10,000 BC Soundtrack

From composers Harald Kloser (The Day After Tomorrow) and Thomas Wander comes this pretty awesome soundtrack. The music has a definitive tribal influence which is perfect for the movie but which I find also makes a great listening experience.

However, in terms of tribal versus orchestral then orchestral comes out as the winner in terms of quantity. But quality? Well there are some real amazing orchestral cues such as 'Sea Of Sand', but for me that is just about it. If you liked Harald's score to The Day After Tomorrow then you might like a few more cues then me because there are plenty of moments on the soundtrack which remind me of The Day After Tomorrow Soundtrack, 'Sea Of Sands' included.

For me though it is the tribal influences that really make this soundtrack great. Whilst a lot of it is simply just tribal drums helping to build the tension, the best ones are the climactic ones such as 'Speech' and 'Food'.

'Speech' starts out as pure orchestral and then 2 minutes in mixes the tribal stuff as well, and boy does it sound good when those drums and voices come in with the brass pounding away and strings sliding about on top. For me that minute just makes the whole album worth buying.

'Food' is just pure tribal and starts out with some light drums before the tribal singer comes in and builds it up until he goes crazy. Then we get some more tribal drums and percussion along with the rest of the tribal singers which come in with a groovy little beat before all the tribal singers go crazy and the drums soften, bringing the cue to an end.

The 'End Credits' is another brilliant cue, but sadly the rest I found pretty average. Saying that though the soundtrack provides a good listen all the way through with three or four outstanding tracks that are worth going back and listening too many times. However, if you're not really into your tribal influences then I'd probably give this a miss, unless you're a real big fan of Harald Kloser or The Day After Tomorrow Soundtrack. But if you do like your tribal influences then it is a great listen, and if you want more tribal music then I would check out Amampondo which are a kick ass group of tribal musicians. However, there isn't any orchestra in their music and their later stuff contains a lot of electronics. But if you've got a rather large eclectic taste like me, then I'm sure you'll love it.

10,000 BC

Independace Day and The Day After Tomorrow, two great movies by director Roland Emmerich. Sadly I don't think 10,000 BC is as good as either film. But hey I guess you can't have all successful films, not even if you're Stephen Spielberg.

Saying that though 10,000 BC isn't the worst film in the world and whilst it did have rather a strange opening and first half which I sat through thinking, "Hmm... is this a good film or a bad film... I'm not sure yet." The difficulty I found was telling the different people apart during the first half, because they all looked the same. This kind of put me off a bit since it meant I didn't recognise the main character very easily. Getting the bad out of the way there was one scene in the jungle which I didn't like simply because I couldn't see what was going on.

But now onto the good. The second half was much better and had a much different look to it aswell. I thought it was much more exciting and this is where I really got into the film. Whilst I was watching it though I did find it reminded me of the film Stargate (which it turns out Roland directed as well so I guess that ain't a coinsidence), but Stargate was a pretty awesome film so I thought that can't be bad.

Whilst you might think to yourself, "Why did I bother to watch this film?" I say give it a chance since you might actually grow to like. I know I did. Plus all the films that I've seen of his have been pretty dam good: Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla and The Day After Tomorrow; so I say take a leap of faith and give 10,000 BC a go.

The Lion King Complete Score Petition

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Heroes Soundtrack

Just like all great TV shows the music plays a big part of the show. Heroes is no exception so I was real excited to find there would be a soundtrack release. However, the soundtrack isn't a score release of the music by the shows composers Wendy Melvoin & Lisa Coleman but instead features mostly pop songs that I don't even remember being in the show. In my opinion it is just another 'music from and inspired by' soundtrack that studios use to make money because of their larger target audience.

Sadly the few Wendy & Lisa tracks that there are only reach a total duration of 3 minutes 33 seconds, excluding the Heroes Mega Mix, and they aren't even the best ones from the show. Natural Selection is by far the best although it is way too short only lasting 24 seconds.

If you are going to get the Heroes Soundtrack I'd go for the iTunes version with the Heroes Mega Mix which is by far the best track on the album and features a lot of the music that really helps make the show what it is. I only hope there will be a score release some time in the future because if Michael Giacchino's music for Lost and Bear McCreary's music for Battlestar Galactica can get releases then why can't Wendy & Lisa's music for Heroes.

01 Heroes Title — Wendy & Lisa
02 Fire and Regeneration — Wendy & Lisa (featuring Shankar)
03 He's Frank — Brighton Port Authority (featuring Iggy Pop)
04 All For Swinging You Around — The New Pornographers
05 Glad It's Over — Wilco
06 Weightless — Nada Surf
07 Nine In The Afternoon — Panic! At The Disco
08 Chills — My Morning Jacket
09 Natural Selection — Wendy & Lisa
10 ABoneCroneDrone 3 — Sheila Chandra
11 Not Now But Soon — Imogen Heap
12 Jealously Rides With Me — Death Cab For Cutie
13 All Things Must Pass — The Jesus and Mary Chain
14 Homecoming — Wendy & Lisa
15 Man In The Long Black Coat — Bob Dylan
16 Maya's Theme — Yerba Buena
17 Keeping My Composure — The Chemical Brothers (featuring Spank Rock)
18 Heroes — David Bowie
19 Heroes Mega Mix (iTunes Exclusive) - Wendy & Lisa