See larger image For Your Entertainment (Audio CD) List Price: $17.99 USD New From: $8.84 In Stock Used From: $7.62 In Stock Released November 23, 2009.

Like the song says, 'Let's Give Them Something to Talk About'.  Adam Lambert took that suggestion to heart Sunday night at the American Music Awards and left the attendees talking well into the after-parties I am sure.

In a performance that surely has Freddie Mercury giving a heavenly standing ovation, Adam strutted, preened and squealed his way through a risqué rendition of “For Your Entertainment” that appeared to completely stun the audience at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre and the millions watching the American Music Awards live on ABC. Rumor has it that the producers had no idea that the mano-a-mano gum exchange was to happen. Go Adam!

"For Your Entertainment" will be released today (November 23) and the title-track lead single sold 18,000 in its first week of release, according to SoundScan, while "Time for Miracles" has sold 68,000 in three weeks. This comes on top of the 997,000 digital tracks sold of Lambert's songs from "Idol."

In spite of the claims that there is some kind of competition still ongoing between Lambert and Kris whats-his-face (ok, I know it's Allen), I leave that debate to the rabid American Idol lovers. For the more pragmatic, it's easy to see that these two artists live in completely different universes so any 'comparison' between the two is merely Idol driven noise. I myself find nothing special about Kris Allen which is not to say that he isn't talented - just not terribly outstanding.

Adam on the other hand rose above all the other contestants and demonstrated a gift for vocals and showmanship that was sorely lacking in the karaoke-like season that was American Idol 2009. BTW, I loved the debut album form Tears For Fears and Adam's rendition of Mad World was beyond amazing!

All that said, I suspect that  a large portion of the debate will be around who ya love. I sincerely hope that Adam is not stupid enough to expect to ride the gay train to success. It's gotten old already Adam. Outside of flash in the pan headlines, nobody really cares enough about who you choose to sleep with to make that the reason to buy your music. Adam is truly gifted and with the right management, should be a welcome change to the dreadfully dull, predictable pop music landscape that we suffer with today.

Tags: Adam Lambert, American Idol, American Music Award, Freddie Mercury, Kris Allen

MovieScore Media are set to release the series two soundtrack to Merlin. The second series ("season" in the U.S.) is still airing in the UK, so some of the music on the CD won't actually have been heard by viewers yet in context with the show.

The soundtrack contains music composed by Rob Lane and Rohan Stevenson and runs for 50 minutes. It features a carefully assembled selection from the second series composed by the Emmy-nominated Rob Lane (the composer of the Merlin series 1 soundtrack as well as acclaimed scores such as John Adams, Elizabeth I, Jane Eyre, Longford and Tess of the d'Urbervilles) and Rohan Stevenson. You can hear four sample tracks at Screen Archives.com.

The music in Merlin is really quite epic so this is a must have for soundtrack fans. You'll be able to grab in on November 17 from iTunes and the CD will be released November 24. As yet I haven't seen a link on Amazon for it though. You can however pre-order the CD from Screen Archives.com.

Tags: Merlin

Just two weeks ago I wrote about NBC's new medical action-drama series Trauma, commenting specifically that it was a new series in which to hear famed Battlestar Galactica composer Bear McCreary's latest music. I also commented that I wouldn't actually watch the show as I had heard it wasn't going to last.

Turns out that was true, because news is NBC has axed it already. Word is the show will play out its initial 13-episode order, after which it will go the way of the dodo.

I wonder if this means we'll never see a soundtrack released of Bear McCreary's Trauma score? McCreary has yet to update his blog with a comment about the show's cancellation, but I'm guessing even when he does, this is one score of his that'll never be released (happy to be proven wrong though).

Tags: Trauma

Edge of Darkness is a new thriller from Casino Royale director Martin Campbell starring Mel Gibson as a cop who investigates the murder of his daughter, only to uncover secret details about her life that lead him into a world of corporate cover-ups and government collusion.

The music score to the film was composed by John Corigliano, the famed contemporary concert musician who won an Oscar for his film score to 1998's The Red Violin. Edge of Darkness was his first film score since The Red Violin, but unfortunately for Corigliano (and his many, many fans) the studio decided his music didn't suit and replaced him with Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings).

Apparently the film was more of a thriller than an action movie when Corigliano was hired to score it. After he scored it, Warner Bros. purchased full rights to the film from producer GK Productions and decided they wanted to turn it into an action film instead. They filmed additional and more violent scenes and then decided they needed a new score to reflect the new direction of the film.

Corigliano was unavailable to re-score the film and, in an interview with Moviescore magazine, confirms that he probably wouldn't have been a good fit for the new direction anyway, saying,"the change was probably for the best.”

Interestingly, Howard Shore once composed the score for another Mel Gibson film (Ransom) but was himself later replaced by James Horner. 

Tags: Edge of Darkness

The official Avatar website has gone live. To be honest, I'm pretty disappointed that there doesn't seem to be much there, however soundtrack fans will be pleased to hear a few snippets from James Horner's score playing in the background.

Although the music on the site is in low quality, and although there's not a lot of it, I like what I hear. It sounds very native, even western at times, but exactly the kind of music I've been thinking would suit the film. After leaving the site open for a while and just listening, I can see this will be a soundtrack to add to the collection.

There's also a few new images to be found, one of which I've included above. You can see more on the website or via Avatar on Flickr.

Visit the site here.

Tags: Avatar

The Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack has followed in the footsteps of the Twilight soundtrack to achieve a No.1 ranking on the Billboard Top 200.

Upon release The Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack sold 115,000 copies, but over the course of its second week of release managed to increase that number by 33% (159,000) to snare the no.1 spot.

New Moon is only the second soundtrack to top the Billboard 200 in 2009 (the other was Hannah Montana: The Movie).

Despite the phenomenal success of the song soundtrack, I'm still completely uninterested in it. I'll be holding out for The Twilight Saga: New Moon score by Alexandre Desplat, which is due for release November 24.

Source: Billboard

Tags: The Twilight Saga: New Moon

I first heard Danny Elfman's Terminator Salvation soundtrack before I'd seen the film, and I didn't like it. The music sounded nothing like what I expected Terminator music to sound like, and I was disappointed.

I didn't listen again to the score until I had seen the movie. The music suited the film and, with that awareness, I thought I'd give the score a second chance. I'm glad I did, because the Terminator Salvation soundtrack has become my favorite score of 2009 to date.

First, let me just get out of the way the obvious issue most people have with this score - whilst the iconic Terminator theme does appear in Terminator Salvation, it doesn't on the soundtrack. Elfman's take is nothing like Brad Fiedel's Terminator soundtrack or his exceptional Terminator 2: Judgment Day film score. Neither is it like Bear McCreary's also exceptional Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles score (which takes it's cues from Fiedel's iconic music).

The best way to approach this soundtrack is by considering the music on its own merit, and forgetting that it's a Terminator score all together.  Once you move past that, this score has some damn cool music to offer and, once you give the score a fair chance, it's hard not to conclude it's the best thing about the film.  By fair chance I mean listen to it a few times on some damn good headphones. On its own merits, blasting through some high quality earphones, it's nothing short of friggin awesome.

Read more...

Tags: Danny Elfman, Terminator Salvation

James Horner is one of Hollywood's A-List composers and, since I've had the pleasure of meeting him, I can say he's also one of the nicest.

He's also one of the most popular. Recently Intrada released a limited 1500 copy run of a rare score of his from the 1993 movie House of Cards.  The release completely sold out within hours.

If you missed out on buying it but want to hear some tracks from it, Intrada have samples on their House of Cards product page here.

But if you'd prefer to get yourself one of these now extremely rare CD's, there is a way - but it won't last long.

It seems someone purchased one of Intrada's limited release scores for the sole purpose of selling it and they've already put it up for auction on Ebay.

So if you want your chance to win this CD at auction, the place to go is here:

James Horner's Limited Edition House of Cards Soundtrack (Ebay auction)

Tags: House of Cards, James Horner

 

Bear McCreary has firmly established himself as one of the best, if not the best, music composer in television. If you're wondering what TV Show's he's working on at the moment, you might like to tune in to NBC's Trauma.

Trauma is a new "action series disguised as a medical drama" that focuses on first responder paramedics in San Francisco.  Personally, I love Bear McCreary's music but I have no love for crime and medical shows, so I haven't seen Trauma and probably never will. I've also heard the show is not doing so well and may not get a second season, so that adds to my "I dont' give a rats about it" (other than the music) factor.

Read more...

Tags: Anastasia Griffith, Bear McCreary, Trauma