Mulan II (Promo)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Its nice to see Joel McNeely back, at least on adventure music since animation will always cut it comedy too, but Mulan II surely had to show its orchestral might as well. Of course its predecessor Mulan was considered to be one of Goldsmith's best, and that raises the bar even higher to start with. So, Joel McNeely even with all his talents would fight an unfair battle, but its fair to consider them apart, and apart they flow rather well. The brief 30 minute soundtrack was even sold for about 7 bucks in stores just because they found it unfair and embarrassing to release just 30 minutes of music for the double normal prize, something other labels should do too considering we have to pay equally the amount for 30 minutes as for 70 minutes. Anyway, this is not that release, this is the promo of Mulan II and for 30 minutes you get the score and one song. Hold on, you get some 10 minutes more of McNeely material and just 10 minutes is enough to get a whole other picture of the musical material. 'Main Title' is a short but lovely theme's performance with Chinese violin and choir which makes it especially lovely for a minute to hear, on the commercial that was, here its a little longer. With 'Mulan's Getting Maried' we reach new material, and besides a playful main theme we have the love theme which is a truly sweet composition, here it receives a romantic flourish. With 'Off to see the Emperor' we have another sign of new material, and again the themes return in different variations, a marching main theme, a fanfare for the palace itself and some underscore. 'The Journey Begins' sees the Chinese main theme return with the choir and violin, but moves to some brief comedic music and the song theme of 'Like Other Girls'. On the promo these songs aren't found, but a true Mulan heart will surely remember them.

'In Love and in Trouble' sees the theme being intermingled with the Chinese instruments and I would swear to hear brief snippets of Goldsmith's score in the track too. Anyway that's good to know and also that 'The Attack' makes up with some rousing minutes of powerful orchestral play, the song themes are thrown in between the brass playing (which is nice to notice) and the main theme near the end as well, furthermore some fanfares reach an emotional high note, as well as the next one. 'Shang Lives!' surely equals and overpowers that emotional firepower, it has grand orchestral moments and the themes rise to the occasion, which is nice to notice when McNeely can rock with fanfares. In 'They Wed' we have room for one more flourishing love theme as new material. 'Here Besides Me' is the love theme by Joel McNeely and its performed lovely by Hayley Westenra and shows especially the theme growing strongly from time to time, which it does nicely in the instrumental version too namely 'Here Besides Me (Instrumental)', which closes this promo very smoothly off. Together, it might make for just too less of that good part, but it does make up for moments too and Mulan II is for its prize a very entertaining listen. However, the promo has just that bit more to grade by, McNeely can throw some more flourishes of themes to it and the score just sounds so much more together through it, it creates at least a bit more of impact, especially with now the attention focused on Chinese music and some nice swells of the orchestra. Sadly the new pieces have a slight quality loss in the clarity. However, most of all don't compare it with Mulan of Jerry Goldsmith, I urge you since its not that strong, but solo wise it does fulfill its wishes and to notice is that the songs stay playful on the commercial CD, the score remains faithful to the concept and the orchestral touch is another accomplished McNeely effort. So seek out what you find is more important for you, the cheap commercial or the more fulfilling promo.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Main Title (2.16)

2. Mulan's Getting Married * (1.45)

3. Off To See The Emperor * (2.48)

4. The Journey Begins (3.06)

5. In Love And In Trouble (4.37)

6. The Attack (4.06) Excellent Track

7.Shang Lives! (4.28) Excellent Track

8. They Wed * (3.22)

9. Here Besides Me: Hayley Westenra (2.37) Excellent Track

10. Here Besides Me (Instrumental) (2.35) Excellent Track

* New track not featured on the original release

Total Length: 31.46

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

=== Link to Composer Site: Joel McNeely ===