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 Arguably Horner's Last Great Score September 23, 2001
snowleopard (Oregon)
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
There is a peculiar dichotomy to the career of James Horner in the minds of many soundtrack audiophiles. It's as if during the 1980's Horner was an absolute pure genius with the midas touch, and once called the future of film scorers by Elmer Bernstein. Time and again he would write a score that both fit the film perfectly, covered an enormous range of styles, and posessed a powerful command of instruments and sounds. And the soundtrack albums had almost no dead spots. He repeated a few phrases, and lifted from a few Classical composers (as many film scorers do), but there could be no doubt to his brilliance. So highly praised in music circles was he, that his name often popped up as someone to listen to by the contemporary classical world. While he's has had some strong scores since Sneakers (Braveheart, Apollo 13, Titanic, Zorro) Sneakers is often considered the last film he scored in this era, and a turning point of sorts. That turning point ocurred during the early 90's. While Horner gives no real indication in interviews, a guess is that he exhausted himself, and felt a bit shunned by great accolades that he deserved (namely an Academy Award - which he later did earn for Titanic, an average score with a very nice theme) and figured why burn himself out on every moment of every score, when the music is often buried behind dialog and sound effects, and hardly anyone notices anyway? His scores became less innovative, and much, much more repetitive. He became hugely criticized for borrowing heavily from himself, and even others - he was successfully sued for plagarizing Nino Rota at one point. Many pundits will argue, including myself, that while Horner's music fits well in films still, his great works are mostly in the past. With these days a few nice themes here and there, and a great deal of incidental music that sounds a great deal alike. It is my hope, and that of others, that Horner still has it in himself to return to, and maybe even exceed his past glory days. Having said all that. Sneakers is certainly a score worth owning. It's dramatic, has a very nice arrangement, and most of all it fit the film perfectly (and is pretty original). Grab it while you can, certainly if you're a Horner fan.
 Titanic it ain't October 24, 1998
egoset@hotmail.com (Seattle, WA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
James Horner actually does a good job with this score. This is some of his best and most original work. I'd say its about on par with his magnificent scores for the films Aliens, Braveheart, and Willow, the three which I consider his best. And it is most certainly a far, far, far cry from the uninspired, cliche ridden, Braveheart-recycled, John Williams wannabe "score" for Titanic (too bad he won an Oscar for it, it sucked). Sneakers displays the kind of elements that a score should have. One moment the music soars and is epic, giving the listener a feeling of hurried action. The next moment it is soft and tender, then moody and sinister. But it never looses its overall lightheartedness.
Sneakers Soundtrack August 22, 1998
Shawn Chittle (admin@avs.wmich.edu) (Battle Creek, MI)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Titanic. Nope, I don't have the wrong movie, but the same guy that did that, did this. In my view, this recording is just as good, just not as sad(its not supposed to be.) This album makes you think and ties you into the complicated movie play very well. This is a SCORE not a SOUNDTRACK. You will not hear any of the songs that are in the movie on this album, just the clever and cool, background music.
A nice change of mood for horner January 31, 2000
Daniel Long (Sydney, Downunder)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
When I first purchased this CD, i got it from some second hand CD shop, not knowing how difficult this cd really is to find. When you listen to it, the pictureeque beauty of the soundtrack becomes evident. Its one of those scores that changes your behavioural pattersn, almost mind altering. Just listening to it as you type, gives you that calm, yet edgy feeling experienced by the characters of the movie. Horner has a sense of intricate timing in his pieces and this is one of his few scores not to pull any shameless and cheap emotional tear jerkers. Not to say that i dont enjoy the whimsical delights of the teary 'Cocoon' and 'Braveheart'. I just like the change that Sneakers gave for horner. Nice music, but repetitive and has quite a few loud pieces that make it jolting to the nerves if you listen to it as you try to fall asleep at nice. Apart from that, it succeeds in in being quite entertaining and intrinsic. Whilst not a brilliant score, it is worth considering if your looking for some change and moody atmospheric music.
ITS THE BEST April 6, 1999
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
This is the cd that i have been looking forever for. It is perfect working background music.
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