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Just like every other review I've written for a major motion picture score I have to preempt the main event and say that I'm probably the last person that should comment on the soundtrack to a movie. I know it sounds kind of harsh putting myself down but in general movie scores aren't my thing - the music working in context and not living beyond it. However, given the borderline man-crush I have for Twister - my guilty pleasure of a bad movie if there ever was one - the reasons why the music lives on outside of the movie are all too clear.
So why does Twister's score prevail where others have failed. Well, I think a lot of that has to do with composer Mark Mancina. In general I'm not the biggest fan of the bombastic, orchestral stylings that Hollywood brings to the table in a lot of motion pictures. Sometimes I feel that orchestrating a piece of music is an easy way out, an easy way to build suspense. Listening to this score, I have little problem admitting that Twister takes this route. So if Mancina takes "the easy way out" why am I so attracted to his work? Well, a lot of it has to do with complexity. Again, I am probably the last person that should have an opinion on it given my general lack of experience with the genre, but when listening to the music on this disc I don't think Mancina breaks the bank with these compositions. In a certain sense I think music is a little, shall we say, underdeveloped. Well, that's not really the right word per say, but the music really strikes me as something that hard-core film score buffs would find a little underwhelming. I know a lot of the above is hypothetical and I'm not trying to put any words into anyone's mouth but I simply believe there is better film-based music out there.
Given that, the question remains why does Twister's score seem so attractive? It's accessible - very accessible. Perhaps too accessible but accessible nonetheless. It's kind of like the shallow end of a pool. The water in the deep end is too cold to just jump right in so you systematically inch in from the stairs at the less abrasive end. I know that such an analogy is really far from being any kind of complement and is rather unjust towards Mancina's work but you can't always force the listener to dive right in and appreciate every nuance of what's before them. You need works that bridge the gap and that is where I think the score to Twister scores most - if not all - of its points.
So while it's pretty clear I enjoy the music as it's presented in the movie, does it make the successful transition to a standalone experience? Does it remain buoyant or does it sink to the darkest depths? Well, generally it remains afloat but there are two things that complicate the endeavor - the first being the tracks do not appear in the order they appear during the movie. The score opens with "Wheatfield" which is heard shortly after the flashback to Joe's childhood but after that the track listing hops around a lot and tracks like "Drive In" and "The Big Suck" simply come up to bat too early. You'd think you could solve this problem simply by rearranging the order the tracks play in but you can't since the first six tracks have the unfortunate bonus of flowing into one another.
Complicating things even further is the inclusion of material that didn't make it into the movie. You might think that fleshing out these pieces would be a good idea but as spiteful as it might seem I'm only interested in the parts that actually have context. Pieces without homes in the movie ("Where's My Truck?") can drag out the experience and some of them that are a mix of both ("Wakita") meander to the point where my attention starts to wonder. This isn't to say these sections can't be interesting: the opening of "Sculptures" really hides the familiar piece it finally evolves into and "Cow" is really all over the place (in a good way) as it covers several important refrains in its five minute play time. That aside I still have to say this soundtrack would be much more attractive if it was simple and streamlined and tracks ended on the notes they ended on in the film.
Another major of the album really revolves around "William Tell / Oklahoma Medley" otherwise known as the "storm chasers" medley. I'm sorry but this piece needs to be closer to the version heard in the movie. It's an instrumental part of the movie and to hear it in such an unfinished state doesn't really do it any justice. It really feels "half full" where it stands now. The final nail in the coffin for most will be this score's price. Because of its age this motion picture score is obviously out of print and copies fetch a decent amount on the second hand market. Even as a fan of the music I have to question how many people will take the plunge especially after all the negatives I listed above. I have to admit it's a pretty pricey expenditure.
As detrimental as the faults may be I can't stay mad at the Twister: Motion Picture Score even knowing what I know. Even the track titles put a smile on my face as they come up, cleverly alluding to their given scenes in the movie. A rousing refrain is all it takes to remind me of my favorite crappy (and poorly edited) movie. I admit it's doubtful that this will find a home in the collections of those not into film scores but for those looking for gateway into that realm of music Twister's not a bad place to start.
