Meet Joe Black: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [Soundtrack]

meet joe black: original motion picture soundtrack [soundtrack]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Meet Joe Black, director Martin Brest's remake of the '30s semiclassic Death Takes a Holiday, took widespread critical potshots for its three-hour length and laconic pace. Ironically, composer Thomas Newman's score is a compelling exercise in musical economy--spare, emotionally longing arrangements where the spaces resonate almost as much as the notes. The composer (youngest son of the great film scorer Alfred Newman and cousin to Randy Newman) shows the same deft handling of emotional nuance he displayed on The Shawshank Resemption, The Horse Whisperer, and Oscar and Lucinda (winner of Best Original Score at the 1998 Australian Film Awards), here underplaying the story's romance and otherworldly aspects with a few piano notes and a masterful use of strings and winds. Yet another tribute to the Newman gene pool and an impressively mature work from one of Hollywood's brightest young film composers. --Jerry McCulley

Meet Joe Black: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack,Original Soundtrack,Umvd Labels,Original Score,Pop,Soundtrack,Soundtracks & Film Scores

Meet Joe Black: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [Soundtrack]

Average customer rating:

I'm a slob when it comes to music...
Indescribably delicious
Hard-To-Find Arrangements
An overlooked masterpiece that slipped under the radar.
"Meet Thomas Newman" - The best album of his works so far !

Meet Joe Black: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Thomas Newman
Manufacturer: Umvd Labels
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Movie Scores | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

1990s | By Decade | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Meet Joe Black (Ultimate Edition)
The Shawshank Redemption: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Legends Of The Fall: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
The Horse Whisperer: Original Score
American Beauty: Original Motion Picture Score

ASIN: B00000DHZU
Release Date: 1998-11-03

Tracks:

Yes
Everywhere Freesia
Walkaway
Meet Joe Black
Peanut Butter Man
Whisper Of A Thrill
Cheek To Cheek - Chris Boardman
Cold Lamb Sandwich
Fifth Ave.
A Frequent Thing
Death And Taxes
Served Its Purpose
Sorry For Nothing
Mr. Bad News
Let's Face The Music And Dance - Chris Boardman
The Question
Someone Else
What A Wonderful World - Chris Boardman
That Next Place
Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Amazon.com

Meet Joe Black, director Martin Brest's remake of the '30s semiclassic Death Takes a Holiday, took widespread critical potshots for its three-hour length and laconic pace. Ironically, composer Thomas Newman's score is a compelling exercise in musical economy--spare, emotionally longing arrangements where the spaces resonate almost as much as the notes. The composer (youngest son of the great film scorer Alfred Newman and cousin to Randy Newman) shows the same deft handling of emotional nuance he displayed on The Shawshank Resemption, The Horse Whisperer, and Oscar and Lucinda (winner of Best Original Score at the 1998 Australian Film Awards), here underplaying the story's romance and otherworldly aspects with a few piano notes and a masterful use of strings and winds. Yet another tribute to the Newman gene pool and an impressively mature work from one of Hollywood's brightest young film composers. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews:

I'm a slob when it comes to music..........2007-01-14

My mental stability has always been in question, especially by my grandma. However, after just minutes of absently listening to the tv in the next room, some internal radar picked up on the sensual sounds coming from the movie Meet Joe Black. I put down my bowling ball and slowly walked into the next room. I felt as if my world had changed. This music had slid under my skin and was traveling into my brain. I sat on the sofa next to my stuffed pink flamingo and tears slid down my cheeks. I listened and the sadness washed over me like an ocean. Yet I couldnt get enough. This music carries me away on adventures you wouldn't believe. Its the music I say. The emotions that cloak me from hearing the music have NOTHING to do with the actors. I just breathe the music.

Indescribably delicious.......2007-01-04

I cannot think of any score I've heard that is as poignant to the film for which it is written than Thomas Newman's "Meet Joe Black". After repeated listens I'm still fascinated by how the love theme for "Whisper of a Thrill" and "Someone Else" is both sublimely romantic and disturbing at the same time. I find that juxtaposition to be a perfect match to the film...although it had its faults, the score does not. The achingly beautiful scenes between Brad Pitt and Claire Forlani toward the end of the film owe a huge debt to Newman's score. How did the Academy overlook him for Best Original Score? He wasn't even nominated. A shame really. But no award would do this music justice. It is simply, indescribably, and deliciously beautiful.

Hard-To-Find Arrangements.......2006-12-28

Aficionados of the "classics" will love this soundtrack. The medley of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World" is worth the entire album. The instrumental music is wonderful ambient music for a relaxed or romantic setting.

An overlooked masterpiece that slipped under the radar........2006-09-09

Though the film itself may have left some viewers itching to leave the theater (with a rather gratuitous running time of 178 minutes), the score alone from "Meet Joe Black" makes it one of the more memorable films of 1998. In fact, Thomas Newman's score makes such an impact that it is able to stand out as a separate work of art all on its own. Hell, I would even go so far as to say it's a masterpiece.

Personally, I think Newman does some of his best work here. Specifically with tracks such as "Walkaway" and "Cold Lamb Sandwich", both of which are beautifully seasoned with the film's main theme. Other tracks like "Everywhere Freesia" and "Peanut Butter Man" showcase Newman's ability to compose vivacious and spirited pieces. Newman is more well-known for his moody and haunting "dark" themes, so it's nice to hear the occassional "quarky" track every once in a while, such as the previous two.

Other highlights on the soundtrack include "Whisper of a Thrill,", "Death and Taxes", and the stunning closing track, "That Next Place" (one of Newman's best compositions to date).

Granted, this may not be for every avid film score lover out there. I think Thomas Newman fans more than anyone else will tend to lean more towards it and appreciate it a little more. It is a prime example of Newman's distinguished style, and proves why he is one of the most widely respected and talented film composers in the industry today. I just find it to be such a shame that this little gem seemed to have slipped under the radar.

"Meet Thomas Newman" - The best album of his works so far !.......2006-08-08

I admit I'm a little late concidering the release date and this soundtrack is way too good to have never heard of it. But with score it's like with everything else: You must make the experience yourself! And so will the movie of "Meet Joe Black" has been recently shown on television. And I cannot begin to tell how amazed and sad at once I was -- amazed by the talent a composer can ever carry (Thomas Newman turns out to be a god) and deeply sad about how I could ever miss this beautiful composition for so many years (that's inexcusable)! This truly is - without exaggerating anything - one of the greatest and most affecting orchestral scores ever written for a movie!!! Everyone who listens to the score, even without having watched the movie at first, will know what I mean! This beautiful album of instrumental tracks I would highly recommend to try for yourself with no need for the DVD at all! The movie is a typical fantasy romance with Mr. Death sneaking in someone else's body and our stereotyped Barbie, who both fall in love with each other, but cannot be together forever, so he breaks her heart, kills her father and then sends back the old inhabitant of this body, and so on... <---this plot must not meet everyones taste or expectations to a 08/15-US-movie-romance! But in the center of focus for now is the score and this one I can only recommend as mostly scores completely drown within the intenseness of a movie; but in this case the movie wouldn't be what it is without those soft violin strives and the sensitive accompaniment of the piano sounds.
To mention a couple of them, I mostly liked the main theme and its variations:

3. Walkaway (main theme) 8.5/10

6. Whisper Of A Thrill (the sex scene between Barbie and Death) 9/10

8. Cold Lamb Sandwich (main theme - but only with violins and piano) 10/10

17. Someone Else (soft violin strives) 10/10

19. That Next Place (the big finale in the midth of the fire work show) 11/10

There is nothing else left to say about this, one must make the experience for himself! This is unequivocal a work of art; a so far not reached masterpiece, which captures the whole beauty of the movie marvellous good with its harmonic ecstatic melody. I don't know what other references Thomas Newman has as a composer, but I'm looking forward to listen to some more of his works...something a lot of other people should do as well! You won't regret it! ;)

Music:

Music

music