The ring of tedium
Shaun de Waal
Howard Shore has been responsible for some innovative movie scores, scores that moreover play very well when detached from their cinematic context. The prime example, and a marvellous piece of work, is his soundtrack for Naked Lunch, which featured free-jazzer Ornette Coleman improvising against the backdrop of Shore’s orchestral washes.
Unfortunately, Shore’s score for The Lord of the Rings:The Fellowship of the Ring (Gallo), which took an Oscar for best original soundtrack last week, is not up to the same standard. While it did very well to help propel the movie, it does not work on its own. The chants that sound like massed Gregorian choirs, used to announce the imminent appearance of hordes of frightening Orcs, become tiresome in the context of one’s lounge. So does the Celtic flavour of the parts linked to elves and the like; that rippling flute theme seems like a tinselly jingle, and the yearning high-pitched voices feel increasingly sentimental. Oddly enough, the contribution of Irish songstress Enya, who is usually rather irritating, is one of the more successful elements of the soundtrack.
A better bet, as soundtracks go, is that for Black Hawk Down, by Hans Zimmer, with contributions from Salif Keita, Lisa Gerrard and Joe Strummer. It combines Arabic sounds with electronic and rock beats. Just right for an Apocalypse Now-type helicopter sortie.