Men in Black II

by

Danny Elfman

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Contrary to the last reviewer, I'm not going to base my review of the album on one song (which I think is silly) or type a long-winded rant on commercialism today (which I think is a waste of time when you're supposed to be writing about a CD), but rather write about the whole album. Simply, this is one of the best soundtracks for a movie in a while. Danny Elfman continues to amaze me as being one of the most original-sounding and inventive composers today. His ability to blend orchestral and synthesized music is fantastic, and his ability to create simple but memorable themes is rivaled only by John Williams. For this movie, instead of using the same orchestrations for the MIB theme, he plays around, coming up with different ways of utilizing it (listen to the fabulous "Worm Lounge #1 (Worms In Black)", "Titles" and "Big Jeff") to prevent it from becoming boring while still keeping it the central theme of the score. Also, the more poignant sections of the score (such as "J Nabbed/K's Back" and "The Light") are truly beautiful, showcasing strings and guitar wonderfully. Throughout the score are bursts of choral music that Elfman is known for, and it adds a great touch. At the end of the score there are two additional songs: Tim Blaney (as Frank the Pug) singing "I Will Survive" and Will Smith's "Black Suits Comin'." A Frank the Pug cover of "I Will Survive" is a great idea (and one of the best moments of the movie), but it gets a bit annoying here-Frank "sings" in a monotone throughout the song. "Black Suits Comin'," however, is a pretty good song, considering it's for a movie. It has a chorus that won't go away-it will get stuck in your head for weeks, and that's actually a good thing. You can hear how Will is experimenting a bit and trying for a different audience with a more rock-oriented beat and sound. Also, it sounds like Will used real orchestra for the song, which is a welcome change from the oversynthesized "music" I've been hearing so much of nowadays. And while it may not be "music fan"'s idea of great music, I don't think I'd find an argument if I said that the song is certainly better than anything you might find on TRL (Avril Lavinge-now there is some empty music). Overall, this CD certainly deserves a spot in the collection of any Danny Elfman fan, any lover of movie soundtracks, or any good music fan anywhere, and once you put in your CD player, you won't be able to take it out!

I'll start by saying that Danny Elfman's soundtrack work is pretty interesting stuff (by today's standards).My beef lies with Big Willie himself. The song Black Suit's Commin'(Nod Ya Head) is the emptiest song I've ever heard. It is an uninspired commercial for the film-nothing more. One would hope that outside of this soundtrack a song this lacking in anything resembling artist creativity, feeling or soul would collapse like a house of cards. Still,it's got a big budget video to distract you from the oulandishly bad music and lyrics (plus Willie's always boring way with a rhyme) and the Will Smith starpower(and the monitary backing of a huge company) to guide it into your radio,television and shopping cart. I thought the whole Wild Wild West thing was disgusting but he just keeps on falling...If you swallowed Gettin' Jiggy With It whole,you'll love this one too. Even if it has more empty calories than a box of doughnuts. I really hope it's mainly children that would be amused by tripe like this. I know it's supposed to be bland and uncomplicated so as to appeal to every possible human being but I can't help being sickened. Even though I know the formula (a bit of charm + a bit of talent x marketability - individuality + harmless blockbusters = Megastar!!!),I still wonder how this guy became one of the worlds most popular entertainers. He's a living testament to America's love of sequels, braindead pop music and the familiar. Oh man...I long for the day that the masses stop eating stuff like this up without question(or thought) and demand quality and an ounce of passion & intellegence in their entertainment.Alas,I doubt that will happen in my lifetime. I doubt it will even happen before the soundtrack to MIB3 comes out...