King Kong (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music by James Newton Howard
Renovatio Records proudly presents you a brand new re-launch of composer James Newton Howard's magnificent score for Peter Jackson's 2005 remake of King Kong. The premise this version is identical to the 1933 original RKO Radio Pictures classic. The plot follows film director Carl Denham (Jack Black) and his crew on a journey from New York City to the legendary Skull Island in hopes of filming a new movie. He is accompanied by screenwriter Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) and the newly discovered actress Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts). On the island, the encounters all sorts of creatures, from giant bugs to thought-to-be-extinct dinosaurs, but most notably a giant ape who forms a bond with the young actress. Relying heavily on the use of motion capture and CGI technologies, the film impressed both critics and audiences alike, standing as a worthy modern version of the original motion picture.
Initially, Jackson's music collaborator during his Lord of the Rings trilogy, Howard Shore, was set to compose the score for King Kong. However, due to "creative differences", the veteran composer's music was rejected and James Newton Howard was brought on board, leaving him and his crew with only five weeks to write and record a 3-hour-long replacement score. In spite of this, Howard proved how capable he is by providing one of the best scores he's composed throughout his entire career. Howard's approach was to have a straight-forward orchestral orchestral, full with leitmotifs and genre variations, moving from jazzy melodies to bombastic and choral action music all the way to dark and ominous palettes of sound designs. Harmonically pleasing from star to finish, it can be easily said that King Kong is inarguably one of the finest action-adventure scores of the XXI century.
The original Decca/Universal album treatment of the score represents only one third of the amount of music produced by Howard. Bootlegs containing the complete score have surfaced since the film's release. Now, Renovatio Records has put quite the effort in having a faithful representation of Howard's work, summarized in a two CD album compilation that offers almost one additional hour of unreleased music fully remastered for your enjoyment. Venture yourself into this masterpiece!
Track listing:
CD 1:
1. King Kong Overture (1:10)
2. Ann (1:55)
3. Defeat Is Always Momentary (2:47)
4. Ann Boards The Ship (2:50)
5. Two Grand (2:38)
6. Venture Departure (1:53)
7. Jimmy (1:33)
8. Ann Meets Jack (1:43)
9. A Fateful Meeting (2:52)
10. It's In The Subtext (3:17)
11. There Are No Stars (3:37)
12. Last Blank Space On The Map (4:44)
13. It's Deserted / Ann Is Kidnapped (7:19)
14. Hail To The King (3:51)
15. Something Monstrous (2:36)
16. Jungle Run (2:31)
17. Trek To Save Ann (2:30)
18. Head Towards The Animals (3:42)
19. Canyon Stampede (2:47)
20. That's All There Is... (4:42)
CD 2:
1. V-Rex (1:31)
2. Kong & Rex Battle (6:20)
3. Bug Pit (4:39)
4. Beautiful (4:08)
5. Jack Reaches Ann (2:51)
6. Escape From Kong (4:20)
7. Kong Through The Gate (3:23)
8. Captured (3:52)
9. The Eighth Wonder of the World (2:00)
10. Beauty Stayed His Hand (0:46)
11. New York Pursuit (2:46)
12. Central Park (4:35)
13. The Empire State Building (2:35)
14. Battle Against The Planes (6:38)
15. Beauty Killed The Beast (8:59)
CD 1 Running Time: 60:57
CD 2 Running Time: 59:23
Total Running Time: 120:20
Cover Artwork:
wow
ReplyDeleteThanks man!!
Very glad you liked it! :)
DeleteMuito bom, Obrigado!!
ReplyDeleteDear sir, I must write and really thank you, not only for your excellent choise of soundtracks, which frankly introduces me to a lot of treassures I otherwise would have missed, like Congo and Outbreak, but also for your most interesting t-crossing and i-dotting linear notes (like Hans having 15 composers working under him on Pirates 1, holy smokes, I don't know what to make of Hans these days, have fallen a little bit out of love with him because he takes (and bally gets, what's worse) credit and literally "credit" for much music in many movies where he performs as an "executive-producer" instead of a back-to-back out-and-out composer. Say, bro, listen: James Neewton Howard have just released a "Deluxe Edition" of the score with his all-time high-end Opening Title, "A Perfect Murder", but sadly, it contains neither variations of, or variations on, the Opening Title, (one track is an incorperation of it though) which leaves the question why I, and I am sure, you as well, have for 20 years unconsciously song out load the four primary notes of the Opening Title as a Suspended-Fourth arpeggio, mean to say, where do we get that from? No Complete Edition soundtrack was ever released way-back-when, no Collector's Edition of DVD or Blue-Ray was ever released (does it even have a Blu-Ray edition?), certainly no high-faluting 4K or fancy commentary-track by James Newton Howard giving of his best and crooning like a lark for us to go by. Please reply if you would like a free-for-all copy of the "Perfect Murder" Deluxe Edition. Signing off, I perform Spectrogram-Analysm of sporadic tracks from your excellent choice-menu movie-music, and step my vitals if you don't source your soundtracks from original state-of-the-art files, random checks showing the full frequencies with not a trace of high-pass cut-away, WELL PLAYED, SIR! AYE, MERRY SIRRAH! WELL PLAYED!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughtful and lively message! Happy to hear you’ve discovered scores like "Congo" and "Outbreak" through the blog, and I’m glad you enjoy our deep dives into film music.
DeleteI hear you on Hans Zimmer—his collaborative approach is impressive, but it does blur the lines of credit. It’s easy to feel conflicted when his name gets top billing even as he steps into more of a producer role.
As for A Perfect Murder, I completely agree. The lack of a proper Complete Edition or Blu-Ray release feels like a missed opportunity. We'll surely tackle it when it comes available.
Thanks again for your message—it’s always a joy to connect with a fellow film music enthusiast!
RR