Beyond Rangoon

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Whenever Hans Zimmer sets his dramatic sense in motion, great things are waiting to emerge. Add to that his personal pinpoint and you have got the sound that gave him his first Oscar nomination ever. Beyond Rangoon is one of the many celebrated scores of Zimmer that captured both his action fans as his dramatic souls with a most powerful ethnic score, covering without exaggeration at least several moments of utter brilliance. Black Rain covered them, Rain Man was divvying in its sense and The Lion King delivered them in occasional momentum, but Beyond Rangoon has them in abundance, the ethnic pipes equally here performed by composer Richard Harvey. Together with one knockout track and an overall sense of utter spine tingling effect, Beyond Rangoon is one of the beauties of '95. Zimmer doesn't need to compose action music when he makes his point clear, the point that he can compose equally something else. Beyond Rangoon proves the best that he is at home with ethnic based scores and that drama and a little suspense can work a long way together in making a score great to listen to.

It all starts good from the begin, 'Waters of Irrawaddy' states the main theme in full ethnic wonder, later accompanied with a gorgeous female vocal and ending with once more the main theme. It proves that Zimmer directly states the tone of the score. The only co written track (or so it says on the back cover) is 'I Dreamt I Woke Up', co written by Nick Glennie - Smith and it offers us basically beauty (panflutes a la The Lion King and Black Rain), exploding drama (the drama theme from track 8) and a building suspense tone that takes its sharpness of Black Rain equally well as the synthesizers that make the mood happen. More, the main theme receives its most heartfelt and purest performance during 'Brother Morphine' in one amazing track and the building panflute work from 'Our Ways will Part' is good for your attention as for the knowledge that it appeared really well in the trailer of Mulan. Still, even with all the ethnic beauty, there are synthesizers and their whooshes that create on occasion the tone of the game, such as in 'Village under Siege', reminding me sometimes really good of Drop Zone. But the climax of all climaxes is then just waiting to emerge. 'Beyond Rangoon' is without question one of the best tracks ever composed, first of all it starts amazingly with pure intriguing thematic bliss (0.46 to 1.11 are among my most chilling seconds of all time, it truly makes the heart stop with me) and the rest just blows me away each time.

It builds for several minutes on the suspense of the previous track but two times the drama theme explodes through the speaker (second time around 4.00) and then it just keeps stating the drama theme in full wonder, the main theme in pure beauty and the heartfelt vocal in utter effect. Beyond Rangoon and its accompanying track title ''Beyond Rangoon' easily make things happen for me. No, it is not bombast and no it is not the best of all bests, but a mix of Black Rain, Rain Man and The Lion King (with even some Backdraft and Drop Zone) still makes for intriguing listening. Even if there are only 3 tracks credited as excellent, it is the listen that does it each and every time and the climax that only makes it better. So I truly recommend this score to each dramatic listener because the drama is way too good to forget. Beyond Rangoon is one of those guilty pleasures, covering one standout track and consisting of two themes that tingle the spine. In the end I do not even care about fanatics that think that Zimmer is solely an action composer. Let them keep saying that because they are missing a stunning listen and an utter spine tingling soundtrack while at it.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Waters Of Irrawaddy (3.46) Excellent Track

2. Memories Of The Dead (1.43)

3. I Dreamt I Woke Up * (8.41)

4. Freedom From Fear (1.06)

5. Brother Morphine (1.43) Excellent Track

6. Our Ways Will Part (7.11)

7. Village Under Siege (4.07)

8. Beyond Rangoon (10.09) Excellent Track

* Written by Hans Zimmer and Nick Glennie - Smith

Total Length: 38.44

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=== Link to Composer Site: Hans Zimmer ===