inspired by the work of Bernard Herrmann, Holkenborg resorted to strings.

Right from the get-go, the “Survive” track presents two identities that stand out. One of them is a very dark low bowed string motif, usually consisting of the same note played from 1 to 3 times, which serves as a sort of fanfare for Max, to represent his state of mind in the post-apocalyptic world he’s forced to live. The other identity is a frenetic descending staccato string motif, which Holkenborg associates with danger and uses for most, if not all, the action sequences in the film. The patriarchal antagonist of the film, Immortan Joe, also gets his own theme: a progressive rising 4-note ominous motif that is effectively placed not only when Joe is on the screen, but also when his fearsome beliefs imparted to his gang of war boys start playing a part. At around the 1 minute mark in the track “A Storm is Coming”, for instance, Joe’s motif slowly begins to gain force as one of the war boys prepares to sacrifice himself in the name of Joe’s founded religious cult that worships V8 engines. This track also presents one of the highlights of the score: a strong and harmonically brass progression that plays as an elegy for death. This motif also has a lovely arrangement for strings at the end of the busy “Final Chase” track. However, the biggest accomplishment in Holkenborg’s score is the material written for Imperator Furiosa. Namely consisting of string passages, the theme is hinted at in early tracks of the score like “We Are Not Things” and “Moving On”, before making its debut in full form in “The Return to Nowhere”. The dramatism and emotion conveyed by the string section in this track is simply astounding, as it expresses the pain and oppression that women of this male-dominated world are forced to endure. The track later dissolves into a lovely and motherly lullaby dominated by a gorgeous duduk performance.

The loudness of the action music, while quite obvious in its approach, is incredibly effective with its propulsive rhythms and electric guitar riffs. What may be initially regarded as a noisy mayhem is actually a carefully orchestrated dance between the music and the stunning visuals of the movie. Take the “Pursuit Party” track for example, with its drum beat ostinatos matching the tribal drummers of Immortan Joe’s onscreen music troupe. When the electric guitar kicks in and you see the guitar player with flames coming out of the end of the guitar neck, you cannot help but smile at the ludicrous yet beautiful image you’re witnessing: a perfect marriage of music and film in its own twisted way. Tracks like this, as well as the relentless “Brothers in Arms”, will have you hitting the repeat button over and over again.

Holkenborg’s score was released in 2015 in the form of two presentations by WaterTower Music: a CD album and an expanded deluxe edition. Both albums had the same problem: they were incredibly long. At around 80 minutes of music (and that’s just the regular release), many listeners found themselves struggling to finish it. Renovatio Records’s release addresses this issue and presents you with a balanced album that contains the best parts of the score and provides plenty of respite for the listener to truly appreciate Holkenborg’s surprising work for the movie. Though superficial and at times unoriginal in the approaches the composer has taken, at the end of the day, it cannot be denied that he has succeeded in providing an effective action score that transcends expectations for any Zimmer-influenced project.

Track Listing:
1. Survive (4:31)
2. The Citadel (6:04)
3. Pursuit Party (2:39)
4. A Storm Is Coming (7:05)
5. We Are Not Things (1:37)
6. Moving On (3:36)
7. Brothers In Arms (4:50)
8. War Rig (5:11)
9. The Return To Nowhere (6:58)
10. Final Chase (15:34)
11. My Name Is Max (2:19)
12. Finale (2:36)

Total Running Time: 61:55

Download Mad Max: Fury Road by Tom Holkenborg a.k.a. Junkie XL

Cover Artwork:

Titanic

Titanic (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Music Composed and Conducted by James Horner

Renovatio Records’ next release is legendary composer James Horner’s score to the 1997 epic film Titanic, written and directed James Cameron and starring Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gloria Stuart, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Hyde and Bill Paxton. Based on accounts of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the plot involves a love story between wealthy 17-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater and poor young artist Jack Dawson, who meet on board the infamous ship and quickly fall in love. As if the conflict between their social classes was not enough to doom their relationship, they are thrown right into the middle of disaster when the ship hits an iceberg and starts to sink.

Little more can be said about the famous film’s success: it became a critical and commercial hit, it received numerous accolades (11 Oscars) and it remained the highest grossing film of all time until Cameron’s Avatar surpassed it in 2010. Much of the attention of the film went to its soundtrack, being regarded to this day as one the 100 greatest scores of all time, and the culmination of James Horner’s 90s peak after already having struck gold with Apollo 13, Legends of the Fall and Braveheart. Titanic would earn Horner his two Oscar wins for both the score and the accompanying song performed by Celine Dion, which at the time ranked as the most popular radio song and helped sell over 25 million copies of the original album, making Horner the highest selling contemporary composer, even surpassing John Williams.

Cameron’s initial idea was to have Irish singer Enya compose the score, even temp-tracking the film with her music. However, after she declined, the director turned to Horner, even though they had been through a rough experience at the time of scoring Aliens in 1986. Horner’s music for Braveheart was the hint that gave Cameron that the composer was the right man for the job, as Titanic called for a deep and sensitive score to touch on the sensibilities and intimacies of the relationship between the two leads and on the emotional impact of the disaster. As expected, Horner succeeded at this task and, while his new age music for Titanic may sound very much in parts like Enya’s style, he composed what would probably become the most recognizable love theme in the history of film music. This love theme consists of two gorgeous adjoined melodies that often exists separately throughout the score and played by different instruments. The opening track “Main Title” introduces the love theme with the haunting vocals of Norwegian vocalist Sissel Kyrkjebø, playing as a mournful lamentation of the souls lost at sea in the tragedy. The second sequence of the theme is hinted at in piano and Sissel’s voice at the beginning of “Suicide Attempt” to highlight the scene in which Jack sees Rose for the first time. Horner himself plays a lovely piano solo version of the full theme in “The Portrait”. However, where it truly shines is in the track “Rose”, which can be regarded as an achievement in filmmaking, with music, cinematography and romance working together in what may be one of the finest sequences of cinematic history: as the Titanic sees sunlight for the last time, Rose and Jack embrace their love and kiss at the ship’s bow, and Horner uplifts the moment with solo woodwinds, Sissel’s beautiful vocals, synth voices, piano and bass. After bringing quivers and tears with its climax, the shot quickly transitions to the image of the sunken ship, and Horner skillfully accompanies this with a solo flute with a delay effect that evokes the sound of a distant ship whistle.

The other main theme that stands out in the score is the one for the ship itself. While hinted at the second part of “Distant Memories” with French horns, this majestic theme makes its full debut in “Southampton”, accompanying the impressive scene in which the Titanic departs. However, it is during the final part of “Take Her to Sea, Mr. Murdoch” when the theme truly shines, played by the full ensemble while the camera pans over the ship as it sails into the Atlantic horizon line. A number of other secondary leitmotifs exist through the score, namely a menacing four-note low brass line for the iceberg in the middle and final portions of “Hard to Starboard”, and a slow descending four-note motif in low strings with an eerie effect for the concept of death, best heard in “Suicide Attempt” and at the end of “End Credits”. Horner’s action music is also worth noting. While not the highlight of the score, the action passages keep the full orchestra quite busy in tracks like “Hard to Starboard”, “A Building Panic”, “The Sinking” and “Death of Titanic”. “Hard to Starboard” is probably the standout of these cues; in it, Horner whimsically intertwines the rhythm of a telegraph effect before moving to frantic action as the crew does everything in their power to avoid that the ship hits the iceberg. At the 2:30 minute mark, the track quickly shifts to the iceberg motif over a martial drum ostinato accentuated by piano low-keys and bells, as all that the crew can do now is wait and hope that the ships makes the turn in time. Once more, this is another one of the most effective confluences of music and image in the movie, as the audience knows that the ship will hit the iceberg but still, we are on the edge of our seats waiting for the ship to miss it and continue its maiden voyage safe and sound.

In 1997, Sony Music Soundtrax released the successful commercial album, and in 1998, the same company released “Back to Titanic”, which included additional music from the film, namely source music. The third release for the score was La-La Land Records’ 2017 4-disc special 20^th anniversary edition, containing Horner’s complete score, with alternate versions of several tracks, and all the source music heard in the film. Renovatio Records’ release provides a presentation of the film score that plays in chronological order, going through its most significant highlights, as well as introducing different versions of several tracks, namely “Hard to Starboard”, which is stripped from the distracting synthesizer effects heard in the original album, and “An Ocean of Memories”, which is available for the first time ever in a release as a full reconstruction of the music as heard in the film’s ending, a combination of alternate versions for “Rose” and “Unable to Stay, Unwilling to Leave”. We invite you go back to the Titanic and enjoy what can very well be considered the crowning achievement of the entire career of late composer James Horner.

Track Listing:

1. Main Title (1:29)

2. Distant Memories (2:22)

3. Southampton (3:00)

4. Take Her to Sea, Mr. Murdoch (4:29)

5. Suicide Attempt (2:43)

6. The Portrait (5:29)

7. Rose (2:52)

8. Hard to Starboard (6:46)

9. Unable to Stay, Unwilling to Leave (3:52)

10. A Building Panic (8:36)

11. The Sinking (6:31)

12. Death of Titanic (7:48)

13. A Promise Kept (4:27)

14. An Ocean of Memories (4:27)

15. My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme from 'Titanic') (5:06) - Performed by Celine Dion

16. End Credits (2:33)

Total Running Time: 72:30

Download Titanic by James Horner

Cover Artwork:

Cutthroat Island

Cutthroat Island (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Music Composed by John Debney

Renovatio Records’ next title is non-other than John Debney’s thunderous score for 1995 infamous pirate film Cutthroat Island. The motion picture directed by Renny Harlin was set to bring the pirate movie genre back to the surface, long before the now successful Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. However, it ended being regarded as one of the most spectacular box-office bombs of all time. Cutthroat Island costed almost $100 million to make and only managed to recoup barely $10 million, leading to bankrupting Carolco, the studio that financed the film. Even if it’s an entertaining and engaging movie in several parts, negative reviews and little audience interest quickly sank the movie into oblivion, almost taking with it the careers of some its cast and crew members. The film is starred by Geena Davis, who plays Morgan Adams, a female Caribbean pirate who is entrusted with the part of a map written in Latin that leads to the mythical Cutthroat Island, where a vast treasure is hidden. With the help of William Shaw, a slippery Latin-fluent thief played by Matthew Modine, Morgan manages to decipher the map and sets sail to the island in a race against time, as her villainous uncle Dawg (Frank Langella) is also looking for the treasure and will stop at nothing until he gets his hands on it.

Even with its clichéd script and silly dialogues, Cutthroat Island provides plenty of elaborate action set pieces, from a thrilling carriage chase through a town being destroyed by cannons, to swashbuckling swordfights and sea battles, culminating in what may well be one of the biggest ship explosions ever captured on film. All of this with Debney’s relentless and rumbling score that puts the powerful London Symphony Orchestra to the test with its dense and energetic yet memorable compositions. Right from the opening track, “Morgan’s Ride”, the listener will quickly realize that this is a purely leitmotivic score, as it presents the film’s main theme in all its splendor with the full ensemble (all with wonderful choir performances from the London Voices). This track is an instant winner and will surely have you hitting the repeat button over and over. After introducing his main theme, Debney plays around with it in almost every single cue of the score, sometimes as a brief fanfare to highlight certain heroic sequences and sometimes interwoven with other secondary thematic ideas producing an astoundingly harmonious effect. But that’s not all that this score has to offer as there are several other equally effective themes and motifs. Besides the main theme that accompanies Morgan’s heroisms from start to finish, her character has a secondary theme to emphasize her personal quest for the treasure, which is introduced in the form of a beautiful melody for violin and choir at the end of “The Rescue”, reprised again during “The Funeral”, and also taking the form of a propulsive march during the second part of “Morgan Takes the Ship”. There’s also a tender love theme for the romantic relationship between Morgan and Shaw, first heard in “First Kiss” and then played by the full ensemble in “Discovery of the Treasure”. The evil Uncle Dawg character is treated with a threatening low-range brass, choir and percussion, best heard during the beginnings of “Swordfight” and “The Triumph”. And last but not least, you have the action music, with the massive ensemble playing complex passages for the brass section, bolstered by the use of heavy percussion, cymbal clashes and a busy string section; tracks like “Carriage Chase”, “Swordfight”, “The Battle” and “Morgan Battles Dawg” are total tours de force that may leave any listener gasping for air. Debney also takes the time to make homages to Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s swashbuckling epics, as in the case of the latter half of “Setting Sail”, which follows the Austrian composer’s well-known mannerisms for adventures on high seas. The score also has many delicate and softer cues that provide moments of respite for the listener to explore and appreciate a handful of passages, such as the aforementioned violin solo in “The Rescue”, lovely flute solos over a harpsichord in “The Language of Romance”, and sinuous and mysterious brass experimentations in the first half of “Discovery of the Treasure”. The London Voices also get their moment to shine, as in the impressive “To the Bottom of the Sea”, which offers explosive choral bursts that will leave you speechless. The score culminates with the ten-minute track “It’s Only Gold”, which offers an end credits suite incorporating Debney’s main ideas. This track may well be one of the composer’s best compositions of his entire career and will most likely have many listeners air-conducting while enjoying it.

The score for Cutthroat Island has had a number of releases over time. First, it was available as a 70-minute album in 1995 from Silva Screen, containing several of the best parts of Debney’s work, but with the tracks presented out of chronological order, which was an aspect somewhat criticized, though it can be understood that the intention was to improve the listening experience. Later, in 2005, it was released for the first time as a 2-disc complete score by Prometheus Records. La-La Land Records would repeat this formula and present the entire score in 2 discs with remastered sound quality. For film score enthusiasts, both complete score releases are a must. However, many have come to deem these releases overlong and even found it a bit difficult to listen to the entire score on a regular basis. Renovatio Records now releases Debney’s score in the form of an 80-minute album presentation that shares some similarities with the first album, but with a new arrangement of tracks in chronological order while also adding noteworthy material that was only available (and a bit lost in the mist of wall-to-wall action cues) in the complete score release. So hoist your colors and let yourself be taken back to the high seas of swashbuckling adventures!

Track listing:
1. Morgan's Ride (4:41)
2. The Rescue (3:42)
3. The Funeral (1:30)
4. Morgan In Command (2:48)
5. The Language of Romance (2:38)
6. Carriage Chase (7:20)
7. Mordechai (2:34)
8. Swordfight (4:39)
9. Setting Sail (3:01)
10. First Kiss (1:54)
11. To the Bottom of the Sea (5:22)
12. The Island (4:47)
13. Discovery of the Treasure (5:30)
14. Morgan Takes the Ship (4:30)
15. The Battle (6:08)
16. Morgan Battles Dawg (4:44)
17. The Triumph (3:32)
18. It's Only Gold (9:46)

Total Running Time: 79:08

Download Cutthroat Island by John Debney

Cover Artwork: