The Polar Express

by POLAR EXPRESS / O.S.T.

Overview

The soundtrack to Robert Zemeckis' groundbreaking film adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg's popular children's book The Polar Express celebrates the season with both classic and contemporary holiday flair. Composers Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri provide the latter, relying on swelling choral arrangements, tender ballads, and polarizing yuletide offerings from Stephen Tyler and Josh Groban. Tyler struts his stuff on the amiable but derivative "Rockin' on Top of the World," a three-chord rave-up that finds the Aerosmith mouthpiece channeling a pack of howler monkeys, but it's Groban's syrupy, future American Idol favorite "Believe" that serves as the soundtrack's commercial centerpiece. Tom Hanks does his best Gene Wilder on the whimsical and strangely unnerving title track, a wonderfully unhinged performance that will have Willy Wonka fans clamoring for more, and the winsome vocals of preteens Matthew Hall and Meagan Moore give the ballad "When Christmas Comes to Town" a real sense of wonder. Silvestri's orchestral pieces are effective in tone, yet ape Danny Elfman's Edward Scissorhands theme so shamelessly that lawyers on both sides must have had words early on in the production. The Polar Express is ambitious for sure, but the fact that its most sincere pieces are the six classics that make up its caboose is telling. [The Polar Express is also available in a Special Edition that includes a decorative box and artwork from the book.] ~ James Christopher Monger

Product Details

Release Date:	11/02/2004
Label:	Warner Bros.
UPC:	0093624889724
Rank:	19697

Tracks

1. The Polar Express
2. When Christmas Comes to Town
3. Rockin' on Top of the World
4. Believe
5. Hot Chocolate
6. Spirit of the Season
7. Seeing Is Believing
8. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
9. White Christmas
10. Winter Wonderland
11. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
12. Silver Bells
13. Here Comes Santa Claus
14. Suite from The Polar Express

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters   Primary Artist
Fontaine Sisters   Primary Artist
Frank Sinatra   Primary Artist
Mario Lanza   Primary Artist
Bing Crosby   Primary Artist
The Fontane Sisters   Primary Artist
Steven Tyler   Primary Artist
The Andrews Sisters   Primary Artist
Tom Hanks   Primary Artist
Red Foley   Primary Artist
Perry Como   Primary Artist
Josh Groban   Primary Artist
Matthew Hall   Primary Artist
Meagan Moore   Primary Artist
Alan Silvestri   Primary Artist,Conductor
Kate Smith   Primary Artist
Tim Davis   Choir/Chorus

Technical Credits

Alan Silvestri   Audio Production,Producer,Composer
Glen Ballard   Audio Production,Composer,Producer
Jolie Levine-Aller   Coordination,Music Contractor
Jeffrey Aldrich   Executive Producer
Tom Whalley   Executive Producer
Doug Frank   Executive in Charge of Music
Jeri Heiden   Art Direction
Glen Nakasako   Design
Gene Autry   Composer
Dennis Sands   Mixing,Engineer
Stephanie Kubiak   Production Director
Felix Bernard   Composer
Jerry Hey   Arranger
J. Fred Coots   Composer
Irving Berlin   Composer
Ray Evans   Composer
Mick Guzauski   Mixing
William Malina   Mixing
Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff   Art Direction,Executive Producer
Gary LeMel   Executive in Charge of Music
Haven Gillespie   Composer
Meredith Willson   Composer
William Ross   Orchestration
Conrad Pope   Orchestration
David Bifano   Scoring Coordinator,Producer,Production Coordination
Stewart Whitmore   Digital Editing
Diarmuid Quinn   Executive Producer
Stephen Marcussen   Mastering
Oakley Haldeman   Composer
Scott Campbell   Mixing
Jay Livingston   Composer
Dick Smith   Composer