Hardball (Promo)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Composers Mark Isham has grown from a rather obscure jazz composer to the real deal, Hollywood A-level with the respect and recognition the big names deserve. A large role of this recognition is due to his work on several family movies that opened the ears of the fans due to its strong orchestral element. Another part is his work on the big blockbuster movie production sand delivering while at it noticed music of high quality. And in between he still found the time to score the smaller if equally strong productions. Hardball is the name of the movie I'm referring at and it might be for you just another teenage sports drama but it holds so much more. Meaning a lead cast with a serious gambling problem and young actors who handle their roles superbly, especially DeWayne Warren who plays G-Baby with the mature class of a 20and the emotion of a 5 year old, with just a cry or laugh of him bringing you to tears. But the best quality of the movie is the fact how it handles its last 40 minutes of the script, where sport is pushed aside for real life emotion and Brian Robbins makes sure the dialogue in those moments is of the utmost significance. And supporting all this is the brooding score of Mark Isham that changes alongside the movie to an emotional quality listen. Mark Isham has proven recently in Crash that he can move you with just several instruments. In Hardball he leaves the most amazing cue up to just a solo piano and several strings and electronics. The effect is pure heartfelt emotion that makes you during the score just in silence, in the movie basically to tears. That moment is 'Funeral Speech' and its movie magic. The other moment of true significance is 'Sammy Sosa' and its the first time in the score and movie that brass is spotted, rising to a brief but stunning coda. Its from this point on the music turns from brooding underscore to a colorful emotive ride.

Perhaps that might offend most people, that the brooding underscore barely shifts tone from the strings, exotic percussion and piano but it does set the mood down. And above all creates a kind of pre existing Crash effect that lingers longer behind than first expected. The beat in 'Barber's Debt', the urban flavor in 'Community Service' and the piano in 'Book Report' are just part of the examples. It might sound like mood to you but 'Tibbs' Attacked' and a soft piano tone in 'The Shooting' is effective either way, setting down a brooding tone that nicely sumps up the neighborhood and dangers lurking around every corner. 'I'll Never Bet Again' has the nicest change in all this when it transforms itself from this brooding underscore to a brief but felt string emotion. And the nicely put piano melody in 'You Like Me' shows that after track 10 there is a change in color and meaning in O'Neill's life. The soundtrack sadly didn't contain a single note from Mark Isham's music and was filled with the appropriate and above all effective music from artists as The Notorious B.I.G., Da Brat and R. Kelly but while this music was equally effective in setting down the ghetto feel and world of the actors, so was Mark Isham of vital importance. Because it separated the tone of O'Neill's life down (his dark dangerous life) from the never understood youth and when they found each other, Mark Isham responded in making it memorable and meaning. Hardball came in the shape of a 32 promo example, mixing the music of Isham and the songs together. This is the version in movie order and with appropriate track titles. The effect is a very solemn brooding score that opens its heart near the end, when the actors show their potential on screen, and the story unfolds to its final everlasting touch. Together it might not make for the most colorful music Isham has written in a long time, but it has an undeniable knack for shutting you up when the real color draws itself in. And that's rare in music of today, that's hard in movies of tomorrow.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Main Titles (2.19)

2. Barber's Debt (1.49)

3. Community Service (1.23)

4. Desperate (1.30)

5. Tibbs' Attacked (1.58)

6. Book Report (1.32)

7. Miles Pitches / Jamal Runs Away (1.45)

8. I Quit (1.57)

9. I'll Never Bet Again (1.34)

10. You Know Nothing Of Those Kids (0.40)

11. Sammy Sosa (2.48) Excellent Track

12. You Like Me (1.15)

13. New Shirts (1.14)

14. G-Baby, You're Up (1.27)

15. The Shooting (2.16)

16. Funeral Speech (3.35) Excellent Track

17. This Is For G-Baby (1.33)

Total Length: 31.14

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

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