Cars

Randy Newman

Rating: 3.1


Randy Newman has historically been the composer of choice for director John Lasseter's Pixar films, and so, when Lasseter was announced as director for Cars, a Newman score was sure to be part of the package. Finding Nemo featured an excellent score from Thomas Newman (cousin of Randy Newman), and The Incredibles' music by Michael Giacchino was definitely a stand-out, both being welcome breaks from what had become a used Randy Newman Pixar sound. So, back on the Pixar production team, would Randy Newman manage anything new? Unfortunately, we can hardly tell from the album presentation.

This is the first time a Pixar film has stooped this low with its soundtrack, and they completely follow the shameful trend of making popular music the draw of the score. The assortment of pop, rock, country, and old swing on the beginning of this album is just fine if you can't get enough, well, pop, rock, country and old swing music. But I'm afraid that you can hear pretty much whatever you want of the music on the first half of this album by simply switching to you favorite FM station playing one of the above mentioned genres. While there is a nice ballad or two, that in no way makes up for the complete lack of quality displayed in the usual pop music sound upon which most of the songs are built. Both "Our Town" and "Find Yourself" are nice, but mean nothing to the score outside of their four minute lengths. If you absolutely need one of the songs on the cd, then by all means buy it. But be aware that the same thing has been done, and is being done, constantly, for the simple reason that it sells better in our modern 4 minute interest span culture. If that is the culture to which you subscribe, than buy the album, or better yet, download the songs you want off of itunes, because there is no reason to get more than your favorite tracks since the whole is nothing more than the fragments (which, in my opinion, should not be the case).

But enough on the pop music. What about the score? Randy Newman is back in his normal style, and there is basically nothing new or especially interesting. There are two types of music on display with his scoring: the race, driving orchestrations, and the slow paced country feel. Beginning the score section of the album, "Opening Race" employs much of the modern rhythmical tendencies of the string section, with Randy Newman's normal brass usage. "McQueen's Lost" introduces the electric guitar into the mix, and, as always, it is mixed loudly and very much in the foreground. One of the better tracks on the cd, the 0:59 long "Bessie" uses some 'dirty' sounding instruments and combinations in a nice way to create a somewhat original sound. For the next few tracks Randy Newman keeps up the slightly country sound, and uses the acoustic guitar for both the melody and chorded rhythm. In the last three tracks he goes back to the race type of scoring, finishing off the album in that style.

Randy Newman's score is not really that bad, and fans of his will undoubtedly be interested in the music here represented. If you, however, are looking for any sort of change from his normal animation style, look elsewhere. Of course, the first half of the album is a different story, and we can only hope that this type of low quality is not a trend any more Pixar movies will follow.

-Colin Thomson


Track List:

Real Gone
Route 66
Life Is A Highway
Behind The Clouds
Our Town
Sh-Boom
Route 66
Find Yourself
Opening Race
McQueen's Lost
My Heart Would Know
Bessie
Dirt Is Different
New Road
Tractor Tipping
McQueen & Sally
Goodbye
Pre-Race Pageantry
The Piston Cup
The Big Race