Last Orders

Despite starring Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren and Ray Winstone, Last Orders didn't really make much of a splash at the box office and didn't receive any notable write ups in the press. It takes the form of one of those 'old friends gather together and remember their lives' type films, yet despite an excellent cast and the presence of Fred Schepisi in the director's chair rather disappeared without trace.
Evidently Jerry Goldsmith - who previously scored Fierce Creatures, Six Degrees of Separation and The Russia House amongst others - for Schepisi was unavailable and so Paul Grabowsky was drafted in to pen the score. Given that the three Goldsmith scores mentioned are all rooted in jazz to a greater or lesser extent, it doesn't come as a great surprise that Grabowsky's score continues the tradition and is really no less accomplished than Goldsmith's efforts. The general tone is quite sombre and fairly low key. The low woodwinds at the opening of the first track are something of a red herring, but soon the drum kit kicks in and the melancholy, laid back vibe kick in.

There is one obvious recurring motif, a short descending idea that rather curiously, has a distinct similarity to a tune from one of those chilled out club tracks. I'd suspect it was sampled from the score, only the track in question has been around somewhat longer. While not really in the league of something like John Barry's Playing by Heart, it is none the less a pleasant and enjoyable jazz album that plays so smoothly that it's sometimes hard to believe it's wedded to the picture at all. It makes me suspect that it plays as more background music than active underscore, but this is probably an advantage on CD. Another quiet, but fine antidote to orchestral bluster.