About the Soundtrack: "Meet Dave" is scored by Composer John Debney, who delivers a first-rate score for a middle of the road movie.  The soundtrack, from Varese Sarabande, a label that has been particularly busy of late, offers up 27 relatively brief tracks on the CD with an excellent sound quality.  The richness of the music is heard in wonderful clarity, making the sound quality of this score stand out from other releases. 

 

What You Need to Know:  It's actually what you need to do.  First thing, forget about meeting Dave and disassociate the music from this unusual movie.  The score here deserves it. 

 

John Debney, who has really been putting out some fantastic work in recent years, has done a marvelous job with his score for "Meet Dave."  Though my expectations were very much in check before I listened to the CD (how could I be excited about this Murphy vehicle?), I left feeling enthused and in a very good mood after hearing the score.  Debney's music is vibrant, fun and lighthearted, offering a nice balance between science fiction motifs and comedic tones. 

 

The brevity of the tracks actually works in favor of this listening experience.  Debney was able to construct mini self-contained sequences of music that allowed the cues to stand on their own, enabling each brief track to offer enjoyable moments without having to rely on the following cue.  I could tell that the composer must have taken great care to ensure the timing of each track hit the mark.

 

The flow of the score, as you can probably tell from my comments above, is above par.  There are times when I listen to some scores that I feel as though it becomes an obligation to listen to the entire disc in its entirety.  A lot of that has to do with a specific flow or construction of a given soundtrack.  In this case, it was effortless.  It felt as though my ears were gliding from one track to the next.  Needless to say, I wasn't thinking of this movie or anything that had to do with Eddie Murphy as I was enjoying the album.

 

Final Score: Soundtrack fans, get in on this one.  Debney's "Meet Dave" will be overlooked due to the movie's poor showing, but don't let this entertaining score meet its demise because of that.  If you're in the mood to simply get lost in some fun and entertaining music, this one is worth your time.