Michael Kamen did a good job, although some of the synth action sequences are questionable(why use electronics when you have the National Philharmonic!!!)
There was more Queen in the film than I was aware of and aside from some of the flashback scenes maybe they should have just scored it themselves!
The scene where the McCloud's march out to fight is the standout, or one of them. The new DVD was remixed,although some of the scored fight scenes were mixed low , and the NPO playing sounds fantastic.
Also the finale has a great piece and you can tell that Kamen was into it(it's pretty obvious when he is and when he isn't into the film he's scoring).

Isn't there a complete boot of this floating about, since the EMI album didn't happen right?

I just wish they had done the other movies. At least we would have some great music.

What I find amusing is that I disliked Queen's A KIND OF MAGIC album until I saw Highlander. It now puts a much different spin on it having watched the movie more times than I can remember. I know just about the entire script by heart.

There is a 2CD sessions but it has a lot of hiss and is VERY repetitive. The music can be heard on the Highlander 3-movie compilation, as well as re-recordings from Edel's compilation Highlander:Best of Fantasy. If you combine the 5 original Kamen tracks and the 5 re-recorded ones, you'll get about 40 minutes of score.

As for the terrible second film, Highlander 2:The Quickening, when Connor walks into the bar, the song on the jukebox is, I believe, "One Year of Love", the same song that's playing when he meets Brenda in the first film. I think that's the song - it's been so long since I've watched it. Also, another tip of the hat to Queen was when Ramirez and MacLeod are speaking to each other on Zeist and Ramirez says (about being immortal on Earth) "Sound like magic?" to which MacLeod replies "Kind of." The tagline was also "It's a kind of magic."

In "Highlander", the song on the jukebox is "One Year of Love"....

In "Highlander 2", the song on the jukebox is "It's A Kind of Magic"....

The "Highlander" DVD makes generous mention of both Queen and Michael Kamen, even referencing the few seconds of Freddy Mercury singing "New York, New York" (which was really only a few seconds of recorded music, and never a full length song)....

Between the EMI album and the Queen album, there should be enough (original) "Highlander" music to go around....The Edel "Highlander: Best of Fantasy" record is an excellent re-recording of the score, as well--the most noticable difference is between the "Highlander Theme" on EMI, and the "Training Montage" music on Edel--they essentially are the same music, though the Edel version jumps virtually right into the music, whereas the EMI creeps up to the theme with that woodwind intro. The Edel features a fairly throw-away orchestral performance of "It's a Kind of Magic."

A great instrumental of "Who Wants to Live Forever"--(simply entitled, "Forever") is on the Queen album.

So--that's about it, really.

I guess that Kamen did collaborate with Queen on this one, which would make sense...Kamen is a rock and roller at heart right?

And the scene with NY NY...was that a new one? I just shook my head at that bit...bizarre bizarre Of course there is nothing more hilarious than when Kurgan is hitting pedestrians...just the way they shot it was too funny. Ill be watching the commentary this weekend..hope it's a good one!

NP:The Usual Suspects(Ottman) Time to post some thoughts on this composer...

Ciao!
Sean

I think the wonderful songs by Queen worked very well in the film. I grew up loving those songs, and they made the film all the more enjoyable for me.

Who wants to live forever works perfectly in the scene of McCloud and Heather, and I think it fits the symphonic bill quite nicely with it's sweeping melody.

About Kamen's score, I consider 'The Quickening' and 'There Can Be Only One' to be 2 memorable pieces which stand alone as well as accompany the film wonderfully.

Great Stuff.

Trivia - The huge guy who acted as the Russian highlander (the baddie, name with a V - can't remember right now), acted quite prominently in which highly acclaimed film of 1995?

Answer - He was the head guard in Shawshank Redemption.

The Kurgan (aka Victor Kruger in the modern day) was Clancy Brown.

As much as I love the first Highlander movie, it will always be tarnished by the sequels, the TV shows (The Series, The Animated Series, and The Raven), and video game based on The Animated Series. The original movie fit together so well while the sequels and spin-offs distracted from that. It's a shame the TV show wasn't based on Connor MacLeod's adventures both before and after he won The Prize.

Meanwhile--I think that the most recent addition, "Highlander: Endgame", has been the most faithful to the tone of the Highlander mythos. I think the general flow of good stories always involves "The Next One" inherting the role from "The First One". (If the "Star Wars" movies went to Episode Nine, it would logically be about the passing of the "Guardian" role from Luke Skywalker to his apprentice.)

Consider Pat Boones contributions to Journey to the Center of the Earth. While pleasant enough in the year of its release (So I am Told) they really date the film and sound dreadfully hokey today.

quote:

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Originally posted by Lancelot:

Ah, yes--but in what other 80's film did Clancy Brown portray a "Victor"...?

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Hi--no, I didn't mean to suggest that McKennitt and such was a bad direction in which to steer the series....just different. Yes, it probably *was* a consicous decision.

But you're right. If you can't get Queen, don't substitute some pale imitation.