Crash

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

With Crash, director Paul Haggis went for a controversial look upon society, in which we racially prejudge people, in where we abuse our power and in where we all somehow deal with problems but push them upon society's loss of reality, ultimately conflicting in colliding with one another without we ever realizing it. The movie was a real hit, not necessarily at the box office but with critics and people alike, praising it for the way the story seamlessly flows together, and for the actors bringing real hate, emotion and fear to the characters (especially Matt Dillon, Don Cheadle and Michael Pena) steal the show amongst all the others. Along for the ride is Mark Isham, longtime friend of Paul Haggis and ultimately he did this as a favor for which he had no budget but was able to create a score with just a piano and synthesizer. The result is Crash, a score that works to please you when you know what it represents and how it conflicts our inner soul with a Mark Isham score far from his genre. The effect is nonetheless tantalizing and beautiful. Probably due to the popularity of the movie, first a song CD was released and later the score by Mark Isham. Keen to realize is one song is new from the commercial song release, namely 'In the Deep' which carries the stamp of the entire sound of Isham's score and fits very well. The other song 'Maybe Tomorrow' is heard as well on the song soundtrack and is a well known release. The score by Isham however that precedes it all is nothing you heard from him, or not regularly. 'Crash' says it all musically, a moody opening with a bouncy attitude and there it set the atmosphere, it attracts little attention, on score and in the film but it fits exactly with what you see happening on screen. 'Go Forth my Son' even exists of more bouncy electronics and whooshes like that. And with 'Hands in Plain Sight' this doesn't change, making sure you come to think if Isham has anything remotely creative waiting for you.

Well, he does! '... Safe Now' introduces a solo vocal theme that would play like a constant returning flash around the entire story, before 'No such thing as Monsters' shows an ever soft but beautiful mix of piano and mood, creating perhaps at first just background music, which it frankly is but thereby setting down a wonderful emotive feeling you must understand when seeing the scene at hand. So does 'Flames', without doubt the most stunning scene in the film in which Isham basically unleashes the solo vocal over eerie growing synthesized mood, but in all the fuzz, he creates a sign of touch and feel you just don't hear much in music nowadays. Its the fact he just brings this with very few material and him alone that makes it all the more stunning. 'Siren' has again the more bouncy faster rhythmic pounds that perhaps don't listen as fluently as the previous track, but still engages more then enough. 'A Really Good Cloak' takes the material from track 5 further to more emotive goose bumps and again Isham creates just with mood and piano a emotional stunner that brings tears to the eyes. The cold 'A Harsh Warning' and the emotional 'Saint Cristopher' only lead into the ever relaxing 'Sense of Touch', in where Isham recapitulates his musical moments, like the solo vocal and emotional high spots of the score. While perhaps not having a master sense of melodic highlights, its the captured mood and effect that makes Crash so memorable. The movie flows from a slow start to a Magnolia effect, basically never letting you go and always in motion, and what Isham does with limited possibilities nonetheless blows me away. Frankly if your talking about Oscars, Isham should have deserved it more then the winner Brokeback Mountain, because he has done the impossible. Made an effort with a synthesizer sound like the best thing on earth. Okay its moody, atmospheric and mostly it will not capture you, but the moments that do tingle your spine. Moving at the speed of life, we are bound to crash. Isham tells it musically for you to find out.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Crash (3.21)

2. Go Forth My Son (0.57)

3. Hands In Plain Sight (3.48)

4. ... Safe Now (1.04)

5. No Such Thing As Monsters (3.59) Excellent Track

6. Find My Baby (4.23)

7. Negligence (2.55)

8. Flames (7.59) Excellent Track

9. Siren (4.41)

10. A Really Good Cloak (3.28) Excellent Track

11. A Harsh Warning (2.51)

12. Saint Christopher (1.55)

13. Sense Of Touch (6.44) Excellent Track

14. In The Deep: Bird York (5.55)

15. Maybe Tomorrow: Stereophonics (4.35)

Total Length: 59.07

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

=== Link to Composer Site: Mark Isham ===