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Randy Edelman's The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emporer

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Author	Topic: Randy Edelman's The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emporer

Scott Standard Userer	It’s been a while since I’ve heard from Randy Edelman. The first score I ever bought of his was Kindergarden Cop followed not too long afterwards by Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and Dragonheart. Others came following those of course but eventually I grew tired of Edelman’s insistence of synthesized scores that made most of his work sound rather childish. Of course there were exceptions as in Come See The Paradise. And don’t even get me started with Gettysburg which I thought over rated. But the past is the past and I do enjoy melodic gifts even if I more or less am not impressed by his orchestration abilities. Having said all that, I was not too excited about a score by him for the third or fourth installment (if you count The Scorpion King) of the Mummy series. It was hard to follow Jerry Goldsmith after his marvelous score for the first film but Alan Silvestri did quite well in my opinion and John Debney did well as well for The Scorpion King (why no score ever was released for that film still boggles the mind.) But I did not hold my breath for Edelman. I could not see him writing the type of score we have come acquainted with for the Mummy films. Right off the bat, boy was I wrong. Randy Edelman has sure outdone himself with this one. The album comes in a little over 77 minutes with 30 cues. There is a song at the end entitled My Sweet Eternal Love but I won’t get into that. It is a ok song I suppose. Now let’s start with the first cue, A Call to Adventure (Theme From Mummy 3). As with the previous films, Edelman composes all new themes. This one is rather different than all the other ones. It is lighter and more in line with a pure adventure film rather than an adventure/horror movie the way The Mummy started out. The theme has British trades and seems like a celebration of sorts. In fact, one could comfortably see it as a theme for some graduation proceedings. I like the theme quite a bit although Edelman, once again, disburses with his signature orchestration style and this darn synthesizer. Silently Yearning For Centuries, the second cue, totally ventures into a different direction. From the very first seconds, the orchestrations seem straight out of Williams’ Memoirs of a Geisha until the trumpets appear. This is a beautiful theme with a hint of sadness and an orchestration that hints Asian influences. The next track, Open Wound, returns a little to the Edelman orchestrations, but just a tad. The sadness and melodic lines are continued with a hint of danger and mystery. At this point it becomes clear that Edelman’s orchestrations are more complex than perhaps ever before but he still retains traces of his signature style, which in this case do not bother me one bit. The Reign of Terror, cue four, is an action driven track with early traces of the Silently Yearning For Centuries theme. In this cue we also are introduced to the chorus that emphasis some of the score throughout. A Family Presses Close once again is a more subtle piece. Not much to it in my humble opinion. With the exception that it does get very nostalgic after the middle and using the piano heavenly. Actually towards the end it does get quite emotional. On to Formation Of The Terra Cotta Army. Wow! What a cue. Right from the beginning this will get the adrenaline going. It is a brooding, forbearing, powerful piece with chorus chants slightly hinted here and there. I never thought Edelman could write like this. Surprise, surprise. About three quarters through we even hear hints of Williams’ orchestration style with the familiar trumpets yearnings and string chanting. Track seven, Reading Of The Scrolls, returns us to our theme from track two in the beginning but quickly turns into an ever changing rollercoaster between action music and somber, sweet lullaby tapestries. In this cue we are presented with a single voice female voice as has become norm in so many films of such genre. But, thank goodness, Edelman does not overuse it and while it is always difficult and perhaps a bit unfair to judge a score without the film, it seems he uses the voice purely for dramatic purposes and not simply to join the Hollywood Female Voice Must Be Used bandwagon established since Gladiator. Crash and Burn follows which commences with the, by now very familiar, Mummy Theme and quickly evolves into a dark tuba driven suspense piece. Alex And Lin starts out as Asian as one can get and then turns in a romantic, peaceful oboe dominated theme. A New Assignment, at track 10, continues the trend of romantic, suspenseful and mysterious back and forth composing now the norm in this score. Mind you, this is a good thing. Edelman does quite well with the transitions and it will be a treat to see how this music, that is such a joy to listen to on its own will work in the film. Track 11, Yang Follows The O’Connells is action, action, action, with the occasional slower interludes. Up until now we get the longest cue, coming in at 4:52 minutes: Shangahi Chase. Edelman continues with his chase and Mummy theme here. Half way through we get an odd addition to the orchestration, an organ. While with us for mere seconds it does get attention and is quite out of the ordinary. Mother And Daughter Reunion is followed by Ancient China, which boasts again that wonderful Asian/Oriental orchestration that is simply gorgeous. This is such a wonderful theme and truly does remind of William’s Geisha, but in a positive way. This is not a matter of stealing from some other composer as some have done, but it is almost a homage if you will. It is unique on its own and when the strings set in and the horns follow to finish it up it becomes almost religious in nature. Next we are treated to some much deserved joyfulness and playfulness in Rick’s Long Rod. Only problem is, it’s the shortest cue on the album coming in under a minute. But, that changes with the very next cue which is the longest track on the CD, Entering The Tomb. The beginning of the cue is suspenseful as one might expect and then we get some chase music inter-coupled with continued suspense. Visit From A 3-Headed Friend is as strange as its title, at least in the beginning. We have once again familiar Asian undertones before the cue advances to some more action music. Memoires, Retirement And Dinner is typical Edelman in orchestration, melodic essence and arrangement. We do get a harpsichord at the end though. Asia comes alive in a big way in New Year’s Betrayal and quickly brings back the action. Towards the end we get a section that is percussion driven and extremely cool, albeit rather short. Cue 20, The Emperor Versus Zi Yuan equals action. Enough said. Love In The Himalayas is sweet, short and loving with piano and all. Enough said about that. 2nd Century B.C. is short, Asian, and Mummy Theme and rather brooding at times. The Museum Becomes Alive! And Rick And Evy In Battle give us the familiar action/suspense/slow cues until we get to A Warm Rooftop which starts sweet and romantic with piano but ends in action and danger. Heartbreak, as the title spells, is a return to our beautiful and heartrending Asian theme. I just can’t get enough of that theme. Marvelous indeed! Track 27 is the Return Of The Dragon with, what I would call the Dragon Theme (?). The piece ends in some very dramatic and powerful moments. Shielding A Son is pretty much action and the last cue before the Finale which cycles through all the major themes in three minutes and thirty seconds. It’s a great Finale for a great score. Track 30, as stated above (I do believe) is the song. And thus ends the album. I have written way too much here and hope I haven’t bored you guys too much. Suffice to say that, for me, this is one of Edelman’s best work and most assuredly one of the best scores of the year. Enough said.
posted 07-30-2008 04:41 AM PT (US)

Ge0rge Standard Userer	Hmmmm...the track timings doesn't promise too much, but who knows!? Any sound clips out there?
posted 07-30-2008 05:09 AM PT (US)

BigT1981 Standard Userer	All ready heard the score and I'm highly disappointed in it. Edelman managed to take a real orchestra and make it sound very synth. Hopefully if Debney's material surfaces his will be better. This score is definitely not up to par with Goldsmith's or Silvestri's.
posted 07-30-2008 07:18 AM PT (US)

Al Standard Userer	"...John Debney did well as well for The Scorpion King (why no score ever was released for that film still boggles the mind.)" Then it might boggle your mind even further to know that this score was in fact released by Varese many years ago!
posted 07-30-2008 12:10 PM PT (US)

sean Standard Userer	quote: Originally posted by BigT1981: All ready heard the score and I'm highly disappointed in it. Edelman managed to take a real orchestra and make it sound very synth. Hopefully if Debney's material surfaces his will be better. This score is definitely [b]not up to par with Goldsmith's or Silvestri's.[/B] Agreed. I'm not sure what happened here, but it's either the writing being stale itself, or just the performance that Edelman got out of the orchestra, it seems everything is pretty flat. Disappointing. Goldsmith's and Silvestri's efforts are far, far better than what's in store for number 3. SCOTT! LMAO! Sorry, that part about The Scorpion King not being released had me laughing pretty damn hard. Holding my Var�se disc in hand right here-right now.
posted 07-30-2008 01:05 PM PT (US)

Scott Standard Userer	What? How did I miss that one? Well, that sucks...for me. LOL!
posted 07-30-2008 01:43 PM PT (US)

Scott Standard Userer	Hey BigT, you gotta admit, Edelman always makes a big orchestra sound synth, but this time he did it less than ever before, in my opinion. Well, from the looks of it, I'm the only one who actually likes this score, lol. That's a new one. Especially considering it's from Edelman.
posted 07-30-2008 01:45 PM PT (US)

Jeron Standard Userer	Hey Scott, gotta say, I'm enjoying what I'm hearing so far from Edelman for The Mummy 3. I'm quite familiar with Edelman's work, and this is just par-for-the-course as far as Randy Edelman's music goes, in terms of orchestration and style. That said, haven't heard a "big score" from him in awhile, I think it's a really nice comeback. Haven't listened all of the way through, and I really want to reserve my final opinion until I've seen how it works in the film, but I've always had a place in my heart for a good Randy Edelman score. This seems to fit the bill. Anyone thinking his music would begin to approach the way Goldsmith or Silvestri might do things simply had unrealistic expectations. If you've payed attention to Edelman's work over the past 15 years, you'd know exactly what you're in store for... either you like it or ya don't. Jeron [Message edited by Jeron on 08-03-2008]
posted 08-03-2008 11:26 PM PT (US)

sean Standard Userer	Jeron: Yikes. You're too forgiving, IMO.
posted 08-04-2008 02:33 AM PT (US)

Jeron Standard Userer	quote: Originally posted by sean: Jeron: Yikes. You're too forgiving, IMO. There's a reason we get along so well, Sean! haha, j/k.
posted 08-04-2008 08:34 AM PT (US)

sean Standard Userer	quote: Originally posted by Jeron: There's a reason we get along so well, Sean! haha, j/k. HAHA! Fair enough.
posted 08-04-2008 04:24 PM PT (US)

Quill Standard Userer	What I heard in the film actually sounded pretty good. Unfortunately, I was at a drive in and not in a position to judge it fairly. (Yes...a drive in.) I will probably grab this from I-Tunes for a mere stab at posterity.
posted 08-05-2008 05:16 PM PT (US)

sean Standard Userer	Saw this film last night: AWFUL! It's hilarious how many parallels this Mummy movie has with the new Indiana Jones and yet again, none of them work! HAHA! Also, that final end text on screen is outrageous: Rob Cohen no respect and/or shame. The Yetti football match was so fraking stupid; as was all the gun dialog between Brendan Fraser and his son, I was in hysterics laughing: Most of the theater had joined in too at this point with my friends and I laughing at the stupidity on display with this film. Score still sucks.
posted 08-05-2008 08:15 PM PT (US)

scoreguy16 Standard Userer	I personally don't think I'll ever see this as I hate Rob Cohen. The dude suffers from serious gaps in his movies. "I am riding my bike" then BAM!!! "I am now 50 feet in the air jumping over a house." Just a terrible director. As for the score, I'll end up skipping it as most of Edelman's recent scores have bugged the crapola out of me. Granted they've been mostly comedies, but I just can't see anything original coming from him. And when you don't like his synth sound to begin with, that's probably not a good thing.
posted 08-05-2008 09:05 PM PT (US)

PeterK FishChip	Which score, Sean... Edelman's or Debney's? I can't imagine there's no distinction, and with Debney's 30 minutes of score he's contributed, the dichotomy of music scoring in this film has to be obvious.... like the difference between Jones and Edelman on, what was that other one... Last of the Mohicans. We're score freaks, so I can't let it go that no one would notice. I didn't notice because I am in the same boat as Clayton... the last place you'll find me is in front of a Rob Cohen flick.
posted 08-05-2008 09:40 PM PT (US)

sean Standard Userer	Originally posted by PeterK: Which score, Sean... Edelman's or Debney's? I can't imagine there's no distinction, and with Debney's 30 minutes of score he's contributed, the dichotomy of music scoring in this film has to be obvious.... like the difference between Jones and Edelman on, what was that other one... Last of the Mohicans. We're score freaks, so I can't let it go that no one would notice. I didn't notice because I am in the same boat as Clayton... the last place you'll find me is in front of a Rob Cohen flick. Alright, since you asked I shall elaborate: Edelman's portion is worse than Debney's participation, from what I can tell. It's not cut and dry obvious over all the action who wrote what: The sound mix leaves something to be desired (as usual), and we aren't given the gorgeous mix that The Dark Knight and Speed Racer received previously in placing a score upfront where it should be. I would have to say that Debney's section of the score deals mainly with the latter half of the film, where Jet Li raises his army from the dead blah blah blah and the final battle would be for the most part his: It's a bit bolder and grander than anything Edelman wrote (more suitable, I'd say); a large choir is a part of it... Mainly Jet Li bad guy material; a portion of it is the end credits, I believe. That's all I got. Certainly not worthy of release by any stretch, and the film is atrociously bad to boot. [Message edited by sean on 08-05-2008]
posted 08-05-2008 10:06 PM PT (US)

Jeron Standard Userer	Alright, alright, alright. I'm filing an official retraction of my above statement. The score is okay at best. It's not terrible (as far as Edelman's music goes -- again, I have an affinity for a good portion of his work), but on the whole, yeah -- not a great Mummy score at all. I haven't seen the film yet, but I'm almost afraid to at this point. I have plans to catch it when Brian comes down for a visit at the end of the month... and I'm sure we'll both get a kick out of how bad it is. I've heard mixed things. The score, however, is ultimately forgettable. It has it's moments; there are a few entertaining portions, but it doesn't save it. The themes aren't strong enough, certainly not in contrast to Goldsmith and Silvestri's work. Unfortunately the album comes across sounding like the score for a made-for-TV movie. In fact, Joel Goldsmith's score for "Continuum" ranks way higher than this; they are like night and day, in terms of quality of writing. I hear the orchestra in there; Edelman didn't totally wash it away, but there are cues where he dialed up the synth sweeteners a tad too high. It's alright. Ah well. Looking forward to Kevin Kiner's "The Clone Wars" -- and as far as Brendan Frasier's summer flicks go, despite how bad Journey to the Center of the Earth may be, the score has way more staying power than Edelman's work for The Mummy 3. Scott... hmmmm. Yeah. =/ [Message edited by Jeron on 08-06-2008]
posted 08-06-2008 12:08 PM PT (US)

Scott Standard Userer	Hey, opinions are opinions. LOL! I'm man enough to stand my ground without being hurt. You guys don't like it, no problem. I can't say the criticism is unfounded, because it's not. Maybe for me it's more a surprise that he did not use the synth as often and maybe some of the parts of the score that I like so much just did it for me. Hey, maybe I'm just whacked. It's all possible. Who knows? As I said, I can't say what you guys have said thus far, in regards to the score (haven't seen the film yet) is wrong. I can't dissagree. Hmm, maybe it's just like an all right film. Nothing special, could be better, but gosh darn it, you just keep watching it. Second garsh darn it today, what's up with that? Yeah, so, .... yeah. NP: The Missing (ok score, for what I can tell right now. Some have said it's so beautiful...well, thus far, I'm searching for the beautiful part)
posted 08-06-2008 06:13 PM PT (US)

scoreguy16 Standard Userer	quote: Originally posted by Scott: Hey, opinions are opinions. LOL! I'm man enough to stand my ground without being hurt. You guys don't like it, no problem. I can't say the criticism is unfounded, because it's not. Maybe for me it's more a surprise that he did not use the synth as often and maybe some of the parts of the score that I like so much just did it for me. Hey, maybe I'm just whacked. It's all possible. Who knows? As I said, I can't say what you guys have said thus far, in regards to the score (haven't seen the film yet) is wrong. I can't dissagree. Hmm, maybe it's just like an all right film. Nothing special, could be better, but gosh darn it, you just keep watching it. Second garsh darn it today, what's up with that? Yeah, so, .... yeah. NP: The Missing (ok score, for what I can tell right now. Some have said it's so beautiful...well, thus far, I'm searching for the beautiful part) To me (if I remember right) the beautiful stuff in The Missing comes at the end. But truthfully about The Mummy 3, at least you liked it man. After the stuff I've heard, I fall into the catagory as Sean and Jeron. And Sean, I've heard many of times now that the film's mix is terrible. But I've also heard that it's a combo of the score not being powerful enough mixed with the fact that it didn't get a strong mix in the film.
posted 08-06-2008 10:29 PM PT (US)

Jeron Standard Userer	I do like the main theme, a couple of the battle tracks, there's also a piano track, a waltz or two, and the finale that are enjoyable as well. All in all I've come to the conclusion that they are just a strange fit for The Mummy franchise, on the whole. It's the most oddball of all of the scores. Edelman's uplifting main theme "A Call to Adventure" is so saccharin sweet, it almost makes me want to puke when thinking about a "Mummy" adventure. Feels more like The Carebears. That's not to say it's bad music, it's just not great Mummy music. The only time it really feels right is when it's given a more threatening variation in a minor key. That's where the theme works for me.
posted 08-07-2008 01:12 PM PT (US)

sean Standard Userer	quote: Originally posted by scoreguy16: And Sean, I've heard many of times now that the film's mix is terrible. But I've also heard that it's a combo of the score not being powerful enough mixed with the fact that it didn't get a strong mix in the film. That's probably true. Some kind of combination of those two factors. I wish Silvestri had been hired for the job, regardless of how terrible the film is.
posted 08-08-2008 01:33 PM PT (US)

scoreguy16 Standard Userer	quote: Originally posted by sean: That's probably true. Some kind of combination of those two factors. I wish Silvestri had been hired for the job, regardless of how terrible the film is. Funily enough, Rob Cohen has gone on record now saying the film will "sound and look better on Blu-Ray than it did in any film in the U.S." But if you're like me, which I am sure you are, unless you magically made the movie watchable, all that other stuff doesn't matter at all.
posted 08-09-2008 10:07 AM PT (US)

John C Winfrey Standard Userer	I liked Edelman a lot right after Gettysburg came out but his scores were so much a like I quit getting them shortly thereafter. J.
posted 08-11-2008 05:20 PM PT (US)

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