The first glaring and great example of the big orchestral approach is found on the first track, "Six Weeks Ago," at 01:04 to 02:10: It's not far-fetched to say that if Hans Zimmer were scoring this film than this is what it'd sound like--the strings and brass that play Bourne's theme definitely have that Zimmer feel to it, and this isn't a negative, as the cue is quite stirring. (But, that's the last of Zimmer's blatant influence for the remainder of the music.) In "Tangiers," the brass and strings come impressively full blown with an array of percussion, some of which stirs up images of the locale (less to no use of taikos is the approach here, with an army of tablas and bongos to boot!) ... If you enjoyed the finale car chase music from Supremacy than you'll love this track, it's damn fast and energetic as hell (great driving music!)--the best track on the CD. "Thinking Of Marie" is gentle and contemplative, like a revamped treatment of the "Funeral Pyre" music, which works to great affect, conjuring Bourne's lonely theme, as well. "Assets And Targets" jumps back into the action immediately, at first percussive and then switching to a variety of impressive electronics and keyboards, all backed by the orchestra ... The cue takes a rest with a strong brass statement and then delves back into the percussive drive with heavy bass from the strings. "Waterloo," at over 10 minutes in length, conjures up many former Bourne action motifs and themes in what sounds like a search piece, culminating with a new, fresh action cue. Without having seen the film, "Jason Is Reborn," I'm assuming, is an end credits suite ... There's emotion, action, tension, and then a resolved and quite resolution to Bourne's "search for identity" theme. I'm a HUGE Moby fan, so it's nice to round off the album with a cool, revamped and grand version of "Extreme Ways," which culminates all of Bourne's adventures.

I've only given it one spin so far, but it's easily the second best score of the year, lined up straight after Zimmer's Pirates: At World's End. On top of that, it's the best of the Bourne scores; the large orchestral presence is a fantastic surprise. Bravo to John Powell, he's composed a compelling and awesome trilogy of scores!, giving the films a unique musical voice with a tremendous development of the material from score to score. Of all the composers to come out of working for Hans Zimmer, Powell certainly surpasses the lot of them by a long shot.

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Originally posted by nuts_score:
What Sean forgot to mention was that Universal Pictures payed him well to review this little ditty of an album. I, too, got an advance copy of the score and it sounded like a mix between something Hans Zimmer could write in his sleep and something that James Horner writes on the toilet while listening to a Silva re-recording of Braveheart.

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Originally posted by nuts_score:
...something that James Horner writes on the toilet while listening to a Silva re-recording of Braveheart.

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If he ever does that, the only thing he would produce is more poop.

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Originally posted by franz_conrad:
This album peaks early for me, but it's very good nonetheless. One of the year's better action scores.

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Okay...so how has everyone gotten this already? I didn't think it would be out for another week.

James

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Originally posted by Dinko:
If he ever does that, the only thing he would produce is more poop.

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'Tis what I was implying good Dink.

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What Sean forgot to mention was that Universal Pictures payed him well to review this little ditty of an album.

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... BTW, nuts: I saw Rescue Dawn tonight! Awesome film. I picture Herzog with a thick German girlish accent directing Christian Bale: "O.K., Batman ... get into zee water-hole, just picture you are in zee bat cave ... perhaps zee Joker has put you in ziz hole."