Gods and Generals

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

John Frizzell is the kind of composer that got noticed pretty quickly in his career, lost back the attention he so fruitfully gained and got back on the saddle several months earlier this year to hopefully be ready for the final breakthrough. Scoring Dante's Peak and Alien Resurrection in his prime time, the world was about to open for composer John Frizzell. Yet it didn't last and just after Thirteen Ghosts, Ghost Ship and especially Gods and Generals did it open again. Gods and Generals is the prequel to the successful movie Gettysburg which received a very stirring yet sadly synthesized score by Randy Edelman. Still, people got really anxious in hearing Randy Edelman repeating, developing and composing material for the prequel. Yet the duty on the scoring assignments fell mostly to the baton of Frizzell, with Edelman composing several minutes and resulting in just several pieces of music on the commercially released disc. Including on that disc are two songs which open and end the score, Mary Fahl's one is very enjoyable and Bob Dylan is Bob Dylan, performing in two minutes what will be endlessly repeated in the next six minutes, being so an overlong song for the finish. And even though the score doesn't contain exactly what I wanted, the overall consistency and above all wide arsenal of themes makes it still a rather enjoyable to listen to album.

This wide arsenal of themes makes it even after minimum 3 listens extremely difficult to actually pinpoint at a specific moment at which theme you are listening. Just several are instantly recognizable and one of them is the impressive main theme in 'Gods and Generals', a glorious powerful hymn with full choir and drums. It therefore opens this score with magnitude yet the strange thing is, it barely gets back to this power again. The overall score is apart from several tracks a very calm and beautiful listen, the themes overall roll from left to right with grace and dignity but this also makes it not the listen I at first expected. Especially the first two times this resulted in a rather boring listen because I wanted more of the other music then just this beautiful yet calm music. But after more listens, it does bring a different feeling overall. 'Loved I not Honor More' captures the main theme on piano and 'Lexington is my Home' the first sign of the violin, performed by Mark O' Connor. Yet if you want to talk about the real highlights and the tracks that really make it worth it, then initially two tracks spring to mind. 'The School of the Soldier' is a beautiful and playful track, but here two themes are mixed through each other, bringing each time to the other one a great sense of melody, especially the fanfare that reminds you a bit of the material Edelman composed for Gettysburg is very striking and should have been used way more on the score, it is really for me even better then the actual main theme itself in that I prefer it more to listen to.

The other highlight captures in fact for me the actual highlight of the disc, with this fanfare I prefer over the main theme appearing here with choir (1.13). This moment in the track 'To the Stone Wall' is simply brilliant and the finest moment on the disc, also the flawless transition from this theme to the theme heard in track 3 is spectacular and the track overall is a breeze to hear each time. Other highlights which come close to actually being stunners of the score are 'These Brave Irishmen', bringing us the Irish theme performed on uilleann pipes for the many Irish soldiers contributing to the war and 'VMI Will be Heard from Today', because here a total different path is addressed, several laden pizzicato instruments begin to build up before brass and especially a massive choir bring chaos, not harmony. The effect is nonetheless quite intoxicating if you heard it several times in a row. The rest of the score as said is based on lovely, beautiful and charming melodies and smoothen the listen, but if you expected war material and action music then it might take longer for you to like this album, like I have experienced initially first and second time. The songs are fitting for the score and a bonus disc includes the two music videos, trailer and additional deleted scenes. Gods and Generals is therefore no Gettysburg and I still prefer Edelman's effort over this one, but the consistency and pleasant listening experience are vital improvements to the score's 62 minute running time, and show that Frizzell as a composer might be finally on track into breaking through in the business of the motion picture scoring world.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Going Home: Mary Fahl (4.56)

2. Gods And Generals * (3.42) Excellent Track

3. You Must Not Worry For Us * (2.09)

4. Loved I Not Honor More * (3.13)

5. Lexington Is My Home *+ (1.23)

6. The School Of The Soldier * (3.58) Excellent Track

7. Go To Their Graves Like Beds ** (2.24)

8. My Heart Shall Not Fear ** (1.46)

9. These Brave Irishmen *+-++ (2.51)

10. To The Stone Wall * (3.41) Excellent Track

11. You'll Thank Me In The Morning *+ (3.20)

12. The First Crop Of Corn *++ (3.26)

13. My Home Is Virginia ** (4.24)

14. No Photographs ***+ (2.53)

15. VMI Will Be Heard From Today * (2.42)

16. Too Much Sugar *+ (1.56)

17. Let Us Cross Over The River * (2.48)

18. The Soldier's Return *+ (2.02)

19. 'Cross The Green Mountain: Bob Dylan (8.12)

* Music composed by John Frizzell

** Music composed by Randy Edelman

*** Music composed by John Frizzell & Randy Edelman

+ Containing violin performed by Mark O' Connor

++ Containing tin whistle and uilleann pipes performed by Paddy Moloney

Total Length: 62.00

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

=== Link to Composer Sites: John Frizzell & Randy Edelman ===