Once Upon a Forest

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Proven his considerable worth after animated pearls like An American Tail: Fievel goes West and The Land Before Time, James Horner was back on the bandwagon of animated creativeness. Once Upon a Forest, a now long out of print release of Fox Records has gotten its fair share of praise, its understandable considering its one of those fresh Horner listens, still after all this time. Because it hasn't got many Hornerisms going for it, the simple explanation to that question. The score actually is not one of Horner's most explosive releases like The Land Before Time, it dares to lull the listener to sleep due to its soft opening or eerie gloomy tracks, and when the action begins its very nice and good but not completely explosive, but for one reason this works to the albums progressive likeability. And its got a nice song melody as main theme going for it. With 'Once Upon a Time with Me', Horner dares to go even more silent and soft than the one he composed for The Land Before Time. I fancy it and its nice but I still can't quite amuse myself with it the way I adore Diana Ross' song. It however opens the score section too in 'The Forest', where strings and a soft flute performance make it glide through the air as soft as the wind. The mischief of various scores (Batteries not Included) comes handy too later in the track, as too the Peter and the Wolf influence which crops up at the end of this long opening track. Its however not The Land before Time, something I will come back too regularly. 'Cornelius' Nature Lesson' begins with some dangerous darker brass and the main theme on gentle flute while 'The Accident' has some eeriness going for it, with an explosive emotional Horner note at the end. And while the score starts to sink in softly, so do the songs. 'Please Wake Up' uses the main theme slightly different.

In fact its nice to know that Horner uses his main songs melodies so together that sometimes you just don't notice the difference. For me the real turning point is 'The Journey Begins', opening softly and leading to a basic rise of the music in the middle, its here where Horner starts to unfold his music from soft to powerful. Its however very briefly and mostly the soft music precedes its title. And while an organ led church song as I describe it breaks up the flow of the music in 8, its 'Flying' where Horner throws the magic back in the game. Its the main theme with the underscore of Batteries not Included and in between a magical rise ala Horner (watch out for that special four note motif, but how it moves from this evil feeling to an riveting conclusion is duly noted). And with 'Escaping from the Yellow Dragons / The Meadow' you reach this album's most explosive moment, a lot of brass and a darker atmosphere, but it works surely to amaze us, with it the most explosive main theme version that is there to be found. 'Flying Home to Michelle' has both an explosive begin and end of dramatism that works more than the soft mood in between. And the lovely nature of the music in 'The Children / Maybe one Day, Maybe one Day' is as nice as everything we heard the entire score through. The main theme song ends the album the way it began the listening experience. I can see people liking this album a lot because its not Horner repeated to the wazoo and it holds many new elements presented on the familiar Horner manner. It just doesn't hold the grow of softness to powerful like The Land before Time could do so wonderfully time and time again. This is what's lacking from this score the most. Yet at the end its the exact softness that makes Once Upon a Forest so fresh. If you can find a copy of it, I think you'll find the song to your liking as several explosive moments where Horner rocks the house, in between all the softness that can perhaps work a little bit disappointing yet still charming nonetheless.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Once Upon A Time With Me: Florence Warner Jones * (5.58)

2. The Forest (9.13)

3. Cornelius's Nature Lesson (3.43)

4. The Accident (4.27)

5. Bedside Vigil (2.18)

6. Please Wake Up: Michael Crawford (2.38)

7. The Journey Begins (8.07)

8. He's Back: Ben Vereen * (2.04)

9. Flying (4.51) Excellent Track

10. Escaping From The Yellow Dragons / The Meadow (6.36) Ex. Track

11. Flying Home To Michelle (6.35)

12. The Children / Maybe One Day, Maybe One Day (4.41)

13. Once Upon A Time With Me * / End Credits (5.57)

* Vocal backgrounds by the New London Children's Choir

Total Length: 67.40

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

=== Link to Composer Site: James Horner ===