We Were Soldiers: Original Motion Picture Score
by: Nick Glennie-Smith
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Since Francis Coppola's epochal Apocalypse Now helped reinvent the scope of what a war film could be, the music of the battlefield epic has logically shifted as well, from heroic martial themes to Platoon's introspective strains of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings and the fusion of Hans Zimmer's electronic-tribal soundscapes for The Thin Red Line and Black Hawk Down.
Composer Nick Glennie-Smith seems to have taken his tip from Barber, composing and arranging an orchestral score of pensive grace and quiet, dramatic power for this Mel Gibson-Randall Wallace Vietnam war dramatization. It's music that underscores the point that the true heroism of war is often more about personal survival than it is about battlefield victory. The Spartan strains of Joseph Kilna Mackenzie's "Sgt. Mackenzie" (originally written as a tribute to Mackenzie's grandfather, a WWI vet) occasionally percolate up in the arrangements, giving the score a battle-weary sense of spirituality that spans the ages. The composer's solo-trumpet denouement "Final Departure" is as emotionally powerful as it is antiheroic, leading to a gospel-infused end-credit sequence that further underscores the story and scores a compellingly human sense of scale. The talented Glennie-Smith has toiled in middling comedies and actioners for years, but this powerful work promises exceptional things to come.--Jerry McCulley
Since Francis Coppola's epochal Apocalypse Now helped reinvent the scope of what a war film could be, the music of the battlefield epic has logically shifted as well, from heroic martial themes to Platoon's introspective strains of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings and the fusion of Hans Zimmer's electronic-tribal soundscapes for The Thin Red Line and Black Hawk Down.
Composer Nick Glennie-Smith seems to have taken his tip from Barber, composing and arranging an orchestral score of pensive grace and quiet, dramatic power for this Mel Gibson-Randall Wallace Vietnam war dramatization. It's music that underscores the point that the true heroism of war is often more about personal survival than it is about battlefield victory. The Spartan strains of Joseph Kilna Mackenzie's "Sgt. Mackenzie" (originally written as a tribute to Mackenzie's grandfather, a WWI vet) occasionally percolate up in the arrangements, giving the score a battle-weary sense of spirituality that spans the ages. The composer's solo-trumpet denouement "Final Departure" is as emotionally powerful as it is antiheroic, leading to a gospel-infused end-credit sequence that further underscores the story and scores a compellingly human sense of scale. The talented Glennie-Smith has toiled in middling comedies and actioners for years, but this powerful work promises exceptional things to come.--Jerry McCulley
Disc 1:
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Brothers In Arms..Hooah!
What a touching movie. Well acted and terribly accurate. The horrors of War! The score is wonderful, enhancing the movie throughout and the CD allows you to bring that score home. My favorites are track 14, Mansions of the Lord. Every time I listen to it, it makes the hairs on my neck stand up, and bringing the scenes of the movie back to me...a tear to my eye. Ronald Reagan asked for Mansions of the Lord to be played at his funeral. To my brothers and sisters in arms...Strenght and Honor...Hooah!
Rating: - One of the best movie soundtracks
Sometimes the music can make a great movie even better.This is one of those examples.The movie (which I believe is the best yet about 'Nam) would be good with complete background silence, but this score kicks it up even a few more notches.Very pleased I purchased this CD.When I listen to it, can visual the accompanying movie scenes.You know then it is a great score.
Rating: - Great Companion to the Movie
Like the movie, this score draws the listener into the feel, action, suspense and drama of the story.Like all great scores, this too is great to listen to while reflecting on the events of the movie/true events, and/or prepare you to see it again.
Rating: - Faithful To The Movie
I found 'We Were Soldiers' to be an excellent movie. It portrays the emotion of what the ground pounders faced in SE Asia early in the war, to any audience.The soundtrack is faithful to the movie. Those who have seen We Were Soldiers will feel the same emotional rollercoaster when listening to the soundtrack.
Rating: - Glennie-Smith's "The Thin Red Line"
Zimmer wrote The Thin Red Line with assistance from John Powell. Now Glennie-Smith writes an orchestral score for a Vietnam War drama.
"What is War?" starts with low strings then transitions to militaristic percussion and a soft French horn playing the main theme.
"Look Around You" starts off a bit emotional with low strings sounding almost funeral like with distant-sounding bell clangs. Around 2 minutes and 45 seconds, the low strings grow silent and are replaced by a ticking ... Read More
- Brothers In Arms..Hooah!What a touching movie. Well acted and terribly accurate. The horrors of War! The score is wonderful, enhancing the movie throughout and the CD allows you to bring that score home. My favorites are track 14, Mansions of the Lord. Every time I listen to it, it makes the hairs on my neck stand up, and bringing the scenes of the movie back to me...a tear to my eye. Ronald Reagan asked for Mansions of the Lord to be played at his funeral. To my brothers and sisters in arms...Strenght and Honor...Hooah!
- One of the best movie soundtracksSometimes the music can make a great movie even better.This is one of those examples.The movie (which I believe is the best yet about 'Nam) would be good with complete background silence, but this score kicks it up even a few more notches.Very pleased I purchased this CD.When I listen to it, can visual the accompanying movie scenes.You know then it is a great score.
- Great Companion to the MovieLike the movie, this score draws the listener into the feel, action, suspense and drama of the story.Like all great scores, this too is great to listen to while reflecting on the events of the movie/true events, and/or prepare you to see it again.
- Faithful To The MovieI found 'We Were Soldiers' to be an excellent movie. It portrays the emotion of what the ground pounders faced in SE Asia early in the war, to any audience.The soundtrack is faithful to the movie. Those who have seen We Were Soldiers will feel the same emotional rollercoaster when listening to the soundtrack.
- Glennie-Smith's "The Thin Red Line"Zimmer wrote The Thin Red Line with assistance from John Powell. Now Glennie-Smith writes an orchestral score for a Vietnam War drama.
"What is War?" starts with low strings then transitions to militaristic percussion and a soft French horn playing the main theme.
"Look Around You" starts off a bit emotional with low strings sounding almost funeral like with distant-sounding bell clangs. Around 2 minutes and 45 seconds, the low strings grow silent and are replaced by a ticking ... Read More
