BT’s soundtrack to Stealth, an action movie about 3 top gun pilots that have to deal with a robotic fighter plane gone bad, seems promising, because it provides BT with the opportunity to mix his trademark hyperkinetic production style with full-on orchestral power.
Unfortunately, the soundtrack CD is a bit of a disappointment. While there are flashes of brilliance, the soundtrack often jump-cuts between traditional orchestration and electronica, without really integrating the two worlds. Worse still, the soundtrack suffers from too many cooks. In addition to BT’s work, about half the tracks feature other composers, Trevor Morris and Michael Dimattia, who seem to have been brought in for the more traditional cues.
Much of BT’s orchestral work on the soundtrack is reminiscent of classic John Barry themes – broad, simple themes emphasizing the string and brass sections. BT makes some interesting work of looped and sliced-up orchestral elements at times, but seems to largely use the orchestra in a traditional way and contrast that with his electronic work.
Standout tracks include a short ambient electronic piece, Quantum Computer; Micheal Dimattia’s EDI is The Whole Idea, which mixes orchestral themes with electronic percussion; Henry’s Death, a driving martial piece that successfully layers traditional orchestral writing and some far out electronic percussion; and the evocative, exotic Korean Waterhole.
The soundtrack does not include a pop collaboration BT did with David Bowie or tracks by Incubus that were in the film. This is probably a good decision, because they would have made the sountrack more schizophrenic than it is.
All in all, the Stealth soundtrack is more traditional and restrained than we’d expect from BT. While that may have been what Stealth director Rob Cohen’s wanted, it seems that if you’re going to get BT to do an action movie soundtrack, you should set him free to do some crazy f’d-up stuff.
We’re looking forward to hearing future soundtracks by BT that provide him more room to cut loose. In the meantime, though, BT’s Stealth will be an interesting addition to the libraries of hardcore BT fans, and will whet your appetite for a BT soundtrack that really lets him cut loose.
Tracks:
- Stealth Main Title
- War Machine
- EDI’s Arrival
- The Pilots’ Theme
- The Joy of Flight
- EDI’s New Data
- The Vertical Drop
- Hellava 1st Mission
- Lightning Strike
- Thailand
- Love Theme
- I’ll Tell You Back at the Boat
- Quantum Computer
- EDI is the Whole Idea
- Flight to Tajikistan
- Tin Man Will Prosecute
- Attack at Tajikistan
- Henry’s Death
- The Aftermath
- Kara’s Ejection
- Camel Hump
- Korean Waterhole
- Saving EDI
- EDI Feels Sorry
- Cummings’ Suicide
- DMZ
- Death of Col YunE
- EDI’s Sacrifice
