We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story

If you're a sucker for James Horner's cutesy and entertaining animated scores then you'll love this, otherwise it'll probably make you turn pale and feel all queasy, but don't panic, get your head between your legs, dig out some nice Bernard Herrmann and stick that on instead. My music tastes can jump from Horner to Herrmann quite easily and so I loved every minute of We're Back. It's not tough listening, but it is hugely varied and filled with loads of themes and there is rarely a dull moment. The opening starts with a chromatic orchestral descent that quickly resolves and eventually breaks into the main, very bouncy theme which is good, fortunately, it appears quite a number of times played at various different speeds from time to time. The other main theme is much more sentimental and reminded me of John Barry in an exceptionally mushy mood (perhaps echoing the John Dunbar theme from Dances with Wolves in terms of construction).

The parts that you'll probably remember the most are the extremely enthusiastic circus cues which really are seriously OTT and occasionally hint at Danny Elfman in more manic mode (Beetlejuice hints abound at various points, especially with the base line). Others will note the similiarity with Horner's later spooky effort, Casper. There are of course some more sombre bits and some parts are actually very ominous indeed, Fright Radio, Screw Eye's Sacrifice and Grand Demon Parade all featuring rather bleak versions of the main themes, low end frequencies being the order of the day. The latter cue turns into a rather gruesome march tune, one that suggest a parade of freaks, which is possibly exactly what was intended (I've not seen the film so can't be certain either way). Over the top of the orchestra there is a hair raising female chorus which is just brilliantly conceived and executed and certainly much better composed than would be expected for this kind of film. The only curious section of this cue is around a minute and a half from the end where there is a certain almost direct quote from Jerry Goldsmith's score to The 'Burbs which doesn't sound strange, unless you've heard that particular Jerry score and then it stands out like a sore thumb. Shame really, the general level of self and other composer reference is very restricted on the whole.

Two versions of the song, Roll Back the Rock appear and I would certainly favour the version done by John Goodman since what it doesn't have in musical proficiancy it makes up for in enthusiasm and I prefer the arranagement a great deal. Little Richard has a rather annoying voice and tends to bend the tune for his own liking too much, not impressed really. Perhaps a weak end to the album, but it's long enough and good enough to stand on it's own terms. In the sub genre of James Horner animated scores, it's probably the one that contains the most diversity and the most extremes. The two American Tail scores are both subtle in comparison and The Land Before Time is much more graceful and balletic with Balto verging away from the formula somewhat with a more grown up sounding action effort. We're Back is becoming hard to find, but is definitely worth seeking out if you like music that is specifically out to entertain and just be great fun and where else do you get to hear the LSO perform when accompanied by the kazoo... I think they had as much fun playing it as I had listening.