Search - David Holmes, Various Artists :: Ocean's Eleven

Too Much Movie Dialog

Sir Charles Panther | Alexandria, Virginny, USandA | 04/07/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This confusing, contradictory mishmash of musical styles and movie dialog is a disappointment. It strikes me there's some production inside joke or theme going on here, yet we consumers aren't allowed in. Some of the music is quite good, but the album's pace and structure defeats that. Most frustrating is the constant presence of movie dialog, intro'ing songs, concluding songs, smack in the middle. It's unbelievably intrusive, highly annoying, and ruins what would otherwise be a fine soundtrack release.All tracks segue, which most often does not work well.This first track sets the dialog tone right away, nine seconds in, with Daniel Ocean's parole hearing sliding right in over Percy Faith's "Theme For Young Lovers." The theme has no chance to even begin to become one, dim and tinny in the background of George Clooney being very, very cool. You'll find the same on Track 4, "The Plans." It's more talk from the boys, with some good jazz relegated to the background. If I wanted movie dialog, I'd play the DVD and capture my favorite bits on my own.Track 2, "Boobytrapping" moves into what we're looking for, good supporting music from the film, just the music alone. But the last 25 seconds is more intrusive film dialog.Then we get right on into it, with the ridiculously out of place "The Projects (PJays)" at Track 3. It's a stupid knockoff rap about livin' in da projects. Sure, it was in the film, but it's got nothing to do with the rest of the tracks on this CD, thematically, conceptually, or musically. Why is it even included? The cynic in me reasons that it makes an unadulterated (no movie dialog to be found) appearance here as part of the contract for permission to use the song in the film. But this track does segue to "The Plans," which is nothing but film dialog, with some lame rhythm and wallowing guitar in the background.This is followed by Perry Como schmoozing his way through the lounge-ariffic, Caucasian-ified "Papa Loves Mambo." This is the first real throwback tune to the original Ocean's Eleven cast, their time, their milieu, the whole vibe. The recording is clear, but it's tinny and hollow, with mediocre channel separation. This is good, campy background music for your next martini luau.Track 6, "Ruben's In," gives us 30 seconds of dialog right off, then we finally get to the song itself, a good horn tune, with the arrangements highly reminiscent of AWB's "Pick Up the Pieces." The texture and the rhythm is also evocative of a James Brown band jam.Track 8, "Caravan," has an interesting intro that's almost Christmas-y, with lots of sleigh bells. Then it transitions into a true Vegas lounge-y jam for a bit before dropping back into the mystical desert Yuletide arrangement. It alternates between the two throughout, back and forth, and it gets to be a bit annoying.Track 9, "Gritty Shaker," is good, in keeping with the spirit and atmosphere of the film, and at times sneaking in a riff or two from the remixed "Little Less Conversation" at Track 12. There's a good organ bridge, taking us back to the original "Ocean's Eleven," and other cool-crime contemporaries.More short knockoff incidental music come at Tracks 10 and 11, with more movie dialog intruding throughout.Note Track 12, the reworked "Little Less Conversation." This is the only Elvis recording the estate has allowed to be officially remixed and released as an Elvis recording. Sadly, it's all of only 1:42, compared to the longer, better version of on the Elvis #1 hits CD.Quincy Jones' "Blues In The Night" at Track 15 is poisoned by a needless dialog intro. This is a good traditional arrangement, way heavy on the horns and a bit weak down in the bass end.I do like the track 16, "Tess" a very slow and sleek, dark and sultry riff on "Clair de Lune." A bit more remixing, the addition of some texture and some modulations, and this would be a really nice extended chill piece. It's too short at only 3:22.Track 12 is revisited as an instrumental, at #18, "$160 million Chinese Man." There are some good sax-centered horn bits, giving us a mix of the Elvis-Vegas cool and cool-crime heist themes. Unfortunately, at only 2:15, you get more needless movie dialog, ruining an otherwise excellent stand-alone piece of film music.The dialog idiocy continues at track 19, "69 Police." A good song is building and maturing into a smooth chill piece, when we get more movie dialog, over 40 seconds of a smarmy Matt Damon ordering Andy Garcia around during the final stages of the heist.You'll remember Track 20, "Clair de Lune," as the final scene in which all of our too-cool robbers hang at the Mirage fountain and marvel at what Vegas has become before going their own silent, separate, and successful ways. This traditional arrangement from the Philadelphia Orchestra is amazingly free of any dialog.The CD concludes with more idiotic movie dialog over the same "Theme for Young Lovers" from Track 1, amazingly mixed so that you really can't make out either one clearly. At least it's consistent with the opener.To conclude, this is a soundtrack release trying to be too cool, giving more than is needed or wanted. The producers should have done what the soundtrack folks for "Casino," "Natural Born Killers," and others did, let the tunes stand on their own. In this age of digital media, if I want movie dialog mixed in with my music, I'll do it myself, and I'll do a better and more personally meaningful job than this album offers. If you don't mind the constantly intrusive dialog, go ahead and get this. But if you're more of an audiophile than a cinephile, this album will grate on you, as it did on me."

Good despite (or because of) the dialogue

Jeff Lash | Saint Louis, MO, USA | 01/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I loved the movie, largely due to the great scoring, and was excited to hear the soundtrack, despite the other (not-so-kind)reviews I read here.Yes, there is dialogue on the CD, but most tracks do not have movie excerpts, and, on those that do, the dialogue is usually only at the beginning or the end of the track, and is not more than 20 seconds long. At first I didn't like the dialogue, but the more I listen to it, the more I like it.David Holmes' scoring is incredible; he creates gritty-cool lo-fi funk tracks that are rough yet at the same time incredibly cool. Most are acoustic-based with some electronic touches beautifully added as garnish.There are also a number of other tunes from other artists -- Elvis, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Perry Como, Arthur Lyman, Quincy Jones, Percy Faith, and a beautiful rendition of "Clair de Lune" by the Philadelphia Orchestra. While I bought the soundtrack to hear David Holmes' scoring, the other tracks added to the experience and tied the soundtrack together and helped recreate the mood of the movie.I still would have liked a bit more of the original David Holmes compositions, but what's on the disc is great, so I can't complain. It sufficiently recreates the hip slick feel of the movie while still leaving the listener with enough leeway to create his own mood."

Disappointing?

D. Hansen | UT | 07/28/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I picked up this album looking to add the cool filler tracks used in the movie's score (you know the jazzy upbeat riffs) into my MP3 player mixes. You get those (and the Elvis "A Little Less Conversation" track) but there were two things that ruined this soundtrack for me. 1. Almost all of the tracks contain dialogue voice overs from the movie, even the catchy tracks I was looking for weren't just music, they all contained dialogue to get in the way of the music. 2. Even the Elvis song I wanted to get a copy of was faded out before it was over (something that happens to all of the tracks here) and blended into the next track on the CD. I guess if my description fits what you're looking for then pick this up. If you are looking for the same thing I was then I might suggest listening to this at the library or someplace else before spending your money on this."