Real Steel Score)

Danny Elfman is a composer I associate with the weird and zany, particularly when he scores for his long time collaborator Tim Burton. The score for Reel Steel however is Elfman like you have never heard him before. He has left zany aside and instead gone for a rocky orchestral sound in a way that cannot fail to captivate you as a listener. As a side note, I have read comments on past albums where score and song albums are both released - do not buy this expecting the songs from the film - you can find that here  Real Steel - Music From The Motion Picture . Buy Danny Elfman's score instead though, it's better!Firstly, the main theme as introduced in the opening track "Charlie Trains Atom" will really dictate how much you like the album as a whole because this theme saturates a large portion of the album. The main theme itself is fairly upbeat, although it does sometimes border on being cheesy in an uplifting way. That minor quibble aside, what makes this album is the number of variations of this theme, whether on the acoustic guitar, the orchestra, or choir, it sounds surprisingly fresh even after listening to the album the whole way through.Some tracks like "On The Move", "Into the Zoo", "It's Your Choice" are very much more electronic/rocky. One of my favourite tracks is "Twin Cities' Intro", which is short, but it combines rock, electronic and orchestral sections with such ease. As the previous reviewer said, there are also some nice vocal contributions from Poe (a singer I am not familiar with). Her voice is great and has exactly the right tone for the album on the tracks she features (Why We're Here" and "Parkway Motel"). Her contribution isn't a huge part on the album though. In addition, "Meet Atom" is my second favourite track on the album, which is largely orchestral with a bit of choir to add to the mix - stunning.I won't go into detail on every track, but I can't avoid "Final Round", which is by far the best track on the album by far. To say it is epic is doing it a disservice. At 6.54 in length, it's the longest track on the album. As a result, it really takes the time to build up, and just after the 5 minute mark, the choir and orchestra kick in and the resulting mix is spine tingling.Running in at just over 42 minutes, this is a relatively short release, but that doesn't matter at all. At the risk of sounding cliched, it does take you on a musical journey and by the end you aren't left feeling like you need any more...accept to press the play button and start it all over again. From a sound production perspective, the orchestra, electronic and rock elements are beautifully mixed making the album sound fantastic.Overall, I had heard good things about Reel Steel, but I wasn't prepared or expecting such a different sound from Elfman. And it works. If you think modern film scores sound formulaic, think again. This, I believe will stand as one of Elfman's best scores so don't hesitate to buy this absolute gem.

I gave up buying Danny Elfman's scores because I got disappointed with his latest works... but I read a positive review about this one I decided to give it a shot... and I don't regret it! It's a strong and fresh score. The first tracks catches you up! Maybe that's one of the few negative things: the first track is so good that the rest can't stand it. Anyway, I love this score.

First off all i did not see the movie.Second i am not a big fan of elfman!!But this is something special.A short (42 minutes) soundtrack but with beautiful melodies.There is a leading role in the tracks for acoustic guitar; electic guitar, piano and a brass section.The music rocks, swings, is delicate, gentle, optimistic and more.There is also an unknown singer to me named Poe who sings on two tracks wordless songs. nice!Also modern electronics are part of the soundtrack.A very nice surprise its is hard for me to imagine that the movie is as good as the soundtrack by elfman!!highly recommended