Lady in the Water [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

by James Newton Howard

Overview

Film composer James Newton Howard marks his fifth collaboration with director M. Night Shyamalan on Lady in the Water. Shyamalan, of course, is known for his imaginative, sometimes surrealistic mystery films The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, and The Village, and Lady in the Water is another of them, with its story of a nymph residing in and around the pool at an apartment complex. Howard has at his disposal a large orchestra and chorus, and he uses them to create music that is often swirling and circular, with some conventional moments of exciting anticipation or climax here and there. One obvious influence is Philip Glass, although Howard's music rarely displays Glass' rhythmic urgency to go with its short, repetitive figures. Rather, the real antecedent for this score is Ennio Morricone's classic music to the classic film Days of Heaven (1978). In fact, there are moments when Howard's score seems practically identical to Morricone's. That score takes up 42 of the nearly 60 minutes on the soundtrack album, the rest given over to four covers of Bob Dylan songs. The six-minute version of "The Times They Are A-Changin'" by A Whisper in the Noise is slow and reflective to the point of being soporific; the arrangement seems to go against the point of the lyrics deliberately. Amanda Ghost's "Every Grain of Sand" is also taken slowly, but in a way that is more appropriate to the song's words. Silvertide presents rock renditions of "It Ain't Me Babe" and "Maggie's Farm" that sound like what the Black Crowes would do with them. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	07/18/2006
Label:	Universal
UPC:	0602517036291
Rank:	75103

Tracks

1. Lady in the Water, film score~Prologue
2. Lady in the Water, film score~The Party
3. Lady in the Water, film score~Charades
4. Lady in the Water, film score~Ripples in the Pool
5. Lady in the Water, film score~The Blue World
6. Lady in the Water, film score~Giving the Kii
7. Lady in the Water, film score~Walkie Talkie
8. Lady in the Water, film score~Cereal Boxes
9. Lady in the Water, film score~Officer Jimbo
10. Lady in the Water, film score~The Healing
11. Lady in the Water, film score~The Great Eatlon
12. Lady in the Water, film score~End Titles
13. The Times They Are A-Changin'
14. Every Grain of Sand
15. It Ain't Me Babe
16. Maggie's Farm

Album Credits

Performance Credits

James Newton Howard   Primary Artist
Silvertide   Primary Artist
A Whisper in the Noise   Primary Artist
Amanda Ghost   Primary Artist,Vocals
Pete Anthony   Conductor
Hollywood Studio Orchestra   Orchestra,Ensemble
Grant Gershon   Choir Conductor

Technical Credits

James Newton Howard   Audio Production,Composer,Score Producer
Tom Herbers   Producer
Koji Egawa   Scoring Assistant
Shawn Murphy   Mixing,Recording
Joel Iwataki   Mixing
Thomas Drescher   Score Producer,Music Editor
Kirsten Smith   Scoring Assistant
Andrew Hauschild   Librarian
Russ Bautmus   Librarian
Dominic Gonzales   Scoring Assistant
Tom Arndt   Package Coordinator
Sandy De Crescent   Orchestra Contractor
Jay Selvester   Scoring Assistant
Paul Altomari   Soundtrack Coordination
Evelyn Morgan   A&R
Eric Swanson   Pro-Tools,Pro-Tools
Dominick Gonzales   Scoring Assistant
Meredith Friedman   Soundtrack Coordination
Evelyn de Morgan   A&R
Amanda Ghost   Producer
Ian Dench   Producer
Pete Ibsen   Producer
David Novik   A&R
Pat Sullivan   Mastering
Kristen Smith   Scoring Assistant
Frank Famularo   Design
Marc Gebauer   Scoring Assistant
Mark Graham   Librarian
Richard Grant   Auricle Programming
Pamela Sollie   Assistant
Julia Newmann   Scoring Assistant
Leif Covington   Package Coordinator
Bob Dylan   Composer
Oliver Leiber   Producer
Silvertide   Performer
Tom Hardisty   Recording