[.ca] Heat

From Amazon.co.uk:
This is a downbeat and brainy set of mostly instrumental tracks from the likes of Kronos Quartet, ECM guitarist Terje Rypdal, guitarist Michael Brook, and Lisa (Dead Can Dance) Gerrard. Highlights include "Always Forever Now" by Passengers (Brian Eno, U2), and Moby's mordant cover of Joy Division's "New Dawn Fades". --Jeff Bateman

The Best Soundtrack I've Ever Heard.:
Period. It helps, of course, to be deeply in love with the movie too -- as I am. When I first saw Heat in December of 1995, and sat through the closing credits scored by Moby's "God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters," I knew I had to own the soundtrack. Knew it. The music was so deeply emotional, so heavy with sorrow at times and uplifting on the closing track, that I had no other choice. Kronos Quartet's title track soothes my being from the very first note. The strings are so warm and personal, so richly laden with a tranquility that brings me peace even when I've had a miserable day. I feel like I am capable of anything when I hear these notes. The music shifts at about 2:25 to a more industrial, aggro sound, but the change is not at all jarring or unnatural. An absolutely amazing intro to the soundtrack. "Always Forever Now" is a fast-paced, entrancing, bass-heavy, uplifting piece, and I see no reason to gripe about the minor differences between this version and that found on the Passengers' album. "Condensers" is built around the most mournful guitar piece I have ever heard. A beautiful, emotional piece of music. Terje Rypdal's jazz/blues guitar contributions, "Last Nite" and "Mystery Man," are every bit as strong, capturing Neil and Eady's relationship in dark, moody, intense instrumentals. Michael Brooks' "Ultramarine" is one of the less brooding pieces, and I believe it was used to great effect in the scene outside the restaurant, when Vincent and his crew watch Neil's gang for the first time from the top of a building. "Of Helplessness" is probably the saddest piece of music on the album -- and that's saying something. Only strings here, used in a scene I don't want to spoil for those readers who have not yet seen Heat. But it conveys precisely why Vincent is the kind of detective he is; he sees so much human misery in any given day, so much pain, that it's all he can do to bottle it and let it fuel him in pursuit of his suspects. Track eleven, Moby's cover of "New Dawn Fades," is best heard on a dark summer night in a very fast car on a wide open freeway. That's how it is used in the movie, and it's hard to imagine it any other way. It has a sense of danger, pursuit, and above all, speed. I have not heard the Joy Division version of this song, but I have a hard time imagining it would be this powerful. A song you'll never forget. "Force Marker," the Brian Eno industrial synth track, is fast, tense, and repetitive. It suits the bank scene perfectly, but might be a little grating in other contexts. The two Lisa Gerrard tracks, "La Bas" and "Gloradin," are moving, somber, dark pieces of music. Hearing these two tracks will make you think your best friend just died. Not the sort of thing you always want to listen to, but they certainly fit some moods. "Run Uphill," a very pretty strings and guitars piece, fits this soundtrack nicely. However, it is not the actual piece of music used in the film during that scene. What I am remembering in the movie is not anywhere on the soundtrack, but it would be certainly welcome here. One of the few "if only"s I can think of for the whole thing. "Predator Diorama" is aptly named; here we are in the tense, adrenaline-filled world of Neil McCauley in the last few minutes of the movie. If you've seen Heat, and remember the movie well enough to associate this track with the scene it represents, then this piece will be a deeply gratifying experience when you're in a vindictive and wrathful mood. Like the movie, the soundtrack concludes with Moby's "God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters." It's a remarkably simple tune, but also deeply, almost religiously affecting. It consists of a twinkling piano pattern, like rainfall or sunlight, against the backdrop of soaring strings and crashing cymbals. Yet another tune that is impossible to forget. Occasionally it can almost move me to tears. I know that it lacks the bridge found in the movie, but I think that was a device inserted for purposes specific to the movie (the bridge hits right when the screen goes black to credits) and therefore I cannot object to its absence here. This version is just as strong without that change. Of the tracks I did not specifically mention, only Einsturzende Neubauten's "Armenia" is out of place; this track is used only briefly in the movie, and the screaming is really quite ugly. This is more than just a soundtrack. This is a cohesive, dark, moving tapestry of sound that transcends the whole notion of "music from a movie." It's an album of its own. This is a stirring 21-track CD, beautiful in the context of the movie or completely by itself. I would buy this CD again even if the replacement cost me fifty bucks. A must-have.

Mostly good:
This CD features a really strange mix of atmospheric, evocative stuff that ranges from quite listenable to clunky and boring. I love soundtracks but this one seems unusually lumpy and your mental state can get rather jarred while hopping from track to track. There is definitely some good stuff on here but it's not the kind of thing you could listen to straight through and say "Ah, now that's what 'Heat' feels like." Instead you say "Hmm, was that really in the movie?" Not a bad purchase at all but some of the best tracks are available on other CDs.

An Excellent Counterpart to an Exceptional Film:
I bought the soundtrack to "Heat" because I had been completely enamored by the music that was in the film. There is a beautiful ambivalence to it that just surrounds you as you listen. There are no bad tracks here, folks. They are all worthy to be on the same disc together and the result is a wonderful and subliminal compilation of both upbeat and sullen tracks. One of the things that I love most about soundtracks, especially if they're instrumental, is their ability to replay the whole movie for you. You listen to a specific tune, a specific scene will play in your mind. For instance, Brian Eno's "Force Marker," is a rendition of the famous Bank heist scene in the film. (You'd have to actually see the film in order to understand.) It's a pulsating track that went perfectly to a heart-stopping sequence. Moby's "God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters," is another outstanding track. It's just totally moving and mesmorizing. So..all in all, this soundtrack is absolutely breath-taking. It was definitely worth my money and I hope that those who purchase it will say the same. All listed tracks demand the listener's attention. :) Cheers!

Above Average:
This is one of my favorite films of the 90's, the music being one of the main reasons. This is a solid soundtrack, maybe one or two tracks I could do without, but nothing falling into the 'bad' category. In fact, most of this stuff is high quality like the film itself, and for those who have seen the film this music brings back many of the images and emotions that were experienced in the theater. The main title is gorgeous and the Passengers track is also very cool. 'Last Night', 'Ultramarine', and 'Coffee Shop' are also quite stunning. I enjoy Moby's 'God moving over the face of the waters' even though it is slightly different than the version we hear at the end of this amazing film. Recommended.

A great soundtrack album.:
"Heat" was one of the most exceptional and underrated crime-dramas I'd ever seen. rarely do I love a movie so much after the first viewing, but "Heat" really grabbed me with the great characters, great storytelling, great production, and great music. Michael Mann has always been known for choosing great music for his films, and "Heat" is no exception. An assortment of diverse artists, plus a tense and moving score by Elliot Goldenthal (with a little help from the Kronos Quartet) make for one of the finest collections of music I've ever heard. The orchestral pieces, like "Heat," "Refinery Surveillance," "Entrada & Shootout," "Oh Helplessness," and "Fate Scrapes" all begin very calmly and beautiful, soothing swirls of strings that steadily build up to a tense and sometimes violent climax. Augmented by occasional the occasional cry of guitars, one can feel the heat around the corner just listening to the music, it really gives that feeling the movie gave and puts those images in your head. "Condensers" and "Run UpHill" are a pair of wonderfully emotional guitar pieces (the CD credits Page Hamilton on guitars...I wonder if it's the same Page Hamilton from Helmet), soaring screams that harken back to Mann's days directing "Miami Vice," but without that '80's flair. There is a saddening melody at the end of "Run UpHill" that resonates throughout "OF Separation," mirroring the Robert DeNiro's character's need for escape after being backed into a corner. "Predator Diorama" is just tense all the way through, ending loudly and climactically, appropriate to its scene in the movie when DeNiro kills the traitor. "Steel Cello Lament" reminds me of "Seiun," the Kitaro piece Mann used in "Manhunter," very similar in sound and feel. "Coffee Shop," as short as it is, is a beautiful piano piece underlying the famous meeting between DeNiro and Al Pacino (both their characters and the actors). As for the other artists on this album, it was rather interesting to hear them all together in a single narrative. The song "Always Forever Now" by U2/Brian Eno (albeit a different version that the one featured on their "Passengers" album), while heard briefly in the movie, is very rhythmic, helping to give a sense of Al Pacino's character, always moving, always on the go. Brian Eno's other contribution, "Force Marker," for all its simplicity really gives you the feel of the movie. Used in the bank heist, it's just tense tense tense, all the way through. "Last Nite" and "Mystery Man" by Terje Rypdal are sweet ambient guitar songs, a sort of sad blues-jazz for DeNiro's romantic situation in the movie. Moby's cover of Joy Division's "New Dawn Fades" really fits well in both the movie and the scope of Michael Mann's films. The soaring guitar lines are reminiscent of Craig Safran's "Confrontation" (from "Thief") and Michel Rubini's "Graham's Theme" (from "Manhunter"), that tense melody that is both uplifting and suspensful at the same time. "Ultramarine" by Michael Brook is a great ambient bass & guitar song, giving a sweet romantic edge to an otherwise dark soundtrack. The two Lisa Gerrard songs, "La Bas" and "Gloradin" are good ambient additions. Her voice is always a treat to hear, full of all sorts of Middle-Eastern undertones that just provide a good atmosphere. Einstürzende Neubauten's "Armenia" seems a bit out of place, but I suspect that has to do with the vocals. It might've been better to include it as an instrumental remix, then it would have fit...otherwise, the vocals just make the song frightening and unwelcome. Finally, the best song on the whole soundtrack, Moby's "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters." It's a simple repetition of a four-chord string section, with some piano lines underneath. And yet it provides the emotional core of the whole film, used in the finale, and just bringing tears to the eyes with its sadness and intensity. Unfortunately, the mix used on the album is not the one used in the film (which includes a bridge section that brings everything to a beautiful and mournful high). The end of the film would not have been nearly as emotional without this song. "Heat" was a great movie, and its soundtrack is just as good. It stands on its own as a good collection of songs strung together to form a single coherent theme, and it's a great complement to the movie. What more could one want out of a soundtrack album? It's got its flaws (what doesn't?), but they are minor enough that they are almost unnoticed. Listen to this album from beginning to end, and even the parts that seem out of place make sense. Definitely one of the best soundtracks ever.

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