For about a year now, movies based on comic books or graphic novels have been big-sellers at the box office. Movies like The Crow, Tank Girl, Batman Forever, and the latest, Judge Dredd, have something else in common--good soundtracks.
However, the JD soundtrack is different from the others because it not only includes the standard tracks by various alternative bands, it also includes the movie's score, composed and conducted by Alan Silvestri, who has also been involved with music in over 40 other films (including The Bodyguard, Back to the Future, and Blown Away). Silvestri has done a fantastic job in contributing to the distressing nature of Judge Dredd with the music he selected and helped create.
The album starts off with the Cure's "Dredd Song", a track with lots of heavy percussion and unsettlingly melodramatic vocals/lyrics. This song is not the Cure's best, but until the Cure's new album comes out in early '96, it will be enough to satiate many fans.
The The's "Darkness Falls" is next, and it is smashing, of course. It's nice to hear something original from the band since the last release was a covers album. Like most of the other songs on the soundtrack, this track has a melancholy/not-sure-if-we're-scared-or-angry-or-tired feeling to it, carried to the extreme by Matt Johnson's vocals about "a storm coming to this ol' town", and that "you are blessed, I am cursed", repeated over guitars dipped in foreboding and sprinkled with doom.
White Zombie's "Super-Charger Heaven" seems almost too energetic to fit well on this soundtrack, but represents the feelings of angst, frustration, and confusion that afflict the good Judge throughout the movie. This is a standard White Zombie track in every way--in fact, it was already present on their most recent album, Astro-Creep: 2000.
I thought I would never in my lifetime hear a Cocteau Twins song on a soundtrack, especially a Cocteau Twins song done specifically for the soundtrack. Such is the case with "Need-Fire"--it will not be featured on any of their upcoming LP's or EP's, according to CT's Robin Guthrie. This song is very hard to like at first, even for the band's biggest fans. But after five to ten listens, it is easier to appreciate the heavy percussion and less harmonious style the Cocteau Twins suddenly adopted for this song.
Finally, Leftfield contributes "Release the Pressure", a reggae-ish techno tune that appeared on their (upcoming U.S.) album Leftism. This track finishes off the set of actual "songs" included on the soundtrack. Yet for some reason, I think that John Lydon screaming "burn Hollywood burn" over some Leftfield music placed here would have added an interesting twist to the soundtrack...
The score, which is the dominant musical influence in the movie, is good--more subdued than many other motion picture scores. After seeing the movie twice, however, I found myself a little disappointed that Judge Dredd had not taken after The Crow a bit more, in the sense that the "real" music should have been given more of a chance to enhance the artistic and dramatic qualities of the movie. One can hear only a few seconds of each of the songs besides "Dredd Song" (played over end credits). This is a true waste, especially considering that good soundtracks such as this one are rare.
Even though there are only five actual songs on the soundtrack, it is a good purchase and contains at least one to as many as three songs that may not be released elsewhere. Consider buying the Judge Dredd soundtrack...and listen to it in the theatre where more music is most needed.
