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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Toy Story of Terror: Soundtrack


 You know how it's easy to wake up early if there's something exciting happening (like Christmas morning)? That's how it was for me today when I woke up at 6:15 and almost immediately jumped right out of bed so I could go download the brand new Toy Story of Terror soundtrack! The score is by Michael Giacchino (if that name sounds familiar it's because he's no stranger to Pixar films-he's done the memorable music for The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up, Cars 2 and the short films One Man Band and La Luna), includes 12 tracks, clocks in at 21 minutes (almost the entire length of the show), and is $7.99 on Itunes and Amazon.

Possible SPOILERS below if you're trying to avoid any info on tomorrow's special:

The score starts off with "The Suspension is Killing Me." It's a fast pace suspense piece with some purposely cheesy (for lack of a better term) church organ and synthesizer "ghost wailing" sounds (that sound almost like a retro throwback to 50's sci-fi). It definitely set the tone for this spooky, yet humorous, Halloween special. I liked it! Can't wait to see the story all come together tomorrow night!

The music is solid all the way through. It has the classic scary elements that make up horror film scores-such as high pitch strings, slow/mysterious/suspense building cues and orchestra hits meant to make you jump..But it really started to make a big impression when we're introduced to the Combat Carl/Hero Theme in "The Ballad of Combat Carl." The theme is introduced subtly at the :58 second mark and is reprised in every track after (in even bigger ways). I'm exited to see what Carl's story is all about!

The heroic theme mentioned gets it's 1st full, if brief, rendition starting with "Iguna Be Kidding Me" at the 1:16 mark. So cool! It's definitely memorable and I've been whistling it ever since. I can tell it will add such a cool feeling to the show.

I feel the strongest/my favorite tracks are: "The Ballad of Combat Carl" (introduces the awesome main theme), "Iguana Be Kidding Me" (great action piece and uses the main theme again-but bigger), "Nobody Puts Jessie in the Box" (with some great emotion using swelling strings), "World's Worst Curtain Call" (adds the heart you expect in a Pixar film and even includes a brief call back to, what I call, the Woody's finest hour theme from Toy Story 2) and "FedExit" (an epic reprise of the main theme).

This is a great soundtrack and I'm so happy Pixar and Michael Giacchino decided to release it. It's not a usual thing to get a soundtrack from a TV special or a short. I can't recommend it enough if you're into movie scores like I am.
 

2 comments:

  1. You're completely right that the intro definitely has elements of 50's sci-fi!!

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  2. Yah that's the best way I could describe it! I couldn't quite put my finger on it till I thought of that. Thanks for checking things out and taking the time to comment!

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