Outer Themes 6: Maybach (Compilation)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

They keep coming at you, the ideas of MV, or at least they did. Since Media Ventures is no longer, Maybach may be one of the last by the bunch of composers that was released promotional for directors and producers, and fans naturally. Maybach is somewhat like the rest, bringing what we heard before in suites, and bringing completely new pieces, unreleased and even just freshly composed. John Powell has 2 suites, bringing what the CD offered in a fresh cool twist. 'Agent Cody Banks Suite' was found on the promo of this score and offers the Bond outings and cool tunes while staying away from the real action music, yet bringing something of everything. And his 'The Bourne Identity End Credits' is just 3 minutes long so you survive that easily, since I didn't really like that score much. As for Harry Gregson-Williams, only his Sinbad score gets a mix namely 'Sinbad Suite' but its a good one, giving the theme enough variations and getting the track 'Heroics' to do a large portion of the action. These are the pieces heard on CD before, if you could find the scores or mixed the ideas yourself together. As for Klaus Badelt, he got the time to show what he composed for Extreme Days and Basic. Extreme Days is your basic MV product, whether its 'Downhill Games' with its electronic bombast; electric guitar and the style all over the place of Pirates of the Caribbean and Drop Zone, but with more boost then those. Take it or like them I say. And 'Jessie & Brian' is typically MV, like they could do it all the time, softer stuff for rhythm and bringing basically a soft feeling to the other bombast. Meaning nothing fresh is heard here, but again without a real theme sticking out, the MV die hard fanatics will swallow it easily and without a single problem.

Basic is just 3 minutes and seems to be the opening minutes of the film, with its exotic flutes and electronic pound nothing remotely daring comes through either. Hans Zimmer usually stays in the background for these sort of things, but here his original composition for 'Maybach Short Version' and 'Maybach Inspiration Long Version' is heard still, its a vocal piece and a soft one too, getting the shorter and longer version and while nice, its not exactly the next best thing either. And one of his earliest compositions is found here too, namely the unreleased 'Nightmare at Noon'. I was very curious for this one, but guess I assumed too much of it. Its what you call atonal horror pieces with synthetic strings like Bernard Herrmann but then completely out of tone, because of that synthetic tone alone. Its not exactly likeable and is the weakest track of this disc. Luckily Sinbad of Gregson-Williams is cool enough for a finish (as said) but especially 'Nightwish' will make die hard fans go nuts over. Ever heard MV composing live for an audience? Well, you will now! This basically has the theme of Crimson Tide and Deep Blue Sea (or this could easily be the theme for Shrek because it would make Deep Blue Sea's theme addition weird, since Rabin is no MV'er) and in a synthesized performance with additional electric guitars, improvised versions and that cool '80 sound. But simply hearing the crowd going nuts and with handclaps and cheers is what makes this finish still a great one. Altogether, its not exactly the new highlight disc because too much is ordinary for the most fan. But the unreleased additions like Nightmare at Noon, Maybach and Extreme Days make it fresh for the fan, and the Live 'Nightwish' mix a real experience for any person. Take or like it this Outer Themes 6: Maybach compilation but there is at least more unheard stuff on it then the other releases.

\ЕЕЕ/

Tracks

Single Disc

1. Downhill Games - Extreme Days "Klaus Badelt" (3.10)

2. Jessie & Brian - Extreme Days "Klaus Badelt" (4.39)

3. Agent Cody Banks Suite "John Powell" (5.50)

4. Maybach Short Version "Hans Zimmer" (2.35)

5. Maybach Inspiration Long Version "Hans Zimmer" (4.22)

6. Nightmare At Noon "Hans Zimmer" (2.11)

7. The Bourne Identity End Credits "John Powell" (3.04)

8. End Title - Basic "Klaus Badelt" (3.04)

9. Sinbad Suite "Harry Gregson-Williams" (5.15) Excellent Track

Bonus Track

10. Nightwish "Live" (3.30) Excellent Track

Total Length: 37.54

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Sites: H. Zimmer, K. Badelt, J. Powell & H. Gregson-Williams ===