The first film launched by Dreamworks Studios, The Peacemaker also served as another potential boost for ER’s George Clooney, fresh off a more disastrous Batman and Robin.  Mimi Leder was given the opportunity to helm this action thriller of nuclear terrorism and Clooney’s US Army colonel and a civilian specialist, Nicole Kidman, must try and stop the use of stolen Russian nuclear weapons.  The film was scored by Hans Zimmer who would helm the studio’s film music department and over the next decade (for better or worse depending on your point of view) would change the landscape of film scoring.  La-La Land Records has pulled together score for a 2-disc limited edition run of 3000 copies.

Within Zimmer’s own composing approaches, The Peacemaker becomes a sort of window into the threshold that he was on at this point.  The use of Russian choral sounds (heard in the opening “Voice of God/Vassily’s Dilemma”) becomes a core idea the way it was in Crimson Tide (1995).  The use of added electronics against the orchestra (“Hijack”) features an interesting blend of the sort of then current action music but with this added synth sound that was distinct from other music.  Within this sound though are pretty much all the hallmarks of a musical style that would become Zimmer’s standard scoring style.  One can certainly here ideas that would be reapplied in scores like Gladiator and even the more recent Batman works.  The action music has an edge that was explored already in 1996’s The Rock.  What is interesting in this score is to still hear some woodwind lines that have a bit of character and which float to the top of the massed blocks of sound.  There are other solo lines that also may come floating out of the textures as well which makes the score equally more interesting.  That the score is exciting is not to be denied.  The brass ideas are in keeping with what one would come to hear as common gestures in later works.  Thematic threads are also part of the texture, scored in very similar ways to what fans would come to appreciate.  A variety of interesting electronics (“Keep on Truckin’/Head of Transportation/Hasselhoff/Escape”) also help add more rhythmic energy and are often layered over the orchestra.  The use of a cimbalom and a gypsy-like violin solo, often with the character Dusan, adds some interesting color.  The “infamous” (or soon to be overused cliche) vocalise makes its appearance here in “Get Me Authorized”.  The almost Wagnerian elegiac sections are also another of those personal stamps that would become an essential component to Zimmer’s work in the years to come.

The dramatic thrust of the score works very well and one can get a sense of this continued pull and energy that Zimmer brought to this score.  The use of the choral vocalizations works quite well to create an instant connection with the narrative while the more rock-like undercurrents (“He’s Going to New York”) add the sort of edge that some assumed was missing in more traditional orchestral writing.  In some respects, The Peacemaker becomes an essential score for getting a good glimpse of Zimmer’s work as the 1990s came to a close.  It may even mark a turning point that finds a steady stream of excellent work in the years that followed.  For those less appreciative of Zimmer’s musical approach, the score is certainly a great action piece from the period with engaging thematic material.

La-La Land has made sure that there is plenty of music here to go around.  The score proper spills over onto disc two with three tracks.  Then they have included the complete original album presentation which, like many of Zimmer’s score releases, features “suites” of music from the film.  Fans will now have a chance to better discover the way these concepts of Zimmer’s scores worked having had a chance to hear the original appearances in the film with more scrutiny.  There is also an alternate version of the cue “Get Me Authorized” here featuring Lisbeth Scott early in her career.  The film used the vocalizing of Mamak Khadem.  And, an arrangement of music from the score appears in the final track of “trailer music.”  All in all, this is a great release for fans of Zimmer’s music and action scores in general.  The sound is simply superb with great detail for both orchestral ideas and the different layered electronics.

For many, the appearance and rise of Zimmer’s musical style and the resulting compositional approaches meant the death of film music.  Perhaps The Peacemaker allows us to see how the appearance of popular music composers with a rock background differed from the generation of composers who cut their teeth in jazz and orchestral settings of the 1950s and 1960s.  It is not a matter of which is “better”, though the internet was certainly filled with vitriol over this music.  Over a decade later, the dust has settled a bit, and fans of current film music will find a great deal to enjoy in this early Zimmer score.  Even those less likely to appreciate the composer’s music will need to admit that there is a lot of exciting and effective music here from an important stage of development in film and in the career of one of the current giants of film music, Hans Zimmer.

Perhaps to coincide with the already disappearing race car film Rush, La-La Land has released this earlier race car film featuring a score by Hans Zimmer.  Days of Thunder is a Tony Scott film and Tom Cruise vehicle that pits a somewhat arrogant new driver in competition at top-level racing.  Hans Zimmer provided the high-octane score.

Days of Thunder was early in the composer’s career coming on the heels of two highly successful films: Rain Man (1988) and Driving Miss Daisy (1989).  Both of these scores featured a shift from the highly-scored orchestral music of the period and began incorporating synth sounds in lieu of some orchestral instruments.  Zimmer’s music was only just beginning to be noticed in the industry and would soon become a driving force behind how current film scoring has ended up.  The present score appeared at a time when there was still a growing divide between those who appreciated this approach and those who detested it altogether.

The score here is basically a rock score that perfectly matches the on-screen action and lends it some of the extra energy that somehow was lacking in a racing film.  The opening main title sets this up fairly well presenting some thematic threads that will recur throughout the score.  This three minutes of music turns out to be about all the score is about as further rock tropes and gestures tend to follow throughout the rest of the presentation.  The sound is still very much a part of the musical rock world of the 1980s (sort of like Genesis) and when some of the synth and orchestral materials it feels more like a sports movie melding Vangelis and Bill Conti.  While this may seem somewhat unique, on its own the score tends to become rather boring within minutes.  The ten-minute “The Last Race” has one routing that the race would end far sooner.  There are some moments of relaxation related to Cole which sound a bit like music that was unused for Driving Miss Daisy (all the rhythms and gestures are there minus the clarinet theme).  The score presentation ends with “The Last Note of Freedom” performed by David Coverdale.

As is the case with many of La-La Land’s releases, there are several alternate tracks included as well to make this as complete a release as possible.  The accompanying booklet and sound are all up to the label’s fine standards.  Unlike many of the lesser scores released by the label, this one really will be perfect for Zimmer completists.  There is not enough interesting material here to warrant the curious.  The disc will perhaps be great for those long drives when listeners want to put the pedal down a bit.   This is one situation where the rating is more about the score itself and less about the otherwise fine stellar production.  It is also a mark of the label’s dedication to all types of film music that continue to impress appreciative film music fans of diverse tastes.