Thirteen Days

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Trevor Jones is known for his immense themes, his outstanding writing capabilities and successful scores, but there is more that drives the composer and this makes him still one of the best that Hollywood serves today. His previous musical efforts found the attention they deserved and both The Mighty and Merlin became instant favorites amongst film music fans. Last year's winner was Cleopatra but duo to unsuccessful promo releases the score stayed largely unnoticed by the mainstream public. 2000' most interesting candidate is Thirteen Days, a brilliant film about the Cuban missile crisis. Now, what Thirteen Days offers is not pretty but darn effective. Trevor Jones makes sure that you will remember its mood and tone, and this makes the score simply a mastery of pure emotions, and one of the year's best entries in the music intriguing list of candidates.

Trevor Jones may not bring the easiest score to listen at, his complete dark but melodic music remains a solid effort and stirs up more emotions when the LSO's immense capabilities are witnessed for the first time. The first track on the score is most obviously the best one and the most positive cue available. The main theme isn't a winner but with each listen you appreciate its quality more and when it receives pure heroic transformations at the end it becomes another high art candidate that deserves to be put inside Jones' already impressive list. Then the actual dark mood starts to unravel, the music becomes pretty suspenseful and nervous, making the music not a joy to hear, but true to its motivation it remains a superb effort. This part of the unsettling score resembles certain background cues of G.I.Jane and certain vistas of Cliffhanger. However its biggest advantage is the sudden burst of pure intense music, the one that resembles the pure action chase music of Dark City and The Mighty. When these appear it is pure tension and non stop thrill. The best moments are 'There Can be no Deals' and 'One Life Left'. Surely not the easiest listen but more the effective one.

The last track is special, 'The Will of Good Men' offers the main theme in almost a pure heroic but relieved statement and especially the end is extremely appropriate, Jones lets the music end with simply the most relaxing tone you could imagine, and trust me you really need it after those nerve-racking moments. People that expect Thirteen Days to be the most enjoyable listen of Jones this year will leave the room with more then a headache. Simply try to imagine tension and moody background music and then it will become the score you would want to hear a bit more. I needed some time to appreciate this score, and time is a very generous friend in this game. But what it offers after several listens (and this includes with accepting the score for its effective use during the movie) was fantastic. Jones created a real unsettling score and thanks to the once more outstanding performance of the LSO you receive the dynamite partnership of movie and score's effectiveness. Trevor Jones isn't just an ordinary composer and acknowledged his rising status as respected film musician. The producers of the movie were extremely satisfied with Jones' early results and looking at the end it combines the pure artistic talent of a Hollywood composer with the most unsettling mood you ever imagined. This all to create the best possible mix of Hollywood standard movie magic.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Lessons Of History (7.49) Excellent Track

2. The Knot Of War (7.20)

3. Missile Threat (4.30)

4. Prayer For Peace (3.16)

5. Our Rules Of Engagement (5.43)

6. There Can Be No Deals (7.10) Excellent Track

7. Eve Of Eternity (4.53)

8. One Life Left (7.11) Excellent Track

9. Us And The Devil (6.31)

10. Death Of Major Anderson (4.23)

11. The Sun Came Up Today (5.38)

12. The Will Of Good Men (4.56) Excellent Track

Total Length: 69.47

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=== Link to Composer Site: Trevor Jones ===