An Everlasting Piece

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

2000 promises and delivers, and apart from all the non Zimmer fans out there, it promises surely with a wide diversity of style. Gladiator offered a classical repertoire of war tones while the three others had guitar influences. Mission: Impossible 2 offered both the harsh electronic ravings of action while the spicy flavored love performances came of Heitor Pereira, that same composer was noticed to add even more flavor to the South American adventure The Road to El Dorado. And look what distinguishes An Everlasting Piece, apart from the Irish jig, a healthy doses of guitars with Heitor Pereira as one of the musicians. To tell you the truth, start this score for several people who adore or hate Zimmer and they would have a hard time identifying Zimmer's sound (if they didn't know anything about the score), because only the trademarks pull out the guarantee of this being Hans Zimmer's work. That makes him a diverse pawn in the film music industry as someone ready to rock your house if he had the opportunity, chance and full admission of crew and producers. For a dollar Hans Zimmer could make it a ballet with electric guitars for all their concern. That's right, the score has the honor of costing the company one dollar to get Hans Zimmer on board of the movie of Barry Levinson. Barry, a long time friend of Hans wanted him so desperately on board that the producers were afraid that they could not afford the fee from a hot composer like Zimmer. It seems that Zimmer liked what the movie intended because for one buck he did the score and mainly because friends never say no.

Zimmer, always going for something new mixed several styles and put the musicians together, gave them a name (The Jigs) and made them jig until they ran out of air. So in the end An Everlasting Piece becomes Mission: Impossible 2 Irish sounding. Meaning, it has its slower parts and it rocks when it needs to. So, people that didn't really appreciate MI2 will have it equally hard with AEP, or you would have to appreciate what a good old Irish bust can do for you. The score with all its trademarks benefits especially from a serious doses of sound. This score won't fly by unnoticed if you put the volume to a decent level, and for those that is a blessing, for others a curse. A curse it may be, you have to admit the score has a good beat and a healthy thrust, An Everlasting Piece either way will pick up your attention. The better parts of the score are especially the last, while the first need some testing: 'Repo Man', 'Day Job', 'You Gotta Lose to Win' and 'Toupée or not Toupée' especially thrust like nothing you ever heard before. And especially for the last 3 it becomes a bit too much, and even a good old action fanatic can loose his temptation of hitting that "next track" button. But still, you have to dig with it I suppose. The main theme will bring more peace to your ears when it appears in 'One Hundred and Ninety' and 'I'm a Dick', with its instrumental solo performance. The better jiggy moments are witnessed in 'It Takes a Woman' (a typical track of Zimmer) and the utter spine tingling brilliance in 'F**kin' Genius' and 'Piece Offering', the first offers us a perfect example of what Zimmer can do when almost nothing happens thematically. Trust me, I remember nothing of it afterwards but during the track I was stunned.

The second is the best, while it offers us the main theme, it also explodes in full heroic form when it is performed by the whole group and accompanied through bagpipes. For a normal person it might not mean a thing but simply a Zimmer fan will love this because together in all the jiggy mayhem it simply sounds utterly brilliant. But of course the total mayhem is unleashed with 'Jiggy's Last Jam', starting slowly the revenge of Zimmer starts to show itself. I told you that he could do anything he wanted and basically he did. A total mayhem of instruments, guitars and rumbling piano are heard for the last time. Yet it finishes with a perfect gesture, a man sniffing and blowing his last breath before the score stops. But is this really what people want? Well, some of them will want this, others will feel a headache coming up or those that already had one will no longer be under the living. The truth remains that Zimmer simply called the band 'The Jigs' because they truly jig like non before. And in all the mayhem they truly had a blast. I can apparently appreciate both the calm beautiful sounding music (a bit Braveheart maybe) and the thrusting tempo style of Zimmer's score. It isn't all chaos and it completely stays thematic but when the instruments create their sound, then it becomes mayhem. An Everlasting Piece is surely something for Zimmer fans because face it, we simply connect the best to his music. But, be warned! A buck or not, it still gives you a run for its money.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Repo Man (3.54)

2. The Demon Barber Of Dublin (0.55)

3. One Hundred And Ninety (3.52)

4. Day Job (2.07)

5. You Gotta Lose To Win (2.23)

6. Toupée or Not Toupée (2.17)

7. The Rant (1.07)

8. Glass Slipper (0.46)

9. I'm A Dick (2.12)

10. It Takes A Woman (2.05)

11. The Piecemaker (1.25)

12. Piece On Earth (1.52)

13. The Piece People (1.31)

14. F**kin' Genius (4.59)

15. Piece Offering (6.03)

16. Jiggy's Last Jam (4.09)

Total Length: 41.55

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

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