{"id":6864,"date":"2013-07-27T15:18:50","date_gmt":"2013-07-27T19:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6864"},"modified":"2013-07-27T15:23:44","modified_gmt":"2013-07-27T19:23:44","slug":"cd-man-of-steel-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6864","title":{"rendered":"CD: Man of Steel (2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>M<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Weak<\/p>\n

Label: Water Tower Music\/ Released: June 11, 2013<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: \u00a0 CD1: 17 tracks \/ (59:00) + CD2: 7 tracks \/ (59:00)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: Limited Deluxe Edition includes booklet, extra music cues, and code to download DTS Headphone: X versions of cues on CD1. \/ Also available on LP.<\/p>\n

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Composer: Hans Zimmer<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

Just as filmmakers have trouble trying to restart a franchise and differentiate their new entry from a prior effort or series of sequels, composers have the challenge of meeting the needs of the new film and weighing all the history that comes with a character like Superman.<\/p>\n

John Ottman had to compose his own material under the powerful shadow of John Williams\u2019 iconic theme in Superman Returns<\/strong> (2006), and Hans Zimmer\u2019s situation is no different, but rather than allow for any thematic cameos or ghostly quotations, Zimmer \u2013 perhaps at the behest of director Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. \u2013 wrote music that immediately signaled a new take on Superman.<\/p>\n

No longer practicing his patented pure bombast, Zimmer\u2019s approach to scoring action and adventure material has matured over the years, but Man of Steel<\/strong> is very much derived from the heavy chord statements that Zimmer used in Inception<\/a><\/strong> <\/strong>[M<\/a>] (2010)\u00a0\u2013 loud, brash brass with electrified sweetening \u2013 and his main theme is built around similarly minimalist material.<\/p>\n

MOS\u2019 opening cues stick to the bare bones material, and the dour mood infers latent grandeur; a power in development, if not a hero struggling with multiple identities as both Clark Kent and Superman, and the CD\u2019s first third is perhaps the score\u2019s strongest material. Zimmer spins off electric variations, chamber-synth hybrids, and some great percussion clusters, but as the score progresses and Zimmer\u2019s theme evolves into somewhat longer material, the score becomes a little too familiar \u2013 and not due to a cyclical unraveling.<\/p>\n

As mournful and affecting as the first half of \u201cKrypton\u2019s Lost\u201d may be \u2013 it\u2019s filled with heavy strings and solo material, hushed vocals and mercurial electronic tones \u2013 it also marks the first signs where Zimmer\u2019s has worked in the closing theme material from Angels & Demons<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (2009). It\u2019s not a note-for-note re-use, but the theme\u2019s chord structure is strikingly close<\/em> to A&D, giving much of the material in MOS\u2019 an unwanted sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu.<\/p>\n

The lengthy \u201cTerraforming\u201d presents the first overt appearances of the A&D chords, but the cue is notable for a potent use of percussion and a great emulation of the blasterbeam sound which Jerry Goldsmith used with precision in Star Trek: The Motion Picture<\/strong> (1978). Other cues \u2013 \u201cTornado,\u201d \u201cLaunch\u201d – are less memorable, and the general monotony of the score (which ostensibly feels like a cyclical presentation of Action Cue + Danger Cue + Sad Cue; repeat) makes this a lesser work within Zimmer\u2019s post-Inception<\/strong> C.V.<\/p>\n

There are in fact two distinct ways to read the score:<\/p>\n

1) Until Zimmer is pushed to create a more striking work with newfound sounds, what will continue to materialize in his work are patchy assimilations of sounds tied to his last major creative challenge.<\/p>\n

2) Rather than base the score around a blatantly heroic main theme that\u2019s reiterated in Williams\u2019 score (and the sequels) like clockwork, Zimmer built his MOS music as one elaborate bass line, leaving the melodic and expansive thematic sections to the film\u2019s sound effects, dialogue and visuals.<\/p>\n

If the second interpretation is the most true, then the MOS album is still a challenge, because even as a reductive score, it lacks a certain creative sharpness or memorable idea that truly affects the listener the way Williams and Ottman managed to achieve in their own Superman entries.<\/p>\n

Water Tower Music\u2019s limited Deluxe Edition presents the score on Disc 1, with extras on Disc 2. Like the general release 2-disc version, the 28 minute \u201cMan of Steel (Hans\u2019 Original Sketchbook)\u201d features the same early versions of cues for major sequences, but even when edited into suite form it\u2019s terribly repetitive and grating, and is perhaps of main interest to Zimmer\u2019s fans.<\/p>\n

The remaining 6 bonus cues on Disc 2 are unique to the Deluxe edition, and their exclusion from Disc 1\u2019s programme will annoy fans wanting to hear MOS in proper chronological order. Water Towner clearly wanted to economize by using the same Disc 1 master for both releases, but it would\u2019ve made sense to have a single 1-disc standard version, and arrange the entire score in chronological order over the two CDs, leaving the painful \u2018sketches\u2019 suite for the very, very end.<\/p>\n

The Deluxe set also comes with a booklet, and a code that permits buyers to download the app in tandem with Disc 1\u2019s 24 cues so they can listen to a special DTS Headphone: X mix designed to emulate the score in 11.1. (Zimmer was recently interviewed<\/a> regarding the score and the Headphone: X process by the High-Def Digest, who also report the score will be available on the upcoming Blu-ray as a separate 5.1 music-only track.)<\/p>\n

Zimmer also appears in a far too short promo video<\/a> on YouTube. A well-intentioned sample track<\/a> on YouTube compares the non-DTS \/ Headphone: X versions, but it hardly emulates the immersive sound; what you get is a rather muddy mix, unless perhaps the DTS extract is played back using proper gear..<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2013 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Select Merchants:<\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" —\u00a0BSX<\/a> —\u00a0Intrada<\/a> —\u00a0SAE<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0M<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ M . Rating: Weak Label: Water Tower Music\/ Released: June 11, 2013 Tracks & Album Length: \u00a0 CD1: 17 tracks \/ (59:00) + CD2: 7 tracks \/ (59:00) . Special Notes: Limited Deluxe Edition includes booklet, extra music cues, and code to download DTS Headphone: X versions of cues on […]<\/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":[20],"tags":[2147,162,2146,698],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1MI","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6864"}],"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=6864"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6869,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6864\/revisions\/6869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}