As I've said before, I didn't find much to enjoy in the score while watching the film, but the mix was so irritatingly low, it was hard to hear it at all. However since Jones is such a skilled composer, I'm willing to give this soundtrack a chance anyway.

So, assuming that this Varese CD has an audible audio level, how strong does the score play as an album?

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is about a group of people from science fictional novels that are famous for being extraordinary (Captain Nemo, A Vampire, Dr. Jeckll and Mr. Hyde, An Immortal, The Invisible Man, and a legendary Adventurer). They are all brought together at the final year of the 19th century to form a unique group of super heroes to save the world from the evil villain The Phantom. It is indeed a fascinating concept and probably looked great in writing. But it didn’t translate too well on the big screen. The special effects were below normal standards, the storyline was confusing, and the plot loses its focus towards the end.

The music composed by Trevor Jones is what saves this somewhat silly picture. Jones employed as least what sounds like 100 plus members of the London Symphony Orchestra. The sound of such action cues like the opening “Dawn of a New Century” are huge. It’s surprising that the music as heard in the film was barley audible. The volume on the CD is tremendous!
The theme that Jones composed for the heroes; first heard in “Dawn of a New Century”, is a short but powerful brass motif that resembles David Arnold’s music for the arrival of the spaceships in Independence Day. But it’s clearly a Jones styled action cue, and a very impressive one at that. The theme is heard through out the score in both bold and subtle variations. Most impressively at the end of the rousing action cue “The Game is on”. There is a secondary theme for Sean Connerey’s character in “Old Tiger”. It is a more reflective theme that occurs during the more emotional scenes of the film.
“The Game is on”, “Capturing Mr. Hyde”, and “Storming the Fortress” are the main set action pieces of the CD aside from the heavy opening track. Stylistically they are what you’d expect from Trevor Jones; highly rhythmic, complex, and extremely huge sounding. Along with the opening cue they are the highlights and most enjoyable parts of the soundtrack. Unfortunately some of this music didn’t make it to the CD. But what’s here is absolutely great.
The CD also includes three songs that Jones wrote for the movie. Two of them are African Folk tunes; Kenya – Wait for Me, and Sons of Africa. They are sung in Swahili and sung by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The other is a source cue written for the saloon scene; “Promenade by the Sea”. It’s a Victorian styled ballet that is similar to the song Jones wrote for From Hell (Bow Belle), only this time it hasn’t been digitally altered. It’s a nice tune but it’s placed on the wrong portion of the CD. It breaks the flow of the orchestral music.
The remaining of the portion of the score is built around Jones ‘ dramatic underscore, which unfortunately slows down the listening experience between tracks 9 –12.
Still Trevor Jones has come up with another winner and fans of Jones’s music shouldn’t be disappointed. At 54 min the album still feels a bit short though.
The soundtrack CD is sold exclusively through Varese Sarabande, and there is also an option to download the music online through iTunes for Mac users. 4/5

54:41
1. Dawn of a New Century (4:28)
2. Kenya - Wait For Me (3:32)
3. Task Requires Heroes (4:09)
4. Promenade by the Sea (2:54)
5. Nautilus - Sword of the Ocean (3:30)
6. The Game is On (2:54)
7. Old Tiger (2:56)
8. Capturing Mr. Hyde (3:29)
9. Mina Harker's Secret (3:18)
10. Phantom's Lair (5:30)
11. Portrait of Dorian Gray (3:40)
12. Treachery (5:29)
13. Storming the Fortress (3:55)
14. May This New Century Be Yours (2:34)
15. Son Of Africa (2:08)

Allan Quarterman (Legendary Adventurer) was actually an Afrcian hunter with some light fantasy elements mixed in his straight forward tales of adventure.

Nemo and Invisible Man – I grant are fairly science fictional.

Dorian Grey (Immortal) – was more in the vein of horror as was Dr. Jekyll and Mina Harker (Vampire) than SF.

Actually, it isn’t so much the genre as it is the Victorian nature of the fiction they represent. These characters are deeply set in the 19th century and represent a Victorian outlook confronting the first horrors of the 20th century.

Read the Alan Moore Graphic novel to get the real story and see how the concept can be executed well. (Although I thought the movie was about as good an adaptation as one could expect from a project with this many characters.)

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Originally posted by Al:

So, assuming that this Varese CD has an audible audio level, how strong does the score play as an album?

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Very well, as a matter of fact. I wasn't too impressed with the score as heard in the film, but after popping the CD into the player today I have to say Trevor doesn't disappoint. It did remind me of Dark City and Extreme Measures, though.

Definitely worth picking up.

MV Gerhard

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Originally posted by JoeInSanDiego:
La La...I believe you mean Desperate Measures...and I agree with the sentiment that this is a knock-out score that doesn't disappoint.

Joe
NP: 13th Warrior (Goldsmith)

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LAUGH! That's right. "Extreme" was that really bad Hugh Grant thriller that was scored by Danny.

Hollywood really needs to be more creative with titles.

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Originally posted by La La Land Records:
PS Try to pick up the European pressing. The cover art is much more appealing.

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Stop the freaking presses....

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Originally posted by La La Land Records:
PS Try to pick up the European pressing. The cover art is much more appealing.

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You can see the European cover here:http://www.colosseum.de/cover/6492.htm
And the American one here (Click to enlarge).

Still not sure which one I prefer... the American one looks darker and cooler, but it lacks cleavage