Five Reasons Why...

Here are five reasons why I found Hans Zimmer’s  A Small Measure of Peace (from the Last Samurai soundtrack) to be kind of boring this morning:

1. There is no real progression here. I know it’s the last track to the album but for movie scores the last track should capture the feel of the whole movie. A lot of these songs are saved for the credits where they pull from some of the larger musical themes of the movie. It helps to bring closure to the viewing experience. While A Small Measure of Peace sounds lovely it never takes off.  It almost sounds like a skipping record playing the same loop over and over again. The emotional impact is minimal here. I don’t feel that it brings closure to the movie. It sounds bittersweet (and yes I suppose the ending of the Last Samurai is bittersweet) but doesn’t bring the movie full circle. Not the track I would have chosen to end the movie with.

2.  Due to the fact that there is no real progression and it’s basically a build up to nowhere, seven minutes is a bit long. I actually checked at one point to see how much longer it was going to be because I wanted to get back to listening to Mike and Mike.  I understand that the seven minutes are supposed to cover the credits but this morning I really wasn’t digging it.  Hurry up and end this repetitiveness so I can listen to reports on the NFL Lock Out.

3.  My first thought that this was a piece from Lost. I was disappointed to find that it was not. If I was going to pick an instrumental track I would pick one that tugged on my heart strings a little more. Lost has plenty of that.

4.  While the song itself sounds bittersweet there is nothing really epic about it. A Small Measure of Peace is just there. It reminds me of the problem I had with the Last Samurai soundtrack. The movie was fantastic. The whole experience was very moving. (Side Note- when I left the theater there was a pretty good snow storm going on and I couldn’t really relish in my movedness because I was too busy trying to not crash my car. I hate driving in the snow.) The soundtrack though doesn’t capture the epicness of the movie. There are glimpses of it here and there but for the most point I found it to be a disappointment. It’s a shame because I tend to enjoy Hans Zimmer’s work (for epicness and emotion check out his work on the Inception soundtrack).  What’s weird is that the score works perfectly within the confines of the movie but once you separate the two it doesn’t seem the same. Much like Harry Potter and Voldemort one can’t live while the other survives (I’ve re-read this analogy like seven or eight times. I’m not sure if it works here but I feel like making a Harry Potter reference so I’m going to leave it. Please forgive me if it makes no sense).

5.  Truth be told I really wanted to listen Golden State (John Doe featuring Eddie Vedder) this morning and was secretly hoping that my ipod would pick it over the other nine thousand or so songs. As stated before there are times where my ipod and me share this incredible mental link, but today was not one of those days. I was forced to play Golden State through my Want To Hear It Now playlist (oh the humanity), mental linking exercises with my ipod must be increased. As soon as the track started up I knew that’s exactly what I wanted to hear. Sorry Hans I’m going to stick with John Doe and Eddie Vedder today.  If I want to listen to the Last Samurai soundtrack I’ll watch the movie. It sounds better that way.