Article 99

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Danny Elfman has surprised me many times in his career before. Or he wrote music that could make a film so pleasing yet so hard also on disc for some (Beetlejuice). Or he could write music that surpassed his natural (so called) style and made us cry from start to finish (Edward Scissorhands and Black Beauty). And mostly his scores are different if you don't expect a thing. When I briefly saw the movie of this initial score, I heard a piano theme, a rushed enjoyable piece of music and that was it, enough to make the listen of Article 99 to be a mere fact. The reason was that I wanted to hear the music of this movie in full and the result became simply that I loved what I heard, because there is one track on this album that is sheer Elfman magic. This was more then I first bargained for and so it became clear that Article 99 is a pleasant surprise. One that caught me off guard with its beautiful thematical loop of theme, but also with its rather strange voice that at times can even become so zany you are back in Beetlejuice land for good. Still, with all the twists explored, the score is still a pleasant listen and a must have for Elfman fans who both treasure his wicked as his emotional sense of theme.

Normally, these scores by Elfman carry us into the more comedic zany route of predecessors like Beetlejuice, perhaps even to Pee Wee and those in the style. Yet Article 99 is simply good because it holds a fine line between the good and the bad, and it doesn't destroy the feel overall because the good is more present then the bad. The bad first of all is either the zany music directly out of Beetlejuice, 'Mayday' could replace any track in that score and 'Shooter' is the same, yet even more wacky. The other side is the rather dark style it exhibits on occasions, in 'Death' there is a troublesome sounding piano crashing performing the main theme and the short howling brass is standard Elfman, yet still darn effective every time. 'Rebellion' turns after 2 minutes equally darker or should I say more on edge and 'Confrontation' is exactly like that, yet here this feeling receives a climax of the main theme. All this so called bad music is nothing bad at all and I can appreciate it a lot more then in Beetlejuice, because here it is found in equally a brighter set of music. 'Main Title' is carrying the main theme in piano form, rushing to greater speed with the more militaristic drums and back to these lovely piano themes, the flutes even mingle with what Marc Shaiman wrote for Patch Adams, not surprisingly having the same genre in film, meaning doctors in a hospital.

As said, track 2 equally covers apart from the dark dissonance at times a main theme version and 'Montage' is carrying the same brevity as in track 1. 'Salute' is what I call a great track simply because it feels just so good, a fanfare after a build up of several seconds is all what you need to get stunned and if Elfman is good with one thing, it is creating these short fanfares that can still stun. Yet, nothing can prepare you for the final track. Basically the same as heard in all the tracks before, it is simply the long mix of things that make this an Elfman must have for the fans. In all the sometimes obscure titles of Elfman's own Music from a Darkened Theatre compilations, I am so sorry that people couldn't hear this final suite of Article 99. It covers the best main theme version of all, the same lovely piano performances and flutes and several short fanfares that can make you blush like that. And this is what Article 99 is basically about, its a score that listens extremely good but the one problem is, I wished more themes because only the love / main theme in heard in various guises. Yet there are several things that don't make it repetitive which is for one the last track, the moments that make you so glad you have heard them and the fact I was so surprised by hearing Elfman in a mood I love so much more from him. Its basically a score Elfman fans should have, because it will surprise them too.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Main Title (3.58) Excellent Track

2. Death (4.25)

3. Mayday (2.47)

4. Montage (1.35)

5. Shooter (2.58)

6. Revelation (1.13)

7. Rebellion (3.10)

8. Salute (1.31)

9. Love Theme (1.00)

10. Confrontation (5.01)

11. End Credits (6.45) Excellent Track

Total Length: 34.31

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

=== Link to Composer Site: Danny Elfman ===