Search - Colin Towns :: The Puppet Masters: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Good . . . For a B-Movie Score

Nicholas Wilder | USA | 01/19/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I saw the film that goes with this score a few months ago and ever since, I have been looking for it. Luckily, a couple of nights ago, I found it used for $4 and immediately bought it. Knowing it was done by a semi-no-name composer I didn't expect the sound of Goldsmith or Poledouris to pour out of my speakers and it's a good thing.
The score starts out with a fairly romantic statement of what we will come to recognize at the very end of the album as the "peace" theme. However, the beautiful strings are quickly blown away by a synthesizer effect. The cue then moves into the mysterious music that should have made up much of the rest of the score. However, this first cue doesn't represent the rest of the score.
The meat of the score is piano driven action music that starts out nice but sometimes rambles on for far too long and at other times explodes with unmelodic synth dissonances.
What makes me give this album a three star rating instead of a two is the fact that Towns wrote some beautiful music for this film. The first and last pieces are quite good and not all of the action music is terrible. Just a few (4 at the most) unfortunate cues. "The Visitor Revealed" starts out with dissonances in the synths but moves quickly into a piano driven action frenzy. "Can't Hurt Her . . ." is also very good with an explosive finale.
All in all, this film is done in the classic style of 50's composers but without the corny effects they used. The style of the piano section of the first cue will immediately remind a listener of classic sci-fi. A good buy for $4."