By far the most controversial score of the year (indeed, the most controversial since Gladiator) is Pirates of the Caribbean.  The controversy all began when producer Jerry Bruckheimer (I had to laugh at the trailer which began with "From the producer of Pearl Harbour and Armageddon" - now there's an incentive to watch) fired original composer Alan Silvestri, who would surely have written a grand orchestral adventure score in the style of his Mummy Returns, and phoned Hans Zimmer to get the traditional Bruckheimer Media Ventures score.  In the event he was too busy to write the score himself, so it was nominally turned over to the second highest-profile composer at Media Ventures, Klaus Badelt, but he enlisted the help of no fewer than seven other composers to write additional music, and a further nine orchestrators, and finally three synth programmers.

What this legion of people managed to conjure up together is like a hodge-podge of the most popular Media Ventures action scores from the past decade or so - The Rock, Crimson Tide, Gladiator and so on.  I remember commenting at the time how ludicrously inappropriate the score for Gladiator seemed, and Pirates of the Caribbean takes things considerably further.  I know that it's a no-brain-required popcorn movie based on a theme park ride, and as such is clearly not meant to be taken too seriously, but even so I find Badelt and Zimmer's approach to be rather odd.  There's nothing in common with the great swashbuckling scores of the past, instead everything is full of synths, drums and the most frenetic synth-based action music to come from Media Ventures in a long time.

Regardless of its use in the film, this review is concerned with the album, which to be successful does not need to evoke memories of the film, it just needs to give music that can be appreciated and/or enjoyed away from it.  And, I have to admit, it does that.  Aside from a low-key jig that opens and closes the album, it's non-stop action music, modern in a way (though no more modern than what Zimmer was writing ten years ago) and with an infectious quality that means you probably enjoy it, but probably wouldn't admit it to too many fellow film music fans.  

When the synths do disappear for a while and the orchestra is left by itself (which is solely in the non-action passages), it's easy to see why Badelt has been pronounced the most promising of the young composers coming through Media Ventures at the moment.  The music is still simple and unchallenging, but it conjures up the right emotions at the right times.  When the synths do come in for the action music, it's really thrilling stuff, again there's nothing complex about it (apart from the integration of the various noises, including one which sounds suspiciously like Erich Wolfgang Korngold turning in his grave) but again it's most entertaining.

A score that older fans are likely to deride, and younger ones are likely to love.  It certainly makes for an exciting album, even though the prospect of Alan Silvestri scoring the film had seemed especially mouthwatering.  Recommended, with reservations.

Buy this CD by clicking here!

Tracks