John Powell - United 93 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (10 tracks) +Album Reviews

John Powell Provides A Subtle & Haunting Score To Paul Green

Kaya Savas | North Hollywood, CA | 07/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"John Powell is a very versitile composer. He can score any genre with any tone and his music always plays a huge role in the films he composes, very much like everyone at Media Ventures. Director Paul Greengrass seems to have already found a new composing partner in Powell. He composed The Bourne Supremacy for Greengrass, now United 93, and Powell is slated to compose The Bourne Ultimatum also directed by Greengrass. With United 93 Powell decides to go with a subtle and haunting score that you barely notice in the film. The film is an emotional powehouse that is expertly made and will shake you at your core. A heavily present musical score is not really needed for a film of this nature, and Powell definately knew that.

This score is as haunting as it is beautiful. The majority of the score is actually nothing but electronic percussion and synthesizers, and is used for the tension building of the film's nature. The first and last tracks are definately the highlights of the album since they are both so similar and different at the same time. The first track will send chills down your spine as it suggests the impending doom of flight 93. The very last track has a completely different tone and is more relaxed, but you can still feel the sorrow and heartbreak in the music. It brought me to tears when I listened to it for the first time. Powell also uses a solo boy vocal in those first and last tracks to an astounding effect. All the boy is singing is a simple "la . . . la . . . la . . . laaaaaa" with a sweeping string ensamble in the background. There is so much emotion in the one voice, the one innocent fragile voice of the entire score. John Powell continues to show he is one of Hollywood's most versitile and talented composers with this subtle masterpiece."

Remarkable Score For A Remarkable Film

Erik North | San Gabriel, CA USA | 06/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I don't think there is too much question that UNITED 93, the story of the one hijacked aircraft that fell short of its intended target on September 11, 2001, will end up on many film critics' Top Ten lists of the best movies of 2006. Writer/director Paul Greengrass and his cast did a superb job of trying to recreate what may have gone on during that flight's terrifying journey.

But credit should also be paid to composer John Powell for creating a brooding and atmospheric score that perfectly fits the film's quasi-documentary feel of psychological horror. It is frequently dissonant, consisting of low bass, drum beats, and synthesizers, setting up the film's nightmarish true-life story without drawing excessive attention to itself. One can draw some parallels to John Williams' score for MUNICH, or to Jerry Fielding's for Sam Peckinpah's 1971 horror masterpiece STRAW DOGS, for Powell's UNITED 93 score being the kind that gets under your skin without being overly distractive. With so much emphasis being placed on audience manipulation in many a Hollywood film score or soundtrack, UNITED 93 does it the best way by sucking the audience in and have them listen to how the music sets up little things that add up to the whole picture. This is a staggering piece of work that should, and will hopefully, be recognized come Oscar time in early 2007."

United 93

Jordan Utz | Salem, Massachusetts | 06/20/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What a remarkable and beautiful score this is. The background vocals in some tracks are captivating. This soundtrack gives you a clear idea of the movie and how it was for the men and women killed in 9-11. Let this music be harmonized in our spirits and let the men and women that died in 9-11, remain peacefully with god...

1. Prayers 5/5

2. Pull The Tapes 4/5

3. Take Off 4/5

4. 2nd Plane Crash 5/5

5. Making The Bomb 4/5

6. The Pilots 5/5

7. The Pentagon 4/5

8. Phone Calls 5/5

9. The End 5/5

10. Dedication 5/5

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Hope you enjoy this masterpeice...

Jordan

Overall grade* A-"

"Prayer for Peace"

Andres Segovia | 06/12/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Atmospheric" is the only way to describe the substance of this score. Much of the score is low bass drones with sustained horn blasts and solo vocals by Oliver Powell, the composer's son.

There is no theme to the score but only reoccurring motifs, those being the sustained horn blasts ending on a loud note. This motif appears during "2nd Plane Crash", "The Pentagon", "Phone Calls" and makes its very tense appearance in "The End." The motif is a tense piece conveying the sense of impending doom. Vocals by Oliver Powell appear in "Prayers", "Phone Calls", and lastly in the "Dedication".

As I mentioned before, the score is mostly atmospheric with no themes to drive it. The atmosphere created by the score is dark and tense since we know what fate awaits the passengers aboard United 93. The entire score appears to run in the same, monotonous drone with electronic percussion and the occasional horn motif appearing to add tension to terrible events occurring onscreen, but it's when it reaches "The End" that the score becomes dramatic and powerful. The previous eight tracks lead up to this point where the passengers fight the terrorists back and the music reaches such an emotional climax that one is moved at the end of the string swells and horn blasts.

Powell has truly been busy this year with ICE AGE 2 and X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, he was somehow able to squeeze UNITED 93 in between those two different scores without having them sound the same. Powell's score works for the film though I don't appreciate the electronic percussion he placed in some parts of the music. His music is hardly audible during the film but it manages to creep under your skin in some scenes. Its not an easy listen because the album is dark score but it's a great score nonetheless and a tribute to the brave soles who first reacted to the enemy onboard that flight on that fateful day.

FROM THE BACK COVER OF THE ALBUM:

"The music is a prayer for peace and is dedicated to Melinda, Oliver and all those killed and damaged on September 11th, 2001.""

Wrenching, simple, brilliant

James Luckard | Los Angeles, CA | 06/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"John Powell had an almost impossible task before him with United 93, scoring a major studio film about 9/11, shot in a documentary, you-are-there verite style. What he accomplished is stunning.

The power of the orchestra is introduced gradually, so that it never takes us out of the reality of the situations. The most moving cues are the final three. "Phone Calls", at 10 minutes long, builds inexorably to "The End", the 6 minute cue that plays as the passengers rise up against the hijackers. The music moves effortlessly, achingly, to the inevitable conclusion. This sequence had most of the audience in tears when I saw the film, and Powell's music plays a large part in its power. The final cue, "Dedication", offers a musical tribute to the lost, with Powell's own son performing the vocals.

This is not an album that will be enjoyed by the average film score collector, who wants rousing action music or lovely, hummable themes. I'm all for those scores when they're called for, Powell himself did a great job at just that with his follow-up score, X-3. Instead, this is simple, compelling music that suits the film perfectly and plays well on CD. (I will add that it may help a great deal to have seen the film.) After his fantastic output over the last few years, John Powell is certainly a composer to watch for."

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