About the Soundtrack: Michael Giacchino is having some 2009. First, he was behind the score for the
Star Trek reboot, which was a rather controversial effort, as it turns out. He next provided the music for Pixar's
Up which came out just a couple weeks later. And now, within the span of about one month, he's churned out a third score, this time for the Will Ferrell comedy,
Land of the Lost. The score for Land of the Lost comes courtesy of Varese Sarabande and includes 32 cues from the project. The downside about this number of tracks, at least in this instance, is that there are some that last but a few seconds in running time...literally. No reason to include cues of such a brief nature, it adds nothing of value to the listening experience. Just something to be aware of as you head into this adventure.
What You Need to Know: As the summer goes on, Michael Giacchino's work is getting stronger. While I know that he developed his summer scores in differing orders and timelines, I still would like to recognize his strong achievements within the context of the release dates.
Land of the Lost is his best yet in 2009!
Capitalizing on the silly, adventurous spirit, similar to the old time adventure serials, Giacchino's score for this film is quite a hoot. He capitalizes on the setup of this movie to great success and fully delivers a fun, tongue-in-cheek type of score. The style of music reminded me, in part, of John Powell's work on Evolution, John Williams' score for, The Lost World, and an overall tip of the cap to the world of adventure serials. There is music that represents the characters, the setting and the predicament itself in this soundtrack, all making for a lively listen. It sure felt like I was thrust into this lost world myself.
Much like Giacchino's summer scores, the music becomes stronger the further in you get. There is a bit of set up time before our "heroes" make their passage into the strange world but once in, all bets are off. Giacchino throws in a bevy of motifs into the mix, including a bit of hillbilly music (worked nicely into the context of the score), other worldly sci-fi melodies, primal sounding percussion, and more. It's all original sounding yet familiar, which should bolster the enthusiasm of music buffs who liked some of the more campy scores of the 60s and 70s.
Back to the originality -- I found the writing in the latter half of the score to be near brilliant. The themes from the score are assembled in such creative ways that you'll be asking for more by the time this album is complete. The quirky elements are particularly catchy, mixing in off beat, southern melodies alongside goofy, fun spirited sci-fi electronics. I really appreciated the vibe of this score.
If there was any doubt that Giacchino is a top tier composer, just listen to this soundtrack (and Up) and you'll see why he's worthy of being in an elite class.
Now if only he could expand the main Star Trek theme...
