Audio Caffeine, Jun 28 2004

By	Holly Ingraham "ailurophile" (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews

When soundtracks are released as albums, I do not think it sufficient criteria that they be a memento of the movie, a kind of memory fix until the DVD comes out. I never go to movie houses, so I'm always getting soundtracks a year before I see the movie. I judge them strictly as atmospheric music.

For example, James Shore's LotR soundtracks succeed in the first instance, of working well in the films, but are unpleasant listening here in my front room. They are movie-dependent. They function excellently as movie soundtracks, but not as music albums of soundtracks.

The "Timeline" soundtrack may be this year's favorite writing music at National Novel Writing Month. It has great forward energy without being tied to one mood (gothic darkness of "Van Helsing") or era or area (Middle Eastern of "Hidalgo"), while not being monothematic. There are romantic themes, some slightly quirky techy cuts, but never too violent a movement away from the rest. It's repeatable, if you can stand to listen to an album more than once a week (I know some people just can't), either entire or any track. This is not slow down and relax music, I warn you: the title of this review sums it up.

One reason for the excellent listening experience is that it has been re-juggled to be a music CD rather than just a memento. The cuts are not in the order the movie demanded, but in a new order that creates a better flow as pure music. This is almost always the mark of a superior soundtrack album, though one can't realise this is not the movie order until either you've seen the movie or get clued by a review. Consider yourself clued.

On the whole, I can think of several other soundtracks I've bought this year I'd sooner pitch into the fire to save this one. It's definitely in the upper percentiles of my collection, and has me buying more Brian Tyler.

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