The Day After Tomorrow
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| # | Track | Duration | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | The Day After Tomorrow | 3:27 | ||
| 2. | Tornado Warning | 2:00 | ||
| 3. | Sam! | 1:20 | ||
| 4. | Tidal Wave | 3:14 | ||
| 5. | Body Heat | 1:50 | ||
| 6. | Russian Ghost Ship | 1:24 | ||
| 7. | Hall’s Plan | :53 | ||
| 8. | Rio Grande | 1:11 | ||
| 9. | Bedtime Story | 2:03 | ||
| 10. | Blizzard | 2:18 | ||
| 11. | Superfreeze | 3:04 | ||
| 12. | Cutting the Rope | 3:29 | ||
| 13. | Because of You | 2:29 | ||
| 14. | President’s Speech | 4:19 | ||
| 15. | The Human Spirit | 3:36 | ||
| 16. | Burning Books | 1:42 | ||
| 38:19 |
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Many film music fans got their hopes up quite high, when it was announced that newcomer Harald Kloser would score Roland Emmerich new disaster flick, The Day After Tomorrow, this being the composer’s first big budget Hollywood production. I was hardly the only one who thought about how Emmerich in 1994 took David Arnold out of obscurity, hiring him to score Stargate. That score was a gem to say the least, and many hoped that Kloser would be able to make the same strong first impression as Arnold had done on his first big budget score. Unfortunately though, that is too high an expectation; The Day After Tomorrow lacks that spark it would have needed to be a real success. It is an enjoying score, with its fair share of memorable moments, but it lands miles away from previous scores to Emmerich films.
The Day After Tomorrow is essentially a dark and brooding score, and the sense of foreboding in the first few tracks is very clear. That is of course very fitting for the beginning of a disaster movie; a taste of the mayhem to come. The 38-minute album focuses much on the dramatic scoring of the film, though, rather than the action music. Those wanting action music will get their fair share as well, worry not, but gladly Varese Sarabande has not fallen into the trap of over-representing the action material on a short release, leaving all too much of the dramatic underscoring out.
The thematic material is not really of any big stature – there is a quite strong main theme presented in the opening track, but then this nice long-lined, dramatic melody is not presented again in the score until the 14th track, “President’s Speech”. There are actually many other themes in the score, but it is hard to get a grip of them, since many are very similar, long-lined, sombre structures. One theme is more prominent though, first presented in the middle of “Bedtime Story”. This theme is a nice romantic melody that returns several times, most notably in “The Human Spirit” where it gets its final full treatment. It would have been very nice, however, with more use of the main theme since this is definitely the score’s strongest theme and one of its real assets. Had that been more used the score would have felt more linked together, but without a strong thematic link it does not really engage you when listening.
But one thing that will engage you is the action music – most of it is brilliant huge orchestral work. And the orchestra assembled for this recording was huge – the list of performers in the liner notes lists no less than 160 players! It is not likely that all of these performed at one time though – the sound is never that huge; otherwise the mixing is surprisingly bland. Anyway, the gigantic brass and percussion section is allowed to shine in the action music, especially in “Tidal Wave” and “Superfreeze”, both being huge action set pieces. The former allows for some low brass effects with horns in the front, as well as some harmonically daring string work later in the track – the best action track on the CD, in my opinion. The percussion gets its fair share of exercise, often underlining the rhythms in all the score’s action music, as well as some time in the spotlight with almost solo thundering in “Superfreeze” and “Russian Ghost Ship”.
Other tracks of note are “Rio Grande” which sound very much like a Media Ventures with its techno-like percussion and strings/brass melody, the moving “Cutting the Rope” and the aforementioned “The Human Spirit” with its nice thematic work. But the album’s real highlight is its longest track, “President’s Speech” where the main theme is allowed to shine in full orchestra in a rather rousing rendition.
Having such a large orchestra to work with, I would have expected some advanced orchestrations that really take advantage of this ensemble, it being one of the largest ever assembled for a film score. Unfortunately that is not the case. The orchestrations are quite simple, lacking contrapunctal work throughout and actually is rather bland overall. The themes are presented mainly on strings and horns, as well as solos on flute and clarinet, but not much else is happening in the others parts of the orchestra. I would have appreciated some more innovation, given that such a large orchestra had been assembled. What on the other hand is one of this score’s large strengths is the authenticity of the orchestral work. It all has a very acoustic feel that is appreciated, at least by this reviewer, the score having something in composition in common with Media Ventures scores but a sound that is much more acoustic compared to the heavy synth enhancement of MV scores. There are electronic percussion present, but very much in the background, while the real orchestra is what dominates – hat off to Kloser for that!
In the end, The Day After Tomorrow is a score that would have benefited from a more innovative use of the orchestra and some stronger thematic work to tie the score together, but actually this is still a decently good score. It is nothing new and not very memorable, but it is a balanced listening experience on CD. The dramatic tracks are not bad, but you will likely not remember much of them when they are over, even if they sure will satisfy you in the moment of hearing them. It is neither boring nor particularly engaging – perhaps the quintessential average score.
The Day After Tomorrow is essentially a dark and brooding score, and the sense of foreboding in the first few tracks is very clear. That is of course very fitting for the beginning of a disaster movie; a taste of the mayhem to come. The 38-minute album focuses much on the dramatic scoring of the film, though, rather than the action music. Those wanting action music will get their fair share as well, worry not, but gladly Varese Sarabande has not fallen into the trap of over-representing the action material on a short release, leaving all too much of the dramatic underscoring out.
The thematic material is not really of any big stature – there is a quite strong main theme presented in the opening track, but then this nice long-lined, dramatic melody is not presented again in the score until the 14th track, “President’s Speech”. There are actually many other themes in the score, but it is hard to get a grip of them, since many are very similar, long-lined, sombre structures. One theme is more prominent though, first presented in the middle of “Bedtime Story”. This theme is a nice romantic melody that returns several times, most notably in “The Human Spirit” where it gets its final full treatment. It would have been very nice, however, with more use of the main theme since this is definitely the score’s strongest theme and one of its real assets. Had that been more used the score would have felt more linked together, but without a strong thematic link it does not really engage you when listening.
But one thing that will engage you is the action music – most of it is brilliant huge orchestral work. And the orchestra assembled for this recording was huge – the list of performers in the liner notes lists no less than 160 players! It is not likely that all of these performed at one time though – the sound is never that huge; otherwise the mixing is surprisingly bland. Anyway, the gigantic brass and percussion section is allowed to shine in the action music, especially in “Tidal Wave” and “Superfreeze”, both being huge action set pieces. The former allows for some low brass effects with horns in the front, as well as some harmonically daring string work later in the track – the best action track on the CD, in my opinion. The percussion gets its fair share of exercise, often underlining the rhythms in all the score’s action music, as well as some time in the spotlight with almost solo thundering in “Superfreeze” and “Russian Ghost Ship”.
Other tracks of note are “Rio Grande” which sound very much like a Media Ventures with its techno-like percussion and strings/brass melody, the moving “Cutting the Rope” and the aforementioned “The Human Spirit” with its nice thematic work. But the album’s real highlight is its longest track, “President’s Speech” where the main theme is allowed to shine in full orchestra in a rather rousing rendition.
Having such a large orchestra to work with, I would have expected some advanced orchestrations that really take advantage of this ensemble, it being one of the largest ever assembled for a film score. Unfortunately that is not the case. The orchestrations are quite simple, lacking contrapunctal work throughout and actually is rather bland overall. The themes are presented mainly on strings and horns, as well as solos on flute and clarinet, but not much else is happening in the others parts of the orchestra. I would have appreciated some more innovation, given that such a large orchestra had been assembled. What on the other hand is one of this score’s large strengths is the authenticity of the orchestral work. It all has a very acoustic feel that is appreciated, at least by this reviewer, the score having something in composition in common with Media Ventures scores but a sound that is much more acoustic compared to the heavy synth enhancement of MV scores. There are electronic percussion present, but very much in the background, while the real orchestra is what dominates – hat off to Kloser for that!
In the end, The Day After Tomorrow is a score that would have benefited from a more innovative use of the orchestra and some stronger thematic work to tie the score together, but actually this is still a decently good score. It is nothing new and not very memorable, but it is a balanced listening experience on CD. The dramatic tracks are not bad, but you will likely not remember much of them when they are over, even if they sure will satisfy you in the moment of hearing them. It is neither boring nor particularly engaging – perhaps the quintessential average score.
As Stephen Sommers attempts to reincarnate himself as the Steven Spielberg of Raiders of the Lost Ark so Roland Emmerich has spent much of his career resurrecting the spirit of Irwin Allen's wildly successful, but hopelessly cheesy disaster flicks from the 70's. After a couple of sidesteps with the portly Godzilla (again, I must thank the movie gods that Peter Jackson is remaking King Kong, although anyone doing a remake still seems a little ill advised) and a stab at something a little more classy with the hideously anglophobic The Patriot (sporting a generic - by his standards - but still fine John Williams score), Emmerich is back with disasters, this time brought about by a faintly plausible global climate change. The time frame seems a little compressed, but the events suggested really could happen, although I don't suppose that'll occur to that average movie goer as he or she climbs back into a 4X4 off roader to drive 300 yards back to their place of residence. Ah well.
No doubt when David Arnold's name was seen inscribed on the posters for Stargate, film music fans were scratching their heads, but from the opening bars, Arnold's score struck a chord (as it were) with those longing for something that brought back some hint of past epics. Similar thoughts are doubtless passing through those spotting the name of Harald Kloser for The Day After Tomorrow. In Hollywood terms, Kloser doesn't even really have any minor credits; almost all are either in TV, with a few German films here and there. I must confess that I was fairly optimistic that Kloser would produce something striking - this kind of opportunity for epic scoring is comparatively rare and Emmerich's films have invariably supported fine scores, peaking with Arnold's Independence Day and Godzilla (one of the film's truly redeeming features) - but in truth The Day After Tomorrow is surprisingly low key.
The titular opening cue is bracing enough, set over ominous snares with a heavy feeling of dread, but the ensuing tracks don't really build on the menace or whip up the kind of frenzy that marked out the early portions of Independence Day. True, Tidal Wave is suitably gargantuan, but Kloser's fundamental problem is that there is little in the way of melodic hooks to propel things forward. Later action set pieces, notably Superfreeze, drive along with appropriate conviction, but there is little of note to recall afterward. As there are only a smattering of epic destructions set to music on disc, the gentle interludes don't have so much to compete with and brief, but delicate cues such as Bedtime Story and the suitably moving Cutting the Rope don't get lost. Unfortunately, although the sentiment is right, in purely musical terms, neither are exactly earth shattering (if you'll pardon the pun).
Perhaps one redeeming feature that may please those unimpressed by Arnold's scores for Emmerich is that Kloser has almost no time for patriotism. The cue most likely to take a turn for the worst is President's Speech, but here there is none of the rousing fervour of the ID4 equivalent, but a more gentle lyricism that is extremely fetching and a highlight of the score. The Human Spirit and Burning Books continue in this vein bringing an unexpectedly quiet score to a subdued conclusion. Anyone hoping for something melodramatic and bombastic will likely be disappointed; the action is brief and a little perfunctory, and the majority of the quieter tracks aren't hugely inspiring either. Maybe I was expecting too much, but The Day After Tomorrow just doesn't deliver the expected aural spectacle, but nor does it ratchet up quite enough tension or generate enough inspiring human drama to be fully satisfying, pleasant though it is.
PS. I know it's pathetic and immature, but I can't help but be amused that a credit of co-composer is noted for Thomas Wanker. Seriously. Wanker apparently wrote quite a bit of music for the latter series of Buffy. It doesn't seem that any of his music for The Day After Tomorrow appears on the album. I just hope he doesn't live up to his name.
No doubt when David Arnold's name was seen inscribed on the posters for Stargate, film music fans were scratching their heads, but from the opening bars, Arnold's score struck a chord (as it were) with those longing for something that brought back some hint of past epics. Similar thoughts are doubtless passing through those spotting the name of Harald Kloser for The Day After Tomorrow. In Hollywood terms, Kloser doesn't even really have any minor credits; almost all are either in TV, with a few German films here and there. I must confess that I was fairly optimistic that Kloser would produce something striking - this kind of opportunity for epic scoring is comparatively rare and Emmerich's films have invariably supported fine scores, peaking with Arnold's Independence Day and Godzilla (one of the film's truly redeeming features) - but in truth The Day After Tomorrow is surprisingly low key.
The titular opening cue is bracing enough, set over ominous snares with a heavy feeling of dread, but the ensuing tracks don't really build on the menace or whip up the kind of frenzy that marked out the early portions of Independence Day. True, Tidal Wave is suitably gargantuan, but Kloser's fundamental problem is that there is little in the way of melodic hooks to propel things forward. Later action set pieces, notably Superfreeze, drive along with appropriate conviction, but there is little of note to recall afterward. As there are only a smattering of epic destructions set to music on disc, the gentle interludes don't have so much to compete with and brief, but delicate cues such as Bedtime Story and the suitably moving Cutting the Rope don't get lost. Unfortunately, although the sentiment is right, in purely musical terms, neither are exactly earth shattering (if you'll pardon the pun).
Perhaps one redeeming feature that may please those unimpressed by Arnold's scores for Emmerich is that Kloser has almost no time for patriotism. The cue most likely to take a turn for the worst is President's Speech, but here there is none of the rousing fervour of the ID4 equivalent, but a more gentle lyricism that is extremely fetching and a highlight of the score. The Human Spirit and Burning Books continue in this vein bringing an unexpectedly quiet score to a subdued conclusion. Anyone hoping for something melodramatic and bombastic will likely be disappointed; the action is brief and a little perfunctory, and the majority of the quieter tracks aren't hugely inspiring either. Maybe I was expecting too much, but The Day After Tomorrow just doesn't deliver the expected aural spectacle, but nor does it ratchet up quite enough tension or generate enough inspiring human drama to be fully satisfying, pleasant though it is.
PS. I know it's pathetic and immature, but I can't help but be amused that a credit of co-composer is noted for Thomas Wanker. Seriously. Wanker apparently wrote quite a bit of music for the latter series of Buffy. It doesn't seem that any of his music for The Day After Tomorrow appears on the album. I just hope he doesn't live up to his name.