The Abyss

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

There is nothing but praise when both the composer and director find the perfect film language to accompany a movie. James Cameron is a true master of film making and asks a lot of his fellow crew members, Alan Silvestri still responded with an atmospheric but downright fitting score. The Abyss employs the background sounds, the accompanying sound effects that respond perfectly with the UFO's (Underwater Flying Objects) and the music creates the own playful but lively process and adjusts this in pure musical terms. There is nothing that makes this the biggest melodic of the last century but when you saw the movie so many times and heard the soundtrack it was the pure effective tone of Silvestri's music that convinced me, it was the way he created the ultimate atmospheric sound that responded uniquely to the visuals on screen and to the attention of listeners of the soundtrack. It makes The Abyss a rather intriguing effort on disc alone.

Still, this doesn't mean that there is nothing that makes the score special on its own. The last 3 tracks cover the finale with great awe inspiring and pure emotion, when Silvestri delivers one of the biggest musical finales I have ever heard, backed up with outstanding choral accompaniment. This is what makes the score so special and those 12 minutes remain one of the most spectacular film music moments of all time. For the rest Silvestri delivers pure accompanying musical melodies that respond with each scene of the movie, the rather playful and wait and see attitude of the Aliens discovered in 'The Manta Ship', the pure atmospheric attempt and underscore for 'Lindsey Drowns' or the cold chilling sound witnessed in 'Bud's Big Dive'. It expands the pure levels of reaching the audience in the theatres, it delivers something extra as pure melodic support. Still this didn't bother me one bit when I heard the score for the first time.

But all this is simply a memory when people start to hear the heavenly sounds of 'Bud on the Ledge', 'Back on the Air' and 'Finale', offering pure emotional and grand melodic highlights that support the word "film music" with honor. Alan Silvestri no doubt had an opportunity to score this soundtrack with a bit more color, but he understood the feeling that James Cameron wanted in the first place, he reacted with moody background music that supported the coldness and desolate feeling of the movie, the frightening and atmospheric mood that the movie required. This is discovered with other soundtracks also and James Horner (Aliens) did have problems with that way of scoring. Still, both scores turned out to have their bright spots. And those bright spots are still treasured by many to bring out the best of movie and composer, they remain a part of movie magic itself.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Main Title (1.30)

2. Search The Montana (1.55)

3. The Crane (2.00)

4. The Manta Ship (6.23)

5. The Pseudopod (5.37)

6. The Fight (1.46)

7. Sub Battle (3.18)

8. Lindsey Drowns (4.44)

9. Resurrection (1.57)

10. Bud's Big Dive (6.10)

11. Bud On The Ledge (3.13) Excellent Track

12. Back On The Air (1.40) Excellent Track

13. Finale (6.46) Excellent Track

Total Length: 47.08

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=== Link to Composer Site: Alan Silvestri ===