Special Notes:

Best-known for scoring Neil Marshall's Dog Soldiers and the deliciously gory Rottweiler for nutty director Brian Yuzna, Mark Thomas' latest soundtrack release is for some straightforward family fare involving the space race, crafted by writer/director Chris Munro, a sound mixer on the recent crop of Bond films, with two directorial credits under his belt.

Dog Soldiers was a film with a richly mixed soundtrack – even in straightforward Dolby Pro Logic, the sound effects and Thomas' propulsive score were incredibly dynamic – but the score mostly consisted of an overused main theme that signaled the traumatized group's constant flight and danger, before holing up in an isolated cabin.

Yet, like Rottweiler, Thomas proved himself well-suited for the action genre, and while mostly tongue-in-cheek, Back in Business has its share of crisply orchestrated and sharply performed action cues, with some electronica blended into the mix to diversify the score's rhythmic textures.

“Building the Buggy” establishes the score's cheeky main theme, which deliberately unfolds in grand Bondian fashion with a funky beat, and a full orchestra providing some contrast, as Thomas shifts between large brass, keyboards, and wailing electric guitar. The theme gets another satisfying rendition in “Space Agency,” with Thomas shifting between trumpet fanfares with electronic rhythm & percussion, and sustained chords from distant-miked strings.

“Opening Titles,” a variation of the theme's rhythm, has smooth string bass notes resonating under lighthearted woodwinds & discreet strings, all culminating in a nice collage of syncopated percussion. Like many of the score's cues, it's a short track, but it offers some effective variation when the score's focus largely centers around Thomas' oft-used suspense theme, first heard in “Jarvis.” Here, the composer twice repeats a quartet of notes before a quick 5-note wrap-up, unfolding like a hop-and-skip number.

In “Buggy Reveal,” Thomas employs a more urgent tone similar to his Dog Soldiers theme, although it recedes to made room for some electronica to compliment the film's pivotal space gizmo, with subtle keyboards and strings playing shorts stretches of whole notes before the full orchestra and synths converge for a potent crescendo. The theme is better used in “Lab Break-In,” a much longer cut that adds some excellent suspense material to flesh out the cue to just under four minutes.

“The Big Chase” is the album's longest track, editing two sections into one cue (4:34), and Thomas goes for a more contemporary rhythmic approach with more pop-styled electronics and percussion, and he expands on the repetition used in “Jarvis” to stretch his blend of suspense and lighthearted fun into longer swathes.

Unlike most family film soundtracks, Thomas pretty much eschews the sappy melodies composers are trapped into using for the film's inevitable feel-good rescue and reunion moments, and while the “Jarvis” theme tends to dominate whole cues like “Hotel Foyer,” Back in Business shows Thomas quite comfortable in fusing large orchestra and electronics, and his interpolation of various classical and contemporary styles for punchy suspense cues.

This album is available from iTunes, and also from MovieScore Media in 320kbit, along with Thomas' other score, The Shadow Dancer (2005).

© 2007 Mark R. Hasan