Published on Oct 18, 2000
Although I’ve never been a fan of either the movies or the
television series, it seems like
Highlander is a storyline which finds the present constantly
clashing with the past, and one group’s constant battle to
reconcile the two through immortality… and its loss.
So the music for
Highlander Endgame probably makes a lot of sense to anyone
who has followed this series since the first film hit the screens
in 1986. The clash between modern-day neo-classical (with just a
touch of electric guitar at times) with its deep-rooted Scottish
lamentations makes for a confusing, yet enjoyable, listen for the
mere mortal. Everyone else, of course, will probably think this
music is a hoot, and will scoff at the newbie’s views. T’sokay, I’m
used to that.
This particular soundtrack can be broken up into two distinct
halves. The first eight songs make up one half, which were composed
by Stephen Graziano. These seem to be the more moody, suspenseful
pieces – too bad the music occasionally drags during these. Oh,
sure, Graziano captures the Scottish essence well, especially on
his arrangement of “Bonny Portmore,” but when it gets to pieces lke
“Opening Titles” and “There Can Be Only One! (Killing Kell)”, there
should be few, if any, noticeable lags in the musical action. It’s
on the shorter pieces like “Driving To Loft/Getting Duncan/Ride To
The Grave” and “Heather Cuts Her Hair” (the latter co-written by
second composer Nick Glennie-Smith) that Graziano is able to
sustain the energy.
In a sense, Glennie-Smith has a similar problem on his one epic
selection, “The Legend Of The Immortals” – the track which marks
the second distinct half of
Highlander Endgame. Glennie-Smith focuses in more on
shorter, to-the-point pieces (three of which clock in at less than
90 seconds), but this strategy works well for him, and the music is
captivating. Even on the “longer” pieces (at least, longer in
comparison), such as “Killing An Old Friend,” “Attack At The Loft”
and “In Memory Of Connor,” Glennie-Smith is able to cut to the
heart of the musical theme, and he does it well.
The one drawback, namely to Graziano’s compositions, is that he
tries to jump from a more organic Celtic influence to modern-day
cacaphony, and this mixture doesn’t always seem to work the best.
Glennie-Smith’s works, in contrast, have more of a natural feel to
them, as if you were listening to a soundtrack from the Golden Era
of movie music, an era which people like John Williams have made a
living keeping alive in the eyes of moviegoers. I don’t think that
Graziano was wrong in his approach, but he might have wanted more
of a smoother transition in styles.
Highlander Endgame, to be honest, is the kind of disc whose
appeal may be limited to those who have followed this movie series
from the beginning. If this is the case, they have themselves a
nice treasure, albeit one which occasionally seems difficult to
open.