{"id":14487,"date":"2016-10-13T03:33:28","date_gmt":"2016-10-13T07:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=14487"},"modified":"2016-10-13T03:33:28","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T07:33:28","slug":"lp-bourne-identity-the-2002","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=14487","title":{"rendered":"LP: Bourne Identity, The (2002)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BourneIdentity_LP_s\"Score<\/strong>:\u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Label<\/strong>:\u00a0Varese Sarabande<\/a><\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0July 29, 2016<\/span><\/p>\n

Tracks \/ Album Length:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a019 tracks \/ (54:26)<\/p>\n

Composer:<\/strong>\u00a0John Powell<\/p>\n

Special Notes:<\/strong>\u00a0 Limited\u00a0Military Green 180 gram vinyl limited.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first film in the enduring franchise gave John Powell the perfect opportunity to write what remains both his definitive action sound, and the definitive action score of that decade, blending large orchestral sounds with layers upon layers of electronics. Sometimes the digital contents enhance, as in the short cut \u201cBourne on Land,\u201d whereas\u00a0other times they\u2019re the dominant sound, drenching the soundscape with high distortion (\u201cTreadstone Assassins\u201d) or fighting like the film\u2019s hero among huge sweeping strings and a crazy array of backbeats, techno clusters, and a sometimes sledgehammer assault of ethnic percussion.<\/p>\n

Powell\u2019s scores are rooted in patterns or whole themes, and he\u2019s a master at variation, stripping down a theme to its underpinnings, and reconfiguring elements to gentle tones (the eerie vocals in \u201cThe Drive to Paris\u201d with Asian chimes and slightly unsteady strings); or pure percussion and bass, as in \u201cThe Apartment\u201d with one of the score\u2019s signature motifs \u2013 rhythms emerging backwards and triggering a rush of pounding drums or drippy-wet bass lines.<\/p>\n

Powell\u2019s fixation on ethnic percussion seems to draw from Asian, South Asian, African, and Arabic origins, and the harmonics in themes and their desperate incarnations have an overtly middle eastern feel, making Bourne<\/strong> in particular exotic and mournful \u2013 appropriate for a story in which an outsider is dumped by the only family\u2019s he\u2019s known, and becomes fueled by a hunger for answers and eventually revenge.<\/p>\n

Powell\u2019s breakdown of Jason Bourne into almost mechanical sounds is wholly logical: just as the rhythms seem to erupt and recur with precision, so do Bourne\u2019s deadly skills set, thrashing, breaking, and pulsing with cold delivery. With the exception of the mournful theme, this is a score about being constantly on the defensive and reactive at any moment. Powell\u2019s design of layered percussion and an insane variety of organic and synthetic textures reflect a character\u00a0on edge, and senses constantly scanning for details that might be suspicious \u2013 hence snippets of percussion trailing off, or rhythms transferred to other percussion instruments, like an assassin handing off plans or deadly implements\u00a0for a final attack.<\/p>\n

A few cues are worth noting for their unconventional scoring approach. The car chase \u201cOn Bridge Number 9\u201d is also one of the score\u2019s most melodic, boasting synth tones which chime, and whose harmonics are among its\u00a0most upbeat, signaling to audiences a key moment when Bourne has the upper hand, and the trust of his former hostage \/ new love.<\/p>\n

\u201cJason\u2019s Theme\u201d is all bass, backbeats, and flanging effects, and Powell\u2019s digital processing seems to treat a variety of spiraling hits with different levels of ascending and descending tones, making the percussion hits almost rain down on the film\u2019s characters. The suite of edited cues within \u201cThe Bourne Theme\u201d reassembles all the percussion motifs \u2013 clacking, banks of middle eastern percussion \u2013 and Powell\u2019s small details in the cue\u2019s second half can also be described as a little cheeky: as backbeats slam hard, there\u2019s a treated whistle that seems to taunt both Bourne and the man he\u2019s tracking down for a\u00a0terminal strike.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrum and Bass Remix\u201d (credited to Moby) builds on Powell\u2019s use of spinning, unwinding, and recycling rhythms, and much of the cue has chunks which have been snipped out and processed, and sliced back into the mix for a marvelous disjointed track that\u2019s faithful to the various dynamics of Bourne\u2019s combative engagements as Treadstone keeps sending killers to complete an unfinished job.<\/p>\n

Powell would revisit his themes in the Matt Damon films \u2013 Identity<\/strong>, Supremacy<\/strong>, Ultimatum<\/strong> (with its incredible percussion tracks), and Jason Bourne<\/strong> (co-composed with David Buckley) \u2013 but perhaps a close stylistic cousin to Identity is the far more upbeat The Italian Job<\/strong> (2003), which is similarly packed with massive ethnic rhythms.<\/p>\n

Varese Sarabande\u2019s decision to reissue soundtracks from their back catalogue in 2016 yielded a trio of titles: Don Davis\u2019 The Matrix<\/strong>, the pairing of selected cues from Marco Beltrami\u2019s Scream<\/strong> and Scream 2<\/strong>, and The Bourne Identity<\/strong>, and while the first two recapitulate the shorter CD versions, nothing\u2019s been trimmed from the original Bourne<\/strong> CD, hence a running time of roughly 55 minutes.<\/p>\n

Audiophiles might frown on the score not being split over two platters, if not mastered at 45 rpm, but the sonics on the 180 gram custom stock (with \u2018military green\u2019 cloud matter) sounds quite good. Both bass and highs seem to dominate (I might be wrong, but I swear I never noticed on CD the subtle electrostatic distortion in the early pulses in \u201cHotel Regina,\u201d nor the jazzy vibes in the first section of \u201cOn Bridge Number 9\u201d), but the details from the CD seem fully present, especially the digital nuances in Powell\u2019 sublime sonic\u00a0design.<\/p>\n

The LP art ports over key art from the CD, but perhaps what\u2019s missing is the old Varese logo, which was a mainstay in the upper left corner of covers. It\u2019s a small detail, but I always liked the label\u2019s peculiar abstract design.<\/p>\n

Hopefully the success of the Bourne<\/strong> LP will yield vinyl editions of Powell\u2019s first two sequels, and The Italian Job<\/strong>, where bass and the fat tones of the electronics would sound very lovely buried in virgin vinyl.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2016 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Additional Links:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — Composer on IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a> —\u00a0 Soundtrack Album<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Select Merchants:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" —\u00a0BSX<\/a> —\u00a0Intrada<\/a> —\u00a0Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first film in the enduring franchise gave John Powell the perfect opportunity to write what remains both his definitive action sound, and the definitive action score of that decade, blending large orchestral sounds with layers upon layers of electronics…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4,20],"tags":[4711,1344,3360],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-3LF","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14487"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14487"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14494,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14487\/revisions\/14494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Also available is a podcast interview with Varese Sarabande’s V.P. pf A&R. Cary E. Mansfield<\/a>.<\/p>\n