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Reviews - Soundtrack
Street Date: 3/18/08
MSRP: $16.98
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
Media Quantity: 1
Run Time: 57:26
Note: Cover art on left was the temporary art; art on right
is the final. |
Track Listing
1. Main Titles (2:01)
2. The Centre / Hal Shot Down (2:50)
3. J'onn J'onzz Arrives (0:51)
4. Wonder Woman Recounts / J'onzz Watches TV (2:11)
5. The Flash Saves Las Vegas (3:32)
6. J'onn Becomes John / Church Brawl (3:12)
7. Carol & Hal Banter (0:22)
8. Driving to Ferris / The Real Ferris (1:34)
9. Hal's Mission Revealed / Batman Surprises J'onzz /
The Flash Fights Gorilla (2:52)
10. Crazy Scientist (1:37)
11. J'onzz Contemplates / J'onzz is Leaving (1:18)
12. To Space (1:27)
13. Mars Mission Mess (4:13)
14. New Green Lantern (3:56)
15. Superman Ties It Up / J'onzz Bonds (2:41)
16. Island Revealed / Superman Down (5:22)
17. Plan to Action (2:35)
18. Thick of Battle (4:32)
19. The Flash vs Centre / Last Bit of Business (3:37)
20. Victory (3:09)
21. End Credits (3:01)
Press Release
La-La Land Records will release the soundtrack for JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE
NEW FRONTIER on March 18. The animated feature will be released on Blu-Ray,
Hi Def DVD, and on Demand on February 26 and on HD DVD on March 18th.
Kevin Manthei (Batman: Gotham Knight, Xiaolin Showdown, Invader Zim)
composed the original music.
Kevin Manthei has been working in the film, television and game arena
for over 15 years. He has worked as the series composer on five animated
TV shows – representing over 130 half hour episodes, composed over 50
game soundtracks, has made a mark composing music for animated features,
independent films, as well as contributing additional music on many
well-known feature films. Click here for the full
press release.
Review (Zach Demeter)
Music can not only make a motion picture evoke emotion it can also
completely make or break the scene it’s trying to complement. With
Darwyn Cooke’s Cold War comic The New Frontier, fans no doubt
imagined a superhero infused score with bits of mysterious secret agent
music while their eyes took in the colorful wonders that Cooke put on
paper for us to take in. When Warner green lit the comic to be turned
from a trade paperback to a soaring animated epic, fans began to wonder
who would score this film. While initial rumors suggested that previous
DC Animated composers would return to write the music for the film, it
was Kevin Manthei, a newcomer to the world of DC Animation, who would
eventually be awarded the job.
Oddly enough, as swept up in the scores of animated shows as I am, I
didn’t really pay much attention to Manthei’s name once it became
attached to the picture. Though I hadn’t heard of him, I merely assumed
that those involved with the production of the film, many of whom had
been at Warner Bros. Animation since the days of Batman: The Animated
Series, simply knew what they were doing. When the first piece of
music for The New Frontier came on during the film I was
immediately pleased with what I was hearing. Not only did it sound just
as it should, but matched the tone of the film perfectly. While later in
the film I would only notice certain musical cues here and there, I just
assumed that Manthei wrote the score to be complementary of the action
on screen, rather than overpowering it.
When I sat down to listen to the soundtrack for the first time, I was
almost as eager as I was when watching the film for the first time.
After enjoying the film so much, I couldn’t wait to dissect any and all
sections of it and the score was easily one of the areas I had wanted to
explore. Imagine my surprise when, after setting the soundtrack to play,
it seemingly ended shortly after it began. I had listened to the full
fifty-seven minutes and never once did anything leap out at me. I was
confused at first, suspecting I either wasn’t paying attention or maybe
there was something I simply missed while it played. I listened to it
again and was again met with the same result. As enjoyable as the score
was in the film, I never found anything about it to really stand out. It
was all very…I don’t want to say generic sounding, but it really all
simply blends together.
It’s now the third day since I received the soundtrack and I’ve listened
to it well over a dozen times. I’ve had it on an endless loop and while
it may annoy those around me to hear the same music over and over again,
I’ve not only begun to be able to pick specific cues out that are
repeated, but to also appreciate the subtleness of the soundtrack
overall.
Now you may think I’m trying to disguise my comments in a way that makes
it sound like the soundtrack is actually horrible—that’s not the case.
It’s a wonderful soundtrack, but it just isn’t one of the best from the
world of DC animation—at first, anyway. The soundtrack grows on you,
especially when you start paying attention to such tracks as “Thick of
Battle”, which has a wonderful alien sounding middle to it and the
rousing “Flash vs. The Centre” is also quite the epic piece. On top of
the more action oriented pieces we have the heroic sounding theme (which
has a bit of Spider-Man thrown in at times) and the darker music
that accompanies J’onn and Batman’s segments in the film. I think what
made the soundtrack such an uneventful listen the first time was that it
was marrying so many different brands and moods of music together all at
once that you only began to notice how well they gelled and work with
one another on repeat listens.
There is plenty of music to enjoy in The New Frontier and Manthei
shows he has a knack for scoring the heroic. Some of the Justice League
pieces on this soundtrack rival those of the Justice League /
Unlimited television series in terms of grandeur and epic tone,
while at other times it seems like it could have been lifted from the
series itself. It’s a really wonderfully crafted soundtrack that I only
appreciate more as I listen to it.
The CD itself comes packaged in a standard clear jewel disc amaray case
with a full color booklet and inserts. I honestly think the packaging is
one of the weakest elements of this release. Something about it just
screams “cheesy”, whether it’s the strange cover (comic book drawings
over what looks like a real-life shot of Earth doesn’t pair up too well)
that has blue residue around Superman’s hands and cape (as well as
inside Black Canary’s motorcycle wheels) give off an unprofessional air
about it all. The back cover is nice looking and honestly would have
worked better as the front cover. Inside the packaging is a backdrop for
the disc that works well, but something about the disc art looks a
little…homemade. I don’t know how to describe it, I think it has
something do with the black lettering and the image choice. I’m no
professional artist or anything, I’m just commenting on what my eyes are
telling me.
The nicest thing about this CD, aside from the music itself of course,
is the full color booklet. For ten pages we get to hear from composer
Kevin Manthei talk about the composition of the score as well as his
choices for individual characters and how the score itself was put
together. We also hear from supervising producer Michael Goguen who
talks about the strict and demanding schedule they had Manthei working
under, constantly asking him to amp up the action for the films pivotal
third act. This little booklet acts as a commentary of sorts on the
soundtrack and it’s really a wonderful addition to the overall package.
Of course my complaints about the packaging are simple minor things that
really have no impact on the overall product—they could have given me a
label-less CD-R and I wouldn’t have really cared, as what’s on the disc
itself is what’s really worth listening to.
Overall the soundtrack itself is nothing else short of a true delight to
listen to. I cannot believe that we’re getting soundtrack releases for
each of the DC Universe films—music from the series and productions is
something fans have been clamoring for years to get at and La-La Land
Records is doing a superb job at delivering what the fans want (even if
I complain about the products packaging—I’m picky, what can I say?). Now
with this CD on shelves, fans can close their eyes and imagine the
action taking place and with Manthei’s score at just the right volume,
the goosebumps you receive from the music will be just as strong, if not
stronger, as they were when you first watched The New Frontier.
The more I listen to this soundtrack the more I love it and I’m sure any
fan of DC Animation and, indeed, of film scores in general will feel the
same way. Highly Recommended.
Review (James Harvey)
I really like how this soundtrack opens. The "Main Titles" track remains
one of my favorite pieces of music to come from DC Animation, without a
doubt. It has such a stirring quality to it, and it perfectly
compliments both the movie and the main title designs, too. While it's
not technically the first track of the movie, it's a smart way to open
up the CD, and sets the mood for the twenty remaining tracks to be
found.
A new comer to the world of DC Animation, Kevin Manthei is able to
seamlessly blend his style into this comic-filled universe, leaving his
own unique mark on such large DC properties. Fans of the movie will be
able to hear the music and easily place the era he's trying to invoke,
the accompanied action sequences, and the various characters he had to
juggle when creating what can be seen as a complicated project to score.
It's a departure from the Superman Doomsday score, and shows that
each of these projects will be unique in both terms of the content and
the music that will be accompanying these original animated movies.
Now, the soundtrack itself doesn’t unfold in a manner you'd expect. It
seems, to me, that even thought here are some very rousing scores to be
found, it all seems to be build, built toward a massive explosion of
exhilaration and sound. Now, like I said, there are some incredibly
rousing tracks, like "The Flash Saves Las Vegas." What I like about some
tracks is the additional instruments that Manthei to emphasize a
sequence or character and then, as you listen to track five, it
seamlessly shifts to an ominous tone, which highlights an appearance by
The Centre, the big villain of the feature. Then, amazingly, and without
skipping a beat, it jumps back into the super heroics.
Of course, all of this is coupled between this very noir, 1950's
sounding detective theme, highlighting the adventures of J'onn J'onzz in
the movie. Track four, "J'onn Watches TV," and track six, "J'onn Becomes
John," sounds amazing. Track six, in particularly, is paired with the
"Church Brawl," a fun, almost Batman: The Animated Series
reminiscent track focusing on John experiencing The Batman in action.
And yes, there's a touch of The Centre in there, as well. I guess the
point I'm poorly trying to make is how Manthei is able to mix everything
together, making everything sound unique, but also giving a flow to it.
Nothing particularly pops out, but it builds. As the soundtrack
continues, the music continues to build toward the inevitable showdown
in the movie's finale.
Manthei had to do a lot of work to create music reminiscent of the era,
and he makes it work without making anything sound out of place or
disjointed. Again, we get some pretty unique sounding tracks, like the
super heroic-theme Manthei gives a lot for Green Lantern's music cues.
Hal Jordan's character and his ongoing storyline has this larger than
life sound to it, something that only builds and builds until toward the
end of the soundtrack.
But, for every noir sounding track, for the super heroic, for the pure
evil, Manthei also manages to emphasize some of these with an almost
dark and upsetting tone, particularly for most of the tracks featuring
J'onn J'onzz. If you want to hear how these sound back to back, track
nine is an excellent example. The track, "Hal's Mission Revealed/Batman
Surprises J'onzz/The Flash Fights Gorilla," mixes all of these together,
all adding an ominous tone, but doesn't lose the unique touch that each
of these different themes and storylines represent. What I like is that
as different as some of these themes can be, they are all obviously
heading toward something - something big. Manthei is able to build
tension throughout the soundtrack. While there are a couple tracks that
seem to stand out on their own, they all lead in the same direction. And
they are successfully able to emphasize some deep emotion, too. The
track "J'onn Contemplates/J'onn is Leaving" has such a tragic undertone
to it, while the next track, "To Space," mixes both Jordan's excitement
to head to space mixed with J'onn's botched attempt to get into space
himself. All of this leads to track thirteen, "Mars Mission Mess," which
is such a tense and exhilarating track.
And that great tambourine sound in track thirteen, the sense of utter
doom and failure, and then the "choir of angels" sound when Superman
appears? Just a perfect track, and one of my favorites in the
soundtrack. After all of this excitement, we're given room to breathe
with the understated, military-esque "New Hal Jordan" track.
From here, the tracks seem to lead into the big finale, with a slow
build of tension coupled with the establishments of assorted bonds and
relationships. Now, don't get me wrong, the entire CD builds up to this,
but here, we're finally thrown into the big finale, and everything that
was build before is included, leading into just an epic sounding final
twenty minutes or so to the soundtrack. And it's something that I
believe Manthei handles perfectly. He's able to really evoke the sense
of doom, able to evoke emotion when a hero falls, and just perfectly
telegraphs the massive threat that stands before all humanity. And he
does this by building to it, making almost all the tracks blend
together, yet never betraying what each track is trying to evoke,
whether it's a noir feel, a super heroic feel, or whatever. It's expertly
handled from start to finish.
And track seventeen? Incredibly heroic and just epic sounding, and it
gets better from there. Take my word. It just gets to intense and so
over-the-top exciting!
As for the presentation of the CD itself, it's another success on the
part of La-La-Land Records, although I do have a tiny qualm. The first
track seems to start off too fast, and it feels like the first second,
or less than that, is missing. Perhaps it's the player I listened to
this soundtrack on, but it seems to just jump into the track.
Now, the physical CD collection looks great, save for a couple errors
here and there. First off, the cover art, there seems to be an obvious
copy & paste mistake on the artwork. The assorted super-heroes, cut from
the one-disc DVD release artwork, which itself was taken from the actual
DC: The New Frontier comic, seem to have a bit of the original
blue background left on the artwork itself, particularly around Superman
and Wonder Woman. A bit sloppy, but nothing damaging. The disc art looks
great, and the booklet itself seems to be in good order. There's a
couple great write-ups, one from the composer and the other from the
Justice League: The New Frontier supervising producer, that provide some nice
additional insight into the creation of the soundtrack. Overall it's a
nice, if imperfect, physical representation of what's found on the
actual soundtrack.
Like the Superman Doomsday soundtrack that has come before it,
this is a release that deserves to be in any DC Animation fan's
collection. It's a great experience that perfectly compliments the DVD
release of Justice League: The New Frontier and even the original
graphic novel. It builds itself to such a great, exciting finale and the
composer, Kevin Manthei, really outdoes himself here, adding additional
instruments to highlight a plethora of emotions. You just can't beat the
excitement he builds until it just explodes in the end, all the while
giving a lot of characters their own underlying music cues that just
form such a complete and vibrant score. It's a no-brainer that this
soundtrack comes Highly Recommended, and it has me excited to see
what else will be coming down the pipe-line, soundtrack-wise. It's a
great soundtrack that builds on the plot's excitement and just delivers
in the end. It's a great listen, fun listen, and just a great score,
plain and simple. |
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2012.
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