The Lost World (Video Game Score)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

The year 1999 did have some kind of revelation, for both the community of computer games and for composer Michael Giacchino. People quickly embraced his style when they discovered Medal of Honor, the music that people wanted to hear in Saving Private Ryan. Soon to follow that success was his sequel score Underground, it offered Giacchino more variety, color and choral passages unseen before in computer games. Yet one man did unveil it before, and Lennie Moore's Outcast is a pure example of electrifying and glorifying film music, both on orchestral and choral level. And while I was examining both Medal of Honor scores, I saw The Lost World: Jurassic Park (the Video Game) by Michael Giacchino. And people in situations where they were stunned by the music soon realized the golden opportunity to pick it up, no matter what the cost (of course by a matter of speaking). Arriving at home after purchasing the score I saw that The Lost World contained 19 tracks. While surely not bad they consisted to last for 2 minutes each, take or leave a second of 10. And when you start listening to it, you realize that it might be the biggest flaw of all, while Giacchino's music listens entertaining, bold of power and rhythm and soon to become another classic, it is the short running time that leaves Giacchino to build his music on double the tempo and half the construction.

Think of the Medal of Honor serial scores, the first Medal of Honor has track times worthy of variation, they lasted minimally 3 min and maximally 4 min 10, while Underground offered 3 min to 4 min 30. Giacchino has to deliver all the goods in roughly 2 min, picking the pace to double standards, delivering the themes ASAP with no word of building them to their greatest point of success. This is what I liked so much in both Medal of Honor soundtracks, Giacchino would deliver his theme quickly but started to build it with each note before bringing the best performance at the end. Yet, we have to look on the bright spots, there are moments to remember. The score delivers five central episodes (Sarah Harding / Velociraptor / T-Rex / Human Hunter and Compy) and each has a central theme that Giacchino would use and arrange in each of the several tracks. Sarah Harding's theme, call it the main theme is heroic, sounds somewhat like a half constructed Nazi / Hero theme but is surely the best thematic material of the disc, it offers quite entertaining moments in 'Into the Trees' and 'San Diego'. The Velociraptor theme is more rapid, surrounded with mayhem in 'The Forest Explodes' and 'Break for Freedom' among others. The T-Rex theme is a short 3-note motif and arrives at various scenes, 'Base Camp Rampage', 'Welcome Mr. T-Rex' and the begin of 'San Diego', the two other motifs are less appealing but feature the welcome variations in the score.

Other things to notice for, the fourth track 'The Canyon Brigade' uses a clever variation of John Williams' Nazi Theme of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (remember the track 'No Ticket'), and Danny Elfman has an ear of mood in 'The Sulfur Fields'. But you soon discover the negative aspects of The Lost World, there is far less material to enjoy then the Medal of Honor scores, this surely through the short running tracks and thematic building constraints. Secondly, do not expect giant fanfares a la John Williams, perhaps Don Davis could use them all in Jurassic Park III, there isn't a moment for Giacchino nor does he develops them out of his own mind. And last but not least, in thematic power they fail to conjure up the fond memories of the two war game scores. But time after time you start to notice all the themes by themselves, in their respected form or through variation. This somewhat makes the score an entertaining listen on occasion, because you don't get much rest when your discover the one bombast after the other, and here Giacchino directly starts cooking the dinner. The Lost World is for its own value, decent, entertaining and with its various strong highlights. People will surely find one amazing track in the entire list, my favorite is the first. Sad to know also is that Giacchino did have the time to develop his music, on disc that is, not in the game, the last track offers the two minutes of music, is quiet for a minute and then delivers 12 minutes of background forest music, sort of Settlers on occasion. Ah well, The Lost World is good for its moments but nothing worth remembering for also, that I leave to the Medal of Honor soundtracks.

\ตตต/

Tracks

Single Disc

1. Into The Trees /// Sarah Harding (2.10) Excellent Track

2. The Forest Explodes /// Velociraptor (2.04)

3. Base Camp Rampage /// T-Rex (2.20)

4. The Canyon Brigade /// Human Hunter (2.16)

5. Beneath The surface /// Compy (2.06)

6. The Sulfur Fields /// T-Rex (2.11)

7. Laboratory Hunt /// Velociraptor (2.05)

8. Climbing The Tower /// Human Hunter (2.11)

9. Aisle Of Giants /// Compy (1.58)

10. Dinosaur Graveyard /// Sarah Harding (2.20)

11. Welcome Mr. T-Rex /// T-Rex (2.19)

12. Break For Freedom /// Velociraptor (2.10)

13. Volcanic Fault /// Human Hunter (2.12)

14. The Plains /// Compy (2.02)

15. San Diego /// Sarah Harding (2.07)

16. The King's Lair /// T-Rex (2.07)

17. Raptor Wasteland /// Velociraptor (2.16)

18. Enter Carefully /// Human Hunter (2.17)

19. Primordial Forest /// Compy (16.52)

Total Length: 56.15

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

=== Link to Composer Site: Michael Giacchino ===