Inception

As I opened my CD and popped it into my Mac I was completely unaware as to what to expect from Inception. I naturally look forward to every Zimmer score since it's his music that I grew up on and it's his music that made me want to be a filmmaker. So, I hit play on iTunes, took a deep breath and closed my eyes.I really don't know how to describe what I experienced in those next 50 minutes, but I can say that it left such an emotional impact on me that I was still shaking after it finished. The score swells and boils and builds to an eruption that washes over you like a wave. The wave then pulls back and then washes over you again and again. The score feels uniquely personal especially by being able to isolate and pick out the solo instrumentation. While this is a very electronic heavy score it never feels synthetic and is organic in every sense of the word.Emotionally it can be aggressive and at times extremely harsh, but it has a gentle side of incredible beauty. What Zimmer does best is that every cue builds like a separate story on its own. Almost like a writer writing a screenplay. You could easily apply the three-act story structure to every cue in this score. The cues each have an introduction, building, climax and then resolution. It's something I've always admired about his score writing and here with Inception it's extremely evident.Most of the score stays extremely melodic. Exceptions would be tracks like "Old Souls" and "Waiting For A Train", which still have identifiable melodies but act more like dreamlike transition periods. "Mombasa" is an intense assault on the senses that will get your heart racing and probably leave you gasping for air. The track actually reminded me of "Fire" from Angels & Demons.The album finishes with "Time", which is such an extraordinarily beautiful track that reintroduces the central theme we heard in the first track. If I had to pick one track that defined this score and its composer it would probably be "Time". This is Zimmer stripped down to the bone. It builds for 3.5 minutes then comes to its climax. It then dies down to strings and piano. Soon the strings disappear and we are left with a piano that plays the extremely simple theme. A haunting echo of what we just experienced. The feeling you have when it's all over is comparable to waking up in a cold sweat after an incredibly intense and vivid dream you just had.I can't say yet if this is the best thing Hans Zimmer has done, but it very well may be. I've always maintained that The Thin Red Line was his masterpiece, but after experiencing Inception and the rush of emotions I felt with it I can honestly say this may be my new #1 in the book of Zimmer. As Christopher Nolan said in the liner notes of the CD "That's one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard."

Director Chris Nolan tells, in the CD booklet, of the night he received a phone call from Zimmer, and how Zimmer played for him, for the first time, his concept of the theme for this film. After demonstrating his work, Nolan recalls that Zimmer picked the phone back up and commented: "That's all I got. And I can't figure out where it goes from here." Nolan thought to himself: "It doesn't go anywhere. It's already there." Indeed, this work is "there."Hans Zimmer has been scoring films for nearly twenty-five years, yet his style and technique continue to mature; his work never grows stale, and there is always something new to offer with each new score. This work is a wide-ranging one. There is quite a bit of slow, almost relaxing music (particularly the beginning of track 10, "Waiting For A Train). There is also a great deal of pulse-pounding action music. One of the most incredible, stunning pieces on the disc is track 3, "Dream Is Collapsing," which subtly builds upon itself from a simple 3/4 rhythm into a full-on, hair-raising, spine-tingling action piece. The composition ends, all too soon, with track 12, "Time," which at the end retreats to the piano and strings until it sounds very much like a lullaby -- a concept that is absolutely profound when one considers the film's subject.I tend to compare all of Zimmer's post-2000 work with his score for "Gladiator," which was to me his bench-mark score. I always wonder, when opening the wrapper on a "my new Zimmer," as I refer to the discs: "Is it going to be better than 'Gladiator'?" The depth of his score for "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" may have done just that; "Sherlock Holmes," although bearing a very different sound, also hit the nail on the end. This score certainly comes close to "Gladiator" in its originality, style, and execution. (There are times when I wish Zimmer would again collaborate with and employ haunting Lisa Gerrard or Lisbeth Scott-style vocals, as those pieces in his earlier work 'take the cake,' but that is simply a "wish-list" thought.)This score does not disappoint... it inspires, it drives, it lives a life all its own. This is one of Zimmer's finest works (on a long list of fine works).

I went to see the movie Inception and left the cinema with only one thought - How soon could I get the soundtrack?!I am not music expert and I can't describe music in terms of scores and notes, I don't know if a song is made up of six notes or sixty but I can describe how music resonates with me. When I listened to the soundtrack for Inception I could visualize each part of the movie that each song represented and with each song my moods and emotions changed to match.There are some movies where the music and the action on the screen never seem to correlate - Inception does not have that problem. The music complimented the action on the screen at all times and for me the track that exemplifies this the most is the last track on the CD - "Time" - which, if memory serves, was the last song of the movie before the credits came up (and that was also the song that confirmed I had to get the soundtrack!). The slow build up of the music to a gradual but insistent crescendo. It starts off as I think soft notes from a solo stringed instrument but slowly more instruments join in until the music swells in volume and intensity and makes you feel like you're the only person in a concert hall built for symphonies and the music is for you and you alone. A feeling of gradual hopefulness and a sense of coming home to safety. Then it gradually fades down to single note which sounds like a question.Hans Zimmer has redeemed himself after that fiasco that was the Dark Knight soundtrack (truly awful)! There was never a moment of hesitation this time around! I put the CD in the machine and by the start of the second track I programmed the REPEAT feature.I got the CD yesterday and I already know that it joins the ranks of my all time favourites.