Being a once die-hard X-Men fan (grew out of it, but still love 'em), I think this score fits the "theme" of the film perfectly. The strings/electronics combination underscore the high tech, cold (almost sterile) approach Singer is taking, and the themes/motifs, though hard to detect, are there.

Cole might jab me for this (maybe not), but I think this is a *very* complex score that will require MANY listens in order to be truly appreciated. Many of the tracks seem very "blah" at first just because we aren't being handed a candy coated album of themes and readily noticeable motifs. In all actuality though, one solid theme is present for our favorite team of mutants. Then, if you listen carefully, the album *is* littered with many motifs, representing (if I had to guess) individual characters and/or events.

This isn't a very easy album to follow as it doesn't flow gracefully from track to track. Each cue tells it's own story, and I think that is what Singer was trying to accomplish filmically.

As a Kamen fan, this is an excellent addition to his repetoire of incredible film scores. While I wish that I was holding an Ottman album in my hand rather than the one I have presently, this is definitely one that promises to work well in the film.

Kamen "everything" fans, definitely get this one. If you aren't quite sure about it, it would be wise to wait and see the film. This isn't a score everyone will like, unless you like everything... hehe (shut up, TimT).

Jeron

#2 - "Filmically"?

#3 - It's nice to see those little stickers that say "Featuring music composed by the multi-award winning..." But why do I get the annoying feeling that people out there think his name is actually "K-Men"...? On the album cover, it's funny...on the sticker, it's like a misunderstood joke gone wrong.

The first Kamen score I bought was Iron Giant. And I've read alot of negative things about that one. But I just so happened to really like it, and I beleive I understood it better than most (of coarse theres a theme!). So I took a chance with X-Men...so far I'm not impressed, but I niether was I at Iron Giant at first.
I'm on track 5 of X-Men right now, when I'm done I'll give more of an opinion.

quote:

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This isn't a score everyone will like, unless you like everything... hehe (shut up, TimT).
Jeron

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But Jeron, you like everything! Every score seems to be your favorite if you've heard it! :-)
Only once have I heard you say something negative about a score. But awhile later I think you said it was growing on you. :-0

Hey anyone wanna chip in and get Jeron the Running Man soundtrack for his birthday?

NP- X-Men (Michael K-Men-Kamen)
TimT listening to track 10 with a very enquisitive look.

And no, please... don't buy me Running Man. I never said it was growing on me! Let's get back on topic: X-Men.

Jeron

Now why did this soundtrack feature all score? And there was no song soundtrack? Anyone find that odd? Could the industry be running some sort of marketing test on score CDs?

In two weeks is all me: "What Lies Beneath" and "Hollow Man."

I'll leave now cya later

--Kyp

PS: Jeron talk to me. I feel un-loved

I can't find a Horner, Goldsmith adn Williams score that I don't like either.

Scott

--Kyp

I only have 3 Kamen albums, and one of those is his Saxophone Concerto, which I actually like quite a lot.

Don't get me wrong people, I appreciate him!,just mostly NOT on my sound system!!

I HATE IT!!!!!!!

Kidding Jeron

Its a good listen, very different and cool. Kamen has changed his style for the film and I think it will fit "like a glove."

I can't wait to see this movie and with the score this cool, I think we are all in for a treat!

--Kyp

NP: X-Men: Michael Kamen (***) < As of track 4

PS: Jeron I will never doubt you again. K?

quote:

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Originally posted by Crono/Kyp:
Quiet you

--Kyp

NP: X-Men clip that Jeron gave me

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Now, of course, I haven't heard the score in conjuction with the movie. Maybe when I see the movie at 12:01 am on Thursday night/Friday morning (a theatre here is having a "sneak preview" at that time), maybe I'll appreciate the score more seeing that it fit exactly into the movie the way it should. But, for now, I'm terribly disappointed and I'm hoping that with more listenings I'll "get it" and see that the score is really a brilliant piece of composition.

[This message has been edited by Bradley (edited 12 July 2000).]

Sorry, I did not mean to make you sad K?

--Kyp

Lol.

Kyp,

I wasn't acutally sad. Just tried to express my silence based on your order. Lol.

No for reals, I laughed so hard when I read your post I just couldn't resist responding to it. Thanks for the laugh.

Scott

Bradley, there is a big difference between the score being a "brilliant composition" and something that's overflowing with thematic bombast. This is definitely a brilliant composition - and while it might not satisfy most fans, I think Kamen did a terrific job. I can't wait to hear it in the film. For those of you who think it's "trash" or simply doesn't measure up to your expectations, that's cool, you are entitled to your own opinion... but it's obvious that you're not taking into account all the facts, including the approach Bryan Singer is taking w/ the film. Kamen's score is perfect for Singer's vision, and that's all that matters.

Also, there are 3 main themes featured on the album: The X-Men Theme, Magneto's Theme, and the Love Theme. For the X-Men Theme, Kamen borrows four initial notes DIRECTLY from the Animated Series theme, which distinguishes it from the rest of the score and makes it VERY easy to recognize. If you aren't familiar with the Animated Series, then I understand how you could have overlooked this.

Peace,
Jeron

But don't own. Heh, go figure.

The comicbook to screen conversion was pretty damn smooth. In other words, it was easy to "buy" certain ideas. It seems they took lots of time to make it "buyable". BUT they didnt over do it, for instance they didnt divulge how Xavier funds the high-school.

The script was pretty much by the numbers and when there wasnt any ass-kicking going on BOY DID THE FILM DRAG OR WHAT?!?!? (To me at least.) I'd heard that Singer cut it down from 2:15:00 to 1:38:00 or so. I cant imagine what all was left out. Hopefully we'll see them on the DVD.

The score......still bland. I bought it a week ago and instantly regretted it. I think I'd posted that EVENT HORIZON, DIE HARD, LICENSE TO KILL and even LAST ACTION HERO blow X-MEN's score outta the water. It's a real shame to. This needed some power! AND A GROUP theme!! He didnt have to do themes for every member(Gimmie a break)! I WOULD'VE LOVED TO HAVE HEARD GOLDENTHAL DO THIS FILM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, it was a decent and entertaining film for me.....it just could've been MORE. The first teaser packed more of a WHALLOP than the entire movie.

Oh well....thats fine with me. I guess that means that BLADE is still the best MARVEL film (also with a crappy score).

Here's to hoping BLADE 2 is good or that Tom Cruise makes a good IRON MAN or CAPTAIN AMERICA.

By the way...WHERE'S THE MAN-THING or IRON FIST MOVIE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Personally, I want to see the Green Lantern in the multiplexs. There's a fantastic script sitting somewhere in Hollywood (author's name escape me at the moment), that's more about Hal Jordan the man and the effects the power ring has on his life more than straight-out action. There is enough action to classify it as an action film, but it actually has a decent story and interesting characters.

I always thought Dennis Quaid would be the ideal Jordan/Green Lantern. I've seen several drawings of the characters (in comics and on cards), and the drawings had an uncanny resemblance to Quaid.

At least we have a movie that wasn't just thrown together. The acting was actually bearable, no monkeys in funny suits here.

I wouldn't say the music stood out but it was apropiate and perhaps worth a buy.

Only minor gripe,: Rouge used to fly didn't she? And where were Gambit, and...

Also, about that interview... here is a quote from the one I was talking about:

quote:

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DR: And music also helps to keep track of all the different characters too, right?
MK: Yeah, there's Logan, Sabretooth [Tyler Mane], Rogue [Anna Paquin], Magneto [Sir Ian McKellen] and Xavier [Patrick Stewart]... I'm not going to make all of them a theme because that would get ridiculous, but the X-Men have a theme.

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HAVE WE BECOME SO NUMBED WE CAN'T HEAR ANYMORE???

No theme? There's most definitely a theme - the "X-Men" theme appears again and again throughout the score. All this talk about Kamen and Iron Giant really sickens me, as IG was one of the best scores written last summer. If there's going to be any comparisons made, make them with Event Horizon. This score sounds most like Event, especially with all the electronic fidgeting Kamen shoves into his frenetic action music. Complaints about the score not being emotional enough are silly to me, as this isn't a John Barry-scored Out of Africa we're talking about. This is a comic-turned-movie... do you know what BIFF, POW and THUD are all about? Ok.

What about the performances? The score is very interesting in this regard, as this doesn't sound like a very easy score to "play." From what I heard, this stuff's played really well.

I feel this thing is getting a bad rap, say, because The Patriot came out a few weeks earlier with a big, beautiful, emotional John Williams theme that is just smeared all over the soundtrack, from start to finish. Expectations for X-Men were way too high. Perhaps this was a movie score best left unreleased? Too demanding?

When all is said, it's not a score I will be playing again and again. It's performed well, it has very interesting tapestries of action music and textural musicscapes (in the same light as "landscape" here, in case you don't follow), but it lacks what most people like to have with their score collections - a sense of personal attachment. This score doesn't personally reach out to us.... but that's because it's not supposed to.

It's not a bad score.

PeterK

As for the movie itself....

Joy!!!!!!!!!

Bons question: does anybody remember who ACTUALLY created Wolverine in the first place? He didn't start out as an X-Man.

X-Men Theme
Magneto's Theme
Mystique's Theme
Wolverine/Rogue

Magneto's theme is VERY easy to catch, as it's a bold theme played by the strings. It can be heard on both tracks 4 and 7. Mystique's theme can be heard in primarily tracks 8 & 9. The X-Men theme is scattered throughout, and of course, it's obvious where to find Wolverine/Rogue.

I'm not sure whether or not to count "Cerebro" as a theme, though it was heard at the beginning of the film and during the Cerebro sequence. I'd almost say that it's Professor X's theme, as X was speaking at the beginning when the theme was playing, and was also the center of the Cerebro sequence.

Now, why I think Michael Kamen was the WRONG choice: First, as far as I have heard, not ONCE in his entire career has he created a theme (at least for me, and I will accept that burden of fact) that hasn't felt cold and distant. His use of high strings and low brass create what amounts to musical extremes. While this style of music I think does serve the film in the context of human versus mutant, I believe that if you want to get the mutants to become MORE than just distant two-dimensional characatures, you need to have a musical sound that will cause the audience to associate with them more closely. Give credit to Hugh Jackman and Anna Paquin for creating a bond between the Logan/Rogue characters that I feel Kamen completely missed musically. His Magneto theme, however, was right on in my opinion. Magneto did feel disconnected with humanity and removed from their good-graces. Kamen's theme for him worked for me. While I trust all of you who say that the X-Men had a theme, I can't say I remember a single note of it...and I feel that THE X-MEN needed a grand and memorable theme to set them apart, both from the "evil," although I prefer to call them misguided, mutants AND humanity.

I was captivated by the film from the opening sequence but little of this is attributable to the music... an element that is as important to me as any other in the film experience.

After so many lame-brained attempts at the genre that wasted the virtues of many a good and memorable score here was a film that was finally up to snuff and what we got was utterly generic and soulless.

For a film that is firing on all cylinders like this one is a distinct musical identity would sure have been nice. Whether that was accomplished through dominant themes or textural motifs or eccentric orchestration the movie needed a musical signature.

What do you think? Sleuths, go get em! Find out if this rumor is true.