Hans Zimmer - Madagascar 1-2-3 [OST] + Rango [OST]

Hubo una polémica en 2006, ante el comentario de que Ennio Morricone había comentado en Bilbao, supuestamente, que no hacía comentarios sobre Zimmer porque no lo consideraba un verdadero compositor.  El propio Zimmer volvía a comentar que Morricone era amigo suyo y que la cuestión no era exactamente así.
En el fondo todo tiene que ver con la idea de si es o no licito que un compositor tenga varios ayudantes que se encargan de completar la banda sonora, proporcionando las orquestaciones, arreglos y acabado final, y por tanto donde comienza y acaba la autoría de una música y quien debe considerarse verdadero "autor".


Leer más: http://scoremusica.blogspot.com.ar/2006/12/hans-zimmer-versus-ennio-morricone.html

Madagascar Motion Picture Soundtrack

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Performer	Length
1.	"Best Friends"	Hans Zimmer, Heitor Pereira, Ryeland Allison & James S. Levine		2:24
2.	"I Like to Move It"	Erick Morillo & Mark H. Quashie	Sacha Baron Cohen	3:51
3.	"Hawaii Five-O"	Morton Stevens	The Ventures	1:49
4.	"Boogie Wonderland"	Allee Willis & Jonathan G. Lind	Earth, Wind & Fire	4:49
5.	"Whacked Out Conspiracy"	James Dooley		2:16
6.	"Chariots of Fire"	Evangelos Papathanassiou	Vangelis	3:29
7.	"Stayin' Alive"	Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb & Robin Gibb	the Bee Gees	4:44
8.	"Zoosters Breakout"	Hans Zimmer		1:39
9.	"Born Free"	John Barry		1:24
10.	"The Fossa Attack"	Heitor Pereira		0:37
11.	"Beacon of Liberty"	Hans Zimmer & James S. Levine		2:09
12.	"What a Wonderful World"	Bob Thiele & George David Weiss	Louis Armstrong	2:16
Total length:				31:27

Filmtracks: Madagascar (Hans Zimmer/Various)
Editorial Review:    Written 5/21/05, Revised 9/21/11 - Filmtracks Rank: #174

Madagascar: (Hans Zimmer/Various) From the writer and director of Antz and The Ren & Stimpy Show comes Madagascar, the 2005 production from the PDI/DreamWorks studio that had just brought the two initial, extremely popular Shrek movies to the big screen. The short animated film has all the glitz and visual attraction for kids, and while its premise is rich with promise, the execution of the story seems to have gone awry in critics' views. A giraffe, lion, hippo, and zebra live the pampered life in New York City's Central Zoo and, mostly featuring recognizably famous voices, their personalities carry them on a journey that involves an escape from the zoo and consequent travel back to the wild. When their transport becomes lost at sea off the large East-African island nation of Madagascar, the animals have to cope with real life on the island. Somewhere at this point, the story loses all cohesion and this plot summary ends. It's frightening to imagine that it actually spawned a sequel film, speaking once again to the stupidity of the general public. As a purely slapstick-style, lowest-common-denominator comedy, Madagascar relies heavily on its soundtrack to accentuate its sense of humor. This "music director" technique involved the incorporation of well known songs of the 1960's and 1970's into the picture (you've got to love the fact that studios sometimes go the less expensive route of obtaining the rights to songs that no longer demand top dollar for reuse) and, to a lesser extent, an original score. One of the prevailing head-scratchers involving Madagascar is composer Hans Zimmer's choice to leave the Ridley Scott mammoth Kingdom of Heaven in favor of this Dreamworks project. Former collaborator Harry Gregson-Williams, a composer coming dangerously close at the time to surpassing Zimmer in overall quality of output, in turn took the leap from Madagascar to Kingdom of Heaven with very impressive results, despite Scott's butchering and replacing of the score in the final film. Upon hearing Madagascar on album and pondering the tepid critical response, Zimmer's choice is all the more confusing. Perhaps there was some legal or technical reason for Zimmer to be stuck with Madagascar instead, because you certainly can't hear the validation in musical form on the abysmal album for the soundtrack. Perhaps not surprisingly, the composer relied heavily upon his in-house Media Ventures/Remote Control team of ghostwriters to handle the bulk of duties on the assignment, perhaps allowing Zimmer an easy out but also ensuring absolutely no coherent flow to the entirety of the score.
   
The collection of most obvious song placements from Madagascar occupies over two thirds of the running time on the album, and a fatal flaw is that the songs have absolutely nothing to do with one another. Placing "I Like to Move It" next to the theme from "Hawaii Five-0," "Chariots of Fire" (John Williams fans continue to cringe) next to "Stayin' Alive," and what little frenetic score there is next to Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World," is a recipe for disaster. The songs are all overplayed, especially the Armstrong one, and there was initially doubt that the collection would even suffice to drive album sales. Despite crediting Hans Zimmer first on the packaging for the soundtrack, the composer's contribution on that album amounts to five minutes of actual original material. Of those minutes, less than two offer his solo work. The opening song, "Best Friends," is a catchy original tune penned by Zimmer and his hoard of ghostwriters. It wouldn't be so irritating if the theme didn't sound so much like the main Sesame Street song. The assistants continue to contribute in the marginal score cues, with Jim Dooley providing a shameless rip-off of high crime jazz staples (and Michael Giacchino's The Incredibles, which had top of mind awareness at the time) in "Whacked Out Conspiracy." The only solo Zimmer track is a frenetic little string cue, "Zoosters Breakout," that builds up to the score's only statement of the theme from the opening song, exuding the lightheartedness of Nine Months throughout its length. Ironically, this "Zoosters Breakout" theme is apparently the main identity of the franchise, recurring several times in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa rather than the opening song's melody. In fact, the only redemption in any of this original material comes when Zimmer's theme is expanded upon with lovely woodwinds in the sequel's opening cue, "Once Upon a Time in Africa." The best track on the Madagascar album is "Born Free," which, contrary to the packaging, is not written by Zimmer. His adaptation of the famous 1964 Academy Award-winning John Barry theme accompanies a fantasy sequence in the film, and to hear the slower paces of Barry's great theme in the middle of all this garbage is either a great relief or just another parody insult. Heitor Pereira's "The Foosa Attack" is a terrible drum loop nightmare for 30 seconds before the final score cue, co-written by Zimmer and James S. Levine, attempts to insert some hip 70's spirit from "Stayin' Alive" into fragments of the "Zoosters Breakout" theme. Overall, this album is an insufferable mess. The film's running time indicates that there must be more score material by Zimmer and his ghostwriters than just the ten minutes here.


Madagascar 2 Motion Picture Soundtrack

No.	Title	Performer(s)	Length
1.	"Once Upon A Time In Africa"	Hans Zimmer	3:44
2.	"The Traveling Song"	will.i.am	3:25
3.	"Party, Party, Party"	Hans Zimmer	3:31
4.	"I Like to Move It"	will.i.am	3:41
5.	"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Polka Version)"	Hans Zimmer	0:54
6.	"Big and Chunky"	will.i.am	3:21
7.	"Chums"	Heitor Pereira	2:15
8.	"New York, New York (Polka Version)"	Hans Zimmer	1:30
9.	"Volcano"	Hans Zimmer	2:49
10.	"Rescue Me"	Hans Zimmer	3:36
11.	"More than a Feeling"	Boston	4:45
12.	"She Loves Me"	will.i.am	1:45
13.	"Foofie"	Hans Zimmer	2:39
14.	"Copacabana (At the Copa)"	Barry Manilow	4:06
15.	"Monochromatic Friends"	Hans Zimmer	3:02
16.	"Best Friends"	will.i.am	2:25
17.	"Alex On The Spot"	Hans Zimmer and will.i.am	1:58
Total length:			49:26

Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am and Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer collaborated on four songs for the Madagascar 2 film's soundtrack. The animals dance and celebrate to the movie's theme song, "I Like To Move It," which is sung by will.i.am.


Madagascar 3 Motion Picture Soundtrack

No.	Title	Music	Performer	Length
1.	"New York City Surprise"	Hans Zimmer		3:05
2.	"Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)"		Danny Jacobs	2:15
3.	"Wannabe"		Danny Jacobs	2:37
4.	"Game On"	Hans Zimmer		3:12
5.	"Hot In Herre"		Danny Jacobs	2:27
6.	"We No Speak Americano"	Yolanda Be Cool	Yolanda Be Cool	4:29
7.	"Light The Hoop On Fire!"	Hans Zimmer		3:10
8.	"Fur Power!"	Hans Zimmer		2:18
9.	"Non Je Ne Regrette Rien"		Frances McDormand	1:13
10.	"Love Always Comes As A Surprise"	Peter Asher	Peter Asher	3:21
11.	"Rescue Stefano"	Hans Zimmer		5:51
12.	"Firework"	Katy Perry	Katy Perry	3:46
13.	"Afro Circus/I Like to Move It"		Chris Rock & Danny Jacobs	2:41
Total length:				40:25

I’ve enjoyed the two previous scores in the series despite it being a bit on the short side. This soundtrack includes 5 tracks from Zimmer while the rest are mainly songs by Danny Jacobs, The Capitols, Frances McDormand, Pether Asher, Katy Perry and Chris Rock. As usual, I will happily ignore them while I focus only on the score by Hans Zimmer.
Let me just get it out there, I think that the main theme for Madagascar is one of the finest themes Hans Zimmer has written and luckily for me (and you) it is included in the opening cue ‘New York City Surprise’. It is a vibrant and fun as ever and I enjoyed this version of the main theme just as much as I have enjoyed the others over the years. Other than that there is a fantastic cue with a massive Russian choir (except the song isn’t that much Russian sounding) called ‘Light the Hoop on Fire’. I can only assume they are trying to do a great trick in the circus while traveling through Russia perhaps? Either way, this is a superb track with ups and downs, lots of emotions and fun.
‘Game On’ is very funny track with a little bit of Spanish tango, like a duel is about to start. What’s even more fun is the play on John Williams ‘Jaws’ theme. It sounds so out of place that it works within the tango inspired theme. ‘Fur Power!’ is the weakest cue on the score, not because it isn’t good, but because it’s not Zimmer’s work, it’s a version of the patriotic British song ‘Land of Hope and Glory’. ‘Rescue Stefano is the last Zimmer cue on the score, the most quiet of all the cues here and it’s quite good. The bed of strings has a slow patient buildup, but keep listening and you shall be rewarded.


BONUS:

Rango Motion Picture Soundtrack

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Welcome Amigo"	Rick Garcia	1:06
2.	"Rango Suite"	Hans Zimmer	5:57
3.	"Certain Demise"	Hans Zimmer	0:24
4.	"Medley - It's A Metaphore / Forkboy"	Hans Zimmer / Lard	0:43
5.	"Welcome to Dirt"	Hans Zimmer	0:58
6.	"Name's Rango"	Hans Zimmer	1:31
7.	"Lizard for Lunch"	Jose Hernandez, Anthony Zuniga, Robert Lopez	1:26
8.	"Stuck in Guacamole"	Hans Zimmer	0:21
9.	"Underground"	Hans Zimmer	3:18
10.	"We Ride, Really!"	Hans Zimmer	0:50
11.	"Rango and Beans"	Hans Zimmer	1:04
12.	"Medley - Bats / Rango Theme / Ride of the Valkyries / An Der Schonen Blauen Donau, OP. 314"	Hans Zimmer / Hans Zimmer / FirstCom Music / Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan	4:28
13.	"The Bank's Been Robbed"	Rick Garcia	0:22
14.	"Rango Returns"	Hans Zimmer	1:16
15.	"La Muerte a Llegado"	Rick Garcia & George DelHoyo	0:44
16.	"It's a Miracle"	Hans Zimmer	1:57
17.	"El Canelo"	Los Lobos	0:44
18.	"The Sunset Shot"	Hans Zimmer	0:53
19.	"Walk Don't Rango"	Los Lobos	2:47
20.	"Rango Theme Song"	Los Lobos	3:29
Total length:			34:18

Western Wacky Weirdness
Review by Helen San

If the soundtracks of RAISING ARIZONA (CARTER BURWELL) and ANTZ (JOHN POWELL AND HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS) had a love child, it would be RANGO (HANS ZIMMER). Calling this album “quirky” would be an understatement. Wicked zany crazy would be more like it.

The movie is a mishmash of classic cinema references, so it comes as no surprise that the music has everything but the kitchen sink. With a hodgepodge of different genres from mariachi yodeling (WTF?) to classical to even a few seconds of industrial metal (courtesy of punk band Lard), the album listens like the playlist of someone with ADHD. The transitions are jerky, sudden, and unpredictable. You feel like you’re falling through a rabbit hole into The Land of Soundtrack Weirdness.

Actually, most of it is The Land of Album Badness. (Not to be confused with badass-ness.) If there are any soundtrack producers reading this, please allow me to outline some rules from the consumer’s point of view--and use RANGO as an example of what NOT to do:

1. Don’t make itty bitty tracks. No music, no matter how outstanding, is worth the annoyance of a fleeting glimpse without follow through. (And imagine our disappointment when the music isn’t outstanding.) RANGO has 3 tracks under 30 seconds, 6 tracks under 60 seconds, and 4 tracks under 90 seconds. Thirteen out of the 20 tracks can be measured in seconds. If you have to include tiny cues, combine them. Really.

2. Don’t include narrations or dialogue in the soundtrack. The whole point of buying a soundtrack is to be able to listen to music without the dialogue. Nine tracks (45%) have voiceovers. Three tracks, “Certain Demise” (3), “Stuck in Guacamole” (8), and “El Canelo” (17) are nothing but voiceovers with stock background music. I mean, c’mon.

3. Group score tracks together. Although I understand the attraction of putting the tracks in order of appearance in the movie, it is so much easier on film score fans if the score tracks and song/dialogue tracks were grouped separately. In RANGO’s case, sorting through 20 tracks to find the ones that we’re interested in is a bit tedious, especially when so many of them are worse than disinteresting.

4. OK, this is nitpicking now, but spellcheck your track titles. In RANGO, “La Muerte A Llegado” is misspelled. It should read “La Muerte Ha Llegado.” It just doesn’t help the general sloppy feel of the album, like it was thrown together carelessly by someone who didn’t give a damn.

Having catharted my irritability, I’m ready to talk about what we really came for: HANS ZIMMER. Not counting the three tiny dialogue tracks with pedestrian mariachi in the backdrop, Zimmer has 12 tracks on this album, totaling roughly 25 minutes of score time. My recommendation is to get some sound editing software to cut out the voiceovers and extraneous annoyance, and make your own Zimmer RANGO album thus:

2. Rango Suite
4. Medley - It's A Metaphore / Forkboy
5. Welcome To Dirt (Edit out 9 seconds at beginning)
6. Name’s RANGO (Edit out 10 seconds at beginning, 9 seconds at the end)
7. Lizard For Lunch (Edit out 40 seconds of yodeling at the beginning)
9. Underground
10. We Ride, Really! (Edit out 4 seconds at beginning)
11. Rango And Beans
12. Medley - Bats / RANGO Theme / Ride Of The Valkyries / An Der Schonen Blauen Donau, OP. 314. (Johnny Depp does this bizarre sighing and “whee-ing” in the middle, but there is nothing we can do about that.)
14. Rango Returns
16. It’s A Miracle
18. The Sunset Shot (Ends very abruptly, so in your playlist, move this track before “It’s A Miracle,” which has a decent finale)

Or if you just want to buy-and-go, go with this:

2. Rango Suite
9. Underground
11. Rango And Beans
14. Rango Returns
16. It’s A Miracle
18. The Sunset Shot

"Lizards for Lunch" (7) actually has a fantastic action cue (4 stars) for 45 seconds after the 40 seconds of Mexican yodeling (1 star). If you can edit out the yodeling, this track would make a great listen.

Album badness not withstanding, RANGO is actually an above average score. It has whiffs of Zimmerian quirkiness heard in SHERLOCK HOLMES and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, and even oldies like AS GOOD AS IT GETS. In general, the wild west with a cartoonish feel dominates the flavor of this music, which is not surprising, given this is an animated picture about the wild west. The main theme is memorable and heroic (albeit it a tad repetitive), reoccurring with different tempos and instruments, including banjo and whistling.

We also get very nice cues depicting action, passion, mourning, humor, reflection, ovation, and of course, weirdness. The central character is a chameleon actor with a sort of multiple personality problem, after all. Zimmer’s signature energy is here, though very short-lived. There is just too wide of a range of emotions, not to mention all the derivative and adapted music, to cram into 25 minutes of score.

The derivative nods to other films, like the imitation Magnificent Seven theme (ELMER BERNSTEIN) in “We Ride, Really” (10) or adaptations of classical pieces, like the Ride of the Valkyries and the Blue Danube in “Medley – Bats” (12) feel like yet another distraction. If only the tracks were more thoughtfully presented, RANGO could have been an enjoyable addition to one’s Zimmer collection.

As a biased Zimmer fan, I'd like to rate the score a 6/10, maybe 7/10, if I get to just rate the 6 tracks I recommended above (since I am on a deleting rampage anyway). Someone who is not so biased might go with 5 -- or less.

For those who are not fans of Zimmer, I’m afraid there are few to no redeeming features in this album. I hate to do this to a Zimmer album, but I feel like I can’t go higher than a 4/10.

‘Cause don’t forget, RANGO’s the love child of RAISING ARIZONA and ANTZ.

ENLACES/FUENTES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar_%28soundtrack%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar:_Escape_2_Africa#Soundtrack
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar_3:_Europe%27s_Most_Wanted#Soundtrack
http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/madagascar.html
http://www.hanszimmer.com/
http://thepiratebay.se/search/hans+zimmer/0/3/104   [FLAC]
http://thepiratebay.se/search/hans+zimmer/0/3/101   [mp3]
http://thepiratebay.se/search/rango/0/3/100
http://www.soundtrack.net/albums/database/?id=3758
http://www.soundtrack.net/albums/database/?id=5450
http://www.soundtrack.net/albums/database/?id=7675
http://www.soundtrackgeek.com/v2/soundtrack-review-madagascar-3-europes-most-wanted/
http://www.tracksounds.com/reviews/rango_hans_zimmer.htm