Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2013 August 05 • Monday

Maurice Jarre's score for Dreamscape is the 278th Sountrack of the Week.

The first track announces the general concept. Very pretty and lyrical figures are intertwined with and menaced by weird electronic noises. It creates an appropriately dream-like feeling.

Then there's the intense "The Journey", which exploits the electronic instruments' capacity for eeriness and fright. "First Experiment" is another showcase for what Jarre can do with electronic instruments, but this time creates a more ethereal mood.

The well-named "Suspense" has some elements that reminded me of the Radiophonic Workshop.

"Jealously Merry-Go-Round" begins with a keyboard chord that made me think immediately of Angelo Badalamenti's Twin Peaks music. It moves from that into a lovely and lyrical passage before ending up with merry-go-round music.

"The Snakeman" is the main threat in the movie and this cue is unsettling, but perhaps less intense than you might expect. "Entering the Nightmare" likewise finds an understated approach to be very effective in creating the right mood. Then Jarre drops the hammer and the terror begins.

A similar strategy is adopted by "Love Dreams", which reprises a theme heard first in the main title. Before we get to it there's interesting and atmospheric electronic music sections.

An often muted intensity and general feeling of dread dominate the next few cues, "Dangerous Moments", "Escape" and "Labyrinth", of which, though there are sections of cranked up terror.

The main theme is revisited once more for the soothing "Endless Dreams". It's a lovely tune.