ellesboro's Full Review: Star Trek: Nemesis by Original Soundtrack
Well, I'm taking a break from camcorder reviews, I'd thought I try out music for a change. I listen to alot of score music from different movies, and definitely in my collection, are the Star Trek Feature films. They have used some of the best composers around, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner and Cliff Eldeman (He did a phenomenal job with Star Trek 6)
Star Trek Nemesis score by Jerry Goldsmith was highly anticipated. People were really wanting to hear how he composed the music for this "darker" Trek Movie (btw, Nemesis is Trek's 10 film, and the last with the Next Generation Crew) Did Goldmsith compose a dark soundtrack....YES. Did he compose it well?......Meh
LIST OF TRACKS
1) Remus
2) The Box
3) My Right Arm
4) Odds and Ends
5) Repairs
6) The Knife
7) Ideals
8) The Mirror
9) The Scorpion
10) Lateral Run
11) Engage
12) Final flight
13) A New Friend
14) A New ending
TOTAL TIME: 48:31
The quality of the CD itself is quite good, recorded in the standard 16bit audio, it plays the sound well. The one thing I found was that sometimes it sounded tinny, espically with the brass, I know that brass sometimes sound tinny, I play the trumpet, but it echoed a little too much sometimes as well. The CD case is nice, with a nice leaflet filled with pictures, tracks and times, info on the composer and the score and the Musicans names (btw, The Hollywood Studio Symphony composed this score)
The score isn't bad, but it's not his best. He does include some good themes, but I find it to be a little hard, and jerky, sometimes too much. I don't think he spent the amount of time like he did with the Previous Trek Films he did. It does have some originality, which is to be expected, seeing as this is a different type of trek film.
It also makes good use of various instruments, such as woodwinds and strings for tense moments, then brings in the Good Ol' Brass for the triumphant areas of the movie (like when the Enterprise-E pummels the Remen Warship with Quantum Torpedeos, TRACK 10 Lateral Run)
Some of it is exciting. I found however, that some tracks were a little broken, specificlly in track 4, ODDS AND ENDS, it switches very quickly from intense to slow, to intense, to slow, it was confusing at times, as well, Goldsmith often used synthized sounds, which, on the hole I don't like, but he did a fairly good job at combining them into the score.
There are well done parts, like in Track 9, THE SCORPION, I liked the dramatic surge of the instruments as the little Scorpion fighter escapes the big Remen ship. . You can tell it's Goldsmith by the End Theme (TRACK 14 A New Ending) with the famous Star Trek theme that he created in Star Trek the Motion Picture. It's a great theme, filled with excitement and wonder. However, I found in this score, he slowed the tempo too much, and the instruments didn't sound quite right, not nearly as good as the end credits from Star Trek First Contact. I did like Track 7, IDEALS, I found the theme to be moving, and it flowed very nicely, and got very mysterious in the end, with some neat surging brass sounds.
The Slow Remen theme that he created and is used in the End Credits only shows throughout the score. Although I believe Goldsmith found the right mix in placing the score, I don't believe it's good enough to carry the movie on it's own, it's the only primary theme. There really is no other main theme in the score, just minor ones used to fill in areas. It's too bad, because he did have several themes in Star Trek First Contact, and of course, his best, Star Trek The Motion Picture.
Overall, this soundtrack was overrated. It's not a bad score, but it's not Goldsmiths Best.
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